Sports
Scholastic Notebook – 03/14/2014
March 14, 2014
Seton-LaSalle boys basketball coach Mark Walsh is known as “Knobby.” He has two brothers, Kevin and Danny, who also are known as “Knobby.” The boys’ father, Ed, also is known as “Knobby.” It is a crazy name game. But at Seton-LaSalle, just call Mark Walsh one thing. “Winner.” Walsh has made Seton-LaSalle basketball relevant again. Well, more than relevant. He has guided the Rebels to one of the best seasons in school history. Seton-LaSalle won a WPIAL title for only the second time since joining the league in the mid 1970s. Also, Seton-LaSalle has a 27-1 record. That is the most wins since the school joined the WPIAL.PIHL Penguins Cup Recaps – Wednesday, March 12th
March 12, 2014
There was little separation all season between South Hills rivals Bethel Park and Peters Township. so it comes as no surprise that the two decorated programs will collide for a 2014 high school hockey crown as both were impressive Wednesday night registering convincing victories. here are recaps from both of the PIHL Penguins Cup Class AAA Semifinals played Wednesday night and setting up Championship Monday at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA SEMIFINALS: Bethel Park Black Hawks 4 - Pine-Richland Rams 0PIHL Penguins Cup Recaps – Tuesday, March 11th
March 11, 2014
Monday saw thrills and chills with a couple of PIHL Penguins Cup Class A Semifinals instant classics. Tuesday presented plenty of fireworks in the Penguins Cup Class AA Semifinals, but they all seemed to be shot from one side and the top two seeds put up dominant performances. Here are recaps from both the Bishop Canevin and Erie Cathedral Prep Semifinals victory from Tuesday night. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AA SEMIFINALS: Erie Cathedral Prep Ramblers 9 - Armstrong River Hawks 5
2014 PIHL PENGUINS CUP PLAYOFFS Update
All three high school hockey title games are now set as Final Four week concluded with two AAA Semifinals doubleheader on Wednesday. Bethel Park broke a scoreless tie with a four-goal third period explosion while Peters Township jumped out early and cruised, setting up a Battle of South Hills rivals for AAA gold between the Black Hawks and the Indians at CONSOL Energy Center. Here are ALL of the results from the Semifinals, plus the three championship games schedule in the 2014 PIHL Penguins Cup Playoffs for the Penguins Cup titles at CONSOL Energy Center on Monday and here on the MSA Sports Network. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA Semifinals: Bethel Park Black Hawks 4 - Pine-Richland Rams 0 (MSA)PIHL Penguins Cup Recaps – Monday, March 10th
A couple of dandies got the puck rolling on the PIHL's Semifinals Week as the top four seeds in Class A took to the Robert Morris University Island Sports Complex center stage Monday night. Defending champ Quaker Valley was on the ropes, but could not be knocked out by Freeport while upstart Thomas Jefferson will continue their memorable season after eliminating Mars. Here are complete recaps from both Class A Semifinals games Monday, which can be heard archived here on MSA Sports at the link below. http://www.msasports.net/guide/2014-03-10 PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS A SEMIFINALS: Thomas Jefferson Jaguars 4 - Mars Fighting Planets 2PIHL Notebook – 03/10/2014
March 10, 2014
Welcome to another edition of “PIHL Notebook,” your weekly companion to “The PIHL Power Play” on the MSA Sports Network. Over the next three days, we will find out which six teams will complete for the 2014 Penguins Cup championships. All six semifinal games will be heard on these airwaves, and we have you primed in the space below with our traditional team capsules. Team stats, playoff results, keys to victory – we have it call at your fingertips. So, let’s light the lamp on this special postseason edition of “PIHL Notebook.” CLASS A PENGUINS CUP SEMIFINALS:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 03/09/2014
March 9, 2014
