District College category, Page 29
Gateway grad John Paul Kromka piling up honors in final season at Pitt-Johnstown
John Paul Kromka is in the twilight of his collegiate basketball career, but he is making the most of the time he has left. The Gateway graduate and senior forward on the Pitt-Johnstown men’s basketball team again is a leading force for the Mountain Cats, who, after a spirited Pennsylvania...
Penn Hills’ Sherron Schifino helps new-look Point Park get back to winning ways
Sherron Schifino didn’t find a home at Youngstown State. The Point Park senior went to Ohio following his graduation from Penn Hills in 2017 as a preferred walk-on and did some workouts with the team, but decided to come back home. After spending time at CCAC Boyce, Schifino landed with...
Seton Hill celebrates 100th anniversary of women’s basketball team
Seton Hill women’s basketball players used to walk across the road to the Armory near downtown Greensburg to play intrasquad games. Later, they would hop a train to play in Pittsburgh, Indiana or Ohio. Dressed in their blooms, skirts and tiny caps, they would weave around creaky courts, pass to...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Area grads help Pitt wrestling upset No. 8 Virginia Tech
Three former Westmoreland standouts made an impact on an upset by the Pitt wrestling team. Redshirt senior Micky Phillippi (Derry), redshirt junior Colton Camacho (Franklin Regional) and freshman Dayton Pitzer (Mt. Pleasant) all recorded wins as the 22nd-ranked Panthers clipped No. 8 Virginia Tech, 26-12, on Friday to move into...
Knoch grad Maddie Boyer putting up big numbers as freshman for Penn State Behrend women’s basketballVideo
In the seventh game of the season, the Penn State Behrend women’s basketball team stared down a 13-point deficit at Oberlin with the second-half clock ticking under 5 minutes. Coach Christine VanHook called timeout as she saw her team’s chances slipping away. When players huddled, freshman Maddie Boyer spoke up....
Westmoreland campus clippings: Seton Hill baseball tabbed preseason No. 1 in PSAC West
Elevated expectations for Seton Hill baseball: What else is new? The perennially-contending Griffins were picked to finish first in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division for the third straight season. Seton Hill finished 33-19-1 last season and went 2-2 in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional. Three players, senior...
Pine-Richland grad Kyle Polce provides glue for top-ranked IUP men’s basketball
Every team needs a glue guy and Kyle Polce has embraced that role with IUP men’s basketball. Someone that is willing to come off the bench, play tough defense, dive for a loose ball and take a charge when necessary. “Those things add up slowly,” said Polce, a Pine-Richland grad....
Hampton grad Kayla Hoehler hits ground running for Pitt-Greensburg women’s hoops
The unexpected news rattled Hampton’s Kayla Hoehler. Four months after signing a national letter of intent to play basketball at Pitt-Greensburg, Hoehler learned then-Bobcats coach Kelsey Oddis was stepping down after one season. “Honestly, it threw me off,” Hoehler said. “She was definitely one of the main reasons why I...
Westmoreland campus clippings: County coaches join Washington & Jefferson staff
Former Westmoreland County football standouts Aaron Krepps and Max Garda are joining forces to coach the football team at Washington & Jefferson. Both are W&J alumni. Aaron Krepps, a Belle Vernon graduate, will serve as assistant head coach, while Garda, who played at Burrell, is an intern assistant who will...
Optimism permeates Saint Vincent men’s volleyball programVideo
Kate McCauley is in her second season as the Saint Vincent men’s volleyball coach. In a way, however, it seems a lot like Year 1. Hired in October 2021 to take over the third-year program, McCauley was thrown into the fire right before the start of preseason workouts. On top...
Plum’s Decheck brothers want to put Gannon men’s swimming on the mapVideo
Being only a year apart, brothers Justin and Joey Decheck have done a lot together. Mostly, they have competed in swimming together: through youth ranks, at Plum High School and now at Gannon. Throughout their time at Plum, they teamed on countless relays, but they never were able to set...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Seton Hill’s Jaylen McDuffie declares for NFL Draft
Jaylen McDuffie, the king of tackles at Seton Hill, is aiming big. One of the top linebackers in NCAA Division II, McDuffie announced he is declaring for the NFL Draft. The redshirt senior, collected a number of postseason honors. He was a Don Hansen Division II All-American, made the D2Football.com...
