Football
WPIAL and City League Football Scores for 9/23
September 23, 2016
One week after the busiest Friday of the WPIAL football regular season, we followed up with the second busiest high school gridiron slate of the 2016 campaign. With one-third of the season in the books, we are starting to get a feel for who is in the playoff chase for good and who is prepping that spoilers cap for an October debut. Week Four also marked the first Friday of Autumn. Let the Fall fun begin!! Here are all of the final results. CLASS 6-A Northern Seven Conference: Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings 42 - Seneca Valley Raiders 14 (F) North Allegheny Tigers 49 - Butler Golden Tornado 7 (F)Scholastic Notebook – 09/23/2016
At Mapletown, Rush rushes. A lot. Dylan Rush is a junior running back at Mapletown who has enjoyed a big season so far. He is the second-leading rusher in the WPIAL with 1,027 yards. The only running back who is ahead of him is Armstrong’s Zane Dudek, who has 1,201. Rush stands only 5 feet 9 and weighs 180 pounds. You have to wonder how strong Rush’s back is, because he is carrying the Mapletown team on it. Rush’s number of carries isn’t on the high side. It’s on the ridiculous side. In four games, Rush has carried the ball 147 times. That’s 36.8 times a game. The rest of Mapletown’s team has 31 carries. On top of that, Mapletown has thrown 22 passes – and Rush has attempted seven of them.Chicks Picks for Week Four
September 22, 2016
Welcome to Week 4 of the high school football season. Chick’s Picks spends many days on the road, particularly early in the season. Her surging popularity demands her presence at various high schools throughout the WPIAL. This past Friday, though, Chick’s Picks thought that she should probably make some time to visit with The Boss at MSA Sports World Headquarters.Big Game Hunting for Week Four 2016
September 21, 2016
Welcome to week four of the WPIAL football season. Upon the conclusion of this week's games we will have played exactly as many weeks of regular-season football as will remain. Yes, half way already. Football is like a really good chili-cheeseburger, before you realize it, and have time to really savor it, you’re almost done with it. I double checked that information with in-house MSA Sports Network Chili Cheeseburger Expert Robert “Bobby O” Orkwis before I just threw it out there and he did confirm. Week four and we start to see some separation, finding out who are the contenders and who are the pretenders continues as we go Big Game Hunting!MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Football – 09/19/2016
September 19, 2016
Each and every Monday during the regular season, the MSA Sports Network will rank the Top Ten seven in 6-A and top ten football teams in each of the other five classifications. Here are the rankings following Week Three of the 2016 high school football season. WPIAL CLASS 6-A WPIAL FOOTBALL TOP SEVEN: 1. PITTSBURGH CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS (3-1) (Last Week #1.....Week Four - at #4 Seneca Valley) 2. PINE-RICHLAND RAMS (3-1) (Last Week #2.....Week Four - host Bethel Park) 3. NORTH ALLEGHENY TIGERS (2-2) (Last Week #5.....Week Four - host Butler on MSA)
WPIAL Alum Q&A – Ryan Sproule
At Central Catholic High School, Ryan Sproule may be best remembered for his contributions to the Vikings in capturing the 2015 WPIAL baseball championship, the first in team history. It was on the pitch, though, that Sproule continued his athletic career Washington University in St. Louis. Just a sophomore in college, Sproule already is one of the top performers on his team. As such, he's featured on this week's installment of WPIAL Alum Q&A.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 09/18/2016
September 18, 2016
We officially welcome the 2016 Autumn season with another busy week of fall high school sports here on the MSA Sports Network. The high school football season moves to Week Four and The Network has 29 WPIAL football weekend contests starting with the MSA Sports pregame Show Friday at 6pm and concluding with the WPIAL Scoreboard Show at 9:30pm.2016 WPIAL Football Standings – 09/18
Here are the latest WPIAL football standings through Saturday of Week Three of the 2016 high school football season. Once again this year, we have added points for and points against as well as the updated WPIAL tiebreaker points for all 122 WPIAL teams. Standings are updated after Friday and Saturday's scholastic gridiron action each week. Click on each team to see all of their results along with their remaining schedule for the 2016 season. (Top 4 teams from both conferences in 6-A, 5-A and 4-A qualify for the playoffs) (Top 2 teams from the three conferences in 3-A along with two third place wild cards qualify for the playoffs) (Top 5 teams from the three conference in 2-A and 1-A along with one sixth place wild card qualify for the playoffs)MSA Sports Saturdays Scholastic Starz for Week Three
September 17, 2016
It's sort of like digging out your telescope from the deep, dark crevices of your upstairs closet, dusting it off, setting it up and then...nothing but clouds. But wait, off in the distance is that one shining star. That was the case Saturday of Week Three with only one high school football game on the WPIAL gridiron slate. here is out brief salute to our Saturday Scholastic Standout. Tyler Bradley - Our Lady of the Sacred HeartWPIAL Football Score for Sat 9/17
The band Three Dog Night once sang "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do," from their hit song simply titled One. That summed up the Saturday high school football schedule for the WPIAL in Week Three. With 60 contests played in the district Friday, that left only a Class 1-A Big 7 Conference tilt as the only game in town. You can hear the archived broadcast here on The Network. Here is the final result. WPIAL CLASS 1-A Big 7 Conference: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chargers 49 - Western Beaver Golden Beavers 6 (MSA)MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Three