We winter sports season continues to wind down with the spotlight on both the state basketball playoffs and the high school hockey postseason this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have coverage of the Second Round and Quarterfinals in the 2014 PIAA State Basketball Playoffs along with Semifinals and Championship action from the 2014 PIHL Penguins Cup high school hockey playoffs and women's college lacrosse, plus the final edition of Inside the WPIAL Wrestling Circle for the season, the PIHL Power Play Show on a special night and The WPIAL Roundball Report ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, March 10th: TALK SHOW - Inside the WPIAL Wrestling Circle powered by Synerfac at 7:00pm on MSAsports.net
Eight WPIAL AAA Wrestlers Win State Gold
March 8, 2014
After a strong showing on Thursday and Friday, the WPIAL continued their dominant trend in AAA on Saturday, advancing 19 wrestlers into the finals. Out of those 19, the WPIAL brought home 8 PIAA Champions out of a possible 14 weight classes including winning a title in the first 7 bouts. Franklin Regional’s Devin Brown and Spencer Lee took the first two at 106 and 113, with both of them controlling their opponents to lead them to titles. Luke Pletcher of Latrobe had to sweat it out to win at 120. After exchanging escapes with Scott Parker of Pennridge, the match went in to overtime. In the overtime bout, Pletcher got a shot on the ankles of Parker and kept his toes in bounds to win the match 3-1.
Three WPIAL AA Wrestlers Win State Gold
The WPIAL came into Saturday’s action in AA with four wrestlers in the finals looking for gold. By the end of the afternoon, the WPIAL went three for four in Hershey.
PIAA Individual Wrestling – Day Two Recap
March 7, 2014
Coming into the season the WPIAL had a pair of returning state champions in AA, George Phillippi of Derry and Jason Nolf of Kittanning. One of those wrestlers is one win away from repeating. The other did not have the same type of luck.Scholastic Notebook – 03/07/2014
Another postseason tournament starts this weekend for the New Castle boys basketball team and the Red Hurricanes. While New Castle has achieved a number of historical feats the past few seasons, the start of the PIAA playoffs means New Castle will take another shot at joining a most special group. But to become a member, New Castle will have to look just perfect. For the third year in a row, New Castle will take a perfect record into the PIAA tournament after winning a WPIAL title with an undefeated record.
PIAA Individual Wrestling – Day One Recap
March 6, 2014
The WPIAL could not have opened the tournament much better in AAA at Hershey on Thursday, with a whopping 31 of 42 wrestlers advancing in the winners bracket and another six wrestlers winning in the consolations to give the WPIAL 37 of 42 wrestlers still alive after day one. The wrestlers advancing into the quarterfinals were: • 106 – Devin Brown, Franklin Regional • 113 – Spencer Lee, Franklin Regional • 113 – Luke Landefeld, North Allegheny • 120 – Luke Pletcher, Latrobe • 126 – Sam Krivus, Hempfield • 126 – Dalton Macri, Canon McMillan • 126 – A.C. Headlee, Waynesburg • 132 – Tyler Smith, Franklin Regional • 132 – Cameron Coy, Penn Trafford • 132 – Ty Buckiso, Peters TownshipPIHL Penguins Cup Recaps – Thursday, March 6th
Four hectic days of high school hockey postseason play came to an end, as did the Quarterfinals Round on Thursday evening. The final three contests of the week were Round of Eight contests in Class AAA, where a new champion will be crowned after the 2013 champs fell in their playoff debut. here are the summaries from the three PIHL Penguins Cup Class AAA Quarterfinals played on Thursday. Thanks to Josh Rowntree, Randy Gore and Matt Vandriak for their help on these recaps. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:Baldwin Beats Harbor Creek for PIHL Open Class Championship
The Baldwin Highlanders (22-2-1) claimed their fourth PIHL Championship in school history and first in the Open Class as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 7-4 victory over the Harbor Creek Huskies (22-2-0) at the RMU Island Sports Center Olympic Arena on Wednesday night. Anthony Alaimo and Brian Dee each scored two goals in the game for the Highlanders, which finish the season unbeaten in their last 20 games and on a 13-game winning streak. Baldwin got off to a hot start, as Anthony Alaimo scored just 47 seconds into the game on a deflection of a Max Milan centering pass. Baldwin led 2-0 after the first period, getting a late goal from Milan in the final minute of the period.PIHL Penguins Cup Recaps – Wednesday, March 5th
