This site is about the sports doings -- mainly football -- of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact:
Playoffs
District 10
Class 2A Boys
​
OPENING ROUND
Tuesday's Results
1. Mercyhurst Prep vs. bye
8. Union City 88, Wilmington 65
4. Greenville vs. bye
5. Lakeview vs. bye
2. Saegertown vs. bye
7. Sharpsville 47, 10. Maplewood 24
3. ROCKY GROVE vs. bye
6. Cochranton vs. bye​
QUARTERFINALS
Friday's Games
Mercyhurst vs. Union City, 6 p.m., Mercyhurst
Greenville vs. Lakeview, 6 p.m., Farrell
Saegertown vs. Sharpsville, 6 bp.m., Meadville
ROCKY GROVE vs. Cochranton​, 7:30 p.m., Meadville
SEMIFINALS
Tuesday, Feb. 24
CHAMPIONSHIP
Friday, Feb. 27​
Top 3 advance to PIAA tourney
​
CLASS 4A GIRLS
​
OPENING ROUND
Today's Games
1. Fairview vs. bye
8. General McLane 37, 9. FRANKLIN 29
4. Slippery Rock vs. bye
5. OIL CITY vs. bye
2. Harbor Creek vs. bye
7. Conneaut 42, 10. Grove City 33
3. Corry vs. bye
11. Ft. LeBoeuf 37, 6. Titusville 31
QUARTERFINALS
Saturday
Fairview vs. General McLane, 11 a.m., Hagerty Center
Slippery Rock vs. OIL CITY, 1:30 p.m., Grove City
Harbor Creek vs. Conneaut, 3:30 p.m., Hagerty
Corry vs. Ft. LeBoeuf​, 2 p.m., Hagerty
SEMIFINALS
Wednesday, Feb. 25
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, Feb. 28
CONSOLATION
Saturday, Feb. 28​
Top four teams advance to PIAA tourney
​
CLASS 4A BOYS
​
OPENING ROUND
Tuesday's Results
1. Cathedral Prep vs. bye
8. OIL CITY 77, 9. North East 69
4. Hickory 69, 13. FRANKLIN 42
5. Harbor Creek 57, 12. Ft. LeBoeuf 45
2. Sharon vs. bye
7. Girard 42, 10. Farrell 40
3. Fairview vs. bye
6. Warren 55, Grove City 43​
QUARTERFINALS
Friday's Games
Prep vs. OIL CITY, 7:30 p.m., Mercyhurst
Harbor Creek vs. Hickory, 6 p.m., Hagerty
Sharon vs. Girard, 7:30 p.m., Farrell
Fairview vs. Warren​, 7:30 p.m., Hagerty
SEMIFINALS
Tuesday, Feb. 24
CHAMPIONSHIP
Friday, Feb. 27​
5TH PLACE BRACKET
Tuesday, Feb. 24
Prep-OIL CITY loser vs. Hickory -Harbor Creek loser
Sharon-Girard loser vs. Fairview-Warren loser
Winners play Friday, Feb. 27 for fifth place
3RD and 4TH PLACE
Friday, Feb. 27​​
Top 5 places advance to PIAA tourney​​
District 9
DISTRICT 9 3A BOYS
CHAMPIONSHIP
1. CRANBERRY vs. 2. Brookville, 8 p.m., Tuesday, Clarion High School
(One team advances to the PIAA tourney. It will be determined by a sub-regional Feb. 28 against the District 10 champion at Penn West Clarion​
​
DISTRICT 8-9 2A GIRLS
QUARTERFINAL
4. Moniteau 45, 5. Westinghouse 42
SEMIFINAL
1. Karns City vs. Moniteau, Tuesday, Union, TBA
3. Brookville vs. 2. CRANBERRY, 6 p.m., Tuesday, Clarion High School
CHAMPIONSHIP
Karns City-Moniteau winner vs. CRANBERRY-Brookville winner, TBA
(Two advance to PIAA tourney)
Oilers: another deficit, another erased
For at least the fifth time in the last month the Oilers have come from way down to win. This time the victim was North East and it came in the first round of the District 10 4A playoffs Tuesday at Meadville High School.
