Sports
District College Football Preview for November 7th
November 4, 2015
The first week of November sees a ton of early games. The PSAC West ends it’s schedule with four games. In the PAC, a battle for the top spot in Cleveland as both Thomas More and Case Western are unbeaten. Here are previews of ALL THE GAMES. Edinboro(0-9) at Seton Hill(2-7) Noon The Fighting Scots are 0-6 in the West Division. Darren Massey is second in the PSAC with 73 catches but only has 5 touchdowns. Edinboro is the least penalized team in the PSAC at 53 yards per game.Fox Chapel Ousts North Allegheny as WPIAL AAA Field Hockey Champ
Fox Chapel won its second WPIAL Class AAA crown in the last four seasons by defeating the defending champion North Allegheny Tigers, 2-0, at Newman Stadium at North Allegheny High School on Tuesday night. The Tigers were trying for a three-peat and were facing a Fox Chapel team that had defeated them in the season opener, 4-0. The rematch was a more tightly contested affair thanks to a North Allegheny defense that was able to thwart an unrelenting Fox Chapel attack throughout the entire first half. Fox Chapel outshot North Allegheny, 15-3 on the night and dictated the pace of the game, but the Tigers managed to stymie the Foxes for a while thanks to the play of goalie Katie Shideler.Ellis School Upsets Shady Side to Repeat in WPIAL AA Field Hockey
In a WPIAL title game rematch, the Ellis School Tigers won their second straight Class AA crown with a 1-0 triumph over the Shady Side Academy Indians. The game was very similar to last year’s title tilt and again came down to a second half goal by Ellis School as the deciding factor. The Tigers had the advantage in penalty corners, 9-3, and had three consecutive corner opportunities to end the first half. Ellis was unable to capitalize on their corner tries before halftime and the game remained scoreless deep into the second half.WPIAL Girls Volleyball Quarterfinals Recaps 2015
Upsets in this years district girls volleyball postseason have been as frequent as tumbleweeds blowing down the streets of Pittsburgh. Ten of the twelve winners in Round Two were higher seeds as Montour and South Fayette in Class AA are the lone exceptions to Top Four Seeds heading into the Final Four on Thursday. Here are recaps from Quarterfinals Tuesday in the 2015 WPIAL Girls Volleyball Playoffs. A special thanks to Cory Campano, Greg Kuntz, Sean Meyers, Bob Orkwis, Rob Longo, Brandon Showers, Sam Hall, James Dotson and Dave Floyd for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:2015 WPIAL GIRLS FIELD HOCKEY RESULTS
November 3, 2015
One of the shortest team tournaments in the WPIAL turned out to be a golden two rounds of success for the two #2-seeds. Both Fox Chapel in Class AAA and The Ellis School in Class AA upset the top seeds North Allegheny and Shady Side Academy in the district championship matches to win field hockey crowns. The title is the second for the Foxes in school history and first since 2012. Meanwhile the Tigers enjoy their sixth WPIAL field hockey championship and second straight golden stick. Ellis School won back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003 as well. Here are ALL the results from the 2015 WPIAL Girls Field Hockey Playoffs. 2015 WPIAL GIRLS FIELD HOCKEY CLASS AAA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:WPIAL Plays of the Week – Week Nine 2015
The 2015 WPIAL football regular season came to a dramatic conclusion, with countless teams jockeying for playoff positioning, while other squads were fighting just to qualify for the postseason. This past Friday, one crucial play likely determined the top seed in Class AAA, while a thrilling shootout in Class A led to a record-setting performance. Also, the unpredictable Allegheny Conference produced more fireworks, with longtime rivals squared off with home-field advantage on the line in the Eastern Conference. Here are the best of the best from the final week of the campaign. 1. Central Valley 23, West Allegheny 13WPIAL Soccer Semifinals Recaps
On one side, the girls held serve as all three top-seeds and a pair of #2-seeds have advanced through the first three rounds to lead to three anticipated title matches. On the other side of the pitch, it has been a great postseason to be a #4-seed as all three upset the top-seeds in the Semifinals and are one victory away from district gold. Here are ALL of the summaries from the twelve district boys and girls Semifinals contests from Monday in the WPIAL Soccer Playoffs. A special thanks to Rob Longo, Mike Azadian, Lee Mohn, Randy Gore, Adam Hoerner, James Dotson, Matt Vandriak, Brandon Showers, Greg Kuntz and Kyle Dawson for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAA BOYS Semifinals:
