November 2, 2023 12:02 am
Eight Washington County football teams, three more from Greene County, are in the WPIAL Football Playoffs. All but Canon-McMillan open the playoffs Friday night. The Big Macs have a week off before playing in the Class 6A semifinals next week. Class 5A has just eight teams, led by #1 Peters Township. Trinity makes its first appearance in the post-season since 2017. The Hillers are seeded #10 in the Class 4A bracket. Wash High (#3) and McGuffey (#6) both hosts Class 2A first round games while #13 Waynesburg is in the tournament a year after going winless. Five teams from the two-county area populate the Class 1A bracket including undefeated #2 Fort Cherry hosting #15 Jeff-Morgan. California (#6) is also hosting while #12 Burgettstown and #9 West Greene hit the road for their openers. You can hear the Trinity and Wash High games on-air and online line tonight. Following the games, we’ll have a full rundown of the scores right here. Here’s this week’s playoff schedule for Washington & Greene County teams (7 pm unless noted)
Quarterfinals
5A #8 Franklin Regional at #1 Peters Township
First Round
4A #10 Trinity vs. #7 North Catholic at South Fayette, 6:30 pm on WJPA-FM (95.3) or Listen Here
2A #14 Ellwood City at #3 Wash High, 6:45 pm on WJPA-AM (1450) or Listen Here
2A #11 Derry Area at #6 McGuffey
2A #13 Waynesburg vs. #4 Imani Christian at Wilkinsburg
1A #15 Jeff-Morgan at #2 Fort Cherry
1A #11 Jeannette at #6 California
1A #9 West Greene vs. #8 Greensburg Central Catholic at Plum
1A #12 Burgettstown vs. #5 Union at New Castle
November 3, 2023 4:41 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kenny Pickett threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson with 4:02 remaining and the Pittsburgh Steelers slipped past the Tennesee Titans 20-16. The Steelers (5-3) bounced back from a dismal loss to Jacksonville by doing what they’ve done fairly regularly this season: hung around long enough to pull it out in the end. Four of Pittsburgh’s five wins have come on games they trailed entering the fourth quarter. Pickett threw for 190 yards and the winning score. Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis passed for 262 yards but his heave to the end zone with 6 seconds remaining was picked off as Tennessee fell to 3-5.
November 2, 2023 4:23 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi pitched six gutsy innings, Mitch Garver broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh and the Texas Rangers won their first World Series championship by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5. Marcus Semien homered late and the Rangers, held hitless for six innings by Zac Gallen, finished a record 11-0 on the road this postseason after capping an all-wild card World Series with three straight wins in the desert. In his first season with Texas, manager Bruce Bochy won his fourth title 13 years to the day after his first, which came in 2010 when the Giants beat the Rangers. He also won with San Francisco in 2012 and 2014. Texas shortstop Corey Seager took home his second World Series MVP award.
November 2, 2023 4:45 am
PITTSBURGH — Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward has been activated off of the injured reserve list. He has been a “full participant in practice” this week, according to the team. “It’s been a while. I am excited to just get back out there, get in the flow of things,” Heyward said. “The conditioning has been great,” Heyward said. “I have been running every day. Meanwhile, quarterback Kenny Pickett will play as he deals with a rib injury suffered in Sunday’s loss to Jacksonville.
November 2, 2023 4:30 am
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — The turbulent and brilliant basketball coach Bob Knight has died. Knight’s family made the announcement Wednesday night on social media, saying he was surrounded by family at his home in Bloomington. Knight led the Hoosiers to three NCAA championships. He was among college basketball’s winningest coaches, with 902 victories in 42 seasons at Army, Indiana and Texas Tech. He coached the U.S. to the 1984 Olympic gold medal. His temper was legendary: In 1985, he tossed a chair across the court. But he took pride in his players’ high graduation rates and never was accused of a major NCAA violation. Bob Knight was 83.