Defense propelling IUP, the nation’s top-ranked Division II men’s basketball team
Just before Christmas, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team moved into the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division II rankings. It looks like the Crimson Hawks intend to stay there. As each opponent turns on a spit, IUP (17-0) continues to look like the best team in...
Norwin grad Austen Swankler, former Fox Chapel goalie Chad Veltri nominated for Hobey Baker Award
Two former local players are up for hockey’s Heisman Trophy. Bowling Green sophomore Austen Swankler and Niagara senior Chad Veltri are nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, which recognizes the top player in the college game. A Norwin graduate, Swankler is currently on an NCAA-best 16-game scoring streak that...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Pitt-Greensburg sets 2nd hall of fame class
Pitt-Greensburg unveiled its second Athletics Hall of Fame class. The inductees will be honored Feb. 10 at Wagner Dining Hall on campus. The class includes Dean Rick Fogle, the men’s golf teams of 1997-2000 and basketball players Jim Kubicek, Kevin Conlon and Kelsey Wilcox. Fogle played a key role in...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Hempfield grad Sarah Liberatore shines at Florida Tech
Sarah Liberatore decided to make the move from a Division I program to one playing in Division II. It looks like it was the right move for the former Hempfield standout. Liberatore had a career game last week for Florida Tech, a D-II school in Melbourne, Fla. A sophomore guard,...
Saint Vincent women’s basketball team hopes to contend in PAC down stretchVideo
For the Saint Vincent women’s basketball team, the 2021-22 season was, well, very un-Saint Vincent-like. It ended with the first sub-.500 record (8-14, 7-10 Presidents’ Athletic Conference) of coach Jimmy Petruska’s 12-year career. Petruska isn’t one to make excuses, but there were a couple of extenuating factors that contributed to...
Penn State New Kensington women’s basketball team growing in confidence with wins
When Mike McGoff took over the Penn State New Kensington women’s basketball team before this season, he, naturally, wanted to help the program get more wins. In the previous three seasons combined, the Lady Lions had only three wins. But more than that, McGoff wanted respect for his program. Not...
Five district basketball players named to Bevo Francis award watch list
They would make a nice starting five. Five district players made the Clarence “Bevo” Francis watch list for the award that recognizes the top small-college basketball player in the country. Bryce Butler of West Liberty, John Paul Kromka of Pitt-Johnstown, Shawndale Jones and Dave Morris of IUP and Jo Valrie...
Greensburg Salem alum Brennan Marion joins UNLV football staff
Trying to keep up with Brennan Marion as a coach is like trying to defend him when he was a big-play wide receiver at Tulsa. He is on the move again. Catch him if you can. Marion, a Greensburg Salem graduate and former Pitt wide receivers coach, was announced Tuesday...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Local wrestlers help Pitt-Johnstown to No. 7 ranking
A number of former local standouts have helped lead the NCAA Division II No. 7-ranked Pitt-Johnstown wrestling team to an 8-0 start. In the team’s most recent match, sophomore Isaiah Vance (Hempfield), ranked No. 5 at heavyweight won by fall; redshirt sophomore Dajauhn Hertzog (Greensburg Salem) won by decision at...
Penn-Trafford grad Hunter DeStefano contributes to 2 men’s sports at CarlowVideo
Ask Val Pennington how senior Hunter DeStefano manages his schedule, and the normally erudite coach struggles to find an accurate explanation. DeStefano, a Penn-Trafford grad, is a nursing major who carries a 3.9 GPA. He is in his fourth season as a member of the Carlow men’s basketball team, and...
Young Penn State New Ken men’s basketball has high hopes after solid 1st half of seasonVideo
Brant Mack took over the Penn State New Kensington men’s basketball team at a less-than-opportune time. He was hired in October 2020, when the world was in the grip of the covid-19 pandemic. Building up the program was going to be tough enough, but without a year of competition to...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Pitt-Greensburg women rally past Alfred State
What’s a trip to New York without a little excitement? Freshman Madison Scalese made two free throws with one second remaining as the Pitt-Greensburg women’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 6:58 to defeat host Alfred State, 66-65. Senior Sidney McCully had 16 points, 12 rebounds...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Seton Hill linebacker earns elite honor
Linebacker Jaylen McDuffie of Seton Hill continues to reap the benefits of a sensational senior football season. McDuffie added another accolade as he was named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 First Team. Just 25 players from across the nation made the first team. McDuffie also was a finalist for the...
