Tag: Gateway

Big Game Hunting for Week Five 2016

September 29, 2016

Week Five and the drive to stay alive is no jive, if you can make it you will arrive, where you want to be. Keeping that sentence there because, as bad as it is, it did not trigger any grammatical or spelling errors in the Microsoft Word software and, I like it. Week Five has great matchups including a preview of what many think could be the eventual championship game in AAAAAA. Before we get to week five though, WOW!!!! What a night at Dormont Stadium in week four, Beaver and Darius Wise and, Keystone Oaks and Alex Smith put on a show for the ages. John Lee and I were there for the 77-49 win for the Bobcats and it was nothing short of breathtaking for everyone in attendance.

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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!

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CTK ’16: 5-A Big East Conference Preview

August 19, 2016

The 5A Big East Conference bares a strong resemblance for the former Quad-A Foothills Conference, as Connellsville, Greater Latrobe, Kiski Area, McKeesport, Penn-Trafford and Plum all remain intact. The other three spots, though, are comprised of teams previously in the AAA Greater Allegheny Conference, Franklin Regional, Gateway and Armstrong. Six of the nine squads qualified for the postseason last year, with Penn-Trafford reaching Heinz Field for the Quad-A title game and McKeesport also ranking among Quad-A's best. If the Warriors and Tigers take even a slight step back this year, though, the conference could be wide open.

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CTK ’16: New WPIAL Football Coaches

August 15, 2016

New Faces - New Places - New Hopes - New Dreams. While there were two fewer coaching changes this off-season then before the 2015 campaign, there were a couple of big names that hung up the whistle after last fall. Legendary McKeesport coach George Smith retired for a second time while record setting coach Tom Nola exited at Gateway. There are a lot of rookie head coaches getting their first crack, and some coaches who are just changing hats and addresses. Whatever the case, there are 17 coaching changes coming into this 2016 season. Here are the new football coaches that will be running the sidelines in the WPIAL this fall. CLASS 6-A: ALTOONA - Nick Felus replaces John Franco

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Scholastic Notebook – 01/17/2016

January 17, 2016

Maybe just call this a saga of Penn-manship. Jim Rocco resigned in the spring as the boys basketball coach at Penn Hills High School in order to become coach at Penn-Trafford. He is enjoying success at his new job. Dan DeRose took over for Rocco at Penn Hills. DeRose came to Penn Hills from South Park, and DeRose is enjoying success at his new job. So it’s two new coaches at two schools with Penn as the first name. This really is a Jim Dan-dy story. At Penn-Trafford, the Warriors are 10-4 under Rocco, who won two WPIAL titles and one PIAA championship in his 19 years at Penn Hills. Penn-Trafford is tied for second place in Class AAAA Section 1.

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Scholastic Notebook – 11/06/2015

November 6, 2015

The WPIAL football playoffs start Friday night. Does that mean the Tri-County South Conference turns into the Tri-County Sour bunch once again? The Tri-County South in Class A hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2010 season. Since then, Tri-County South teams are 0-16 in the postseason. But maybe there is hope to end the postseason drought this year. Frazier finished the regular season with a 9-0 record and the Commodores were given the No. 4 seed. Frazier led the entire WPIAL in fewest points allowed this season and it plays host to South Side in a first-round game.

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WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Nine 2015

October 31, 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 Hills

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WPIAL Big Game Hunting – Week Eight – 10/21/2015

October 21, 2015

Week Eight arrives and we can smell the playoffs now. The post season party is just around the corner at the MSA World Headquarters, in fact pairings shows and medals are already making their appearances. But football is the biggie, the one where everyone shows up and Chix Picks prepares the fresh sushi bar. The Football pairing show is always likely to trigger a Schaasy and Mike Azadian argument about schools from Lawrence County versus schools from Allegheny County. Usually we have two people per classification and there is just enough sushi and just the right amount of seats to avoid problems. Next year though, six classifications for the first time, THAT could be a disaster at headquarters. Just another in the long list of reasons this particular reporter dislikes the move so much.

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Hometown Girls Soccer Recap – Fox Chapel Foxes – 10/13/2015

October 13, 2015

Fox Chapel came into Monday night’s match against Gateway riding an 11-game winning streak and also sporting a 21-game unbeaten streak at home and both streaks continued with a 4-0 shutout win at Fox Chapel Stadium. The Foxes attack dominated the match and Fox Chapel possessed the ball for most of the night but held only a 1-0 lead at halftime. Senior forward Taylor Cohen scored the game’s first goal when she nudged a Deena DeBaldo feed past Gators goalkeeper Emma Skledar with her left foot in the 8th minute. Fox Chapel had 13 first half opportunities and registered 6 shots on goal in the first 40 minutes.

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Scholastic Notebook – 10/09/2015

October 9, 2015

Many Class A football players are often smaller in size than those in Class AAA or AAAA. But Avonworth’s Zach Chandler and Neshannock’s Frank Antuono are Class A quarterbacks who would be large for any team, regardless of class. And Chandler and Antuono are doing some big, big things this season. Chandler is 6 feet 4, 235 pounds, while Antuono is 6-2, 220 and bench presses 400 pounds. Now consider what these “big guys” are doing: *Chandler, a senior, leads the WPIAL in passing yardage with 1,702 after five games. He has completed 83 of 134. This after missing most of the past two seasons with injuries. He has helped Avonworth to a 4-1 record.

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