End of Another Year on the Local High School Scene

With last week's PIAA Track and Field Championships and the local schools bowing out of District IV postseason baseball and softball. it is time for the readers to reflect on their favorite sports moment of the year. The moment could range from the hiring or firing of a coach, a team that came out of nowhere, or game with a dramatic ending. Here are two of my favorites to start:

1.) Shamokin Boys Bastketball winning the Schuylkill League title coming from behind in their final year in the league. Also losing the District IV semifinal with a half-court buzzer-beater.

2.) The recruitment of Terrelle Pryor of the Jeannette Jayhawk's and his decision to leave PA. We haven't seen recruiting in PA like this since Ron Powlus nearly 15 years ago.

Anything that happened in PA High School Sports is fair game.

Pryor Commits Today

Saturday may have been Pryor's last relaxing day at PSU for awhile

There will be a few schools looking for that elusive signature. Signing comes at 12:00 today.

UPDATE: IT'S THE BUCKEYES!!!

Hard to say what went in the decision, but Ohio State and Jim Tressel have benn playing in BCS championship games and producing Heismann players. Did basketball factor in? Hard to say. Football is only six months away.

Pryor-Mania tops this weekend's PIAA Basketball Championships

The winter sports season has come to end and Terrelle Pryor will be making his decision within a week where he will play football. He was gracious enough to sign some autographs for the young fans after yesterday's championship game. The Coal Region Voice wishes Pryor all the best in his decision.

Lost a little bit in Pryormania, was the fact that two more teams joined the football-basketball double in the same years. Last year, General McLane did it in AAA. This season Jeannette completed the double in AA, while Steel-High had a rare A-football, AAA basketball. Serra Catholic deserves a shout here getting their football team into the A final and winning the A basketball championship. To all the coaches out there, let your football players play basketball and you basketball players play football.

What's in a nickname? Mount Alvernia's nickname is the Lions. Talking to some of there fans, Moun Alvernia is an all-girls school.

State College vs. Hershey???? Hard to say who does the better job or which is the better place for high school. The Steel-High/Susquehanna Township game was probably a better Giant Center draw. PIAA attendance figures to me have always been inaccurate especially when is comes to football. My doubts go all the way back to the Mount Carmel vs. Bishop McDevitt game in 1996.

It always comes home. I was having a conversation with a young man in his 20's while we were waiting for an autograph of Pryor. He said he was from Pittsburgh by was of Mechanicsburg and his grandfather is from Shamokin. After exchanging names, I asked if he was related to a specific person with his surname. He indicated that I was referring to his great grandmother. I told him I grew up right across the street. Wow!!!

While waiting for the Jennette team to come out of Bryce-Jordan, I thought there would be a Joe Paterno or Tom Bradley sighting at the game. NCAA rule prohibit contact and they were not in attendance to my knowledge. I did one last double-check to make sure. Paterno nor Bradley were not driving the Jeannette bus.

Joe Klebon and more Pryor-mana!!!!

Can Dunmore win against on Jennette?

With some homecooking, I was able to watch the AA playoff games between Loyalsock vs. Delone and Loyalsock vs. Dunmore. Loyalsock was able to dominate Delone by cutting off the outside. Delone had beaten undefeated Trinity the week before. Dunmore was able to take away the vertical passing game of Loyalsock and limited the running of Austin Knighton. Do the Bucks have enough of a line to slow down Terrelle Pryor? The lines in this game will dictate if the west is all hype like Shady Side Academy in 1998 or will this be the coronation on the statewide stage.

Roth on the Move?

Southern Area coach of 24 seasons Jim Roth may be on the move. Read an account here. Roth is 13 wins she of 300. Would he be able to there with Shikellamy. By the way, how would you interview Roth for a high school coaching job.

Jack Henzes

Jack Henzes longtime head coach of Dunmore High School will have the distinction come Saturday of the longest time between state final appearances. The last time the Bucks made it to a state final was in 1989 giving Henzes 18 years between appearances with the same school. 1989 was only the second year of state playoffs for the PIAA.

This mark could stand for a long time due to the short shelf life of a high school coach at one school.