The Quarterfinals in Class AA and Class A were played out on Monday and Tuesday while Class AAA played out the opening round. While the other three round two games are slated for Thursday, the spotlight shined on top-seed Bethel Park against upset-minded State College. Here is the recap from the lone Penguins Cup Playoff game on Wednesday. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:PIHL Penguins Cup Recaps – Tuesday, March 4th
March 4, 2014
After a frantic start on Monday with no surprises but with two of the seven contests going into overtime, we had our first two lower seeds advance. While both Class AA and Class A saw the top four seeds advance to the Final Four next week, Class AAA wrapped up Round One with a #9-seed and a #10-seed moving on. Here are summaries from each of the high school hockey playoff games on Tuesday...all of which were heard here on the MSA Sports Network. A special thanks to Greg Kuntz, Mike Azadian, Sean Meyers, Josh Rowntree, Adam Gusky and Adam Hoerner for their help on these recaps. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA First Round:PIHL Penguins Cup Recaps – Monday, March 3rd
The curtain rose on the 2014 PIHL Penguins Cup Playoffs on Monday with a combined seven games. Here are summaries from two Class AAA, three Class AA and two Class A Preliminary Round, First Round and Quarterfinals contests, five of which can be heard archived here on the MSA Sports Network. A special thanks to Bob Orkwis, Josh Rowntree, Adam Hoerner, Steve Nagler , Mike Azadian and Sean Meyers for their help on these recaps. PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA Preliminary Round:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 03/03/2014
March 3, 2014
We switch gears from the district postseason to the state playoffs and the start of the high school hockey chase for the Penguins Cup this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have complete coverage from Hershey of the PIAA Class AAA and Class AA Individual Wrestling Championships along with the start of the PIAA state basketball playoffs and the PIHL Penguins Cup scholastic hockey playoffs and men's college basketball postseason play, plus Inside the WPIAL Wrestling Circle, the PIHL Power Play Show on location at a special time and The WPIAL Roundball Report ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, March 3rd:PIHL Notebook – 03/03/2014
Welcome to another edition of “PIHL Notebook,” your weekly companion to “The PIHL Power Play” on the MSA Sports Network. First up, “Melting the Ice” provides your weekly thermometer of streaking teams around the league. Meanwhile, this week’s “Scoreboard Watch” includes some key match-ups with playoff seeding and berths on the line. So, let’s light the lamp on this edition of “PIHL Notebook.” *Note: As with last week, we have not forgotten the 2014 Penguins Cup Playoffs begin tonight. That is covered elsewhere on the site while we recap the end of the regular season below.* MELTING THE ICE (Records listed indicate current unbeaten streak): Class AAA: Canon-McMillan (5-0-0); Butler (5-0-0); Bethel Park (4-0-0)2014 WPIAL BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS RESULTS
March 2, 2014
A sellout to watch two heavyweights, a double overtime thriller, a back-and-forth dandy and an old fashioned blowout were the backdrops this weekend for the boys title games at the Palumbo Center as New Castle, Central Valley, Seton-LaSalle and Lincoln Park (3 top-seeds and a #2-seed) captured district basketball gold.Here are ALL of the results from the 2014 WPIAL Boys Basketball Playoffs. ALL of the games were broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and you can go back and listen to any game you want at any time. 2014 WPIAL CLASS AAAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: New Castle Red Hurricane 55 - Hampton Talbots 49 (MSA) WPIAL CLASS AAAA Semifinals:
