Friday was supposed to be the final day of section play for area high school basketball teams but tricky road conditions and cancelled classes changed that. With the re-scheduling to Saturday, there were six potential additions to the brackets, five on the boys side. West Allegheny boys are the only team that joined the playoff fields as a result of Saturday’s action.
Boys 5A: Trinity lost at South Fayette, 77-63, eliminating the Hillers from contention. Trinity dropped into a three-way tie for fourth with West Allegheny and Montour. WA won three of its four games against the other two, including both matchups with Trinity. With that, the Indians clinch the final playoff berth out of 5A Section 2. Also in 5A, Woodland Hills hopes of making the playoffs ended when Gateway edged McKeesport, 56-53, Saturday afternoon.
Boys 2A: Chartiers-Houston beat Carmichaels, 78-61, but was bumped from contention when California beat Bentworth 72-44. The Trojans had already clinched a berth in 2A Section 2. Also in 2A, South Side Beaver qualified when Our Lady of the Sacred Heart beat Sewickley Academy, 81-41.
Boys 4A: Central Valley was eliminated from the race when New Castle beat Ambridge Saturday night.
Girls 3A: Neshannock needed to beat Avonworth to reach the playoffs but lost to the Antelopes, 49-28.
The WPIAL Basketball Committee meets Monday to work out the pairings and the League will announce those, along with sites, dates and times Tuesday. We’ll have the WPIAL Playoff Pairing Show live Tuesday, 7 pm, on WJPA-AM (1450). Listen Here
Persistent snowfall today led to the closing of area schools. In addition, a number of districts have been forced to make changes to sporting events, including the scheduled final night of boys section play. Here’s what we know so far:
Carmichaels at Chartiers-Houston, now Saturday, 1:00 pm
Peters Township at Connellsville (exhibition), now Saturday, 1:30 pm
Brownsville at Beth-Center, now Saturday, 2:00 pm
Bentworth at California, now Saturday, 2:00 pm
On As Scheduled
Avella at Bishop Canevin
Ringgold at Canon-McMillan
South Side Beaver at Burgettstown
Fort Cherry at Carlynton
Girls Basketball POSTPONED
Jeff-Morgan at Monessen, now Saturday, 11:00 am
The 2020 PIAA Team Wrestling Championships are underway at the Giant Center, Hershey. Five WPIAL teams, including three from the two-county area, have made the trip. WPIAL 3A champion Waynesburg as well as Bugettstown, the WPIAL 2A runner-up, are in the PIAA tourney for the first time ever. Canon-McMillan, the WPIAL’s 3A third-place team, is making a fifth consecutive trip and is seeking a third state title, the first since winning back-to-back championships in 2012-2013. Links to our coverage, on-air and online, as well as bracket updates will be available on our dedicated Wrestling Page WJPA Wrestling 2020
Here’s Thursday’s schedule/results for the WPIAL teams: Chestnut Ridge 56, Burgettstown 12 Burrell 46, Montoursville 21
Seneca Valley 34, State College 29 Waynesburg 40, Central Dauphin 21 Canon-McMillan 45, Gettysburg 18
District 5 champion Chestnut Ridge won the last seven bouts, including four falls, to knock off Burgettstown in the Class 2A first round. Riley Kemper had a fall for the Blue Devils who also got decision wins from Shane Kemper and DJ Slovick. Burgettstown, the WPIAL runner-up, drops into the consolation bracket and will face District 3 champion Hamburg Friday morning at 8 am.
Canon-McMillan jumped to an early lead and rolled to the win over District 3 champion Gettysburg. Jimmy Baxter and Evan Miller scored pins for the Big Macs. Jacob Gardner and Gerit Nijenhuis added technical falls and CM got five major decisions to advance to the quarterfinals against District 11 runner-up Bethlehem Catholic Friday afternoon.
WPIAL champion Waynesburg won its first-ever PIAA Team Tournament match, nearly doubling up District 3 third-place Central Dauphin. The got pins from Mac Church, Hunter Shriver and Luca Augustine to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals against District 10 champion Cathedral Prep.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert isn’t quite ready to head off into retirement. The team and Colbert have agreed to a one-year contract extension that runs through the 2021 draft. Colbert was in the final months of a deal that was set to expire after the 2020 draft. Colbert joined the team in 2000 as director of football operations and recently finished his 10th season as general manager. The Steelers have won two Super Bowls and appeared in three during his tenure. Pittsburgh went 8-8 in 2019 despite losing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the season in Week 2.
