Sports
MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Ten
November 5, 2016
Last weekend, all of the ciphering and dissecting of the district tiebreakers determined the 64 teams that would qualify for this years postseason. Then on Monday, the powers that be in the district put together the brackets that mapped the course of the playoff over the next three to four weeks. Finally on Friday, the games kicked off and a few hours later, the playoff field was sliced in half to 32 still alive for one of six golden footballs. Here are the players that came up large in Primetime in leading their teams to either the Semifinals or the Quarterfinals next Friday. Max Devinney - Pine-Richland
WPIAL Football Friday Playoff Summaries – 11/05/2016
Four classifications opened up the Highway to Heinz with Quarterfinals contests while two other classifications kicked off the new Road to RMU with First Round contests. No matter which path was taken, there were some 'eyebrow raisers' on opening night of the 2016 WPIAL Football Playoffs. Here are recaps the the 31 high school football postseason contests heard here on the MSA Sports Network on a clear and comfortable first Friday in November.
Sewickley Beats CWNC in Overtime for WPIAL 1-A Boys Crown
For the sixth time in program history, the Sewickley Academy Panthers took home the WPIAL Championship after tonight’s 1-0 overtime victory against the Trojans of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic in the 1A Boy’s Soccer Championship Game. In a game that was very defensive, it saw just four total shot opportunities in the first half, three by the Trojans and one by the Panthers. Two of those three shots by the Trojans were on net. The second half saw more of the same, until around 15 minutes left when the Panthers pushed on the accelerator, however, they just couldn’t get a shot past the Trojans and the game would remain tied after regulation, 0-0.
A Golden Moon in WPIAL Girls 3-A Soccer
The Moon Tigers won their second WPIAL girls soccer championship Friday night with a hard-fought 1-0 over crosstown rival and section foe Montour. The Tigers beat the Spartans for the third time this season, Montour was undefeated in 2016 were it not for the Moon Tigers. It was a dramatically physical contest but never chippy at Highmark Stadium at Station Square, bodies were flying from the start and afterwards Emma Thomas. the second leading scorer on the season for the Tigers said she expected nothing less. "They are our rivals and this being WPIALs we had to play more intensely and they played more intensely as well, so I gotta give respect to them."WPIAL Football Playoffs Friday Scores
November 4, 2016
In a season filled with major changes, one of the biggest was in full view starting Friday night. No long is there one clear path to the district championship game. Now the journey splits into two freshly paved routes. The teams in Class 6-A, Class 5-A, Class 4-A and Class 3-A hopped on the traditional Highway to Heinz in what will be a shorter journey, only taking three weeks instead of four. However teams in Class 2-A and Class 1-A will still take a four week trip, but it is be on the newly constructed Road to RMU. Here are ALL 31 final scores from the opening night of the 2016 WPIAL Football Playoffs. All games were broadcast on the MSA Sports Network. Check out the archives. WPIAL CLASS 6-A Quarterfinals:Scholastic Notebook – 11/04/2016
When Ron Sciarro became Riverside’s coach this year, he changed the playing style of the Panthers. They went from a pass-happy team to one that throws only 13 times a game. But there has been one other drastic change for Riverside. It deals with the number in the wins column. After going 3-6 last year, Riverside is 7-2 this season and headed to the WPIAL Class AA playoffs. They don’t throw nearly as often, but the Panthers win much more often.North Allegheny Wins WPIAL Boys 4-A Soccer Crown in OT
The North Allegheny Tigers won their first WPIAL championship since 1999 with a 2-1 overtime triumph over the Seneca Valley Raiders at Highmark Stadium on Thursday night. Senior Sean Atwater, who scored his first goal of the season in overtime to beat Pine-Richland in the semifinals on Saturday, again connected for the game-winning marker to sink the Raiders in an exciting title tilt. The championship is North Allegheny’s eighth in program history.WPIAL Girls Volleyball Semifinals Recaps 2016
There have been very few surprises in the district girls volleyball postseason as three #1-seeds and all four #2-seeds have reached the championship finals. The lone exception is 4-A's #8-seed, defending champion Baldwin, who is joined by fellow 2015 champs Freeport and Bishop Canevin in the title matches on Saturday. Here are the summaries from Semifinals Thursday in the 2016 WPIAL Girls Volleyball Playoffs. Special thanks to Sean Meyers, Kevin Zielmanski, Steve Nagler, Rob Longo, Sam Hall, Josh Rowntree and James Dotson for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS 4-A Semifinals:
Freedom Wins First WPIAL Soccer Gold With Win Over Freeport
November 3, 2016
