Football
WPIAL Saturday’s Scholastic Starz – Week Six
October 11, 2015
Friday night from Week 6 around the WPIAL featured a plethora of big games. The sixth Saturday of the 2015 campaign saw a smorgasbord of District 7 gridiron action. A taste of high school football with teams from all FOUR classifications made up the busiest Saturday of the season with six football contests. McKeesport, Moon, Burgettstown and Freedom picked a postcard perfect day to celebrate Homecoming 2015. But who was wearing the crown at the end of the day for top performances? Khaleke Hudson, Mark Cromerdie, Kyreek Sayles - McKeesportWPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Six
October 10, 2015
While the mercury continues to dip as October and autumn settle in, the lineup of big games was red hot up and down the FOUR classifications around the WPIAL. Battles for first place here, showdowns between unbeaten teams there, big games, big games everywhere. Some of them lived up to their billing and thrilled the huge crowds on hands, some were closer early before the final results was no so tight, and others were just an old fashioned butt whipping. Whatever the case, big game or not, here are the players that stood out in various playoff like atmosphere's in only Week Six. Philip Jurkovec - Pine-RichlandWPIAL Saturday Football Scores – 10/10/2015
It was the busiest Saturday of WPIAL football in the regular season on a picture perfect day for a Homecoming Day contest, which four of the six games fell under. Much like its predecessor in Week 6 - Friday night, Saturday had key games throughout the slate as well. A key battle between playoff hopefuls in the AAA Parkway Conference...two teams locked in a four-team playoff chase for a pair of AA Interstate Conference spots...and a highly ranked team in Class A hoping to not fall into a trap as they prepared to play of the A Black Hills Conference title next week. Three of the six games were heard here on MSA Sports. Here are ALL of the results, including a big upset in Class A. Games marked (MSA) can be heard live and archived at www.msasports.netScholastic 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.WPIAL/City League Friday Football Scores – 10/08/2015
October 8, 2015
Week Six...WOW! Big games here, big games there, big games, big games everywhere. One week before the Stretch Run began, first place was at stake in no less than seven conferences up and down the WPIAL, including five matchups between teams that had perfect conference records and three showdowns of 5-0 vs 5-0. Of Course, ALL of those key contests can be heard archived here on The Network. Here are ALL of the final scores from the sixth Friday of the season. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Foothills Conference: Penn-Trafford Warriors 42 - Hempfield Spartans 7 (F) Plum Mustangs 49 - Connelsville Falcons 23 (F) Altoona Mountain Lions 28 - Latrobe Wildcats 14 (F) Norwin Knights 40 - Kiski Area Cavaliers 31 (F)Chicks Picks – Week 6 – 2015
Welcome to Week 6 of the high school football season. Friday nights at MSA Sports World Headquarters are hard work. As a reward, The Boss provides delicious dinner for the crew from the best pizza place in town. Last week, an unfamiliar delivery man showed up with the evening’s provisions. As he handed over the order, however, it became obvious that something was not right. When the crew began to question the delivery man, he panicked and ran for the exit—right into the regular delivery man who was bringing the actual order. The spill caused the impersonator to lose the contents of his pockets, including his cell phone, which happened to start ringing at that exact moment—caller I.D.: The Fumbler.PIAA Approves 6 Classes for Football, Hoops, Baseball & Softball
Are you ready for six classifications in Pennsylvania high school football? And boys basketball? And girls basketball? And baseball? And softball? Six classifications in all of those sports will be a reality in the 2016-17 school year. That was the gigantic news that came out of a PIAA board of directors meeting Wednes day in Mechanicsburg. Heading into the meeting, the main topic on the agenda was supposed to be a final vote on the expansion of classifications in football from four to six. The PIAA had already passed that in two other votes, and needed only to pass one more vote before going into effect for the 2016-17 season. That proposal easily passed by a 26-4 vote. But there was more big news to come.WPIAL Big Game Hunting – Week Six 2015
October 7, 2015
In the mid-1800’ when you went to the fabric store and asked for a bolt or a yard of cloth, the clerk would first just hold it out at ‘arms- length’ to give you an idea of how much you were getting. But, when the time came for the actual cutting of the fabric and the paying of the money the fabric would be measured exactly between a pair of brass tacks set in the counter at specific lengths. That’s where the term “getting down to brass tacks” comes from. No more looks from a distance at who are the championship contenders in the WPIAL. This week we get down to “brass tacks” with top-ten battles sprinkled throughout every classification. Here are four dandies for you to take in on…. THE NETWORK, this weekend.Three Football Players Suspended After Monessen-Wilkinsburg Fight
After meeting with school officials from both Monessen and Wilkinsburg along with game officials on Tuesday, the WPIAL has ordered that two Wilkinsburg players and one Monessen player be suspended by the schools for at least two games, or else the two programs could be suspended by the WPIAL. This edict came down Wednesday morning following a fight Saturday between players from both teams that led to the football game being stopped in the third quarter with Monessen leading at historic Graham Field in Wilkinsburg. The identity of all three players was not revealed. The WPIAL does not have the authority to suspend the players, so they have asked the schools to do it or else they risk having their season suspended by the WPIAL.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Football – 10/05/2015
October 5, 2015
Each and every Monday during the regular season, the MSA Sports Network will rank the Top Ten football teams in each classification. These are the rankings following Week Five of the 2015 WPIAL football season. WPIAL CLASS AAAA WPIAL FOOTBALL TOP TEN: 1. WOODLAND HILLS WOLVERINES (5-0) (Last Week #1.....Week Six at Canon-McMillan on MSA) 2. PENN-TRAFFORD WARRIORS (5-0) (Last Week #2.....Week Six host Hempfield on MSA) 3. PINE-RICHLAND RAMS (5-0) (Last Week #3.....Week Six host #9 Seneca Valley)This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 10/04/2015
