Dave Mackall stories, Page 29
Yough boys basketball ready for heavy lifting
Inside a weight room at Yough, music blares while players lift and exercise, some methodically traversing from station to station. Jim Nesser, the gravelly voiced boys basketball coach and a familiar face at Yough as a longtime faculty staff member with a PIAA championship at Jeannette to his credit, stands...
Yough girls ‘pointing in the right direction’
It might not seem like much, but three victories last season was a big deal for the Yough girls basketball team. The number represented three more successful outings than a winless team in the previous year. The idea now for the Cougars is to take another step forward. “I feel...
Duquesne reflects on 6-0 start, Bahamas tourney championship
It had been 17 years since Duquesne won a tournament championship in men’s basketball, an idea in step with a longstanding perception winning doesn’t really matter on The Bluff. Except, someone forgot to tell the Dukes, who are off to a 6-0 start after defeating a trio of teams at...
Duquesne to be tested in Bahamian tournament; Robert Morris road trip continues
Maybe Duquesne’s players are starting to get it. Coach Keith Dambrot wonders, but still he’s hopeful the Dukes won’t lose their defensive edge heading into the Junkanoo Jam men’s basketball tournament in The Bahamas. Duquesne (3-0), which has limited its first three opponents to an average of 53 points per...
Pitt-Greensburg women’s basketball ‘locked-in’ this season
Whatever the outcome, the Pitt-Greensburg women’s basketball team will do it together. Win, lose or draw in regulation, UPG’s team-oriented approach won’t be compromised, said coach Hayley Schaetzle, a fiercely loyal and young mentor to the Bobcats players, many of whom were recruited by former coach Erin Eaton. “We’re incredibly...
Pitt-Greensburg men’s basketball ready to make noise
The Pitt-Greensburg Bobcats are on the prowl. Will they chase down their prey? It’s too early to tell, but third-year men’s basketball coach Brody Jackson is encouraged. “You have to take small steps,” said Jackson, who is in his third season at UPG. On Saturday night, UPG took the short...
Freshman class provides foundation for Seton Hill men’s basketball
With his second season at Seton Hill already under way, men’s basketball coach Kendrick Saunders is at ease while the usual outside noise keeps abuzz. The Griffins (1-1), looking to fill the vacancies left by three seniors and a transfer, evened their early-season record with an 83-76 nonconference victory at...
Duquesne men win ‘home’ game at La Roche vs. Lipscomb
They played a major-college basketball game in the North Hills on Friday night at La Roche’s Kerr Fitness Center. It is a place reserved mainly for the Redhawks, members of the Division III Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. Duquesne and Lipscomb — the Atlantic 10 vs. the Atlantic Sun — squared...
Seton Hill women’s basketball serves notice with upset of St. Francis
The sometimes-fine line in NCAA sports between Division I and II basketball programs showed up this week when Seton Hill caught St. Francis (Pa.) by surprise in an exhibition game, handing the Red Flash a come-from-behind, eye-opening loss on their home court. It speaks to the strength of the D-II...
Lower Dauphin freezes out Franklin Regional in PIAA semifinals
ALTOONA — Another state semifinal, another loss for the Franklin Regional boys soccer team. But not for the lack of a superb effort did the Panthers succumb on Tuesday night to District 3 champion Lower Dauphin in the PIAA Class AAA semifinals. The Falcons, taking advantage of several rare opportunities...
Blocked extra point sends Ligonier Valley into District 6 title game
After sending all its games into a mercy-rule mode, the Ligonier Valley football team nearly wound up on the short end in the District 6 Class 2A semifinals Saturday night. But the Rams survived a spirited Bellwood-Antis performance to come away with a 21-20 decision and advance to their fourth...
Gateway’s Body makes up for earlier drop, catches winning TD against Bethel Park
Patrick Body didn’t want to go home. Not after dropping a pair of passes during a scoreless first half, the second one in the end zone that seemingly would have gone for a touchdown. The sophomore Gateway wide receiver made up for those blunders in the final minute Friday night,...
