Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Kevin Edwards

Licensed Physical Therapist

19 Years of Experience

412-262-1256

1541 State Avenue

Sacred Heart's girls were seeded #4 and will play Burgettstown Friday at Peters Twp at 8 pm in the upcoming WPIAL Tournament.

If they win, they will play the StoRox - Serra Catholic winner next Thursday at a yet to be announced site.

Bishop Canevin was seeded #1 and receives a first round bye. They will play the Ellis - Aliquippa winner next Thursday. Assuming all the favorites win, Sacred Heart will play Canevin in the semifinals Monday, February 25th.

In the other bracket, Brentwood received the #2 seed and first round bye. They will play the Frazier - Winchester Thurston winner. Laurel plays Chartiers - Houston and South Side Beaver plays Riverview. If Laurel and South Side win as favored, they would play each other in the quarterfinal. The winner of that game would play the Brentwood - Frazier - Thurston winner in the other semifinal.

The championship game is set for Pitt's Petersen Events Center Thursday, February 28 at 5 pm.

Sacred Heart has the size, experience and ballhandling to make a serious run, but Bishop Canevin and Brentwood have the same size and experience and better shooting. However if OLSH reaches the semifinals, even if they lost, they would still qualify for the State Tournament and could advance another game or two.

Luke Piccolo hit six threes and scored 24 points in a valiant effort to save Cornell, but it wasn't enough Friday night as the Raiders lost to Vincentian 70-59.

It was a disastrous loss. Cornell came into the game in first place in Section A1, ranked #1 in the WPIAL and guaranteed to receive a #1 seed in the upcoming playoffs. They left tied for second with Nazareth, ranked #2 in the WPIAL and uncertain of their seeding.

The night was a perfect storm of adversity. The Vincentian gym is the second worst in the WPIAL, an outdated facility with a short, narrow nonregulation floor, loose rims that rattled with every shot, fans jammed in and mostly standing, and an outstanding Vincentian team with two 6-6 players inside.

Adding to the adversity was the Vincentian student section, camped behind one end zone. A rowdy band of clowns and extroverts, they annoyed Cornell but were definitely entertaining. They likened Coach Bill Sacco to Santa Claus and kept demanding where he'd parked his sleigh and left his beard. They played on Zaire Harrison's first initial, had ZZZZZZZZ posters, whenever he touched the ball made snoring noises, and when he shot free throws chanted that it was Nap Time. But they saved their best for Kaden Divito. Every time DiVito stepped to the free throw line, three of Vincentian's cutest girls stepped to the baseline holding up signs which read "Cutie #15 Will You Go To Prom With Me?"

Cornell had defeated Vincentian at home a month ago. But the Raiders did it by using their speed and quickness and hot shooting to nullify the Royals' height.

"This floor takes away our speed and quickness," Sacco explained afterward. "We can't outrun them down the floor because the floor's too short. And we can't spread them out because the floor's so narrow. The only way to beat them here is to shoot a high percentsge, and our shots weren't falling. We've been in sort of a shooting slump the last week."

There was a reason the shots weren't falling. DiVito and Harris have developed a habit, which they've used since they were freshmen. They catch the ball at the three point line, and, without dribbling, raise as if for a shot. If the defense goes up, they put the ball to the floor and, using an explosive first step, drive around to the basket. If the defense ignores the fake and stays in position with their arms raised, DiVito or Harris will take a step back to gain space, then go up and shoot over the defender. The problem is that the Vincentian floor is so narrow there's no space between the three point line and the out of bounds line. So when they take that step back they're out of bounds. They were called for this violation several times. But then, without that option, they couldn'r get their shots off.

Rather than his 27 point average, DiVito scored only 14. Rather than his 23 point average, Harrison scored only nine. That alone accounted for the 11 point loss.

But it got worse. Vincention defenders use a technique of sliding under players going up for a shot, as seen in the photo at left, where White #3 is sliding under Isiah Langston as he tries to get a shot off over 6-6 opponent Angelo Reeves. The player then has nowhere to come down, collides with the defender, and is called for charging. Basketball rules clearly state that the defense must give the offense room to come down, a principle called Verticality. But the officials Friday night were not giving Cornell that benefit. Harrison fouled out early in the fourth quarter and the others were all in foul trouble, forcing them to play cautiously.

Langston, at 6-2, somehow pulled down 12 rebounds against Griggs and Ethan Embleton, the 6-6 "twin towers" he was battling. But no other Cornell player was in double figures. Langston also blocked four Vincentian shots.

Vincentian exploded out of the gate. A tip in, layup, side three and free throw made it 0-8 before Jeavontae King Walden finally hit a side three. Harris laid one in to bring the Raiders to 5-8. Griggs and Embleton took turns laying it in over Cornell defenders to put the Royals up 5-13. A rebound and putback by Langston, a tipin by King Walden and a layup by Harris kept it close 11-15 as the first quarter ended. But a layup by Harris was waived off and he was given his first charging call or it would have been even closer.

Vincentian Coach Tim Tyree was determined DiVito would not beat him again, after Kaden had scorched the Royals for 36 at Cornell. So they had worked all week on doubleteaming DiVito, trying to deny him the ball, if he did get it not giving him a clear view of the basket, and having that second defender preventing him from driving (see photo, below). At 5-11, DiVito had taller defenders on him all night. He hit only four of 19, his worst shooting night in three years.

But that second defender had to come from somewhere. Tyree pulled him from Piccolo, assuming the 5-9 senior was not a scoring threat.

That was a mistake.

In the time out between quarters, Sacco turned to Piccolo. "Fire," he said. Two straight side threes tied the game at 17-17, a Langston side three put Cornell up 20-17, and the war was on.

Now that the Royals had Piccolo to guard, suddenly DiVito had only one man to beat and burst down the lane for two layups. Trying to stop this, the defense let Piccolo loose, and he slipped through for another layup. But the Royals also began hitting from outside, and clung to a 26-27 lead at the half. Harris and Piccolo both had two fouls by half.

Cornell continued to hang close in the third quarter. DiVito sank threes from the side and on top, King Walden added a side three, Piccolo and Harris scored layups, and Harris sank a free throw to put the Raiders up 37-36 with 4:24.

Tyree called time out. He ordered his players to stop shooting from outside. "We have two 6-6 guys on the hash marks," he told them. "Get the ball inside." Using spectacular dunks, close in shots and tip ins, Vincentian went on a 2-12 run. Griggs and Embleton also picked up their intensity on defense, blocking numerous Cornell shots. Cornell's only response was Langston hitting two free throws. Vincentian finished the third quarter with a 39-49 lead.

As the fourth quarter began, Harris and DiVito each had three fouls, and Harris picked up #4 and #5 in a minute's time. It was an exceptionally rough quarter. DiVito twice hit the floor so hard he was momentarily stunned, but got up and continued. Cornell couldn't get any shots off; the ones inside were blocked and the ones outside were distorted to shoot over taller defenders. From the beginning of the quarter until the 2:00 mark, Cornell's only points came on free throws. Finally Piccolo worked loose and drained three from the side and Langston laid one in.

Behind Piccolo, DiVito and Harris, Langston added nine points and King Walden three. DiVito and Harris each added seven rebounds to the 12 by Langston. Piccolo had seven steals.

It was a bitter pill for Sacco to swallow. "My garage is bigger than this gym," he told reporters.

The WPIAL announces tournament pairings Tuesday. Cornell still hopes for a first round bye.

Cornell's Junior Varsity ended the season with a loss to Vincentian 60-46.

It was a baptism of fire for the Jayvees, most of whom had never been to the overgrown hall closet known as the Vincentian Gym. The floor, which is shorter and narrower than regulation, eliminated Cornell's speed edge, and the crowd, tightly packed in around the court, bothered them more as the game progressed and more fans arrived.

But Cornell came out ready to play and battled the whole way. Thanks to a Sharone Bronaugh three from the corner and Craig Pulford hook shot and free throw, the Raiders grabbed an early lead.

But Vincentian called time out and settled down. They came out, scored on a putback, stole the ball four straight times and laid each one in, and hit a corner three for a 13-6 lead. Pulford and Bronaugh then rebounded and put shots back, Bronaugh dribbled out to the side and sank a three, and Pulford put another one back to cut it to 15-14. Two Vincentian shots and a Drew Lopez (photo, right) layup ended the first quarter 18-17.

The game may well have been lost in the second quarter. The Royals hit a corner three, six layups, a putback and free throw. Cornell scored only five free throws and a Bronaugh layup so trailed 36-24 at halftime.

Pulford (#42 rebounding below) , a 6-1 freshman, has been improving steadily all season and turned in his best game ever against Vincentian. But he was not nearly big enough to deal with several 6-3 and 6-4 Royals.

Cornell's JVs have won all season due to their superior speed and quickness and their outside shooting. But Friday night the short and narrow Vincentian floor rendered that speed and quickness irrelevant. And the narrow floor prevented Cornell shooters from stepping back from the three point line. There isn't room.

Vincentian's size allowed them to control the boards. And Cornell wasn't hitting on the loose Vincentian rims, which rattled loudly on each shot.

Still, Cornell hung in there. Bronaugh and Michael J. Smith opened with layups. Smith (photo, below) drained a two from just inside the arc, Lopez laid one in , and Lopez, Blaine Sams and Pulford drained free throws. So the Raiders only trailed 47-40 entering the fourth quarter.

Bronaugh opened the final period with a layup to cut it to 47-42. But Cornell would not score again until the 2:00 mark when Smith scored on a putback. By then it was 58-44. Smith would add one final layup in the final seconds to bring it to 60-46.

Bronaugh led all scorers with 15. Lopez, Smith and Pulford each had nine. Sams added four.

Pulford led all rebounders with 14. Bronaugh was close behind with 13.

Cornell still won the section with a 10-2 record. Vincentian and Nazareth tied for second at 11-3. Union was third at 10-3. Union had one fewer game because the Cornell JV game at Union was not played. Cornell had two fewer games because in addition to not playing the game at Union, the JV game at Eden was stopped due to a power failure and never made up.

The JV will definitely lose Sams and Nathan Wooten and probably Bronaugh and Lopez to the varsity next year. That will leave Carmen D'Alessandro, Patrick Scott, Smith, and Pulford back for another JV year, plus whoever rises from this year's eighth grade team.

How do you rebuild a sports program from ground zero? Cornell High School has faced that challenge twice in the last four years. First, Coach Ed Dawson had to bring back football after the school had abandoned it for five seasons. He warned the School Board it would be a tough uphill struggle and they would need patience. Beginning with freshmen but forced to play a varsity schedule, his teams lost every game for two years by one sided scores. Gradually, his players developed the experience and skills needed. In 2018 they finally won half their games, and in 2019 they expect to contend for a playoff berth. All of that, and Cornell, Coraopolis and Neville Island had a century of championship football tradition.

Now the school faces the same challenge in girls basketball. Its history is much bleaker. After the WPIAL launched girls basketball, Cornell went two decades with no team. At all. Challenged by Title 9 advocates, they held tryouts and no girl showed up. When the school did find enough girls to field a team, they lost every game by embarassing scores. Finally Cornell hired Shawn Urbano of McKees Rocks. Urbano had been an assistant at several schools. He promised to build a program, but warned it would take several years.

He kept his promise. He went down to the grade school, recruited a dozen girls, and worked with them year round. When those girls reached ninth grade, suddenly Cornell reached not only the WPIAL Playoffs but the State Tournament for four straight years. They ranked #1 off and on, beat traditional power Quigley, upset Farrell, saw Daeja Quick named Player of the Year, and sent girls off to college.

Then Urbano left for the coaching job at 5A Canon McMillan, and the school discovered that all this success had concealed a glaring error. The one group of girls was the only group recruited and developed. Below the one group, no players had been developed. As those girls graduated, no one was left. Not one.

So another complete rebuilding job would be needed. This time, Cornell turned to Mark Bolla, who had previously coached at Langley and Canevin.

What Bolla inherited was no seniors, no juniors and no sophomores. He had a dozen very enthusiastic freshmen with little or no middle school experience. Below this group is another dozen eighth graders which WPIAL rules do not allow to play in high school.

Cornell considered cancelling the varsity season and playing a freshman schedule. But area schools no longer field freshman teams, and their sophomores play on JV teams which play only as preliminaries to varsities. So that was not an option. Bolla's freshmen were going to be fed to the wolves in one of the WPIAL's toughest sections.

Where to begin? "Talking about an offense or defense is silly," Bolla explains. "We don't have the basic skills. If we can't dribble, pass, catch, shoot or rebound, it doesn't matter what offense we play. We just need to work on fundamentals."

The differences in height, weight, age, strength and experience were also overwhelming. "When the girl guarding you is a foot taller, she just stands there watching you fake to the right, fake to the left, use your clever footwork, and then she swats your shot away. You set a screen and the opponent swats you out of the way. You can box someone off the boards and she reaches over you for the rebound."

Cornell's biggest problem has been getting the ball up the floor. "Every team we play presses us full court. They're too tall to pass over and have arms too long to pass around. We don't have the strong, clever dribblers to dribble around or through them."

Bolla also found his girls lack the arm strength. "We need lots of off season work with a heavy ball to build up our sttength so we can fire those quick, snappy passes and shoot a shot from 15 feet or further from the basket. We're throwing the ball at the basket more than we're shooting it."

He started back in October with 10 players. Nveah Lee was lost due to concussions, and Braelynn Weaver was lost to knee injuries. They were his best two girls. His third best player, Stefania Wiley, prefers to be a student manager.

"Playing before an audience doesn't bother me," Wiley says. "And the game pressure doesn't bother me. I just like the administrative side of it. I could be the best student manager in the WPIAL. I could go to a really big time college on a student manager scholarship. I like doing this."

So Bolla has a starting lineup of Angel Matukae, Karly DiVito, Jada Jenkins, Sophia Sicili and Heather Stephenson. Reserves are Lorraine Bourne and J.J. Robinson.

Bolla's assistant coach is Rachel Belhy, who played at Fort Cherry High School and Washington & Jefferson College. She works in real estate sales during the day.

While Bolla and Belhy have worked on fundamental skills and basketball instincts, they've also been working on fragile egos.

After all, how many times can you lose 76-2 and 72-5 before you get discouraged and quit?

"This is the most wonderful group of girls," Bolla says. "They never miss a practice, never complain, never get frustrated or angry. But we tell them every day not to consider these games. For the other team, they're games. For us, they're practices. We're practicing all this year in preparation for next year." And the girls do seem to have bought into this view.

Especially Matukae and DiVito, who have the bloodlines. Matukae's sister is Maya Goins, who was one of those girls Urbano coached. She played on those WPIAL and PIAA teams. She also played softball and was a cheerleader. DiVito's brother is Kaden, star point guard on Cornell's #1 varsity.

Matukae (#43 in three photos, including the one at right) paused after practice and talked about the year. "We're just paying our dues," she explains. "This is all going to pay off. Those big kids, they graduate. And we're getting a whole year of varsity experience. We'll work the whole off season. Next year, we should be a lot better. We may still lose. But we'll lose by a normal score. Then, again, girls will graduate, and we'll all be back. The day's going to come....."

Matukae tried to explain how far she's come since November. "I was so intimidated. I was afraid of contact. I didn't want to go in there. I got knocked around, knocked to the floor. Now, I'll drive in for a layup, or go after a rebound. One of those big girls, they want to knock me around, OK, bring it on."

"I used to think basketball was a noncontact sport. Wow, have I learned different. Those big girls knock us around the whole game and nothing gets called. So instead of waiting for an official to call a foul, I've learned we all just have to toughen up."

DiVito (#12 in the photo at left and below) nodded her head in agreement. "The game is finally slowing down," she described. "And I've learned to consider each possession a little game all by itself. They beat me once, twice, three times, OK, let's see how well I can do THIS time. Let's see if I can get the ball into the front court THIS time."

DiVito also tried to put into words how much different high school basktball was from grade school and middle school. "Everyone takes this so much more seriously. They're over there keeping statistics. Your scores and statistics are in the newspapers. People pay to come to the games. Everyone's always talking about which teams are going to make the playoffs. Fans are screaming at the refs. It's like WOW, this is a really big deal."

Her mother, Jennifer Trimmer DiVito, who between the boys and girls' teams is often at games four nights a week, has tried to be encouraging at home. "It's been tough on Karly and it's even been tough on me. It hurts to sit here in the stands and watch her getting beat night after night. She's gotten down sometimes, but I keep telling her to see the long range. When they were freshmen, the Rochester girls never won a game. Now they're seniors, won the section and are ranked #1. One thing Karly has learned from Kaden is the value of hard work. In sports, nothing comes easy. But if you keep working, eventually you get your rewards."

Bolla used to get intense about winning, but this year he's taken a very low key approach. "What one thing can we focus on tonight? What did we learn tonight? What do we most need to work on for our next game?"

With the flood of eighth graders rising, he looks forward to having the numbers to run a real JV team and Varsity.

"It's quite possible some of those eighth graders might end up making the varsity, even starting on the varsity. We get 15 or 16 girls out here, everything will get a whole lot more interesting. We can have legitimate scrimmages. We can run competitive drills. We can have some depth if someone gets in foul trouble, or someone is sick or hurt."

In a century of school athletics, research has clearly shown that for small schools to be competitive, strong middle school programs and off season programs are essential. When it comes to girls, Cornell hasn't had either with any consistency. Bolla is determined to change that.

"We've got to get these girls off to a camp or two, and work with them here ourselves. During the season, all you have time to work on is the next opponent. It's during the offseason you work on fundamentals and on your shots and on building up your body. Girls don't like to get in the weightroom, but we're being outwrestled for rebounds and passes. We've got to get strong enough that when we get our hands on a rebound we can bring it in and pass it out to a teammate.

"The reason we need to get them off to camp is so they can hear someone beside me stressing the same fundamentals. After a while, kids tune out a teacher or coach or --- yes, even a parent. They've heard the same thing so many times they quit listening. But then when someone you don't know tells you that same thing suddenly you take it seriouosly.

"These girls also need to spend a week or two in an environment where everyone is devoted to basketball 24-7. They wake up talking about it, talk about it at breakfast, work on their game all morning, talk about it at lunch, work on their game all afternoon, talk about it at dinner, work on their game all evening, and go to bed talking about it. Our girls need to see how girls at other schools are so totally devoted to getting better."

Sacred Heart's senior laden varsity bid farewell to its home fans Thursday night with a 63-29 thrashing of South Side.

The game was preceded by the usual Senior Night ceremony, in which Ashley Norling, Maddie Hoff, Kennede Mickle, Tess Deken and Kate Penn were honored for their four years of outstanding play. Mickle was sidelined this season by injury but still suited up and sat on the bench for this game.

The game itself was an afterthought. It was over quickly. OLSH grabbed a 13-2 first quarter lead and rolled it out to 32-4 at halftime and 42-15 at the third quarter stop.

In a touching moment, with six seconds to go, a setup technical foul was called and Mickle was sent in to shoot it. She made the shot, thus putting her name in the scorebook.

Sacred Heart's size, quickness and athleticism was simply too much for South Side. The visitors could not get decent shots off over the taller SH defenders, and never got a second shot because SH controlled the boards. On defense, Norling (#44 driving at right) blocked shots and prevented any kind of interior passes. On offense she hit threes, layups, jumpers and a soft hook from the hash mark. Hoff (#34, below left) kept pace, draining threes and when the defense came out to stop her drove for easy layups. Norling and Hoff shared scoring honors with 24 each. Haley Hamilton (#11) added seven, Hannah Valenty three, Walsh two and Kennedy Nichol one.

The Chargers tied with Laurel for the section championship. They play 6A Butler at Kennedy Catholic Saturday, then wait for the WPIAL Tournament draw Tuesday. They are currently ranked second in 2A.

When both boys and girls varsities are winning their sections and ranked at the top of the WPIAL, no one pays much attention to the junior varsity. They play the preliminary games at 6 pm before most fans get to the gym and their scores aren't reported on TV or in the newspapers.

But while no one has been paying attention, Sacred Heart's JV girls have run up an unbeaten record in Class 2A and won the mythical Section championship. They don't get a trophy for that, and there is no WPIAL JV playoff. So their season officially ended Thursday night with a 36-23 win over South Side. OLSH led the whole way, but not by much. They grabbed an 8-5 first quarter edge and held it 14-9 at half. South Side only had a six girl roster, so Sacred Heart's up tempo offense and high pressure defense began wearing the visitors down. It was 26-15 after three, and the Chargers substituted freely in the fourth.

Kaley Constantine led all scorers with nine. Syria Johnson added eight.

OLSH does have two losses, one to 5A Trinity and one to 4A Blackhawk. Both those JV teams also won their sections.

Photos are posted full strength so they can be enlarged and printed.

Basketball coaches worry about an easy game sandwiched in between two tough games. They call it a "trap game," and historically many upsets have occurred in such situations.

Cornell faced this Tuesday in a home game with Quigley, sandwiched in between two difficult road trips to Union and Vincentian. Even worse, it was Senior Night, on which graduating players and cheerleaders were honored in a pregame ceremony. With parents part of the ceremony, the seniors are often flushed with emotion and play erratically.

Quigley has size and shooting and was capable of threatening Cornell. They took the tip, scored on a layup, and next time down drained a three from the side for a 5-0 lead. Zaire Harrison picked up a quick foul at the 6:16 mark. The Senior Night crowd grew quiet.

Up stepped Cornell's only senior, Luke Piccolo (#20 in the first three photos). He drained one three from the side and another from the corner. That put the Raiders up 6-5 and the rout was on. They went on a 26-0 run. Jeavontae King Walden hit two corner threes and Kaden DiVito hit a three from the side, one from the corner and four layups. Finally, with 4:47 left in the first half, Quigley laid one in to end the drought, 26-7, but the game was over.

Isiah Langston finished off the half with two layups. Drew Lopez hit a corner three and DiVito added a side three to put Cornell up 36-7 at the break.

Piccolo contributed a lot more than early threes. That's him wheeling away from the basket with a rebound in the photo at right. He helped crash the boards, played aggressive defense, and kept the ball moving.

DiVito (#2 in the photos) dominated the first three minutes of the third quarter with two layups and a corner three. Piccolo added threes from the corner and side. Langston (photo, bottom left) and Harrison (#1) scored layups and DiVito a 15 foot jumper. The third quarter score was 57-15.

The fourth quarter was played with Cornell's JVs. Sharone Bronaugh hit two layups and Drew Lopez added three. That was all. Quigley actually outscored Cornell in the fourth quarter to narrow the final to 61-28.

Most of the onesided score was due to one trend : Quigley missing shots off to the left side of the rim. Zaire Harrison (#1) kept rebounding them and either firing the ball upcourt or dribbling quickly upcourt with it himself, eventually passing to teammates for layups. This made Harrison the night's leading rebounder with 10 and leading assist producer with eight.

DiVito led all scorers with 24. Piccolo had 12, Harrison nine, Langston, Lopez and King Walden six each, and Bronaugh four. There were lots of missed Quigley shots and lots of rebounds but they were spread around equally. Only Harrison was in double figures.

The win left Cornell 18-3, in a tie with the section lead with Vincentian with equal 11-2 records, ranked #1 in the WPIAL and #4 in the state.

In other games Tuesday night, Western Beaver beat Rochester 80-48, Vincentian beat Eden 65-50 and, most importantly, Nazareth beat Union 74-41. This leaves Nazareth second at 10-3 and Union third at 9-4.

So the Game Of The Year looms Friday night at Vincentian. The winner wins the section, the #1 seed in the WPIAL tournament, and a first round bye. The loser ends up tied for second with Nazareth.

It's another of those gyms where visiting teams rarely win and Cornell in particular has not won. It's a smaller floor than standard. It has three rows of bleachers on each side with a student section in the end zone. It will be standing room only.

The student section models itself after the Cameron Crazies at Duke, the Erupption Zone at Kentucky and Roys Rowdies at North Carolina. They harass visitng players and coaches without mercy, giving them nicknames and making up chants. The students are packed in tightly along the end line and make life especially difficult for anyone shooting free throws. During last year's Cornell game officials had security escort two students out of the gym. Front row spectators on three sides have their feet on the out of bounds line so players throwing the ball inbounds have to deal with the crowd. The end zone opposite the student section is a brick wall. Ideally a visiting team would grab the student end for first half warm ups, so it could have the brick wall during the critical second half. Teams with experience playing there often have their JV teams immediately start warming up at that student end as soon as the JV game ends to prevent the home varsity from grabbing it.

Vincentian is a Catholic academy sitting high on a hill overlooking McKnight Road. The easiest routes to get there are via Mt. Nebo Road off I-79 or via Camp Horne Road off the Ohio River Boulevard. The JV game will begin at 6. Cornell fans should arrive early because seating is extremely limited and late arrivals may be refused admission.

In their final home game of the season Tuesday night, Cornell's Junior Varsity did not look good. It was a ragged sloppy first half. There were slow, floating, easily stolen passes, repeated walking violations, players repeatedly tied up by defenders for jump balls, and few rebounds. Quigley sometimes led, often tied, and never trailed by more than three. A layup with six seconds to go cut Cornell's halftime lead to a slim 19-18.

The Raiders needed a spark. They got two.

Michael J. Smith, a 5-8 freshman guard (#33), poured in 10 points in a three minute 11-2 run to open the third quarter. That put Cornell up 30-20 and Quigley never recovered.

Meanwhile, 5-11 sophomore Sharone Bronaugh went to war on the boards. Cornell had been outrebounded in the first half but Bronaugh took ownership of both boards in the second.

Back at the game's beginning, Smith had opened scoring with a rebound and putback 30 seconds in to put Cornell up 2-0. Patrick Scott added a free throw and Carmine D'Allessandro (#4 in photos below) turned a steal into a layup for 5-0. But then the errors began, and the taller, older, more experienced Spartans went up 8-5 at 3:04. Bronaugh (photo, below) rebounded and laid in a smooth reverse layup, then the next time down the floor rebounded again and took it back up to put Cornell ahead 9-8 at 0:50. Blaine Sams scored a layup at the buzzer for an 11-8 lead as the quarter ended.

Drew Lopez hit a corner three to open the second, but a Quigley side three and layup tied at 13-13. Craig Pulford, a 6-0 freshman, twice followed a rebound with a putback, and D'Allessandro pulled off another steal and layup. But Quigley continued to slip past Cornell's defense for layups to hang close in the 19-18 halftime score.

That set up Smith's third quarter explosion. Bronaugh outmuscled and outquicked the taller Spartans, grabbing rebounds and either taking them back up or dishing off to teammates for layups.

After Smith's scoring spree, Blaine Sams added two free throws and a three from on top, Lopez laid one in, Nathan Wooten sank a free throw, and Bronaugh grabbed a rebound, drove out the baseline, pivoted and drained a corner three. That put the Raiders up 41-25 after three.

Lopez opened the fourth with two straight layups for 45-25. A layup by Pulford and 15 foot jumper by Smith made it 49-27 at 5:15. Another Smith corner three and Bronaugh layup closed out Cornell scoring.

Smith led all scorers with 18. Lopez and Bronaugh added nine each, Sams seven, Pulford six, D'Allessandro four and Wooten one.

Bronaugh led all rebounders with 13. He also led everyone with nine assists.

The win gave Cornell an 11-2 record with one game left, Friday at Vincentian. There is no postseason for JV teams but all JV players will dress for all Cornell Varsity games in the WPIAL Tournament, and several of them will see action.

Some teams are almost impossible to beat on their home floors. Regardless of what kind of season they're having on the road, they shoot an amazingly high percentage at home and, buoyed by their boisterous crowd, raise their level of play to another level.

Union Township is one of those. Going all the way back to the 1940s, the Scotties go season after season without losing at home. In the 1950s, Coach Butler Hennon and his Wampum HS Indians were Pennsylvania's most famous program, winning 12 straight section championships, eight WPIAL and three state championships. But in a 40 year career Hennon only won once at Union, in 1955 when his team went 31-0. Cornell has never won there. Coach Bill Sacco, who has coached at five different high schools, has never won there. Vincentian, despite its section, WPIAL and state titles, has never won there. Rochester has never won there.

If ever Cornell and Sacco were goiing to win at Union, this was the year. The Raiders lead Section 1-A, have experience, depth, speed, shooting, defense and athleticism, are #1 in the WPIAL, and came in with the section title riding on the game. Furthermore, Cornell had buried Union 61-34 at Coraopolis in early January.

But it wasn't enough. The Union Magic held, in an 83-71 win that will cost Cornell its #1 ranking and possibly its section championship and #1 tournament seed.

The game was frustrating. Whether it was rattled by the large and vocal crowd, or the unfriendly officiating, or the tight rims, or whether it was too intense, or whether it was just due for an off night after a string of 10 outstanding games, Cornell was not at its best.

Raider shots that have been going in all year rimmed out. A defense that has smothered opponents was suddenly allowing open threes.

Part of this was due to Union. After being scorched at Cornell earlier, the Scotties have prepared carefully for this game. They're ranked #3 in the WPIAL and are fighting for their own postseason seeding. They focused on denying Kaden DiVito, Zaire Harrison and Jeavontae King Walden their favorite shooting spots, on blocking Isiah Langston off the boards, and on spreading the floor, overloading one side to draw the defense, then quickly reversing the floor and passing the ball to either Nate Meeks or Seth Pinkerton for wide open shots on the weak side.

DiVito, Harrison and King Walden watched shots rimming out all night. But they had defenders pressuring them on every play. They were forced to hurry their shots, shooting off balance and without squaring to the basket. As the accompanying phoros show, they were often double teamed, preventing their usual slashing drives to the basket. Since high school basketball has no shot clock, the answer to this defense is to be patient and keep passing, screening and cutting until someone gets open even if it results in a low scoring game. But that's not who Cornell is. Their style is a running, gunning, high scoring game. And it has worked all year.

But not Friday night. The start was an omen of things to come. Cornell got the tap, came roaring down, and promptly missed a layup, a follow and a 15 ft. jump shot. Union hit two straight layups for 4-0 and Cornell spent the rest of rhe night playing catch up.

They hung tight, though. Isiah Langston finally laid one in at 6:38. Three Divito layups, a King Walden tipin and baseline jumper, a layup and side three by Harrison, and free throws by Luke Piccolo kept Cornell within two at 21-19 to nd the first quarter.

Union unleashed a barrage of threes in the second quarter. Cornell responded with free throws by Harrison and DiVito, layups by King Walden, Harrison, Langston, Piccolo, and a follow by Sharone Bronaugh. Langston took over late in the second, with a jumper, free throws, three from on top, and a spectacular dunk off a lob pass. So Union barely clung to a 45-43 halftime lead. The game had become very physical, with heavy contact on almost every shot, drive and rebound. DiVito went to the floor hard and hurt his thumb after one attempted baseline drive.

The third quarter saw heavy knocking and banging with few fouls called. King Walden tied the game with a layup as the quarter opened. A Pinkerton jumper from the side and a Meeks three from on top put the Scotties up 50-45 and Cornell would never again tie it. DiVito hit a jumper from the lane, Harrison laid one in, and DiVito, Langston and Drew Lopez added free throws to keep Cornell within reach at 58-53.

The fourth quarter saw Cornell repeatedly closing to within one or two points, and Union pulling back out. King Walden hit a corner two for 55-58 but a side jumper, layup and free throws made it 64-55. Divito connected on a side three and Harrison laid one in for 64-60 at 5:06. King Walden sank a follow and DiVito a corner three for 68-65 at 3:40. By this point the capacity crowd was on its feet and would remain there the rest of the way. A free throw made it 69-65 but a Harrison top three cut that to 69-68 with 2:59. A layup and free throws pulled it back out to 72-68, but two Divito free throws and one by Harrison cut it to 72-71 at 2:20. But that would be the last Cornell points scored. Union hit another three from the corner and sank nine free throws over the last 90 seconds. Harrison and DiVito frantically tried to bring the Raiders back with threes but couldn't hit.

Seth Pinkerton led all scorers with 28 and Nate Meeks added 26. Six of Meeks' and seven of Pinkerton's shots were from beyond the arc. DiVito led Cornell with 19. Harrison added 18, King Walden 14, Langston 13, Piccolo four, Bronaugh two and Lopez one.

King Walden led Cornell rebounders with 10. Langston added eight and DiVito seven. Harrison contributed eight assists.

If Cornell wins at Vincentian this Friday, they will still win the section. If they lose Vincentian will win it with Cornell and Union tied for second.

On a bitterly cold night outside, Sacred Heart scorched Laurel 79-54 and wrapped up the Section 2A-3 championship.

Meanwhile, out in Beaver County, South Side upset Sewickley 68-64. Its senior star having quit the team, the Panthers have lost three straight.

This leaves Sacred Heart all alone at the top. The Chargers lead the section with a 10-0 record. They also lead the WPIAL 2A at 17-1. And they're second in the state behind Philadelphia Constitution HS.

South Side Beaver is now second in the section at 7-3. The Beavers are 14-5 overall. Sewickley is third in the section at 6-3 and 9-7. Sacred Heart has only two section games left, Mohawk at home and Sewickley away. Even if they lost both those games, they would finish one game ahead of both South Side and Sewickley.

OLSH also has a home game with Obama Academy from Pittsburgh, and an away game at New Brighton.

The Laurel game was over after four minutes. The Chargers ran up a 20-5 lead and pushed it to 42-22 at the half. It was 60-34 after three.

Darin Dimichele led all scorers with 18. Austin Wigley and Ricco Tate added 14 points each. Jake Dimichele scored 13.

Due to a quirk in scheduling, Cornell had to play Eden Saturday over there, then play a return match in Coraopolis Tuesday night. This was caused by a power failure three weeks ago, when the first Eden game had to be postponed.

It didn't matter. The Raiders used exactly the same hyper tempo to roll to another win, this one 91-48.

Like most of Cornell's games this year, this one was over early. Luke Piccolo hit threes from the side and the top, Kaden DiVito scored one layup, and Isiah Langston laid two more in (photo, right), and Cornell was up 12-4. Another Langston layup and free throws by him and DiVito pushed it to 17-7 after one.

Threes from Piccolo and Zaire Harrison, layups by Jeavontae KingWalden, Harrison, and Langston, and free throws and three straight threes by DiVito produced a 40-22 halftime edge.

King Walden has been struggling with the flu and only scored seven points. But two of them came on a beautiful hook shot with 6:11 in the third quarter (photo, below left). Threes from Piccolo, Langston, Harrison, DiVito, and King Walden, a layup by Drew Lopez and 15 ft. jump shot by DiVito gave Cornell a third quarter 64-34 score.

Langston and Harrison laid three in apiece in the fourth. DiVito and Lopez added their own layups and Sharone Bronaugh (photo bottom left) hit a corner three. Numerous free throws pushed the final out to 91-48.

DiVito led all scorers with 24. Harrison added 21, Langston 20, Piccolo 12, King Walden seven, Lopez four and Bronaugh three.

The taller Warriors controlled the boards but Cornell's rebounding was spread evenly. Langston and DiVito hauled in seven each. Harrison added six.

Langston, who has played several outstanding games in a row, also had seven steals and three blocks.

Harrison, DiVito and Langston each contributed six assists.

The win leaves Cornell 17-2 on the season and 10-1 in Section 1A-1. The Raiders lead the section and rank #1 in the WPIAL and #4 in the state.