WPIAL Alum Q&A – Mackenzie Biggs
November 2, 2015
The Hopewell girls’ volleyball team was a powerhouse squad in recent years, as the Vikings captured the Class AA WPIAL Championship in 2011, and finished as runners-up the following season. One of the key components of that program’s success was Mackenzie Biggs, who is this week’s spotlighted athlete. Although also a talented basketball player at Hopewell, Biggs elected to continue her volleyball career at the next level, choosing to attend Clarion University. While seeing limited action as a freshman, Biggs carved out a larger room in 2014 as a sophomore with the Golden Eagles.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Football Seeding Predictions
November 1, 2015
We do it every year in an effort to help the cause. Sometimes our logic is considered by the powers that be, then again, sometimes our two cents is ignored. Everybody has an opinion in how the WPIAL Football Steering Committee should set up the brackets for the upcoming ride on the Highway to Heinz.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 11/01/2015
We are done with the WPIAL football regular season and ready to ride on the Highway to Heinz starting this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have ALL 32 First Round WPIAL Football Playoff games Friday night starting with the MSA Sports Pregame Show and concluding later that night with the WPIAL Football Scoreboard Show. We also have six District 6 and District 9 high school football games along with the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championships of the WPIAL Girls Volleyball Playoffs and the Semifinals and Championships of the WPIAL Boys and Girls Soccer Playoffs. We also have the debut of men's college basketball, plus The WPIAL Football Playoff Pairings Show. This Week in the WPIAL and the season finale of the Indiana County Coaches Show ALL here at MSAsports.netWPIAL Saturday’s Scholastic Starz – Week Nine
While we prepare to tip our cap on Saturday Starz for the final time this season (except for the four title games at Heinz Field, this year on a Saturday), we remember an old school house of thrills that will likely be no more following Saturday's game. We likely say goodbye to Historic Graham Field in Wilkinsburg as the Tigers prepare to merge with City League Westinghouse. The old grandstand has many thrilling tales to tell, including being the home to the WPIAL football finals way back in the day. it was a proper send off to a field that has hosted many a one-sided blowouts in recent years was the home to a competitive dandy on its final Saturday afternoon of varsity high school football action. Thanks for the memories old pal.FINAL 2015 WPIAL & Pittsburgh City League Football Standings
Here are the FINAL WPIAL and Pittsburgh City League football standings through the end of the 2015 high school football regular season...including the FINAL WPIAL Playoff clinchings and eliminations. Once again this year, we have added points for, point against and the updated WPIAL tiebreaker points for all 123 teams. Standings are updated after Friday and Saturday's scholastic gridiron action each week. Standings can be also seen on each teams football webpage here on the MSA Sports Network. (Top 5 teams from AAAA and AAA conferences qualify for playoffs plus a sixth place wild card team) (Top 4 teams from AA and A conferences qualify for the playoffs)District College Football Recap for Saturday, October 31st
On Halloween, several of the district college football teams thought they lost their heads with some very lopsided scores. With just a couple of weeks remaining, Duquesne shares the lead in the NEC, Slippery Rock is looking for back to back trips to the PSAC State Title game and programs who have struggled in recent years are close to the top of the PAC standings. Here are recaps of ALL THE GAMES from Saturday. Duquesne 35 – Wagner 17 The Dukes remain tied with CCSU at 3-1 atop the NEC standings. Rafiq Douglas ran for 3 touchdowns as Duquesne goes to 6-3 overall.North Allegheny Wins Third Straight PIAA Girls AAA Team Tennis Title
October 31, 2015
