October 20, 2019 7:56 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Caleb Lewis threw for a touchdown, Terrence Stephens Jr. ran for one, and Robert Morris rallied to beat Wagner 21-13 on Saturday. Robert Morris (3-4) is 2-0 in the Northeastern Conference for the first time 2011. Down 10-7 at halftime, the Colonials grabbed the lead for good when freshman Tiheem Crocker blocked Eric Silvester’s punt attempt. DeJaun Dandridge recovered the ball at Wagner’s 25-yard line and ran it in for the score. It’s the second straight game in which the Colonials rallied from a halftime deficit. Robert Morris linebacker Aniello Buzzacco, Thomas Neal, Garrett Fairman and Brady Ours combined to make 30 tackles, 12 solo. Christian Alexander-Stevens led Wagner (1-6, 1-1) with 213 yards passing and a touchdown. After playing its last four games on the road – and winning three of them – the Colonials will be home for four of their final five contests.
October 19, 2019 3:38 am
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – Kenny Pickett threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns, one of them coming on a trick play to put Pittsburgh ahead for good, and the Panthers beat Syracuse 27-20 on Friday night for their fourth straight win. Pittsburgh (5-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) had won its previous three, by a combined seven points, and two of those victories came in the final minute. Syracuse falls to 0-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the only team in the Atlantic Division without a win.
October 17, 2019 3:45 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Brandon Tanev scored a short-handed goal in overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat Colorado 3-2 on Wednesday night, the first loss of the season for the Avalanche. Tanev, Pittsburgh’s biggest free-agent pickup in the offseason, scored his first goal with the Penguins at 3:57 of overtime. He swooped into the zone short-handed and threw a shot on goal that went between Philipp Grubauer’s pads. Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog knocked the puck into the net, giving Pittsburgh its fourth straight win for the first time since an eight-game winning streak last season. The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby continued a season-long, seven-game point streak, scoring his fourth goal of the season. Jake Guentzel added to his six-game point streak with his fifth goal in four games. Matt Murray made 26 saves. The Avalanche, the NHL’s last unbeaten team, looked to start the season with six straight wins for the first time since 2013-14. The best start in franchise history came during the 1985-86 season, when the team was located in Quebec and the Nordiques opened 7-0. Nathan MacKinnon scored his third for Colorado, off an assist from Mikko Rantanen. Both have a six-game point streak to open the season. Matt Calvert also scored, and Grubauer stopped 30 shots. MacKinnon tied the game at 2-2 at 2:56 of the third period. Alone in the slot, MacKinnon took a pass from Rantanen and flipped a wrist shot past Murray. Pittsburgh played without five of its top nine forwards. Jared McCann missed the game with a lower-body injury, forcing defenseman Juuso Riikola to play left wing on the team’s fourth line. Evgeni Malkin and Nick Bjugstad have been out for five games, while Alex Galchenyuk missed his fourth on Wednesday. All have lower-body injuries. Bryan Rust has been out since the start of the season with an upper-body injury. Calvert opened the scoring 3:16 in. He beat Murray with a shot to the glove side on a pass from Matt Nieto. Crosby evened the score at 17:22 of the first on an individual effort with the teams at 4-on-4. He chipped the puck past Erik Johnson along the boards, worked around Samuel Girard in the slot and backhanded a shot past a fallen Grubauer. Guentzel gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead at 15:30 of the second. He took a pass from Crosby, pulled the puck under Ryan Graves’ stick and flicked a wrist shot over Grubauer’s shoulder.
October 16, 2019 3:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Nationals have their first pennant in franchise history, and Washington has its first pennant in 86 years. The Nationals completed a four-game sweep of the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series by erupting for seven runs off Dakota Hudson and Adam Wainwright in the first inning of a 7-4 victory in Washington. Patrick Corbin and three relievers combined on a five-hitter against the punchless Redbirds, who managed just 16 hits the entire series. Anthony Rendon put Washington ahead with his seventh RBI of the postseason, a sacrifice fly that scored leadoff hitter Trea Turner. Juan Soto hit an RBI double and Victor Robles followed with a RBI single before Yan Gomes poked a two-run single that chased Hudson.
Wainwright later served up a two-run single by Turner to put the Nationals ahead by seven. The Redbirds began to chip away at their deficit when Yadier Molina homered in the fourth inning off Corbin. St. Louis later scored three times in the fifth, capped by a two-run double by Jose Martinez. Corbin left the game after striking out 12 and allowing four hits over five innings. The Nationals had never won a pennant, even when the franchise was the Montreal Expos from 1969-2004. Washington’s last pennant winner was the 1933 Senators, who dropped a five-game series with the New York Giants.