But trouble looms. The regular season is winding up, and in a sort of grand finale Cornell must travel to Union Friday and Vincentian next Friday, with a home game against Quigley between.

Union and Vincentian are both difficult places to play. Vincentian trails Cornell by a game, 9-2, having lost at Cornell and at Union. The Centurions rank #2 in the WPIAL and #6 in the state. Union is third in the section with an 8-3 record, having lost at Cornell, at Vincentian, and at Nazareth. Union is ranked #3 in the WPIAL.

Assuming Cornell wins the home game with Quigley, if it wins both the road games it wins the section and the #1 WPIAL Tournament seed. If it loses at Union but wins at Vincentian, it will hand Vincentian a third loss, meaning Cornell will win the section with a 12-2 record. But if Cornell wins at Union and loses at Vincentian, it will end up tied with Vincentian for the section lead with identical 12-2 records.

That would be critical because the WPIAL breaks ties based on schedule strength outside the section. Cornell plays a tough schedule, with games at 5A Brashear and Carrick plus Sto Rox and Canevin. But Vincentian plays a tougher one, with games at Moon, Lincoln Park and Sewickley. The advantage of a #1 seed is the first round bye and the easier draw.

In the final two weeks of the regular season, junior Blaine Sams and sophomore Sharone Bronaugh are coming on strong for the Cornell Junior Varsity.

Tuesday night, against one of Section 1A-1's best JV teams, Sams (#12 in photo at right) turned in the best game of his career and topped it off with a 25 foot three point shot at the buzzer to give Cornell a 52-50 thriller over tall, talented Eden.

Sams scored 20 points, including four three pointers. He also had five steals, six assists, five rebounds and seven defensive stops.

Bronaugh (#50 in photo below) was equally impressive with 20 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and five defensive stops.

The win gave Cornell's Jayvees a 10-2 record, their only losses being to 5A Brashear in the season opener and to Nazareth Prep in the section. A problem in this era is that some schools don't have enough boys to field JV teams, and varsities participate in tournaments and special "classic" doubleheaders with no JV prelims. The days of a JV team going 21-1 and advancing to the JV playoffs are gone. No JV team plays that many games and there is no longer a JV postseason tournament.

Nevertheless, this has become a very good Cornell JV team. And Eden was a formidable opponent.

The visitors led the entire first quarter. Free throws by Sams and Patrick Scott were the only Cornell scores for the first six minutes. Finally the Raiders went to their press and Drew Lopez (photo bottom left) took a steal in for layup at 2:28. That made it 9-5. Lopez scored two more layups, Bronaugh added one, and Sams hit two free throws to finally tie it at 13-13 as the quarter ended.

This JV team has become very good at its full court press. A pressing team has to have quick hands, quick feet, good floor vision and stamina, and when the Raiders have Bronaugh, Lopez, Sams, M.J. Smith and Scott in they have those qualities at all five positions. Their press speeds opponents up beyond their comfort level, wears them down, and exposes any ballhandling weaknesses.

In the second quarter, Sams took over. He made two layups off the press, one three from the top and one from the side. Bronaugh added a runner in the lane under contact and two free throws. Nathan Wooten scored a baseline runner to give Cornell a 29-25 halftime edge.

But Eden wasn't done. The Warriors used layups, free throws, a side three and a tip in to finish the third with a 39-35 lead. Cornell's only scoring was on two Bronaugh layups and a Sams follow.

The fourth was a shootout. Eden used a side three, tip in and free throws to keep the lead. Bronaugh's layup and side three, a Lopez baseline runner, a Sams three from on top and a Lopez free throw finally tied it at 46-46 with 1:26. Sharone went up under heavy traffic, shown in the photo at left, scored and was fouled. He hit the free throw for a 49-46 lead with 1:10. Still, Eden wasn't done. Warrior free throws cut it to 49-48 and a jumper from the lane put them ahead 50-49 with 48 seconds left. Cornell wanted to go to Bronaugh inside for a layup or at least free throws, but Eden overplayed him and prevented a pass as time ticked down. Finally Lopez drove the lane and when the defense collapsed he fired a pass to wide open Sams, who took the winning three pointer from the side. The ball settled in the net as the buzzer sounded.

In sddition to 20 points each by Sams and Bronaugh, Lopez had nine, Wooten two and Scott one.

Cornell faces difficult games at Union and Vincentian and a home finale with Quigley.

No one saw this one coming. Sacred Heart had beaten Laurel 49-39 at Laurel. The OLSH girls had also beaten everyone else in Section 2A-1 and with a win Monday night would have wrapped up the section title.

Yet somehow Laurel came into Sacred Heart and handed the WPIAL's second ranked team a 43-42 loss in the biggest Western Hills upset of the year in boys or girls basketball. OLSH now finds itself tied with Laurel for first place in the section with only two weeks to go.

Laurel grabbed a 12-6 lead but Sacred Heart exploded with a 17-4 second quarter for a 23-16 halftime edge. Laurel rallied, however, cutting it to 33-28 after three, then outscored the home team 15-9 in the fourth.

Caroline Gibson was the key for Laurel. She scored 13 points, including the winning layup with four seconds left. Ashley Norling led OLSH with 20. Maddie Hoff added 12. But Laurel shur down everyone else.

Laurel and Sacred Heart now have identical 13-4 and 10-1 records. The Chargers will probably drop from their #2 ranking, and Laurel may move up from its #4 position. Bishop Canevin is #1.

Sacred Heart pushed its season record to 16-1 Saturday afternoon with a 65-47 win over 3A Seton LaSalle.

The game was close for a half. LaSalle trailed by only three, 15-12, after one and 29-24 at the half. But the Chargers exploded for an 18-9 third and took a 47-33 lead into the fourth.

Daren DiMichele and Austin Wigley led OLSH with 18 and 16 points respectively. Michael Bigley had 31 for LaSalle.

The game was part of the late season PBC Hall of Fame Classic held at Montour High School. LaSalle ranks #3 in Class 3A at 13-3 and 8-1.

Sacred Heart resumes Section 2A-3 Tuesday night.

Arch rival Sewickley lost its second straight game Saturday, losing to Chartiers Valley 55-39. OLSH must travel to Sewickley next week.

Cornell finishes the regular season with three difficult road games, to Eden, Union and Vincentian.

Saturday afternoon, the Raiders played the first one, at Eden. It's a makeup from a game postponed two weeks ago.

Eden keyed on Kaden DiVito, Zaier Harrison and Jeavontae King Walden, and they succeeded in holding those three well below their averages. But Isiah Langston (photo, right) stepped up with 29 points to lead Cornell to an 81-50 rout and maintain its one game lead on Vincentian in Section 1A-1.

Cornell put it away early with a 20-6 first quarter lead. The Raiders expanded that to 41-18 halftime and 62-34 third quarter edges.

In addition to Langston's 29, DiVito scored 22 and Harrison 18.

So Cornell is now down to two dangerous road trips, to Union this Friday and Vincentian next Friday. If they win both, they win the section. If they win one, they finish tied with Vincentian. If they lose both, they finish as runnerup to Vincentian.

In between, the Raiders host Eden Tuesday night and Quigley next Tuesday on Senior Night.

Cornell remains #1 in the WPIAL and #4 in the state. Vincentian is #2 in the WPIAL and #6 in the state. Union is #3 in the WPIAL.

Cornell coasted past Rochester 86-61 Friday night to maintain its lead in Section 1A-1. But elsewhere, Vincentian knocked Union out of second, 67-52. That leaves Vincentian all alone in second place, one game behind Cornell. The two play at Vincentian the last night of the season. Union is now tied with Nazareth for third.

The Rochester game was another routine win. Cornell led 14-9 after one and exploded in quarters two and three for 30 points each. That made it 44-17 at the half and 74-21 after three.

Kaden Divito, the WPIAL's fourth leading scorers among all classes, led everyone with 26. Isiah Langston was second with 13. That's Jeavontae King Walden (#14) driving the baseline at right, with Langston (#3) in the lane looking for a pass.

Cornell now begins a dangerous stretch of three road games at Eden (at noon today), Union and Vincentian. If the Raiders win all three they will finish alone in first place. If they win two of the three they will finish tied with Vincentian for first. If they only win one of the three they will drop to second and Vincentian will win another section title.

Sacred Heart dismantled Burgettstown 83-47 Friday night but the big news in Section 2A-3 was Shenango upsetting Sewickley 81-77. That dropped the Panthers two games back and, barring a monumental upset of OLSH, guarantees the Chargers a section title even if they lose their big return match at Sewickley the final week of the season.

The Burgettstown game was another rout. Sacred Heart grabbed a 21-7 lead and expanded it to 39-20 at halftime. It was 66-31 after three.

The DiMicheles, Jake and Daren, led scorers with 17 and 13. Dante Spadafora and Austin Wigley added 10 each.

OLSH remains #1 in the section and the WPIAL and #2 in the state behind Philadelphia Constitution HS. The Chargers are 9-0 in section and 15-1 overall, their only loss coming at 3A North Catholic 87-81.

Winning the section outright is a major achievement because it earns a team a first round bye and a favorable draw in the upcoming WPIAL playoffs.

South Side, fighting for a postseason berth as a section runnerup, came out fighting. Jake McDougal scored 20 points and teammates Logan English and Trevor Roach added 17 and 14. The Beavers got the lead and gradually extended it to 24-17. During the quarter break, OLSH Coach Mike Rodriguez told his team they were in a battle and needed a massive second quarter rally.

They got it. The Chargers roared back to outscore South Side 25-10 and take a 42-34 halftime lead. They continued that surge with a 16-10 third quarter for a 58-44 edge entering the fourth. South Side pulled off its own rally, 21-18, in the closing minutes, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Dante Spadafora and Jake DiMichael led Sacred Heart with 18 points each. Daren DiMichael added 12 and Austin Wigley 10.

The win kept Sacred Heart in first place in Section 2A-3, one game ahead of second place Sewickley. In other section games, Shenango beat Mohawk 63-38 and Laurel beat Burgettstown 72-64. Sewickley hosts Kiski Academy tonight.

OLSH remains #1 in the WPIAL Class 2A and #2 in the state, behind Philadelphia's Constitution High School.

Cornell's section leading and top ranked Raiders yawned to an 81-41 win over outmanned Western Beaver Tuesday night.

Kaden Divito (dribbling in photo, right) led all scorers with 31 points. Zaier Harrison added 14, Jaevontae King Walden and Isiah Langston 10 each. All four are juniors.

The game was over in the first quarter. Cornell grabbed a 22-12 lead and extended it to 41-24 at halftime. Then it got worse. The Raiders outscored Western 17-6 in the third to lead 58-30.

Cornell leads the section with a 7-1 record (13-2 overall). Vincentian beat Nazareth 69-65 Tuesday night. Vincentian and Union are now tied for second with 7-2 records. Nazareth is fourth at 6-3. Cornell travels to Eden this Saturday, then travels to Union and Vincentian the first two Fridays in February.

#1 in the section and district and #2 in the state, OLSH continued its march toward the postseason with a 79-68 Friday night win over Shenango.

The visitors had to be taken seriously. Shenango is in contention for its own postseason berth as a runnerup. The Wildcats hold opponents to 57.3 points per game and boast one of the WPIAL's top scorers in Colin McQuiston.

And, in fact, Shenango played even with the Chargers in the second, third and fourth quarters. McQuiston poured in 32 points while teammates Reis Watkins and Ryan Perretti added 15 and 11.

But OLSH won it in the first, grabbing a 24-13 lead and holding that edge the rest of the way. Shenango cut it back to 28-27 at 1:53, before the Chargers pulled out to 34-27 at halftime. Shenango made a few runs in the third to get within five and four. However, either Daren or Jake DiMichele, Mike Dugan or Dante Spadafora would hit a few timely threes or layups and pull the Chargers back out to 10. Daren finished with 25, Jake with 19, Mike with 15 and Dante with 11.

The win left Sacred Heart at 7-0 in Section 2A-3 and 13-1 on the season. With the other section contenders at home, the Chargers appear likely to cruise until their big return match over at Sewickley, which lurks only one game behind at 6-1. That game will almost certainly decide the section championship and seedings for the upcoming WPIAL Tournament.

"We were determined Kaden DiVito wasn't going to beat us," Nazareth Coach Nehemiah Brazil said. "If Cornell was going to win, somebody else would have to step up." Sure enough, with defenders shadowing his every move, DiVito, averaging 27 points a game and coming off a 36 point outburst against Vincentian, was held to 16.

Enter junior Jeavontae King Walden (photo, right), who sat out last year with an ankle injury. The 5-11 power forward turned in the best game of his career, scoring 20 points, crashing the boards and playing tough inside defense to lead Cornell to a 78-59 win over the top ranked Saints before the largest and loudest crowd of the season. Despite being taller, Nazareth had no answer for him inside. King Walden was quicker, smoother and more aggressive.

Isiah Langston added 19, Zaier Harrison 17 and Divito 16. And they wasted no time getting started. Thanks to four three pointers, Cornell jumped out to a 9-0 lead and 20-10 first quarter edge. Five more three pointers in the second quarter put the Raiders up 45-23 at halftime. The Saints came back to 66-53 in the fourth quarter but had to foul to stop Cornell's weave offense, and the Raiders hit every free throw.

Senior Luke Piccolo added two threes to give Cornell 11 from beyond the line.

Cornell now stands alone in first place in Section 1A-1, one game ahead of Nazareth and two up on Vincentian and Union. The Raiders swept the #1, #2 and #3 WPIAL teams on consecutive home nights.

The computer now has Cornell as #1 in the WPIAL and #4 in the state. But the next three weeks will be tough. The Raiders go to Eden Saturday, Jan. 26; to Union Friday, Feb. 1; and to Vincentian Friday, Feb. 8. To win the section they have to win two of those three.

Sacred Heart doubled the score on Aliquippa 54-27 Thursday night to maintain its firm lead on first place in Section 2A-1.

It was never in doubt. OLSH grabbed a 19-7 lead and expanded it to 34-10 at the half. Substituting freely, they held on 45-18 after three.

Haley Hamilton led all scorers with 16. Maddie Hoff was second with 13.

That's Emily Schuck (32) in the photo at right.

The Chantelles* are still second in the WPIAL behind Bishop Canevin.

Next week Sacred Heart travels to New Brighton and Shenango.

In other Section 2A-1 Thursday, Laurel pasted Northgate 73-18, South Side won at Sto-Rox 41-23, and Shenango beat New Brighton 47-35.

Laurel is in second place, one game back, at 6-1. South Side is in third, two games back, at 5-2. Both Laurel and South Side have yet to come to Sacred Heart.

*Latin, French feminine case for Chargers.

Sacred Heart held off arch rival Sewickley 77-69 Tuesday night to take over sole possession of first place in Section 2A-3. The Chargers are #1 in the WPIAL and #2 in the state, behind the same Constitution team that beat them in last year's state finals.

OLSH now stands 12-1 on the season and 6-0 in the section. Sewickley is 7-4 and 5-1.

Jake DiMichele led the Chargers with 21 points. Brother Daren added 20, Dante Spadafora 15 and Ricco Tate 12. For Sewickley, Isiah Warfield poured in 34 and Donald Belt 26, 24 of which came in eight three pointers.

Sacred Heart won the game in the first quarter, when it exploded for a 24-12 lead. They pushed that out to 17 points in the second before Sewickley whittled it back down to 40-33 at halftime. The closest the Panthers got was 55-51 at the end of the third. Sewickley kept threatening in the fourth but each time they narrowed the lead, OLSH would hit a shot or two or a free throw, and pull back out.

Sewickley was not at full strength. Senior Nate Ridgeway was out sick, and Rees Blaylock hurt a knee in the first quarter. He continued to play but noticeably favored it the rest of the way.

Narrow as it was, this was the widest margin of victory between the two in recent years. Last year they met twice in the section, once in the WPIAL finals and once in the state tournament semifinals. Sewickley won the first three and Austin Wigley hit a shot in overtime to win it for OLSH in the semi. In all four games, the average difference was 2.5 points.

They'll meet again the final week of the regular season over at Sewickley.

"With Ridgeway out and Blaylock hurt we were a lot shorter than usual," Sewickley Coach Win Palmer said afterward. "So it was a chance for our other players to step up. I thought they did a good job. This'll toughen us up for the second half."

Sacred Heart plays Shenango Friday night and South Side next Tuesday.

Cornell finally pulled off a win over Vincentian 84-75 Tuesday night to narrow its hold on first place in the section and set up a third showdown Friday with Nazareth. The Raiders have now won the first two showdown games over Union and Vincentian.

Cornell and Nazareth are now tied for first place in Section 1A-1. Cornell suffered its only section loss to Nazareth back in December. A Raider win Friday would leave Cornell all alone atop the section entering the second half of the season. Vincentian has won the section three straight years.

Tuesday night was an epic battle before a screaming crowd. Vincentian led after one, 23-22, but Cornell outscored the Centurions 27-19 in a wild run-and-gun second to take a 49-42 halftime edge. The Raiders did it again in the third, 18-16 to go up 67-58. They battled on even terms in the fourth, each scoring 17.

Kaden DiVito turned in the best game of his career, leading both teams with 36 points (He had scored 46 at Deer Lakes but Vincentian is a much stronger opponent). Isiah Langston (photo, right) added 16 and Jeavontae Kingwalden 10.

The Section 2A-1 race was between Laurel, South Side and Sacred Heart. A week ago, Sacred Heart defeated Laurel. Monday night was the other key showdown, at Beaver South Side. It was supposed to be close, as the homestanding Ewes faced a must win situation.

But it was only a battle in the first half. OLSH gradually pulled away in the second half to win 46-28 and, barring a key injury, illness or academic casualty, practically wrapped up the section title with half its games yet to go.

Sacred Heart never trailed, grabbing an early 13-8 lead and holding it at halftime, 21-15. A 13-4 edge in the third quarter widened it to 34-19 and the girls cruised home.

Defense was the key. OLSH held the Ewes without a field goal for 12 minutes, beginning at halftime and extending until the 4:00 mark of the fourth quarter. During that time, all South Side could get were four free throws in the third quarter and five in the fourth. Sacred Heart's full court press and harassing half court traps suffocated the home team.

Ashley Norling led all scorers with 16. Haley Hamilton added 13.

The win leaves Sacred Heart all alone in first place with a 7-0 record. Laurel is second at 6-1, with South Side now in third at 5-2. The Chargers also rank #2 in the WPIAL and #3 in Pennsylvania.

OLSH gets Laurel at home on Monday, January 28 and South Side at home on Thursday, February 7, the final night of the regular season.

Coach Don Eckerle was still taking the season one game at a time. "We've still got to develop some of our other players," he said. "There will come a night when Norling, or Hamilton, or Hoff will get in foul trouble, or be hurt or not feeling well. We have to have others ready to step up. Some of those other players are still finding their roles. It's essential they're ready before we get into the playoffs."

Sacred Heart's boys destroyed Mohawk Friday night 83-23 to hold their position as the #1 team in the WPIAL and the state.

It was a rout. OLSH jumped out 23-9 and led 49-18 at halftime. The Chargers were up 65-20 after three. Even with OLSH reserves in, Mohawk could only manage three points in the fourth quarter.

The DiMichele brothers led Sacred Heart scoring. Jake had 22 and Daren had 16. No Mohawk player reached double figures.

The win leaves #1 Sacred Heart and #2 Sewickley tied for first in Section 2A-3 with identical 5-0 records. The tie will be broken Tuesday night as they clash at Sacred Heart. The Chargers are slight favorites based mostly on home court advantage. The two met in the last two WPIAL finals with Sewickley winning both times. But Sacred Heart won in state semifinals last year to go on to the state championship game, which fhey lost 81-71 to Philadelphia Constitutiuon HS.

Cornell routed Quigley 79-41 Friday night to set up Showdown Week next Tuesday and Friday.

The Quigley game was over as soon as it started. Cornell jumped out to a 22-8 lead and extended it to 41-11 at halftime. Coach Bill Sacco substituted freely in the second half. Quigley scored 17 points in the third quarter but it was still 59-28 entering the fourth.

Kaden DiVito led all scorers with 33, maintaining his position as the third highest scorer in the entire WPIAL. Zaire Harrison was close behind with 29. Jeavantae Kingwalden added 11.

Elsewhere in Section 1A-1, Western Beaver rolled over Rochester 84-50, Vincentian pounded Eden 77-52, and Nazareth beat Union 76-61.

This leaves Cornell, Vincentian and Nazareth tied for the section lead with one loss each. Union is a game behind with two losses.

Cornell plays Vincentian Tuesday night and Nazareth Friday night, both at home. Cornell has not beaten Vincentian in several years, losing both both home and away in the section and then losing to them again in the WPIAL playoffs. Cornell suffered its only section loss to Nazareth by one basket in overtime back in December. If Cornell is to win the section and get that first round bye and favorable postseason draw it is essential they win both games next week. The Raiders have yet to go to Union, Eden and Vincentian, all very difficult places to play, so it's quite possible they may pick up a second or even third loss. They need to inflict a second loss on Nazareth and Vincentian right now. Union gets Nazareth at home and Nazareth gets Vincentian at home later this month, so it's very likely the section winner will have two or even three losses. WPIAL computer rankings have Vincentian, Cornell, Nazareth and Union ranked 1-2-3-4 in class A, with Monessen 5th, so Section 1A-1 is overloaded with power teams.

It was not a pretty game. There were errant passes, fouls, jump balls, ballhandling mistakes, missed layups and lots of wrestling around on the floor for loose balls.

But Sacred Heart was just too much for Northgate and cruised to a 65-24 win. Northgate scored first on a baseline jump shot. But the Flames wouldn't score again until a free throw with a minute left in the quarter. By then, Ashley Norling had hit a layup and free throw, Hannah Valenty a layup and corner three, Maddie Hoff a three from the side, one from the top and a jump shot, and Tess Deken two free throws for a 19-2 lead.

Norling and Haley Hamilton opened the second with layups and then Hoff took over. She drained a side three, two free throws, a layup and a baseline jumper. Norling and Deken added free throws and OLSH led at halftime 35-11.

Northgate could not penetrate the Charger inside defense. All the Flames could do was fire threes, few of which they hit.

And the third quarter got worse fast. Hamilton and Norling hit free throws, Valenty a layup, Norling a baseline jumper, Emily Schuck a rebound and follow, Hoff a top three, Deken a long baseline push shot and Katie Penn two free throws for a 52-17 lead with 2:01.

At this point Coach Don Eckerle began substituting freely. Katie Hoff scored a soft hook, Kennedy Walsh a layup and free throw and Abby Aiello a rebound and follow for 59-19.

The fourth quarter featured a running clock except for free throws, so there wasn't much scoring. Walsh hit a layup and free throw, and Katie Hoff a follow and free throw.

Hoff led all scorers with 18, followed closely by Norling with 16. The other scoring was Walsh six, Deken and Katie Hoff five, Schuck and Valenty four, Hamilton three, and Aiello and Penn two.

Coach Eckerle was skeptical. "Any win in the section is good, and we shot a lot better tonight," he told reporters. "But we were way too careless with the ball. We've got to eliminate these mistakes before we go on the road."

Sacred Heart travels to South Side Beaver Monday. South Side won at Aliquippa 44-32 Thursday night, but lost to Laurel 36-32 Monday so now trails Sacred Heart by one game in the section standings, 5-1 to 6-0. Laurel is tied with South Side at 5-1. For South Side to contend for the section title they must defeat OLSH at home Monday.

South Side cannot be overlooked. They've lost four games, but three of the losses were to Lincoln Park, an opponent in Cleveland and one in California.

Austin Wigley scored 31 points and his teammates hit 24 of 25 free throws as Sacred Heart beat visiting Aliquippa 76-68 Tuesday night.

It was a huge game for the Chargers. Their unbeaten season had been ended by North Catholic Saturday and Aliquippa was another highly ranked opponent. Even though it was a non section game, a capacity crowd filled the OLSH gym.

Sacred Heart had lost the North Catholic game by falling behind by 10 points in the first quarter. They made sure this didn't happen again. Wigley and Dante Spadafora hit threes the first two trips down the floor. At the 6:00 mark, OLSH held a 10-2 lead. They maintained it 25-19 at the quarter stop.

Aliquippa's best rally came in the second quarter when they cut the lead to 27-26. But a Sacred Heart time out quelled that, and the Chargers went on a 12-0 run for a 41-31 halftime edge.

The Quips cut it back to seven, 50-43, after three, and the teams battled on even terms through the fourth. Aliquippa never could narrow the gap.

The Quip full court press, which has proven deadly for so many teams, did not work. Spadafora took the first pass and brought the ball upcourt. In their attemprs to stop him, Aliquippa defnders fouled him, and he hit 10 for 10 free throws.

Spadafora finished with 18 points.

Although it has several competent three point shooters, Sacred Heart didn't use them much. As the second half wore on, the Chargers more and more focused on working for the uncontested layup. The Quips had no choice but to go out and chase them on the perimeter, which opened things up inside.

The win leaves Sacred Heart 10-1. The Chargers return to the section wars Friday at Mohawk.

"We knew we had to control the tempo and not get into a run and gun with Aliquippa," OLSH Coach Mike Rodriguez said. "For the most part we did that. Just a few times they sped the tempo up but we were able to regain control and slow it back down."

Aliquippa drops to 7-4 overall, but that's misleading. The Quips have played a tough schedule of much larger schools. They're expected it battle with Lincoln Park for their section title.

Sacred Heart and Sewickley Academy are currently tied for the section lead with 4-0 records. They're two games ahead of second place South Side, which stands 2-2.

Last year, Union Township (Newcastle) sank a barrage of threes and handed Cornell a devastating home loss that derailed the Raider drive to a section title. That loss festered in the minds of Cornell players for 12 months and gave their coaches grounds to focus on defense for the last week.

This year's Union team is ranked #1 in the WPIAL and sat atop Section 1A-1 standings with a 5-0 record. The Scotties have already beaten Vincentian by eight points and once again are known for their three point shooting.

Tuesday night, Cornell was more than ready. The Raiders were on a mission. Every time a Union player touched the ball, a hand was in his face. Every time a Union player went to one of his favorite shooting spots, a Cornell player was there waiting for him. And the pressure was relentless. Every time down the floor. Everywhere on the floor. Every shot, every player.

The result was a Union team averaging 76 points a game couldn't score. Its 34 points was the lowest for a Union varsity in five years.

This year's three point bomber is Scott Pinkerton, averaging 25 points per game. "We felt if we could shut him down we had a good chance," Cornell Coach Bill Sacco said later. Pinkerton finished with 15, most of which came after the game was out of reach and the Cornell reserves were in.

With all those Union shots missing, Cornell crashed the boards. Isiah Langston (#3 in the photo at right) led with 15 rebounds. A Union team that has outrebounded every team all year got very few second shots.

Those rebounds were fired downcourt, mostly to Kaden Divito (dribbling, photo below) or Zaire Harrison (shooting, photo bottom).

Divito came ready for war. In pregame warmups, he hit 11 straight threes and 14 of 15. He and Harrison scored 15 of Cornell's first 17 points en route to a 17-8 lead. The other two points were on a hashmark jumper by Sharone Bronaugh.

Divito and Harrison were two of the starters in that loss last year, and they continued their personal vendetta in the second quarter. Luke Piccolo hit a layup and free throw, and Langston scored on a follow. But Divito and Harrison started sinking threes, Divito from the side and Harrison from on top. At halftime it was 31-17.

Sacco preaches to his teams about the importance of the first three minutes of the third quarter. "When you have a team down, you've got to put them away," he emphasizes.

To open the third, Langston scored on a follow, Divito hit a top three and Piccolo laid one in for 38-17.

Langston drained a corner three, Blaine Sams hit a layup, and Divito a corner three and two free throws for a 47-27 lead at the quarter stop.

Cornell suffered its only lapse early in the fourth, with several errant passes. But Sacco called time and ordered the team into its trademark five man weave. Union came out to guard this and passes went behind them to Divito and Langston for layups. Union sent in its smaller, quicker guards to apply pressure, and Harrison sank a side three. Langston hit one conventional layup and then put the exclamation point on the win with a spectacular dunk on which he went high, fired the ball down, it hit the back of the rim, bounced way above the backboard, and dropped back through the basket.

Divito led all scorers with 26. Langston added 13, Harrison 12, Piccolo six, and Sams and Bronaugh two each.

Divito had seven assists and Langston six. Jeavontae Kingwalden contributed seven rebounds and four steals. Divito added five rebounds.

The win leaves Cornell, Union, Vincentian, Nazareth and Eden tied for first place with one loss each. Tuesday night, Eden rolled over Western Beaver 66-38, Vincentian beat Quigley 78-45 and Nazareth won at Rochester 75-45. Those standings will shake out over the next two weeks, however, as all the top five teams play each other. Cornell goes to Quigley this Friday, but hosts Vincentian and Nazareth next Tuesday and Friday, then gets Eden a week later.

Cornell's Junior Varsity, a random mix of last year's junior high team and a few sophomores and juniors, rose to their finest game of the season Tuesday night to beat a taller, beefier and older Union 45-37.

The win left the Raiders all alone atop the Section 1A-1 standings.

Everyone did their part, but three sophomores who turned in the best games of their careers were Drew Lopez (photo, right), a silky smooth guard with an explosive first step, Sharone Bronaugh (photo below), coming into his own as a rugged rebounder, defender and scorer in the low post, and M.J. Smith, (bottom center photo), a versatile wing man who can score, rebound, handle the ball or defend anywhere on the floor.

They faced quite a challenge in Union, which had won six games by outrebounding and outshooting everyone. And Union opened up with a corner three and several layups to take an early lead and keep retaking it until almost half.

But Bronaugh and Smith rebounding and firing it out to Lopez gave him three layups and Cornell a 7-5 lead after one. Blaine Sams and Smith hit side threes, Patrick Scott and Smith scored on layups and Bronaugh added a free throw for an 18-13 halftime edge.

Layups by Sams, Lopez and Smith, a baseline jumper by Bronaugh after a rebound, and a great rebound and putback by Nathan Wooten (photo below right) kept Cornell up 31-21 after three.

The final quarter saw several heroics. Bronaugh hauled down a rebound and executed a reverse pivot jump shot at the hashmark. Lopez scored on a double pump underhanded layup through two defenders. Patrick Scott hit a hashmark jumper. Then Union went to a full court press with 3:51 left and Cornell fired past it for layups by Craig Pulford and Lopez and two by Bronaugh.

Lopez led all scorers with 14. Bronaugh and Smith each had nine, Sams five, Scott four, and Pulford and Wooten two each.

The deciding factor was Cornell's quickness. The Raiders outquicked Union on offense and defense but most importantly on the boards. Cornell's Carmen D'Allessandro (photo below left) also frustrated Union. The smallest player on a WPIAL roster, D'Allessandro uses his size as an advantage. As the photo shows, he's so much smaller than opponents that if they try to crouch down, they're in an awkward stance and can't keep up, and if they stand upright he dribbles or passes around or under them.

Cornell's coaching staff was happy about the win. "The actual score is irrelevant since there's no WPIAL playoff for JV teams. We don't care what the record is. Undefeated is just something for the kids to get excited about. What we do care about is the progress this team is showing. They're learning to play together, to play under control, to make good decisions out there. They're learning how much effort it takes to win, and how once you get a lead on a team, you need to put them away and not let them back in it."

Sacred Heart couldn't buy a basket. They made only one of their first 15 shots. But visiting Sto-Rox couldn't hit either, and OLSH finally got back on track. In the last three minutes of the first quarter, Ashley Norling sank four free throws, Katie Penn and Grace Bradley laid in one each, Haley Hamilton hit a layup and a jumper, and it was 12-0.

Maddie Hoff took over in the second. She hit threes from the side and one from on top, then added a follow underneath. Hamilton hit a layup, Hannah Varlenty two more, and Norling added a jumper and two layups for a 35-9 halftime edge.

The third quarter was more of the same. Norling sank two corner threes, a follow and a free throw. Hamilton added two free throws and a layup, Hoff laid one in, and Emily Schuck hit a foul line jumper to make it 52-17. There wasn't much scoring in the fourth. Schuck and Hoff hit layups and Norling a jumper from the top of the lane. Reserves saw plenty of action.

The win left Sacred Heart 8-3 overall and 5-0 in the section. They're 3rd in the WPIAL Class 2A rankings.

Sacred Heart had a size advantage, but the real difference in the game was their quickness. Their quicker feet allowed them to get position underneath and on defense, and their quicker hands allowed them to steal the ball repeatedly. Coach Don Eckerle (seen standing in the photo below) was satisfied with the win but told reporters his team still had work to do.

"It's nice to have these experienced seniors who have learned how to win under various situations," he said. "But we have to spread our scoring more. If we're going to achieve our goals for this year, we have to give defenses as many problems as possible. And we sure can't afford scoring droughts like we had tonight."

Norling led all scorers with 21. Hoff had 13, Hamilton 10, Schuck and Varlenty four each, and Penn and Bradley two each.

The OLSH girls struggled for three quarters against Washington Saturday afternoon in the Chuck Mahoney Classic at Burgettstown. They looked to be in trouble after three. But a furious fourth quarter rally pushed them to a 56-41 victory and a 7-3 record. OLSH is ranked 3rd in Class 2A.

Washington stayed right with Sacred Heart for much of the gane. It was 12-10 after one and 26-22 at the half. The Prexies took a 36-34 lead at the end of the third and seemed to have seized the momentum.

But then Sacred Heart exploded in a 22-5 final stanza for the 56-41 lead.

Ashley Norling led OLSH with 25. Maddie Hoff added 12.

Sacred Heart returns to Section 2A-1 action this week with home games against Sto-Rox Monday and Northgate Thursday. The girls presently lead the section with a 4-0 record, tied with South Side. But the big showdown is coming next Monday when OLSH travels to South Side.

Their southern Beaver County rivals are 8-3 on the season, having lost exhibition games in Cleveland and California and a cross county matchup with Lincoln Park.

North Catholic grabbed a 25-15 first quarter lead Saturday afternoon and then hung on to hand Sacred Heart its first loss of the season, 87-81.

The Chargers fought back but could never overcome that 10 point deficit. They scored 21 in the second quarter while holding North Catholic to 16 and went to halftime trailing only 41-36. They outscored North Catholic 24-23 in a furious third quarter rally and cut the gap to 64-60. But the home team outlasted Sacred Heart 23-21 in the fourth.

The real story of the game was North Catholic's Isaac Degregorio. Sacred Heart tried everything and could not stop him. He ended with 35 points.

Austin Wigley led Sacred Heart with 26. Dante Spadafora added 22, Jake Dimichele 16 and Ricco Tate 10.

North Catholic is now 7-3 overall and 2-1 in its 3A section.

Sacred Heart falls to 9-1 but is still 4-0 in the section and ranked #2 in Class 2A. The Chargers play 3A Aliquippa at home Tuesday night. Aliquippa is 7-3 overall, having lost to Butler, ranked #1 in 6A, Moon, ranked #1 in 5A, and Lincoln Park, ranked #1 in 3A. The Quips have their usual tall, fast, quick, hot shooting lineup.

