This site is about the sports doings -- mainly football -- of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact:
Cranberry’s Dalton Wenner was a victim of five takedowns and lost by technical fall, 18-3, to Minnesota recruit Tyler Dekraker in a “B” match Saturday in the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic.
The bout didn’t count in the final score – 23-19 in favor of Team USA, which has won five straight against Pennsylvania.
Wenner is Pa.’s 139-pound 3A state champ, but is not ranked nationally by FloWrestling. The other three at that weight can found on the latest (March 25) national lists.
Dekraker, from Lake Highland Prep in Florida by way of Chantilly, Va., is No. 3 at 144. He first committed to Ohio State before flipping to the Gophers.
This was Wenner’s second meeting with Dekraker, who pinned him in the Powerade tournament Dec. 30. It was the only time Wenner had been pinned in his career, according to PA-Wrestling.com stats. And the tech fall was the first against Wenner. Ever.
The Pa. entry in the “A” match was Camden Baum, the 2A state champ from Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt and a Purdue recruit. He lost 8-6 to Michigan-bound Moses Mendoza, a Californian who is the No. 1 138-pounder in the country and the No. 14 wrestler overall. Baum is No. 7 at 138. (He forfeited a match to Dekraker -- No. 20 overall -- in the Powerade, one of his two losses this season.)
Although not ranked nationally, Wenner was listed as the No. 4 wrestler in Pa. at 127 pounds to end the 2025 campaign.
Basketball
Grove's Carter named D-10 star, Co-Player
of Year in Region 2
Rocky Grove's Landen Carter made a clean sweep of the post-season basketball awards.
The 6-2 senior was named to the Small School District 10 all-stars by the Erie Times News scribes, and the coaches voted him first team all-Region 2 and co-Player of the Year with Saegertown's Jackson Scott.
Teammate Noah Baughman also made first team All-Region, while another senior, Connor Ritchey, was voted second team.
Carter and Baughman scored their 1000th career points in the same game and finished 3-4 in all-time scoring at the Grove behind Dylan Gravatt and Chad Sanner.
The Grove shared the region crown with Saegertown.
STINSON POY
IN REGION 5,
Joins Wofford
on 1st team
Nevin Stinson, who set a school "modern " single-season scoring record at Oil City with 537 points, was named Region 5 Player of the Year in voting by the coaches.
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Stinson (3) also lead the Oilers to the league title -- by three games over runnerup Warren -- their first in 55 years.
Joining him on the first team was Franklin Jameson Wofford (32), a 6-5 senior who can dunk and go deep (75 trifectas the last two years.)
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Oil City's big man, 6-7 Michael Fink (1), was named to the second team along with Franklin senior guard Ian Higley (2) who are pictured below along with Ritchey..
Liederbach D-10 all-star,
tabbed region 5 C0-MVP
Oil City senior Payton Liederbach was picked to the District 10 Big School basketball all-stars and named co-MVP of Region 5 with Conneaut's Courtney Perrye.
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Teammate Sophia Garmong, also a senior, was named to the Region 5 first team all-stars, while another Oil City player, freshman Laney Smith, was voted to the second team.
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Three Franklin players, senior Hailey Hanna and juniors Jadyn Blum and Zarria Cullins, were also named to the second team.
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The Region 5 all-stars were voted on by the coaches, while the D-10 stars were picked by the Erie Times News sports staff, which released the teams Monday.
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Oil City shared the region title with Titusville and Conneaut.
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Liederbach finished her career with 1,308 points, second only in school history to Tracy Whiting's 1,346.
Pictured in addition to first teamer Sophia Garmong are Oil City's Laney Smith and Franklin's Zarria Cullins (0), Hailey Hanna (2) and Jadyn Blum (10), all of whom made the second team..
Swimming​
Only veteran Nate Dorsch stood in the way of Jordan Stumpf making a bigger splash on the All-Region 1 team.
(Photo by Christy Fackler)
Lander, Stumpf
picked To D-10
All-star team
Oil City sophomore John Lander was the big prize winner in the District 10 and Region 1 swimming all-stars, announced March 25.
Lander and Franklin junior Jordan Stumpf, both all-staters, were named to the All-District 10 team.
Lander also made first team in the 50, 100 and fly and second team in the back on the Region 1 team.
Stumpf was second team in the 100 and 500 and medley relay, where he joined Jacksen Clark, Parker Smith and Jacob Balsamo. Clark was also second team in the breaststroke.
Region 1 Swimmer of the Year was Holy Cross recruit Nate Dorsch of Sharon.
John Lander: three-time first teamer on Region 1 stars.
Highfield, Erdley,
Wilson named to
Girls D-10 team
Evelynn Highfield, a freshman from Franklin, was named to the girls District 10 swim team March 26. And she was the only local on the first team of the Region 1 all-stars.
Highfield was first team All-Region in the breast stroke.
Teammate Dani Erdley, D-10 champ in the back, and Oil City's Natalie Wilson, D-10 para champ in the 50 and 100, also found their names on the district all-star list.
A few more athletes from Franklin's Region 1 championship team were second team all-region, including Erdley in the back.
The Lady Knights also had two second team relays that included both Highfield and Erdley.
Chloe Switzer and Sammi Smith filled out the medley, while Switzer and Ellie Coyer completed the 400.
Thanks to Christy Fackler, Kelly and Connor Malek, Eric Elliott, Richard Sayer and Tammy Curry for the use of their photos. Look them up on Facebook. Or Google.
This 'n That
BARNES RECOGNIZED -- Franklin's Becky Barnes was named Region VI Athletic Director of the Year. She received the award at the just completed PSADA Conference in Hershey.
Barnes has been full-time AD at Franklin since 2017. The Slippery Rock grad was also athletic trainer at Franklin. Since becoming AD, Franklin has added two sports and has undergone renovations to several facilities.
WILSON HONORED -- Also saw on X (Twitter) that Oil City swimmer Natalie Wilson won the girls Athlete of the Week award in a poll conducted by the Erie paper.
D-10 champ Wilson, a Cranberry student, medaled in the para 50 free in the state swim meet.
Franklin's Hailey Hanna won the same award earlier this season after shooting lights out from distance.
ALL-STAR GAME -- Six Venango County players participated in an all-star game in Clarion on Sunday. Nevin Stinson scored 14 points, Jameson Wofford 12, Cole Findlay 9, Landen Carter 7 and Noah Baughman 4. Payton Liederbach netted 4 in the girls game. Dylin Chapin was one of the coachers.
Franklin High senior Halle Curry sang the National Anthem before the two afternoon games Saturday at the PIAA basketball championships. Here, she sings from the heart at a Franklin game last year. (Tammy Curry photo)
Baseball
Keeping up with Luke Guth
Luke Guth rebounded from a so-so outing Friday night with a scoreless inning Saturday in Vanderbilt's 6-5 decision over No. 21 Tennessee in 16 innings.
He didn't pitch Sunday as the Commodores (17-12) completed a three-game sweep with a 16-15 victory.
They host Belmont at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and visit Texas A&M Thursday through Saturday. Start times are 6 p.m. for the first two games and 2 p.m. Saturday.
This space is dedicated to keeping up with Guth, a 6-1, 188-pound junior right-hander from Franklin.
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.​