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HOOPS

Oilers vs. Warren. Again.
Knights, meanwhile, draw Grove City in loaded 4A boys bracket;
Orioles top seed in 2A boys; Franklin girls in rematch with CASH

How rugged is the District 10 Class 4A boys basketball tournament this year? So rugged that 17-4 Warren only got the sixth seed. Sixth!

D-10 brass met Saturday morning and decided that, in this order, Cathedral Prep, Hickory, Sharon, Girard and Grove City (a team Oil City beat in December) were all better than the Region 5 champion Dragons.

They also considered Oil City and Franklin to be mere fodder for the big boys.

The Oilers got the 11th seed (out of 14 teams) and will face Warren in a first-round game Tuesday at Mercyhurst University. Warren beat Oil City by three at its place on Jan. 14. And then, three weeks later, Warren schooled the Oilers (by a not as close as it looks 10), who were in the midst of a slump that probably cost them a better seed.

The Knights took the 12th seed with a late-season surge and will face Grove City at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Sharon in its first round game. Franklin was a 27-point victim to the Eagles during its early season struggles. Should the Knights get by Grove City this time, they would probably face another team they couldn't do anything with: Girard, a 39-point victor at The Castle on Feb. 1.

The good thing for both local squads is if they can sidestep these early booby traps, they might have a decent chance of reaching interdistricts since five teams from District 10 will advance.

The Franklin girls will see a familiar foe, also in 4A. The Lady Knights are the fifth seed and have a first-round bye Wednesday as does region rival and champion Conneaut, the fourth seed. Franklin and CASH will meet for a third time Saturday, TBA. The Lady Eagles have one- and eight-point victories over Franklin this season. The top three seeds hail from Erie County, and include No. 2 Harbor Creek, which had no problem with Franklin at Christmastime.

The high-flying Rocky Grove Orioles garnered the top seed in 2A boys and have a first-round bye. They will play the winner of a game Tuesday between Sharpsville and Union City at 6 p.m. Friday at Sharon. There are 12 teams in 2A boys. Mercyhurst Prep is the second seed. Lakeview and Saegertown are seeded third and fourth.

DISTRICT 10 PLAYOFFS

4A BOYS

Tuesday's Games

No. 11 Oil City vs. No. 6 Warren, 7:30 p.m., Mercyhurst University

No. 12 Franklin vs. No. 3 Sharon, 7:30 p.m., Farrell

2A BOYS

Tuesday's Games

No. 1 Rocky Grove vs. bye

Friday's Games

No. 1. Rocky Grove vs. winner of No. 8 Sharpsville and No. 9 Union City, TBA

4A GIRLS

Wednesday's Games

No. 5 Franklin vs. bye

Saturday's Games

No. 5 Franklin vs. No. 4 Conneaut, TBA

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Berries: triple bill Friday at Clarion High

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Even though the Cranberry girls lost to Karns City in the KSAC semifinals, their season remains alive. Both Cranberry teams will take part in a triple header Friday at Clarion High School.

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The girls will meet Brookville at 5 p.m. in the District 9 3A semis. Top-seeded Karns City and Moniteau will play in the other semifinal at 8 p.m. Winners of those games will face off for the D-9 title at 11 a.m. March 1 at Tippin. The top two teams advance to interdistricts.

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The Cranberry boys will follow the Lady Berries Friday, taking on Karns City at 6:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the finals against  top-seeded Brookville on Feb. 25 at a neutral site. Then the champions of districts 9 and 10 (only five 3A teams in D-10) will play a subregional game for the right to go to interdistricts.​​

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Both Cranberry teams are seeded second in the district tournament.​

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Friday's Results (boys)

Oil City 70, Conneaut 56

Franklin 64, Seneca 39

Rocky Grove 67, West Middlesex 41

Friday's Results (girls)

KSAC semifinals (Tippin, Clarion)

Karns City 45, Cranberry 27

Redbank Valley 56, Moniteau 28​

Saturday's Resullts

KSAC championships (Tippin, Clarion)

Boys -- Redbank Valley 54, Clarion 44

Girls -- Redbank Valley 54, Karns City 41

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Junior Nevin Stinson scored 25 points -- including seven three-pointers -- and issued five assists Friday in Oil City's 70-56 victory over Conneaut. Stinson's seven 3s are believed to be  the most by an Oiler since Tyler Lukasiak nailed his school record nine in 2017.

