Blog | yardsandpoints

Winter blog

February/March

March 12: Shadyside Academy, the team that beat the Cranberry girls last Saturday, outscored Northwestern, 10-2, in the fourth quarter to oust the previously unbeaten Lady Wildcats, 46-44, from the 3A playoffs. That outburst came on the heels of a 13-0 Northwestern run to end the third quarter. And then, practically nothing. Wildcats finished 25-1; junior scoring machine Makayla Presser-Palmer 736 points.

Shame about Franklin's Camden Smith, an all-state swimmer who missed most of the season (all but one meet?) with an injury (arm in a sling in photos). He earned four of Franklin's five state medals last season (two on relays) and was named District 10 Swimmer of the Year at the Erie paper's spring fete. But the Knights will be heading to the state meet this weekend without Smith in the lineup. With him, I suspect the Knights had hoped to make a big splash at states. Still, they are not devoid of firepower with the likes Kye Winslow and Jordan Stumpf around. Not having Smith, however, has got to be a killer -- for him and the team.

March 9: Oil City will host another playoff game -- Harbor Creek vs. North Catholic at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a 4A girls game.

Meadville is still blank on the PIAA 5A boys bracket. The 'Dogs are supposed to play Hershey. PIAA has speaketh: double forfeit. Hershey moves on without suiting up. Meadville and Uniontown must jump through hoops to be eligible for next year's playoffs. Certain fans banned from sporting events through next year.

Devon Prep, the team that beat Franklin last year for the 3A state title, is still alive in the playoffs as the3 12-1 entry in 4A.

Kirtland, Ohio, Tiger LaVerde's school, is in the Final 4 for basketball in Ohio's Division VI.

Former Oiler basketball standouts Jake Hornbeck and Cam Van Wormer played on a team that won the Slippery Rock intramural championship. They are both sophomores at the Rock.

March 7. The Meadville-Uniontown game ended with 3:12 to play after a fight broke out. It came after a technical was called on the visiting Uniontown team. The fight spilled out onto the court. Several fans were taken away in handcuffs, according to a report by Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times News. Film on X, too. Meadville led 63-55 when the game was called, but the win apparently isn't official; the PIAA hasn't entered the score on its bracket sheet. And still not on there as of 11 a.m. Saturday. (Game since ruled double forfeit).

WPIAL champion Belle Vernon beat Farrell, District 10's No. 5 entry, 75-63, but it was only a two-point game heading into the fourth quarter.

Kennedy Catholic's Layke Fields passed the 2,000 points milestone on Mar. 7, and Northwestern star Makayla Presser-Palmer scored 40 against Avonworth. She's a junior who has 714 points this season and is averaging 28.6. Northwestern gets Shadyside Academy next.

Later March 2: Have to say that Tim Shaw's call on the radio of Sydney Stevens' miracle shot was very "Giants win the pennant!" like.

March 2: It's funny to see little old Cathedral Prep -- such an itsy bitsy widdle school -- dominate the AA regional wrestling tournament while the Cranberry/Oil City co-op is in 3A at Canon-Mac, going at it with the big boys -- Thomas Jefferson, Connellsville, Altoona, State College were the top four in the team standings. (To give you an idea.) Prep also dominated the AA swimming. And the Ramblers ruled in 4A basketball, making mincemeat out of all comers. Does Prep EVER play up??? In anything??? Oh no, we can't have that.

In 2019, Kennedy Catholic, an A school in enrollment, had some real studs (not from Mercer County) on its boys basketball team and moved up to 6A. And won the state championship. Can you imagine Prep ever having the guts to do that? I can't either.

Instead, let's look the other way, and say 26th straight title this, 48th straight title that.

It wasn't that many years ago, well, OK, 30 years with time flying, that Oil City was dominant by itself in wrestling, one of the top programs in District 10, and competed in 3A. Nobody thought anything of it.

Feb. 28: The winner of tonight's consy between Oil City and Farrell will get the WPIAL champion in the first round of interdistricts, and that team would be Belle Vernon.

Union and Jeannette will play for the WPIAL 2A boys title tonight. Other seeds are 3. Sewickley Academy, 4. Neshannock, 5. Greensburg CC, 6. OLSH, 7. Northgate, 8. Chartiers Houston. Rocky Grove will play Chartiers-Houston if they win the title, Neshannock if they lose.

Should the Franklin girls win on Saturday, they would get WPIAL runnerup Oakland Catholic next. If they lose, it will be WPIALchampion Backhawk.

Suffice it to say that the top two teams in 3A girls out of the WPIAL are Greensburg Central Catholic and Shadyside Academy. Boys: 1 Aliquippa, 2. South Allegheny.

Feb. 25. Seasons end and seasons end with a THUD. Think of the Warren boys and Connenaut girls, who won Region 5 titles and had decent expectations for the post-season. And then. First-round playoff losses. Ugh.

All four 4A interdistrict qualifiers in 4A boys get WPIAL teams in the first round. Belle Vernon and North Catholic will play for the title Thursday. Avonworth and Beaver will meet for third and fourth place. Elizabeth Forward, Knoch, Deer Lakes and Central Valley are in contention for the No. 5 team.

