Sports
Scholastic Notebook – 03/12/2017
March 12, 2017
New Castle was a good 3-point shooting team in the regular season. But the Red Hurricanes’ marksmanship has even improved in the postseason, and is it any wonder New Castle hasn’t lost a playoff game? New Castle won the WPIAL Class 4A championship and romped past Sharon in the first round of the PIAA playoffs. New Castle has averaged nine made 3-pointers a game in four postseason games and coach Ralph Blundo’s team is shooting 43 percent behind the arc in playoff games. That is excellent for any team, let alone a high school team. New Castle made 11, 9 and 10 3-pointers in three WPIAL playoff games, and then made 7 of 22 against Sharon in the first round of the playoffs.
PIAA Wrestling: Class 3-A FINAL Results
March 11, 2017
The expectation coming in to the Giant Center in Hershey was for the world to see history. But the history the crowd seen was certainly unexpected. At 126, Spencer Lee of Franklin Regional was looking to become the 13th wrestler in PIAA history to win four state championships. In his way was undefeated South Central champion Austin DeSanto of Exeter Township. The two battled for much of the match with DeSanto scoring last, a takedown just as the buzzer sounded to defeat Lee and shock the world, 6-5. Lee, who was wrestling with a knee brace, gave word to the media after his match that he had been wrestling all postseason with a complete tear of his ACL.
PIAA Wrestling: Class 2-A FINAL Results
While the WPIAL only brought home one gold medal on Saturday, it was one that took its wrestler one step closer to wrestling history. Gavin Teasdale of Jefferson Morgan won his third straight state championship by defeating Austin Clabaugh of Bermudian Springs by major decision, 13-5. It was a dominating performance for the Rockets junior, who finished the season 40-0 and is now 122-0 in his career.
PIAA Wrestling: Class 2-A Day Two Results
March 10, 2017
The WPIAL entered the state championships in AA with two wrestlers being undefeated. After wrestling Friday those wrestlers remained unbeaten and will wrestle for a state championship. Gavin Teasdale of Jefferson Morgan is the first. He will look for his 40th win of the season and third state championship after beating Kollin Myers of Springdale by technical fall, 20-5 in 3:51. Teasdale will wrestle Austin Clabaugh of Bermudian Springs in the final.
PIAA Wrestling: Class 3-A Day Two Results
Day two of AAA wrestling in Hershey was strong for the WPIAL, with 34 of 56 wrestlers guaranteed to come home with a medal. Of the 34 wrestlers, 17 remain alive in the semi-finals with an opportunity to become a state champion. Leading the way is Spencer Lee of Franklin Regional, who is on a quest to become the 13th wrestler in PIAA history to win four state championships. Lee won by technical fall in the quarterfinals 15-0 in 2:45 over Gunnar Fuss of Harry S. Truman. Cameron Coy of Penn Trafford also continued his dominance, winning by fall in 1:11 over Owen Watkins of General McLane, to advance into the semi-finals. Coy is looking to become the 44th wrestler in PIAA history to win three state titles.PIHL Penguins Cup Playoff Recaps for Thursday, March 9th
The biggest postseason night of the 2017 PIHL Playoffs took place Thursday with eleven Quarterfinals contests including all four 3-A games, three games in 2-A and 1-A and one final Quarterfinals game in Division II. The tight competitive hockey that has been the theme of this postseason continued with five visiting teams picking up wins and advancing to the Final Four. Here are recaps from those games that set the state for the Semifinals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A special thanks to Matt Vandriak, Sean Meyers, Ed Troup, Sean Saputo, Kevin Zielmanski, Don Rebel, Josh Rowntree, Mike Azadian, Randy Gore and Lou Rood for their help on these recaps. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS 3-A Quarterfinals:
PIAA Wrestling: Class 3-A Day One Results
March 9, 2017
The WPIAL put together a strong showing on day one in AAA, with half of its wrestlers (28 of 56) advancing into the quarterfinals. Of the 28 wrestlers who dropped into the consolations, only 6 were eliminated from the tournament. Wrestlers from the WPIAL were able to pull a couple upsets, but also had champions from a week ago get upset as well. The wrestlers to pull the upsets were Dominic Means of Pittsburgh Central Catholic at 138, who beat South Central Champion Clayton Ulrey of Lower Dauphin 8-6. At 152, Brock Godzin of Belle Vernon defeated South East Champion Chase Stephens of Coatesville 6-4 in overtime. The third was Jake Slinger of Upper St. Clair at 220, where he beat North East Champion Evan Callahan of Freedom by fall in 3:31.