October 4, 2015
The first full week of October is a busy one with a full plate of fall sports along with a side dish of winter high school sports action this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We move on to Week Six of the high school football season with 30 WPIAL weekend contests starting Friday night with the MSA Sports Pregame Show and concluding later that night with the WPIAL Football Scoreboard Show.2015 WPIAL & Pittsburgh City League Standings – Week 5
Here are the latest WPIAL and Pittsburgh City League football standings through Week Five of the 2015 high school football season...including the latest 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)WPIAL Saturday’s Scholastic Starz – Week Five
Weather wise it was a good day for a light WPIAL football schedule on Saturday with nasty wet and windy conditions for the three scheduled Class A games. Speaking of nasty, it was more like 2 1/2 games played as the Monessen at Wilkinsburg game was stopped midway through the third quarter because of a shoving match that escalated into a fight between the two teams. Without having seen the incident, there is no rush to judgment except to say anytime a high school game is stopped early, it is not good. Frank Antuono - NeshannockWPIAL Saturday Football Scores – 10/03/2015
October 3, 2015
It looked like Week Five was going to conclude with Hurricane Joaquin being the true winner earlier this week. However the storm stayed east and even though the small three game schedule had to deal with the elements, it was a far cry from what could have been. We are now officially more than halfway through the 2015 regular season with five weeks down and four still to come. Here are all three results from a wet and chilly Saturday afternoon in Class A. WPIAL CLASS A Eastern Conference: Monessen Greyhounds 18 - Wilkinsburg Tigers 0 Clairton Bears 54 - Riverview Raiders 6 WPIAL CLASS A Big 7 Conference: Neshannock Lancers 36 - Western Beaver Golden Beavers 8WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Five 2015
A little precipitation in the area before the real wet stuff driven by Hurricane Joaquin Andujar (look it up kids)...no problem. Temperatures dipping into the low 50's with winds that made it feel more like the 40's...again, no problem. Defenses geared to...wait, I'll just stop there. In this wild and crazy season of video game like play on the field resulting in huge points here, there and everywhere, top performances around the WPIAL on a Friday night are no longer hard to find. They are now just difficult to whittle down. Doing our best Jed Clampett imitation (look it up kids), we have whittled down some of the top outputs to these ten. Philip Jurkovec - Pine-RichlandScholastic Notebook – 10/02/2015
October 2, 2015
Anthony Welsh of Bethlehem-Center will likely run his way into the WPIAL record books Friday night. Welsh, a senior, needs only 62 yards rushing to reach 4,000 for his career. He would become the 63rd player in WPIAL history to reach 4,000 yards. With that in mind, here are some factoids about the 4,000-yard milestone: * The first player known to reach 4,000 yards was Jerry Patterson of Chartiers-Houston, who graduated in 1970 with 4,075 yards. * Welsh would be the second Beth-Center runner to reach 4,000. Keith Miller, a 1997 graduate, ran for 5,121.WPIAL/City League Friday Football Scores – 10/02/2015
We hit the midway point of the 2015 WPIAL football regular season. Four weeks in the books right now and four weeks still to come after this weekend. Some of the first half surprises include Pine-Richland, Chartiers Valley, Hollidaysburg, Deer Lakes, Shenango and Frazier enter this weekend with a combined record of 21-3. Some of the above teams had higher expectations then others, but all have put themselves in position to win a conference championship and perhaps more. Time will tell as we run down another slate of Friday night football games around the WPIAL and Pittsburgh City League. Check out all of the final results. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Northern Eight Conference: Pine-Richland Rams 47 - North Hills Indians 7 (F)Chicks Picks – Week 5 – 2015
October 1, 2015
Welcome to Week 5 of the high school football season. After missing out on last Friday night’s football action due to a scheduling conflict, Chick’s Picks came down with a nasty case of the somethings on Saturday. When this bug continued to wreak havoc for a few days, Chick’s Picks decided it was time to seek help from the good doctor. At the exam, Chick’s Picks began explaining her symptoms to the doc. He seemed as bewildered as she was, unable to pinpoint the cause of the illness. The doc continued his questioning though, “Chick’s Picks, give me a timeline of your last few days before the illness hit you.”WPIAL Big Game Hunting – Week Five – 09/30/2015
September 30, 2015
It’s the “halftime is halfway” games this weekend throughout the WPIAL. The WPIAL enters week five with 22 unbeaten teams still intact and striving for perfection. Five are perfect in AAAA, four in AAA, nine in AA and four in A. When we reach halftime at this weekend’s game we will be halfway through the regular season. The weather man says there could be some rain and temperatures this Friday night will drop into the low 50’s or maybe even high 40’s during week five. Will that weather cause footballs and perfect seasons to slip through fingertips? Who will rise and who will fall as we move into October? This could get spooky. Don’t worry, take my hand, I’ve got a flashlight ; I’ve got an umbrella, we’re all set to go Big Game Hunting.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Football – 09/28/2015
September 28, 2015
Each and every Monday during the regular season, the MSA Sports Network will rank the Top Ten football teams in each classification. These are the rankings following Week Four of the 2015 WPIAL football season. WPIAL CLASS AAAA WPIAL FOOTBALL TOP TEN: 1. WOODLAND HILLS WOLVERINES (4-0) (Last Week #1.....Week Five host Upper St. Clair on MSA) 2. PENN-TRAFFORD WARRIORS (4-0) (Last Week #2.....Week Five at Latrobe on MSA) 3. PINE-RICHLAND RAMS (4-0) (Last Week #3.....Week Five at North Hills on MSA)