OLSH resumes Section 2A-3 action Friday at Mohawk.

Chartiers Houston rose to one of its better games of its 6-6 season and only trailed Cornell 19-15 Saturday after one and 31-25 at halftime. But the Raiders went to their press and exploded for an 18-5 third quarter to nail down a 68-53 win.

Ch-H focused on Kaden Divito and held him to 10, his lowest output of the year. But Zaire Harrison (with ball in photo, right) stepped up with 16. Isiah Langston and Jeavonte Kingwalden added 12 each.

The game was played at Burgettstown at 3 pm as part of the one day Chuck Mahoney Classic.

Cornell is now 9-2 and ranked #4 in the WPIAL.

But the Raiders have one of the year's most important showdowns this week, a Tuesday night home battle with Union. Union is ranked #1 in the WPIAL, has already beaten Vincentian, and stands 10-1 overall and 4-0 in Section 1A-1. The Scotties last year handed Cornell a devastating loss at home that relegated the Raiders to a runnerup berth in the postseason.

Sacred Heart was already comfortably ahead 48-29 at the half but then exploded with a 34 point third quarter to leave visiting Laurel in the dust, 84-44 Friday night at its Montour Hill gym.

It left OLSH in the lead in Section 2A-3 at 4-0, a game ahead of second place Sewickley at 3-0.

Daren DiMichele led the Chargers with 19 points, 11 of them coming in that red hot third quarter.

Dante Spadafora added 15, while Ricco Tate had 13 and Austin Wigley 12. Tate also led SH rebounders with 10.

The third quarter got all the attention, but Sacred Heart put the game away in the first with a 25-12 start. Both teams had their reserves in for the fourth quarter and not much scoring occurred.

The Chargers are now unbeaten and ranked #2 among WPIAL Class 2A teams.

They play at 3A North Catholic this afternoon (Saturday) and return home to host always tough Aliquippa Tuesday. Their next Section game is Friday at Mohawk.

Friday was a dark night for Cornell's unbeaten Junior Varsity in every possible way.

Drew Lopez and Sharone Bronaugh missed practices over the holidays so were held out early. Jeavontae Kingwalden is playing more in varsity games so is only playing a few minutes with the JVs.

Four freshmen (Carmine D'Allessandro, Patrick Scott, M.J. Smith and Craig Pulford) and one junior (Nathan Wooten) started against a taller, older and more experienced Eden Christian team that began the game hot on its home floor.

The result was a first quarter disaster. Cornell fell behind 12-0 and 15-1. Finally Kingwalden was sent in to stop the bleeding and hit a three from on top to make it 15-4. Blaine Sams scored a layup (photo right) and Kingwalden a jump shot for 20-8 at the quarter break. Sams hit two threes and Kingwalden a layup[ and suddenly it was 20-16 with 4:38 left til half. But Eden continued its hot shooting and Cornell went cold. The only Raider point the rest of the way was one free throw by Bronaugh.

The halftime score was 33-17. Patrick Scott opened up the third quarter with two layups and two free throws to cut it to 33-22. It seemed just possible Cornell might stage a miraculous rally.

Then the lights went out. Literally. A power outage in the North Hills cut the lights in the Noblestown Road area. Duquesne Light estimated a three hour wait, so officials postponed the game. Because it's a section game, it will have to be rescheduled but no date has been set.

The Eden gym is a contradictory place. It's the most beautiful in the county. It's small but a crafted wood ceiling (photo, left) and bright lights set it apart from the concrete block, steel girder underlit gyms at most schools. Eden's floor is a few feet shorter and narrower than regulation and it doesn't seat many. If the temperature rises above 50 the floor beads up with moisture so Eden runs the AC permanently and fans have to keep their coats on. Still, it's a fine place to play or watch a game.

Cornell plays Chartiers Houston today (Saturday) at 3 at Burgettstown.

After a close first quarter, Cornell went to its full court press and blew Bishop Canevin off its own floor 71-35 Friday night.

The win gave Cornell the championship of the Bishop Canevin Holiday . Tournament. Zaire Harrison and Kaden Divito were named to rhe All Tournament team. The Raiders are now 8-2 on the season and ranked 4th in the WPIAL.

Despite the onesided final score, it was an interesting game. Cornell Coach Bill Sacco started sophomore Sharone Bronaugh (#50 in bottom photo) and junior Blaine Sams. They totalled their most varsity minutes ever, giving Sacco confidence in his bench entering the Section 1A grind resuming next Friday at Eden.

Isiah Langston (#3 in photo, right) turned in his best game so far. He contributed 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists and played solid defense.

Canevin learned from watching Carrick Thursday night. The Crusaders started in a triangle and two defense but instead of doubleteaming Divito they decided to guard Divito and Harrison with one man each while using the triangle to prevent any inside shots.

They led for a while with two threes and three layups. But Divito scored three layups, a free throw and a three from up top, and Luke Piccolo added another top three to finally pull Cornell ahead 13-12 as the quarter ended.

Langston opened the second quarter with a layup but a Canevin top three tied it at 15-15. Sacco had seen enough. He called time and ordered the Raiders into their full court press. The Crusaders absolutely could not deal with the quick hands and foot speed of Cornell and could nor get the ball past midcourt. Operating off steals and quick passes down floor, Langston hit a top three, Jeavontae Kingwalden (photo, left) a foul line jump shot, Harrison and Divito layups and Piccolo a side three. Suddenly it was 27-15.

Canevin called time. Coach Kevin Trost diagrammed a play to get the ball upcourt, bringing two players over to the sideline below the trap. Cornell only had one player guarding that area, so whichever player he did not pick up would be open for the pass out of the trap. This worked for about a minute, and Canevin scored two jumpers from the side and two free throws to narrow the score to 29-21.

But Cornell adjusted, bringing Kingwalden over to pick up the second receiver. And the Raiders were off and running again. A follow and layup by Harrison and top three by Piccolo pushed it to 34-21 at halftime.

Cornell stayed in the press in the third quarter and put Canevin away. A Langston jumper from the circle, free throws and a top three by Divito, a layup by Langston and two more by Divito, and two straight threes by Blaine Sams put the Raiders up 55-24 with 1:36 to go in the third and Sacco called off the press.

The fourth was just a matter of working on offensive sets and waiting for layups. Bronaugh followed two rebounds with layups, and Langston, Harrison, Divito and Piccolo laid several more in for the 71-35 final. At 2:05 Sacco ordered the outside weave, and Cornell played out the clock with no further shots. Canevin fell to 5-3. Divito led all scorers with 29 points. Langston and Piccolo had 11, Harrison eight, Sams six, Bronaugh four and Kingwalden two. Divito had six assists and Harrison led with eight steals.

Bronaugh (photo, right) continues to develop as a rebounder and inner defender. But he still tends to wander away from the hashmark out to the perimeter, instead of establishing himself as a muscular presence inside. Cornell is rich with quick fast hot shooting guards but needs more strong low post play. Bronaugh should be breaking quickly from the hashmark to the foul line, then down the opposite side of the lane to the other hash mark, constantly calling for the ball. At the least, this would force the defense to cover him, freeing teammates for drives and short jumpers. Even better, with an explosive first step or a few moves, maybe a reverse layup or foul line jumper, he could become a scoring threat. With defenses already going nuts trying to stop Divito, Harrison and Langston, a consistent scoring threat in the lane would be a devastating weapon.

Juniors Kaden Divito (photo, right) and Zaire Harrison (photo, below) scored 27 and 25 points to lead a furious second half rally as Cornell caught up to Carrick and eked out a 67-59 win in the first round of the Bishop Canevin Tournament.

Cornell had trailed the entire game, much of it by 10 and 11 points. The taller and more experienced Pittsburgh City School double teamed Divito and matched Cornell's speed, quickness and clever shooting.

Divito began the night struggling. Bothered by a hamstring muscle, he was denied the ball as the doubleteaming defense overplayed the passing lanes.

"I've watched Divito beat too many teams," Carrick Coach Walt Malinski said. "We worked all week on shutting him down."

They did for a while. Kaden broke away for only two layups in the first quarter. Harrison scored on a layup and a free throw early. No one else helped. Carrick controlled the boards and led 15-7 after one.

It got worse in the second. Divito hit one three from the corner and one from above the circle. Harrison added four layups, a runner, a three from up top and a free throw. Isiah Langston contributed a free throw. But Carrick was also hitting threes and scored on plenty of layups and follows to lead 38-29 at halftime.

Finally, in the third quarter, Cornell started clicking. Carrick defenders were getting in foul trouble and had to back off Divito. A blistering half time talk sent Cornell back onto the floor with renewed vigor.

Divito opened the attack with a layup, a side three, a jumper from the circle and a rebound and follow to singlehandedly cut it to 38-36 with 3:37.

Jeavonte Kingwalden picked up his fourth foul with 3:20 left in the third and Langston his fourth right at the end. This left Carrick with an even greater size and rebounding advantage. But Harrison laid one in and Divito added another layup and follow to keep Cornell close 44-42 at the quarter break.

The fourth quarter was a battle all the way. A Harrison layup and two free throws by Sharone Broughton kept it close at 48-46 with 6:50. A side three by Divito cut it to 50-49 at 6:00, and a top three by Divito tied it at 52 with 5:40. Harrison and Broughton scored layups to put Cornell ahead for the first time, 56-52 with 3:54. A follow by Langston and Harrison free throws extended it to 60-54 with 1:18. Kingwalden fouled out at 1:12 and Cornell Coach Bill Sacco sent the Raiders into their outside weave. Carrick had to foul. Harrison hit two free throws at 0:53 and Langston sank one at 0:29 to make it 63-57. He missed the second and Broughton muscled up against taller opponents and hauled down a huge rebound. He was fouled in the process and sank the free throw for 64-57 . Broughton and Langston would hit additional free throws for the 67-59 final.

Divito led all scorers with 27 as Harrison had 25. Divito also led all rebounders with 12 and added six assists. Langston had 10 rebounds and Harrison three steals. Cornell plays in the finals tonight (Friday) at 8 pm.

Cornell, playing an unusual two games in two days, still had enough energy to smash Sto-Rox 65-45 Saturday.

Only the first quarter was close. Cornell led 14-12 going into the second. Then they went to their press and blew Sto Rox away 17-4 for a 31-16 halftime lead. The Raiders continued to roll, 22-11 in the third, and ahead 53-27 it was time for the reserves.

Kaden Divito led all scorers with 27 points. Zaire Harrison had 15. For Sto-Rox Malik Smith scored 14. Sto Rox falls to 4-3.

Cornell, now 6-2, takes Christmas off, then returns to action next Thursday (December 27) against Imani at Bishop Canevin at 6 pm in Greentree. Canevin is only a few blocks off the Parkway West.

Imani is a Pittsburgh academy which knocked Cornell out of the WPIAL playoffs two years ago. As a nonboundary school Imani can recruit across the city plus in the eastern suburbs like Wilkinsburg, Swissvale and Braddock.

Sacred Heart's boys put Burgettstown away early Friday night in a 74-40 romp.

The win left the Chargers still unbeaten overall and in section play and ranked #1 in the WPIAL in Class 2A.

OLSH led 22-4 after the first quarter and 37-13 at halftime. They pushed it out to 63-31 in the third quarter.

Although Sacred Heart enjoyed a productive night on offense, it was their defense that stifled Burgettstown. The Blue Devils had trouble getting the ball up the floor, running their plays and getting their usual shots off.

SH's Jake DiMichele led all scorers with 15. Dane Spadafora had 13 and Daren DiMichele 10.

The Chargers will play two games in the Deer Lakes Tournament next week, then return to section play against Laurel Friday night, January 4.

Our Lady of Sacred Heart crushed Shenango 72-18 Thursday night to bring their record to 4-2, 3-0 in Section 2A-1.

It was never close. Sacred Heart led 20-4 after one and 38-6 at halftime. The girls pushed that to 54-14 after three.

Maddie Hoff led all scorers with 18. Ashley Norling and Grace Bradley added 13 each and Haley Hamilton got in double figures with 10.

OLSH now breaks for Christmas, then plays two games in the Keystone Oaks Tournament December 27-28. Their first opponent is Montour.

Cornell Coach Bill Sacco's theory is that to win the section a team has to win all its home games and four road games. To make the playoffs as a runnerup a team has to win all its home games and three road games.

His Raiders took a step towards those goals Friday night by picking up a road win at Rochester. It was a pretty impressive road win, too, 82-44.

Cornell was a little slow out of the starting gate, leading only 16-11 after the first quarter. But the Raiders went to their press in the second, outscoring Rochester 36-11 for a 52-22 halftime edge. The Rams couldn't handle the press, committing turnover after turnover. They were taller than Cornell at three positions but didn't have the speed, quickness or shooting.

"We play better at high speed than we do in a grind it out game," Sacco observed. "Our press lets us speed a game up."

Sacco substituted freely throughout the second half.

Kaden Divito led all scorers with 30, 15 coming off five three pointers. Isiah Langston had 17 and Zaire Harrison 15.

It came on an important night in the section, as Union, ranked #2 in the WPIAL, knocked off #1 Vincentian 81-76, Eden beat Quigley 68-59 and Nazareth won at Western Beaver.

So as the teams break for Christmas, Union stands alone atop the section at 3-0. Cornell, Eden, Vincentian and Nazareth are tied for second at 2-1. Western is third at 1-2. Rochester and Quigley are tied for last at 0-3.

In January the Raiders get back to the Section 1A wars at Eden January 4 and home with Union January 8 in what will be one of the most important games of the year. But first, Cornell plays Sto-Rox today (Saturday) at Montour at 5 pm and Imani at Bishop Canevin December 27 (Thursday) at 6 pm.

Cornell jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back Tuesday night in an 85-47 home win over Western Beaver.

Fans eyed the visitor lineup apprehensively during warmups. The Golden Beavers had impressive size and were hitting their practice shots. But the Raiders ran off and left them once the game started.

Kaden Divito started the avalanche with a three from on top. Layups by Isiah Langston and Jeavontae Kingwalden, a top three by Langston, and layups by Divito and Luke Piccolo (photo, below) made it 14-0 with 3:22. Two layups by Zaire Harrison (shooting in photo, right) made it 18-7 at the quarter break.

Langston opened the second with a free throw. Harrison then added four layups, a free throw and a top three; Divito hit a corner three and a layup and Drew Lopez laid one in for the 38-19 halftime edge.

In the third, Cornell's press produced a flurry of steals and nine layups by Divoto, Harrison, Langston. "Z" added a free throw and it was 59-32 at the quarter break.

In rhe fourth period, layups by Langston, Divito, Harrison, numerous free throws by Blaine Sams, Patrick Scott, Divito, Langston, and Sharone Bronaugh made it 85-47.

Divito led all scorers with 31. Harrison added 25 and Langston 18.

Langston led all rebounders with 10, followed by Kingwalden with eight.

Divito also has 10 assists and six steals.

Elsewhere in the section, Vincentian edged Nazareth Prep at home 72-67, Eden beat Rochester at home 58-49, and Union won at Quigley 71-41.

That leaves Vincentian and Union with an early lead at 2-0 each. Cornell is tied in second with Nazareth, Eden and Western Beaver at 1-1 each. Rochester and Quigley are at the bottom at 0-2 each.

Cornell plays at Rochester Friday night. It faces two exhibition games on neutral floors over the holidays : Sto-Rox at Montour this Saturday (December 22), and Imani at Bishop Canevin Thursday, December 27.

In January the Raiders get back to the Section 1A wars at Eden January 4 and home with Union January 8.

Vincentian is ranked #1 in the WPIAL, with Cornell #3. The Raiders were ranked #2 but lost to Brashear and Nazareth Prep. The loss to 5A Brashear didn't hurt much, especially since it was at Brashear. But the loss on a neutral court to Nazareth did hurt.

Statewide, Vincentian is ranked #5 and Cornell #10.

Vincentian plays at Cornell January 15th. Cornell plays at Vincentian the last night of the regular season, February 8th. Those two games could decide the section championship but the loss to Nazareth puts Cornell at a disadvantage unless someone else upsets Vincentian.

Cornell's Junior Varsity continues to improve with each game. The young Raiders stepped up considerably Tuesday night with a 52-30 home win over Western Beaver.

The Golden Beavers are not one of the top JVs in Section 1A. But they do have size, bulk, good shooting, speed and experience and gave Cornell a good game for a half. They led throughout rhe first quarter and stayed close in the second.

Sharone Bronaugh (dribbling in photo below) scored on the baseline and Patrick Scott (with the ball in photo, right) added a free throw for a brief Cornell lead at 3-2 with 4:29, but Western quickly used a layup and free throws to regain it at 6-3. Jeavonte Kingwalden's three from the side and free throws kept Cornell close but it was 8-10 at the quarter break.

Drew Lopez (#24 in photo below) took over in rhe second. He hit a side three and two layups off steals to put Cornell up 15-10.

Craig Pulford and Bronaugh added layups and Kingwalden a side three for a 23-15 halftime lead.

Cornell went to a press in the third quarter and came up with repeated steals. Lopez scored on four layups (three off steals) and a free throw and Kingwalden hit a three from on top and another layup for a 37-23 third quarter advantage.

That set up the usual scenario where Cornell's sophomores and juniors depart for the dressing room and preparation for the varsity game and the freshmen are left to hang on. But they're getting better at that. Tuesday, instead of gradually losing the lead or protecting it with a ball control game, they actually expanded it from 14 points to 22, from 37-23 to 52-30.

The signal that the freshmen had become more aggressive came with 6:00 to go when Carmine D'Allessandro ("Nootch") sank a three from on top. D'Allessandro at 5-0 is the smallest player on any high school roster in the WPIAL, but he's a slick ballhandler, a pest on defense and a good shot when he can get a clear view of the basket. As the photo below shows, he's dwarfed by the defense, but he's a crowd favorite. A side three by M.J. Smith, a top three and layup by Blaine Sams (#12, waiting for the pass in the photo below), and two layups by Scott rounded out the scoring.

Lopez led everyone with 16 points. Kingwalden added 13. They're both varsity level players. Lopez is only a sophomore. Kingwalden is a junior but lost all last season with an ankle injury.

It's the development of the other JV players that makes coming to watch the JV game worthwhile.

Scott is becoming an effective point guard. He still shows lapses where he thinks of shot first rather than penetrate and assist first. He does not yet fully grasp the idea that the job of the point guard is to make everyone else better. But it's only December, and he's ahead of schedule. He shows speed, quickness and good floor vision.

Bronaugh is also struggling to fully understand his role. At 5-10 he sees himself as a perimeter player and keeps drifting outside. But his bulk and strength make him a badly needed inside rebounder, defender and scorer. He should eventually be the next Antonio Gary, who from 2014-2017 manned the low post on consecutive Cornell playoff teams. Gary was also just 5-10 but developed the moves and skills to compete against opponents six inches taller. As a sophomore, Bronaugh should be leading this JV team with 15 rebounds every game.

The Cornell JVs play at Rochester Friday night.

Undefeated Nazareth Prep's Jabriel Johnson scored with three seconds left in the second overtime to hand Cornell a damaging 77-75 loss in the section 1A opener Friday night for both teams.

It blew a golden opportunity for the Raiders. Nazareth's gym has an undersized floor and no scoreboard (the one it installed last year isn't working), so the school has moved home games to the new Robert Morris Events Center. Last year section contenders had a difficult time with the cramped quarters, Union lost there, and Cornell barely escaped with a one point victory. So getting to play Nazareth on a neutral floor instead was a chance to pick up a valuable road win.

Vincentian, ranked #1 in the WPIAL, and Union, ranked fourth, both won big, the Centurions 80-44 over Rochester and the Scotties 73-41 over Eden. So with one more free throw in regulation, Cornell could have started the section tied for first place. Instead, the Raiders are now a game down while Nazareth is tied for first.

The 80-44 and 73-41 margins also suggest that Vincentian and Union are stronger then expected. Section 1A was already rated the toughest in the WPIAL and now looks to be even tougher. It has four private schools which can (and do) recruit their teams from a wide area. And it has eight teams. The other sections have seven or even six, have only one or two private schools, and have one or no ranked teams.

Nazareth Prep is the former Holy Family Institute. Located on a hilltop campus where Camp Horne Road intersects the Ohio River Boulevard, Nazareth is a Catholic school which provides intense tutoring, counseling and small classes to remediate students and help them gain entry to colleges.

As Holy Family, these starters made the WPIAL playoffs last season. With those players back, two transfers and five new recruits, this Nazareth team is loaded. Cornell edged them twice last year, but Coach Bill Sacco knew they were dangerous.

And Cornell came ready to play. The Raiders grabbed a 16-12 first quarter lead. Nazareth outscored them 18-12 in the second to lead 30-28 at halftime. The two battled on even terms throughout the wild, physical second half, with Cornell narrowing the lead to one, 42-41 at the end of the third. They again outscored Nazareth, 20-19, to tie it at 61-61 at the buzzer. The first overtime ended 68-68. The second overtime could have gone either way. But Nazareth prevailed 77-75.

Cornell's Kaden Divito (photo, above) led all scorers with 27. Zaire Harrison had 20 and Isiah Langston (photo, left) 11. Will Taylor led Nazareth with 22. Tre Harvey had 14, Hasaan Ismaeli 12 and Jabriel Johnson 11 for the winners.

The key to the game might have been in the scoring. Cornell got double digit scoring from its three returning upperclassmen, but needed one of the newcomers to step up. None did. Nazareth had four double digit scorers. In a one basket double overtime game, that tiny margin made the difference.

Divito and Harrison scored most of their points on slashing drives to the basket, with a few threes each when the defense sagged back to stop those drives. But Nazareth had a decided size advantage and not only kept Cornell from getting many second shots, but did get their own second shots at the other end.

Cornell plays Western Beaver at home Tuesday night.

Cornell warmed up for its first big section showdown by routing Braddock 71-36 Tuesday night.

Kaden Divito (photo, right) led the Raiders with 25 points on both threes and acrobatic drives down the lane.

But Cornell opened the game with a flurry of baskets from all of its major starters. Zaire Harrison contributed a layup, Jaevontae King Walden hit a three from up top, Isiah Langston a three from the side, Luke Piccolo (photo below) a layup, and Divito two free throws. Suddenly it was 12-2 and the game was, for all practical purposes, over with 4:37 left in the first quarter.

Another twisting Harrison layup and a three and Divito free throws made it 22-8 at the break.

The spread widened much further in the second quarter. Layups and free throws by Divito, threes by Langston and Blaine Sams, and a free theow by Sharone Bronaugh pushed it to 37-13 by halftime.

King Walden and Divito did all the scoring for the first four minutes of the third quarter, King Walden a side three and layup and Divito two layups and a corner three. Free throws by Harrison and Bronaugh and layups by Sams and Harrison put Cornell up 60-22 entering the fourth quarter.

Reserves played most of the fourth quarter, with freshmen finishing out trhe last four minutes.

Behind Divito's 25 points, Langston had 14, Harrison nine, King Walden eight and Sams seven.

Langston led all rebounders with 10.

Divito led everyone with seven assists. Langston had six.

So the Raiders are now 3-1 entering their early season showdown with Nazareth Prep at the Robert Morris University UPMC Events Center Friday night.

Nazareth Prep, in Emsworth, is the former Holy Family Institute. Under new management, it has greatly expanded its athletic program from four to 10 teams in everything from football and basketball to bowling.

Holy Family had already begun to import inner city Pittsburgh youth, and Nazareth Prep has continued that policy. Last year, the team made the WPIAL playoffs for the first time, and with the addition of several talented newcomers to a returning core of veterans, this team is favored to do so again.

Last year Cornell beat Holy Family twice, but both games were close. Cornell escaped with a one point win over at Holy Family.

For a century, WPIAL teams played "exhibition" games in December and did not begin section play until January. That gave football players time to regain their basketball timing and reflexes. But the regular season extended until late February and only section winners advanced to the postseason. Since the WPIAL began taking more teams from each section, the playoffs take longer, so they start in mid February. That has forced the scheduling of December section games.

This season is going to be especially difficult for Section One teams. Eden Christian has been added to the section. So Vincentian, Nazareth, Quigley and Eden, all of which can recruit from multiple school districts, join traditional powers Union, Rochester and Cornell in one section. Obviously, several of these teams will be sitting out the postseason.

"We can't afford to lose any home games," Cornell Coach Bill Sacco stressed. "The key is to win every home game and split on the road. That would give you a record of 11-3, which should be enough to advance. But this Nazareth game on a neutral court could give us a golden opportunity to pick up a win away from home."

Once Cornell's sophomores and juniors go back to the locker room to prepare for the varsity game, the freshmen are left to face the opposing Junior Varsity in the fourth quarter. They're not yet very good at this. At Brashear Monday night, they were outscored 18-4 and lost. So Cornell's new strategy is to run up a lead, then order the freshmen to go into a ball control offense.

Tuesday night against Braddock, that worked pretty well. The starters ran up a 32-21 lead by the end of the third quarter. Then the freshmen just held the ball and took only free throws or wide open layups. Patrick Scott (photo below) proved pretty slick at dribbling around the perimeter, passing off to M.J. Smith, Carmine D'Allessandro or Craig Pulford whenever the defense tried to overplay him.

The Raiders actually held the 32-21 score for four minutes. Finally a Braddock free throw at 3:53 and layup at 2:51 cut the lead to 32-24. But Scott dribbled away another minute before he passed to Smith, the defense tried to double team, and Scott cut to the basket for the return pass and a layup at 1:19, making it 34-24. Braddock went down and missed a layup, and Scott, Smith and D'Allessandro dribbled out the clock.

Cornell led the entire game but could never pull away. Jeavonte King Walden opened with two jump shots and two free throws and Sharone Bronaugh added a layup for an 8-7 first quarter margin.

A Scott layup, Bronaugh follow, and two layups and two free throws by Drew Lopez (photo right) pulled the Raiders out to an 18-11 halftime lead.

Kingwalden hit two threes from the side and one from the corner in the third quarter. Lopez added a free throw and a layup off a steal and Blaine Sams scored a layup for the 32-21 lead before they all left for the locker room.

King Walden led all scorers with 15. Lopez added nine, Bronaugh four, Scott four and Sams two.

The 5-10 Bronaugh again led all rebounders with 10.

Braddock had a significant height advantage but they did not shoot well. Their offense consisted of threes and layups. They didn't hit a jump shot all night.

But they penetrated the Cornell defense for seven layups, which did not please the Raider coaches. Even worse, on three other drives, they were fouled by players from behind, giving them free throws.

"We've got to learn to stay in position on defense, cut off the baseline and help out to stop those drives down the lane. This idea of letting the player get by you, then trying to grab him from behind, has to stop," they agreed afterward. "And once we take care of that, we have to do a better job of guarding those threes."

Cornell plays the Nazareth Prep Junior Varsity at 5:30 pm Friday at the Robert Morris University UPMC Events Center. Nazareth Prep is the former Holy Family Institute. Under new management, Nazareth Prep buses inner city youth to its suburban Emsworth campus.

Brashear Finally Gets Its Cornell Win, 71-61

If you're the smallest public high school in the WPIAL and you keep playing one of the largest, eventually that big school is going to beat you. That's what happened to Cornell Monday night. The Raiders have met Brashear several times in recent seasons, sometimes in the Carlynton or Moon Tournaments , sometimes at Cornell. They've all been bruising physical battles but Cornell has always pulled them out in the fourth quarter.

This time, Brashear finally got Cornell at home in its huge fortress like building on the south side of Mt. Washington. This year, the Bulls have their best team in a decade. They're big, physical and on their home floor a hot shooting team. That combination proved too much, as Brashear fought off Cornell 71-61.

The killer was the 11 threes Brashear hit. Every time Cornell closed the gap, another three or two would widen it again.

It didn't help that hot shooting guard Kaden Divito (driving in photo, below) picked up two quick fouls early. Divito had scored 22 points in the first quarter against Deer Lakes and went on to total 46, third highest in school history. He came back with another big night against St. Joe's. But those early fouls made him reluctant to drive or play quite as aggressively on defense. He still scored 20, but was not his usual self.

After a 5-4 lead, Cornell trailed throughout. But not by much. Luke Piccolo and Isiah Langston carried the scoring load early and the Raiders trailed only 13-10 after the first quarter. Brashear scored off three straight steals and a three to pull out to 22-12, but Zaire Harrison (shooting in photo, right), Divito and Langston brought Cornell back to 29-21 at the half.

A flurry of threes pushed Brashear out to 40-27. Harrison and Divito narrowed it, but Brashear rode another string of threes out to 50-35. The third ended 52-39.

In the fourth, Hsrrison and Divito shouldered almost all of Cornell's scoring, but their driving layups, short jumpers and free throws could not outweigh Brashear's continual threes. They cut the lead from 16 to eight but could get no closer.

Brashear's Lontae Smith, who launched many of those fatal threes, led all scorers with 27. For Cornell, Harrison scored 24, Divito 20 and Langston 11.

Langston led Cornell rebounding with 14 and Piccolo added seven. But Brashear outrebounded Cornell by a wide margin.

Cornell Coach Bill Sacco shrugged off the loss. "When your entire lineup plays football, it tskes a few weeks to shift over and get your basketball legs and basketball timing back," he told reporters.

Sacco is also replacing graduated seniors Desmond Ross and Ndhama Luster. His starters this season include 5-11 junior Divito at point, 6-0 junior Harrison at wing, 5-9 senior Piccolo at wing, 6-1 junior Langston at one forward and 5-11 junior Jeavontae Kingwalden at the other forward. 5-8 sophomore Drew Lopez, 5-10 sophomore Sharone Bronaugh and 5-9 junior Blaine Sams are first off the bench.

Cornell plays Propel Braddock tonight (Tuesday) at hone.

Cornell's Junior Varsity Boys Basketball Team dropped their opener to Brashear 57-41 as missed shots, errors and mental lapses erased strong play by Drew Lopez, Blaine Sams and M.J. Smith.

The Raider coaching staff was not concerned about the loss. "We have young kids here who are still learning about the work ethic needed in high school basketball. They're still learning about intensity, about how to play together as a unit. And we're still cleaning up a lot of silly errors. Down the road, this bunch will be OK. December may be rough for them. But there's no playoff for JV teams. Losses don't count. The only thing that counts is getting better."

Brashear was a pretty tough opener. The 5A city school fielded a tall, strong, aggressive lineup which crashed the boards and played a very physical defense. The Bulls jumped out to a 10-2 lead as Cornell looked intimidated.

But the Raiders called time out and regrouped. Lopez scored on a layup, and Patrick Scott added two layups and a free throw to cut it to 10-9 as the first quarter ended.

The second quarter was pretty much even. Brashear kept scoring layups on Cornell errors and added two threes. Smith, Lopez, Sams (#12, photo, right) and Nathan Wooten hit jumpers, layups and free throws to stay close, 26-20.

The Bulls pulled out to 10 at 30-20, 32-22 and 37-27 in the third, but Lopez stole a pass and laid it in, and Sams sank a three to cut it to 37-32 at the break.

The fourth quarter began with a furious Cornell rally. Smith scored a layup and Carmine D'Allessandro sank a three to cut it to 39-37 with 4:28. But at that point seven Cornell players left to join the varsity in the locker room in preparation for the second game. That left five freshmen to finish out the JV game against a Brashear lineup of juniors. They only scored two more baskets, one layup by Scott and one by Smith, as the Bulls outscored Cornell 18-4 the rest of the way.

Lopez led the Raiders with 13. Sams and Smith had nine each.

Sharone Bronaugh (#50 in photo, left) led Cornell in rebounding with 10, but the Raiders were badly outrebounded by the bigger Bulls.

This is not a tall Cornell JV team. Wooten, a junior, is the tallest at 6-1, flanked by 6-0 freshman Craig Pulford. The others are 5-10 sophomore Bronaugh, 5-9 junior Blaine Sams, 5-8 freshman Smith, 5-8 sophomore Lopez and 5-0 freshman D'Allessandro.

The Jayvees face Propel Braddock tonight (Tuesday) at Cornell, then play Nazareth Prep (formerly Holy Family) at Robert Morris Friday.

"We have to get more aggressive on the boards," Cornell coaches agreed. "Brashear did not shoot particularly well, but they beat us on second and third shots. Even sometimes when we had our hands on rebounds, they would tear them away from us and go back up. We've got to get more aggressive, more physical, and quicker."

Mighty Farrell added another state championship trophy to its century long collection as the Steelers crushed Lackawanna Trail 55-20. Farrell was up 42-7 at halftime and played its reserves the entire second half.

Farrell, which ended Sacred Heart's run last week, 41-10, was never challenged by any team during the entire 15-0 season. OLSH was the only team to even get a lead on them, even though it only lasted a few minutes early in the game.

Farrell gained 500 yards compared to Lackawanna Trail's 194. Christian Lewis, who got 187 yards against Sacred Heart, gained 249 against Lackawanna Trail. Quarterback Kyi Wright, who was shut out against OLSH, passed for 111 yards in the final. The Chargers held Wright to 91 rushing yards. In the final, he rushed for 129. OLSH held Farrell to 337 yards rushing. Against Lackawanna Trail the Steelers rushed for 389. It was Farrell's seventh state football title, although this is its first undefeated team. The Steelers also have nine titles in basketball and seven in volleyball.

Farrell High School has been ranked #1 in the state all season for several very good reasons. Friday night at Slippery Rock Stadium, Sacred Heart found out what those reasons were. In the process, they lost 41-10 to end the greatest season in their school's short football history.

Farrell is big, strong, fast and talented. The Steelers have four Division I prospects and a host of other players who have offers at lower levels.

Nowhere was this more evident than on the line. Sacred Heart's line has beaten opponents all year, protecting quarterback Tyler Bradley, opening gaps for OLSH runners to dart through, and, on defense, stopping other teams' runners from getting anything up the middle.

For a few minutes, it looked like they would do that again Friday. OLSH kicked off and held, forcing Farrell to punt. The Chargers took over and marched down field to the Farrell 23.

Farrell tightened up, but Ryan Gehring (photo below right) kicked a field goal with 7:34 in the first quarter to give the Chargers a 3-0 lead. It was the first time Farrell had trailed all season.

But Farrell Coach Jarrett Samuels called time out and changed strategy. He moved 6-4 283 lineman Kobe Hilton to fullback along with 6-3 240 QB Kyi Wright, who doubles as an All State linebacker and a Pitt recruit, and 6-0 185 RB Christian Lewis. He replaced a receiver with another tight end. In effect, Farrell gambled everything on a power running game. Their line was bigger at every position, averaging 6-3, 290. As Samuels told reporters afterward, "I had my hogs clear the way for my dogs." Farrell marched down the field entirely on the ground and scored for a 7-3 lead. Samuels first called for several plays up the middle. When Sacred Heart responded by packing its defense in, Farrell started pitching the ball out for sideline runs. The drive lasted 11 plays, covered 81 yards, and took five minutes.

The touchdown ignited Farrell's defense. After the ensuing kickoff, they slammed the door shut on any OLSH runs and penetrated Sacred Heart's backfield. Bradley was chased out of the pocket once, Kobe Hilton sacked him once and Austin Wigley was stopped for no gain.

OLSH tried a fake punt but the pass fell incomplete, and Farrell took over on the Sacred Heart 30. A few plays later, Lewis powered in from the five and Farrell led 14-3.

