This site is about the sports doings of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact: pennyweichel@gmail.com
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General McLane 23, Oilers 0
General McLane blanked the Oilers, 23-0, scoring two touchdowns on fourth down passes. The Lancers’ third TD was keyed by another fourth down conversion. They also added a safety and defensively held the Oilers to 121 yards total offense.
McLane (4-0) led 7-0 at halftime, but pulled away in the second half as the Oil City offense, which was pretty good last week against Sharon, continued to sputter. Again crippled by penalties, the Oilers didn’t even threaten to score and consequently were shut out for the first time since a 2023 game against Hollidaysburg. Four turnovers didn't help, either.
GML quarterback Josh Caro, meanwhile, racked up 194 yards total offense. He threw for 164 and two touchdowns and scored the other on a 5-yard run. But most of the damage he – and the Lancers did – came through the air. They had 242 yards total offense -- 74 below their average.
The Oilers were without head coach Dan York who was injured in practice. Offensive coordinator Dave Skinner filled in for York.
It doesn't get any easier next week as the Oilers return home to play Cathedral Prep.
Cathedral Prep 79, Knights 6
Cathedral Prep lived up to its press clippings, scoring 31 first-quarter points en route to a 79-6 win over Franklin.
Broegen McCarthy threw five touchdown passes – three in the first quarter and two in the second – as the unbeaten Ramblers scored the most points against the Knights since 2012 when Grove City beat them, 91-12.
It was the third highest points output ever against Franklin, No. 1 being Warren’s 104-0 conquest in 1915.
But Franklin, at least, got on the scoreboard on sophomore quarterback Harrison Doty’s 2--yard run in the third quarter. Doty also completed 10 of 18 passes for 106 yards.
The Knights will be at home Friday against Iroquois before hitting the road for four of their last five games.
...better days
Franklin freshman Korbyn Sires (6-0, 180) tries to pry the ball loose from 6-3, 195-pound Robert Brown, one of five Prep receivers to catch a TD pass. (Footsteps Photography)
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Oilers vs. Prep
Remember last December when Prep thumped the Oilers, 115-55, in the Franklin basketball tournament? A Prep alum wrote on X/Twitter about how embarrassing that Prep was even playing the likes of Oil City. I don’t think he meant to insult Oil City (the team, school or town), although it didn’t come across that way. His point was that Prep is supposed to be a statewide power in pretty much all sports, and it shouldn’t be playing the likes of Oil City (or Franklin or Rocky Grove) in Christmas tournaments. The Ramblers should be traveling the eastern U.S. taking on real high school powerhouses.
I can’t say as I disagree or I at least get what the guy is saying.
With that thought in mind, I’m wondering what Prep is doing playing the likes of Franklin and Oil City out of District 10’s Region 5. How about, instead, a schedule of McDowell and some of those schools from western New York and northeast Ohio the Ramblers have been known to play over the years?
Just a thought.
As it is, the Ramblers, as they prepare for Friday’s game at the Oil Field with the Oilers, are coming off a 79-6 conquest of Franklin. They are 4-0 and suffice it say, are loaded with a number of horses not named Trigger, Silver and Buttermilk.
Oil City has not shown well against Prep over the years. The Oilers are 0-3, the last loss coming in 2015, 49-14 (Mo Hadley/Jackson McFall). Then there was the 70-26 in 2013 (Kevin Daly/Logan Way) and, finally, the 56-6 in 2010 when Oil City had its own star-studded lineup that included Mark Kulinski, the injured Ben Koyack and Dallas Williams to name three.
Knights vs. Iroquois
Looks like the 0-4 Knights have a winnable game staring them in the face. Soph QB Harrison Doty appears to be improving and he might get some of his supporting cast – most notably Caden Mincer – back from the IL. Mincer has missed the last two games, but still is within striking distance of Ian Quarles’ school career rushing record. (Couple of mammoth games would do wonders.)
This will be Franklin’s first meeting with Iroquois, 2-2 and coming off a 52-21 loss to Slippery Rock in which it gave up 49 unanswered points.
The Braves also lost to Maplewood, and have beaten Union City and Eisenhower.
The Iroquois offense is built around underclassmen. Soph QB Chase Cocolin was averaging 183 yards passing going into Slippery Rock and two more 10th graders, RBs Cameron Cadden and Donovan Berry were averaging five yards a carry.
Cocolin threw for 239 yards and two TDs and scored another on a 64-yard scramble against the Rock.
His TD passes went to freshman Donovan Brown, one going for 47 yards. But Cocolin’s main target was junior Noah Olowinski (6/109).
100 Years Ago: Remembering 1926
The only teams to score on Oil City were the three that beat them: the Alumni (7-2), Warren (13-7) and Steubenville, Ohio (49-0). Otherwise, the Oilers posted seven victories, including two over Franklin, a 0-0 tie with Sharpsville and gained a leg of the Alpha Cup.
Franklin, meanwhile, recorded five wins to go with four losses, the other two coming against Sharpsville and Meadville. Coach Ed Treadwell spent part of the season in Buffalo General Hospital with rheaumatic fever, so assistant Earl McGill took over in his absence.
Oiler home games were moved to the West End field from Hasson Ramage, which school officials deemed too rough. They opened the season Sept. 18 against the Alumni, while Franklin kicked off the campaign Sept. 25 against Yougsville.
After tying Sharpsville during Week 2, the Oilers got in the win column when Al Henderson returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown in a 7-0 victory over Erie East.
The Nursery's first loss to Oil City on Oct. 9 was sandwiched around lopsided victories over Yougsville (37-0), Sandy Lake (28-0) and Union City (68-0). Paul Snyder scored four TDs against the Bears. He led Franklin with seven touchdowns that season.
Frank "Bruv" O'Day, who later coached St. Joe, ran for 133 yards before 4,000 fans in that 27-0 victory over Franklin, which included two TDs covering 25 yards by Henderson and Bob Moran and another for 21 by Walter "Spike" McLain.
O'Day also registered a pair of 55-yard plays in the second game against the Nursery, an 18-0 shutout on Nov. 25. One was a run from scrimmage and the other a Pick 6.
The Nursery had some so-so results in between the two games. There were shutouts against Union City, injury-riddled Greenville and Titusville (34-0), their first win over the Rockets in seven years. Ed Billig scored twice, the first on a 48-yard run to start the scoring. Billig scored six TDs on the season and Bob Muse added five.
Franklin lost to Meadville in its next outing before taking on Oil City again.
Before the back-to-back losses to Warren and Steubenville, the Oilers blanked Meadville, 40-0, and the mighty Sharon Tigers, 14-0. Ray "Chubby" Williams' 2-yard plunge clinched the win over Sharon as the Oilers handed the Tigers their first loss of the season.
The week before, Moran scored three TDs, one from Henderson for the Oilers' only scoring pass of 1926.
The Oilers measured Titusville, 33-0, the week before the second game with Franklin. McLain's 64-yard run was the highlight of the game.
Oil City was scheduled to play Greenville, but the Trojans canceled, saying it was unable to field a team. But later it was learned the PIAA was on Greenville's case for using ineligible players.
The Oilers' lineup in 1926 included 275-poound senior tackle Roy "Kippy" Schorman. Moran led the Oilers with eight touchdowns and Henderson added five and 38 points.
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Photo by Christy Fackler