Same with 2A boys. One through four is between Sewickley, Jeannette, Neshannock and Union. OLSH and Greensburg CC are battling for No. 5. Seventh and eighth seeds are between Chartiers Houston and Northgate.

And same with 4A girls. Oakland Catholic will face Blackhawk for the WPIAL crown. Elizabeth-Forward and North Catholic were semifinal losers Monday. Tough is No. 5 and Highlands is No. 6.

Not going to venture into 3A yet.

Feb. 16. That KSAC crown was the fourth straight for the Redbank Valley girls. Just curious (thinking of Rocky Grove): the top four seeds in District 9 2A are Clarion, Redbank Valley, C-L and Keystone...No need to worry: the Otto-Eldred Terrors are in 1A, but in the midst of some controversy, only got the two seed for the D-9 tourney. Another 22-0 team (at the time of seeding), lured the top spot. That would be the venerable Elk County Catholic Crusaders.

Cameron County upset previously unbeaten Otto-Eldred, 54-51, in the NTL (Northern Tier League) semifinals Feb. 14. O-E is the school with 63 straight league victories, dating back to 2020.

Carson Papay of Ft. LeBoeuf scored his 1,000th point on Feb. 11, and Meadville's Lucas Luteran reached 200 3-pointers. And Nathan Greer is Grove City's all-time leading scorer with 1,360 points.

According to a Tweet on X by Tom Reisenweber, Erie Times News scribe, the District 10 committee will meet Saturday (Feb. 15) morning to determine seedings for the playoffs. Oil City and Rocky Grove girls are opt-outs.

Wow. Did. not. realize. (But should have). Kennedy Catholic girls had a 56-game winning streak going until Harbor Creek beat them, 55-50, Feb. 8. According to YDLSportsNetwork.com, the Golden Eagles hadn't lost to a D-10 opponent since Feb. 6, 2022, when Villa Maria beat them, 50-28. The streak includes playoff games. Kennedy has been without Monique Vincent all season and I believe lately without Bella Magestro.

Otto-Eldred, a school in District 9 nobody around here ever heard of, has 63 straight Northern Tier League wins in boys basketball. The Terrors last lost a league game in 2020. Update: O-E trounced Clarion-Limestone, 56-30, on Feb. 8 in a game played at Pitt-Bradford. The Terrors led 35-13 by halftime.

Here's something you don't see everyday: a last-place basketball team beating a first-place team. But on Feb. 3, the cellar dwelling Meadville girls stunned Conneaut, 70-65, in a Region 5 game. MASH is now 1-5, CASH 5-1.

Franklin boys hosted Girard to kick off the month, and the Yellow Jackets drilled 14 3-pointers in a 78-39 win. Eight by a fella named Zach Kelley. Running clock by early in the second half. Girard upset Franklin in last year's D-10 3A finals, but were eliminated by the Knights later on in interdistricts. Girard is 15-4 this season, dominating Region 6 and losing to Meadville, Cathedral Prep, McDowell, Erie.

January

Tiger LaVerde's Kirtland Tigers will play a Pennsylvania team for the first time -- but it won't be his alma mater, Oil City. The Ohio small school powerhouse will take on Central Clarion at the Wildcats' field on Aug. 22. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Central Clarion won the District 9 2A title and was state runner-up last season -- but its all-everything QB Jase Ferguson will have graduated. All LaVerde seems to do at Kirtland is reload.

Former Oiler Roman McFall, now a senior football/basketball star for the Canyon High School Cougars in New Braunfels, Texas, has been picked to play in an all-star hoops game March 23 in San Antonio. Here he is pictured with classmate Emma Pinto, who was picked for the girls game. Roman had 12 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and a steal in his final game on Feb. 11.

Grove City's Nathan Greer announced he'll play college football at Slippery Rock.

The Warren County school shake-up -- Warren and Eisenhower; no more Youngsville and Sheffield -- means Warren will move up to 5A in boys basketball, starting next school year. That furthermore means there will be a championship game between Warren and Meadville. Warren will remain in 4A for football. Sheffield students will attend Warren and Youngsville students will attend Eisenhower. Basically, Eisenhower will move up in everything.

Rayvion Wilbon-Venable scored 56 of Kennedy Catholic's 58 points on Jan. 17.(Eagles lost to Greenville by 11.) He buried seven 3-pointers and was 17-24 from the free throw line.

Jason Wargo is the new offensive coordinator at Geneva College. Wargo, a Geneva grad, recently resigned as head coach at Maplewood. He was an assistant coach at Franklin for six years and the Knights' head coach in track for three seasons.

The Warren School Board on Jan. 13 voted to close Youngsville and Sheffield high schools. That means the football co-op between Youngsville and Warren will be dissolved since Youngsville students will attend Eisenhower, starting this fall.

This brings to mind Youngsville's and one of District 10's greatest athletes ever: Mike Shine, an Olympic silver medalist in the 1976 Games in Montreal. Shine, who was starring for Penn State in the 400 hurdles, was second to Edwin Moses, who set a world record. Youngsville had a juggernaut track team in the early 1970s featuring Shine and the Yucha brothers, Paul and Randy.