PIAA Wrestling: Class 2-A Day One Results
The WPIAL brought 34 wrestlers in to Hershey, with a mixed bag of results. 11 wrestlers remain in contention for a state championship after day one, with 12 wrestlers alive in the consolations, and 11 WPIAL wrestlers being eliminated. Leading the way is Gavin Teasdale of Jefferson Morgan, who is looking for his third state championship. He won by technical fall 27-11 in 5:30 over Nicholas Vonelli of Notre Dame GP to advance. Also moving on in the same weight was John Rocco Kazalas of Quaker Valley, who won 8-7 over Gage Bayless of Reynolds.PIHL Penguins Cup Playoff Recaps for Wednesday, March 8th
The excitement of a competitive First Round of the PIHL Penguins Cup Playoffs has already carried over into Round Two. There were two Second Round high school hockey playoff games on Wednesday and both ended with identical 5-4 scores with one decided in the closing minutes and the other ending in a third overtime. Here are summaries from both Quarterfinals games. A special thanks to Sean Meyers and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS 2-A Quarterfinals:PIHL Penguins Cup Playoff Recaps for Tuesday, March 7th
March 8, 2017
The First Round of the PIHL Class 1-A Penguins Cup Playoffs came to a memorable finish on Tuesday with a upset and a historic comeback. The four opening round contests closed the door on the opening round and set the stage for the high school hockey Quarterfinals on Thursday. Plus a Division II Quarterfinals results has 3/4 of the Semifinals set for next weekend. Here are the recaps from the five PIHL postseason contests played on Tuesday. A special thanks to Sean Meyers, Sean Saputo and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS 1-A First Round:PIHL Notebook – 03/07/2017
March 7, 2017
The PIHL playoffs officially kicked off with a slew of contests last night, and the play-in and first round action continues for the next three nights, as well. As a result, this edition of the PIHL Notebook will provide a glimpse into the upcoming matchups. Class AAA and AA will consist of four first-round games, while Class A includes four play-in tilts. Lastly, Division 2 will feature two first-round bouts. MSA Sports will broadcast nearly all of the contests highlighted below, as well as the semifinals and championships. Class AAA First Round No. 1 Central Catholic Vikings (16-4-0) vs No. 8 Butler Golden Tornado (7-10-3) – Thursday, March 9 at Alpha Ice Complex at 9 p.m.PIHL Penguins Cup Playoff Recaps for Monday, March 6th
The curtain rose and the puck dropped on the 2017 PIHL Penguins Cup Playoffs on Monday night with six high school hockey postseason contests. A pair of 2-A First Round games set the stage for the Quarterfinals while two of six Round One games were played in Class 1-A and two of the four Division II Quarterfinals games are in the books. Here are summaries from the six opening nights playoff matchups. A special thanks to Rennie Detore, Steve Nagler, Kevin Zielmanski, Josh Rowntree, Bob Orkwis, Lou Rood and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS 2-A First Round:
WPIAL Alum Q&A – Geno Thorpe
March 6, 2017
Thorpe has been a prominent name in WPIAL athletics for quite some time, and Geno Thorpe has carried on the tradition by producing an impressive basketball resume. Thorpe, who excelled at both Shady Side Academy and Shaler, is now a top performer at the University of South Florida. As a high-school freshman in 2009-10, Geno played in a star-studded lineup at Shady Side Academy. Along with future Division I athletes Michael Young and Reggie Mitchell, Thorpe helped guide the Indians to a 19-5 mark, including playoff victories against Bishop Canevin and Jeannette. The team fell in the Class AA semifinals, however, and was also defeated in the PIAA second round.