The Venango County record is 11 by Franklin's Shaun Grill in 2002. Cranberry's Ryan Willison also has nine. Four have eight: Rocky Grove's Nathan Bell and Cruz Mietus, Willison and Franklin's Easton Fulmer. Stinson is one of 11 players with seven.  Rocky Grove's Noah Baughman made seven earlier this season. Click here and scroll down for a list. There could be more. Let me know.  email address in "About This Site." (Photo by Kelly Malek)

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Senior Will Findlan is still en fuego. He scored another 24 points in his home curtain call Friday against the Seneca. (Error: Tuesday's game vs. Oil City was not his home finale.) Findlan has scored 20 points or more in the last four games and five of the last six. He has 428 on the season. (Photo by Richard Sayer)

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K​atie Boal sits in ninth place on the Franklin girls single-season scoring list with  442 points. She passed Terri Brinker (441) on Feb. 13 and now has scoped Martha Williams (448), Angelina Starr (450) and Mary Jane Long (452). Her 827 points is No. 15 on Franklin's all-time scoring list for girls. (Photo by Kelly Malek)​

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Payton Liederbach finished  her junior year in 10th place on the Oil City girls' all-time scoring list with 909 points. In her season finale Feb. 13, Liederbach moved ahead of Joan Smith, who scored 907 of her 1,202 career points for OCHS. The others came as a freshman and sophomore at Venango Christian. Liederbach scored 409 points this season, making her the ninth Lady Oiler to top 400 points -- and the first this century. (Photo by Kelly Malek).

Some items previously on this page have been moved to WINTER
Stats through games of 2.14.25
Scoring  (100 pts. or more)
3-pointers (aka "Noah's Arcs?"; min. 20)
Free Throws (min. 44/50%)
Career Points
Fulmer plays key role    on Chatham's 20-4 team

Former Franklin star Easton Fulmer, who transferred from Edinboro, has helped his new school, Chatham, to a 20-4 record. 

The junior is averaging 5.8 ppg over 16.8 minutes. He has 30 3s and is shooting 90 percent (18/20) from the line. The Cougars will host Westminster Feb. 22 (2 p.m. tip).

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Bashor coming into her
own at St. Vincent

Current FHS star Katie Boal will probably end up with similar stats to predecessor Camdon Bashor, a 2022 graduate who finished with 899 points to rank No. 14 all-time  at Franklin. The 6-2 Bashor is now a junior at St. Vincent, and has started all 22 games this season for the 12-10 Lady Bearcats. She's averaging 9.4 points and 5.1 rebounds and has blocked 37 shots. Bashor has played in 61 games, making 26 starts, in her career and has 415 points and 271 rebounds. She's a 46% shooter from the floor and has converted 74% off her foul shots.

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Junior Dalton Wenner and family pose with a banner for his 100 career wrestling victories. The milestone came in the Fred Bell tournament semifinals. Wenner won his weight for the third straight year.

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Franklin's Gary Kiselka was runner-up iat 215 in the 2A sectional at Sharon. (Photo by Richard Sayer)

Gary Kiselka second
in D-10 2A sectional

Franklin's Gary Kiselka reached the 215-pound finals of the 2A sectional at Sharon, but was pinned Saturday in 4:39 by Colton Tupper of Reynolds.

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Drew Kockler, who took third place at 189, pinned Sharpsville's Kaden Hoover in 53 seconds, but two other Franklin wrestlers were beaten in that round. Ethan Hart (160) dropped a 2-0 decision while Kaden Kiselka (285) lost a 4-2 match. 

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Franklin finished 11th among 14 teams. Reynolds, Hickory and Grove City were 1-2-3 in the team standings.

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Next action is the District 10 2A tournament this weekend, also at Sharon.

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Meanwhile, Cranberry will be in the District9/10 3A tournament at Clarion's Tippin Gym.

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The Berries were off this past weekend, but In its last three duals, they defeated Franklin, 57-15; drubbed Redbank, 60-12 and walloped Clarion, 55-17.