November 2, 2023 2:36 am
Canon-McMillan swept Seneca Valley to return to the WPIAL Girls Volleyball Finals. Natalie Carr had 11 kills, Josie Carter 11 assists to lead Canon-McMillan to the championship match for the second time in five year. The Big Macs will face #1 North Allegheny and both have clinched spots in the upcoming PIAA tournament. Meanwhile, the two-county area’s remaining soccer teams continue preparations for the their head-to-head match for the 1A boys WPIAL title Friday night. Bentworth is making its first-ever appearance in the soccer championship contest. Charleroi is in the final for the second straight year. Both are seeking their first district crown. Click for WPIAL Girls Volleyball brackets Click for WPIAL Soccer brackets
Wednesday
Volleyball Semifinals
4A #3 Canon-McMillan 3, #2 Seneca Valley 0
Friday
Soccer Championship at Highmark Stadium, Station Square
1A Boys #7 Bentworth vs. #1 Charleroi, 8 pm
Saturday
Volleyball Championship at Peters Township
4A #3 Canon-McMillan vs. #1 North Allegheny, 5 pm
October 31, 2023 2:51 am
The PIAA today released new enrollment parameters that determine the classifications in which schools will compete during the 2024-2025 & 2025-2026 school years. These numbers are revised every two years based on enrollment figures submitted by the schools. For sports that have six classifications (football, basketball, baseball, softball), the state divides the schools playing a particular sport into six virtually equal classes. In other sports, the schools playing those sports are divided evenly among the specific number of classes. The ‘cut lines’ for the new cycle changed substantially from the current cycle due to a change in how PIAA member schools are to count vo-tech, cyber and charter school students. There are several more steps that will impact specific section determinations: voluntary “play-up” declarations due to be submitted to PIAA by the end of the month, competition formula “bump up” changes based on state-wide success points and inclusion of transfers, and WPIAL committee decisions regarding alignment once these other steps have been completed.
The overall impact is that most teams in Washington & Greene Counties stayed put in their current classifications but schools with large enrollment changes or ones who were close to the previous lines have moved up or down. Following are the changes involving the major sports (Football, soccer, girls volleyball, basketball, baseball & softball) based on our survey of the 19 athletic directors in the two-county area:
Beth-Center girls volleyball and softball both move down to 1A
Burgettstown girls volleyball moves up to 2A
California boys basketball, baseball and softball all move up to 2A
Charleroi football, baseball and softball all move up to 3A, boys & girls soccer both move to 2A
Chartiers-Houston girls volleyball and softball both move to 2A
Fort Cherry baseball moves to 2A
McGuffey football moves to 3A
Peters Township girls basketball moves down to 5A
Ringgold girls soccer moves down to 2A
Wash High baseball, girls basketball and softball all move up to 3A
Jeff-Morgan girls basketball moves up to 2A
Waynesburg softball moves down to 2A
West Greene boys basketball moves up to 2A
November 1, 2023 4:28 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Marcus Semien’s two-run triple and three-run homer powered Texas to a 10-run lead by the third inning, Corey Seager hit another long home run and the Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-7 to move ahead three games to one in the World Series. Texas improved to a record 10-0 on the road this postseason and closed within one win of the first title in the 63-season history of a franchise that started as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961. Nathan Eovaldi tries to clinch the third all-wild card World Series on Wednesday night against Zac Gallen in a rematch of Game 1 starters. The Rangers built a 10-0 cushion and became the first team in Series history with consecutive five-run innings. Jonah Heim also homered for Texas.
November 1, 2023 4:33 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett expects to play when the Steelers host the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night. Pickett sat out the second half of a loss to Jacksonville with a rib injury. Pickett says he “for sure” plans to face the Titans. The biggest issue for Pickett will be pain management when his body makes a twisting motion while throwing. Pickett said the best remedy for the injury is rest but that isn’t an option with the team playing on a short week. The Steelers are 4-3 as November begins. The Titans are 3-4.
November 1, 2023 4:31 am
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Las Vegas Raiders have fired coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. The Raiders under McDaniels went 6-11 in 2022 and are 3-5 so far this season for a .360 winning percentage. McDaniels was hired following the 2021 season when Davis opted not to keep interim coach Rich Bisaccia on for the full-time even after he led the team to a surprising playoff run. The Raiders announced that Antonio Pierce will take over as the interim coach. They host the New York Giants on Sunday.