On the next Sacred Heart possession, Elijah Harper picked off a Bradley pass and Farrell ground out yardage until Wright took it in from the one. Farrell led 21-3.

Moments later, Wright scored on another one yard run to put the Steelers up 28-3 at half.

The only Sacred Heart touchdown came on the opening drive of the third quarter. Jaymar Pearson ran for 22, 14, 16 and five yards. He fumbled on a two yard run from the five, but Andrew Schnarre picked up the fumble and ran it in from the three. That made it 28-10.

But Farrell wasn't through. Lewis added runs of 69 and 56 yards for two more TDs.

The game stats were lopsided. Farrell outgained Sacred Heart 336-52 on the ground. But Bradley completed 10 of 23 passes for 108 yards, while Kyi Wright, who had passed for 1591 yards all seasson, only tried two passes and both fell incomplete.

Pearson carried 13 times for 73 yards, all in the second half. Wigley carried six times for six yards and Richard Banks carried once for six yards.

For Farrell, Lewis carried 21 times for 187 yards, Wright 15 times for 91 yards, Townsend four times for 33 yards, Harrison seven times for 19 yards, and Harley once for seven yards.

They sacked Bradley six times for minus 32 yards and chased him out of the pocket another dozen. Every time he touched the ball he had defenders in his face.

The Farrell linemen weigh 278, 282, 283, 295 and 310 pounds. This team has been playing together since they were freshmen.

Farrell now plays Lackawanna Trail at Hershey Thursday for the state title. Farrell has won six, including two straight in 1995-96, and lost in the finals several more times.

Bradley finishes with 3,352 yards for the season and over 8,000 yards for his career. Only five quarterbacks have ever reached the 8000 mark.

As expected, Farrell defeated Coudersport and will face Sacred Heart in the PIAA semifinals Friday night at Slippery Rock. Farrell, the state's #1 ranked team, chewed up Coudersport 48-6 Saturday in a game where the clock was kept running through the second half. Farrell played its reserves the entire third and fourth quarters. Farrell led 14-0 after the first quarter and 48-0 at halftime.

Farrell has a balanced offense. Running back Christian Lewis is the greatest rusher in Farrell history, and, considering the championships the school has won and the Division I prospects it has produced over 100 years, that's quite an accomplishment. Against Couderport he carried 12 times for 109 yards, an average of 9.8 yards per carry. Lewis has rushed for 2031 yards this season. But the Steelers can go to the air. Against Coudersport, quarterback Kyi Wright was a perfect eight for eight for 176 yards. Joudon Townsend caught six of those for 172 yards. Townsend is another record setter. He is the greatest receiver in Farrell history. This season, he has caught passes for 1,169 yards. Farrell piled up 500 yards in total offense against Coudersport with 20 first downs.

The PIAA has finalized the state football playoff ladder.

Coudersport defeated Smethport and will play # 1 Farrell Saturday, November 24, at Slippery Rock University at 1 pm. The winner will play # 3 Sacred Heart the following weekend. The site will depend on whether Farrell or Coudersport wins. The PIAA will pick a site approximately halfway between the two schools. If Farrell wins, Slippery Rock is a likelihood. If Coudersport wins, Indiana University (Pa.) is a likelihood, although Slippery Rock or Edinboro are possibilities.

In the East Regional, Lackawanna plays Halifax at North Lehigh and and United plays Juniata at Altoona. Those winners will play the same weekend Sacred Heart plays the Farrell-Coudersport winner. United is a rural school in Wheatfield, 30 miles north of Johnstown. The winners of the East and West Regionals will play for the state title on Thursday, December 6 at Hershey Park Stadium.

Unbeaten Farrell is heavily favored over Coudersport. Farrell has beaten University Prep 40-16, Wilmington 31-19, Union City 70-6, West Middlesex 40-0, Cambridge Springs 63-0, Mercer 47-0, Cochranton 76-12, Reynolds 54-8, Greenville 46-0, Reynolds 62-6 and Shade 56-8.

All season long, Sacred Heart's interior line has come up big, protecting quarterback Tyler Bradley while he found receivers, and preventing teams from running up the middle.

Saturday afternoon, at hallowed Heinz Field, the line turned in its finest performance as Sacred Heart won its first WPIAL Championship 28-6 over Big Seven Conference rival Rochester.

On offense the line consists of center Dan Farrell (5-9 210 So) , tackles Eric Olexa (6-2 188 jr) and Dom Cook (6-0 200 sr), and guards Logan Gregory (6-0 240 sr) and Nico Harken (6-0 235 So). On defense add 6-0 205 sr Noah Campalong and 6-3 285 jr Dom Trombetta, at tackles.

Back in September, Sacred Heart had defeated Rochester 38-7. The general consensus was that OLSH's line had beaten Rochester's line on both sides of the ball. But the Rams have been in this championship game 13 times and won eight titles. It has also been in the state championship game four times and won it twice. Like any perennial championship contender, the Rams have great pride, and they had two months to study game film and figure out how to beat Sacred Heart should they get a second chance.

So this game came down to whether the Charger line could win another battle.

They did. Wow. Did they ever.

As shown by the accompanying photos, they were the stars. On the first play they forced a Rochester fumble (photo below), and they forced four more during the game. They didn't let the Rams past the 50 until halfway through the second quarter. 19 times they stood runners up for either no gain or a loss. Rochester never started a drive outside its own 30 and started two on its three and 11. The Rams earned their fewest first downs of the year.

Meanwhile, Bradley stood unfazed in the pocket (photo left), calmly waiting until his receivers got open and then hitting them with pinpoint passes. He finished with 13 of 22 completions for 169 yards, good for three touchdowns. He added one more by running it in himself.

Rochester hung in there, but Sacred Heart was in charge the whole way.

Bradley faked a handoff and ran the first touchdown in from the one. Ryan Gehring made the PAT kick for a 7-0 Sacred Heart lead.

The Chargers kicked off, and the Rams went three and out. But the center snap went over punter Tyreek Sherod's head. OLSH recovered on the 31. Bradley quickly hit Andrew Schnarre for the second TD. Gehring's kick made it 14-0, where it remained through halftime.

Rochester's only threat came late in the third . The Rams took over on their own 30 and drove 70 yards in 14 plays. Noah Whiteleather ran it in from the six to make it 14-6 with 5:06. Sacred Heart went three and out and the Rams took over. But OLSH held, and Rochester had to punt.

In the fourth quarter, Bradley hit Sig Saftner on a 15 yard crossing play and Gehring kicked the PAT for 21-7. After the Charger defense stopped Rochester again, Bradley fired a 33 yarder to Richard Banks and Gehring's kick made it 28-6. Rochester never again threatened.

The Rams actually outgained Sacred Heart on the ground. They carried 52 times for 167 yards. OLSH carried 28 times for 73 yards. But the Chargers buried Rochester in the air, 169 yards to 32. That gave OLSH 242 total yards to Rochester's 199.

Sacred Heart's rushing yardage was spread among five runners. Austin Wigley carried 12 times for 32 yards, Banks carried 10 times for 25 times, Bradley carried three times for 10 yards, Campalong carried twice for four yards, and Ryan Parry carried once for two yards.

"We had our chances," Rochester Coach Ron Matsook told reporters after the game. "We actually had the ball for more minutes than they did. We had more first downs. But it came down to field position and line play. They averaged more than 10 yards per punt more than we did and they kept us bottled up all afternoon. We fumbled the ball five times. And they whipped us on the line all day, both on offense and defense."

It climaxed one of the more dramatic rags to riches stories in WPIAL history. Four years ago Sacred Heart was winless. In this Year Eight of the program, OLSH is WPIAL champion. The Chargers get Thanksgiving Weekend to give thanks for their success and heal their bruises. Then it's back to war, as they prepare for the State Playoffs.

The playoffs, as usual, are bewildering. Other states seed teams. The PIAA uses geography. Farrell is unbeaten and ranked #1. Sacred Heart has one loss and is ranked #3. Anywhere else, Sacred Heart would not meet Farrell until the state championship game.

But since they're both in the western half of the state, the PIAA will match them in the West Region to see which one goes on to the state finals. Still, they should not meet until the West Region Final. But since they're both in the southwestern corner, Sacred Heart may face Farrell November 23 or 24.

Farrell defeated #5 Shade Sunday 56-8. Coudersport plays Smethport Monday.

The win over Rochester was not without casualties. Noah Campalong, a key player on both offense and defense, suffered a broken ankle late in the first half. He had surgery Sunday and is obviously lost for the year.

But for a week, OLSH players will savor this esperience. "Coming out of that tunnel....." Richard Banks tried to explain to reporters, his voice trailing off. "The Steelers play here. All those NFL greats play here. It was just.....so cool." Several of his teammates explained how nervous they were before the game. "It was unreal," they agreed. "Something to remember all our lives. It made all the hard work worth it."

All their lives, these Sacred Heart players have dreamed of someday playing in Heinz Field for a championship. Now, thanks to a 27-7 pasting of powerful Clairton, they're going.

On a cold rainy Friday night at Dormont Stadium, Noah Campalong wasn't taking any chances. OLSH was up 14-7 for the entire third quarter. But the Bears are famous for fourth quarter rallies, especially in playoff games. So Campalong personally scored two more touchdowns in the fourth, one on a two yard run with 11:02, the other on an 11 yard Tyler Bradley pass at 4:37.

The game was a lot closer than the final score suggests. The first quarter saw both offenses going three and out back and forth. Finally, an interception by Sig Saftner set up Sacred Heart. A 39 yard Bradley pass to Andrew Schnarre put the ball on the Clairton six. Austin Wigley ran it in at 1:09.

Then, with 10:59 in the second quarter, Bradley found Richard Banks for a 26 yarder, then a two yarder, and OLSH was up 14-0.

That wouldn't last long. With 8:29, Clairton's Branden Parsons scored on a two yard run to narrow it to 14-7.

That's where it stayed at the half.

Bradley completed eight for 13 for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Sacred Heart outgained Clairton 254-112. It was Clairton's lowest offensive output in more than two seasons.

As usual, Bradley and his stable of running backs and receivers get most of the attention, but this game was won on the line. Sacred Heart's offensive line, shown above, kept Clairton defenders from getting to Bradley while he waited for receivers to get in position or handed off to runners. On defense OLSH sacked the Clairton quarterback five times. Until late in the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach, the Chargers had held Clairton to only 81 yards. Clairton statisticians could not remember the last time that had happened.

Sacred Heart's defense made life miserable for Clairton quarterback Brendan Parsons. In addition to the six sacks, the Chargers intercepted two passes, held him to 10 of 22 completions by sticking closely with his receivers, OLSH also forced three fumbles.

The win may have been costly. Key running back and receiver Wigley suffered a dislocated shoulder injury in the third quarter and missed the rest of the game. If he is unavailable in the championship game it will seriously hinder the Sacred Heart offense.

Clairton Coach Wayne Wade was clearly disappointed. "We felt good about our chances," he told reporters afterward. "The score was only 14-7 through the end of the third quarter. We always win games like this. We feel like we own the fourth quarter. But we kept giving it back to Sacred Heart, on fumbles and interceptions. We had the better field position for most of the game and just didn't execute. In the final analysis, we lost the game on the line."

Sacred Heart wanted a rematch with Jeannette, who beat them back in October. Instead, they get one with Rochester, whom they beat earlier.

With quarterback Seth Howard watching from the sidelines due to concussion protocol, unbeaten and defending WPIAL and PIAA champion Jeannette went down 27-0 to an aroused Rochester team which had lost to the Jayhawks in the playoffs the last two years.

Replacement quarterback James Sanders did a credible job directing the Jeannette attack, throwing for 102 yards. But the Jayhawks seemed out of sync the whole night, and as the offense sputtered, it carried over to the usually stingy defense.

Rochester, meanwhile, was on a mission. The Ram offensive and defensive lines thoroughly whipped Jeannette and backs Darius Goosby and Noah Whiteleather turned in the finest games of their careers. Goosby ran for 183 yards and scored the game's second touchdown on a 58 yard run. Whiteleather ran for 102 yards and scored the first, third and fourth touchdowns on runs of two, two and three yards.

Rochester will thus play in the WPIAL championship game for the first time since 2010, but had won nine titles prior to that.

It was the first time Jeannette was shut out since 2015 when Clairton did it in the 2015 championship game.

Rochester's defense was ferocious. The Rams held Jeannette to 150 yards total offense. They sacked the quarterback eight times.

The game started like it would be a comedy of errors on a cold rainy night. Goosby fumbled the opening kickoff. Jeannette fumbled it back on the first play. Rochester then committed three straight false starts and were too far in the hole to make the first down so punted. After a sack and two tackles for losses, Jeannette had to punt it back. Rochester went three and out. Jeannette settled down for a 12 play drive before the Rams finally held. Rochester then started grinding out yardage and moved the ball all the way up the field. The Whiteleather two yard run came just before the end of the first quarter.

Jeannette Coach Roy Hall made no excuses. "They just kicked our butts," he told reporters.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart's second seeded football team had a score to settle with Imani, the team that bounced OLSH out of last year's playoffs. But no one expected the onesided rout that unfolded at Moon's Rip Scherer Field Friday night.

The Chargers beat Imani every way possible. Their defense suffocated the Saints' high powered air attack. On offense Tyler Bradley found receivers downfield and handed off to runners like Austin Wigley who ran through, around and over Imani defenders. Sacred Heart's offensive line opened up holes for runners and protected Bradley while he scanned for receivers. The Charger defensive line then stopped Imani runners cold.

This was an Imani team that came in ranked fourth, just behind Sacred Heart. The Saints had lost to Jeannette and Clairton, but those are the first and third ranked teams in the WPIAL. The game was supposed to be close.

It was never close. It was over minutes in. That was when Wigley powered over with a one yard run. Ryan Gehring's PAT kick made it 7-0. But the drive made it obvious that Sacred Heart was on a mission. The Chargers were just more intense. They were blowing Imani linemen back off their stances and blocking crisply.

After an exchange of possessions, Bradley found Richard Banks for a 34 yard pass. The kick failed and the quarter ended 13-0.

To open the second quarter, Jay Pearson ran a fumble recovery back 43 yards. The PAT pass failed but OLSH led 19-0.

Next up was a seven yard pass from Bradley to Ricco Tate to make it 25-0.

Then, just before halftime, Bradley hit Tate with a 43 yarder. This time Wigley ran it across for the PAT and a 33-0 lead at intermission.

Sacred Heart opened the third quarter with a 29 yard pass from Bradley to Wigley. Gehring made the PAT kick and the Chargers led 40-0.

Then, after another exchange of possessions, Bradley again found Tate, this time for 25 yards. Gehring made the kick for the 47-0 lead.

Imani finally got on the board late in the third with a 20 yard pass from Israel Reed to Rahmon Hart. But the PAT pass fell incomplete so it was 47-6.

There was just enough time left in the quarter for Bradley to find Noah Campalong for a seven yard pass. Gehring's PAT kick made it 54-0.

In the fourth quarter Wigley's 26 yard run closed out scoring. The PAT kick failed so it was 60-6.

Bradley completed 16 of 27 passes for 230 yards. Wigley rushed for 105 yards. Tate caught five passes for 106 yards and three touchdowns.

His performance kept Bradley first among WPIAL quarterbacks in passes completed, passing yardage and touchdowns scored via passing.

Wigley's output kept him among the WPIAL's top 20 runners in rushing yards and TDs scored.

Imani, the third place finisher in the Eastern Conference, reached the playoffs on an at large bid. They close their season 7-4.

The win sends Sacred Heart on to the WPIAL Semifinals for the first time in school history. The Chargers will play Clairton Friday at 7:30 pm at Keystone Oaks. Clairton beat California 27-17 in their quarterfinal. California had won five straight. Clairton is 9-1, having lost only to Jeannette 21-6 on the last night of the regular season. The Bears began the playoffs ranked 3rd.

Clairton is much like Jeannette, which handed Sacred Heart its only loss. The Bears prefer to run the ball and pass only enough to keep the defense honest. Clairton plays a tough, physical defense and goes after opposing quarterbacks by penetrating their lines and sacking or chasing the quarterback so he does not have time to find his receivers. Clairton likes long drives which chew up yardage in small doses but slowly wind down the clock. The Bears typically run twice as many plays as opponents and love slants, traps and keepers.

Sacred Heart began the season dreaming of reaching the WPIAL finals and going on to the state playoffs. But the Chargers now have an extra motivation. If they can beat Clairton, they'll get a rematch with Jeannette in the title game at Heinz Field. Of course, this assumes Jeannette survives its own semi. The Jayhawks were tied with Monessen 8-8 at the half before finally escaping 18-14 on a PAT and a field goal. Jeannette, the defending WPIAL and state champions, plays Rochester Friday. Rochester defeated West Greene 52-14 last week.

Weather could be a factor this weekend. Rain and cold temperatures are possible, which would affect passing. Both semifinals will be played on artificial turf, so the running games of all four teams should be fine.

In their meeting at midseason, Jeannette beat Sacred Heart by breaking into the backfield, sacking Bradley and chasing him out of the pocket so he didn't have time to find his receivers. OLSH will be working in practice this week to stop that. The pressure will be on the Offensive Line, particularly to stop Drake Petrillo. He personally sacked Bradley four times and spent most of the game chasing him. Downfield, Marcus Barnes and Jackson Pruitt shadowed OLSH receivers, intercepting two and running them back for Jayhawk TDs.

#2 Sacred Heart will play #4 Imani Christian at 7:30 Friday night at Moon's Rip Scherer Field in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL football playoffs.

Elsewhere, #3 Clairton plays California at Elizabeth, # 1 Jeannette plays Monessen at Hempfield, and West Greene plays #5 Rochester at Waynesburg.

Jeannette, OLSH, Clairton and West Greene earned the right to host home games. But Jeannette, Clairton and West Greene all play on natural grass fields. All three are in unplayable condition due to recent rains. They play and practice on their fields and have churned them into a muddy soup. So each team elected to move their game to an artificial turf field at a nearby larger school.

Sacred Heart is fortunate to play its home games at Moon's Rip Scherer Field, which is artificial turf.

The Chargers played in the mud at Cornell last Friday night and readily sympathize with those other teams, who have no desire to play a critical playoff game under similar conditions.

The winner of the Sacred Heart-Imani game will play the winner of the Clairton - California game the following Friday. The Jeannette-Monessen winner will play the Rochester-West Greene winner the following Friday. Those winners will advance to the WPIAL championship game at Heinz Field.

The three way tie in the Tri County Conference among West Greene, California and Monessen forced the WPIAL Committee to make a hard choice between playoff guidelines.

Normally, #1 is seeded such that it meets #4 in the semis, while #2 is seeded such that it meets #3 in the semis, assuming all four win their quarterfinal games.

But another guideline states that teams from the same conference should not meet in the first round.

Normally, Sacred Heart would have met California. But that would have paired Imani against Clairton of the same Eastern Conference. To avoid this, the WPIAL reversed the two at large teams and put Imani against the Chargers.

Imani defeated Sacred Heart 20-12 in the 2017 quarterfinals, then went on to win its semifinal and meet Jeannette in the finals. Jeannette won and went on to win the state championship. Imani is located in the eastern part of Pittsburgh, and draws its students primarily from the Wilkinsburg and Westinghouse areas, although as an independent school it can pull from anywhere in the city or eastern suburbs.

Last year's Imani Offensive Coordinator Laroi Johnson is this year's StoRox Head Coach, which is why StoRox ran up such high numbers on offense and produced one of the WPIAL's top three quarterbacks and several of its top receivers and rushers. Without him, Imani does not have quite the potent offense, but they still have several talented players at the skill positions and are still capable of moving the ball and scoring.

Imani (7-3) lost to Jeannette 28-12 and Clairton 45-18 in conference this year, but since the Eastern has proven to be the WPIAL's toughest Class A league the Saints are still a threat to Sacred Heart. The Chargers suffered their only loss of the season to an Eastern team, Jeannette 28-13.

Imani is more like Sacred Heart than it is like Jeannette or Clairton. It runs a more wide open offense than other Eastern Conference teams and tends to break more big plays. The Saints defeated Wright 80-6, Valley 32-25, Greensburg Central Catholic 36-=21, Riverview 54-0, Leechburg 45-10, Bethlehem 26-20 and Chartiers Houston 54-0. Almost all of their scoring has come on passes.

It was really a shame. Everyone involved deserved better.

There were the #1 and #3 quarterbacks in WPIAL Class A and the #1 and #9 quarterbacks in all WPIAL classes combined, both with talented receivers . There was Cornell holding Senior Night to honor players, band members and cheerleaders in their final night at Frank Letteri Field.

But the cold rain began an hour before game time and steadily increased as the night went on. The field and even the sidelines were a sea of mud and puddles (look behind the runner in the photo at right). Both teams had to curtail their air attacks and stick mainly to the ground, although they did keep trying to throw the occasional pass. The crowd huddled under umbrellas, plastic sheets and blankets. Cheerleaders wore rainsuits. Players trying to make sharp turns slipped in the mud. and the wet ball caused fumbles and interceptions on both sides.

But Sacred Heart was a heavy favorite and in the end that's how it turned out. The Chargers splashed their way to a 27-0 win .

Cornell entered the game 4-4 and was missing three starters due to injuries : Tamir Fischer, Luke Piccolo and Tyler Godfrey.

Fischer and Piccolo were key runners and receivers and Godfrey was a key on both offensive and defensive lines. So a crippled Cornell could have been facing a serious beatdown by powerful Sacred Heart, ranked #3 in the WPIAL and #4 in the state.

But Cornell played even with the Chargers for most of the first quarter, holding off their offense and moving the ball against their defense. With 2:54 Tyler Bradley finally hit Noah Campalong with a 25 yarder for a touchdown. With Ryan Goehring's PAT kick, it was 7-0. And it got worse fast. Cornell fumbled the kickoff. OLSH recovered on the Cornell 15. The avalanche looked about to begin.

Cornell Coach Ed Dawson called time and settled his team. Miraculously, Cornell's defense held and the Raiders took over at their 15 as the quarter ended 7-0.

The two played even for most of the second quarter. An interception on the Cornell 30 with 2:50 set Sacred Heart up for a touchdown drive but Cornell recovered a fumble in the end zone at 1:18 to prevent the score. Charger Richard Banks grabbed another interception on the Cornell 20 with 0:37. Cornell was hoping the clock would run out, but with 0:03 Eric Olexa scampered in from the four for the touchdown. So OLSH held a 13-0 halftime lead.

The Chargers didn't waste much time in the third. They took the kickoff and marched downfield in six plays to score. Austin Wigley ran it in from the five. That made it 19-0.

Cornell looked to have scored with 2:02 remaining but a penalty nullified it and the quarter ended 19-0.

Cornell again held off Sacred Heart for much of the fourth until Wigley ran it in from the one with 7:20 to make it 25-0. He also ran the PAT in for 27-0, which was how it ended.

Cornell quarterback Zaire Harrison made two spectacular QB keeper runs, one for 35 and one for 20, to put the Raiders in scoring position.

But another Sacred Heart interception with 2:20 stopped that drive. The player ran it back the length of the field for a TD but a penalty against SH nullified it. There was no further scoring.

Penalties hurt both teams on key drives. At one point, Cornell committed two consecutive 15 yard violations, which pushed the Raiders back to a first and 40 at their own one yard line. But Sacred Heart also shot itself in the foot with holding and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which took it back across midfield and probably prevented more touchdowns.

Wigley led all rushers with 140 yards on 33 carries.

Cornell can take solace in holding Sacred Heart to its lowest winning score of the year. The Chargers have run up scores of 41, 46, 56, 37, 42, 56, 53 and 48 points. But, of course, the rain and mud contributed.

So Cornell finishes its third season back in football 4-5. The Raiders will lose six valuable seniors to graduation but return a talented, experienced bunch of juniors and sophomores and should be a serious contender next year. More worrisome is whether they can keep Coach Ed Dawson, who recreated the school's football program after it had been shut down for four seasons.

Coaching at the smallest public high school in western Pennsylvania fielding a football team, Dawson had this year's team doing fine until injuries hit and the Raiders lost their last three. He was a finalist for the Aliquippa head job and will certainly receive offers from other larger schools. Still, he'll have those talented seniors and juniors next year including one of the WPIAL's top quarterbacks. He could make a serious run and be considered for even better jobs in 2020.

And Cornell has another issue to face : its field. Built in a valley with steep slopes on three sides, Frank Letteri Stadium becomes a quagmire after rain, and rainy Fridays have become a tradition. Cornell had to move one game this year to another school's stadium, and had to play two games at home in basically unplayable conditions.

Whether the answer is artificial turf or a complete excavation and rebuild of the grass field with better drainage underneath, something clearly must be done. Dawson had several days this year when he was unable to practice on the field and had to be content with indoor film sessions, clearly inadequate when a team is fighting for a playoff spot.

Sacred Heart, meanwhile, is 9-1, has won the conference championship, and awaits a #2 or #3 seed in the playoffs. #1 Jeannette defeated #2 Clairton Friday night to remain undefeated and clinch the top seed.

Clairton and Sacred Heart will be either #2 or #3 but it doesn't matter much because #2 and #3 meet in the semifinals with #1 in the opposite bracket. Sacred Heart is guaranteed a home game Friday night, Nov. 2.

As expected, California, Monessen and West Greene all won by wide margins Friday, so they finish in a three way tie in the Tri County Conference. The tie will be broken with a coin flip with the loser guaranteed one of the two playoff at large berths.

Imani Christian will receive the other at large berth. StoRox had hoped Imani and Laurel would be upset and tried to increase its chances by running up a 70-6 margin over Riverview. It didn't happen. Laurel and Imani won 60-0 over Northgate and 54-0 over Chartiers Houston.

However, as the top two seeds, Jeannette and Sacred Heart will draw the two at large teams, so Sacred Heart will play either Imani or one of the Tri County teams. Last year, Sacred Heart beat Springdale in the first round 52-26 but lost to Imani 20-12 in the quarterfinals. This year, the WPIAL has reduced the playoff field so they begin with quarterfinals.

Sacred Heart, third in the WPIAL and fourth in the state, rolled up a 35-7 half time lead over Union and cruised to a final 48-7 win.

It was Senior Night at Union and the Scotties began the game charged with adrenalin. They scored the first touchdown on a 17 yard pass from Tyler Benedict to Anthony Nealy. Jackson Clark made the PAT kick and the Scotties led 7-0.

Then Sacred Heart tuned in, and Union never again threatened.

Tyler Bradley found Richard Banks for a 47 yard pass. Austin Wigley ran in the PAT to put the Chargers up 8-7. Two possessions later, Bradley hit Ricco Tate on a 44 yarder and Justin Walsh kicked the PAT for a 15-7 first quarter edge.

In the second quarter, Wigley ran one in from the one. The kick failed and OLSH led 21-7.

Bradley hit Noah Campalong with an 18 yard pass and Walsh made the kick for 28-7.

Before the half, Bradley passed 20 yards to Banks and Walsh made the kick for a 35-7 lead at intermission.

Sacred Heart substituted freely in the second half. In the third quarter, Campalong ran it in from the seven yard line but the PAT run failed for the 41-7 lead.

Wigley scored the final TD on a one yard run. Walsh made the PAT kick so OLSH led 48-7 entering the fourth quarter. With mostly reserves playing, there was no further scoring.

Sacred Heart closes out the regular season Friday at Cornell. OLSH is an overwhelming favorite. It is almost certain to receive a #2 or #3 seed in the post season playoffs which begin next week.

Across the county, #1 Jeannette plays #2 Clairton for the championship of the Eastern Conference. If Jeannette wins, the Jayhawks will record their 18th unbeaten season, most in Pennsylvania history, and receive the #1 WPIAL seed. If Clairton wins, the Bears, also unbeaten, will record its 12th unbeaten season, win the conference title, and receive the #1 seed.

If Jeannette wins, it really doesn't matter whether Sacred Heart receives the #2 or #3 seed. In the semifinals, the #1 and #4 seeds play each other, and the #2 and #3 seeds play. So either way, Sacred Heart will play Clairton in the semifinals, unless one or the other is upset in the quarterfinals.

The likely #4 seed is Rochester, which Sacred Heart easily defeated a month ago. #4 and #5 play each other in the quarterfinals, which would likely pit Rochester against #5 Imani. The winner would, presumably, play Jeannette in the semifinals. That would leave Jeannette, Sacred Heart and Clairton paired in the quarterfinals against the three Tri County teams : California, Monessen and West Greene.

In addition to the teams, there's an individual competition going on. Right now Bradley needs 326 yards to become the fifth quarterback in WPIAL history to pass for 8,000 yards. But that's for his career. In just this year, Bradley is second to StoRox quarterback Eric Wilson, who has thrown for 2673 yards and completed 145 of 246 attempts. Just this year, Bradley has completed 156 of 234 for 2574 yards.

However, Bradley is assured at least one playoff game and is favored to reach the finals, which would mean three more games after the one at Cornell. StoRox has only a slim chance of landing an at large bid to the playoffs, so Bradley will easily surpass Wilson for the season.

Ironically, this Friday Bradley will face the other top WPIAL Class A QB in Cornell's Zaire Harrison, a junior who ranks third.

Greensburg Central Catholic scored in every quarter Friday night to defeat Cornell 50-8 and drop the once hopeful Raiders to 4-4 on the season, 3-3 in the conference.

The only Cornell score came in the second quarter when Zaire Harrison hit Kaden Divito with a 20 yard pass in the end zone. Harrison then ran for the PAT. But by then, the score was already 28-8.

GCC scored once in the first quarter on an 11 yard run by Max Pisula and a PAT kick by Nste Ward. The Centurions scored four more times in the second quarter. Prior to Cornell's TD, Pisula had another run in from the 11, Luke Mazowieki returned a punt 45 yards, and Bryce Kurpiel caught a 15 uyard pass from Pisula. Ward made all the PAT kicks.

After the Cornell TD, Pisula found Kurpiel for a 56 yard and a 35-8 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, GCC's Pisula hit Maziewicki with a 47 yarder. A pass from Pisula to Ben LaCarte made it 43-8.

And in the fourth, Pisula lofted a short one yard pass to Jacob Reihart. Ward's PAT kick made the final score 50-8.

Pisula finished with 220 yards passing. He also ran the ball 17 times for another 122 yards, mostly strsight up the middle.

Greensburg Central Catholic is now 6-3 and still in contention for one of the WPIAL's two at large postseason berths. But the odds are slim. The Tri County Conference is almost certain to end in a three way tie between California, Monessen and West Greene, all with only one conference loss. This means whoever loses the three way coin toss is guaranteed one of the at large berths. So StoRox, Laurel, Imani and Greensburg CC will contend for the other one. Imani beat GCC and one of its losses came to 2A Beth Center, so presumably Imani will be the favorite of the four.

Harrison (#7, photo, left) continued his prolific passing output. He ranks third in Class A behind Sacred Heart's Tyler Bradley and StoRox's Eric Wilson. Harrison ranks ninth among all WPIAL quarterbacks.

Divito also continued his late season surge. The junior, who did not play football prior to this season, took the first half of the season to develop as a receiver. He has now become one of Harrison's favorite targets.

Cornell concludes its season Friday at home against Sacred Heart. The Chargers are ranked third in the WPIAL and fifth in the state. They have lost only to #1 Jeannette, which won the 2017 WPIAL and state titles and is considered a major threat to repeat. Sacred Heart has clinched the Big Seven Conference title. Quarterback Tyler Bradley is #1 in the WPIAL so the game will feature two of the top three Class A quarterbacks.

Sacred Heart bounced back from its loss to Jeannette last week by thrashing Jefferson Morgan 53-0 Friday night.

It was never a game. OLSH quarterback Tyler Bradley completed 14 of 19 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns. Sacred Heart ran up 426 yards in total offense, while holding Jefferson Morgan to 169.

The Rockets are 2-6, having defeated only Mapletown and Avella. They were never in the game. Sacred Heart scored four touchdowns and two PATs for a 26-0 first quarter lead. Then the Chargers scored three more TDs and two PATs in the second to lead 46-0 at halftime. They added the final TD in the third quarter and played reserves most of the second half.

Austin Wigley started the avalanche with a 20 yard run, and, a few minutes later, added another 24 yard run. On the second one, Ryan Goehring's PAT kick was good.

Bradley found Richard Banks for a 23 yard pass and a 19-0 lead.

Noah Campalong broke loose for a 32 yard run and Goehring added the kick for the 26-0 first quarter edge.

Dom Mazzarese ran it in from the one ysrd line and Goehring added the kick to start the second quarter.

Wigley came back with another TD, this a run from the two yard line.

Bradley hit Sig Saftner on a short one yard pass and Goehring added the kick to close out scoring before the half.

In the third, Bradley found Bobby Brazell with an 11 yard pass and Goehring added the kick.

Unlike the Jeannette game, the OLSH line gave Bradley plenty of time to find receivers.

Thanks to the Jeannette loss, OLSH is in an infair position. They have dropped to third place among WPIAL Class A teams, behind unbeatens Jeannette and Clairton. Barring an upset, Jeannette and Clairton could claim the #1 and #2 seeds in the postseason play offs. Since the computer algorithm factors in margin of victory, it encourages teams to run up onesided scores when possible. So Sacred Heart's best chance of squeezing out that #2 seed is to run up the score the next two weeks over Union and Cornell. Coaches like to encourage their players to display good sportsmanship and not run up scores, so the Charges will be pulled in both directions. Union and Cornell will be away games.

Jon Hodgkiss hung in there through three preliminary races but failed to make the cut for the World 100 at Eldora Raceway in Ohio on Saturday.

On another rainy weekend, the Friday night preliminary races had to be postponed until Saturday. 100 racing teams showed up at the track north of Dayton for what is considered rhe national dirt track late model championships.

But only 30 would advance to the actual 100 lap championship race. To get there drivers first had to thread their way through time trials and three preliminaries. In each preliminary, only half or a third of the drivers advanced. Racers don't use the words, but in effect the races represented the octafinals, quarterfinals and semifinals of a tournament in any other sport.

Brandon Sheppard led the time trial qualifiers with a 14.76. Of the 100 entries, Hodgkiss had the 75th fastest time.

The times determined placing in the heat races.

In the first round of eight 10 lap heat races, Hodgkiss placed 10th in his heat, which was won by Sheppard.

In the second round of four 12 lap heats, he again finished 10th in his heat, which was won by Steve Roberts. That put him in the third round of two 25 lap semifinals.

To make the feature, the actual World 100, Hodgkiss had to place 15th or higher in the semi, or "consolation." Based on his time trial and placing in prior heats, he was placed 22 to start. He worked his way up to 19th but could get no higher.

Tim McCreadie of Watertown, New York, in #39, won the World 100. He is a familiar driver and car to Hodgkiss, who battled with him for position early in the feature Pittsburgh 100 and in the prelims at the World 100 (see panorama photo above, where Hodgkiss is alongside McReadie).

Bobby Pierce in Car #32, who won the Pittsburgh 100 last week, finished a distant 14th.

This concludes the 2018 dirt track racing season. Racing will resume at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway and Lernerville in April 2019.

