Football
Chicks Picks for Week Five
September 29, 2016
Welcome to Week 5 of the high school football season. Chick’s Picks spends more time than she would care to admit trolling Amazon for her next potential purchase. Last week, Chick’s Picks stumbled upon a plethora of crystal balls. Tempted by the allure of the shiny, new prognosticating tools, Chick’s Picks decided that a bit of research would not hurt. Her guilty conscience set in right away, as she struggled with the desire to upgrade her equipment despite more than 15 years of loyalty to her current crystal ball. Chick’s Picks decided to consult an expert – The Boss.Big Game Hunting for Week Five 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.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Football – 09/26/2016
September 26, 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 Four of the 2016 high school football season. WPIAL CLASS 6-A WPIAL FOOTBALL TOP SEVEN: 1. PITTSBURGH CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS (4-1) (Last Week #1.....Week Five - host #2 Pine-Richland on MSA) 2. PINE-RICHLAND RAMS (4-1) (Last Week #2.....Week Five - at #1 Pittsburgh Central Catholic on MSA)2016 WPIAL Football Standings – 09/26
Here are the latest WPIAL football standings through Week Four 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)This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 09/25/2016
September 25, 2016
We close out the month of September and welcome in what will be a busy October with our first WPIAL championship of the new school year this week here on the MSA Sports Network. The high school football season hits the midway point of the regular season with Week Five and The Network has 31 WPIAL football weekend contests starting with the MSA Sports pregame Show Friday at 6pm and concluding with the WPIAL Scoreboard Show Friday at 9:30pm.MSA Sports Saturdays Scholastic Starz for Week Four
Both of the Saturday afternoon football games in the WPIAL in Week Four matched teams with postseason expectations trying to stay near the top of their respective conferences taking on teams that were trying to snap losing skids that already have put their playoff hopes in jeopardy. In the end, the two favorites were victorious thanks to a couple large performances on the ground. Jayvaun Shears - McKeesportWPIAL Football Scores for Sat 9/24
September 24, 2016
Last week was the lightest Saturday football schedule in the WPIAL for the 2016 season. This week, we doubled our total for the second lightest scholastic slate in the district this year. It would have been another one-and-done this week if not for a Homecoming game special in Class 5-A. So Week Four has now concluded with a pair of WPIAL afternoon football games that were heard here on The Network. WPAIL CLASS 5-A Big East Conference: McKeesport Tigers 52 - Plum Mustangs 24 (MSA) WPIAL CLASS 1-A Eastern Conference: Bishop Canevin Crusaders 35 - Riverview Raiders 0 (MSA)MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Four
When it comes to arithmetic, I am at about the same level as Jethro Bodine from the famed Beverly Hillbillies. It's all about 'Gozintas'. If you are left scratching your head at the first sentence, let me explain. three Gozinta six two times. Four Gozinta 24 six times. And so on and so forth. Last night around the WPIAL, high school football teams were putting up numbers as if they were playing Techmo Bowl (pre Madden for you youngsters) instead of actual football on actual playing fields. The first Autumn Friday of the season saw scoreboards lighting up like it was a Christmas tree on the first day of winter. Needless to say, the more points scored, the more players were 'Gozinta' the end zone.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.
