January 01, 2009 11:39 pm
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10. Saegertown boys VB wins second straight D-10 title; advance to state quarterfinals
Turns out winning the program’s first District 10 championship last year was just the beginning for the Saegertown boys volleyball team.
This year, the Panthers added to that accomplishment and in a big way. Saegertown, which was ranked No. 1 in the state in Class AA throughout the year, captured its first region title, defended its District 10 crown and then knocked off Hopewell to earn its first trip to the state quarterfinals.
The Panthers’ quest for the school’s first team title came to an end in the quarterfinal round of pool play at the PIAA Class AA state championships at Penn State University’s Multisport Indoor Facility. Saegertown went just 1-2, suffering a crucial loss to Garden Spot in the second round.
The loss put the Panthers in a must-win situation against top-ranked Ambridge. The Panthers played their best match of the day against the Bridgers, but it wasn’t enough.
Saegertown finished the season 18-4.
9. Cochranton girls volleyball has region winning streak snapped
Cochranton’s streak of 72 straight wins in region play came to an end on Oct. 9 with a 26-24, 25-23, 25-17 loss to rival Maplewood.
Maplewood, ironically, was the last team to take a match in league play from the Cardinals. That win came nearly five years earlier to the date on Oct. 14, 2003. Cochranton went on to win its last three matches of the French Creek Valley Conference season that year, before moving on to Region 2 where it had not lost a match prior to its meeting with the Tigers on Oct. 9.
Cochranton’s streak, which also included a streak of 101 straight wins in games played within the region at one point, is something 20-year head coach Marci Malliard said volleyball fans will probably never see again.
“It was a great thing,” Malliard said at the time. “When you think of how long we did it … it was good.”
“I think a lot of volleyball has gone on here in the last couple of years is volleyball that no one will ever see again,” she added. “It was a great thing that went on. It was.”
8. Dean Henderson retires; Darryl Jones named new head coach for MASH girls basketball
Dean Henderson is a local legend. Darryl Jones is also a local legend. So what are the chances that when one decides to leave the spotlight, the other would walk right back in?
Welcome to the strange case of the Meadville girls basketball team.
Under the direction of Henderson, the Bulldogs were reborn. In six years, the team twice won 20 games under the hoops guru and made it to the District 10 playoffs five times. Henderson was 97-57 with MASH and had a 441-253 slate in illustrious 35-year career.
Jones, who made his name as a baseball player and American Leagion baseball coach, spent the last four years as an assistant to MASH boys coach, Norm Price. When Henderson decided it was time to walk away, Jones decided it was time to run a team again.
Needless to say, it left the Crawford Central Area School Board with an easy decision. In fact, the choice was so easy that the CCASB voted to name Jones the head coach on the same day, May 19, as it voted to accept Henderson’s resignation.
If the first half of this season is any indication, from legend to legend, the team is making a quick adjustment.
7. Edinboro quarterback Trevor Harris rewrites Fighting Scots record book
If you were to ask Trevor Harris about the 2008 season, he would probably tell you it was a failure. That would be because the Fighting Scots missed out on the NCAA Division II football playoffs. But if you look at the junior quarterback’s numbers, you would see it was a major success.
Harris completed 213-of-223 passes (65.9 percent) for 2,1780 yards and 26 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also added 226 yards and four TDs rushing, giving him 3,006 total yards and 30 TDs.
Those numbers, combined with his previous two seasons, left Harris holding every single-game, single-season and career passing and total offense record at Edinboro University, All this and one more season left to play, and the Scots will have to start a new book just for their standout QB.
Heading into the 2009 season, Harris has completed 697-of-1,062 passes for 8,595 yards and 76 touchdowns, while throwing just 23 interceptions. That also leaves the soon-to-be senior with 9,017 total yards.
6. Former MASH diver Teagan Riggs wins gold in 3-meter, silver in 1-meter at NCAA Division II National Championships
Clarion senior Teagan Riggs entered the 2008 Division II National Championships with what was already a pretty full resume.
The former Meadville standout had been an all-american six times previous, including 3rd in the 3-meter and 4th in the 1-meter in 2007. But there was still something missing. Riggs took care of that on March 12, 2008, by winning the 3-meter diving competition and her first National Championship.
Riggs posted a winning score of 455.0, wich was enough to hold off South Dakota’s Jill Smolczyk, who scored a 451.20.
Two days later, Riggs added to her accolades by finishing second in the 1-meter. Riggs totaled a score of 409 in the event, which fell short of Smolczyk’s total of 421.15.
5. Cochranton’s James Harvey signs to play Division I football at Akron
Cochranton offensive/defensive lineman James Harvey became the first student-athlete in Cochranton High School history to sign a letter of intent as a Division I college football recruit.
