November 18, 2024 4:46 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen ran for a 26-yard touchdown on fourth down with 2:17 left, sealing the Buffalo Bills’ 30-21 win over the Kansas City Chiefs and handing the two-time defending Super Bowl champions their first loss of the season. James Cook rushed for two touchdowns and Allen threw a 12-yard TD pass to Curtis Samuel for Buffalo. The Bills moved to 9-2 and closed the gap on the 9-1 Chiefs in the race for the AFC’s top seed. Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs were the NFL’s last undefeated team. They had won 15 straight, including playoffs, since last December. The Bills have won six straight.
November 18, 2024 4:43 am
Oregon remains the unanimous No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll after its close call at Wisconsin. Georgia returned to the top 10 with its win over Tennessee and LSU was unranked for the first time in two years. The unbeaten Ducks are atop the AP Top 25 for the fifth straight week. They received all 62 first-place votes for the third week in a row after scoring their fewest points in 37 games in a 16-13 win over Wisconsin. Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Indiana rounded out the top five for the second straight week.
November 17, 2024 2:16 am
Jacob Pugh hit 20-of-33 passes for 305 yards and five touchdowns leading #18 W&J to a 45-0 win at Allegheny Saturday afternoon, clinching a share of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship. Coupled with Grove City’s win over Westminster, the victory gives W&J the League’s automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs, the Presidents’ first tournament bid since 2018. W&J scored on its first six possessions of the game while holding Allegheny to 148 total yards. Several W&J players crossed season and career thresholds in the win: Justin Johns registered five total tackles Saturday, becoming the school’s all-time leader in that category. Dawson Dietz moved to #4 on the Tackles for Loss list, sharing a sack in the fourth quarter. Pugh now has 92 career touchdown passes, moving him to fourth place on the all-time list. Wide receivers John Peduzzi and Jacob Macosko crossed the 1,000-yard season mark, Peduzzi moving into fourth place with now 3,048 yards. His two touchdowns Saturday moves the junior into a tie for third place with Aaron Krepps, one shy of Andrew Wulf’s 40 career TD receptions. Macosko, also a junior sits just 11 yards shy of a top ten single season mark, currently with 1,080 yards through 10 games.
W&J will travel to Ashland, VA to take on Randolph-Macon College (9-1) in the second round, Saturday, Nov. 30. Game time will likely be 12 noon. The Yellow Jackets have won seven straight, led by a dominant defense that’s held opponents to less than 240 yards per game, aided by 17 interceptions, five of which were returned for touchdowns.
PennWest-California lost to unbeaten Kutztown, 21-14, Saturday afternoon in the PSAC Championship game. CalU trailed 21-7 late, scored a touchdown but could not recover the on-side kick as Kutztown ran out the clock. With the win, Kutztown received the #1 seed in the NCAA tournament Super Regional. CalU is seeded third in the field and will host #6 East Stroudsburg (10-1) on Saturday at Adamson Stadium.
November 17, 2024 6:25 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored the deciding goal in the shootout and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3. Sidney Crosby and Anthony Beauvillier also scored for Pittsburgh in the shootout. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped Alexander Wennberg in the fifth round of the shootout to give Pittsburgh the win. Crosby also scored in the second period and is now one goal from becoming the second active and 21st player in NHL history to reach 600 goals. Bryan Rust and Jesse Puljujarvi also scored for Pittsburgh. Tyler Toffoli scored twice, including a power-play goal, while Mikael Granlund also scored for the Sharks.
November 17, 2024 6:23 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Cade Klubnik sprinted 50 yards for a go-ahead touchdown with 1:16 remaining and No. 17 Clemson fended off Pittsburgh 24-20. The Tigers (8-2, 7-1 ACC) had done little on the ground all day before the junior quarterback tucked the ball and raced past a handful of stunned defenders to keep Clemson’s outside hopes of reaching the ACC championship game alive. Klubnik finished with 288 yards and two touchdown passes through the air and added 41 on the ground. Nate Yarnell threw for 350 yards for Pitt but the Panthers (7-3, 3-3) dropped their third straight when Klubnik zig-zagged to the end zone in the final moments.
November 17, 2024 6:19 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Penguins defenseman Kris Letang missed Pittsburgh’s game against San Jose with an illness. Letang missed his second consecutive game because of an illness, as he did not play in Pittsburgh’s 6-2 loss at Columbus on Friday. Letang has two goals and four assists in 18 games. Defenseman Owen Pickering, Pittsburgh’s first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut. Forward Vasily Ponomarev also played his first game with the Penguins.