Every Friday night, there are hard decisions to make to whittle down many of the great performances from around the WPIAL into our Top Ten HighLights package. But this Friday night was probably the toughest since it was the busiest night game wise of the entire 2016 season. Of the possible 61 WPIAL football games, 60 were played on 9/16, thus the difficult becomes even more so. Here's what we came up with on a pleasant evening weather wise for the Week Three HighLights. Jordan Crawford - Pine-RichlandScholastic Notebook – 09/16/2016
September 16, 2016
Fewer than 20 runners in WPIAL history have rushed for 5,000 yards in their career. But no one on the 5,000-yard list runs the football quite like Clairton’s Lamont Wade. He averages a first down every time he touches the ball. Wade went over 5,000 yards last week against Springdale. He now has 5,062 yards on 460 attempts. Before you go to your calculator, that’s 11.0 yards a carry. That’s phenomenal when you consider that is the highest yards-per-carry average of anyone who has gained 5,000 yards. The next best is Beth-Center’s Anthony Welsh, who finished his career a year ago with a 10.4 average. In two games so far this year, Wade is above his career average. He has 351 yards on 16 carries. That’s a whopping 16.7-yard average.Chicks Picks for Week Three
September 15, 2016
Welcome to Week 3 of the high school football season. Chick’s Picks heard a rumor recently that The Fumbler was running for office. Office of what, she was not quite sure, since WPIAL prognosticating and politics seem to be a far cry from one another. Nonetheless, Chick’s Picks wanted to offer her support to her fellow prognosticator.Big Game Hunting for Week Three 2016
September 14, 2016
In my time doing Big Game Hunting I cannot recall any other regular season week in which the top games were so obvious. Week three has it all, consistent Top-Ten battles across five of the six classifications, the two leading passers in the WPIAL, the leading rusher and scorer in the WPIAL, and three of the top six receivers in the WPIAL. All of this saves me the trouble of having to come up with an engaging and interesting opening paragraph, and let’s be honest I was only hitting about .250 at that to begin with so, without further ado, let’s go Big Game Hunting!MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Football – 09/12/2016
September 12, 2016
Each and every Monday during the regular season, the MSA Sports Network will rank the Top Ten seven in 6-A and top ten football teams in each of the other five classifications...including another NEW #1 team in Class 3-A. Here are the rankings following Week Two of the 2016 high school football season. WPIAL CLASS 6-A WPIAL FOOTBALL TOP SEVEN: 1. PITTSBURGH CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS (2-1) (Last Week #1.....Week Three - host #4 Hempfield on MSA) 2. PINE-RICHLAND RAMS (2-1) (Last Week #2.....Week Three - at #3 Penn Hills on MSA)
WPIAL Alum Q&A – Ryan Lewis
In high school, Ryan Lewis starred in two different sports at two different schools. His somewhat unorthodox path, though, led him to Robert Morris University, where he's now a standout on the Colonials' defensive line. Lewis is this week's spotlight for the WPIAL Alum Q&A. As a sophomore and junior in high school, Lewis was a standout for North Catholic. As a 6-foot-5, 200-plus pound receiver, he was a matchup nightmare for opponents. Likewise, he wreaked havoc on the defensive side, where he had 18 sacks and 100 tackles in his junior campaign. The Trojans finished 7-4 that season, making it to the Class A quarterfinals.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 09/11/2016
September 11, 2016
It's another busy week of fall high school sports here on the MSA Sports Network. The high school football season moves to Week Three and The Network has 28 WPIAL football weekend contests starting with the MSA Sports pregame Show Friday at 6pm and concluding with the WPIAL Scoreboard Show at 9:30pm. We also have six District 6 and District 9 high school football games, WPIAL girls soccer and WPIAL girls volleyball, College soccer and volleyball featuring Carlow University, plus the debut of the MSA Sports Hometown Girls Volleyball Show and another great edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.netMSA Sports Saturdays Scholastic Starz for Week Two
Any coach will tell you, versatility in a football player is huge. If you can play various positions at a high level in all three aspects of the game, that is a very good thing. Especially in Class 1-A where rosters sizes are small and the demand for versatility is not only appreciated, but needed. Here are the top five stand out performances from a gusty Saturday afternoon in Week Two as the play of these guys 'blew away' their opponents. Kenny Robinson - Imani Christian2016 WPIAL Football Standings – 09/11
Here are the latest WPIAL football standings through Week One of the 2016 high school football season. Once again this year, we have added points for and points against as well as the updated WPIAL tiebreaker points for all 122 WPIAL teams. Standings are updated after Friday and Saturday's scholastic gridiron action each week. (Top 4 teams from both conferences in 6-A, 5-A and 4-A qualify for the playoffs) (Top 2 teams from the three conferences in 3-A along with two third place wild cards qualify for the playoffs) (Top 5 teams from the three conference in 2-A and 1-A along with one sixth place wild card qualify for the playoffs) # = Clinched Section Title * = Clinched Playoff Berth x = Eliminated From Playoff ChaseMSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Two
September 10, 2016
It was wet...it was wild...and depending on what sideline you were on, it was a wonderful Friday night of high school football...and we are only in Week Two. A long winning streak stretching over parts of seven years came to a sudden halt...a long losing streak came within inches of ending...and depending on what part of Western Pennsylvania you were watching your favorite team, you either had to deal with a pregame sprinkle or a mid-game downpour. Oh yeah, there were these gems that provided the icing on a very delicious scholastic football cake. Phil Jurkovec - Pine-Richland