After a high school career which saw Harvey make the Region 1 first team three times, he was able to narrow his list of potential schools to the University of Akron in Ohio.
Harvey made the starting roster with the Zips this past fall as a member of the defensive line.
4. Six local teams make District 10 football playoffs
Five years ago, when District 10 moved from leagues to regions, a lot of locals weren’t happy. Yet, recentley there’s been evidence that the switch has done some good for local football teams. The strongest case for that came this year when six local programs gained berth in the District 10 playoffs.
General McLane has been a perennial presence in the playoffs, so there was no surprise there. But Meadville also made it, marking the Bulldogs’ first postseason appearance since 1998.
Yet, the biggest playoff surge came from the old French Creek Valley Conference teams of which four squads — Linesville, Saegertown, Cambridge Springs and Union City — advanced to the playoffs. In fact, Linesville won a share of the Region 1 title. Saegertown won he Region 2 title outright, going 10-0 in the regular season. Furthermore, three of those FCVC teams were from Crawford County, add Meadville to the mix and four teams from the county reached the postseason.
Is this a sign that the local teams are catching up with the rest of District 10 in the age of realignment? Or was this year just a fluke? Stay tuned in 2009.
3. Saegertowns’ Nate Tallada is highest finishing freshman at state cross country meet
In just his third year running cross country, Saegertown’s Nate Tallada recorded the highest finish of any freshman at the PIAA Class AA cross country championships at Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.
Tallada, who posted seven first-place finishes in tri-meets and invitationals in 2008, finished 12th overall with a time of 17 minutes, three seconds. The Meadville Tribune boys cross country athlete of the year was Crawford County’s top finisher by 53 places and helped District 10 capture six of the top 12 spots in the Class AA race.
“The goal at the beginning of the season was to just make states,” Tallada said a few weeks after the performance. “As the season went on, I just set harder goals. My goal at states was to place in the top 25. I was surprised I surpassed that.”
2. Morgan Nickerson breaks Scott Phillis’ 13-year-old scoring record for Bulldog hockey
Morgan Nickerson led the Meadville Bulldog hockey club in scoring for four straight years. He’s the only player to do that, but more than that, Nickerson’s final season saw him break one of the team’s most hallowed marks.
With two goals in the Bulldogs’ 4-1 win over North Allegheny in the second round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Class AAA playoffs last March, Nickerson became the team’s single-season goal scoring leader.
Nickerson scored 72 goals, breaking the record Scott Phillis set during the 1994-95 season when he scored 71 goals. Nickerson, a left winger, looked like he would shatter Phillis’ mark early in the season. In the Bulldogs first 11 games, Nickerson had 26 goals and was on pace to score 106 goals. While he slowed down as the season wore on, he did not come up short of the goal, clipping Phillis, who is an assistant coach with the Bulldogs, by one goal.
Nickerson is a freshman at Colgate University competing for a spot in the Raiders’ lineup.
1. Keenan Ellison sets Crawford County scoring record in football
As you can tell from the top two picks of 2008, we at the Meadville Tribune love it when records get broken. And Saegertown senior running back Keenan Ellison toppled a couple biggies this past fall.
The year before, Ellison was a wide receiver on Saegertown’s JV team. But in 2008 he worked his way into a spot at starting halfback for the varsity squad.
Chances were that Ellison was going to have a fair-to-good year while starting on Saegertown’s run-heavy wing-T offense. The year before it had produced two 1,000-yard rushers. And for this year the Panthers were boasting two solid running backs other than Ellison who were lining up behind strong, experienced front line.
Still, Ellison’s year surpassed even the loftiest of expectations. The 6-foot, 185-pounder rushed for 1,430 yards, and led the team in receiving with 15 catches for and 318 yards. But the real reason why he’s at the top of this list is because in 2008 Keenan Ellison crossed goallines the way most people cross Ts.
Ellison had 33 touchdowns this season. That was a new Crawford County record. He also had two 2-point conversions, giving him 202 points for the season. That’s another new Crawford County record. Both of those marks were previously held by Meadville’s Javar Manning (31 touchdowns, 198 points), both were set in 1998.
To add a little perspective to this; there were 16 teams in District 10 that didn’t even score 202 points this season.
Ellison scored 24 touchdowns rushing with had four receiving TDs on 130 plays. That gives him a touchdown every 4.6 times he touched the ball on offense. He also returned three punts and one kickoff return before teams stopped kicking the ball at him. And he had one interception return for a touchdown as a strong safety, a position that earned him a spot on the all-state second team.
And with Ellison’s help, Saegertown went on to have a fantastic year, winning 11 straight games and claiming the team’s first league championship since 2002.
It was an outstanding year for an outstanding team and its outstanding running back.
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