The #1 seeded Freedom Bulldogs got two goals each from sophomores Michaela Watkins and Myla Sharpless to defeat #2 seed Freeport 4-1 Thursday night at Highmark Stadium to capture the 2016 WPIAL 2A Girls Soccer Championship. Freedom entered the game undefeated, having given up only 8 goals all season, none in the playoffs, and continued their unbeaten streak with a stifling defense and opportunistic offense that saw 4 goals scored on only 7 shots on net. Michaela Watkins started the scoring at the 30:54 mark of the first half as she took a lead pass and broke in alone on Freeport keeper Cassie Suran, beating her with a quick shot to make it 1-0 Freedom.Chicks Picks for Week Ten
Welcome to Week 10 of the high school football season. Chick’s Picks attended the annual Playoff Pairings meeting on Monday night. After witnessing so much joy from the teams that punched their tickets to the postseason, Chick’s Picks couldn’t help but feel bad for those that missed out – especially those with only a few losses on the year. The situation reminded Chick’s Picks of a time when the MSA Sports crew got together for pick-up game of dodgeball. The Boss and world-renowned broadcaster Sam Hall were the team captains. Based on her athletic prowess, Chick’s Picks was sure that she would be drafted in the early rounds.Big Game Hunting for Week Ten
As we embark on the ‘Highway to Heinz’ or the Road to RMU I feel like we should all wear helmet decals in the postseason to honor the Beaver Bobcats, who in one Friday night; go from the number one team in the state of Pennsylvania in 3 A, to not in the playoffs. We need to keep a “Captain’s pick” spot open like they do in golf for the Ryder Cup team. Now we make our way towards the championships on the MSA Sports Network, huge games every week, as always send your complaints about those not included in BGH to @JohnnyLee@msasports.net as he takes over the complaint department for all playoff moaning. So with that out of the way we can get set to go postseason Big Game Hunting.
Fox Chapel Beats Pine-Richland to Repeat as WPIAL 3-A Champs
November 2, 2016
The Fox Chapel Foxes used a dominant possession and attacking offense in the 3A WPIAL Field Hockey Championship game to defeat the Pine-Richland Rams 3-1 and capture the gold medal for the second consecutive season. After an early opportunity at the near post for Pine-Richland’s Alora Sharron which deflected away from the goal, the Foxes picked up the attack and dominated the offense for most of the game. The hard work paid off for Fox Chapel when sophomore forward Sydney Condron scored the game’s first goal at (24:32) of the first half. Condron was working down low along the left end line when she centered the ball and it deflected passed Rams goalkeeper Kierstin Coup to give Fox Chapel a 1-0 lead.
Ellis School Three-Peats in WPIAL 1-A Field Hockey
For the third straight year, the Ellis School Tigers and the Shady Side Academy Indians met in the 1A WPIAL Field Hockey Championships. And for the third straight years the Tigers came away with the gold medal, besting the Indians 3-1 at North Allegheny High School. After a scoreless first half, things broke open in a 4:31 span of the second half with all four goals being scored. The Tigers got the game’s first goal when Angie Scheurmann took a feed from sophomore forward Leah Ewers and beat Shady Side goalkeeper Clara McCormick from the left wing inside the circle at (12:09) to put Ellis up 1-0. The goal for Scheurmann, who scored the only goal in last season’s title game, was the 22nd goal of the year for the junior forward.WPIAL Girls Volleyball Quarterfinals Recaps 2016
When the higher seeds win a lot in a tournament, they refer to it as 'chalk'. Thus far, there has been chalk talk a plenty as the postseason continues to be void of upsets except for a few exceptions. 16 of the 16 teams headed to the district Final Four were top four seeds in their class. One big exception is the top-seed in Class 4-A was ousted in Round Two. Here are summaries from the 16 Quarterfinals on Tuesday with all of the matches available on archive on The Network. A special thanks to Andy Stanko, Cory Campano, Mike Azadian, Kevin Zielmanski, Sam Hall, James Dotson, Sean Meyers, Lou Rood, Greg Kuntz, Lee Mohn, Randy Gore, Sean Saputo, Rob McKinney and Kyle Dawson for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS 4-A Quarterfinals:WPIAL Plays of the Week – Week Nine 2016
November 1, 2016
This past weekend already marked the conclusion of the 2016 WPIAL football regular season. This campaign brought about massive changes courtesy of the realignment, which produced both positive and negative outcomes. Still, Week 9 had significant meaning to the dozens of teams in playoff contention, as well as to the teams and players who took the field for the final team this year. This week's batch of plays includes a game-sealing interception in the closing seconds in a battle of neighboring schools, a long run that broke open a matchup of top teams in 1A, another tight bout in the Beaver Valley Conference with a playoff spot on the line, and a pick-6 in a key matchup in 5A. 1. Franklin Regional 24, Gateway 19
