February

·       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 WPIAL champion 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.