The Voice was silent this week with some computer problems. Hopefully this issue has been resolved.
Always remember the "NY" on the Yankee caps stands for "Next Year."
I'm sure my friends Doyle and Mike will appreciate it.
This Friday promises to be interesting in the fact that it may be dry for the first time since Week 4.
Shamokin will be playing Mifflinburg at home. For the seniors, this will be their last home game. This game probably won't be as historic as last season, but the Wildcats have a shot at making the AAA playoff field.
This Shamokin group of seniors will have played under three different head coaches in four years.
I like Shamokin in a close one tonight.
Shamokin Area picked up their second win of the season with a 39-20 win over Warrior Run played in the mud at Defender Stadium. The Turbotville area was drenched with a driving rainstorm during warm ups from about 5:30 to 6:45 pm.
On a night mistake-free football was at a premium, Shamokin got a kickoff return, an interception return, and held a plus three turnover ratio turning the ball over 3 times to the Defender's 6.
Brent Forbes rushed for over 100 yards in the first half and scored two touchdowns. Shamokin held a 20-0 lead early in the third quarter as Tim Boussan returned the second half kickoff for the score. Warrior Run run ceased momentum almost as fast with a scoring strike to Ian Adams on fourth down and the Defender had the ball deep in Shamokin territory after an Indian turnover.
Shamokin then capitalized on some Defender mistakes increased their lead to 33-7 and cruised for the victory.
It was the fourth straight week the area teams saw significant rain during a game on Friday. It was the third time this season a Shamokin Area football game lasted longer than 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Last week a former department was charged with corruption in Northumberland County. The PA AG office did the investigation after being referred the case by the District Attorney through the Controller's Office.
All this to uncover 12K.
I wonder where 30 million went?
At the end of the 2006 high school season, Shamokin Area decided to severe ties with Carmen DeFrancesco. In 2007, after stops at Cardinal Brennan, Danville, and Shamokin all of sudden Coach Carm wasn't in high demand.
A few applications not many takers and Defrancesco found himself in high school football purgatory......Upper Dauphin. The Trojans would win a few games here and there and churn out a class of good athletes, but nothing of the like you would see playing about an hour north. There are no Southern's, Mount Carmel's, Selinsgrove's on the schedule and over a 1000 in attendance is a good night at the gate.
Starting out with a win over Pequa Valley in Week 1 in 2007, Upper Dauphin would lose the next 10 in a row, score only 18 more points and be shut out in 8 out of those 10 losses. Earlier in that 2007, I ran into DeFrancesco scouting Line Mountain against Juniata. He asked me to take a guess on who was the fastest person on his team? He later replied, "the head coach."
Three seasons later Tyler Koppenhaver, Ty Grosser, and Ty Rubenstine are at or near the top in passing, rushing and receiving in the Twin Valley League. When DeFrancesco commented about team speed he said I have a good sophomore class with a good work ethic. He also said the team isn't bad defensively. That was 2007.
You never know what the rest of the 2009 will bring, but this restoration job could prove to be DeFrancesco's finest.
Shamokin Area are searching for the second win of the season. Montoursville comes into Kemp Memorial at 6-0. Since the win against Central in Week 3, a near miss against Shik, lackluster against Danville, and good for a quarter and half against Selinsgrove, there is one common denominator. Physically the Indians will be in every game. Against the Warriors, this shouldn't change.
The things the Shamokin needs to improve on are penalties and turnovers. This weekends game will be a test with late November conditions arriving early. A blow to the Indians running game has been the loss of Ty DiRienzo for the season with a knee injury.
Indians will keep this one close, but I don't think they have the offensive firepower going right now to win this one.
Could the Phillies win two World Series in a row? I will worry about that if and when they could get by the Dodgers. One of the interesting thing will be the 4 pm EST start for Game 2 in Los Angeles. The 1 pm PST start may be the middle of the night for some Dodger faithful.
Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS has scarred me for life as a Philadelphia fan. Never celebrate until the 5th bottle of champaigne is popped. Here is a brief description of what happened that faithful Friday from Wikipedia:
Game 3 went down in Philadelphia baseball annals as "Black Friday." The Dodgers opened the scoring in the second off Larry Christenson when Dusty Baker doubled home Steve Garvey from first on a close play at the plate. The Phillies tried to claim Garvey never touched home plate, but to no avail. Steve Yeager followed with a single to score Baker to make it 2–0.