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The Berries were  9-5 in duals, the Knights 4-12. The Berries were in five tournaments, taking third in the District 9 Wrestling League championships and eighth at the Fred Bell event. The Knights were 18th at Fred Bell. They were in two other tourneys, taking  seventh at Howland and ninth at Bo Wood.

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Wrestlers who have reached double figures in wins through Feb. 15): 

FRANKLIN

Gary Kiselka -- 27-5

Drew Kockler --29-8

Ethan Hart -- 21-11

Trenton Rice -- 16-13

Kaden Kiselka -- 26-12

Orvis Davis -- 10-18

Gary Kiselka has 16 pins, Kaden Kiselka 15, Rice 13 and Hart 11.

CRANBERRY 

Elijah Brosius --- 34-5

Dane Wenner -- 31-10

Dalton Wenner -- 34-5

Aiden Thompson -- 22-11

Alex McLaughlin -- 22-9

Noah Lucarelli -- 17-15

Rilee Matalino -- 12-16

Connor Reszkowski is 8-1

Dane Wenner has 21 pins, Dalton Wenner 20, Brosius 17, McLaughlin 15, Thompson 14  and Lucarelli 13.

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(Kelly Malek)

Poolside update
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(Richard Sayer)

Franklin and Oil City split their meet Monday. Franklin won the boys meet, 81-62, and Oil City took the girls meet, 109-61.

Oil City closed the season Feb. 13 with a split vs. Slippery Rock. The boys won 98-39 for a 5-6 record, while the girls lost, 102-67, to finish 7-4. The Knights also posted a split in their finale. The girls (4-7) beat Grove City, 89-81, while the boys (7-4) fell to the Eagles, 95-63. 

Per Facebook: Oil City girls took second and the boys were third in the sixth annual Southern Tier meet Feb. 7 at Grove City College. The two teams were third overall. Per X: Franklin was fourth among the six boys teams. Grove City won the meet to remain unbeaten in the region.

Franklin began February by sweeping Sharon while Oil City dropped a pair to Titusville.  Franklin boys are 6-3 and the girls are 3-6. Oil City boys are 4-5 and the girls are 6-3. The Titusville boys lead Region 1, and the girls are second to Slippery Rock.​

Results of January invitationals: ​

Franklin's Dani Erdley won the 200 free and was runner-up in the 500 in the annual North East Invitational Jan. 11.​

Meanwhile, Oil City opted out of that meet and took both teams to the Falcon Invitational at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, so they could cheer each other on. Madyson Kissell came away with a first in the 500 and a pair of seconds in relays. She teamed Gabi Schiffer, Abbey McCain and Ayla Hall on the medley and then with Hall, Abby Nuhfer and Schiffer on the 400.​

Hall was second in the IM and fourth in the fly and Schiffer was second in the back. All told, both teams posted PRs "99.9 percent" of the time, according to a Facebook post. The girls finished third among 18 teams. For the boys, Clae Thompson was fifth in the 100 free.​​​

Franklin boys took sixth out of 14 teams at the Iroquois Invitational on Jan. 18. Winslow and Stumpf were 2-3 in the back.

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ABOUT THIS SITE

If you are from Anywhere, USA, and happened to stumble upon this site, Franklin and Oil City are about eight miles apart along Route 8 in Venango County, Pa. -- which is about halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie in the western part of the state.

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yardsandpoints.com (formerly venangofootball.com and then route8rivalry.com) covers the grid doings of Oil City and Franklin high schools in Venango County. It also includes the football histories of the two schools, which date back to 1896, along with that of Venango Catholic (nee Christian and formerly St. Joseph in Oil City), which dropped the sport in the 1990s. VC has been in co-ops with Oil City and Franklin since then. I've recently included more stuff on basketball concerning Venango County's five PIAA schools as well as the doings in other sports, fall through spring.

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This is a Wix site with longtime but former Derrick sports editor Penny Weichel serving as webmaster. She is the former webmaster of ocpafootball.com and franklinpafootball.com, and most of the information found there can be found here. 

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Contact pennyweichel@outlook.com if need be.

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