Dave Mackall stories, Page 30
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...
Seneca Valley takes scenic route to win over Hempfield
The longer the Seneca Valley football team bus meandered through Hempfield late Friday afternoon, searching for a more direct route to Spartan Stadium amid the chaos of homecoming activities, the more Raiders coach Ron Butschle’s stomach churned. Good thing his players seemed oblivious to the developing urgency of reaching their...
Behind QB Jared Hartman, Belle Vernon routs Greensburg Salem
Jared Hartman, Belle Vernon’s dynamic quarterback/linebacker, a stocky, 6-foot-1, 210-pound rock, typically prefers to not take credit for much of the Leopards’ success without insisting his teammates join in the spotlight. Friday night at Greensburg Salem, following a 43-3 rout of the Golden Lions, was no different. Hartman, a senior,...
Ligonier Valley rolls to another conference win over West Shamokin
Ligonier Valley wore throwback jerseys Friday night to honor the former New Florence Wolverines, but the Rams played like their usual selves in a 54-7 rout of visiting West Shamokin. Sam Sheeder passed for 310 yards and four touchdowns, three to John Beard, and Ligonier Valley, No. 3 in the...
Idled Irwin summer basketball league hopes to bounce back in 2020
Something was missing this year at Irwin Park. Except for sporatic groups of shootarounds or an occasional game of H.O.R.S.E., the sound of bouncing basketballs mainly was absent this summer on the hardcourts at Irwin’s chief recreational compound just off Pennsylvania Avenue, near Main Street. The Irwin Men’s Summer Basketball...
Central Catholic drops Hempfield to get back in win column
Central Catholic shook off a tough, one-point loss a week ago to North Allegheny with a successful trip Friday night to Hempfield. But the Vikings would’ve liked a more convincing outcome. As it was, No. 3 Central Catholic, behind 112 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Eddie Tillman, beat Hempfield,...
Jeannette football remains undefeated; shooting mars night
Top-ranked Class A Jeannette stayed unbeaten Friday night, but the result paled when the game with Imani Christian Academy was halted in the fourth quarter after shots were fired outside McKee Stadium. “It happened outside the stadium,” Jeannette coach Roy Hall said, “but it’s still a black eye on Jeannette...
QB Cole Spencer passes Pine-Richland past Hempfield
Pine-Richland is picking up this year where the Rams left off a year ago in claiming another WPIAL Class 6A football championship, their second in a row and third in five seasons. Cole Spencer has been a big reason for Pine-Richland’s continued success. The junior quarterback’s play has been nothing...
Encouraging signs for Yough boys soccer
The numbers in boys soccer are up this season at Yough, where coach Chris Duda is encouraged by increased interest in his playoff-starved program. There were 22 players in camp preparing for the Cougars’ opener Tuesday at Waynesburg Central. “We’ve been lacking in numbers, but we’ve got 22 this year...
Latrobe edges crosstown rival Derry in overtime
As backyard brawls go, this one went overtime. Branden Crosby’s 27-yard screen pass to Logan Gustafson gave Latrobe the go-ahead touchdown in the extra session, and the Class 5A Wildcats came away with a 20-14, season-opening road victory over Class 3A No. 5 Derry on Friday night. The victory ended...
Hempfield girls soccer team zeroes in on defense
If you notice the Hempfield girls soccer team getting defensive, it’s nothing personal. The Spartans simply don’t want opposing teams to score. “One thing we can definitely improve on is our defensive look,” Hempfield coach Adam Shaffer said. “The phrase we’ve literally been using is, ‘The goals will come.’ ”...
Hempfield boys soccer team sees dividends from feeder program
It has been eight years since the Hempfield boys team tasted playoff soccer, and that season ended in a Class 4A, first-round loss to Upper St. Clair. The Spartans, at least, were in the hunt. But there’s been nothing much to show since that 2011 season. “They’ve struggled here. It’s...
Mt. Pleasant working to rebound after 2-win season
How do you erase the memory of a sad season? Turn around the record, of course. Jake Johnson and the Mt. Pleasant Vikings are hoping to begin that process in their high school football opener Friday night against Southmoreland. “We all know we don’t want to feel like we did...
Mt. Pleasant eyes return to winning ways
A stretch of productive seasons that began shortly after the turn of the century earned Mt. Pleasant repeated postseason trips before the Vikings’ fortunes went south the past two years. In other words, it’s time to refocus. “We want to make sure the culture is right after our disappointing year...
Veteran team sparks enthusiasm at Greensburg Salem
Some time ago, when Dave Keefer was an assistant football coach at Central Catholic, he received a bit of insight from WPIAL coaching legend Art Walker Sr. And though he didn’t particularly dwell on it at the time, it has stuck with him since: “There’s no substitution for experience.” Years...
Latrobe looks to repeat rare postseason appearance
Standing on the edge of a field at the athletics complex behind Latrobe High School, Wildcats football coach Jason Marucco couldn’t help but wonder what was in store for the upcoming season. So many questions. Will Latrobe repeat a trip to the WPIAL playoffs, where it made a return in...
Senior running back Rock helps spark culture change at Latrobe
A.J. Rock doesn’t hold back his emotions this preseason as he speaks with great conviction about the school’s playoff-hungry football team, insisting the Wildcats are out to change their second-fiddle image. He believes the process already has begun. Latrobe posted four victories in 2018 for a second consecutive season, qualifying...
Greensburg Salem football faces rugged regular-season schedule
High school football training camps officially began Monday, but for Greensburg Salem’s Golden Lions, the season started the minute the 2018 campaign concluded with a first-round WPIAL playoff loss to South Fayette. It was the Lions’ first postseason appearance in seven years, and they’re hungry to extend this year’s season...