Cornell let a desperately needed win slip through its fingers Friday night as Laurel scored with 12 seconds left to upset the Raiders 35-34.

It was a damp chilly evening on the dimly lit Lawrence County field and Cornell had squeezed out a 6-0 halftime lead, then extended that to 12-0 in the third quarter. But the game suddenly turned into a shootout, with the teams combining for 51 points in the fourth quarter.

The first half looked like the game was going to be a defensive struggle possibly decided by mistakes. Laurel took the kickoff, cranked out three first downs to the Cornell 34, and fumbled. Cornell earned three first downs of its own and reached the Laurel 35 before an interception halted the drive. Laurel stalled and punted. Cornell opened up its passing attack, picking up first downs on its own 34, its 45, and the Laurel 43, then hitting Luke Piccolo on the Laurel four yard line. On the next play, Cornell fumbled. Laurel couldn't move and punted. But it was a spectacularly poor punt, and Cornell took over on the Laurel 31. The quarter ended with no score.

Zaire Harrison opened the second quarter by passing 31 yards to Isiah Langston in the end zone. The PAT failed and Cornell led 6-0.

The teams spent the second quarter exchanging possessions, each starting on about their own 35 and stalling about midfield. With 2:08 in the half, Cornell reached the Laurel 15 but four straight passes to the end zone fell incomplete. Laurel took over as the half ended.

Cornell received to begin the second half. The Raiders cranked out three first downs, but an offside penalty set them back to a third and 22. That was when Harrison found Kaden Divito on the Laurel 22 for another first down. On the next play Harrison hit Luke Piccolo in the end zone (see photo above) at 9:28. The PAT failed but Cornell led 12-0.

Laurel then ground out four first downs and Luke McCoy ran it in from the two. The PAT failed and Cornell still led 12-6 at 5:32.

Cornell went three and out and Laurel controlled the ball for the rest of the quarter.

That set up the wild fourth. Laurel started it on the first play with a 31 yard run by Dan Blank. Blank also ran the PAT in and Laurel led 14-12 at 11:50.

Kaden Divito (#10) stepped up here, turning in the finest performance of his career (photos left and bottom) . He caught passes of 30 and 20 yards to give Cornell a first down on the Laurel 22. Harrison hit Langston on the 10, then scored himself on an 11 yard run (photo, left) with 8:29. Harrison hit Savon Wilson for the PAT and Cornell regained the led 20-14. It was short lived. Laurel took the kickoff and started on its own 35.

Rain started falling here, first lightly, then more heavily. On the first play from scrimmage, McCoy ran down the sideline for the touchdown. Johnny Maine kicked the PAT for the 21-20 Laurel lead.

Cornell came back immediately. Harrison found Divito, handed off to Piccolo, hit Divito on the Laurel 20, then hit him in the end zone for a 26-21 lead at 7:38. Laurel started on its 38 but ran it immediately down to the Cornell 10. Blank ran it in on the next play for a 27-26 lead at 5:46.

Cornell fumbled the kickoff and Laurel had a first down on the Cornell 27. But the Raider defense held and Laurel punted. With 3:00 left Cornell took over on its own 24. Harrison was sacked twice in a row, then found Langston on the Laurel 10, and Divito on the three. He hit Divito for the TD and ran in the PAT at 1:14. So Cornell led 34-27.

With 17 seconds to go, McCoy ran it down the sideline to the Cornell 10. Logan Ayres passed to Dylan Aquaro in the end zone for the TD to make it 34-33 and put all the pressure on the point after. Blank ran it in at 11 seconds. Cornell did get the ball on the kickoff and had time for one play but Piccolo slipped in the mud at midfield.

Harrison completed 27 of 45 passes for 493 yards and four touchdowns. The 493 yards are the fourth highest in WPIAL history and give Harrison a season total of 77 of 138 passes for 1614 yards, third best in Class A behind Sacred Heart's Tyler Bradley and StoRox's Eric Wilson.

It was a disastrous loss. Cornell will be a heavy underdog in its last two games on the road against Greensburg Central Catholic and at home against Sacred Heart. It needed this Laurel win to go up 5-2 so even if it lost those games it could finish with a winning 5-4 record. Now, at 4-3, if it loses those two games it will finish 4-5.

If it had finished 5-4 it also held out hopes of an at large bid to the WPIAL playoffs. Now it is out of the running for such a bid.

Laurel, to its credit, saw a weakness in Cornell's usually solid defense and in the fourth quarter began running the ball around the ends and down the sidelines. The Raiders were never able to stop this.

But Greensburg Central Cstholic is not an unwinnable game. The Centurions lost to Jeannette 40-14 Friday night and are only 3-3 in the Eastern Conference and 5-3 overall. The computer favors them mainly because the game is at home and the Eastern is the toughest class A conference in the WPIAL. Their losses to Jeannette, Clairton and Imani are understandable considering those are all ranked among the WPIAL's top six teams. GCC's wins have been over Tuscarawas Central Catholic, Riverview, Leechburg, Springdale snd Mapletown. Cornell has also defeated Riverview.

The top 100 dirt track racers in North America gather at Eldora Racetrack near Rossville, Ohio (near Dayton) this weekend to determine the 2018 national champion.

Only one Western Hills driver will be there. Jon Hodgkiss of Kennedy Township and his crew will pull into Eldora Friday morning and settle in for the weekend. Drivers will compete in time trials and heat races Friday to determine who advances to the Saturday main event, a 100 lapper now in its 40th season.

Half of the Saturday field is expected to consist of Lucas Oil Circuit cars and drivers. They just raced last weekend in Pittsburgh. But another 50 regional and local drivers have qualified and are here to try their luck. Hodgkiss is one of those.

Eldora is widely accepted as the finest dirt track in the world. It draws 40,000 fans to an event. As the map at bottom shows, seating extends around three sides of the track. There are 16 luxury suites on turn 4 (see photo at left).

NASCAR star Tony Stewart owns Eldora and has continually worked to update and improve it. Eldora was first built in the 1950s. But the actual track is the same size as the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway.

Beyond the parking lot Eldora maintains a huge campground. On big race weekends, fans will arrive Friday afternoon and spend the weekend.

You don't even have to go to Eldora to watch the race. Fans can pay for it online and watch it livestreamed on their laptop, tablet or phone. It will also be televised nationally on several cable motorsports channels.

Track conditions at Eldora are iffy on this Thursday. They've already had their share of rain, and everyone is keeping an eye on the hurricane down on the Gulf Coast. It could veer inland and bring heavy rains with it. But so far the forecast is for clear and cold weather through Saturday.

Hodgkiss is guardedly optimistic about his chanccs. Of course, he has to thread his way through time trials and preliminary heats to make it to the feature race.

But he's learned, and he learned again last weekend, that he and his car can run with the nationally ranked teams for at least 40 - 50 laps. What he has not shown is that he and the car can make it through 100 laps. And there's the question of how efficient his pit crew might be during high speed pit stops when they have to change tires or deal with a mechanical problem.

The usual favorites will be at Eldora : Jon Davenport of Georgia, Scott Bloomquist of Tennessee and Bobby Pierce of Illinois, plus another 20 or so Lucas Oil Circuit racing teams.

Hodgkiss normally goes into these races hoping to place in the top 20, but after running 16th for a while last weekend, he's raising his expectations.

The track at Eldora will be in better condition than the one at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway, which has been washed by rain after rain. Eldora has also received a lot of rain, but has better drainage and does not have the higher ground around it seeping water down onto the track.

This ends the season for the Hodgkiss Racing Team and the regional and national dirt track racing circuits.

Limited bleacher seats are still available at Eldora at $25 each for Friday and $40 for Saturday. Suites and grandstand seating are sold out.

The power and glory of big time dirt track racing was on full display for three days at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway over the weekend as the Lucas Oil Circuit came to town for the Pittsburgh 100.

All the big names were there : Jon Davenport of Georgia, Josh Richards of West Virginia, Scott Bloomquist of Tennessee, Tim McCreadie of New York, Bobby Pierce of Illinois, and a long list of other drivers and teams from as far away as Texas, California and Florida.

The big $500,000 rigs hauling the $100,000 racecars and their crews pulled into the speedway Thursday for time trials, qualifying heats and autograph sessions. The fans who follow them parked their RVs in the PPMS camping grounds and the smells of barbeque, fried chicken and pulled pork drifted across the racetrack.

Lost in the maze of huge rigs was the little white trailer and blue #69 of Kennedy Township's Jon Hodgkiss. "These guys must think we're pretty cute," Jon's Dad said with a grin as he looked up the row of rigs. "We're like a throwback to the 20th Century."

Lucas Oil Circuit drivers, like their NASCAR counterparts, move from track to track across the country. They were in Georgia last week. They'll be in Ohio next week. The drivers spend Tuesdays and Wednesdays on tracks testing their cars, trying new tactics. Their mechanics, many of whom are mechanical engineers, spend their days tinkering with shocks, gears and timing.

Hodgkiss spends Tuesdays and Wednesdays, plus Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, building or remodelling structures. He owns Hodgkiss Construction Company on Steubenville Pike. Racing to him is a hobby, not a full time job. "You have to decide at the beginning if you want to spend your life on the road or just race on weekends," he explains. "

"I love racing. I absolutely love it. But none of these guys are making a living at it. They all have some other income. One of them owns 350 pieces of real estate and gets his income from rentals. Several of them inherited money. Some of them made their money somehow and invested it and live off the interest. Even though they're some of the best race drivers in the world, they're not making a living off of it. So I decided early on that I would make my money in construction and just race as an expensive hobby."

Hodgkiss has become a very good regional driver. He only competes at tracks within a day's drive of home. Currently, that limits him to PMS, Lehrnerville, Erie and Eldora (Ohio).

Back In The Day, the only difference between regional and national racing teams was that some chose to stay close to home. That's no longer true.

"Big money has destroyed dirt track racing," Dad Hodgkiss tells reporters. "It drove a huge divide between the regional and national guys. 90% of racing is the car. These are incredibly sophisticated machines. The average racing fan has no idea. Every single part on these cars is high tech. But when one guy can buy engines, shocks, steering and everything worth two or three times what the other guy can, then no matter how well that other guy drives, he can't keep up over a 25 lap race."

Dad Hodgkiss drove in the old Pittsburgh Racing Association, so young Jon grew up in the sport. He started driving Limiteds, then moved up to the Unlimited Division.

"Running a construction business involves a lot of stress and pressure," Jon explains. "Every day, all day, every minute. You're under deadlines, the work has to be done just perfect, you deal with weather, employees, suppliers, all kinds of variables. Racing allows me to escape from that pressure. Sure, there's pressure in racing, too, but only what you put on yourself. If I lose a race, well, there are no long range implications. We just go back to work for next week. So it's a very freeing hobby. We keep a very tight eye on money, We only spend what we can afford to. So we're not under any pressure to win a race with a big purse."

Behind him, a mechanic works on the car's tires, cleaning the mud out of the tread so the car gets the best possible grip on the clay track.

"I try to race within myself," Hodgkiss continues. "If the car runs perfect and I make good decisions on the track, well, then I've had a good day."

That's a lot tougher than it sounds. Unlimiteds run at about 125-130 mph. Clay tracks are notoriously rough. Parts can vibrate loose.

"Last week up at Erie," Hodgkiss recalls, "I'm doing fine, challenging for the lead, and all of a sudden the engine starts missing. I don't have the punch I did. Turns out a wire has come loose, not totally loose, but just loose enough that every so many revolutions the spark misses. Well, running this fast with this high octane fuel and these high compression engines, if you're not getting a full explosion in a cylinder every time, your spark plugs foul right away."

Shock absorbers particularly annoy him. "The centrifugal forces here are intense. When we're on the turns, the front right corner drops way down. It's critical that as we come out of those turns, it comes up right away. The better the shock, the faster it comes back up. Today, top Penske shocks run $1700-2000. So if you can't spend that much on shocks, you're going to be at a real disadvantage." Hodgkiss pulls a shock off the car and uses a special device to adjust it, almost microscopically, to exactly what the track conditions require.

He also thinks engine builders have tilted racing against the regional drivers. "Guys used to build their own engines, and some builders specialized in dirt track engines, so guys could buy from them. But now the big engine builders have taken over. They just build for NASCAR, then sell the same engines to us dirt track racers. Escept those NASCAR engines are not suited for dirt tracks.

A NASCAR track is glass smooth. A dirt track is much rougher. "Those NASCAR engines, for all their power, are delicate. They're sophisticated, but their parts are so finely tuned, these dirt tracks beat them up. So you have to keep rebuilding them. They only last about a thousand laps. With testing, qualifying, heats and features, you add up a thousand laps pretty quick. But a rebuild costs about $16,000. Doing that twice a year really stretches the budget for a regional team. What we need is an engine built just for dirt tracks, an engine which is pretty sophisticated but also pretty tough. We could sacrifice a little performance for a little toughness. The big guys have all that national sponsorship money, so they burn through engines and don't worry about it."

Saturday was rainy and the Pittsburgh 100 had to be postponed until Sunday. Hodgkiss, his Dad and his mechanic spent the whole day on the car. He used the Air Density Gauge to calibrate the carbeurator. He and his Dad spent an hour working on an ignition issue. He took the car out for test laps and determined the track was extremely slick due to all the rain, which had saturated the clay. So they adjusted the shocks.

Up and down pit row, all the other crews were doing the same things.

Everyone was loading their rear shocks to force the wheels down for more grip. Regulations require that as the car passes through inspection the rear deck be no more than 39 inches high. But pit crews will lean on the deck just before it passes the measuring point. For a moment it will record 39. Half a lap around the track, it will have risen to 45. The higher deck exerts more downward pressure so creates greater grip and power.

Just a few bays down, the Pierce Racing Team from Illinois was putting the finishing touches on their #32.

Jon motioned to the red and white car. "My goal here is to finish in the top 20. These are the top dirt track race teams in America. Just the fact that we qualified for the Pittsburgh 100 is a big deal. There are a lot of guys with a lot more money than we have who didn't make the race. Yeh, sure, it would be great to win it or make the top 10, but realistically, over 100 laps, they've just got too many advantages. In a 20 lap race, maybe, but over 100 laps, those advantages will rise to the top. However, if I go out there, drive a smart race, and the car performs well, and we work our way up into the top 20, then I can say I'm one of the top 20 dirt track racers in the country even though we're just a regional team and almost all of that top 20 will be full timers. Like I said, you gotta race within yourself. Set your own goals. Take your victories where you can."

Hodgkiss finished a surprising 12th and 7th in two qualifying heats to esrn a 26th starting position in the 100. This meant he had finished ahead of a dozen nationally ranked drivers.

"We can do this," he said elatedly. "We can run with these guys."

He bided his time for several laps, then slipped into 25th. The car was performing well. The track was lightning fast, but water was seeping onto the top of turn 2 and turns 3 and 4 were what the drivers call "squirelly," meaning traction was poor. Hodgkiss, using controls inside the car, adjusted the brakes so the front right brake grabbed tighter, which, if he needed it, would give him more bite.

The pace was intense, possibly a record breaker, thanks to the week of rain. Mike Marlar led early. Beginning Lap 10, Hodgkiss grabbed a line low on turn 1 and slipped into 23rd. He was starting to feel a rush of adrenaline. The car was perfect. He was passing guys ranked nationally. On Lap 14, two cars tangled on turn 3 and Brandon Sheppard took over the lead. Hodgkiss slipped below the tangle into 21st.

He held there until Lap 22, when someone drifted up toward the middle and he darted below them into 20th. This, he thought, could be a magical afternoon. On Lap 30 he caught two cars on turn 2 dueling with each other. They went high and he shot below them into 18th.

He suddenly realized that the car ahead of him was #32, Bobby Pierce. He was one of the favorites, way back here in 17th. Pierce, Hodgkiss assumed, was going to be moving up steadily over the next 70 laps. Could he shadow him into a high finish? He settled in. For 10 laps, there was no movement back where Hodgkiss was, even though, at the front, the leaders traded first place back and forth.

He was amazed at the patience Pierce showed. He seemed content to wait until making his move toward the front. Then, on Lap 41, Pierce went low and moved into 16th. Hodgkiss followed him into 17th. On Lap 43, coming down the back straight, Pierce saw a line through the middle of the track and darted through into 15th, with Hodgkiss right behind him into 16th. They held those positions coming through turns 3 and 4 and down the front straight. Entering Lap 44, Hodgkiss was 16th, ahead of a dozen full time professional drivers and their much more expensive cars.

It was a beautiful October afternoon with the sun dropping in the sky and the crowd cheering loudly. It was the kind of day Hodgkiss lives for.

Then it all came crashing down.

Entering turn 1, Pierce was blocked by two slower cars.

Below them were four cars. Above them was wide open. Hodgkiss expected Pierce to pull high and shoot through but Pierce held his position. Making a split second decision, Hodgkiss pulled high and aimed for the opening.

"I'm thinking, My God, I'm going to pass Bobby Pierce," Hodgkiss said later. "Is this even happening? What a fantasy."

Instead, the front wheels hit the wet spot on upper turn 2 and lost traction. Instinctively, Hodgkiss tapped the brakes. Too late he remembered adjusting the brakes to increase the grab on the front right. As #69 came beyond the water and back onto solid clay, the front right wheel clamped down hard and threw the car head on into the wall at 130 mph. The other cars roared on by. Yellow lights flashed and the race slowed. Hodgkiss' car was done for the day. But Pierce used the caution laps to drop into the pits and change tires on his car to better match track conditions.

"I love this track," Pierce told reporters later (see photo, below). This was his first race here. "It's a momentum kind of track. I know the weather wasn't good this weekend, but I can't wait to get back here next year and run it under better conditions. It has great lines. I thought our tire change was key, plus the track improved as we went on."

Hodgkiss and his party watched the last 56 laps from the lookout stand built into their trailer (photo, left). It turned out to be one of the season's best races, both here at the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway and on the National Lucas Oil Circuit. Just as Hodgkiss suspected, Pierce slowly worked his way up through the field over 50 laps until he passed Jimmy Owens on Lap 90 for the lead and hung on to win.

When the track computer completed final calculations, Hodgkiss was 20th. So it was a bittersweet day. He did achieve his top 20 finish, but came away thinking he could have finished so much higher.

Even though PMS is now done, Hodgkiss is not. He and his crew head for Eldora (Ohio) this weekend for the World 100, which is basically the Dirt Track National Championship. Once again, he'll be a part time self financed little guy trying to survive in a world of big money full time professionals. But, as he says with a grin, "I just love racing."

Pittsburgh 100 Top 20: l. Bobby Pierce, Ill. 2. Jimmy Owens, Tenn. 3. Earl Pearson, Fla. 4. Jon Davenport, Ga. 5. Josh Richards, WVa. 6. Tim McReadie New York. 7. Ricky Thornton, Az. 8. Don ONeal, Ind. 9. Dennis Erb, Ill. 10. Darrell Lanigan, Ky. 11. Chub Franke, Pa. 12. Brandon Sheppard, Ill. 13. Mason Zeigler, Pa. 14. Michael Norris, Pa. 15. Scott Bloomquist, Tenn. 16. Mike Marlar, Tenn. 17. Frank Heckenast, Ill. 18. Colton Flinner, Pa. 19. Greg Satterlee, Pa. 20. Jon Hodgkiss, Pa.

Undefeated, unchallenged and #2 Sacred Heart had hoped to make a statement Friday night, defeating reigning WPIAL and PIAA champion Jeannette on its home field.

It didn't happen. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong as the host Jayhawks spanked Sacred Heart 28-13 to send its own statement : This team may have suffered some graduation losses but intends to defend its state championship with all the weapons at its disposal. And it has plenty.

Jeannette's two major weapons were a swarming, attacking defense and a tough, gritty ground game.

OLSH quarterback Tyler Bradley came into the game as the WPIAL's top quarterback, the director of Western Pennsylvania's most prolific air attack.

Jeannette shut him down immediately. They did it by using a variety of stunts and blitzes to penetrate the SH offensive line. The photo at right of Bradley setting up to pass was a rarity. On most plays, he didn't have time to look for receivers because he was scrambling for his life.

He was sacked on Sacred Heart's first possession, then sacked five more times, four of them by Drake Petrillo, who the Charger line never could contain. Petrillo spent most of the game in the OLSH backfield. Bradley was intercepted four times, two of which were run back for first half touchdowns by Marcus Barnes and Jackson Pruitt.

Bradley is a gifted quarterback, and he still completed 21 of 44 passes for 291 yards. But that is way below his average and Sacred Heart never did mount a consistent drive.

They also shot themselves in the foot. The Chargers committed five turnovers and more penalties than they had all season. To be fair, though, both were the result of Jeannette's defense. Sacred Heart has not seen the continuing stunts and blitzes Jeannette kept throwing at them, and it kept them off balance, rattled and prone to mistakes.

The crowd was the largest Sacred Heart has ever played before and it may have unnerved them as much as the Jayhawk defense. Neither Bradley nor anyone else on offense seemed comfortable at any point.

One reason Bradley and his talented receiving corps never mounted one of their usual drives was they couldn't get on the field. The Sacred Heart defense played almost the entire game. Jeannette's maddening ground game just kept chewing up yardage in small bites while the clock kept ticking.

Jeannette quarterback Seth Howard showed that he could pass, too. He threw for 198 yards. One of those passes, a three yarder to Zack Berginc, gave the Jayhawks their first touchdown and a 6-0 lead. But for the most part, Jeannette was content to keep the ball on the ground.

Later in the first quarter, Barnes picked off that Bradley pass and took it 58 yards for a 12-0 lead.

Bradley finally found Austin Wigley for a 30 yard pass to cut the gap to 12-6 just before the first quarter ended.

But then, in the second period, Pruitt intercepted that second Bradley pass and ran it back 85 yards for a 20-6 halftime lead.

The Jayhawks needed that. They had just embarassed themelves.

In a classic comedy of errors, they had the ball on the Sacred Heart 20 and, penalty by penalty, managed to push themselves backward all the way to their own 25. The resulting fourth down and 55 might set a WPIAL record.

As the second half opened, Sacred Heart showed signs of life and that botched drive looked like it might come back to haunt Jeannette. Bradley hit Sig Saftner with a 27 yarder to put the Chargers back in the game at 20-13.

The teams then traded possessions back and forth for the rest of the quarter until Sacred Heart mounted what looked like the tying drive. They ended up with a first and goal on the nine and third and goal on the one. That was when Jeannette's defense rose to heroic stature, smothering Sacred Heart on two straight plays.

Howard then passed downfield to Berginc on the 45, then ran it down the sideline himself to make it 28-13.

After the ensuing kickoff, Bradley's first pass was picked off by Shamon Jackson. Another time consuming Jeannette drive finally stalled, and Sacred Heart took over, Saftner put the Chargers in scoring position, but on the next play Jeannette's Justin Cramer recovered a fumble. Howard immediately fired a 78 yard pass to Melik Gordon for a first and 10 on the Sacred Heart 10. But the OLSH defense held. Then they couldn't move the ball. They had to punt to Jeannette, which took over on its own 45. Again Sacred Heart held, and received a punt back on its own 15 with 3:23 left. A penalty put them in a 3rd and 27 situation, and the game ended with no further scoring.

"We've been reading about these guys all year," Petrillo told reporters afterward. "He was the star of the WPIAL and they were racking up all those yards and TDs. But this is our house. Nobody comes into our house and does that on us. It was a pride thing. We talked about it all week."

The game should be valuable experience for Sacred Heart. Barring a major upset, the two are favored to meet again in the WPIAL finals. The Chargers have plenty of film to study. But the loss did drop Sacred Heart to third. Unbeaten Clairton is now second.

It's been a frustrating season for Chuck Medved (car 2M) in the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway's Limited Division. He's done well enough, and finished sixth in season points. But first place has eluded him.

Friday night on the final weekend, he finally won a race. No, it wasn't a big one. It was just a 15 lap prelim to the big Lucas Oil races. But all the local rivals were in it --- Bob Schwartzmiller, Logan Zarin, Paul Jablonski, etc, --- and he had to beat out drivers like Tim Shaffer (in White #45 in photo).

In the world of Late Model dirt track racing, the competition is ruthless and wins are hard to come by. So Medved will take it. He can savor it all Winter while he and his Imperial racing team prepare for next year.

Other Western Hill drivers also found success during the final three day weekend. Bob Schwartzmiller edged out Josh Stoica for a win in the 10 lap Late Model sprint.

Shaffer narrowly edged Medved in another 10 lap sprint. Daryl Charlier of Midway won the 40 lap Bill Hendron Memorial, a sort of companion feature to the Lucal Oil Pittsburgh 100. The Hendron Memorial is for Limited Late Models, a division below the big Unlimiteds.

Rising teenage star Kyle Janus finished second in the final four cylinder race of the year.

Justin Lamb, who won the regular season points title, did not have a good weekend. He finished 2nd in one qualifying heat, 6th in another, and 8th in the Hendren Memorial.

The Pittsburgh Motor Speedway held heats and features in the other divisions Friday night as leadups to the Pittsburgh 100 qualifying heats, time trials and Sunday afternoon main event.

Some guys have all the luck. Friday night was Homecoming at Cornell, so Corey Johns got to step out of the locker room for a few minutes to escort Maya Goins as the two were named King and Queen. Then he got to step onto the football field and lead his Raiders to a solid 40-6 win over Bishop Canevin. It sounds like a fantasy evening.

It wasn't.

It was miserable. After another week of rain, the field was a swamp, with expanses of deep mud, ruts, and in some places ankle deep puddles. The evening was unseasonably warm. As game time approached, a fog drifted in. By the second quarter, a light mist began, and much of the game was played in a drizzle. The dreary weather produced the lowest crowd of the season. By halftime, the starters' uniforms were soaking wet and caked with mud.

But nobody was complaining. The win lifted Cornell to 4-2 and 6-2. All the Raiders have to do now is win Friday at Laurel and they'll clinch a winning Big Seven Conference season and keep their hopes alive for a WPIAL at large berth.

Cornell exploded out of the gate. Canevin's onside kick failed so the Raiders took possession on the 44. On the first play from scrimmage Luke Piccolo ran 56 yards for a touchdown. The PAT failed but Cornell led 6-0. Canevin drove to the Cornell 30 before stalling. On the first play Drew Lopez ran 71 yards for a second TD. So with 8:46 in the first, the Raiders led 12-0.

Canevin took the kick on its own 40 and cranked out four first downs to reach the Cornell 18. But Zaire Harrison intercepted a pass on the two yard line. The Raiders ground out a first down on the 12 but appeared to stall and lined up to punt. Piccolo faked the punt and ran for another first down. Harrison then found Kaden Divito for 17 yards as play entered the second quarter.

Harrison ran it to the Canevin 35, then passed to Jalen Lee for the TD. With 9:34 in the half, Cornell led 18-0.

The teams exchanged possessions until with 1:34 and the ball on the C34, Harrison found Piccolo, who ran it in for the TD. A Brian Sams to Isiah Langston pass made it 26-0 at the half.

Things only got worse for Canevin in the third. The Centurions received and promptly fumbled. Tyler Godfrey recovered for Cornell on its own 47. Passes to Divito, Langston and Divito again moved it to the four, and with 6:41 Harrison hit Divito for the TD. Sams' kick was good, making it 33-0. With 3:14 in the third, Piccolo took a pass in and Sams made the PAT for the final Cornell score.

Coach Ed Dawson sent in the reserves. With 8:54 remaining, Canevin hit a 24 yard pass against Cornell's JVs for the final 40-6 score. Those fans who stayed through the rain got to see some nice runs by junior Savon Wilson, some solid play at quarterback by Jason Keene, and a tackle and a first down by freshman Carmine Delessandro, the smallest varsity player in the WPIAL.

Harrison passed for 254 yards and four TDs. His numbers have dropped afer low output against Rochester and Sto-Rox, but he still ranks third among Class A quarterbacks behind Sacred Heart's Tyler Bradley and Sto-Rox's Eric Wilson. Harrison is 20th among all WPIAL quarterbacks.

Cornell is now tied with Sto-Rox for third in the Big Seven Conference. The WPIAL will take the conference winner (presumably Sacred Heart) and runnerup (presumably Rochester) plus one at large team into the playoffs. Sto-Rox holds the tie breaker over Cornell.

"We have to take care of business," Dawson told his team after the game. "We have to keep winning and hope someone upsets Sto-Rox. We can't worry about what anyone else does. We have to focus on ourselves."

Cornell plays Laurel Friday in suburban New Castle. The Spartans have defeated Canevin, 44-7, California 37-14 and Union 48-13. But they lost to Rochester 26-14, Mohawk 28-12, Clairton 25-12 and Sacred Heart 55-13.

A high school sporta dynasty takes a long time to build and constant work to maintain. Right now, Jeannette sits atop the Pennsylvania and WPIAL Class A football mountain. They have won more games, more championships and produced more outstanding players than any other school at their level. They rank fifth in the state among schools of all sizes for all time winning percentage and championships. Last year, this run continued, as the Jayhawks added another WPIAL and state title.

In a time when schools everywhere are worrying about declining football participation and many good programs are down to less than 30, or even less than 20, players, Jeannette dresses 50. In a time when attendance is down everywhere else, Jeannette continues to draw 5,000 plus crowds.

Jeannette games are broadcast live on WHJB 107.1 and draw an average 22,000 listeners. The Eastern Conference the Jayhawks play in has won nine of the last 10 WPIAL titles and for the last three years has produced both of the WPIAL finalists. Jeannette has been playing football for 100 years but won its first title in 1932 and has been winning or coming close ever since. The town of 10,000 population would be a good place to film a movie or TV series or write a book about high school football.

Sacred Heart is the exact opposite. OLSH fielded its first team in 2010. It has taken nine hard years to build to this point. Last year the Chargers finally made the WPIAL playoffs but quickly exited in a 20-12 Imani loss.

This year, Sacred Heart is unbeaten, unchallenged and ranked #2. If they could upset Jeannette Friday night, they would achieve a # 1 ranking for the first time and, barring a huge upset, carry a coveted #1 seed into the playoffs.

Sacred Heart seems to hold a winning hand. It has Tyler Bradley, the top quarterback in Class A and one of the top five in all classes combined. It has a talented receiving corps of Andrew Schnarre (448 yards), Richard Banks (420), Ricco Tate (333) and Austin Wigley (316). In just the game against Laurel last week, Bradley completed 24 of 34 passes for 459 yards and seven touchdowns.

But where Sacred Heart has been winning games is on the line. The real stars of the OLSH season are the linemen shown in the first three photos. On offense they keep defenders from getting to Bradley, giving him the time he needs to find downfield receivers. On defense, they stop runners from finding holes like the one seen above. That Laurel runner picked up a few yards, but it doesn't happen very often.

One reason they've been so successful is that they're bigger. And they'll be bigger than Jeannette. The Jeannette line averages 6-0 and runs 195, 210, 205, 230, 193 and 215. Defensive Tackle Zach Crutchman is the 230. He's a 6-3 junior, the Jayhawks' biggest player.

If Sacred Heart's line can continue its success, the Chargers will win.

But that's not guaranteed. Jeannette has been winning with smaller lineups for a century. It uses speed, quickness, strength, smarts, toughness and the kind of pride that comes with growing up with a winning tradition. In last year's championship season, Jeannette was outsized in all but one game and won anyway.

The Jayhawks won't fill the air with passes like Sacred Heart. They run the ball. Imani Sanders, a 5-5 150 junior; Zack Berginc, a 5-5 135 senior; and Marcus Barnes, a 6-3 180 senior, carry it the most. Quarterback Seth Howard can throw. He's done so for 709 yards and 11 touchdowns. But if he's not pitching out or handing off to Sanders, Berginc or Barnes, he usually just tucks it under his arm and runs it up the middle. Sanders leads Jeannette with 379 yards rushed. Howard is second with 311. Barnes is third with 299. Barnes has personally scored seven TDs.

Jeannette does nothing fancy. They're famous for old school, fundamental, grind it out football. One way they win games is by churning out yardage in three and four yard pieces and taking a long time getting from one end of the field to the other. The Jayhawks run a lot of traps, draws and off tackle slants. Opposing offenses end up running only a fifth as many plays as the Jayhawks. If Jeannette can do this against Sacred Heart, Bradley and his crew will not be able to unleash their attack.

McKee Stadium will give Jeannette an advantage. Sacred Heart plays home games before mostly empty Rip Scherer Field. They play away games in the Big Seven Conference, where only Rochester draws decent crowds. Against Jeannette, OLSH will be playing before 7,000 - 8,000 fans, 5,000 in a core grandstand and another 2,000 around the rest of the field. The crowd will be almost all Jeannette fans. The Jayhawks traditionally fill up opposing stadiums, and last year in the WPIAL championship game at Robert Morris filled that facility with their familiar blue and red. This game is at home, and Jeannette fans see Sacred Heart as a legitimate challenger to their football pride. Sacred Heart will probably bring its biggest following of the year, but it will be lost in the Jeannette crowd. For the Chargers to win, they will have to play with that crowd noise against them.

Sacred Heart has already played its toughest opponents in Westinghouse, Sto-Rox, Rochester and Laurel. Jeannette has yet to play arch rivals Greensburg Central Catholic and Clairton in the Eastern Conference.

Sacred Heart's usual strategy of grabbing a quick lead and demoralizing opponents won't work against Jeannette. The Jayhawks have mastered the art of coming from behind, especially in the fourth quarter. Last season, en route to WPIAL and state championships, the Jayhawks came from behind on consecutive weekends against Rochester, Clairton, Imani, Farrell and Homer Center. That string included 14 points in the fourth against Clairton and 10 points in the fourth against Farrell.

Over the years, fourth quarter rallies have been a Jeannette tradition. This may indicate that the Jayhawks are in better condition. But it's also due to familiarity. Jeannette has been in so many big games and so many playoff games that they feel comfortable there. Most teams find it unfamiliar and intimidating and allow themselves to get rattled.

The computer ranks the teams even and gives a slight edge to the home team. But the betting rule says in close games bet on the quarterback. Bradley has thrown for 1780 yards and 24 TDs this year and will surpass 7000 yards for his career Friday night. That should be the difference.

One of the eccentricities of auto racing is that points accrue to the car, not the driver. Fans have always found this odd and confusing. But it served Imperial's Justin Lamb well Saturday night as regular season racing for 2018 wrapped up with twin features in the Rush Limited Late Models.

There were two features because one had been rained out a few weeks prior. But a feature race win earns 25 points, and the other finishers pick up points decreasing by one point per place. So a driver winning both features could grab 50 points.

Lamb has been leading the points race all season, but due to a wedding he could not race Saturday. Since it's the car earning the points, Lamb asked Keith Barbara to drive in his place. Barbara just needed to finish in the top 10 in both races, which would earn 28 points, enough to hold onto first place.

Barbara did better than that. He finished fifth in the qualifying heat, won the first feature, then came back and finished second in the other.

In the first feature, among the other contenders, Daryl Charlier finished 4th, Logan Zarn 6th, Christian Schneider 9th, Bryan Hoffman 12th and Chuck Medved 16th.

Schneider won the second feature, with Barbara a close second. Other Western Hills high finishers were Charlier 3rd, Medved 11th and Ho9ffman 16th.