Keystone ended Redbank Valley's 38-game KSAC winning streak in girls basketball on Jan. 9, and Slippery Rock's big man, Josh Book, scored 42, his second 40-point game of the season.

Former Franklin assistant Jason Wargo resigned as head football coach at Maplewood on Jan. 8

When the 5-3 Grove City girls took to their home hardwood Jan. 6 against an Oil City team that hadn't won in its last six tries, it was the Lady Eagles' first game since Dec. 19! Lady Oilers won by 20 behind Sophia Garmong's career-high 27...Speaking of dates, wonder if the Erie Times News is ever going to announce its District10 football all-stars?

Back in the 90s, when it was starting out as a state-wide basketball power, Blackhawk was a thorn in Franklin's side. Many frustrating losses in the playoffs before the Knights eventually and finally broke through. Remember that? Well, I just noticed this, but Franklin, never known as a "wrestling school," holds a resounding mat victory over Blackhawk, 41-12. It came in the David Wallace Duals at Sharpsville on Dec. 21. The Knights were 2-4 that day, also measuring Mercer, but dropping bouts to Sharpsville, Beaver County Christian (by a point), Slippery Rock and Grove City. Having all those duals that day explains Franklin's 3-8 record so far when it's still early January.

Elk County Catholic coach Aaron Straub won his 1,000th game on Jan.3. He's believed to be the second coach in Pennsylvania history to win 1,000. According to Chris Rosetti of D9andD10sports.com, Straub has been at Elk for 47 years, coaching the girls to a 27-21 record the first two. He is 973-247 in the last 45 campaigns with the boys, including a state and 26 D-9 titles. The only other coach believed to be at 1,000 is Loyalsock's Ron Insinger, who began this season with 1,136 victories, both girls and boys. Franklin, you might remember, had a chance to take on Loyalsock in last year's playoffs, depending how things broke...Also on Jan. 3, Slippery Rock's big man, Josh Book, erupted for 39 points in a win over Greenville.

PET PEEVE -- The "old-fashioned" three-point play. Eyeball roll. Three-pointers -- shots from beyond the arc -- have been around since 1987 or 88, and I've never heard anyone EVER refer to them as "three-point plays." They're three-pointers, treys, trifectas, whatever, but not three-point plays. When a player makes a two-point basket, is fouled and converts the free throw, that's a three-point play. Period. Nothing "old-fashioned" about it. And if a player is fouled while making a three-pointer and converts, then that's a four-point play. Just sayin'.

December

The Knights were without superstar Camden Smith when they lost to Titusville Dec. 12, according to photographer Richard Sayer. Smith is on the "DL."

Franklin is off to an 0-3 start in wrestling, but Ethan Hart, Gary Kiselka, Drew Kockler and Trenton Rice are all 3-0 for new coach Tye Varndell. There are two girls on Franklin's roster.

Ella Kasunic (115) and Clark Findlay (170) won titles, leading Cranberry to a second place finish among 20 teams in the Clarion Junior High tournament on Dec. 14.

Coming off a 9-point showing, the Rocky Grove girls beat Youngsville, 39-20, Dec. 16, assuring every county varsity team will win a game this season.

Last-second hero: Aiden Focht's only basket of the game for Rocky Grove, a baseline jumper at the buzzer, sunk Cranberry, 65-64, Dec. 7 in the Roy Sanner Tipoff finale.

Former Rocky Grove boys basketball coach Chuck Shankel died Dec. 15. He was 86. Shankel's teams from 1961-68 and in 1980 went 80-34. He twice served as baseball coach, posting a 155-55 record and guided the golf team from 1968 until his retirement in 1996. He also served as athletic director.

Meadville lost to 6A Lower Merion (Kobe Bryant's alma mater,) 61-58, in the finals of the State College Christmas tournament after leaving Oil City last week with a 13-point decision. The Bulldogs are 6-1, measuring host State College in the first round of the tourney. The Oilers led 29-28 at intermission before MASH rallied. Meadville's two senior guards, Jack Burchard and Lucas Luteran went over 1,000 points in the last week.

General McLane's Jacob Zietz (WR in football) sustained an ACL playing basketball in late December and is out for the season.

Clarion-Limestone stunned previously once-beaten Ft. LeBoeuf, 84-80, on its Strattanville court this week behind erstwhile 2A football Player of the Year Jase Feguson's triple double -- 18 points, 10 assists and 10 steals.

Kennedy Catholic's Monique Vincent, a Franklin area resident (Rocky Grove, I believe) is out for the season with an ACL. She's a star on Kennedy's state championship clubs and is Seton Hill recruit...Franklin's Katie Boal signed a letter of intent to play hoops at Gannon...

Receiving pre-season recognition from the Erie paper were: Franklin's Katie Boal, Oil City's Payton Liederbach and Kennedy Catholic's Monique Vincent in girls basketball, Oil City's Will McMahon and Rocky Grove's Landen Carter and Noah Baughman in boys hoops and Franklin's Camden Smith iand Jordan Stumpf in swimming...