Sports category, Page 841
Former Jeannette teammates Robert Kennedy, Marcus Barnes suiting up for major college programs
Robert Kennedy and Marcus Barnes were football teammates at Jeannette and won WPIAL and PIAA championships together. They shared the same defensive secondary, ball-hawking with the best in Class A. On offense, Kennedy carried the football and Barnes caught it out wide. Who knew five years later they both would...
Tim Benz: Fantasy football tips, Steelers projections, as draft season is upon us
The Steelers and the rest of the NFL are wrapping up the preseason this weekend. That means it’s fantasy football draft time. My team, “Hodgepodge of Nothingness” (thanks for the inspiration, Dennis Eckersley), won my league last year. I could offer you some advice. Or I could offer you the...
Seton Hill promotes assistant Gallagher to head women’s basketball coach after Katarski accepts new role
A promotion, a new role and a change in command. The wheels are in motion with the Seton Hill women’s basketball program. The university announced assistant Maeve Gallagher has been promoted to head coach, while Mark Katarski, who has guided the Griffins for nine seasons and has the program record...
Hall of Fame hardcore wrestler Terry Funk dies at 79: ‘Unbelievably Fearless’Video
The enduring memory of iconic pro wrestler Terry Funk is of him in a Tokyo ring screaming “forever” over and over, his face stained with blood, sweat and tears. It was Aug. 31, 1983 — nearly 40 years ago — and he was announcing his retirement from wrestling in Japan....
Companies find digital loopholes in NIL rules to allow direct payments to college athletes
STORRS, Conn. — Two years after the NCAA cleared the way for college athletes to earn money off their fame and celebrity, digital technology is allowing some of them to get paid by their fans without having to do very much in return. Most deals struck by athletes under name,...
How Penn State star’s ‘special bond’ with disabled siblings drives him to greatness
The first thing Penn State football’s Adisa Isaac does when he takes the field at Beaver Stadium is look around. Isaac is one of the best defensive ends in college football, a nightmare for Big Ten quarterbacks when the ball is snapped. But before the game is underway — before...
College football preview: Can USC’s Caleb Williams become 2-time Heisman Trophy winner?Video
Here we are again. Just like last year, college football has a returning Heisman Trophy winner — this time, USC quarterback Caleb Williams — trying to join the sport’s most exclusive club: Two-time winners of the most prestigious player of the year award. Ohio State running back Archie Griffin stands...
Plum Kick-Off Classic youth soccer tournament to welcome 309 teams
For a quarter of a century, the Plum Kick-Off Classic youth soccer tournament has hosted competitive matchups involving teams and organizations hoping for a successful start to their seasons. One of the region’s largest youth soccer events is back this weekend. The 26th annual tournament begins Friday and runs through...
QB-coordinator reunions could spark offenses at schools such as Alabama, N.C. State
RALEIGH, N.C. — Brennan Armstrong arrived at N.C. State trying to get a feel for new teammates as a graduate transfer from Virginia. As for the offense? No problem. That’s because Armstrong thrived under first-year coordinator Robert Anae at his previous stop, making this one of multiple passer-playcaller reunions nationally...
North Carolina QB Drake Maye welcomes high expectations after rapid rise to stardomVideo
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The first preseason practice had wrapped up, and North Carolina players gathered around coach Mack Brown for final on-field instructions. Drake Maye dropped to his left knee among them, resting his left hand on the facemask of his helmet laying next to him. Fittingly, he centered...
College football 2023: Cal’s Jackson Sirmon among nation’s under-the-radar players
Besides his fumble return for the go-ahead touchdown against rival Stanford, California star linebacker Jackson Sirmon didn’t have much to celebrate last season. Still, Sirmon said it wasn’t a difficult decision to return and use the sixth year of eligibility granted to players whose careers were disrupted by the pandemic....
College football 2023: Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman heads list of impact transfers
Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman won’t get a chance to add to his ACC record for career touchdown passes in his final season. But the former Wake Forest star’s new stop will allow him to face plenty of familiar foes. Hartman opted to use his final season of college eligibility...
First Call: 49ers reveal QB depth chart for opener vs. Steelers; new ACC expansion talk; will McCutchen hit 300th vs. Cubs?
Thursday’s “First Call” gets the full breakdown of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback depth chart as they prepare for the regular-season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. We also have the network broadcast team for that game, and a little Steelers-Niners history from an opening-day perspective. Plus, we examine the latest...