In the bottom of the second, with two outs and Richie Hebner on second and Bob Boone on first, Dodger starter Burt Hooton began to dispute ball/strike calls issued by home plate umpire Bob Engel. Hooton's attitude and delay of the game aroused the displeasure of Philadelphia's infamous "boobird" fans, who took out their wrath upon their team's opponent. As the volume of the boos escalated to a deafening level, Hooton uncharacteristically lost control of both his pitches and his composure, issuing walks to Ted Sizemore, Christenson (forcing in Hebner), Bake McBride (forcing in Boone), and Larry Bowa (forcing in Sizemore), thus giving the Phillies a 3–2 lead. Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda then pulled Hooton in favor of Rick Rhoden, who induced Mike Schmidt into popping up to end the threat.
While Rhoden and Doug Rau were busy shutting down the Phils, the Dodgers tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single by Baker. The score stayed tied at 3–3 until the bottom of the eighth, setting up a wild finish.
Hebner led off the eighth with a double. Garry Maddox singled home Hebner and went all the way to third as Reggie Smith's throw home to try to nail Hebner went wild. Maddox then scored when Bob Boone grounded to Ron Cey at third and Cey threw wildly at home in an attempt to throw out Maddox. With a 5–3 lead entering the ninth and ace reliever Gene Garber on the mound, the Phillies looked to be sitting pretty.
Garber retired the first two hitters, but then pinch-hitter Vic Davalillo shocked the Phillies infield by laying down an 0–2 drag bunt and beating it out. Lasorda then sent another pinch hitter, Manny Mota, to hit for pitcher Lance Rautzhan. Mota sent a deep drive to left that Greg Luzinski trapped against the wall. Ted Sizemore then mishandled Luzinski's peg attempt at second to try to nail Mota, scoring Davalillo and sending Mota to third. Phillie manager Danny Ozark came under fire later from the media for not having Jerry Martin, a faster outfielder, in left field at that point. Martin, many felt, would have reached Mota's liner easier than the bigger, slower Luzinski.
Davey Lopes followed by hitting a blistering grounder to third that took a wicked hop and struck Mike Schmidt in the left knee. Larry Bowa retrieved the carom out of the air, fired to first, and appeared to have retired Lopes, but Lopes was called safe. TV replays showed that Bowa's throw beat Lopes. Meanwhile, Mota scored to tie the game at 5–5.
Garber, in an attempt to pick off Lopes at first, threw wildly past Hebner, sending Lopes to second. Bill Russell then singled to center to score Lopes with the go-ahead run. Mike Garman retired the side in the ninth for the Dodgers, who narrowly escaped defeat.
Still as kid growing up in the 70's it is still strange to see Larry Bowa in Dodger Blue and Davey Lopes in a Phillies uniform. Last year, the papers tried to revisit that Game 3 ninth inning from 1977.
Just hold on to your hats. Were not done yet. When the game ends at 2 am and all the other series are wrapped up, why the hell are we playing at 6 pm??? Major League Baseball did one thing right on Saturday in cancelling the game. Our course MLB caves into NFL pressure to compete with ratings against playoff baseball.
Umpiring? How could a third base umpire miss the foul/fair call on Friday in the Yankees-Twins game? The play wasn't even close. Tennis appeals anyone?
Before we start the Shamokin preview, we would like to congratulate Southern head coach Jim Roth on his 300th coaching victory.....C-O-L-T-S!!!!
With back to back losses to Shikellamy and Danville, Shamokin dropped to 1-4 on the season. What does Shamokin get for it's problems? This week they get Pennsylvania's second ranked AAA team in Selinsgrove and the state's third ranked team at AA in Montoursville next week.
Will the Shamokin team that cruised against Central and played Shikellamy tough show up? Or will we the one that was at Danville for the 1st and 3rd periods last week? Right now the Indians are staring at Everest in hopes of getting back to contention. Friday's game may be more about respectability.
Shamokin hasn't beaten the Seal since they did the trick twice in the 2003 season. By the way they were Selinsgrove's only losses of the season. Shamokin has proved they could move the ball at times, but penalties and turnovers have been their downfall. Based on recent performance of the Seal's "D" against Berwick and Shamokin's lack of passion against Danville, this game will make headlines if it goes the distance.
Selinsgrove 48-0 is the pick. Yes, their defense is that good!!!