WPIAL Coaches Corner – Joe Salvino
In this feature titled “Coach’s Corner”, I will be interviewing a different coach every week and asking them questions about their personal life and about coaching. Hopefully their answers will not only shed some light on how they coach their respective teams, but also allow readers to get to know the men behind the fields/courts. This week highlights Monessen boys basketball coach Joe Salvino. Coach Salvino, a graduate of Monessen, is in his 33rd year coaching the Greyhounds. He has 622 wins and just won his 6th WPIAL title this season. He also has guided the Greyhounds to 2 PIAA crowns. In the past 6 years alone, he has led his squad to 4 WPIAL championship games. Let’s take a look inside Coach Salvino’s corner:Scholastic Notebook – 03/06/2017
It doesn’t take an analytics whiz to figure out that 3-point shooting has become a big part of high school basketball. But if one can deduce anything from the WPIAL championships over the past three days, it is this: While accuracy from 3-point range might be nice, the biggest factor in winning a championship is to hit the boards. Look at the statistics from the 12 boys and girls championships (six in each classification) Thursday through Saturday and rebounding was by far the biggest key and not shooting. Here is what the statistics showed:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 03/06/2017
We move from the district championships to the start of the state playoffs in basketball and the state championships in wrestling as well as the drop of the puck on the high school hockey postseason all this week on the MSA Sports Network. Our postseason coverage continues with PIAA First Round boys and girls basketball games, the PIAA 3-A and 2-A Individual Wrestling championships and First Round and Quarterfinals action of the PIHL Penguins Cup high school hockey playoffs, plus we have The WPIAL Roundball Report, The PIHL Power Play Show and Inside the WPIAL Wrestling Circle ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, March 6th:2017 WPIAL GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS Results
March 5, 2017
While there were no repeat district winners in girls basketball, 2017 did mark the end of the second longest title run in WPIAL history as Vincentian Academy fell in the finals ending their five year championship winning streak. Three teams picked up first ever WPIAL girls basketball crowns with Chartiers Valley in 5-A, Chartiers-Houston in 2-A and Winchester Thurston in 1-A and while it was the schools second title, it was 45 years since their last girls golden basketball for North Allegheny in 6-A. Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic in 4-A captured a 17th WPIAL girls roundball title while Bishop Canevin in 3-A won it all for the second time in three years and third time in six seasons.2017 WPIAL BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS Results
For the first time ever, SIX boys basketball teams have been crowned district champions. Two of them, Pine-Richland and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic were repeat winner from a year ago. Three teams, Pine-Richland in 6-A, New Castle in 4-A and Monessen in 1-A went the distance from top-seed to gold medal winner, while Moon in 5-A as a #2-seed, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic in 3-A as a #3-seed and Sewickley Academy as a #3-seed won it all from the bottom of the bracket. Here are ALL the results from the 2017 WPIAL Boys Basketball Playoffs. You can go back and listen to EVERY district playoff game anytime you want here on the MSA Sports Network.
Pine-Richland Beats Butler for 3rd Time, Repeats as WPIAL Champs
March 4, 2017
For the second time in as many years, the Pine Richland Rams boys took gold in the WPIAL’s highest classification. The Rams used a late 11-2 run in the 4th quarter to pull away from the Butler Golden Tornado and win the 6-A Championship, 72-61. It was the third time in as many tries that Pine Richland defeated their Section 1 foe. The Rams had to defeat North Hills a third time in the 6-A semifinals to even make it to the championship game.
2017 WPIAL 3-A Individual Wrestling Results
The top AAA wrestlers in the WPIAL showcased themselves well over the weekend in Canon McMillan, and no one was a better example of that then Spencer Lee of Franklin Regional. Lee became the 27th wrestler to win four WPIAL Championships, pinning Noah Levett of Kiski Area in 1:16 to win his fourth title. In addition to the fall on Levett, Lee also pinned his other three opponents, all in the first period. In addition to Lee, Cam Coy of Penn Trafford wrestled a great tournament to become the 73rd wrestler to win three WPIAL Championships. Coy also collected three first period falls to get to the finals, where he then beat Canon McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis 5-2 to win the title.