Oil City was facing not only 6-5, 1,000-point scorer Willie Shunk, but a 10-point deficit in the first half. But, as usual, made its move before the final buzzer went off -- the main foil for the Grape Pickers being freshman Isaiah Van Wormer. In a lickety-split taking maybe a minute, if that, IVW drained a three, made a layup after a steal, hit another three and then added still another bunny. When the dust cleared the 18-7 Oilers were back in the game.
Other players had their moments, too -- five scored in double figures -- but it was Nevin Stinson who began settling matters midway through the fourth quarter with an assortment of a three-pointer, a three-point play, drives and free throws.
The Oilers canned a dozen threes, perhaps due to the presence of Shunk, who neutralized the 6-7 Michael Fink down low. Fink was scoreless the first half, but finished with 10.
Easton Liederbach had 14 and VanWormer and Steven Heise added 13 apiece.
​The Oilers will play odds-on-favorite Cathedral Prep at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mercyhurst in the quarterfinals, but even if they lose, they still have a chance to finish fifth and advance to the PIAA playoffs.
Meanwhile, with his 24 points, Stinson has 495 this season -- three short of the "modern" single-season school record of 498 set in 1971 by Mike Emick. Stinson's 910 career points rank fourth on Oil City's all-time list.
Franklin squads ousted
Fourth-seeded Hickory jumped out to a 21-4 lead en route to a 69-42 victory Tuesday over Franklin in another D-10 4A first-rounder. Nathan Fezell scored 11 for the Knights, who closed with a 12-11 record.
The Lady Knights lost to General McLane, 37-23, on Wednesday. Hailey
Hanna led Franklin (12-11) with nine points. She finished the season with 46 3-pointers and her career with 80.
Isaiah Van Wormer
(Eric Elliott)
Achievements,
worth
Noting
Department
Seniors Lydia Kennedy of Rocky Grove and Sophia Garmong of Oil City (maskless here) were among the county scoring leaders all season. (Photos by Christy Fackler)
Some major achievements and other things worth noting in 2025-26 hoops:
League championships
KSAC -- Cranberry boys
District 10 Regions -- Oil City boys (Region 5 -- first league crown in 55 years), Rocky Grove boys (share of Region 2 with Saegerown; won outright in 2025), Oil City girls (share of Region 5 with Conneaut and Titusville-- first league since 2017)
1,000 points
Oil City's Payton Liederbach was the first to get there and is second all-time in scoring. Rocky Grove's Noah Baughman and Landen Carter made it in the same game -- as with Liederbach in December. The Grove duo is expected to finish 3-4 all-time behind Dylan Gravatt and Chad Sanner. Cranberry's Cole Findlay later became the seventh Cranberry boy player to get to 1,000. Two more Cranberry players, Blake Marchinke and Darien Wenner, seem like sure-shots for next season.
500-900 points
Not glamorous, but it's not easy to score even 500. Think of it: two seasons (junior, senior) of 250 without making the playoffs and an average of more than 10 ppg. Oil City's Sophia Garmong has quietly gotten there. She'll finish with 650-plus. Rocky Grove girls are not for putting the ball in the basket, but Lydia Kennedy finished her career with 506 -- the first Lady Oriole to score that much since Alcee Schiffer, the school's all-time leading female scorer with 1,215 in 2015. Actually, Kennedy is 11th on the Orioles' all-time list.
3-pointers
Hailey Hanna buried 46 of them this season to unofficially tie Angelina Starr (2014) for seventh on Franklin's star-studded single- season list. She had 80 for her career for an unofficial seventh. Oil City's unheralded Gabby Boocks, who missed much of this season, had 51 going into the playoffs, and set a school record with six in one game. Rocky Grove's Connor Ritchey has 43 so far this year and 84 for his career.