November 16, 2024 8:39 am
Washington & Jefferson College and PennWest/California University have NCAA football playoff berths in sight entering this final day of the regular season. W&J plays at Allegheny this afternoon, looking to wrap up at least a share of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title. The Division III Presidents (8-1) are tied atop the standings with Grove City and Carnegie-Mellon entering play today. Grove City plays at 7-2 Westminster while CMU travels to Cleveland to take on 6-3 Case-Western Reserve. If the three tied teams all win, W&J claims the League’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, though all three would likely qualify for the newly-expanded 40-team field. We’ll have the W&J / Allegheny game live on WJPA Sports Network, starting with Presidents Football Preview at 12:30 pm. Kickoff on WJPA-AM (1450) is set for 1:05 pm. Listen Here!
West Division champion #17 California (8-1) hosts East champion #3 Kutztown (10-0) in the PSAC Championship game at CalU’s Adamson Stadium. Kutztown has likely already earned a trip to the Division II tournament. CalU would likely clinch a spot with a win which would be the Vulcans’ ninth straight since an opening week loss to Charleston WV, 23-19. Kickoff for the PSAC Championship game is set for 12 noon.
November 16, 2024 12:02 am
Matt Sieg ran for 220 yards and scored six touchdowns, leading Fort Cherry to a 49-14 win over Jeannette and a return trip to the WPIAL 1A Football Championship game. The junior quarterback scored five times on his last eight carries, including runs of 12, 43, 24, 47 and 4 yards. In the first half, Sieg completed 9-of-14 passes for 103 yards, moving him past 4,000 career passing yards and joining former Jeannette star Terrell Pryor as the only players to ever pass for 4,000 yards AND run for 4,000 yards. Fort Cherry faces Clairton next Saturday morning (11:00 am) at Acrisure Stadium for the WPIAL title.
Upper St. Clair placekicker Jacobo Echeverria hit a 28-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the second quarter. Nick McCullough returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, giving Peters Township a 7-3 win and a spot in next Saturday night’s WPIAL 5A title game. McCullough had a ball ricochet off him, leading to an interception that set up the USC field goal. Peters Township lost to USC, 21-7, in late September but turned the tables on their next door neighbors. The Indians play Pine-Richaland Saturday night (8:00 pm) at Acrisure Stadium.
WPIAL Football (click for brackets): 6A 5A 4A 3A 2A 1A
Friday, Nov. 15, Semifinals:
5A #3 Peters Township 7, #2 Upper St. Clair 3
5A #1 Pine-Richland 28, #5 Bethel Park 7
3A #5 Avonworth 14, #1 Imani Christian 6
3A #2 Central Valley 31, #3 Elizabeth-Forward 15
2A #1 Seton-La Salle 27, #4 Steel Valley 13
2A #2 South Park 28, #3 Ellwood City 7
1A #1 Fort Cherry 49, #13 Jeannette 141A
#2 Clairton 24, #3 Bishop Canevin 0
Saturday, Nov. 16, WPIAL Championships (Norwin Knights Stadium)
4A #1 Thomas Jefferson vs. #3 McKeesport, 12:05 pm
6A #1 Central Catholic vs. #2 North Allegheny, 6:05 pm
November 16, 2024 12:01 am
Msafiri Amisi buried a free kick from just outside the penalty area nearly 10 minutes into overtime, lifting Lancaster Mennonite to a 1-0 win over Bentworth in the PIAA 1A Boys Soccer championship match. The Bearcats had several good opportunities but couldn’t get a shot past Blazers’ goalie Lucas Kratz who notched his 10th shutout of the year. Amisi’s goal is the first the Bearcats allowed in 49 days, dating back to a 7-1 win against Greensburg Central Catholic on Sept. 26, a string of 11 straight shutouts coming into the state final. Bentworth was making its first-ever appearance in a team sport state championship game. Click for PIAA Soccer Brackets
Friday, Nov. 15, PIAA Soccer Championship, 1A Boys at Cumberland Valley
Lancaster Mennonite 1, Bentworth 0, OT
November 16, 2024 4:54 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Zac Werenski and Dmitri Voronkov each had a goal and an assist, Elvis Merzlikins made 23 saves and the Columbus Blue Jackets snapped a six-game skid with a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night. Zach Aston-Reese, Mathieu Olivier, Damon Severson and Cole Sillinger also scored for the Blue Jackets. They improved to 6-8-2 with their first victory since Oct. 30. Anthony Beauvillier and Michael Bunting scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry, starting for the first time since Oct. 16, made 34 saves. The Penguins have lost five of six to fall to 6-10-3. Sean Monahan got the 300th assist of his career on Voronkov’s goal.