For a heat and the two features, Barbara earned 48 points, enough to keep Car 93X (phtoto, above) in the lead over Logan Zarn of Moon Township. John Mollick of Toronto was third, Christian Schneider of Pittsburgh (in 1ST out of Imperial, shown here at left) fourth, Josh Stoica of New Cumberland fifth and Chuck Medved of Imperial sixth. Other Western Hills high season points finishers were Daryl Charlier seventh, Jeff Jablonski 10th and Bryan Hoffman of Imperial 23rd.

Attention now shifts to this Saturday's Pittsburgh 100, one of America's top dirt track features

The Western Hills area pins its hopes on John Hodgkiss, who finished ninth in the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway's own regular season points competition in #69, shown at right. This was a very tightly contested division. Hodgkiss trailed first place Alex Ferree of Valencia by only 21 points in regular season points. Other local drivers in this division are Derek Stefanick of Imperial and Tony Musolino of Carnegie.

However, the Pittsburgh 100 is part of the Lucas Oil Unlimited Late Model Dirt Series, which includes the top dirt track cars and drivers in the country and moves from track to track similar to NASCAR. The 100 carries a $20,000 first place purse. So Hodgkiss, Stefanick and Musolino will be joined by a very high powered field. These are $100,000 cars, the closest dirt track racing comes to NASCAR, and in fact many NASCAR drivers came up through this division. This is the 30th year for the 100, and it existed further back than that under various other names. Action really begins Friday night with time trials and heat races. Limited Late Models and Sportsmen will also run their heats, along with features for Hobby Stocks, Young Guns and Four Cylinders.

A live concert and bonfire will follow Friday night racing. Breweries will offer beverages and food. Saturday's activities will begin at 3:30 with various activities and a driver autograph session. Limited and Sportsman divisions will run features as prelims to the Pittsburgh 100. Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Georgia, is the pre-race favorite in the 100, since he leads the national standings.

Among other area drivers, Kyla Janus (photo, left) finished second in the Young Guns Division for the season. Karlee Kovacs was seventh in Hobby Stocks. Brian Huchko was sixth in Elite Modifieds. Danny Rich was sixth, Jeff Broniszewski 10th and Bob Schwartzmiller 34th in Sportsmen.

Friday night, October 5th, Tyler Bradley and his Chargers will play the biggest football game in the history of Our Lady Of The Sacred Heart High School. Unbeaten, unchallenged SH, ranked #2 in the WPIAL, plays at #1 Jeannette, also unbeaten, also unchallenged, in a midseason showdown for high school football supremacy. The game is already a "sellout" in the sense they have sold as many tickets as they have seats, but of course additional fans can stand. Every newspaper and TV station in the Pittsburgh area will be there. So will a hundred college scouts, eager to see some of the stars for both teams go against each other. Both teams have already clinched postseason playoff berths, but the winner will earn the #1 seed, which guarantees them the easiest route to the finals.

This will be more than an epic battle. It will be a celebration of high school football, an example of what Friday Night Lights is all about. It will be one of the games the players will talk about when they come back for class reunions 50 years from now,

As a warmup, Sacred Heart buried a pretty good Laurel team 56-13 Saturday afternoon at Rip Scherer Stadium. Laurel is no weakling. It was a Class 2A school last year. It has a strong football tradition.

The Spartans are located on the edge of football hotbed New Castle. They've beaten Canevin 44-7 and California 37-14. And they came into this game convinced they could beat Sacred Heart.

In the first quarter, they did. Quarterback Dom Wade fired a 28 yard pass to Cam Caldararo and Zack Maine made the kick to give Laurel a 7-0 lead. It's the only time this year Sacred Heart has trailed anyone. Bradley found Rico Tate with a 29 yarder late in the first but the kick failed and Laurel led 7-6 going into the second.

But it was just a wakeup call. Bradley went to work. He hit Tate with a 79 yarder, then Andrew Schnarre with a five yarder and a 33 yarder. Two PAT passes to Tate gave the Chargers a 28-7 halftime lead.

Laurel opened the third by narrowing the lead somewhat with a Wade one yard run. But the kick failed and the margin was 28-13.

Then OLSH went back to work. Austin Wigley returned a punt 75 yards and Schnarre kicked the PAT to push the lead to 35-13.

Tate caught a 10 yard pass from Bradley and Schnarre's kick made it 42-13.

Banks ran in a 25 yard pass from Bradley and Schnarre's kick pushed it to 49-13.

And Bradley found Sig Safter for a 32 yard pass. Schnarre's kick made it 56-13.

In all, Bradley completed 24 of 35 passes for 459 yards, the seventh best showing by a quarterback in WPIAL history. He is the top quarterback in Class A and one of the top five among all WPIAL classes. With only 120 yards this Friday, he will reach 7000 total yards for his career.

The Sacred Heart receiving corps all rank highly in the WPIAL. Tate had 174 yards, Wigley 93, Banks 92 and Schnarre 68.

"So many weapons," Laurel Coach Brian Cooper said, shaking his head. "They overwhelm defenses. No matter which two or three you cover, there are still one or two open. High school defenses just don't have that many really fast, quick, strong, tall experienced defenders. These guys would be very competitive in 4A or 5A. I don't know if they'd win it, but they'd make a run at it."

Jeannette plays in the Eastern Conference. The Jayhawks have defeated Brownsville 28-0, Springdale 58-0, Avella 55-7, Imani 28-12, Leechburg 38-0, and East Allegheny 32-12.

The town of 10,000 is in Westmoreland County. It is reached by taking the Parkway East (I-376), then I-76 south, then Route 30 into Jeannette. The school is just a block off Route 30 on Florida Avenue. Given Friday rush hour traffic, the trip out should take about 90 minutes. The return will be much quicker because traffic will be much less.

Cornell Head Football Coach Ed Dawson may have whiplash before this season is over. His team goes from one extreme to the other week after week.

They've won by scores like 63-0, 21-7, 23-0 and 43-15. They lost by 58-6 at Sto-Rox. And Friday night they lost to Rochester 43-14. What ever happened to a close game decided in the fourth quarter?

To be fair, Sto-Rox and Rochester are among the top teams in the WPIAL and the winner of their game next week will clinch a playoff berth. But they've both lost one sided games to Sacred Heart and Cornell thought it had a reasonable chance going in. It didn't happen. Either time.

Darius Goosby opened scoring for Rochester with a three yard run early in the first quarter. The PAT faild and the Rams led 6-0.

Cornell stalled and when the visitors took over they drove to the Cornell one yard line, where Noah Whiteleather ran it in. Zane Jefferson ran the point for a 14-0 lead, which held until the quarter break.

In the second quarter, Whiteleather ran one in from the five, and Michael Luco passed to Duvall Duke for the PAT and a 22-0 edge.

After Cornell was unable to move the ball, Whiteleather broke loose for a 49 yard run. Jefferson passed to Declan Eaton for the PAT and a 30-0 halftime advantage.

Cornell quarterback Zaire Harrison finally ran one in from the eight in the third but the PAT run was stopped short so the Raiders trailed 30-6. Once again the indomitable Whiteleather picked his way through and around the Raider defenders for a 27 yard run. Tyreek Sherod's kick made it 37-6.

Harrison found Isiah Langston on a 34 yard pass in the fourth.

He hit Luke Piccolo on the PAT pass to bring the score to 37-14.

Late in the quarter, Rochester's Denny Robinson broke loose on a 70 yard run to make it 43-14. The PAT run failed.

The loss eliminated any remaining hopes Cornell might have had for a postseason berth. The WPIAL has redesigned its playoff format and will take only the top two teams from each conference. Sacred Heart has the top spot clinched and Sto-Rox and Rochester are battling for second.

However, Cornell could still salvage a winning record with wins over Bishop Canevin next Friday and Laurel. Canevin would seem a very winnable game. The Centurions have lost to Carlynton 34-7, Laurel 44-7 and Sacred Heart 42-0. They beat Avella 40-18 but Cornell beat that same team 63-0. Canevin also beat Springdale 34-14.

Laurel will be tougher but still winnable. It is dropping down into Class A after last year in AA. The Spartans, located just outside New Castle, have defeated California 37-14 and Canevin 44-7, but lost to Clairton 25-12, Rochester 26-14 and Mohawk 28-12.

They were warned that the weather might turn hostile by the second half so they better take care of business while conditions allowed.

Sacred Heart took that advice and rolled up 42 points by halftime. Then they just rode out the downpour (photo, bottom) for a 42-0 win over their Catholic rival, Bishop Canevin. The win left OLSH undefeated and ranked #2 in the WPIAL and #3 in the state.

The first five touchdowns came on passes from Tyler Bradley, the top quarterback in Class A and one of the top five among all WPIAL classes. Bradley (#12, below) has plenty of time to find his receivers, thanks to a strong offensive line (photo, right), which holds off opposing defenders.

Bradley's first TD pass was a 21 yarder to Austin Wigley. Andrew Schnarre kicked the PAT for a 7-0 lead.

Only minutes later Bradley hit Richard Banks with a 12 yarder. The kick failed and OLSH led 13-0.

Late in the first quarter, Bradley found Banks with a 28 yarder. Schnarre's kick was good for a 20-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Bradley hit Wigley with a 15 yarder and Schnarre added the kick for 27-0.

By midway through the second quarter a light rain had begun. Bradley passed 17 yards to Banks. This time, Bradley handed off to Wigley, who ran in the PAT for 35-0.

Just before halftime, Dom Mazzarese ran the final TD in from the one. Schnarre kicked the PAT for the 42-0 margin.

Bradley completed 17 of 22 for 238 yards. Banks caught five passes for 116 yards and Wigley caught four for 79 yards.

Canevin was never able to mount a sustained drive either on the ground or through the air. Sacred Heart attracts a lot of attention for its prolific offense, but its defense is just as strong.

The Centurions came in 2-2, having defeated Avella 40-18 and Springdale 34-14 but lost to Carlynton 34-7 and Laurel 44-7. They play Union Friday.

OLSH is 5-0, having won 41-6, 46-6, 56-0, 37-8 and 42-0. The Chargers play Laurel at home Friday, then prepare for their big trip to Jeannette. The Eastern Conference team, ranked #1 in the WPIAL and #2 in the state, remained unbeaten 58-0 over Springdale. The other top ranked WPIAL teams are Clairton, Imani and Sto-Rox.

Justin Lamb finished a disappointing seventh in the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway Limited Late Model Feature last Saturday, but that was good enough to keep a grip on his season points lead. With only two racing nights left, Lamb leads Logan Zarin by 110 points, John Mollick by 132 and Christian Schneider by 168. Zarin finished fourth in the Feature so will narrow the lead to about 100 points. But Mollick finished 8th, so will slip a few points further back. Schneider finished 11th. Daryl Charlier, in 7th, finished second, and Chuck Medved, in 6th, finished tenth. Josh Stoica was in 5th, but failed to finish so will drop. Charlier will likely move ahead of Medved into 5th but Medved will hold 6th.

In the Sportsman Division, Danny Rich of Imperial finished second in the Feature. Rich was 8th in points and will move up. Jeff Broniszewski was 9th in points but did not finish and will drop. Bob Betz in the Jailhouse Saloon Car was 15th but finished seventh and will move up.

John Hodgkiss (#69, right) finished ninth in the Feature and remains 9th in points, but is only 21 points behind first in the Unlimited Late Models.

Unlimited drivers are already pointing to the annual Pittsburgh 100, the Saturday, October 6 epic which is the season's grand finale. One admission ticket is good for both Friday evening qualifiers and Saturday's main event. The Pittsburgh 100 is one of America's top four dirt track championship races, and always attracts a large field of out of state drivers.

Karlee Kovacs managed only a seventh place Feature finish in the Hobby Stocks Division. She should hold her 5th place season points position but is running out of time to move up. Dave Sheriff of Imperial finished 8th, so will hold his eighth place in points. Matt Bernard of Oakdale is 6th in the season points race. He finished third in the Hobby Stocks Feature but is too far behind 5th place to move up with only two races left.

Kyle Janus (#88, left) finished third in the Young Guns Feature and looks to have 2nd place in the points standings clinched as long as he shows up and places in the next two Features. He has 984 points, 36 behind first place Frank Magill and 143 ahead of third place Susie Rudolph. Janus is the budding young star of Western Pennsylvania, a 13 year old eighth grader who has a string of wins and second and third places but still has three years to wait until he can get his drivers license. He drives a 1990s sedan with a four cylinder 2.5 liter engine with no modifications. He already has his own cheering section.

Powerful, versatile Sacred Heart, ranked second in the WPIAL and closing in on top ranked Jeannette, handed fourth ranked Rochester a rare home loss Friday night to take ironclad control of first place in the Big Seven Conference.

The Chargers have already defeated their top two conference challengers. The only obstacle to an undefeated regular season is an October trip to Jeannette of the Eastern Conference.

The Rochester game was never in doubt. Sacred Heart just had too many weapons. Tyler Bradley, one of the WPIAL's top five quarterbacks, is a battle hardened triple threat who can pass, run, hand off, pitch out and read defenses. He has a talented receiver corps, a stable of running backs and an offensive line to protect him.

Rochester's defense is famous for shutting down opposing quarterbacks. Bradley passed for 363 yards and four touchdowns. Rochester is always tough to run against. Andrew Schnarre, Austin Wigley and Richard Banks ran at will up the middle and around the ends

Rochester's Noah Whiteleather has been practically unstoppable this season, averaging over 300 yards a game, including last week's 356 yards. He's been averaging 8.9 yards per carry. Friday night he got 92 yards on 34 carries for a 2.7 average.

Bradley's first TD pass was to Schnarre for 58 yards. Schnarre's PAT made it 7-0.

His second pass was a 53 yarder to Wigley. The PAT failed for 13-0.

Rochester scored its only TD in the second quarter when Whiteleather ran it in from the two. QB Tyrock Sherrod passed to Glen Haskins for the two point PAT and OLSH led by only 13-8. But that was as close as the Rms would get.

Bradley fired a 24 yarder to Justin Walsh and passed to Ricco Tate for the PAT to give the Chargers a 21-8 halftime lead.

The teams played on even terms in the third quarter, punting back and forth with neither mounting a sustained scoring drive.

In the fourth quarter Bradley lofted a 17 yarder to Richard Banks, then hit Tate for the PAT and a 29-8 lead.

The final score came on an interception of a Rochester pass by Walsh and a 46 yard runback. Bradley passed to Tate for the PAT and the 37-8 margin.

Sacred Heart now returns home to Moon's Rip Scherer Field to face Bishop Canevin Friday night and Laurel at noon Saturday, September 29 before heading to Jeannette October 5.

Rochester faces away games at Union and Cornell before returning home October 5th against Sto-Rox. The winner of rhe Rams - Sto Rox game will probably earn the conference's runnerup spot in the WPIAL playoffs while the loser will be a likely at large recipient.

19 times since 1940 McKees Rocks or Sto-Rox has ended a Coraopolis or Cornell unbeaten streak. Almost all of those times the game was played in November on the next to last Friday of the season (Cory always ended with Moon, Rox with Stowe). Often the game would pivot on a single play such as a dropped pass, interception, fumble, slipped tackle or stray extra point kick. Twice McKees Rocks didn't even win; they just gained a tie. But in the old WPIAL Gardner Points days, a team was ineligible for the playoffs if it suffered one loss or one tie.

The WPIAL Computer, which sets up football schedules, has moved the Sto-Rox vs. Cornell game to mid September. And this Sto-Rox team has already lost twice.

But the result was the same. Cornell saw its unbeaten season come to a miserable ending with a 58-6 loss to the hated Vikings.

This loss stands out from all the others for several reasons.

First, it was the most onesided. Cornell was never in the game, falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter and 44-6 at the half.

Second, the game was not completed. A disturbance in the crowd forced officials to remove cheerleaders and players from the field and escort them to safety, then use tasers to quiet things down. Several arrrests were made. Officials then called the game.

Third, Sto-Rox completely stifled Cornell's previously prolific offense. Having run up 63-0, 21-7, 24-0 and 43-15 margins, the Raiders expected a shootout against Sto-Rox quarterback Eric Wilson and his talented receiving corps. It never happened. Luke Piccolo's 81 rushing yards was the only Cornell output. The Raiders offense never scored. The only TD was in the second quarter by the defense when Dionte Spencer fell on a fumble in the Viking end zone.

But Sto-Rox performed as expected. Wilson threw six touchdown passes, completing 16 of 24 overall for 350 yards. Vinny Eggleton scored two TDs on runs of eight and two yards. Wilson's TD passes were for 32 yards to Jaiden Berry, 28 and 38 yards to Ahmad Pack, three yards to Eggleton, and 53 and 24 yards to Marcus Upshaw.

The loss was devastating to Cornell because of the new WPIAL format. This year, only the winner and runnersup from each conference advance to playoffs, plus two at large teams drawn from the entire Class A field. Sacred Heart is heavily favored to win the conference, with Rochester a likely second. That leaves Sto-Rox and Cornell to fight for a possible at large spot. This game makes Sto-Rox a clear favorite for that spot.

Cornell plays at Northgate next Saturday at noon. Sto-Rox has Chartiers Houston on the road Friday night.

#1 Jeannette beat #2 Imani Friday night, opening the door for #3 Sacred Heart to move up. Just to make sure, the Chargers went out in a cold driving rain at Rip Scherer Field and thoroughly destroyed Northgate 56-0.

They didn't waste much time, either, scoring three touchdowns early for a 20-0 lead.

Austin Wigley scored the first two, on one and five yard runs. Andrew Schnarre kicked both extra points.

Quarterback Tyler Bradley passed eight yards to Eric Olexa for the third one, but the kick failed.

In the second quarter Richard Banks ran one in from the 25. Again the kick failed, so OLSH led 26-0.

Northgate was tackled in its own end zone for a safety, giving Sacred Heaet a 28-0 halftime lead.

There were few fans to begin with, and, seeing the game firmly in hand, many headed to their warm, dry cars during the intermission. But the Chargers were just getting warmed up.

Wigley ran a touchdown in from the four and, with Schnarre's kick, it was 35-0.

After several series in which neither team could move the ball, Jay Pearson ran from the 25 and Schnarre kicked to end the third quarter 42-0.

In the fourth, Pearson intercepted a Northgate pass on the SH 15 and ran it back 85 yards. The rain was coming down harder and rather than try the kick, OLSH tried a run for the PAT. But it failed. So the Chargers led 48-0.

Pearson scored the final touchdown on an 18 yard run. Don Mazzareese ran in the PAT for the final 56-0 score.

In the cold, driving rain, the usual Sacred Heart passing attack was shut down. Bradley's passing accounted for only one TD.

Sacred Heart now prepares for its big mid season showdown at fifth ranked Rochester. The Rams are not only undefeated but, like OLSH, have won by onesided margins. Sacred Heart has displayed a more varied and explosive offense and a stifling defense. But Rochester has a 100 year winning tradition and is very difficult to beat at home. The computer rates the game a tossup.

Hard hitting Cornell stopped Bentworth cold and five different players scored Friday night while the Raiders ran up a 43-0 lead.

Coach Ed Dawson then started substituting freely and the visitors from the Tri County Conference put up 15 points.

The game got off to a wild start. Cornell kicked off and Bentworth ran it back to its own 42. They fumbled on their first play from scrimmage and Cornell took over. On the Raiders' first play QB Zaier Harrison's pass was picked off at the three yard line.

Bentworth then settled down and placed the ball in Shawn Dziak's hands. He kept running up the middle and, three yards at a time, ground out first downs at the 13 and 27. But a pass was intercepted by Harrison and run back to the Bentworth 12 with 7:19 in the first quarter. Keyron Sharp ran it to the five, and Harrison ran it in on a keeper with 6:25. Blaine Sams kicked the PAT and Cornell led 7-0.

Bentworth ran the kick back to its own 46 and the game became a battle between Dziak and Cornell's Corey Johns and Tre Bronaugh. Dziak kept trying to run it up the middle and Johns and Bronaugh kept trying to stop him. Dziak earned one first down at the Cornell 43 but Johns tackled him three straight times and Bentworth punted.

Cornell took over at its own 23. Harrison hit Jalen Lee on a pass to the 44 and Sharp ran it to the 46. A pass to Sams got to the Bentworth 30 and on the next play Harrison hit Savon Wilson in the end zone. Sams made the PAT and Cornell led 14-0 at 2:20.

Bentworth took over on its own 35 and Dziak ground out a first down on the 50. Johns and Bronaugh bottled up Dziak, but on fourth down, the Bearcats faked a punt and Dziak ran it to the Cornell 35. Cornell finally held on its own 26 and took over with 8:24 in the second. Luke Piccolo ran it out to the 48, Sams carried a handoff to the Bentworth 44, and Harrison hit Lee in the end zone at 6:57. Sams' PAT made it 21-0.

At this point Bronaugh went out with a possible concussion and Johns was left to handle Dziak alone. He did, and Bentworth had to punt. The Raiders took over on the Bentworth 40.

Harrison fired a 40 yarder to Isiah Langston with 4:24 to make it 27-0. Bronaugh had been serving as the placekick holder. With him out, Dawson elected to try passing for the PAT. It fell incomplete.

Bentworth ran the kick to its own 48 and tried a pass. Piccolo intercepted and ran it back 55 yards for a TD with 3:21. Sharp caught the PAT pass but a flag nullified it. On the redo, Piccolo caught the pass in the end zone to give Cornell a 35-0 halftime lead.

Dziak ground out a first down with four straight runs up the middle, but then Cornell held and took over on its own 23. An 80 yard pass and run to Piccolo scored but was nullified by a holding penalty to end the half.

Under WPIAL rules, the second half began with a running clock. But Cornell soon made it worse. The Raiders took the kickoff on their own 20 and Harrison ran to the 50, then hit Piccolo with a 45 yard pass for the TD. Sams caught the PAT pass for 43-0 with 9:36.

By now, Cornell was shuttling freshmen and sophomores in, some getting their first game action. Bentworth, still with its starters in, ground out three first downs until they reached the Cornell five.

In another wild sequence, Bentworth fumbled. Cornell's reserves took over on their own five and fumbled in the end zone for a safety to make it 43-2.

Bentworth scored two TDs in the fourth, a 40 yard run by Dziak and a 60 yard pass from Dziak to Dylan Farkas.

Harrison finished with 11 of 13 pass completions for 249 yards, placing him among the top five of WPIAL quarterbacks in all classes for the evening.

Coach Ed Dawson found plenty to be happy about. "Sams seems to have solved our extra point kicking problem," he pointed out. "Last week we struggled. If he can do this the rest of the season, that will be a huge advantage in close games."

Dawson was also pleased with his team's physical play and aggressive tackling. "As long as we continue to play physical and tackle like this, our defense will continue to give our opponents problems. That's the biggest single difference from last year to this.'

Dawson told his players, and reporters, that next week they would focus on fundamentals in preparation for their early season showdown at Sto-Rox. The Vikings crushed Union 60-0 Friday. They have been a traditional spoiler of undefeated Cornell seasons dating back more than 80 years. Cornell's run of 63-0, 21-7, 24-0 and now 43-15 wins gives the Raiders momentum, but a win at Sto-Rox will still be a difficult achievement.

Early season performances point to Sacred Heart and Rochester as the conference's top two teams, so Cornell and Sto-Rox may be battling each other for an at large playoff bid. After a decade of taking the top four teams from each conference, the WPIAL this year will take only the top two plus two overall at large teams.

The sparse crowd Friday night also saw both Bentworth and Cornell bands perform. Cory veterans joined the band to fly the colors. The 28 piece Raider Band displayed impressive choreography and sound for such a small group. Cornell is the smallest public high school in the WPIAL fielding a marching band.

Justin Lamb of Findlay Township has clung to first place in the season point standings all Summer by consistently finishing second and third in feature races while his rivals would win one week and finish way back the next. It's been a successful strategy but Lamb was overdue to win one of the features.

Saturday night, as the race season entered September, Lamb finally did. He warmed up by winning his heat race, and drew a third place start in the feature, with Chuck Medved of Imperial fourth. John Mollick, third in season points, led for the first five laps, but Lamb passed him on lap six. By the 12th lap, he was half a lap in front and was never challenged.

The two wins widened Lamb's season lead to more than 150 points. As long as he continues to show up and finish in the top five, he has the points championship clinched. This week (September 8th) the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway offers a twin feature, with back to back 20 lap races in Lamb's Limited Late Model Division. If Lamb's #93 were to break down or be wrecked and he miss the two races, his rivals could narrow rhe gap, but the car is running its best right now so that's not likely to happen.

In the Hobby Stocks Division, Karlee Kovacs in the Jailhouse Saloon Car (#221) finished third in the feature race. Kovacs has slipped in recent weeks and is now back in fifth in the season point standings.

In the Young Guns Division, Kyle Janus of Forest Grove finished fourth in the feature race, good enough to retain his second place in the season points standings. Susie Randolph won the race but is still only third in season points and has to make up 100 points to catch Janus.

The big event of the night was a $7000 purse Betty Kriegisch Memorial Race for the Sportsman Division. The large purse attracted a five state field and no local driver placed in the top 25.

After Cornell outscored Avella 63-0 and Riverview 21-7, the Raiders were given a slight chance to upset favored Union. But no one --- except maybe Coach Ed Dawson and his players --- expected what the Raiders pulled off Friday night.

They grabbed a 12-0 halftime lead and went on to bury the Scotties 24-0 on their home field. Cornell totally dominated Union from start to finish and as impressive as the four touchdowns were, even more impressive was the Raider defense.

The Raiders gave Union nothing. Whether the Newcastle school tried to run it around the ends or up the middle or pass it short or long, Blue and Gold defenders were there first and were faster, quicker and more aggressive. Union for the game had -25 yards. The Scotties only got into Cornell's half of the field five times, once reaching the 18, once the 20. They lost the ball four of those times on downs and once on an interception. Corey Johns led the Raider defense with four sacks.

The win was sweet revenge for a heartbreaking home loss last season, in which Cornell led the entire game until Union scored with 2:48 remaining to escape 22-20. Cornell was trying to score when time ran out. The difference from then to now is that Union graduated 10 senior starters and Cornell has almost its whole team back.

Still, Union had defeated AA Shenango 35-20 last week and was considered a contender for the Big Seven Conference title along with Sacred Heart and Rochester. The Scotties were favored.

Quarterback Zaier Harrison threw for three of the touchdowns, hitting Jalen Lee with a 20 yarder in the first quarter and then Luke Piccolo on passes of 37 and 25 yards. Piccolo also added a three yard run on his own. Harrison completed 8 of 11 passes for 146 yards and rushed for 108 yards on 15 carries. Piccolo totaled 79 yards on his three receptions and rushed for 45 more.

Cornell returns home Friday to face Bentworth. For the first time in six years, the Raiders will be favored. Bentworth, a merger of Bentleyville and Ellsworth, plays in the Tri County Conference. The Lions defeated AA Brownsville 41-14 in their opener but lost to Class A West Greene 41-6 last night. Quarterback Shawn Dziak is the key to Bentworth. He both runs and passes and accounts for most of the team's yardage gained.

Powerful Sacred Heart allowed Sto-Rox one early touchdown, then put the Vikings away 46-6 Friday night at Moon's Rip Scherer Stadium.

On the second play of the game, Sto Rox receiver Ahmad Pack caught a bubble screen pass from quarterback Eric Wilson and took it 80 yards for a score. The kick failed so the Vikings hung onto a 6-0 lead through the quarter.

To open the second quarter, however, Sacred Heart quarterback Tyler Bradley hit Andrew Schnarre with a 28 yarder to tie it at 6-6. The PAT failed. Austin Wigley added to the score on the next series with an eight yard touchdown run. Again the PAT failed and OLSH led 12-6.

Nearing the last minute of the half, Bradley fired a pass to receiver Rico Tate for 26 yards. Tate was hit on the 10 and the ball fell loose, seemingly a dead ball.

But Luke Safter, not hearing a whistle, recovered the ball and and ran it in for the Chargers third touchdown. At the half, the score was Sacred Heart 19, Vikings 6.

Tate added a TD in the third on a short pass from Bradley. Schnarre's kick made it 26-6.

Sto-Rox does not have much depth and began to wear down in the fourth quarter. Sacred Heart took advantage and ran up 20 more points.

Bradley found Richard Banks for a nine yard pass and tried a run for the PAT, which failed. That made it 32-6.

Wigley scored on a one yard run and Schnarre made the kick for 39-6.

Bradley connected with Tate on a 20 yarder for the final score. Schnarre's kick made the final 46-6.

The OLSH defense silenced Sto-Rox to no points and 22 yards in the second half. Safter would finish the game with two interceptions.

Defensive lineman Brock Saftner recorded two sacks and multiple tackles for loss. Wigley also grabbed an interception. OLSH runners took advantage of sensational blocking from tackle Nico Harken. Schnarre finished with 11 catches and 115 yards.

Wigley rushed for 106 yards. Bradley completed 20 of 34 passes for 220 yards. Wilson for Sto-Rox completed 15 of 39 passes for 175 yards.

Schnarre was the game's top receiver with 11 grabs for 114 yards. Tate had four receptions for 69 yards and Banks caught five for 39.

Bradley's 220 yards ranked him seventh in the WPIAL (all classes) for Friday night but combined with last week's 201 against Westinghouse his 421 yard total rank him third for the season.

Sto-Rox is now 0-2, having lost to South Side last week. The Vikings go to Union next.

Sacred Heart hosts Northgate next week, then travels to Rochester in an early season showdown that will probably decide the Big Seven Conference championship. The Chargers are ranked third in the WPIAL (behind Jeannette and Imani) and fifth in the state. But Rochester is ranked fifth in the WPIAL and eighth in the state, and due to the home field advantage, the game is considered a tossup.

The season points race at the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway looks like it's going down to the wire, with local drivers battling all the way.

Findlay Township's Justin Lamb in #93 finished second in the Limited Late Model 25 lap Feature Saturday night, just ahead of Moon's Logan Zarin in #1Z. . John Mollick of Toronto (Ohio) in #60M finished sixth, and Bryan Hoffman of Imperial in #15H eighth. Christian Schneider, driving #1ST out of Imperial, was way back in 12th.

Nick Dabecco of Bethel Park won the Feature, but he's not one of the top season points contenders.

Currently, Lamb, Zarin, Mollick, Schneider, Daryl Charlier of Midway, Jabo Jablonski of Carnegie and Chuck Medved of Imperial are jammed at the top of the points race. There are five regular season racing Saturday nights left. Postseason championship events are in October.

What really tightened up the points race was the 29th annual Steel City Classic, a 40 lap Feature held on August 11th in honor of famous western Pennsylvania car owner Jook George. The $5000 purse attracted 51 entries from five states and no season contender did well. Mollick was disqualified for an illegal fuel cell. Josh Stoica was DQ'd for having tampered with his engine, which is sealed to prevent tampering. Charlier hit the wall on lap 18 and was towed to the pits. Lamb finished 14th, Zarin 13th, Schneider 8th and Medved 33rd. Lamb's low finish and the absence of Mollick and Charlier allowed Zarin and Schneider to close the gap. So a race that looked like it was pretty well settled with large gaps between each position has now closed up to where any of eight drivers could still win it with a strong September.

Meanwhile, Karlee Kovacs in Cory's Jailhouse Saloonmobile came in fourth in the Hobby Stocks Feature, keeping her fifth in points. In the Sportsman Feature, Danny Rich of Imperial in #2 finished second while Cory's Jeff Broniszewski in #08 was 11th. Kyle Janus of Forest Grove placed third in the Young Guns Feature, and moved up to second in the season points race.

Sacred Heart football fans have waited all Summer for what they hope will be a serious run for a WPIAL championship. Based on the Chargers' showing Saturday afternoon at Moon Stadium, those dreams may come true.

Westinghouse came in loaded. The same size as Moon, Mars and other 5A schools, it has one of the proudest football traditions in the state and has been in the city semifinals the last two years. The Bulldogs return seven senior lettermen, including three linebackers (Eryk Burgess, Dana Morris and Dayon Hayes) who make running the ball up the middle practically impossible.

But Sacred Heart was in control as soon as they received the opening kickoff. Rather than avoid that three headed monster in the middle, Coach Dan Bradley sent backs Austin Wigley and Richard Banks right at it. They ground out short yardage each time and SH drove slowly but steadily downfield. When Westinghouse pulled in their defense to stop those runs, Quarterback Tyler Bradley (photo, right) went to work. Bradley, one of the WPIAL's top QBs, stands 6-3. This allows him to look over the defense, find his receivers, then get the pass off over defenders' outstretched hands. He can also run. On a 4th and one, he kept the ball on a quarterback sneak and made the first down. With 6:00 remaining in the first, Bradley handed to Banks, who powered up the middle once more, this time twisting and falling backward into the end zone for the TD (See third photo, below. Banks is #6, with his back to the camera. In the photo he's about to fall backward for the score.) The PAT failed and SH was up 6-0.

Westinghouse kept losing yardage and punted out of a fourth and 15.

For the rest of the first quarter, each team had two possessions but neither could score.

Finally, with 9:43 left in the second and SH on its own 33, Bradley found Andrew Schnarre at the Westinghouse 20. Schnarre ran it in for 12-0. SH went for two and Schnarre caught the pass to make it 14-0. Clouds were moving in and it began to sprinkle.

Another four possessions went scoreless until at 4:37, Noah Campalone caught a pass at the goal line for 20-0 and the kick was good for 21-0. Westinghouse decided to go with its indestructible running back Eryk Burgess and he did gain 5-7 yards almost every time. But it wasn't enough, as penalties kept pulling Westinghouse back. The halftime score was still 21-0.

Rain began falling as the second half began, but never affected play. The third quarter was another scoreless stretch until 3:54, when Banks took a pitchout and scampered to the one. Bradley then powered his way in, Schnarre made the extra point, and SH led 28-0.

Schnarre intercepted yet another pass at 0:59 to end the quarter. But time ran out. In the 4th, at the 11:18 mark, Bradley handed off to Campanole for the run, making it 41-0.

At this point Bradley pulled his varsity and sent in the reserves. Against them, Westinghouse finally scored at 3:09 on a short run, explaining the 41-0 win. Even with the loss, the Dogs are still ranked third in the city. Sacred Heart is ranked third in the WPIAL, behind Jeannette and Imani.

Obviously, Coach Bradley was encouraged. "We did a lot of good things out here today," he told reporters after the game. "But we made some mistakes on key downs. That has to be corrected.

"We showed great intensity at times, but then sometimes we'd lose our focus and just drift. We can't do that against Rochester, Union or Jeanette. You let up for even a few downs, they'll take advantage and we'll find ourselves behind."

"I thought we did a pretty good job running up the middle against those three linebackers. We had some success. But notice there were possessions where we had no success trying the middle. They'e tough."

For the game, Bradley completed 11 of 18 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns, plus running the one in himself. This brought his career total to 5,000 yards.

The only disappointing aspect of the game was poor attendance. Except for its roster of less than 30 players, Sacred Heart looks and plays like a 5A team. Such a team normally would draw 2-3 thousand fans or more. But only a couple of hundred were there.

