Altoona has night to savor

October 26, 2020

As I sat down in the Mansion Park press box for Altoona’s District 6 Class 6A championship game Friday night, I sent out a tweet about the two latest high school football games canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I’d heard about them earlier in the day, but had avoided sending it out because I just was tired of it. Tired of reporting about canceled games, deleting preview stories I had already written and replacing them with stories about missed opportunities or teams forfeiting. This, of course, is after we lost the entire spring scholastic season and six area teams vying for ...

Another search for elusive success at PSU

October 24, 2020

Since everything has been said during this virus-extended offseason about the latest opener in the modern era of Penn State football — the 1887 team (PSU’s first) opened Nov. 5 — my usual pre-game column will shift today. Besides, there was a bigger Penn State story this week with the sudden resignation of Nittany Lion basketball coach Patrick Chambers. Chambers went 148-150 in nine seasons, and under his watch, Penn State beat 18 ranked teams, the most of any previous coach. He had his moments, certainly, and it was most unfortunate that this year’s team, led by star ...

Elliott’s time is now to race into title round

October 13, 2020

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase Elliott again has a chance to take the next step in his young but quite celebrated career. He’s back in the round of eight for a fourth consecutive year, once again trying to drive through to his first championship finale. Is he a true contender? The time has come for him to prove it. Kyle Busch is out of the way, eliminated Sunday after Elliott won on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch won’t race in the final four for the first time since 2014, and there will be a new Cup champion this year. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, winners of a ...

Tigers make statement

October 3, 2020

When the Altoona Mountain Lions opened their season last week by thrashing traditionally-respected Cumberland Valley, most figured the crosstown rivals from Hollidaysburg arrived at Mansion Park as underdogs Friday night. Well, as Lee Corso might say, “Not so fast, my friends.’’ If the Tigers were underdogs, they didn’t get the memo, evidenced by their convincing 26-12 victory. Or maybe they did get the memo, and it stoked their motivation. “I know how it is. They beat Cumberland Valley, and that’s all anybody wanted to talk about,’’ Hollidaysburg coach Homer ...

It’s good to be a Bison these days

October 2, 2020

There might not be a school in the area happier that the PIAA went ahead with fall sports than Bedford. It’s hard to argue against the Bisons looking the most impressive in the region over the first three weeks of the high school football season with a dominating win over long-time rival Chestnut Ridge, a victory over defending District 6 Class 2A champion Richland and a 28-0 shutout of ball-control specialists Westmont Hilltop. Bedford has really hit its groove over the past couple years following a switch at quarterback from Steven Ressler to Mercury Swaim. The pair connected a ...

Scholastic ADs having a tough time

September 25, 2020

It has to be hard to be an athletic director in 2020. Last week, Tyrone learned its high school football game at Clearfield was postponed at 11 a.m. the same day the Golden Eagles were supposed to play. It was picture day at Tyrone, and I have to imagine several players were wearing their jerseys in school but never got a chance to wear them that night. In Philipsburg, head football coach Jeff Vroman didn’t find out his team wasn’t having their senior night until almost 3 p.m., just hours before the ceremony was set to begin. Both games were postponed due to a possible positive ...