Tag: Beaver Falls

Big Game Hunting for Week Eleven

November 9, 2016

Call it what you like, redemption Friday, redo Friday, rematch Friday, every single game in the three largest classifications this Friday night is a game that was already played at some point during the regular season. We prefer to call it the semi-finals, and there is no better time to go Big Game Hunting! The suddenness with which the semi-finals jump up on us in 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A is a little unnerving. But hey, we got a new President recently, let’s find out if we are going to get some new champions as well.

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Chicks Picks for Week Nine

October 27, 2016

Welcome to Week 9 of the high school football season. As regular season play wraps up, Chick’s Picks knew that she needed to check in on The Boss at MSA Sports World Headquarters.  For quite some time, Chick’s Picks had been aware of the overtime put in by The Boss this time of year.  However, what she witnessed when she walked into World Headquarters was still a shock. There he was, The Boss, pecking away at his keyboard relentlessly with his two index fingers.  Moments later, when The Boss finally realized that he had a visitor, Chick’s Picks noticed his tired, bloodshot eyes, unkempt hair, and disorder throughout his office.

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Big Game Hunting for Week Nine 2016

The final week of the regular season arrives and things are still a bit murky around the WPIAL, but as always the “Boss” has made it clear and precise, if you have questions about your team and their post season needs or desires, it is laid out here, http://www.msasports.net/articles/2016-wpial-football-playoff-picture. That amount of work can only be a labor of love, and when the boss is doing a labor of love, the worker-bees will almost always do the same. Like the famous line in Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership”. So, this opening paragraph is dedicated to my colleagues, each of them I know, doing this job because they love it.

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Scholastic Notebook – 10/21/2016

October 21, 2016

For the first time in WPIAL history, there could be a Lady in the football playoffs. No, it’s not a female player or coach. It’s the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart team. The Chargers started playing WPIAL football in 2010 and failed to make the postseason in the first six years of the program. OLSH could turn out to be one of the big turnaround stories in the WPIAL this season. The Chargers did not win a game last year, going 0-9. Now they are 5-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big Seven Conference. They are almost assured of a playoff berth, with games remaining against Sto-Rox and Shenango. Rochester leads the conference at 6-0, Northgate is 5-1 and OLSH and Sto-Rox are tied at 4-2. Shenango is fifth at 3-3.

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Scholastic Notebook – 09/23/2016

September 23, 2016

At Mapletown, Rush rushes. A lot. Dylan Rush is a junior running back at Mapletown who has enjoyed a big season so far. He is the second-leading rusher in the WPIAL with 1,027 yards. The only running back who is ahead of him is Armstrong’s Zane Dudek, who has 1,201. Rush stands only 5 feet 9 and weighs 180 pounds. You have to wonder how strong Rush’s back is, because he is carrying the Mapletown team on it. Rush’s number of carries isn’t on the high side. It’s on the ridiculous side. In four games, Rush has carried the ball 147 times. That’s 36.8 times a game. The rest of Mapletown’s team has 31 carries. On top of that, Mapletown has thrown 22 passes – and Rush has attempted seven of them.

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Big Game Hunting for Week One 2016

August 31, 2016

Big Game Hunting gets bigger! Nothing wrong with that, right? 2016 and our weekly four-pack gets rounded out to an actual 6-pack. While I am not a fan yet of six classifications; I am willing to give it a try and I am a huge fan of six-packs. When someone shows up at your door and they have a six-pack, they are automatically your friend. Well in 2016 I will be showing up at your door with a six-pack every week, so that will make us friends. That’s a good thing and so is more football talk, and so is researching and writing about 150% of the games for the same amount of money right? Er…. Without further ado, let’s for the first time in 2016, go Big Game Hunting!

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CTK ’16: 3-A Beaver Valley Conference Preview

August 22, 2016

With schools either electing to move up or just taking the jump in class, what could be a new super conference in Class AAA was formed. The Parkway may be no more but the Beaver Valley Conference might rival the Parkway in toughness. With only 3 AAA conferences and just 8 teams making the playoffs, it means that there will be at least 1, if not 2 or more teams that deserve to make the playoffs, now will not qualify for the post-season. Here is a preview of each team and the predicted order of finish. ALIQUIPPA QUIPS

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CTK ’16: MSA SPORTS PRESEASON ELITE ELEVEN

August 16, 2016

Pittsburgh Central Catholic is ranked in the top 20 in some national preseason polls. To MSA Sports, the Vikings have three players who rank among the top 11 in the WPIAL. Three Central Catholic players have been selected to the MSA Sports Elite 11 preseason team. The squad is made up of the top 11 players in the WPIAL and is picked by the MSA Sports staff. The three Central Catholic players named to the Elite 11 are lineman C.J. Thorpe, lineman Kurt Hinish and linebacker David Adams. All three seniors already are commited to Division I colleges. Thorpe will attend Penn State while Adams and Hinish have made verbal commitments to Notre Dame. While Central Catholic has three players on the Elite 11, Steel Valley has two – Paris Ford and Dewayne Murray.

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Scholastic Notebook – 05/13/2016

May 13, 2016

Plum High School’s nickname is Mustangs. But when it comes to athletes, Plum has a thoroughbred in Ashley Amato. The MSA Sports staff doesn’t name a female athlete of the year until late June. But you would think Amato will get serious consideration. There are three-season rooms in houses, but Plum houses a three-sport standout in Amato. And in the spring, she shines brightest. So far this track and field season, Amato has the best 200-meter time in WPIAL Class AAA at 25.3 seconds. She has the third-best 100 hurdles time of 14.69 and is tied for the third-best 100 time at 12.2.  She is has the third-best AAA long jump at 18-2 ¾. At the Baldwin Invitational last Friday, Amato won the long jump, was second in the 100 hurdles and sixth in the 200.

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Chicks Picks – Week 11 – 2015

November 12, 2015

Welcome to Week 11 of the high school football season.  The atmosphere at MSA Sports World Headquarters was full of excitement last Friday night as we began our exclusive coverage of the WPIAL playoffs.  Things seemed to be running smoothly; that is, until Chick’s Picks overheard an unsettling statement during one of the broadcasts. The color commentator said, “This team should utilize that standout running back some more.  He’s really getting it done out there tonight.” The play-by-play announcer called the next play, “That running back just went 80 yards for a touchdown!  Way to go, color commentator guy.  You called it.  It was almost as though you used that trusty crystal ball of Chick’s Picks’, and you saw that play coming.”

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