This site is about the sports doings -- mainly football -- of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact:
All-Stars
Dilks named to D-10 tennis stars;
McMahon region Pitcher of Year
Oil City's Jackson Dilks was named to the All-District 10 and Region 1 first teams in tennis last week. Oil City's Will McMahon, Franklin's Drew Kockler and Evan Turner and Rocky Grove's Haydon Bevier were recognized Monday for baseball. McMahon was named Pitcher of the Year in Region 2. The others were second team. Champs Titusville and Lakeview dominated their respective regions. (Titusville's Kameron Mong beat out Kockler, a 574 hitter, for first team shortstop.) Softball and track later this week.
Features
Fast times at Cranberry High
The crown jewel of school year 2024-25
Top row from left: Darien Wenner, Gracee Hess, Karli Schneider, Beatrice Kolesar, Melanie Ishman and Karleigh Shaffer.Kneeling: Kayla and Kelsey Hanna.
Berry proud
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State 1A cross country champions
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District 9 2A boys basketball champions
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District 9 2A softball champions (third straight)
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Dalton Wenner: third straight District 9 mat title and state medal
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Three PIAA 2A state medals in track (Darien Wenner, Beatrice Kolesar and Kayla and Kelsey Hanna in the 3200 relay; Kolesar open 3200 and Wenner pole vault)
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National recognition for Super Berry school logo (see below)
Darien Wenner: definition of a versatile super frosh:
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One of the top runners of a state championship cross country team
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State qualifier in golf
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351 points in basketball
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Lead-off leg of state medalist 3200 relay, which set school record
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State medal and school record in pole vault
You might have heard that Cranberry received national recognition in a mascot tournament called The64 in May, finishing in the top eight nationally and the top four in its region. The Super Berry eventually lost out to the Hampton, Va., High School Crabbers.
And to think that back in the 1970s, there were some who wanted Cranberry's nickname changed to the Cougars. (Zzzzz). Wisely, the student body voted it down.
A few things:
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Cranberry became the Berries in the first place because of an abundance of wild cranberries growing on township lands in the 1700s and early 1800s. But by the late 1800s farming and droughts caused their demise. The "Berries" lived on, though...
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Cranberry is not the only school with "Berries" as a nickname. Loganport, Ind., is also the Berries because there's an expression in Indiana "That's the Berries!" And the former football field was called The Berry Patch.
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There was a Cranberry High School in North Carolina from 1925-68, but it closed when Avery County consolidated its high schools. There's still a Cranberry Middle School. The Wildcats.
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Berries is one of the top 10 nicknames in Pennsylvania, per Sports Illustrated. Others on SI's list: the Benjamin Franklin Electrons, the Boiling Springs Bubblers and the Canon MacMillan Big Macs.
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The Crabbers reached the finals of the The64, but then lost out to the Auburndale Bloodhounds.
Football 2025...Coming to a gridiron near you
Vintage Oil City collection
Photo by Peter R. Solle