Roberson shows he has backup plan

April 24, 2021

UNIVERSITY PARK — Beyond the obvious overall improvement necessary to separate itself from what led to last season’s unthinkable 0-5 start, Penn State’s top priority this spring has been to find a backup quarterback. The Nittany Lions appeared to accomplish that with Ta’Quan Roberson. Sean Clifford is entrenched, heading into his third season as the starter, solidified when two-year backup Will Levis transferred to Kentucky. In two public practices over the past week that replaced this year’s Blue-White game, Clifford kept his status and Roberson did enough to inspire ...

D6 3A has some really good baseball

April 15, 2021

Commentary The high school baseball playoffs are still a month away, but after the entire spring scholastic sports season was called off last year, it’s never too early to look ahead. One baseball classification to keep your eyes on in District 6 is Class 3A. The PIAA Class 3A champion has come from District 6 in three of the last four years the tournament has been held. Bellefonte started the run in 2016 with a 2-0 victory over Susquehanna Township. Central beat Holy Redeemer, 6-2, for the state title in 2017, and Mount Union defeated Notre Dame GP, 9-0, in the 2019 ...

A reluctant star earns Green Jacket

April 12, 2021

AUGUSTA, Ga. — His were the only pair of hands on the club. Millions of his countrymen will want a piece of Hideki Matsuyama now. Considering how much he values his privacy, it could be quite the interesting tug of war. Precious few people even knew Matsuyama was married until he and his wife, Mei, welcomed a baby girl in early 2017. His response to the media uproar back home was short and completely in character. “No one,” Matsuyama said, “really asked me.” That won’t happen again. At the start of Masters week, he was far from the most popular golfer in Japan. Matsuyama ...

Shrewsberry aware of challenge

April 3, 2021

Power-5 conferences seeking new leadership in football or basketball generally have two choices: A head coach at a mid-major program who has had success or a rising assistant from a bigger-name school. In Micah Shrewsberry, Penn State chose the latter. Shrewsberry has spent the last 13 years of his career at the highest level, serving as an assistant under Brad Stevens (Butler, Boston Celtics) and Matt Painter (Purdue). One of the biggest transitions for assistants ascending to head-coaching positions is they suddenly become not only the focal point but the leading spokesman. ...

Current Lady Marauders add to program’s rich history

March 27, 2021

HERSHEY — When legendary Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic coach Mark Moschella was considering stepping down after a long career of winning state championships and more than 600 wins with the Lady Marauders, he saw something special happening in his program. Moschella said it started with the 2020 senior class, sophomores at the time, and mentioned the names of Jamison Consiglio, Blaise Kilmartin and Giana Georgiana. He also saw the potential in a freshman class that included Teresa Haigh, Sophia Warner, Aurielle Brunner and Daniela Scipioni and decided to coach one more season. ...

Shrewsberry good hire for one tough job

March 16, 2021

Micah Shrewsberry looks like a great hire for Penn State. Can he succeed in turning the Nittany Lions into a consistent winner in the Big Ten? We’ll see. This is a tough, tough job. Penn State doesn’t have the tradition or resources to think that it will ever become a consistent threat in basketball. The school won’t pay the kind of money it would take to lure a big-name coach, something a lot of fans clamor for, so the choice had to either be an up-and-coming head coach or a proven assistant coach. Shrewsberry is the latter. He has a fantastic resume for an assistant ...