This site is about the sports doings -- mainly football -- of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact:
Monday's Girls Hoops
Oil City 59, Titusville 46
Cranberry 51, Keystone 39
Fairview 41, Franklin 11
Cambridge Springs 41, Rocky Grove 30
Swimming
Franklin girls 88, Sharon 80
FRanklin boys 96, Sharon 59
Today's Games -- Boys hoops
Warren 62, Franklin 54
Oil City 68, Titusville 27
Rocky Grove 80, Cochranton 77
Cranberry 75, Brookville 64
Girls hoops
Forest Area at Rocky Grove
Wrestling
Franklin at Cranberry
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All Smiles
That's what 37 points
and a Win will do for you
Photo by Tammy Curry
Darien Wenner has 17 baskets in her last two games.
Wenner keeps it up for Cranberry;
Liederbach, Garmong spark Oil City
Cranberry's Darien Wenner continues to hold all the cards -- aka the hot hand.
After delivering a season-high 31 points against Commodore Perry on Saturday, she deposted 23 more Monday as the Berries took to the road again and whipped Keystone, 51-39.
Wenner, a sophomore, not only amassed 17 baskets, including seven three-pointers in the two games, but she was a combined 13-for-16 from the foul line as the Berries improved to 12-7.
Cranberry also received 10 points from Jadyn Shunmaker against Keystone.
Oil City also posted a big road victory as Payton Liederbach netted 25 points to lead the Lady Oilers to a 59-46 decision at Titusville, spoiling the Lady Rockets' Senior Night festivities. Sophia Garmong added 16 as Oil City snapped a two-game losing streak.
Lady Knights thumped
Franklin stayed at home and was schooled by Fairview, 41-11, in a non-region game.
The Tigers jumped out to a 22-6 lead at the quarter and then proceeded to hold the Lady Knights to one point in the next two. Nobody scored more than four points for Franklin.
Fairview is involved in a three-way tie for first with Harbor Creek and Corry in its region. The Tigers are 15-4, and earlier defeated Cranberry, 58-23. Their losses have been to Neshannock, one of the top 2A teams in the WPIAL, along with McDowell, Prep -- and Corry. And, what's more, they have no seniors.
Rocky Grove also left home and lost to Cambridge Springs, 41-30. Lydia Kennedy scored 12 and Abigail Mawhinney 10 for the Orioles. The Grove (6-11) will be home tonight against Forest Area, a team it beat by three points on the road on Jan. 23.
​
SIDE NOTE -- Makayla Presser-Palmer, the superstar from Northwestern, has passed two former local stars on the District 10 girls basketball all-time scoring list. Over the weekend she moved ahead of Franklin's Hillary Hager (2,299) into fourth place, then on Monday, she took over third place ahead of Cranberry's Carrie Mason (2,335).
According to Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times-News, MPP needs fewer than 100 points to become D-10's all-time leading scorer. Nos. 1 and 2 are Lakeview's Sheena Aden (now Mittelmeier) with 2,421 and Cranberry's Susan Blauser (2,385).
Aden later played at Pitt-Johnstown. Hall of Fame coach Jodi Gault (Oil City) said she recruited Aden, but retired before Aden's college career began.
MPP is an Arizona Wildcats commit.
Northwestern is located in Albion, Erie County.
One for the road: Oilers erase
16-point deficit to win at LeBoeuf
In the Region 5 version of the old kids game "Mother May I?" -- which probably no one ever heard of unless they're of that certain age -- the Oilers asked Friday night, "Mother, may we come from 16 points down on the road to beat Ft. LeBoeuf, 73-70, and keep first place all to ourselves?"
And Mother said, "Go for it."
So the Oilers did behind Nevin Stinson's 27 points and 11 apiece by Steven Heise and Isaiah Van Wormer, one of the three major freshmen contributors on the team. One of the others, Easton Liederbach, chipped in with seven boards and five steals.
It's the third time since Jan. 13 they've erased what appeared to be an insurmountable deficit.
The win, the 13th in 18 starts overall, ran their region record to 9-1 against a LeBoeuf team that was coming off two straight road upsets over Warren and Franklin.
They both remained a game behind Oil City with victories Friday. In fact, the Knights (11-7, 8-2) received a career high 37 points from Jameson Wofford in their 68-48 romp over Conneaut, which recently lost its 1,000 points star, Alex Brady, to a second ACL. Wofford scored 23 in the second half. Franklin also received 11 points from sophomore Nolan Parry.
Warren was also a winner -- 75-28 over Titusville -- to keep pace with Franklin in the standings. The Knights will host Warren on Tuesday.
Over in Region 2, Rocky Grove had an easy time with Commodore Perry. Noah Baughman scored 15, Landon Jones 11 and Landen Carter 10 for the 12-6 Orioles, who lead the league with a 9-1 mark. Jones collected 11 rebounds.
The headliner, though, was Saegertown tripping Cochranton, 58-57. The Panthers remained a half game behind the Grove in second place. The Cardinals fell to 6-4.
Since the Grove is 2A, it should be noted that Lakeview star Luke Fagley went down with an ankle injury, the extent of which is unknown. The Sailors beat the Grove for the D10 title last season.
The Cranberry Express continued to hum along in District 9. Sixteen players scored in a 69-41 victory over Forest, led by Blake Marchinke with 17, Shia Sanchez with 11 and Connor Morrow with 10. Landon Baker grabbed nine rebounds.
At 16-2, the Berries look like a cinch to better last year's 18-8 record and challenge their best mark since 1952 when they were 20-4 and District 10 champs with Wayne Russell, Dean Sheatz and Marv Davis making life easier for coach Byron Johnston.
