Aug 30 2008
Mike White | 1:42 a.m. Sat., Aug. 30
Notes and anecdotes after the first night of the high school football season.
* Gateway was
impressive in its 45-17 victory against Penn Hills Friday. But what
makes Gateway’s offensive performance a little more impressive is the
Gators played without one of their top offensive linemen.
Colin Rodkey,
a 6-foot-5, 270-pound senior and Indiana University recruit, has not
practiced this season because of problems with his left shoulder.
Rodkey had surgery on the shoulder in the spring and it is not
completely healed.
“He’s a big
loss,” said Gateway coach Terry Smith. “We don’t know when he’s coming
back, either. Doctors are saying maybe midseason, but it will take a
few weeks to get him ready when he does come back.”
* I
knew Gateway receiver-defensive back Corey Brown was good, but he’s
better than I thought. He breaks on the ball well at defensive back,
and his long body makes him tough to cover as a receiver. He made an
excellent catch against Penn Hills for a touchdown. An Ohio State
recruit, Brown is full of potential.
* New Penn Hills coach Ron Graham wasn’t in a talkative mood after his first game. He declined to comment to reporters.
Meanwhile, it
couldn’t have been a better start for former Penn Hills coach Neil
Gordon, who is now at Shaler. The Titans’ Dan McGinley returned the
opening kickoff for a touchdown.
* Penn Hills’ school board ousted Gordon as coach, so what do you think Gordon enjoyed more? Shaler’s win or Penn Hills’ loss?
I heard a few
people at the Penn Hills-Gateway game say Gordon wouldn’t have lost so
badly to Gateway. Well, consider this: Gateway beat Penn Hills, 45-7,
last year.
* Former
Gateway star Cam Saddler attended the Gateway-Penn Hills game, climbing
into the press box on crutches. Saddler had surgery Monday to repair a
torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, suffered in a practice at
Pitt, where Saddler is a freshman.
“I was pretty depressed this week, but I’m starting to feel better,” Saddler said. “Coming out here helps.”
Shayne Hale,
another former Gateway star who is a freshman at Pitt, also attended
the Penn Hills-Gateway game. Hale very likely will redshirt at Pitt.
* Jeff
McAnallen took over as Butler’s coach last year while former Butler
coach Garry Cathell took over at Elizabeth Forward. Neither coach won a
game last year, but both got their first victories Friday. Butler
defeated New Castle, 28-21, while Elizabeth Forward beat Yough, 35-14.
* Here’s
another knock against the much-maligned Keystone Conference. Mount
Pleasant won the Keystone the past two seasons before dropping “down”
to Class AA this season. The Vikings were shut out by Class AA
McGuffey, 28-0. The Keystone has gone 0-4 in the WPIAL playoffs seven
years in a row.
* Most
impressive performance of the first night might go to Highlands
quarterback Jeff Sinclair, who threw for 154 yards and rushed for 106
in a 24-16 victory against Fox Chapel.
* Early pick for WPIAL game of the week next Friday: Montour at Highlands.
* I don’t
ever remember WPIAL teams playing Labor Day, but two will be playing
interesting games in the Friends of Coal Classic Monday in Wheeling,
W.Va.
Central
Catholic plays Lakeland, Fla., at noon. Lakeland is a perennial power
in Florida and has won two “mythical” national championships in USA
Today.
At 3 p.m,
Thomas Jefferson plays Glenville, Ohio. Glennville is the alma mater of
Ted Ginn Jr. and Troy Smith, a former Heisman Trophy winner. Ted Ginn
Sr. is Glenville’s coach.
* Jeannette has now won 24 games in a row against WPIAL teams.
Aug 29 2008
The Fumbler sent the following to me and asked that I post this for him on Varsity Blog. Thanks for reading. - Colin Dunlap
By THE FUMBLER | 1:25 a.m. Aug. 29, 2008
Welcome to the wild world of The Fumbler. For the first time ever, this year, I am going to make my identity known -- at least as much as you can tell from my photo above.
I'd like to play a little a really big game with you this season. I want you to try to find me, as I will be at a high school game every week.
Here's a hint for tonight: I will be at a game in Westmoreland County involving a Class AAAA team against a Class AAA team. Normally, I sit just below the press box entrance. So, if you can figure out who I am, come up and say hello. And maybe, just maybe, I'll extend my hand to you, shake your hand and admit that it is really me...or maybe I won't.
Anyway, here are all of my picks for this weekend:
This afternoon
CITY LEAGUE -- Oliver over Langley.
