Guido: Weather plays factor in A-K Valley hoops schedules

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 9, 2018 | 11:32 PM

The Farmer's Almanac got it right.

The sage publication predicted the freezing temperatures in the Pittsburgh region from Jan. 1-6. The Almanac makes weather forecasts as much as two years in advance.

Though numerous games were called off last Friday and Saturday, we haven't had many severe winters recently — ones that cause the winter sports schedules to back up.

One thing many fans don't realize is that it is up to the individual school to postpone games — not the WPIAL.

About the only time the WPIAL gets involved is during the playoffs when the organization has jurisdiction over the games.

Some school districts have a policy that automatically cancels extracurricular activities if school is closed that day. Others try to get a game in whenever possible.

After last weekend's postponements, it looked as if Monday would be another day of heavy postponements, but the weather moderated as the day wore on.

For instance, Freeport put out a tweet about 9:30 Monday morning stating that with no school, athletic events were called off for that night.

Last Friday, Fox Chapel hosted Norwin, and Foxes coach Zack Skrinjar was happy about that.

“It was great to come out and play this game, what with the weather conditions,” Skrinjar said after Fox Chapel defeated Norwin, 54-38. “I was really pleased that both schools were able to pull this together. It was nice to get some people into the warm gym. You don't want to get backed up and find yourself playing three section games in a week.”

Turkey tenacity

Rural portions of Somerset County aren't known as basketball hotbeds.

But things are different this year with the emergence of the Turkeyfoot Valley Rams.

Turkeyfoot, located in Confluence near the Youghiogheny Reservoir, is wearing out scoreboards. After four games this season, the Rams were averaging 99 points, helped out by their 114-26 victory over Salisbury-Elk Lake. In that game, Turkeyfoot tallied a school-record 16 3-point field goals.

For a while, the Rams were ranked among the state's top 10 Class A teams.

Turkeyfoot is 6-1 going into Wednesday's game at Rockwood, located near Seven Springs. The Rams are still averaging 81 points, led by Craig Lytle at 25.8.

Turkeyfoot doesn't have a lot of players to choose from with 41 boys in the top three grades. The entire school district has about 375 students.

The Rams will enter WPIAL territory for a game Monday night at Geibel Catholic in Connellsville.

Carnahan remembered

Hempfield boys basketball paid tribute to longtime Latrobe sports broadcaster Dow Carnahan Friday when the Spartans visited the Wildcats.

Carnahan, who died in 2016 at 56, broadcast hundreds of Latrobe events on WCNS Radio and was the track announcer for many years at Lernerville Speedway in Buffalo Township.

A football and basketball broadcaster for more than 30 years, Carnahan made a number of appearances at Davis Field and at Kiski Area High School whenever the Cavaliers played Latrobe.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Kiski School, Norwin