Tag: Bethel Park

Scholastic Notebook – 12/11/2015

December 11, 2015

There is a Wildcat strike in WPIAL boys basketball this season. Big things are expected of the Latrobe Wildcats and coach Brad Wetzel’s crew has been impressive in the first week of the season. Latrobe is 3-0, including Tuesday’s victory against Pine-Richland, which was the No. 2-ranked Class AAAA team in the MSA Sports preseason Class AAAA rankings. This could be one of Latrobe’s best teams in a while, at least the best since the 2009 team that went 19-4. Latrobe is the odds-on favorite to win Section 1. If Latrobe wins the section, it would be only their fourth crown in the past 30 years. The others were in 1987, 1990 and 2009.

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WPIAL Big Game Hunting – First Round

November 5, 2015

The Highway to Heinz begins this week, a very exciting time in southwestern Pennsylvania and at the MSA Sports Network. We have been stretched to the max by the fall championship season but with one final tug we found a way to carry every single WPIAL football playoff game yet again. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Most years I fall in love with 8 v 9 games, but this year was different for me. Looking through the brackets I found myself most fascinated by three of the 7 v 10 games. Hey at this point they’re all big games, so easy pickins as we go post season Big Game Hunting. Class AAAA:

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Chicks Picks – Week 6 – 2015

October 8, 2015

Welcome to Week 6 of the high school football season. Friday nights at MSA Sports World Headquarters are hard work.  As a reward, The Boss provides delicious dinner for the crew from the best pizza place in town.  Last week, an unfamiliar delivery man showed up with the evening’s provisions.  As he handed over the order, however, it became obvious that something was not right. When the crew began to question the delivery man, he panicked and ran for the exit—right into the regular delivery man who was bringing the actual order.  The spill caused the impersonator to lose the contents of his pockets, including his cell phone, which happened to start ringing at that exact moment—caller I.D.: The Fumbler.

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WPIAL Big Game Hunting – Week Six 2015

October 7, 2015

In the mid-1800’ when you went to the fabric store and asked for a bolt or a yard of cloth, the clerk would first just hold it out at ‘arms- length’  to give you an idea of how much you were getting. But, when the time came for the actual cutting of the fabric and the paying of the money the fabric would be measured exactly between a pair of brass tacks set in the counter at specific lengths. That’s where the term “getting down to brass tacks” comes from. No more looks from a distance at who are the championship contenders in the WPIAL. This week we get down to “brass tacks” with top-ten battles sprinkled throughout every classification. Here are four dandies for you to take in on…. THE NETWORK, this weekend. 

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WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Five 2015

October 3, 2015

A little precipitation in the area before the real wet stuff driven by Hurricane Joaquin Andujar (look it up kids)...no problem. Temperatures dipping into the low 50's with winds that made it feel more like the 40's...again, no problem. Defenses geared to...wait, I'll just stop there. In this wild and crazy season of video game like play on the field resulting in huge points here, there and everywhere, top performances around the WPIAL on a Friday night are no longer hard to find. They are now just difficult to whittle down. Doing our best Jed Clampett imitation (look it up kids), we have whittled down some of the top outputs to these ten. Philip Jurkovec - Pine-Richland

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WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Four

September 26, 2015

The fourth Friday of the 2015 WPIAL football season was a night filled with Firsts and Lasts. On the first Friday of Autumn, six teams got off the deck and won their first game of the season including one team winning for the first time in four seasons (more on that later). But without question on this last Friday of September, all of the nights winners are hoping this wont be their last taste of victory in 2015. Speaking of taste, here are ten performances that were absolutely delicious to all except the opposing team. Shaler Titans

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Hometown Girls Soccer Recap – Upper St. Clair Panthers – 09/19/2015

September 19, 2015

It was another solid performance for the Upper St. Clair girls soccer team, as the Panthers defeated their South Hills rival Bethel Park on Saturday 3-2.   USC scored twice in less than two minutes in the first half to jump on top of the Blackhawks early.  Landy Mertz found the net in the 14th minute, followed by Katherine Miller's tally in the 16th minute.  Bethel Park would cut the lead to a goal in the 27th minute, as Kristi Roth found the net from 37-yards out on a free kick.  USC would take the 2-1 lead to the break, then add to it in the 2nd half. 

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WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Three 2015

With two weeks to get a feel of the district high school football landscape, there was plenty of 'big game' feel up and down the FOUR classifications of the WPIAL on the third Friday of the campaign. Some turned into laughers while others were nail-biters well into the fourth quarter. On a picture perfect night around Western Pennsylvania, here are the players who proved to be very photogenic in leading their teams to Week Three wins. Terron Murphy - Bethel Park

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Scholastic Notebook – 09/18/2015

September 18, 2015

To the PIAA, more is better. At least in football. The landscape of Pennsylvania football – and the WPIAL – might be changing real soon. The change will be significant. On Wednesday, the PIAA strategic planning committee and the PIAA football committee voted to recommend to the PIAA board of directors that football in Pennsylvania go to six classifications, starting next year. It was a noteworthy vote because the PIAA board of directors usually – but not always – does what the strategic planning committee recommends. The PIAA board has already passed this 6A idea twice and needs to pass it only one more time Oct. 19 for it to go into effect for the 2016-17 school year.

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WPIAL Big Game Hunting – Week Three – 09/16/2015

September 16, 2015

Time is inexorable, I know that, but nonetheless I find myself wanting to slow things down once the WPIAL football season begins. For a lot of reasons, to give myself more time to prepare for my game, to be able to have a little extra time to enjoy what is for me the best time of the year, to slow the inevitable cold-weather from getting here and, to lengthen the deadline to get Big Game Hunting into the Boss. I don’t have to tell you how he can be when you get on his bad side. Time goes by fast, and the older you get the faster it goes. Week three is here and I am almost ready with my pre-season Big Game Hunting. Speaking of time, how long has it been since the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars started a season 0-2?

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