Tonight
CITY LEAGUE -- Schenley over Westinghouse.
WPIAL CLASS AA -- (Allegheny Conference)
Apollo-Ridge over DEER LAKES; Burrell over WEST SHAMOKIN; VALLEY over
Ford City; Kittanning over FREEPORT. (Century) Bishop Canevin over
QUAKER VALLEY; STO-ROX over Cornell; Keystone Oaks over STEEL VALLEY;
SETON-LASALLE over Northgate; South Fayette over SOUTH PARK.
(Interstate) JEANNETTE over East Allegheny; SOUTH ALLEGHENY over
Brownsville; Greensburg Central Catholic over CHARLEROI; Mount Pleasant
over MCGUFFEY; WASHINGTON over Waynesburg. (Midwestern) Beaver over NEW
BRIGHTON; Beaver Falls over RIVERSIDE; FREEDOM over Ellwood City;
CENTER over Mohawk.
NON-CONFERENCE -- ALBERT GALLATIN over Wilkinsburg;
Belle Vernon over LAUREL HIGHLANDS; BETHEL PARK over Kiski Area;
Beth-Center over CARLYNTON; Blackhawk over HAMPTON; CALIFORNIA over
Frazier; CANON-MCMILLAN over Trinity; Chartiers-Houston over WEST
GREENE; CLAIRTON over Laurel; Connellsville over UNIONTOWN; Fort Cherry
over CARMICHAELS.
Franklin Regional over SOUTHMORELAND; GATEWAY over Penn Hills;
Hempfield over GREENSBURG SALEM; Highlands over FOX CHAPEL; Indiana
over PLUM; JEFFERSON-MORGAN over Leechburg; Knoch over HOPEWELL;
Latrobe over DERRY; MAPLETOWN over Bentworth; Mars over MOON; MONESSEN
over Rochester; MONTOUR over Pine-Richland; NEW CASTLE over Butler;
North Allegheny over ALTOONA; North Hills over MT. LEBANON; RINGGOLD
over Peters Township; Seneca Valley over NORWIN; Serra over NORTH
CATHOLIC.
SHALER over Baldwin; Springdale over MONACA; Upper St. Clair over
PENN-TRAFFORD; West Allegheny over CHARTIERS VALLEY; WEST MIFFLIN over
Allderdice; WILMINGTON over Brentwood; Yough over ELIZABETH FORWARD.
Tomorrow afternoon
CITY LEAGUE -- Brashear over PERRY; PEABODY over Carrick.
WPIAL CLASS AA -- (Allegheny Conference) Shady Side Academy over SUMMIT ACADEMY.
NON-CONFERENCE -- Aliquippa over AMBRIDGE; GEIBEL
over Avella; Avonworth over WESTERN BEAVER; KENNEDY CATHOLIC over
Neshannock; RIVERVIEW over Shenango.
Tomorrow night
NON-CONFERENCE -- McKeesport over Colerain, Ohio; Woodland Hills over Justin Northwest, Texas.
Monday afternoon
NON-CONFERENCE -- Lakeland, Fla., over Central Catholic; Thomas Jefferson over Glenville, Ohio.
Aug 28 2008
Colin Dunlap | 4:33 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 28
Could former Aliquippa basketball star Herb Pope be headed for the Big East Conference, touching down at Seton Hall?
Well, this much is known --- According to this story yesterday in the Newark Star-Ledger by Colin Stephenson Pope received his release from New Mexico State last week and took an official visit to Seton Hall last weekend.
Pope has already led a sort of vagabond existence (as detailed in this New York Times piece and several Post-Gazette pieces).
Also, Pope might be known just as much for getting shot and running into some other off-the-court troubles, but one thing is for certain, his basketball abilities have never been questioned.
It will be interesting to see where Pope ends up.
