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Friday's Results
Boys Hoops
Oil City 85, Warren 75 (3 OTs)
Corry 50, Franklin 48
Cranberry 71, Cochranton 63
Rocky Grove 101, Maplewood 47
Girls Hoops
Oil City 33, General McLane 27
C-L 62, Cranberry 48
Wrestling
Cranberry 39, Redbank Valley 34
triple overtime in warren
WIN!
what A
When he wasn't drilling six 3-pointers,
Landen Carter was finding the open man
(Photos by Christy Fackler)
36 points for Noah Baughman
Oilers clinch at least
tie for first league
title in 55 years!
Nevin Stinson scored all of his 30 points after intermission as Oil City punched Warren, 85-75, to tighten its grip on first place in Region 5.
The Oilers (15-5 overall) trailed by as many as 13 (46-33) in the second half, rallied to go up by six, but yielded that advantage as the battle for first place took three overtimes to decide.
There were heroes on both sides; as it turned out Steven Heise's three-pointer put Oil City ahead to stay in the third extra period. It also ignited a 7-0 spurt.
The Oilers are 11-1 in the region, two games ahead of Warren with two to play. Oil City clinched no worse than a tie for its first league championship since 1971 and will be at home Tuesday (Franklin) and Friday (Conneaut) to close the regular season. Warren has CASH and Corry remaining on its schedule.
While the press brought the Oilers back Friday, shooting from distance both ways over the first two quarters. almost did them in.
Warren was 5-for-9 from three-point land the first half while the Oilers were an abysmal 2-for-11. Michael Fink kept them in the game and finished with 19 points to go with 12 rebounds. Heise added 14 points.
Heise and Stinson made six steals apiece and Carter Thompson added four steals.
Corry stuns Franklin
Their next opponent, Franklin (11-9), was also on the road and lost to Corry, 50-48. Ian Higley's 16 led the Knights. Nate Fezell had 13 and Jameson Wofford 10.
Grove scores 100
Noah Baughman scored a career-high 36 points and Landen Carter included six trifectas in his 24-point outburst as Rocky Grove thrashed Maplwood, 101-47. Also in double figures: Connor Ritchey with 12 and Aiden Focht with 11. The Grove made 19 three-pointers in the game.
The Orioles (15-3 overall) are still a half game up on Saegertown in Region 2. Their final region game is Tuesday at Jamestown. The Panthers must play road games at Commodore Perry and Maplewood (a respectable 7-12 overall) this week.
Lady Oilers win
The Oil City girls rallied for a 33-27 decision over General McLane behind Payton Liederbach's 15 points.
Oil City is 11-9.​
Good News, bad news berries
There was good news and bad news coming out of Cranberry after Friday night's basketball games.
Good news for the boys: They won. They beat Cochranton, 71-63. Only trouble is Blake Marchinke didn't play because he's nursing an injury.
Good news for the girls: they took their bus ride to Clarion-Limestone and back and got home safely. The bad news is they lost, 62-48, and might not make the KSAC playoffs.
There was more good news for the boys who are 19-2. They put four players in double figures, including Connor Morrow and Cole Findlay. Morrow also went eight-for-eight from the line. Shia Sanchez notched 14 and Landon Baker added 11.
Coach Ed McIntyre said he's confident that Marchinke will be ready to go soon.
The KSAC playoffs are next for them.
The girls just hope there is a KSAC playoffs in the stars for them. Coming off a big victory over Brookville on Thursday in which freshman Ella Fleeger swished two clutch free throws with 0.8 seconds left to win it, another triumph Friday over C-L would have sewed up a spot.
But C-L converted 25 of 28 free throws and clinched a spot for itself. Now the Berries need Keystone to beat Redbank on Monday to get in. If not, Redbank qualifies with a victory
But, as with the boys, they have bigger fish to fry, such as the District 9 tournament.
The girls are 13-8 after their loss to C-L. Hannah Beggs was a big problem. She scored 20 points for the Lions, going 12-for-14 from the line.
It was enough to offset another stellar effort by Darien Wenner who collected 21, including three more trifectas.
Connor Morrow (14) had a big game for the Berries on Friday as did Landon Baker (4).
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In memoriam: Keith Siverling, Trent Zdarko
Keith Siverling, 65, Cranberry High School's cross country coach for 25 years, died Monday.
His teams won four District 9 cross country championships, including three straight from 2019-21. His first came in 2014. The Berries also qualified teams for states five other times under Siverling in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2023.
Siverling also starred in cross country and track for the Berries when he was in high school.
He was a member of the Berries' 1977 District 10 2A champion two-mile relay that ran a school record 8:19.6., teaming with Steve Etzel, Lloyd Morrison, Craig Ausel on that unit.
Siverling was District 10 runnerup in the 880 in 1978.
After high school the popular Siverling made his mark as a soloist for various churches in the Cranberry area.
Trent Zdarko, the Oil City High School football team's one-time version of "Slash," died Wednesday after a two-year battle with illness.
Zdarko, who hailed from Titusville, attended Venango Christian, but played football and wrestled through the Oil City/VC co-op the two schools had at the time. He was a star in both sports. He was Oil City's last regional champion in wrestling, posting a 26-7 record at 170 pounds as a senior in 2014, before joining Cranberry in a co-op the ext season.
It was in football that Zdarko gained notoriety as a QB/APB/DL/P. That means he played quarterback and defensive line (a rare combination right there) and handled the punting. As a junior he was second team all-region as an all-purpose back.
That year, in 2012, in addition to playing defensive tackle, he once threw a 74-yard TD pass to Logan Way off the halfback option.
The next year he started the season at quarterback before giving way to one of the Oilers' best ever -- Jackson McFall -- but finished the season with 821 yards total offense, throwing for 171 against Corry and rushing for 119 on nine carries against Warren. He was first team all-region as a defensive lineman and punter.
Zdarko had a double lung transplant in May 2024, and according to family, had spent much of the last two years in the hospital.
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.
Berries rally past Redbank
Noah Lucarelli's pin at 285 on Friday rallied Cranberry to a 39-34 victory over Redbank Valley. The Berries also received falls from Brent Hurrelbrink, Aiden Thompson, Jamarcus Cook and Alex McLaughlin and a decision from Jack Nuhfer. The Berries evened their dual meet record at 6-6. Their final dual is Tuesday at Central Clarion. After that they'll be in the District 9 3A tourney Feb. 21, details TBA.
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.​