Saint Vincent women return experienced group to make run at 2nd PAC title
Ask the Saint Vincent women’s basketball coach what he likes most about the current version of Bearcats, and you likely won’t get a straight answer. There seem to be so many choices. For Jimmy Petruska, whose team is coming off its third NCAA Division III playoffs appearance in eight-plus seasons...
Ligonier Valley, Bellwood-Antis set for rematch with District 6 championship berth on the line
For the second time in as many years, Ligonier Valley and Bellwood-Antis find themselves opposite one another in the District 6 Class 2A football semifinals, both eyeing a spot in the championship game next weekend. Barely unlike last season, both teams are undefeated at 11-0. Just once-beaten a year ago,...
College basketball preview: New coach welcomes pressure to keep Saint Vincent on top
The changes are many, but the expectations for the Saint Vincent College men’s basketball program remain the same. A perennial title contender, Saint Vincent is the narrow choice in a preseason poll of conference coaches to win the NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference regular season title. Gone are longtime...
Ligonier Valley opens District 6 playoffs with rout of West Shamokin
Ligonier Valley’s presumed final football game against a District 6 Heritage Conference opponent before joining the WPIAL next year ended much like the ones before it. The Rams, without all-time leading rusher Kyrie Miller — out with a sprained ankle — skated to victory in their opener of the District...
Ligonier Valley’s foes must try to break through ‘Great Wall’
At a summer football camp in central Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia-area high school coach observed Ligonier Valley’s massive linemen, prompting an impulsive reaction. “Tough to run on that team. It’s like facing The Great Wall of China,” Ligonier Valley coach Roger Beitel said, repeating what he overheard Downingtown West coach Mike...
Ligonier Valley routs Portage to win 4th straight Appalachian Bowl
Chalk up another Appalachian Bowl rout for the Ligonier Valley football team. Kyrie Miller rushed for 234 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries before leaving the game with an ankle injury in the third quarter as the Rams cruised to a 58-6 victory over Portage on Saturday night at...
Greensburg Central Catholic rolls past Southmoreland in playoff tuneup
For one half, it was a defensive struggle Friday night at Greensburg Central Catholic. After halftime, it was nearly all Centurions on both sides of the ball. David Altimore passed for 224 yards and three touchdowns to lead GCC to a 34-14 victory over Southmoreland in a WPIAL playoffs tuneup...
In likely its final Appalachian Bowl appearance, Ligonier Valley aims to take down Portage
Ligonier Valley has shown no sympathy this year, enforcing a 35-point mercy rule in all nine football games to date — outscoring opponents by a combined 421-47. This season, however, is no different than others in recent years for the undefeated Rams. For what likely will be the final time,...
Ligonier Valley gets ready to say goodbye to Appalachian Bowl
Football for Roger Beitel began for real as a player at Penns Manor High School, which is the site of Saturday’s Appalachian Bowl that matches champions of the Heritage and Western Pennsylvania Athletic conferences. Football has come full circle for Beitel, who returns home perhaps for the final time as...
Ligonier Valley cruises in probable Heritage Conference swan song
Ligonier Valley’s football dominance in the Heritage Conference is no secret, especially to its District 6 opponents, including Blairsville, the latest victim of a Rams machine that has produced 37 consecutive conference victories dating to 2015. Those schools likely won’t be concerned anymore if Ligonier Valley is approved to join...
Woodland Hills brings back boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic
Matt Furjanic’s phone was ringing all day long. So much so that the Rankin native and former Robert Morris men’s basketball coach was liable to have had it pried off his ear. His friends were calling him constantly at his home in Winter Haven, Fla., on Thursday to send along...
No. 9 Slippery Rock escapes with win over No. 16 IUP
The annual trips back and forth on Route 422 between Slippery Rock and Indiana help keep this college football rivalry going. And that’s before the teams even get off the bus. There’s a lot more to it once they hit the field, and another chapter was written Saturday when No....
Huss paces Derry in rout of Yough
Following a year in which Derry played for a WPIAL championship, anything less might feel like a bust. But the Trojans are piling up the victories again, and the consensus Friday night after a 42-6 rout of Yough was one of optimism. “We played a pretty complete game,” Derry senior...