The Chargers play Sto-Rox at Moon this week. They beat the Vikings easily in 2017 but Sto-Rox has a new coach, LaRoi Johnson, from Imani Christian. Sto-Rox went only 3-8 last year but returns eight starters and 6-3 QB Eric Wilson. He threw three TD passes against South Side Saturday but Sto-Rox lost 28-26 when SS scored with 3:00 remaining. Sacred Heart will be heavily favored. Their first real tests will come September 14th at Rochester and October 5th at Jeanette. Those games will show what the Chargers' chances will be in the WPIAL playoffs.

Gas up the car and clear your Friday nights. Football fever is back at last in Cory and Neville.

It's been a long hard climb, but the Cornell Raiders finally have a roster of juniors and seniors. Those upperclassmen have speed, size, strength, skills and experience. They may not be quite ready to compete for a championship, but the days of getting beat 72-0 and 48-6 are over.

The Raiders raised some eyebrows last week when they ran over Avella 63-0. But Avella has struggled the last several years, although they beat Mapletown 14-12 last night.

Riverview would be a much better indicator. The Oakmont-Verona school returns 10 senior starters including powerful running back Devin Blinz. They compete in the rugged Eastern Conference and expect a playoff season.

When Cornell restarted football after a four year absence, Coach Ed Dawson had a core of freshmen with a few sophomores. Last year he had sophomores with a few juniors.

Teams like Riverview, loaded with juniors and seniors, pounded Cornell week after week. And Riverview clearly expected to continue that trend.

Cornell shattered that delusion immediately. In their first 10 plays, the Raiders completed six passes for 50 yards and rushed four times for 20 more. Zaeir Harrison (#7, photo at left) then fired a 30 yarder to Luke Piccolo (#6 photo bottom) in the end zone for 7-0.

Then Cornell's defense stepped up. In their first 10 plays from scrimmage Riverview gained nine yards rushing and none passing. Backs were swarmed every time they touched the ball. For the game, Riverview finished with -15 yrds rushing. Passing was even worse. Cornell picked off four passes, batted down three more, and covered the receivers so that the others fell incomplete.

Senior Jalen Lee (#19, photo above) looks to be Harrison's prime target this year. He hauled in one and then raced 40 yards to the Riverview 10, setting up a pass to Jamal Bigstaff at the goal line. That made it 14-0.

Dawson played his reserves the entire fourth quarter. They scored the final TD on a 50 yard pass from Blaine Sams to Savon Wilson.

Riverview scored its only TD late in the game against the reserves.

It was the first time since restoring football that Cornell has dominated a good team. The Raiders played with a burning intensity, as if they were taking out two years of frustration on this one opponent. Tre Bronaugh was particularly ferocious, having to be restrained by both coaches and team mates several times to keep his adrenalin under control. Bronaugh plays like a heat seeking missile whose target is the opposing quarterback. He kept breaking through into the Riverview backfield to make the quarterback's life miserable.

The only shadow on the performance was Tymir Fisher going down with an injury. The photo at right shows Fisher (#4) intercepting a pass but coming down with his leg twisted and crumpling to the field. Indications were a probable Lateral Collateral Ligament injury. Fisher was taken to the hospital. It could be a strain or a partial or complete tear. He could be out anywhere from one game to the entire season.

Dawson was elated as he spoke to reporters afterward. "I was most pleased at our physical play. I've been harping on our lack of physical play for two years, and now we're finally getting physical. Part of that is we're now the same size, age and strength as our opponents. I was also pleased that we're tackling correctly. For two years we've been slipping tackles, letting runners somehow slide through or pull away. Not tonight. And, of course, on offense, we caught passes. For two years we've dropped passes and now we're holding on to them. Again, that's maturity."

But Dawson said the next week will be spent working on fundamentals. "We should have beaten Union last year but made too many mistakes and gave it away. (Union won 22-20 on a TD with 2:48 left. Cornell was close to scoring the winning TD but ran out of time.) Tonight, even though overall we looked good, we were a little slow reacting at times and were overthinking at times. We also have a little too much mouth. A few of our players need to keep their mouths shut and just play. Anything needs said, I'm the coach, I'll say it. The last thing we need is to lose a player because the official ejects him for mouthing off."

The Union game is away. Union is just outside of Newcastle in Lawrence County.

As Dawson left the game, he was headed to the hospital to sit with Fisher. "We can't afford to lose Tymir. He helps us on both offense and defense."

Cornell and Sacred Heart open their 2018 football seasons this weekend with Riverview of the Eastern Conference and Westinghouse of the City League. Neither game counts, since Cornell and Sacred Heart play in the Class A Big Seven Conference.

But Cornell has the bigger challenge. The Raiders are still climbing the steep slope from no program at all back to football respectability. Cory, which is the smallest public high school in Western Pennsylvania, totally dropped football for four years due to lack of boys trying out. Under Ed Dawson (photo, right), Cornell restarted the program two years ago. The first year back, with mostly freshmen, the Raiders did not win a game. Last year, with mostly sophomores, they did much better but still only won once. Now they're mostly juniors. Dawson has some legitimate talent. Zaier Harrison finishd last season as one of the WPIAL's top 20 quarterbacks. Jalen Lee is an outstanding wide receiver. Corey Johns, Demarkus Dixon and Karon Hardaway Wilson anchor the line. But two other receivers, Justin Walsh and Eric Olexa, transferred to cross town rival Sacred Heart. Losing them was heartbreaking.

Lack of depth will be a problem. Dawson has only 14 returning players and only one sophomore veteran. So everybody has to play both ways. The Riverview game is part of the West Allegheny Preview. It is set for 7 pm. Riverview is the former Oakmont-Verona. The Eastern Conference school went 2-7 last year in the Class A Eastern Conference.

They have a new coach and 10 starters returning, but all 10 are seniors. Favored Riverview is built around three year starting running back Devin Blinz.

Sacred Heart hosts Westinghouse at Moon HS Stadium at 3 pm Saturday. It will be a stiff test. The Dogs have reached City League semis the last two seasons, losing 23-20 and 21-14. They return seven starters, led by 6-2, 250 lb running back Dayon Hayes. The game may be decided at quarterback. SH has one of the best in Tyler Bradley. Westinghouse must find a new one. The Dogs have three formidable linebackers in Eryk Burgess, Dana Morris and Hayes. They stifle running attacks, so SH will need to pass. Receivers Richard Banks and Andrew Schnarre will need to start the season at their best.

SH fans have high hopes for this year. The Chargers have made the play offs two straight years, winning seven and nine games. They return 15 starters and have good depth behind them. The computer favors the Dogs but an old football adage says always go with the best quarterback.

Justin Lamb only finished third --- again --- but rival John Mollick came in behind him in fourth so Lamb still holds the Limited Late Model season points lead at the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway.

Lamb (in car 93X, shown at right) has 936 points to Mollick's 898. In fourth place is Christian Schneider, driving #1ST out of Imperial (photo below). Schneider has 779. Schneider actually lost ground Saturday. He won his heat race while Lamb finshed only 3rd. But then Schneider came in a distant 16th in the feature.

Other locals in the Limited Division are Chuck Medved at 12th and Jeff Jablonski at 13th.

Jon Hodgkiss of Kennedy remains ninth in the Unlimited Late Model Division, but that's misleading. The Unlimiteds have had fewer race nights so Hodgkiss has had fewer chances to move up. The Unlimiteds, the closest dirt track racing has to NASCAR's professional level, have their own circuit, and move among several tracks. Because one of their cars is worth about $100,000, they need larger purses, and no one track can afford those large purses every single week.

Karlee Kovacs, driving the Jailhouse Saloon Car, had a disappointing night. She only finished 12th in the feature. That not only kept her in third in the Hobby Stocks Division, but widened the gap between her and second place. Kovacs has 813 points, 28 points behind second. But she's only 14 points ahead of fourth.

Jeff Broniszewski (of Coraopolis) finished only 7th in the Sportsman feature, which dropped him to 9th in the season point standings. He has 426 points, 11 behind 8th place, and only five ahead of 10th place Danny Rich (of Imperial).

Kyle Janas was really hurt when he had car trouble and could not start in the Young Guns feature. Susie Rudolph won the race. Janas is second in the points race at 805, 28 behind Frank Magill at 833. Rudolph is way behind at 654. in third.

Lamb's Two Third Places Preserve Points Lead

Justin Lamb (93x, right) doesn't have to win every race to hold onto his Limited Late Model season points lead at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway. He just has to keep finishing better than his opponents. And he did that Saturday night.

PMS made up for rainouts back in May by offering one of the features Saturday in addition to the regular feature. So Lamb had two chances. He finished third in both. John Mollick, of Toronto, Ohio, who is second in the points race, won the first race to temporarily jump in the standings to a point almost tied with Lamb. But then Mollick only finished 11th in the regularly scheduled feature. Logan Zarin, who is in third, only finished ninth and seventh Saturday, so actually lost ground. Lamb thus remains in the lead.

Chuck Medved, who was 8th entering the night's racing, finished only 10th and 18th. So he'll slide slightly in the rankings.

Meanwhile, in the Sportsmen Division, which also ran two features, Bob Betz in the Coraopolis Jailhouse Saloon Car (photo, left) finished third and sixth. He entered the night 15th, so should rise considerably. Danny Rich, who ranked fifth, and Jeff Broniszewski, who ranked eighth, did not finish high in either feature.

Karlee Kovacs placed second in the Hobby Division, slightly ahead of third place Casey Grumling. That will tighten the standings considerably, since she was third and he was second.

Kyle Janus came in second in the Young Guns feature, but managed to beat Frank Magill, who leads Janus in the season point standings by 10 points but finished only third here. Susie Rudolph won the feature, so is coming up rapidly in points, but still trails second by 180.

The largest crowd of the season showed up at the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway Saturday night to see the Sprint Cars (right) and Winged Sprints (below left).

The Sprints are the 2018 version of what back in the 20th Century were called Midgets. A Sprint car can be bought or built for around $40,000. The engine produces 300+ horsepower, capable of about 100 mph. It's a "hobby" division, for drivers and teams who want to be in racing but do not have the money to spend on late models or winged sprints.

The cars at PMS Saturday were part of a travelling circuit organized by Tony Stewart, the NASCAR driver and owner of Eldoro Racetrack in Ohio. They use a Crate engine, similar to the Limited Late Models. It's made by Genersl Motors and designed not to be modified after purchase. This, supposedly, keeps costs down for everyone.

The Sprints ran two heats and a feature and the crowds loved them. This is rhe first year for this division, which has only 16 cars.

The major attraction of the evening was the Winged Sprint Division. A local driver, Tim Schafer (left), was part of the travelling circuit in this group. Born and raised in the Aliquippa-Hopewell-Moon-Cory area, he currently lives in Hopewell Township. He's the only area driver currently running a Sprint car. Russell Musta of Coraopolis was once a contender in this category, but that was back in the 1950s. Musta, however, drove a basic Sprint car, then called a Midget, without the wing.

A typical Winged Sprint engine costs about $45,000 and a total car costs about $65,000. The engine puts out 800+horsepower and the car hits speeds of 150 mph.

Schafer, in his black and orange #49, gave Stewart quite an evening. He started third in his heat, passed Stewart for second on the first lap, and held that spot until Stewart cut under him on the first and second turns on lap four. Stewart went on to win the heat. In the feature, Schafer and Stewart dueled almost the entire 25 lap race for 5th and 6th. Schafer finally took 8th. Stewart had to enter the pits and return, finishing 12th. Ben

The Sprints will be back at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway this Saturday, July 28th. But they run there infrequently. They run every Friday night at Lehrnerville Speedway, near Butler. That track draws bigger crowds so offers bigger purses and can attract Unlimited Late Models and Sprints. But PMS paid a $5,000 purse to the winner last Saturday night.

To make room for the Sprints and Wings, PMS did not run Four Cylinder, Hobby Stocks, Young Gun, Sportsmen or Unlimited Divisions Saturday. But the Limited Late Models did run.

In the first heat, Christian Schneider in 1st (shown in photo, right) won, with Chuck Medved in 2M finishing 9th. Justin Lamb in 93X (photo below left) finished second in his heat, which was won by Mike Reft.

In the 25 lap feature, Schneider placed second behind Ben Policz. Lamb was third and Medved 14th. It was a steep climb for Lamb, who started 8th in the 18 car field and slowly worked his way up, not reaching third until the final lap.

Lamb currently leads the Limited Late Model Season Point Standings. Schneider's strong performance jumped him from sixth to third. Jeff Jablonski of Carnegie is fourth. Medved is ninth.

Jon Hodgkiss of Kennedy is still 9th in Unlimited Late Models. Karlee Kovacs is still third in Hobby Stocks. Kyle Janus is atill third in Young Guns.

This week, the Four Cylinders, Young Guns. Hobby Stocks and Sportsmen will be back in action, as well as the Limited Late Models.

The most exciting season points race looks to be developing in the Limited Division, as Lamb tries to hold off Schneider for the title. Both cars are from Imperial, although Schneider lives a few miles south in Washington County.

Another reason their race will be the most exciting is that their division runs every week. Some of the others are skipped during weeks when special categories are hosted, and the Unlimiteds are run only about once a month.

The third member of the Imperial Racing Clan is Medved, who is only 160 points behind Lamb and 100 behind Schneider. Medved is overdue for a few first place finishes, which would catapult him right into the thick of the points race.

The All Star Tournament season for Cornell's 12 & Under Little League baseball team is perfectly captured in the photo at right. The famous Basepath Bandit, Walter Clarit, is put out at third base. That hadn't happened all year. Clarit had been able to steal not only second and third base but even home pretty much whenever he tried. But New Brighton put him out and went on to defeat Cornell.

That was in the Friday night game. Saturday morning, Prospect also defeated the Raiders to eliminate them from the tournament.

It was a disappointing and frustrating end to a long, hard season. Cornell struggled in the Moon Area Little League back in April and May. Then the Raiders were soundly beaten in the June and July tournament circuit.

It wasn't supposed to be this kind of year. Back in early April, Cornell Head Coach Greg Woodard was excited because he finally had legitimate talent and experience among his 11 and 12 year olds.

It turned out he was right. Cody Chetoka was probably the best catcher in the area. Josh Mosuch was one of the best pitchers. Clarit was the best baserunner and an outstanding shortstop. Mitchell Engle was one of the best first basemen.

Woodard had a solid supporting cast. Dylan Woodard, Aaron Reddix, Noah Slinde, Chris Potter and Jayden Haines were good athletes who rotated among infield, outfield, catching and pitching duties. And, when it came time for All Star tournaments, Woodard brought up Brady Vignoe, Colton Mozuch, Michael Ricketts, Dyllen Chetoka, Tim Waller, the Shaughnessy brothers,and Logan Hunter from the Minors. Every one is a talented player.

But it wasn't enough.

The team's problems began as soon as the players signed up. Practice should have begun immediately. Baseball is a game of specific skills that have to be sharpened by frequent practice. And Cornell couldn't practice. The weather would not give them a break. It kept raining, snowing, sleeting, icing, and even on clear days it was bitter cold as Winter hung on. Their opponents had access to indoor facilities where they could begin practice in late February, as soon as grade achool basketball concluded. Cornell played its opening game in April without a single practice. It showed. They were behind in their fundamentals, in their timing, in batting, pitching, fielding and throwing. They never caught up.

Even as the weather finally cleared in May, Cornell still could not practice because their only facility, Bliwas Field, was used by T Ball, Coach Pitch, and Minor League teams. So Woodard and his assistants found themselves playing game after game without the benefit of practice. Their opponents, meanwhile, had multiple field complexes in which they had a field for daily practices between games. Almost every time Cornell did have an opening for a Bliwas Field practice, it rained. He even conducted a pitching clinic during a two hour rain.

Despite all this, as the losses mounted Cornell would show glimpses of talent in each game. Chetoka would pick off baserunners with his powerful and accurate arm. Mosuch would strike out batter after batter. Clarit would steal base after base. Even when throws were errant, Engel would stretch to field them and put runners out at first.

But in every game, Cornell errors would allow opposing runs to score. And batters were repeatedly called for strikeouts without swinging. They didn't have enough batting cage practices to learn to read the ball adequately.

Sometimes it seemed like the rules themselves conspired against Cornell. To protect the arms of young pitchers, and to make sure all players receive a well rounded experience, Little League rules limit pitchers to so many pitches and require players rotate positions. It is a reasonable set of rules. But in Cornell's case, it hurt. Behind Mosuch, no other pitcher was as good. No one else could play Catcher like Chetoka, First Base like Engel or Shortstop like Clarit. To develop that kind of depth requires lots of practice. And that was what Cornell lacked.

The New Brighton Tournament went exactly like the whole season has gone. Mosuch struck out batters. Chetoka was great behind the plate. But Cornell bats remained silent, and errors in the field allowed easy outs to become singles and doubles. Innings that should have ended on easy outs were allowed to continue and more runs sored.

This was the first Summer Cornell has sponsored a team on the All Star Circuit. Despite the losses, it was a valuable experience. Cornell coaches, players and fans learned that it was not just a matter of Moon being a larger league with more numbers to draw from. Towns the same size as Coraopolis or even smaller beat the Raiders by larger scores than their losses in the Moon League. So everyone now realizes that the problem is in Coraopolis, not in who they play. Basically, Little League has gone Big Time and Cornell has been left behind. It must catch up.

The Cornell Youth Baseball League is making moves to do that. It is now signing players up for its first ever Fall Ball League. Boys who are not playing football, and girls not playing volleyball, can now play one baseball game a week against an outside opponent and have two baseball practices a week from September 1 - October 20th.

The hunt is on for an open space or spaces inside Coraopolis which can be turned into baseball fields. And the hunt is on for a building or buildings inside Coraopolis that can be used for rainy day or off season indoor baseball practices. Even during basketball season, Woodard and other coaches may conduct Sunday afternoon baseball sessions just to keep skills sharp.

Woodard will lose Slinde, Reddix, Haynes, and Chetoka, who "age up" to Pony League next year. He also loses Darien Petersen, who was injured in March and never played this year. But he retains a core of excellent players to build on with his Fall Ball and Offseason programs.

The Cornell Youth Baseball League has also vowed to aggressively recruit additional players, if not for the Fall season, then at least for next Spring. There are 20 more boys and an undetermined number of girls in the community in each of the age groups (7-8, 9-10, 11-12) who are participating in football/volleyball and basketball but not in baseball. That would allow two more teams at each level and increase the talent pool so Cornell could field an All-Star team of 12 and Unders who were all 12, an All Star team of 11 and Unders who were all 11, and so on down. This Summer, Woodard found himself playing 10, 11 and 12 year olds against opponents of all 12 year olds. Given the opportunities in baseball and softball, and eventual college baseball and softball scholarships, those boys and girls should be playing.

For 100 years, boys from Coraopolis, Moon and other Western Hills communities have spent a week or two every Summer at Scout Camp. In a changing world, this is one tradition that has survived pretty much intact. And this week, 36 boys from Troop 198 are at Heritage Reservation in the Laurel Highlands continuing it.

Heritage might be a Scout camp on steroids. It's 10 times bigger than some of the older camps and offers so many activities no one boy can sample them all even if he comes six years. The camp houses 1200 boys a week through June, July and August. It's a sleek, modern, sophisticated operation, far beyond what anyone at Hubbard, Semiconon or Tionesta ever dreamed possible.

But seen through the eyes of a typical 11-17 year old Scout, the daily routine is the same as his father and grandfather enjoyed. Campers still sleep in tents, fix their own meals, and exist pretty much without cell phones, TVs, computers or video games. (The camp office does have all the modern technologies.) Scouts still spend their days swimming, canoeing, earning ranks and merit badges, and engaging in archery, rifle range, fishing, hiking, and other outdoor pursuits.

"This is all about the boys," Scoutmaster Bryan Mann says. "We want them to look back on this 50 years from now and tell their grandkids, 'that was one of the highlights of my growing up.' We want to open doors for them. They may get interested in archery or canoeing or riflery here and continue with it their entire lives."

The last half of the week, they included Mark Brositz, Steve Frank, Chad Johns and Tim Speerhas.

These men have been doing this for a while. And one of the reasons they have such a smooth functioning troop is because the boys themselves are veterans. Derek Mann (the SM's son), Chris Wolfe and Phillip Smonko are in their sixth year at Heritage with 198. Mason Obenreider and Shay Freund are in their fifth year. There's another cluster of four year veterans and a bunch of three year vets. Three other long time 198 members are now on the Camp Heritage staff : Cameron Balkovec, Tom Rash and London Rickerd.

It helps to have this experience when unique events occur, such as storms or wildlife incidents. They've enjoyed fine weather this week, sunny days with no storms. There has been a Black Bear sow with two cubs snooping around the camp, but they haven't yet visited 198. Still, if anything does happen, they've got the leadership to deal with it.

Back in the 20th Century, most troops spent two weeks at Camp, and in the middle weekend special expeditions or field trips were held.

Now, boys' schedules include band camps, sports camps, family vacations and enrichment classes, so most troops only come for one week.

The camp schedule itself has become crowded. Boys move from activity to activity all day and into the evening. At left, for example, Vincent Colangelo (green hoodie) and Michael Rosenblatt spend a few minutes after lunch on their Environmental Science homework. They're trying to finish the E.S. merit badge this week. Colangelo is also working on Cooking and Communication. Rosenblatt is also working on Swimming and Game Design. All of these will ultimately lead to their Eagle awards, the highest rank Scouting offers.

The day the Record had a reporter and photographer there, several boys were not even in camp. They were off on adventures. Five were on an all day canoe trip. Five were on a hike. One was on his own in a wilderness survival overnight.

It is Summer, however, and everybody spends time at the waterfront. A beach, docks and an inflatable island allow for swimming. Boys can go canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing, powerboating, sailing or whitewater rafting. At right, an instructor holds class for three beginning canoeists.

Earlier in the week, Troop 198 boys caught Bass, Bluegill, Crappie and Catfish in the lake. One of the Bass was a 17 incher.

Wednesday night all campers gathered at the waterfront for an Order of the Arrow ceremony which recognized outstanding campers and adult leaders. 198 had four boys and one adult recognized. O.A. is a Scout honorary society.

Cooking is always a big deal at Scout camp. The boys have to prepare their own meals, and they take turns doing the actual cooking, so it's critical that every single boy become proficient at basic skills immediately. The older members of each patrol hover around the fire, mentoring the younger members and stepping in when possible. "It's a matter of self interest," Mann chuckles. "The older boys don't want burned Toast or salty Cheeseburgers or watery Soup."

Increasingly complex cooking tests are also required for Second Class, First Class and the Cooking Merit Badge, which is required for the higher ranks of Star, Life and Eagle. As seen at left, boys learn to cook over grills. But they also learn to cook over lightweight backpacking stoves and open wood fires. ("Coat the bottoms of pots and pans with soap before setting them on the fires so afterward they're easy to clean.") They learn to use Dutch Ovens, cast iron skillets, reflector ovens and domes. They learn to fix simple items like Omelettes, Pancakes and French Toast. Hamburger can be used in Tacos, Burritos and Burgers. Companies like Alpine Air and Mountain House offer freeze dried meals for hikers and backpackers. Eventually boys are fixing Beef Stroganoff, Shepherd's Pie and Enchilada Casserole. But they also learn to work in Salads, Fruits and Berries with every meal. Eventually, they learn to bake breads, muffins, rolls, pies and cobblers.

"One reason I like camping is the food," one admits. "It's a lot of work, but we eat pretty good."

There are usually projects around camp to occupy any free time. Before Troop 198 moved in, a storm had blown down a tree just behind their site. They attacked it with saws and axes, removing the branches and then cutting them and the trunk into smaller pieces. They hauled them to the patrol fire sites. Younger boys were assigned the job of stripping off the leaves. "We can't put leaves in the fire. It would create smoke."

Scouts are instructed in the use of saws, axes and knives, with emphasis on safety. They don't use chain saws, only hand saws, again for safety reasons. In a case where a chain saw was needed, like if a large tree was down across a trail or a campsite, one of the adult leaders would use it.

Often Scouts are so old school they find themselves on the cutting edge of a revival movement. Archery is a good example. Scouts have always loved archery. Camps long ago abandoned the simple bows for modern compound bows. There are varying ability levels and an Archery merit badge. For about 30 years, Scouts were almost the only people learning to use a bow and arrow. Suddenly, it's experiencing a huge revival. Schools are starting archery teams and states are sponsoring high school archery tournaments. Archery clubs are springing up and archery ranges, like golf driving ranges and baseball batting cages, are opening.

At Heritage, an offshoot of the archery range is the tomahawk throwing range. Boys can learn to throw a tomahawk and then practice it every day until they become good at it. This is not as silly as it sounds. Throwing a tomahawk requires intense eye hand coordination, body control, dexterity and aim. All these skills transfer to archery. A tomahawk is much heavier than an arrow. If a boy can handle a tomahawk, he can handle an arrow. So throwing a tomahawk is a great way to improve one's archery skills.

Similarly, around the hill at the rifle range, boys now can not only learn to shoot a rifle, but also a pistol or a black powder musket like men used back in colonial times. They all develop the same set of skills.

In a sense, this is a very historic year at Heritage. This is the last year for Scout troops that are exclusively male. Beginning January 1, 2019, girls will be welcomed into troops nationwide. That's a little misleading, since girls can already join Cub and Venture units, so girls have already been coming to Heritage in those age brackets. But their numbers will increase significantly once they can join the Scout units. Discussions are already under way about exactly how to accommodate girls. One idea is to set up separate patrols just for the girls. But if a troop only has four or five girls, that won't be enough for a separate patrol. Shower and rest room facilities will have to be rethought. Troops bringing girls would ideally add women to their adult leadership. But it's been hard enough to find male leaders willing to give up whole weeks of their Summer plus weekends during the year. Finding women leaders might be even harder. America is the last major nation to maintain separate Girl and Boy Scouts so merging the two seems long overdue. But they're not actually merging. The Girl Scouts will continue. They've just changed emphasis. Rather than running Summer camps and strong outdoor programs, they're shifting to indoor, urban interests like computer programming and entrepreneurship. Parents wanting daughters to have outdoor experiences filed legal action in several states to force Boy Scout units to admit girls.

But adding girls is not likely to change much. At first, the ones coming in will be mainly 11 year olds coming up from Cub Scouts, and they'll be pursuing the same basic skills as any Scout rising through the Tenderfoot - Second Class - First Class ranks.

Heritage will still be filled with 11, 12 and 13 year olds swimming, canoeing, hiking, camping and doing all the same things Scouts have always done.

Mail call will still be a favorite time of day. At left two of 198's boys open mail from home. Even though they've only been away for four days, it's nice to hear from Mom and Dad. There are no phone booths in camp, and cell phone reception is spotty, so talking or texting is not usually an option.

For the remainder of this week, the boys face a busy schedule. Astronomy classes meet at 2 pm to study sky charts and the science of telescopes, then at dark to use telescopes to study the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, the Moons of Jupiter, Saturn, its rings, and the far away constellations. High in the Laurel Highlands, far from pollution or lights, the planets are much clearer. 12 of 198's members were enrolled in the Nature Study classes, which were focused on Mammals. They had Deer, Raccoon, Possum, Fox, Coyote and of course Bear to study. The Environmental Science classes were focusing on Insects, Birds and Reptiles. And the Kayaking students were focusing on Water Rescue Techniques.

It was, after all, another year at Camp. The tradition continues.

The Coraopolis 12 & under team has drawn New Brighton and Prospect for its first two opponents in the New Brighton Tournament this weekend. The New Brighton game will be at 8 pm Friday evening, and the Prospect game at 10 am Saturday morning. Cory will then play a third opponent to be determined by the results of the first two games. If the Raiders win at least two of those first three games, they will move onto the elimination rounds Sunday.

Josh Mosuch is expected to be the starting pitcher, with Cody Chetoka at Catcher. Coach Greg Woodard did admit he was undecided whether to start Mosuch or hold him back for later in the game. Tournament rules allow any one pitcher to only pitch two innings per game. But Woodard said he was leaning heavily toward starting him.

New Brighton competes in the Beaver County League, Prospect in the Butler County League. Both are winnable games for Cornell, IF they can eliminate their errors and summon the courage to swing the bat. At the Oakmont Verona tournament they lost because they committed too many errors and watched strikes go by without swinging.

Cornell will be without starting first baseman Mitchell Engle, who is on family vacation. Cornell's 12 and under team will have one tournament remaining after this weekend. Its players will then either move on to football conditioning, or take a few weeks off before Fall Baseball League, which begins the day after Labor Day.

Local drivers struggled with mechanical issues in Saturday night's racing at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway. A rule of auto racing is that the car is 80% of the race. No matter how good the driver is, if the car is misfunctioning he can't win.

Kyle Janus (photo, right) of Forest Grove warned reporters beforehand that a collision last week had taken out the power steering and his team had not had time to repair or replace it. "Hopefully, it won't matter," he said. Unfortunately, it did. While he wrestled with the wheel, the car was a bit slower reacting, especially in finding the "lines" at the bottom or top of the track or finding the opening to dart between cars.

As a result, Janus was close but couldn't quite pull off a win in the Young Guns Division, restricted to teenagers. He placed second to Susie Randolph, one of three girls successfully racing at the track this year. Janus, who at age 13 must be considered one of the coolest kids in his middle school, edged out Frank Magill, the driver he trails in the season points race. The win should narrow Magill's lead to eight points.

In one of the season's wilder races, Joe Anthony (driving the Jailhouse Saloon Car for Karlee Kovacs) finished second by 12 inches to Tyler Fox. The two had battled for second and third for 10 laps behind Stephan Shelpman. But Shelpman spun out just before the finish line and Fox and Anthony roared across. It was an incredible comeback for Anthony, who had lost a wheel and had to be towed into the pits in the earlier heat race.

Andy Garlinger in #R88 of Hopedale returned to his winning ways with a first in the Four Cylinder Division.

Justin Lamb in #93X finished fourth in the Limiteds. as Daryl Charlier won. Chuck Medved (#2M) and Christian Schneider (1ST) placed 9th and 10th. Jeff Jablonski (#3) and Bryan Hoffman (15H) finished 14th and 15th. That's Hoffman, of Imperial, holding off Medved at right but Medved passed him right after this photo was taken. Below, left, is Jablonski, of Carnegie. He started 12th in the feature, but crashed into the fence on the 13th lap and was out for the night.

Their placing should move Medved and Schneider up on Jablonski in the season point standings. Entering the race, Jablinski was 4th, Schneider 7th and Medved 9th.

The Limited Late Models must use a crated engine specially made by General Motors for dirt track racing. A Limited Late Model car is worth about $50,000.

The most frustrated driver of the evening was Tony Mussolino of Stowe Township, driving #36 (below). Mussolini was on his third engine in five races. The other two blew and they acquired this one used. Mussolino had come from 14th to 7th place in the Unlimited Late Model Feature, which was the night's highlighted race, the Red Miley Rumble. Then the engine overheated, forcing Mussolini into the pits.

"We keep trying secondhand engines," he told reporters, his car still steaming and covered with oil, the hood off and mechanics hovering. "A new one's awfully expensive, but we're not having much luck with these."

This is the fourth conseutive race Mussolino has had an engine overheat at the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway.

Jon Hodgkiss of Kennedy Township also had trouble, finishing eighth. Bob Stefanic of Imperial finished 10th.

The Red Miley Rumble, an Unlimited race with a large purse, annually attracts drivers from Delaware, Virginia, New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It honors Red Miley, a race promoter from Carnegie whose family atill owns and runs the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway. The race Saturday opened with each driver and his car individually introduced and a fireworks display.

It's an impressive spectacle, but it brings in a high powered field from six states, which makes it hard for locals to compete. The best times coming around the half mile track were 19 seconds, blazing fast considering the four sharp turns.

Drivers competed in two heats to qualify for the feature. Hodgkiss placed 7th in one, Mussolino 7th in the other.

Justin Lamb in car 93X leads the Limited Late Model point standings at the Greater Pittsburgh Speedway as drivers begin the second half of the season.

Four Western Hills drivers are in the top 10. Jeff Jablonski of Carnegie is fourth, Christian Schneider driving for Ken Maneicki of Imperial is seventh, and Chuck Medved of Imperial is ninth.

Tony White, driving the Coraopolis Jailhouse Saloon car, is 28th.

Lamb has not won often, but has consistently placed second and third, while other drivers finish first once and then fade to lower finishes for several weeks.

Last week was typical. Colby Begley of Fombell, W.Va., won the Late Model feature. Mollick finished second. But Lamb finished third and Jablonski seventh.

In the Sportsman ("Pro Stocks") Division, Danny Rich of Imperial in #67X is third and Jeff Broniszewski of Coraopolis in #8 seventh in points. Bob Betz is 13th.

Broniszewski two weeks ago won the feature and last week placed second. Last week he also won his heat race, followed by Rich in second and Bertz in sixth. So Broniszewski is coming on strong after a slow start. But he's 100 points behind first place Greg Beach of Chicora. Rich is only 14 points back.

The photo at left shows all three local drivers : Broniszewski in #08, Rich in #67 and Betz in Coraopolis Saloon #81.

Jon Hodgkiss of Kennedy Township is 10th among Unlimited Late Model drivers. But he's only 16 points out of first place, currently held by Jared Miley of Pittsburgh. The Unlimiteds, the closest division dirt track racing has to NASCAR, is the most competitive, and has 15 drivers bunched together at the top with only 21 points separating them.

Kyle Janus of Forest Grove is second in the Young Guns Division, the teenage category. Janus is 10 points behind Frank Magill of Jefferson Hills.

Karlee Kovacs of Carnegie, driving Coraopolis Saloon Car #221K, is fourth in Hobby Stocks. She lost ground last week, placing only fifth in her heat and then fifth again in the feature.

Be careful what you ask for.

That was the lesson Andy Garlinger (#R88) learned Saturday night at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway.

Garlinger, from Hopedale (a village along routes 22 & 30), has won eight feature races this year in the Four Cylinder division. "We got tired of finishing second and third last year, so we installed a new engine during the Winter." He's dominated the local Four Cylinder division so badly the track has begun starting him last in every race. It hasn't mattered. By the end of the first lap, he's usually passed everyone and is back in first.

So Garlinger invited a friend from West Virginia, Bill Tennant of Colliers, and one fron out along Route 66 to come race at PPMS. He wanted some competition.

He got it. His West Virginia buddy in #2 won the heat race while Garlinger had to be pushed back to the pits by a tow truck.

Then in the feature all Garlinger could do was move from last up to third. He spent most of the race trying to cut below or above Lightning McQueen. He never made it and finished third, his lowest placing of the year.

Tennant won the feature. The car is painted a bright blue and gold, with the WV Country Roads logo.

Wait a minute. Lightning McQueen? As in THE Lightning McQueen, of Cars fame? Yep. That's the one. Red #95. Actually, the driver inside is April Tennant, also of Colliers, W.Va. McQueen, in his first appearance at PPMS, finished second in both the heat and the feature.

Fans are hoping the Tennants and McQueen become weekly competitors at the Speedway. The Four Cylinder division needs a good rivalry and this three way one looks like it could become a classic.

Matt Miley only brings in the Vintage racers once or twice a year at the Greater Pittsburgh Speedway. That may be a mistake. Judging from the crowd reaction Saturday, the cars are tremendously popular with fans. And the cars may offer a solution to the rising cost of dirt track racing.

