October 3, 2021 4:00 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger haven’t faced off as starting quarterbacks since the Packers defeated the Steelers in the Super Bowl a decade ago. That finally changes Sunday when the Packers host the Steelers in just the third overall matchup between the two potential Hall of Famers. Rodgers didn’t play in either of the Packers’ past two meetings with the Steelers because of separate collarbone injuries. Roethlisberger led the Steelers to victories in both those games. The Steelers are the only NFL team Rodgers hasn’t faced at Lambeau Field as a starting quarterback.
October 3, 2021 7:41 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bryan Reynolds had four hits, raising his batting average above .300, to help the Pittsburgh Pirates rally from a five-run deficit and beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 on Saturday night. He had a double and triple and is hitting .302 on the season. The three-year veteran batted just .189 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season after hitting .314 as a rookie. The Pirates went ahead for good 7-6 in the sixth inning when Reynolds tripled in a run. The Reds had tied it in the top of the inning on Tyler Stephenson’s RBI double. Ben Gamel had three of the Pirates’ 16 hits and Michael Chavis, Jacob Stallings and Oneil Cruz added two each. Pittsburgh has won back-to-back game since reaching 100 losses.
October 2, 2021 1:04 am
After several weeks of blowout games, both of our feature match-ups went down to the wire Friday. Ft. Cherry stopped Northgate twice inside the 15 yard line and drove 96 yards between for the winning score as the Rangers improve to 2-1 in the 1A Big Seven Conference. Trinity built a 10-point lead with just under six minutes to play but had to scramble to knock off West Mifflin, 20-19, keeping the Hillers in control of their own playoff destiny.
Canon-McMillan took charge of a 6A playoff spot with a comfortable win over Hempfield. Peters Township scored first but Upper St. Clair dominated the rest of the game in both teams 5A conference opener.
Waynesburg beat Frazier while Chartiers-Houston topped Charleroi, with the Raiders and Cougars now tied for the fourth playoff spot in the 2A Century Conference.
Burgettstown lost its third straight in the 1A Big Seven. Bentworth survived a wild game with Jeff-Morgan, both teams now in a three-way tie with Mapletown for the last 1A Tri-County South berth. West Greene’s win over Carmichaels keeps the Pioneers perfect and drops the Mikes into a three-way tie for second with California and Monessen.
COVID-19 continues to impact area schools and their football teams. Two games involving Washington County teams were not be played Friday because of the pandemic’s touch. Avella did not have enough available players so the Eagles’ Tri-County South game at California was postponed. No makeup has been announced. Beth-Center notified Washington Thursday morning that the Bulldogs would be forfeiting their Century Conference home game against the Little Prexies. BC officials told WJPA Sports that the game was canceled “due to injuries/COVID-related issues.”
Week 5 results:
6A Canon-McMillan 45, Hempfield 27
5A Upper St. Clair 31, Peters Township 3
4A Trinity 20, West Mifflin 19
4A McKeesport 41, Ringgold 0
2A Wash High by forfeit over Beth-Center
2A Chartiers-Houston 27, Charleroi 10
2A Waynesburg 27, Frazier 7
1A Shenango 28, Burgettstown 6
1A Ft. Cherry 29, Northgate 28
1A Avella at California. postponed
1A Bentworth 49, Jeff-Morgan 48
1A West Greene 41, Carmichaels 20
1A Mapletown 15, Monessen 8
Ex. Linsly 26, McGuffey 21
October 2, 2021 3:59 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh second baseman Cole Tucker made a spectacular diving catch, then hit his first career grand slam to cap an eight-run rally in the eighth inning that sent the Pirates over the Cincinnati Reds 9-2. Tucker’s slam off Dauri Moreta came a night after the Pirates lost their 100th game of the season. Tucker also tripled to lead off the first inning and scored the game’s first run. The grand slam might have been just Tucker’s second-best highlight of the night after his fielding gem in the seventh. Tucker raced into short right field and snagged Tucker Barnhart’s popup with his back to home plate. Tucker quickly rose to his feet and made a strong throw to first base to double up Eugenio Suarez and end the inning.
October 1, 2021 3:48 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Justin Steele breezed through seven shutout innings and the Chicago Cubs scored six runs in the second inning Thursday night, beating Pittsburgh 9-0 and sending the Pirates to their 100th loss of the season. Steele (4-4) struck out seven and gave up four hits on 76 pitches. Pittsburgh joined Texas, Baltimore and Arizona, giving the MLB four 100-loss teams for the third time, after 2002 and 2019. Sergio Alcantara had three RBIs, two coming on a homer off Miguel Yajure (0-2) in the second.
October 1, 2021 3:46 am
TORONTO (AP) – Aaron Judge hit two of New York’s five home runs and the Yankees extended their AL wild-card lead by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2. Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo also connected off Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray, and Brett Gardner added a solo homer as New York slimmed its magic number to clinch a postseason spot to two. The Yankees are two games ahead of Boston and idle Seattle, both 89-70, after the Red Sox lost to last-place Baltimore 6-2 earlier Thursday. Toronto trails New York by three games.
October 1, 2021 3:51 am
CINCINNATI (AP) – The Cincinnati Bengals won a battle of recent No. 1 picks, doing it in comeback fashion. Evan McPherson kicked a 35-yard field goal as time ran out to give the Bengals a 24-21 triumph over the Jaguars. Cincinnati trailed 14-0 at halftime before Joe Burrow led a pair of quick TD drives in the third quarter. The first player taken in the 2020 draft was 25 of 32 for 348 yards and a pair of TD passes to C.J. Uzomah. Tyler Boyd had nine receptions for 118, while Uzomah grabbed five passes for 95 yards to help the Bengals improve to 3-1. Trevor Lawrence ran for a touchdown, but the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft failed to throw a scoring pass, completing 17 of 24 for 204 yards and no interceptions for the 0-4 Jaguars.
October 1, 2021 3:44 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The offense isn’t the only unit struggling on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The defense has looked ordinary at times during back-to-back losses to Las Vegas and Cincinnati that dropped the Steelers to 1-2. Having star outside linebacker T.J. Watt out with a groin injury has hurt Pittsburgh’s pass rush, though veteran defensive end Cam Heyward says injuries aren’t an excuse for shaky play. The Steelers will have their hands full when they visit Green Bay in Week 4.
September 30, 2021 3:48 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Willson Contreras drove in all of the Cubs’ run as Chicago beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 to end a seven-game losing streak. Contreras’ two-run double high off the right-field wall in the seventh inning rallied the Cubs from a 2-1 deficit. He also accounted for the game’s first run with a long sacrifice fly to center field in the fifth. Bryan Reynolds became the first Pirates player to hit two triples in a game since Josh Harrison in 2014. Pittsburgh fell to 59-99, putting the Pirates on the brink of the ninth 100-loss season in franchise history.
September 30, 2021 3:49 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Pirates reliever David Bednar has revived his career with his hometown team. Bednar arrived in Pittsburgh last January as part of a deal that sent starter Joe Musgrove to the Padres. The 26-year-old from the northern Pittsburgh suburbs has evolved into one of the team’s most dependable relievers. Bednar entered the final week of the season with a 3-1 record and a 2.11 ERA in 60 appearances. He has been named the team’s pitcher of the year. Bednar says he hopes to keep the momentum going into next season.