The Lady Berries (11-7) played at Commodore Perry on Saturday and came away with a 71-59 victory behind sophomore Darien Werner's season-high 31 points. That was one point short of her career best. She hit five three-pointers, giving her 33 for the season. She and Franklin's Hailey Hanna are 1-2 in Venango County threes. Elena Ishman added 14 and Jadyn Shumaker contributed 12 to the cause.
D-10 playoffs:
How Tom Sees It
Boys 4A projection
First round
5 Fairview vs. 12 Fort LeBoeuf
6 Grove City vs. 11 Franklin
7 North East vs. 10 Warren
8 Girard vs. 9 Oil City
Quarterfinals
1 Cathedral Prep vs. Girard-Oil City winner
2 Sharon vs. North East-Warren winner
3 Hickory vs. Grove City-Franklin winner
4 Harbor Creek vs. Fairview-Corry winner
Girls 4A projection
First round
7 Conneaut vs. 10 Titusville
8 Oil City vs. 9 Grove City
Quarterfinals
1 Corry vs. Oil City-Grove City winner
2 Fairview vs. Conneaut-Titusville winner
3 Harbor Creek vs. 6 Franklin
4 General McLane vs. 5 Slippery Rock
Boys 2A projection
Quarterfinals
3 Mercyhurst Prep vs. 6 Cochranton
4 Saegertown vs. 5 Greenville
Semifinals
1 Rocky Grove vs. Saegertown-Greenville winner
2 Lakeview vs. Mercyhurst Prep-Cochranton winner
Erie Paper's High school hoops guru
takes a look at the upcoming playoffs
Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times News came out yesterday with his annual projection of how the District 10 basketball playoff shapes up. And to see how he sees it in 4A where Oil City and Franklin reside, their seasons will end shortly after their regular seasons end.
That's because they -- in his eyes -- are Nos. 9-12 in the 12-team event -- i.e. go play the game and then go home until next year.
Right now, Oil City is the best of Region 5 and gets the ninth seed followed by Warren, Franklin and Ft. LeBoeuf. So, playoff types from Erie and Mercer counties are all better than Region 5.
Unfortunately, he's probably correct. I mean, just look at the scores from December.
The Oilers lost to Mercer County also-ran Grove City by 20. The Knights lost to Girard by 18. Warren only lost to Girard by one, but took it on the chin to 3A Eisenhower (20) and 2A Mercyhurst (15). Ft. LeBoeuf lost to North East by 15.
Getting back to Oil City and Franklin. Both, especially the Oilers, were resounding losers to Cathedral Prep.
While the Oilers did beat Rocky Grove -- something Franklin was unable to do in its own gym -- they lost by four on the road to a so-so Meadville team. The Knights were able to conquer the 'Dogs by seven at home, but they also lost to a mediocre Beaver team by 15. This was after Beaver (5-10) lost to Grove City.
All-in-all an unimpressive non-league showing from Region 5 teams, so I can see where Reisenweber is coming from.
As for the girls, Erie County obviously rules. Just check out the result of Monday's Fairview-Franklin game. There's no question the top four seeds should hail from Erie County with Slippery Rock coming in at a strong No. 5
In 2A boys, Rocky Grove is again the top seed -- same as last year. But how did that work out? The Orioles lost convincingly to Lakeview, which is the 2 seed. Next thing you know, their season was over with the next game.
But, remember, this is only what Tom Reisenweber thinks. And even if TPTB agree, they still have to play the games.
On the mat, in the pool
Sammi Smith was a double winner for the Franklin girls.
This never gets old: Cranberry's Dalton Wenner being proclaimed the winner.
latest Dual meet results
Eisenhower 40, Franklin 31
Pins -- Corbin Clark, Austin Hart
Tech falls -- Seth Hollerman,, Gary Kiselka
Decisions -- Brian Hart
DuBois 50, Cranberry 15
Pins -- Aiden Thompson, Dalton Wenner, Noah Lucarelli
Franklin girls region swim champs
Franklin, which finished with only four firsts, found itself trailing Sharon before the 200 free relay, but rallied for an 88-80 decision to clinch the Region1 championship and remain undefeated at 7-0.
“We were down in the first half of the meet, so I pulled the girls together right before the (relay) and spelled out for them what they needed to do if they wanted to remain undefeated," Franklin coach Charlie Smith told The News-Herald.
"I told the girls they had the capability to overcome this deficit, but it was up to them. They responded very well the second half of the meet."
Sammi Smith was a double winner. She took the 50 and teamed with Sophie Wehrle, Ellie Coyer and Chloe Switzer to win that upcoming relay.
Dani Erdley later won the backstroke before Evelynn Highfield took the breaststroke. Depth was the difference.
Jacksen Clark was a four-event winner in the boys ' 96-59 victory. Parker Smith and Jacob Balsamo were triple winners for the Knights.
Dani Erdley took the backstroke as the Lady
Knights wrapped up the Region 1 title. (Photos by Christy Fackler.
Football
Franklin finds
its man
Austin Ion was introduced as the new Franklin football coach at a school board work session on Jan. 19. He officially became Franklin's 26th paid coach at the board's Jan. 26 meeting.
Ion succeeds Matt Turk, a former Knight all-star, who resigned after six years at the helm.
Ion is a 2017 Keystone High School graduate who played football, basketball and baseball for the Panthers.
He played wide receiver at Grove City College, where he majored in accounting.
He has coached at Keystone for eight years and most recently served as jayvee coach under coach Todd Smith.
The commiittee to select a new coach at Franklin consisted of athletic director Becky Barnes, high school co-principal Tom Holoman, Central Elementary principal Joe Keenan and assistant AD Chris Romanowski.
Ion was the choice among "nine good applicants," according to Barnes.​