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...