A typical Unlimited Late Model car costs about $100,000, a Limited car about $50,000 and a Sportsman (high amateur) car about $30,000. This effectively prices the sport out of reach for the gas station owners, back yard mechanics and hobbyists who were its foundation.

A Vintage car costs far less. Paul Bacchus, who owns the 1936 Plymouth Coupe #7 (photo, right), estimates he has about $10,000 invested. "It's all basic equipment," he explains. "Basic engine, basic suspension, basic tires, basic transmission. There's nothing fancy about these cars. Yes, the equipment is modern. There's nothing on here they would have had in the 20th Century. But it'a all standard. We don't have that high tech stuff they put on Late Models, or the NASCAR or Indy machines."

Frank Senica drives the 1934 Ford #17 seen below at right. "We bought it already made for $5000. I'd guess we've put about $3000 in it since.

Senica is 75. He drove the original old coupes back in the 1960s and 70s, then retired from racing for 40 years. "Lately, I just got the urge to get back in it. We sure couldn't afford those Late Models, but we could do this. I love it. The only thing about it is you have to be willing to travel. There's no one track that specializes in Vintage cars. So we have a circuit of tracks. We go to each one once or twice a year. So every Saturday we drive several hours to get to that week's track. We go to Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, western New York and southern Ontario. I don't make the Ontario tracks. That's just too far."

The Vintage Dirt Racing Association has 40 cars. But only about half show up on a typical Saturday. The northern drivers rarely make it all the way to the southernmost tracks, and the southern drivers rarely make all the northern or westernmost tracks.

That causes a problem. The VDRA has two divisions, the classic coupes shown here and the "Mud Busses," 1960s cars that were the first to start using fabricated body parts. They should race separately, but when too few cars show up, tracks run them together. It's not a fair race. The old coupes are heavier and can't keep up with the fiberglass Mud Busses. So whichever coupe places highest is declared the "winner" of the coupe division. Last Saturday, for example, Bacchus finished fourth in the heat and fifth in the Feature so "won" the coupe division. Senica finished sixth in the heat and seventh in the feature so was "second" in the coupe division.

"We need about 20 more cars so we have 60 total. So on a given night 30 might show up and we could have 15 in each division, enough for their own heats and features."

Bacchus notes that driving the vintage coupes is "a lot more work than driving one of those Late Models. They're so high tech, it makes is easier on the driver. In these, especially on the turns or maneuvering through a crowd, you really have to work. But on the other hand, if you like to drive, these are a lot more fun. Sometimes in those big Late Models you're just along for the ride."

PMS Pit Steward Smokey Shempp, who's been administrating races at Greater Pitt and Lehrnerville for 40 years, finds the appeal of the vintage cars amusing. "This is all a facade," he smiles. "People think they're seeing old 1930s and 1940s coupes racing. But underneath, these are modern cars. As racing evolved, those old coupes got to the point where they just could not compete. At these speeds they would have fallen apart. And if they had hit the wall or another car the driver would have been seriously injured or killed. So what you're watching out here now are nostalgic, but they're just mounting the body of an old coupe onto a modern chassis, suspension, engine, steering and transmission, and installing a modern roll cage inside of it."

Perhaps. But the fans still love them, and they're more affordable. So it's possible they're going to be seen more often on area dirt tracks.

Cornell's 10 and Under Little League All Star team did a lot of things well in the Freedom Tournament Saturday and Saturday.

The Raiders drew Etna, Western Beaver and Beaver Falls for their three preliminary games. If they could go 2-1, they would advance to the semifinals.

Their pitching, which has been a problem back in April and May, was solid. Coach Kenny Wade rotated four pitchers and Dyllen Chetoka, Logan Hunter, Michael Ricketts and Kenny Wade (the coach's son), all looked good. They struck out 16 and forced eight ground outs and four flyouts.

There were impressive fielding plays, including numerous putouts at the various bases and home plate. Cornell's own batting and baserunning was exciting.

A good crowd made the 45 minute drive to the seven field Freedom Little League Complex and they had plenty to cheer about. But there were lots of groans, too, as the Raiders shot themselves in the foot over and over with errors.

Their worst showing was a 27 error disaster Saturday against Etna. The Eagles scored 19 runs and every one of them was due to a Cornell error. Several times, there were multiple errors on the same play, allowing what should have been a simple fly or ground out to become a double or triple. For example, Chetoka started on the mound. In two innings he struck out five and forced a ground out. But behind him, dropped flies and missed grounders allowed batters to get on base, and then overthrows to basemen allowed them to steal all the way around to home.

Coach Wade kept exhorting players to lower their gloves all the way to the ground so the ball would not slip under to the outfield, and to run to flies and extend their arms for the easy out.

He also spent the weekend exhorting them to swing the bat. Cornell players watched pitch after pitch fly straight through the strike zone without swinging at it. 23 times in two days at Freedom Cornell players were called for a third strike without swinging.

Little League Baseball, even at this 9-10 year old "Minor League" level, has evolved. It is much more intense than it once was. Stealing and defending against stealing is now a vital part of every game. Not only do players steal second and third, but they'll steal home and sometimes even from home to first after third strikes. Being able to fire quickly to any base, catch the ball and accurately put the runner out is essential. No player can afford to glance away from the play even for a second at any time. And every player has to have his or her fundamentals down solid or an opponent will quickly take advantage,

The Summer tournament season has revealed a critical need for better facilities in Coraopolis. Every league they play has multiple fields and indoor locations for rainy day and Winter workouts.

Cornell's teams have struggled all season from a lack of practice. They played their first games without a single practice because of late Winter weather, and have been trying unsuccessfully to catch up ever since. Cornell's players also need off season work on fundamentals. The creation of a Fall Ball season for boys not playing football and girls not playing volleyball will help that somewhat. But Cornell clearly needs to find an indoor facility so they can work on batting skills, fielding skills and throwing and catching skills during the Winter months. Whether that's a gym, an abandoned warehouse, or a dome like Robert Morris erected on Neville Island, somewhere in town some such space has to be found. And they need at least one more field, so eight teams are not sharing the same field.

Local baseball missed a golden opportunity when the former Montour Junction site was acquired by an organization for a Soccer complex. That was the last remaining large open land in the borough and the owners have refused to include even a single baseball field in the layout. Baseball fans find that irritating because there are over 150 boys and girls playing baseball and softball in Cory and there is no Soccer league or even a soccer team.

Some have suggested the former Fire Station on State Avenue, the National Guard Armory gym on 5th Avenue, or one of the abandoned buildings in town might be temporarily used until a better location can be either found or built.

There is also a continuing controversy about whether to spread the players at each level around or place all the best ones on the same team. In 2018 they were spread, and none of the Cornell teams were competitive. There is some support for fielding a 12 and under, 11 and under, 10 and under and nine and under team for 2019. Boys and girls at each age level could try out for the team a year up, but if they weren't chosen, they would play at their own level and focus on developing their skills.

"When I was growing up in Pittsburgh," Coach Wade recalls, "That's the way it was. No one had a problem with it. The players all understood that some kids developed earlier than others, so if they didn't make the cut for the older team, they just played at their own age level and tried out again the next year."

Of course, if Cornell adds enough players, it would like to go back to having its own four team league in 2019.

Saturday night will be Nostalgia Time at the Pittsburgh Motor Speedway. The Vintage Coupes from the 1950s and 1960s will race, bringing back memories of Herb Scott, Joe Mihalic, Dick & Gus Linder, Norm Benning and the other drivers who ran these cars several nights a week in the old Pittsburgh Racing Association at Heidelberg, South Park, Clairton, Butler and Jeanette.

Of course, what you'll be seeing is partially an illusion. These really are old coupe bodies. But the engines and components are modern, high tech parts Scott, Mihalic and the others never dreamed would be possible.

These cars and drivers belong to the Pennsylvania Vintage Dirt Racing Association, which was founded in 2011 to restore and preserve the era of classic stock cars. They race 12 times a year at tracks in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Canada, roughly every other weekend for five months.

What you'll see Saturday night is not a classic car show or a simulated demonstration. This is serious racing. They keep season points and award the winners purses. This is just as competitive a division as the Unlimited Late Models, Limiteds or Sportsmen.

The Pittsburgh Motor Speedway has always sold pit passes for fans who want to go down and get close to the cars and drivers. Most fans pass up this chance and just sit up in the stands. But old timers may want to buy those pit passes this week and come early so they can get a close look at these treasures, taking photos and talking to the drivers and teams. This is a rare opportunity.

The Vintage Dirt Racing Association is thriving. It now includes more than 40 drivers and cars from five states.

The cars run steel V-8, V-6 or Straight Six engines, with no limits on cubic inch displacement or carburators on Sixes. V-8s may have either a single 4 barrel or two barrel carburetor and if the V-8 is 396 cu. in. or larger it may have only a rwo barrel carburetor.

These cars and drivers have already been racing for two months so they have points and wins behind them. Drivers who have been winning will be placed at the back of the lineup at each heat and feature, just as they were back in the 50s. If they continue to win, they may actually be moved 50 feet behind the lineup for an additional handicap. This was not done in the 50s. But the goal is to keep the races and the season point competition competitive.

There are no wings or spoilers allowed.

Roll bars, modern racing seats and other safety precautions are mandated, so in many ways they are far safer to drive than the cars back in the 50s. Top drivers Dick Linder and Ed Fiola both died in racing accidents.

Interest is reviving in these old vintage cars because the cost of not just NASCAR but even local dirt track racing has skyrocketed. To compete now in the Unlimited Late Models can require $100,000. Even in the Limiteds ("Crates") costs average $50,000. A Sportsman car can cost $30,000.

But fully equipped vintage racecars that have a record of bringing home trophies can be bought for $10 - $12,000.

Since the speeds aren't quite as high (they're comparable to the RUSH Limiteds), these engines don't need rebuilt as often, saving a huge cost.

Driving is different. These are slightly more compact cars, so they're easier to control than one of the big Unlimiteds or even Limiteds with their bigger bodies. These are also more basic engines, so they're not quite as temperamental.

Crowd response to the Vintage cars has been enthusiastic. Younger fans see them as a link back to the founding days of the sport, and older fans bring their grandkids to show them how racing used to be.

Jeff Broniszewski of Coraopolis in Car # 8 won the Sportsman (now called "Pro Stocks") Feature on Saturday night at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway. It was his first feature win of the season.

Broniszewski held off Greg Beach and Dave McManus for the win on a hot, steamy evening. He started 7th, moved up steadily, spent three laps in 2nd, and finally took the lead on lap 10.

He entered the race ranked only 13th in the season point standings. The win should catapult him into the top 10 as racing approaches the season midpoint.

The Sportsman Division is the highest amateur division in dirt track racing. The cars average about $40-50,000 to build and reach speeds of about 100 mph. They use a General Motors "Crate" engine which is sealed at the factory and is inspected immediately after each race to make sure they have not been tampered with. This prevents teams from adding high cost components, so keeps the costs down for everyone. The engine is a small block Chevy V-8 305 cu. in. displacement version, which is prohibited for street use and made specifically for racetrack use. A typical GM Crate 604 engine costs about $6700.

Justin Lamb of Imperial in Car #93X placed second in the Limited Late Model feature after starting on the pole and leading for half the race. He was edged out by Mike Reft, but, more importantly, finished ahead of Daryl Charlier in #12C, who was third. Charlier has won several features this year and leads the season point race. Lamb has been consistently close to the top and the points race is tight. Jabo Jablonski of Carnegie finished 10th, Chuck Medved of Imperial 13th, Bryan Hoffman of Imperial 15th, and Christian Schneider (driving for the Meneicki team) 19th. Tony White of Coraopolis, in the Jailhouse Saloon Car, finished 22.

These cars cruise at about 100 mph. A typical team will invest $45,000 in the car to start and spend more money to keep it running. Limiteds run V8 engines, built by General Motors for racing use and sealed with special devices. An inspector at the pits can check the seals to make sure the engine has not been modified. These engines weigh 2600-2800 pounds with a 386 cubic inch displacement limit.

The big race of the night, and the biggest race of the season so far, was the Herb Scott Memorial. This annual event honors Herb Scott (photo, top right), the greatest dirt track driver in Pennsylvania history. Scott raced in the PRA, an association with tracks at Heidelberg and four other locations. It was a northeastern version of NASCAR. Scott won 500 feature races and 10 season point championships. Scott's pink #1 coupe (shown) is probably the most famous race car in state history.

The Herb Scott Memorial is a key event for Unlimited racing teams. This is the closest dirt track racing gets to NASCAR, with $100,000 cars and high powered engines. PMS offers a large prize for winners and top 10 placers and the race draws the best drivers from six states. Saturday night, Jon Hodgkiss (right) of Kennedy Township in Car #69 placed ninth, impressive considering the strength of the field. Chris Schneider of Imperial finished 13th.

In Hobby Stocks, no local driver placed. Karlee Kovacs in Coraopolis' Jail House Saloon Car #221K was not able to finish the feature race.

In the Four Cylinder Division, Andy Garlinger of #R88 won again. He has won every feature or heat race this sesason by a wide margin. Track officials have placed him at the rear of the field but after only a few laps he works his way to the lead. When he pulls onto tthe scales after a race his car, especially the engine, is gone over thoroughly but inspectors have not found anything suspicious.

Kyle Janus did not have a good evening. The best he could do was a fourth place in the Young Guns feature.

This Saturday night (July 7), the Speedway will offers its usual card of Late Models, Limiteds, Sportsmen, Hobby Stocks, Four Cylinders and Young Guns, PLUS a special appearance by Vintage Coupes. These are the style of racecars old timers remember watching at Heidelberg, when Herb Scott, Joe Mihalic, Buddy O'Connor, Dick Linder, Norm Benning and other famous drivers competed in the PRA under Commissioner Ed Witzberger. They were remodeled 1930s and 1940s coupes.

One of the advantages of sports teams playing games at other places is that they get to visit other facilities and see how their opponents train and play.

Neither Coraopolis nor Cornell Little Leagues have often fielded travelling all star teams that play in tournaments at a lot of other places. From 1948 until 2000, Coraopolis had its own league except at the end of the year when it sent its all star team to the Little League playoffs, usually at North Allegheny. Lately, as Cornell was reduced to one or two teams, they played either in the Sto-Rox or Moon Leagues. But Cornell's Little League is undergoing a sort of renaissance, and this year is sending two all star teams (11-12 and 9-10) on the road to play in tournaments.

What they're seeing is more than eye opening. The phrase Mind Boggling might be more accurate.

They're learning that while Coraopolis has been standing still or even taking a few steps back, other similarly sized towns have been upgrading their facilities and programs.

This is not a matter of small town vs. much larger towns or large school districts. These are towns and schools the same size of Coraopolis, with the same number of players. Their small leagues field either one, two, three or at the most five teams.

But their facilities are in a separate world.

One of the facilities Cornell's 12 & Under team played on Saturday, Burrell, is shown at left. The complex includes four full sized fields and a T-Ball / Coach Pitch field, which is slightly smaller. At the lower left in the photo are dressing rooms, rest rooms, a concession stand and equipment storage building. In the center is a set of six batting/pitching cages.

At right here is Crafton's complex. Again, note the four Minor League and Little League fields plus a smaller T Ball / Coach Pitch field at the top.

And those are modest facilities. The new standard is a cloverleaf, as shown top right. The complex includes four fields, a central concession stand, announcing and filming tower, batting/pitching cages and equipment storage sheds. One of the fields is smaller, for T-Ball and Coach Pitch games. More and more leagues are building these, so they can hold practices and games for T-Ball, Coach Pitch, Minor League and Little League teams all week from April 1 through November 1. Almost all these cloverleaf complexes include artificial fields, so rain is not a problem. This is a standardized design, with dugouts, cages, the tower, everything preset. The company might adapt it to local conditions, but it looks pretty much the same in every community.

Another reason weather is not a problem is because leagues have acquired abandoned schools, barns, warehouses or other buildings, stripped out the insides, and rebuilt them as indoor practice facilities and playing fields.

It's true the ceilings are a bit low, but most kids either hit grounders or low fly balls. Very few hit high enough arcs to strike ceilings. The indoor "fields" have synthetic surfaces. Little Leagues are using these facilities for Winter fundamental workouts. They can begin Spring practices March 1. If cold or rain is a problem in April or May, they just move games indoors.

Then, in addition to Spring seasons, the Summer All Star season, and Fall season, Little Leagues somehow squeeze a week or two in to send their players off to baseball camps, usually at major colleges. Or, at the least, they run their own six day camps.

So Little League Baseball has become a year round sport. And, as already mentioned, this is not limited to large wealthy communities like North Allegheny, Fox Chapel or Peters Township. It's becoming the norm in the small valley towns up and down the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers. The two photos below show Freedom boys practicing indoors and in netted batting cages.

These are the teams Cornell teams are losing to. Cornell has Bliwas Field. Period. It has no batting/pitching cages, no indoor facility, no other fields. Its kids do not go to weeklong Summer camps.

Leagues Cornell plays against are gaining competitive advantages in six ways.

l. They have enough fields that every team, from five year olds to 12 year olds, can practice or play every day, not twice a week.

2. They have indoor facilities and synthetic outdoor fields so weather does not interrupt them. Cornell teams in 2018 had NO preseason practices because of lingering snow, ice, rain and deep cold. They began their first games having never had a full practice session, and never did catch up to the teams they faced all season.

3. They have specialized devices like batting/pitching cages, electronic tracking devices and computerized statistics. Cornell has none of these.

4. They aggressively recruit their communities. Last week, even while the Spring season has just completed and the Summer All-Star season is in progress, there were signs everywhere urging parents to sign their kids up for Fall Ball: yard signs, signs on utility poles, signs in store windows, and signs at school. Little League officials recruit in the schools. Towns the same size as Coraopolis or even smaller field 3-5 teams per level. The Cornell League has traditionally fielded one team per level and this year has finally worked up to two teams per level. When those towns select their all star teams, their numbers advantage shows. They're picking the best of 50 kids while Cornell is picking the best of 20 kids.

5. Their coaches complete Little League courses in coaching techniques and attend offseason coaches workshops. They're volunteers, but they've been specifically trained and update their training every year. Cornell has coaches who played baseball, often very well at a high level. They know the game. But Little League rules make it a totally different sport. T Ball and Coach Pitch have positions like Center which do not exist in official baseball. Strategies, tactics and practice drills are different, and 21st Century coaching methods more sophisticated. The official LL coaching handbook even cautions that T Ball is totally different than real baseball.

6. Summer camps expose kids to six days of nine hours a day baseball instruction : 9-noon batting, 1-5 fielding and 7-9 pitching. The camps are staffed by top college and high school coaches. One coach told us he believes his kids advance one entire season in one week of camp. In the last 10 years, no Cornell Little League player has attended a full week Summer camp. Some leagues organize their own week long camps but Cornell has not been doing this.

All of this might make it seem like Cornell cannot possibly compete. This is not true. What has happened is that the town has stood still for three decades while its rivals have surged ahead. But Coraopolis and Neville Island have assets. There are empty spaces large enough to build fields, maybe not a fancy cloverleaf, but usable. There are empty buildings with spaces large enough to be converted to practice space, maybe not a full sized field, but certainly enough for batting and pitching cages, fielding drills and conditioning. There are enough businesses and prosperous alumni who could donate the funds needed. All Coraopolis kids can walk to Bliwas field and Neville kids are a bike ride away. Most important, the community has one asset no amount of money can buy : athletes.

As one Lawrence County coach says, "Cory has always had athletes. They always will. Over the years, their programs in various sports have risen and fallen depending on whether they recruited them to play and then developed them, or not."

The Kiwanis Club founded Cory's Little League in 1948. Kiwanians raised money, coached the teams, built and maintained the field, and administered the league as their most important community service project. For most of the 20th century, Cory had 12 teams in two divisions. Teams were named for major league teams (Pirates, Yankees, Dodgers, Tigers, etc.) and the divisions were, of course, the American and National. Players came from Cory, Neville, Groveton, Mooncrest, Charlton Heights, Moon, Robinson and Crescent. There were more boys wanting to play than spaces; every March there were tryouts, and some were cut. They went home, practiced in their driveways, backyards and vacant lots, and tried out again the next year. There was no T Ball, Coach Pitch or Minor League. A few gifted 10 year olds could make teams as reserves, then work their way up to starting spots the following year, but average boys usually were not drafted until they were 11.

Gradually, Kiwanians grew older. The organization failed to recruit new, young, members. Finally, as most of them reached their 60s, 70s and 80s, they gave up sponsorship of Little League and the town took it over.

One stroke of good fortune occurred in 1999. Ronnie Bliwas, who had excelled in the Coraopolis Little League and on the high school team, then gone on to play at the University of Arizona, had pursued his business career in Chicago. He had done a huge favor for an associate. In repayment, the associate came to Coraopolis and financed a complete reconstruction of the facility, which was renamed Bliwas Field.

By then, Moon and Robinson had their own Little Leagues, which removed some players, and Cory was losing population, so its pool of boys steadily dwindled. From 12 teams, the League reduced to eight, six, four and finally had too few to maintain its own schedule. It had to join an outside league. For a while Cory's three, then two, and finally one, team competed in the Greater Pittsburgh League, playing McKees Rocks, Stowe, Avalon, Crafton, Bellevue and Carnegie. Parents complained about the travel, so for the last several years Cory teams have competed in the Moon League. They were competitive in the GPL, playing in the championship game several times. But they have not been competitive in the Moon League, finishing among the bottom teams in each level.

However, a few years ago new management took over the league. Under Marcy Lamb, Greg Woodard, Matt Hauser and Kenny Wade, it has rebuilt its finances and its player base. Two years ago it doubled the number of players. This year it increased by another 37, enough to field two teams at each level. It has refurbished Ronnie Bliwas Field, and Coraopolis Borough Council is adding new roofs on the dugouts, restrooms and concession stand. For the first time, Cory will operate a Fall League. So, just as the town is seeing a renaissance, so is its Little League.

And, as always, it has athletes. In Josh Mozuch and Walter Clarit Cornell has two of the best young pitchers in the county. Cody Chetoka is an outstanding catcher, with a rifle arm that can pick off runners on any base. Mozuch on the mound and Chetoka behind the plate is a very good combination. Mitch Engel is excellent at first base. Clarit is also the best base stealer in the area as well as a fine shortstop. Dylan Woodard, Michael Ricketts, Colton Mozuch, Dyllen Chetoka and Brady Vignoe are other rising stars.

So with all this talent, why can't Cornell beat anybody? Numbers. Little League rules are so concerned with making sure as many kids as possible get to participate, and so concerned about protecting young arms and other joints, they penalize small towns without numbers. Pitchers and catchers can only deliver or receive so many throws per game and then have to wait two games before doing it again. Players are required to rotate positions. So Woodard cannot just sit Engel at first base, or Clarit at short. He has to have two more second basemen, two more shortstops, five more pitchers and catchers. He has to find nine outfielders with the speed and quickness to run down deep flies or line drives, because he can't just leave three good ones out there for an entire game. So he has to develop every player for at least three positions.

And that's where lack of fields, of batting and pitching cages, of indoor facilities, comes in. The only way to develop a players at three positions is repetition. Each player must repeat the basic motions over and over until it becomes instinct. That takes time. Practice time. It cannot be done only getting to use a field two days a week because eight other teams are using it the other days. It cannot be done when no practice time at all is available the entire month of March and half of April due to weather.

Furthermore, Cornell's player pool has to be expanded. Cornell currently is only using one of its three potential player populations. Since 1978, girls have been welcome in Little League. There are some outstanding girls playing right now in Allegheny County. One pitcher in a recent tournament Cornell was in was a magician on the pitcher's mound. No one could hit her. Cornell has two such girls coming up in Samantha Melius and McKenna Griffith (right). They don't pitch, but Melius is going to be a star shortstop and Griffith at third or second base or in the outfield. However, there are 50 other such girls in school at the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grades and they need to be recruited. By the time they're in high school, they may be playing softball, but the best preparation for softball is youth baseball and they can help Cornell for four or five years until, at age 13, they graduate to softball.

The other pool is minority athletes. Cornell Little League has a handful of minority players, and they've been outstanding. But there are many more in grades 3-6, and they should be playing. Especially since neurologists and pediatricians recommend boys do not begin playing football until age 13, baseball offers a great sports experience which develops qualities that can later transfer over to football or basketball. Almost all of Cory and Neville's greatest athletes have played three sports.

But to handle a larger number of players, Cornell is back to needing more fields and indoor facilities. It has seen what its rivals have. Now the push is on to develop something here.

Somehow Cornell squeezed in two baseball games among the intermittent rains Saturday but the day was a total washout anyway.

The 12 & Under All Star team representing the Cornell Little League lost both games, to Riverview and Burrell, and exited the Riverview Tournament.

The teams dodged raindrops all day. A downpour interrupted games at noon and forced a rain delay. By 1 pm the rain stopped but the field was a lake. Those teams moved to a different field for their last two innings while a grounds crew went to work with blowers, shop vacs and tools to remove the water, dry the infield, rake it and reline it in time for the Cornell - Riverview game. Originally scheduled for 2 pm, it began at 3. Black clouds surrounded the hilltop field, but directly overhead was sunshine, and miraculously the game was completed. Only a few minutes later, a downpour commenced.

Cornell was scheduled to play Burrell at 5 pm. The teams moved to a different field but a 3 pm game between Saxonburg and Karns City was in a rain delay with only five innings complete. After 30 minutes of heavy downpour, that field was a lake so that game was declared over with a 7-6 score.

Cornell and Burrell travelled 30 minutes to a different field, which was high and dry and in full sunshine. So at 6 pm they finally got their game under way.

Three times a rain delay sent teams to their dugout, but each time after five minutes or so it backed off and the game continued.

Perhaps the rain diverted everyone's attention, or the fact they were there for nine hours exhausted them. Whatever the problem, Cornell did not play well. These are all star teams. There are no weaknesses. They take advantage of any errors. These teams also consist of nine 12 year olds. Cornell has three 12 year olds, three 11 year olds and three 10 year olds. The age and experience difference was clearly evident.

But despite the losses, Cornell played well for stretches.

In the Riverview game, Walter Clarit struck out one and forced a ground out. But a single, two walks and a double brought in three runs before Clarit forced a fly out to end the first. He came back in the second to strike out one and force two groundouts.

The problem was Cornell couldn't score. In the first, Clarit walked, then stole second and third. Dyllen Chetoka walked and brother Cody singled to load the bases. But Clarit was put out on a questionable call stealing home, and two strikeouts ended the rally. In the second, two strikeouts and a groundout shut the Raiders down quickly.

In the third, Clarit forced a popup. But he then walked two. A double and two steals home made it 0-6. Noah Slinde replaced Clarit on the mound, and although he struck out one, he was unable to stop the onslaught. Two singles and a double pushed the score to 0-9. Again, three straight groundouts retired Cornell. In the fourth four singles and a double made it 0-12 and the game was called on the mercy rule.

Against Burrell, again Cornell bats were unproductive. Two groundouts and a popup ended the first. Burrell stacked five singles and two walks for an 0-5 lead. A strikeout, groundout and putout retired Cornell quickly. Two walks and four singles pushed the Burrell lead to 0-8.

Cornell scored its only run of the tournament in the third. Dyllen Chetoka walked and stole second and third. Brother Cody sacrificed him in to make it 1-8. But a groundout and putout stopped any hopes of a rally. Then two singles and a home run lifted Burrell to 1-12. Two strikeouts and a groundout retired Cornell in the top of rhe fourth and again the mercy rule ended the game.

Cornell's 12 and under team will now take a few days off, then begin practicing for the New Brighton Tournament. Brady Vignoe, Colton Mozuch, Michael Ricketts and Dyllen Chetoka will drop down and join the 10 and under team in its tournament next week at Freedom.

They'll rejoin the 12 and under team for the New Brighton Tournament.

Four spectacular bad calls marred the Burrell game but did not decide the outcome. Three were calls out of players stealing bases, when they were clearly in contact with the base well ahead of the ball's arrival in the defender's glove. (For one, see top photo.) The other was a Burrell fielder catching the ball in the grass, then stepping into the basepath to block the path of a Cornell runner advancing from first to second.

Coach Greg Woodard was understandably disappointed. "We should have won both these games today and moved into the semifinals," he said. "We were a step slow both games in fielding and seemed tentative at the plate.

Several Cornell batters admitted they felt pressured and intimidated. It's the first actual tournament they've played in, since Cornell did not run a travelling team the last several years. High expectations and the bigger, more impressive facilities, the long trip and the number of parents and fans who followed them, combined to add a stress they weren't used to. Their coaches kept telling them to just relax and swing, but of their six strikeouts, four were on called strikes on the third pitch when the batter failed to swing. Players also admitted they were thinking instead of just reacting when fielding, which accounted for them being a step slow on fielding grounders and fly balls. "Hopefully we got these feelings out of our system," Woodard said. "We need to go down to New Brighton and just play. We're better than we showed here."

Powerful East Butler pounded Cornell 12-0 Thursday at Verona in the Riverview 12 and Under Class C Little League Tournament. Coach David Cunningham has been bringing this East Butler team along since age 5 in T Ball. They play Fall Ball, work indoors all Winter, and begin practice for the Spring Season March 1. It showed. They were a smooth, cohesive unit. They made no mistakes and batted aggressively.

Despite the one sided score, Cornell looked pretty good. Josh Mozuch started on the mound and lasted three innings. In the first inning, he had trouble with the pitching mound. A Little League mound is supposed to drop one inch per 12 inches. Verona's mound extends 15 inches in front of rhe rubber, then drops straight down. Coming off the field after the first inning, Mozuch said "it was like stepping off a cliff." Mozuch has a long stride, and the drop threw off his pitching motion. Both teams had to contend with the mound, but not all pitchers have long strides. While Mozuch struggled with the mound, East Butler grabbed an early lead. Three singles, three walks and a triple put the Eagles up 6-0. In its turn at bat, Cornell could manage only a Cody Chetoka single.

A fly out and two ground outs retired the side.

After the first inning, the umpire came out and supervised some quick shovelling and raking of the mound to try and ease that dropoff. It helped some, and Mozuch settled down to his usual rhytmn. He struck out one and forced a groundout and flyout to end the second inning, then forced three straight groundouts to end the third.

But Cornell couldn't score. In the second, Dylan Woodard was walked and Noah Sinde sacrificed to send him to third. Colton Mozuch walked, but was put out trying to steal second. A strikeout ended the inning.

In the third, Aaron Reddix singled, Dyllen Chetoka walked and Cody Chetoka singled. But Reddix was put out trying to slide into home, and two strikeouts ended the inning.

Mozuch had used up his allowable pitches, so Walter Clarit went to the mound to begin the fourth inning. He did not have a good night. Two walks and five singles brought in six more runs to make it 12-0.

Cornell batters struck out twice and grounded out once to end the fourth. The Little League Mercy Rule ended the game after that fourth.

Cornell isn't done. They play two games on Saturday, at 2 and 4. If they win those two they can still make the elimination rounds on Sunday.

One of those Saturday games is a postponement from Wednesday when it was rained out.

East Butler, meanwhile, looks like the clear favorite to win the tournament.

Fans going to the games Saturday should leave Cory by 12:30. Take the Ohio River Boulevard to the North Side, and Route 28 through Millvale, Etna and Sharpsburg. Cross the Highland Park Bridge, turn left, and drive up the Allegheny River to Verona. Turn right on South Avenue, a steep brick street. The field is two blocks past the old Verona High School, now Verner Elementary School. If you're entering it into your GPS, it would be "Cribbs field, 744 2nd St, Verona, PA 15147." That is for the 2:00 game. The 4:00 game is at Creekside Field, in Oakmont, GPS "Creekside field, 3rd and Archie St, Oakmont PA 15139."

Local drag racers who made it to 2018 Reunion exited early from the competition. By Thursday night of the three day Holley National Hot Rod Association Reunion Championships, they had all been eliminated.

But just being at Beech Bend Raceway Park is quite an experience. It's one of the top motor sports centers in the country. You drive in through groves of Beech trees. The drag strip sits in a large bend in the Barren River. Grassy meadows dotted with shade trees surround the half mile strip. On this particular weekend, those meadows are crammed with 3000 custom built street rods, here for their own championships. Along the river stretches the 500 site Beech Bend Campground, crammed this week with auto enthusiasts. Up on the hill is Beech Bend Park, an amusement park celebrating its 150th anniversary. In between the sounds of squeeling tires and roaring engines can be heard screams from the roller coasters and other thrill rides.

Alongside the drag strip is a half mile paved oval track, although it's too small for NASCAR so only locals race there. Through the trees, canoeists and fishermen can be seen paddling or just floating with the current. Back through that alley of Beeches and then left across the river are the Corvette Factory, Corvette Museum and Motorsports Park, home to a three mile long Le Mans style racetrack full of twists and turns. They race Corvettes there, yes, but also motorcycles, go karts, sports cars and roadsters. Bowling Green hosts several huge classic car shows, car cruises and car auctions every year. You can grab a snack or a meal at the Corvette Grille, a 1950s diner full of automotive memorabilia.

And there's more. Just up the road is Mammoth Cave National Park, home to the largest cave system in the world. In the area are three other major caves, one of which you ride through in a boat. The Green, Nolin and Barren Rivers are great for canoeing and fishing. Nashville is only 60 minutes away, with its Opryland and other country music attractions. Bowling Green has more restaurants per capita than any place in America, a heritage left by 20th Century hero Duncsan Hines, who promoted local restaurants and popularized the concept of the restaurant review in newpapers, magazines and books. Bowling Green is famous for Barbeque and Catfish, but also boasts Japanese, Bosnian, Indian and other ethnic cuisine. Holley Performance Parts is here, which is why the Reunion is here. There's even a minor league baseball team named --- what else ? --- the Hot Rods.

So Beech Bend and the area can support at least a week's visit. A motor sports loving husband can lose himself in the American Car Culture while his wife and kids spend their time in other pursuits.

Which brings us back to the dragstrip. This is one of the nation's best. It has large, covered chairback seating on both sides. By using the half mile oval as a staging track, they bring pairs of cars through every few seconds and really keep the action moving.

Not every NHRA category races here. Even with their hyper efficiency and running from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., it's all they can do to squeeze all these cars through qualifying rounds, then elimination rounds in only three days.

This was a very nostalgic week. Many of the older generation of famous drsg racers were here, some competing, but most just signing autographs and posing for photos. There was a heavy 1940s-50s-60s flavor to the cars.

The most popular category with the fans was the oddly named Funny Cars. There's nothing humorous about them. They have carbon fiber bodies that resemble production cars from back in the day. They run in the 3.8 second range and can hit 260 mph. They're powered by supercharged fuel injected 500 inch engines. They don't use transmissions but rather a series of clutches.

The Top Fuel cars also had a large following. They're the 25 ft. long very narrow slingshots, with 10,000 horsepower 500 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi engines. Other categories were the Pro, Modifieds, Hot Rods, and Gas.

The Western Hills has not had a national drag racing champion since Domenic Santucci of Coraopolis won it in 1969. He died in 2002 at 62. Tom Myl, also of Cory, drove a Plymouth Barracuda for Pete Myl Chrysler Dealership and won the national title in 1967. He still lives in Moon Township.