Here is what Pope did, on the floor, as a freshman last year at New
Mexico State. It is taken directly from the NMSU Sports Information
website:
2007-08 (Freshman): Herb Pope was an immediate contributor for the
Aggies in his freshman campaign. He ranking third on the team in points
(11.1) and rebounds per game (6.8) and was named to the All-WAC
Newcomer team. Pope was the first freshman at NMSU to garner that
honor. In 16 appearances and 12 games started, he recorded a 45. 6
field goal percentage, 28 assists and 11 blocks. Pope had 11 games in
double-figures along with a pair of contests with double-digit
rebounding efforts. His best two performances were in the final games
of the season against Nevada and Boise State
in the WAC Tournament. Pope had his first career double-double versus
the Wolf Pack (March 14) with 18 points and 13 rebounds. In the triple
overtime WAC Tournament title game against Boise State
(March 15), he posted a career-high 20 points, which was also a team
high. Pope began a three-game span of double-digit scoring games with
12 points in the first meeting of the year against Nevada (Jan. 24),
which was only his second conference game. He followed that showing
with 15 points versus Utah State (Jan. 26) and 16 points at Hawai’i (Jan. 31). Pope generated six-straight games in double-figures; 10 points versus Boise State (Feb. 9), 10 points at Louisiana Tech (Feb. 14), 14 points against Long Beach State (Feb. 23), 13 points at Nevada (Feb. 28) 11 points at Fresno State (March 1) and 12 points versus San Jose State (March 6). His 14 points against Long Beach State
was a game high in the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBuster. In the WAC games,
Pope ranked in the top 10 in two rebounding categories. He tied for
seventh in rebounds per game (6.5) and fourth in defensive rebounds per
game (4.75).
Aug 28 2008
Colin Dunlap | 9:02 a.m., Thurs., Aug. 28
It hit me last night while watching the 1,263,376,478,247,464th nationally televised Yankees-Red Sox game in the last decade. No, it wasn't the fact that ESPN thinks the whole world should stop when these two teams play -- that hit me long ago.
What hit me hard was when Yankees manager Joe Girardi popped onto the screen a few times. I kept quizically saying to myself, "He looks exactly like someone I know."
Well, it finally hit me. Girardi is a dead ringer for North Allegheny football coach Art Walker. I'll let the photographic evidence speak loudest. Girardi is pictured first, then Walker:
Aug 27 2008
By Colin Dunlap ][ 10:34 a.m. Wednesday
Aug 26 2008
By Colin Dunlap ][ 5:12 p.m. Tuesday
We have begun a new venture here at Post-Gazette.com involving high school football and, more to the point, picking the winners of high school football games.
It is called Last Fan Standing (as if you couldn't tell from the graphic above) and it is contest where you get the chance to select 10 games and put your picks up against mine and Mike White's.
Check it out, all the details are HERE
Aug 24 2008
By Colin Dunlap ][ 6:26 p.m. Sunday
You want a kid who has some heart -- meet Jeannette freshman football player Joel Macias.
He plays on the varsity team as a defense back/receiver.
He's 4 feet 7, 75 pounds. Let me run that by you again so you fully grasp it --- Joel Macias is 4 feet 7, 75 pounds.
Again, he is just 75 pounds!
Thanks to my Web friend and super-blogger Dave Kubovcik over at jeannettejayhawksfootball.blogspot.com we have some video of Joel Macias making a hit in Jeannette's scrimmage last week against Seton-LaSalle.
If you root for the underdog, or heck, if you just love all that football stands for, you have to love this video. Enjoy:
Aug 22 2008
By Colin Dunlap ][ 4:01 p.m. Friday
The Moon and the Mars High School football teams will square off against each other a week from today, joining the other WPIAL teams in kicking off opening night around the area.
To his credit, Moon athletic director Ricci Rich and his people at Moon came up with a great logo celebrating the 'Intergalaxy Kickoff.' From what I understand, they will be selling T-shirts at Moon all this week leading up to the game ... pretty good stuff:
Aug 22 2008
By Colin Dunlap ][ 1:46 a.m. Friday
It was a tough one yesterday in the Olympic 400-meter relay for Rochester High School graduate Lauryn Williams.
For the second time, she was involved in a bad baton
pass that destroyed her team's chances.
Running the anchor leg in a first-round heat yesterday, Williams dropped the baton in a sloppy exchange with Torri Edwards and it seemed like deja vu, as the same thing had played out in Athens four years ago.
Here's a photo of the exchange.
Well, amongst all this negativity and disappointment, we need to harken back to a happier time for Lauryn Williams. I know the video is not of great (or even good) quality, but you owe it to yourself to be reminded again of what she did in the 2001 PIAA track & field championships in the 400-meter relay. She took the baton in sixth place, well, just watch .........
Aug 20 2008
By Colin Dunlap ][ 7:44 p.m. Wednesday
Mike White and myself shot the preseason edition of VARSITY VIDEO: This Week in High School Sports today, our weekly series that takes a look inside WPIAL and City League football and basketball.
This week, we preview the football season, give you who we think are our top teams in each classification and also provide a sleeper that has a chance to make a run to Heinz Field.
To watch: CLICK HERE
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