Nevin Stinson
The Oiler senior is No. 4 on the all-time scoring list with 919 points, sitting behind only Ben Schill, the school's lone 1,000 point scorer, and Chrtis Jasiota (2003) and Logan Way (2014), both with more than 900. Stinson has back-to-back seasons of 400 points or more, the only Oiler to accomplish that. He buried 80 career from distance, and is shooting 84 percent from the line.
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On the mat, in the pool
Senior Dalton Wenner receives a banner commemorating his 150 wrestling victories Thursday during Cranberry's final dual against Central Clarion.
Next for Knights: D-10 2A mat
Franklin wrestlers will return to Sharon High School for the District 10 2A tournament. Action will begin at 5 p.m. Friday and continue at 9:15 a.m. Saturday.
First-round matches for the Knights are:
107 Seth Hollerman received a bye; TBD
121 Noah Riddle vs. Sawyer Wolfkiel, Titusville
139 Kolton Komisarski, Seneca, vs. Orvis Davis
152 Coleman Huck, Titusville, vs. Ethan Hart,
215 Bryce Spinks, Eisenhower, vs. Gary Kiselka
285 Kaden Kiselka vs. Avery Kunzler, North East
For details, click here and browse.
Berries set for District tourney
Cranberry is one of eight teams that will participate in the District 9/10 3A tournament Saturday at West Penn Clarion. The others are DuBois, Erie, MDowell, Harbor Creek, Meadville, Punxsutawney and Warren.
First matches for Berry wrestlers:
107 Brent Hurrelbrink vs. Mason Wieczorek, Harbor Creek
114 Jacob Heim vs. Dan Bossart, Harbor Creek
133 Aiden Thompson vs. Carter Shaffer, Meadville
139 Dalton Wenner vs. Aven Winiarczak, Harbor Creek
145 Jedidiah Fo, vs. Shawn Beason, Erie McDowell
152 Ethan Shreffler vs. Paul Puleio, Meadville
160 Jamarcus Cooke vs. Cam Cadden, Harbor Creek
172 Alex McLaughlin vs. Sebastian Oyola, Warren
189 Clark Findlay vs. Mareahn Moss, Erie McDowell
215 Jack Nuhfer vs. Brady Wassell, Harbor Creek
285 Noah Lucarell vs. Sincere Trueblood, Meadville
Nuhfer's match is a semifinal; the others are quarterfinals.
For details, click here.
Chloe Switer/ Christy Fackler
Franklin girls finish
undefeated in Pool
Evelynn Highfield and Dani Erdley were triple winners as Franklin trimmed Grove City, 98-56, to finish unbeaten on the season at 11-0.
The Lady Knights took two of the three relays and six individuals events -- Highfield getting two of those. Erdley, Kaylin Adamczyk, Lexi Anthony and Chloe Switzer win the others. Ellie Coyer was a double winner.
The boys (7-4) dropped their meet with the Eagles,107-62. Jacksen Clark was a double winner and Connor Johnson took the breaststroke.
Tyler Schake/Christy Fackler
Oil City swimmers sweep slippery Rock
John Lander and Martin Sharrar were four-event winners in the Oil City boys' 84-42 decision over Slippery Rock on Thursday.
The girls made it a sweep with a 106-61 romp. Madyson Kissell led a sweep of all three relays, and was a triple winner along with Ayla Halland Olive Collins .
Lander claimed the 50 free and 100 fly and swam legs on the medley and 400 free relays.
Sharrar won the 200 and breast stroke and swam on two relays. Luciano Bricca took the 100 and was a double winner along with Nathan Wilson, Tyler Schake and Noah Delp through relays.
Ayla Hall and Olive Collins were also triple winners for the girls and Abbey McCain and Abby Nuhfer were double winners.
Both team ended 5-6.
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.​