It was like a WPIAL block party at the 2015 PIAA Girls Team Tennis Championships at the Hershey Racquet Club as five District 7 teams reached the Semifinals and three of them played in the state finals on Saturday. While Shady Side Academy in AAA and Beaver in AA lost in the championship match and brought home silver from Chocolatetown, North Allegheny claimed gold. As they did in the WPIAL AAA title match, the Tigers beat the SSA Indians to win a third straight girls tennis state crown. Here are all of the results from the 2015 PIAA Girls Team Tennis Championships. 2015 PIAA CLASS AAA GIRLS TEAM TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: NORTH ALLEGHENY TIGERS 4 - SHADY SIDE ACADEMY INDIANS 1WPIAL Saturday Football Scores – 10/31/2015
Instead of using a bunch of Halloween cliches, I'll use the final day of the regular season to jump on my soap box. Very few teams that don't make the playoffs play a Week Ten game anymore. We are over ten years now since the WPIAL went from a 10 week to 9 week regular season schedule, giving non-playoff teams the option as to weather they want to play another game. Sadly, most don't. Why not? Some extra practices and one extra game couldn't hurt the underclassman. Just saying. Anyway, back to the regular season which ended today with these two final results. WPIAL CLASS A Eastern Conference: Serra Catholic Eagles 23 - Wilkinsburg Tigers 20 WPIAL CLASS A Black Hills Conference:WPIAL Football Tiebreaker Explanations
Nowadays, any Tom, Dick or Harry can find out from other what is going on and then tweet it out like they are Tom Brokaw breaking a new flash. If you listened to Friday nights WPIAL Scoreboard Show, you found out who was in and some of the why. Here is a more insightful look into how the tiebreakers worked to figure out the 2015 WPIAL football playoff field. First, an explanation the Gardner Point system: A team earns ten points for all the wins earned by every conference team they beat. What? Here is a simple way to explain. If you beat Team A who had a 6-2 conference record, you earn 60 Gardner Points for their 6 wins. If you beat Team B and they were 2-6 in conference, you earn another 20 points for their 2 wins.WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Nine 2015
WOW! There was a lot of offense on the final Friday of the regular season. Some were great tune-ups for the upcoming high school football postseason. Other were wrapping up the season and going out with a blaze of glory. Whether the driving force coming into the game was a conference title, a home game, a playoff berth or just plain old civic and school color pride, here are some of the top performances on a night we could sprain our arm tipping our cap to all who deserved it. Miles Sanders - Woodland HillsWPIAL/City League Friday Football Scores – 10/30/2015
October 30, 2015
For some football teams in the WPIAL, this Halloween Eve will be filled with treats as teams search their bag of goodies and find conference championships, playoff berths and the fun-size home field advantage postseason games. For others however, this final Friday of the regular season will be filled with tricks as teams see their playoff hopes disappear with one smoky poof. Here are all the WPIAL Week Nine football games along with the one Pittsburgh City League Semifinals contest. Check back later this evening for final results and follow us on twitter @msasports for updated scores throughout the night. Games marked with (MSA) can be heard live and archived here on the MSA Sports Network. All games kick off at 7:30pm unless otherwise indicated.Scholastic Notebook – 10/30/2015
If you want to see variety, check out Paris this fall. But we’re not talking the city of Paris. We’re talking the junior do-it-all player for the Seton-LaSalle football team named Paris Ford. He is a Ford that is souped up with versatility. He is undoubtedly one of the most versatile – and best – players in the WPIAL. Ford is listed as a receiver and defensive back. He is a stud at both positions. But he also runs the football and returns kicks and punts. How versatile is he? Well, Seton-LaSalle has moved the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Ford to linebacker because that’s where they could use him the most.Sewickley Boys & North Allegheny Girls Win PIAA Team Golf Gold
A day after heavy rains forced the postponement of the PIAA Team Golf Championships on Wednesday, the Sewickley Academy boys and North Allegheny girls turned the wait into a golden experience. The Panthers in Boys AA and the Tigers in Girls AAA won PIAA Team Golf titles on Thursday afternoon at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York. After finishing second a year ago, Sewickley Academy claimed its first ever PIAA boys golf crown by shooting a combined 333, ten strokes better than runner-up New Hope-Solebury. North Allegheny girls were even more impressive by posting a score of 353 which was 23 strokes better than runner-up Mount St. Joseph.