UNDATED (AP) – Baylor has strengthened its hold on No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll. The Bears received 49 of 65 first-place votes in the latest poll to stay comfortably ahead of Gonzaga and Kansas. The Bears are atop the rankings for a third straight week. Nos. 1-4 remained unchanged, continuing a stretch of stability in what has been an unpredictable season with a record-tying seven different teams reaching No. 1. Atlantic Coast Conference leader Louisville climbed a spot to No. 5, followed by Dayton, Duke, Florida State and Maryland – which jumped six spots to No. 9 after beating Iowa last week for its fourth straight win. Villanova rounded out the top 10. No. 9 Maryland and No. 11 Auburn made the week’s biggest jumps. Each rose six spots. No. 21 Creighton and No. 23 Arizona re-entered the poll. Wichita State and Rutgers fell out.
For more than 70 years, WJPA Radio has been the home of the PIAA Wrestling Championship Series. Starting with our coverage of the 1950 PIAA Individual Championships right through this year’s PIAA Team Tournaments (this weekend) and Individual Tournaments (Feb. 14 – Mar. 7), we’ve got the action covered. Links to our coverage, on-air and online, as well as bracket updates will be available on our dedicated Wrestling Page WJPA Wrestling 2020
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs have ended a half-century of frustration. Patrick Mahomes engineered three touchdown drives in the final 6:13 as the Chiefs roared back from a 10-point deficit to defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20 in Super Bowl 54. It’s the first NFL championship for the Chiefs since beating the Minnesota Vikings, 24-7 in Super Bowl 4. Mahomes righted himself after throwing interceptions on consecutive possessions. The comeback started when Mahomes engineered a 68-yard drive that was capped by a one-yard scoring toss to Travis Kelce. The Chiefs quarterback put his team ahead for the first time since the second quarter by hitting Damien Williams for a five-yard TD. Williams later capped his 104-yard rushing performance by scampering 38 yards to give Kansas City breathing room. Mahomes shook off a slow start to finish 26 of 42 for 286 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Tyreek Hill had 105 receiving yards on nine catches, and Sammy Watkins had five receptions for 98 yards. The 49ers took advantage of Mahomes’ first interception by turning it into a one-yard scoring run by Raheem Mostert late in the third quarter. Mostert’s scoring run gave San Francisco a 20-10 lead. Chiefs coach Andy Reid earned his 222nd career victory, and his first in a Super Bowl. No other coach had won more games without winning an NFL championship.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Xavier Johnson scored seven of his 13 points in the final 3 minutes as Pittsburgh held off Miami 62-57. Trey McGowens led Pitt (14-8, 5-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 17 points. Au’Diese Toney scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Panthers, who snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Hurricanes. Rodney Miller tied a career high with 16 points for Miami (11-10, 3-8). Isaiah Wong added 15 points, Harlond Beverly chipped in 11 and DJ Vasiljevic scored 10 to go with nine rebounds but the shorthanded Hurricanes lost for the fifth time in six games.
Waynesburg won 13 WPIAL wrestling titles before the League instituted the Team Tournament format. Saturday night, the Raiders won their fifth Team Tournament title, the first since 1989, downing Seneca Valley at Norwin, getting a pin in the final bout to win the title. Canon-McMillan, after dropping a one-point loss to Seneca Valley in the semifinals, rolled past #4 Hempfield Area, 41-16, taking third place and claiming a berth in the PIAA Team Tournament. The Big Macs will face City League champion Carrick Monday night with a trip to Hershey going to the winner. Follow the Team and Individual Wrestling Tournament Series on WJPA’s Wrestling Page
WPIAL AAA Team Tournament Semifinals
Waynesburg 37, Hempfield Area 33
Seneca Valley 31, Canon-McMillan 30
Third Place (PIAA qualifier)
Canon-McMillan 41, Hempfield Area 16
WPIAL AAA Championship
Waynesburg 33, Seneca Valley 30
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Sidney Crosby beat Brian Elliott 55 seconds into overtime to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins blew a two-goal lead but recovered for their NHL-leading 19th home victory when Crosby’s wrist shot slipped by Elliott for his ninth of the season. Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry, fresh of his first All-Star appearance, stopped 27 shots for the Penguins. Jakub Voracek, Tyler Pitlick and Scott Laughton scored for Philadelphia. Elliott finished with 16 saves.