U mad, bro?: Steelers preseason hype, RB1 debates, SMU in the ACC and lanternflies
There is only one thing that has truly made me mad this week. Lanternflies. Gawd, do I hate those things! I feel like I’m in the Battle of Stirling scene from “Braveheart.” “We’re outnumbered … at least three to one!” Watch the video I posted of the war zone that...
For post-trade deadline Pirates, top of order becomes heart of lineup
With Ke’Bryan Hayes batting leadoff ahead of Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen, the top of the order has become the heart of the order for the Pittsburgh Pirates this month. The trio has found its groove by hitting a collective .287/.350/.526 with 15 doubles, 12 home runs and 37 RBIs...
With super conferences, CFP expansion on horizon, 2023 is end of an era in college footballVideo
Welcome to the final season of college football as we know it. Extreme? Maybe, but 2023 has an end-of-an-era feel. Texas and Oklahoma are taking their last lap in the Big 12. The Pac-12 is still a Power Five conference. Will it even be a conference in 2024 after the...
Pirates farm report for Aug. 23, 2023: Matt Fraizer collects 4 hits in Altoona victory
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 56-64) knocked around Iowa (Cubs), 9-4. RF Canaan Smith-Njigba (.248) went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI. LF Ryan Vilade (.262) went 2 for 4 and drove in a pair. SS Jared Triolo (.296) went 1 for 3 with two walks and three runs...
Jason Kelce center of attention in offseason, center of Eagles’ Super Bowl hopes
PHILADELPHIA — Jason Kelce spent an offseason striking drums, pounding beers, fighting off retirement and knocking out podcasts with his NFL tight end brother. From elite center for the Philadelphia Eagles to center of attention from Sea Isle City to Saturday Night Live, Kelce has reveled in the man-of-the-people touches...
Browns’ Deshaun Watson knows he must prove he still belongs among NFL’s elite QBsVideo
BEREA, Ohio — Deshaun Watson still has so much to prove — on and off the field. While he tries to repair an image marred by sexual misconduct allegations, Watson is attempting to move back among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks, a status he once held but has since relinquished. Watson...
Ezekiel Elliott says time in free agency left him ‘anxious’ and ‘ready to ball’ with Patriots
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Ezekiel Elliott’s diminishing output and price tag helped hasten the end to his Dallas Cowboys tenure. After spending the spring and most of the summer in the NFL’s free agency wilderness, he landed with the New England Patriots, a team calling on him to be a complementary...
Lionel Messi converts PK, assists on 2 goals, leading Miami past MLS-best CincinnatiVideo
CINCINNATI — Lionel Messi had two assists and converted a penalty kick as Inter Miami rallied from a two-goal deficit and beat MLS-leading Cincinnati 5-4 in penalties in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Wednesday night. Cincinnati jumped to a 2-0 lead before Messi set up a pair of goals...
2023 Western Pa. high school football schedule for Week Zero
Friday Nonconference Albert Gallatin at Connellsville, 7 p.m. Allderdice at North Allegheny, 7:30 p.m. Apollo-Ridge at Leechburg, 7 p.m. Avonworth at Grove City, 7 p.m. Bethel Park at North Hills, 7 p.m. Blackhawk at Beaver Falls, 7 p.m. Brashear at Baldwin, 7 p.m. Brentwood at Ellwood City, 7 p.m. Brownsville...
Riverhounds blow 3-goal lead, escape from Hartford with wild win
Second-half substitute JC Obregon saved the Pittsburgh Riverhounds from a humiliating result Wednesday night. Obregon scored the game-winning goal in the 88th minute after the Riverhounds blew a three-goal lead, escaping with a 4-3 victory over Hartford Athletic. The Riverhounds (14-5-8) remained in first place in the USL Championship’s Eastern...
ACC progressing toward westward expansion with Stanford, Cal, SMU potential targetsVideo
The Atlantic Coast Conference is making progress toward an expansion that could grab Stanford and California from the sinking Pac-12, a person with direct knowledge of the ACC’s potential move told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the conference was not making its...
Sam Darnold wins backup QB job for 49ers, putting Trey Lance’s status in doubtVideo
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Sam Darnold has won the backup quarterback job in San Francisco, putting Trey Lance’s status with the 49ers in doubt less than three years after the team traded three first-round picks to draft him. Coach Kyle Shanahan told flagship radio station KNBR on Wednesday that Darnold...