October 15, 2019 1:57 pm
Washington/Greene County schools will have 16 teams (9 girls, 7 boys) in the eight WPIAL soccer playoff brackets due to be released Wednesday. Once they’re available, we’ll post links here. Here are the teams that have qualified:
Girls: 4A–Canon-McMillan, Peters Township, 3A–Ringgold, Trinity, 2A–Waynesburg, 1A–Bentworth, Beth-Center, Chartiers-Houston, McGuffey.
Boys: 4A–Canon-McMillan, 3A, Ringgold, Trinity, 2A–Beth-Center, Charleroi, Waynesburg, 1A–Chartiers-Houston.
WPIAL Soccer Championship matches will be held at Highmark Stadium, Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
October 15, 2019 3:53 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – The Green Bay Packers remain atop the NFC North after engineering a pair of scoring drives over the last 9 1/2 minutes against Detroit on Monday. Mason Crosby capped the Packers’ comeback from a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit by drilling a 23-yard field goal as time expired to give his team a 23-22 win over the Lions. Green Bay was able to march toward the Detroit goal in the final two minutes after Lions lineman Trey Flowers was called for a questionable hands-to-the-face penalty for the second time in the half. Replays showed Flowers’ hands on the neck or shoulder of a Packers lineman. The Lions led 22-13 until Aaron Rodgers hit Allen Lazard for a 35-yard scoring pass with 8:03 remaining. Rodgers was 24 of 39 for 283 yards and two touchdowns as the 5-1 Packers dropped the Lions to 2-2-1. Jamaal Williams finished with 104 yards on 14 carries for Green Bay, which captured its first win in five tries against its NFC North rival.
Matt Prater (PRAY’-tur) nailed five field goals for Detroit, including kicks of 54, 51 and 41 yards. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked three times while completing 18 of his 32 throws for 265 yards.
October 15, 2019 3:45 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers head into their bye week with some momentum following a victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. Rookie quarterback Devlin Hodges threw for a touchdown in his first NFL start and rookie linebacker Devin Bush returned a fumble for a score to give Pittsburgh a rare win on the West Coast. The Steelers are 2-4 through six weeks and the schedule gets easier in the coming weeks. Only three of Pittsburgh’s remaining 10 opponents currently have a winning record.
October 13, 2019 7:47 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – It’s officially “Duck” season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers ruled quarterback Mason Rudolph out for Sunday’s visit to the Los Angeles Chargers while he continues to recover from a concussion, meaning undrafted rookie free agent Devlin “Duck” Hodges will get the start when Pittsburgh (1-4) faces the Chargers (2-3) in primetime. Hodges played well last week against Baltimore after coming in for Rudolph.
October 13, 2019 7:41 am
Quarterback Drew Saxton threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns leading Case-Western Reserve to a 35-19 win over Washington & Jefferson Saturday afternoon. The Spartans also ran for 211 yards, most of that by Zach Hall (16-159). Leading 14-7 at halftime, CWRU scored on its first three second-half possessions to put the game away. W&J’s Jacob Adams connected with Payton Skaylos and Jordan Halford for touchdowns after the Spartans had built a 35-7 lead. Case-Western remains unbeaten atop the Presidents Athletic Conference standings while W&J drops to 3-2 in the league, 4-2 overall and out of playoff contention.
October 11, 2019 3:49 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jake Guentzel scored the tie breaking goal in the third period to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the previously unbeaten Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
Guentzel finished Sidney Crosby’s backhand feed from the slot at 7:24 of the third. Guentzel has five goals in five career games against the Ducks, including his second career hat trick last season. Crosby also scored a power-play goal, his second of the season. He has multiple points in five of his last 10 games against Anaheim. Matt Murray made 31 saves for the Penguins. He needs one more win to reach 100 in the NHL. Pittsburgh concluded a season-opening, four-game homestand with a 2-2 record. The Penguins have won nine of their last 12 home games against Anaheim and nine of the last 13 overall versus the Ducks. Ondrej Kase scored his first of the season for Anaheim, which tried to open a season with four straight wins for the first time in franchise history. The Ducks, who entered the NHL as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1993-94, started 3-0 last season and also in 2006-07, when they won the Stanley Cup. John Gibson, a Pittsburgh native, stopped 26 shots. He allowed more than one goal for the first time this season. Four of Pittsburgh’s top nine forwards were out of the lineup.
