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They're good at throwing stuff...
Tammy Curry photo
Franklin's Logan Knight and Oil City's Spence Singleton had great days in the throwing events last weekend at the West Middlesex Duals. They followed up with great outings Tuesday in dual meets.
Knight, a junior, is already a seasoned weight man. He set a school record last spring in the shot (57-4) and added a personal best in the discus (158), claiming the D-10 2A title in that event. He was in that neighborhood at the WMD (53-31/2, 141-1).
Tuesday, he was even better with a 54-4 in the shot and 154-1 in the discus.
Meanwhile, Singleton, a senior, tossed the javelin 180-11 at West Middlesex. He, too, was even better Tuesday, uncorking a 183-1.
So, something to keep an eye on.
It should be mentioned that Grove City senior DeLathian Boanes is back badder than ever. He set records in the Butler County Classic last weekend with a 59-31/2 shot and a 155-4 discus.
​Boanes, who was 2A state runnerup in the shot in 2025, has committed to play football and "run" track at Slippery Rock.
Connor Malek screenshot from The Derrick.
Jacob Lauer at the net. (Christy Fackler)
Bring on Spring!
As we head into April, and the wind has yet to let up, action on the sandlots is just getting started.
That is to say, most schools have hardly any games in, except for Franklin, previously undefeated before taking on Slippery Rock Monday in its fifth game of the season.
The Knights continued their heavy hitting (.291) but lost to the Rock, 20-12, behind Bryce Covert’s four hits and seven RBI. Soph Luke Marsteller had three hits and three RBI for the Knights.
Senior Nate Fezell, who has two outstanding performances to his credit, didn’t pitch against the Rock (and the ones who did left with some pretty unsightly ERAs.) But Fezell has fanned 20 batters in 11.2 innings in earlier games while posting a 2-0 record.
Also off to a stellar start on the mound is Oil City’s Alex Craft, and as with Fezell, did not pitch Monday in a 10-2 loss to Grove City.
Craft, a junior, has pitched scoreless and hitless ball over six innings. He’s been a little wild (five walks), but has 13 strikeouts.
Casey Rybak led the hitters with a .667 batting average before Monday. The Oilers have had their way with North Clarion and also own victory over Erie, but the loss to Grove City dropped them to 2-1.
Cranberry has played just once, and the Grove got its third game in Monday in a 1-0 loss to Cambridge Springs. Haydon Bevier went the distance and hurled a three-hitter, but took the loss. He walked two and struck out 10.
Cranberry’s softball team is off to a 2-0 start with an 18-0 romp over Franklin and a 9-7 decision over St. Marys. Cheyne Scarborough is three-for-five with two homers and Emma Morrow is hitting .429 with six RBI. Last year’s hurlers, Gracee Hess and Danica Wenner, are still around and now the staff has added Kennedy Stewart, who has eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Hess is the workhorse, though, and is 2-0.
While Oil City has played just one game, Franklin and Rocky Grove clashed Monday with the Orioles prevailing over the winless Lady Knights, 8-4. Abigail Mawhinney and Zoe Cresswell teamed for five doubles and six RBI.
The Orioles followed that up Tuesday with a game not to remember. They led 5-2 when Slippery Rock tied the game with consecutive two-out RBI singles before a freshman belted a three-run dinger to win it, 8-5.
Stepping inside for a moment, the Rocky Grove volleyball team is off to a 2-1 start after bouncing Cambridge Springs, 3-2, Monday behind Maxx Baker’s 19 points and 36 assists.
The Orioles have a 6-6 first-year junior in Jacob Lauer who had 40 of the team’s 93 kills before adding 16 more spikes against the Spa.
Big things are expected from the track teams, team-wise and/or individually, and Oil City tennis was scheduled to open Monday against Greenville. Or maybe not.
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.
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 (18-12) completed a three-game sweep with a 16-15 victory or Tuesday in an 11-3 romp over Belmont.
They 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.
Oil City Graduate Chris Rhodes named PSAC COACH of Year
Chris Rhodes, a 1991 Oil City High School graduate, was named Coach of the Year by his peers in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
It was the second time Rhodes garnered the award; he also won in 2007.
Rhodes coached Athlete of the Year Katelynn Reott, a three-time NCAA Division II qualifier this season. Reott hails from nearby Moniteau, which doesn't have a swimming team.
Rhodes, in his 22nd year at the Boro, has produced 19 All-Americans, including Oil City grad Zak Clifford.
Rhodes was an All-American for the Fighting Scots in 1994 and 1995.
He was an assistant coach for the Oilers in 2000. He graduated from Oil City in 1991, the year he was District 10 champion in the backstroke.​
An injury forced Franklin senior Halle Curry to miss the basketball season, but she made it to Hershey, singing the National Anthem before both Saturday afternoon state title games. Now she's back on track this spring with the Lady Knights.
Photo by Tammy Curry
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.​