Category: Scores

High School Boys Basketball – Friday January 6, 2017

Quaker Valley – 78

Beaver Falls – 58

Michigan overpowers Washington 34-13 as Jim Harbaugh delivers a national title

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh celebrates with the trophy after their win in the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game against Washington Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer

HOUSTON (AP) — Jim Harbaugh raised the championship trophy as gold and white confetti sprayed over his team and “We Are the Champions” blared.
Nine years after he took over at Michigan, Harbaugh delivered on the lofty expectations he brought with him to his beloved alma mater.
Blake Corum ran for 134 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns as Harbaugh and the top-ranked Wolverines — undeterred by suspensions and a sign-stealing case that shadowed the program — completed a three-year surge to a national title by beating No. 2 Washington 34-13 Monday night in the College Football Playoff.
“We’re innocent and we stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent. And I’d like to point that out,” Harbaugh said when asked about off-field issues, jumping in to answer a question posed to his players. “And these guys are innocent. And overcome that? It wasn’t that hard because we knew we were innocent.
“(The season) went exactly how we wanted it to go. It went exactly how we wanted it to go.”
The Wolverines (15-0) sealed their first national title since 1997 when Corum, who scored the winning touchdown in overtime against Alabama in the Rose Bowl, blasted in from the 1-yard line with 3:37 left to put Michigan up by 21 and set off another rousing rendition of “The Victors” from the band.
After a third consecutive playoff appearance, Harbaugh won the championship so many expected when he took over a struggling powerhouse in 2015 — despite missing six regular-season games this season while serving two suspensions.
“That man, he’s the reason we’re here today,” Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy said of his coach.
And Harbaugh did it with a team his old coach, Bo Schembechler, would have adored. The Wolverines ran for 303 yards against Washington (14-1), and their rugged defense held Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies’ prolific passing game to just one touchdown while intercepting the Heisman Trophy runner-up twice.
“There are more than 100 Michigan men who are on this team,” Harbaugh said. “What they’ve done is amazing. They will forever be known as national champions.”
Penix’s remarkable six-year college career ended with maybe his worst performance of the season. Usually unfazed by pressure, Penix was not nearly as precise against a Michigan defense that took away his signature deep throws.
“That was a spectacular game by our defense,” Harbaugh said.
The Indiana transfer who came back from two knee surgeries and two shoulder injuries was roughed up by the Wolverines, limping at times, stepped on another time.
Asked how he was feeling, Penix said, still undaunted: “Better than I was three years ago.”
Penix finished 27 for 51 for 255 yards and a touchdown as the Huskies had their 21-game winning streak snapped.
“They’ve given me everything they possible can,” coach Kalen DeBoer said of a group of players who went 4-8 just two seasons ago and 25-3 since he took over in 2022.
McCarthy had a modest game, throwing for 140 yards and running for 31. But it was enough for him to improve to 27-1 as a starter for the Wolverines.
Michigan gave Washington a taste of life in the Big Ten, where the Pac-12 champions are heading next season, and the Huskies were up for the grind for a while.
Two long touchdown runs by Donovan Edwards and 229 yards rushing in the first quarter put the Wolverines up 17-3 early in the second and conjured up memories of last year’s historic Georgia blowout of TCU.
Washington stabilized and didn’t allow the Wolverines another point in the first half. After the Huskies stopped Michigan on a fourth-and-2 from the UW 38 with 4:46 left in the second quarter, Penix went to work.
He found Jalen McMillan on a fourth-and-goal with 42 seconds left for a 3-yard touchdown. After being on the verge of getting buried by the Wolverines, the Huskies fans sang along to “Who Let the Dogs Out,” happily down only 17-10 at half.
Will Johnson’s interception of Penix on the first play of the second half gave Michigan another opportunity to open up a two-touchdown lead, but the Huskies forced a field goal by James Turner to make it 20-10.
“Today was a complete, complete team effort,” Corum said.
Michigan nursed a touchdown lead until halfway through the fourth quarter, when it put together a 71-yard drive, capped by Corum’s tackle-breaking 12-yard touchdown that finally gave the Wolverines some room with a 27-13 lead and 7:09 left.
Corum, the engine of the ground-and-pound offense and heart and soul of a team loaded with fourth-, fifth- and even sixth-year players, missed the CFP last year with a knee injury. He was named offensive player of the final national title game in before the College Football Playoff expands from four teams to 12 next season.
“Michigan, this is for you,” Corum told the Wolverines fans.
Michigan seemed to be steaming toward a third consecutive Big Ten championship when in October it was revealed the NCAA was investigating the program for potentially breaking rules that prohibit in-person scouting of opponents and using video equipment to attempt to decode opponents’ play signals.
The scandal turned Connor Stalions, the low-level Michigan recruiting staffer accused of orchestrating the scheme, into a household name and threatened to derail the Wolverines’ season.
The NCAA process will linger well into 2024 and it is unknown what penalties Michigan could face. The Big Ten, though, decided to act quickly and punished Michigan by suspending Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season, including matchups with Penn State and rival Ohio State.
With offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore taking Harbaugh’s place, it became Michigan vs. Everybody and nobody could stop the Wolverines.
Harbaugh returned for the postseason, completed the mission and got to celebrate with his 84-year-old father, Jack — himself a former college football coach — as he accepted the trophy.
Michigan became the first college football program to record 1,000 victories when it beat Maryland in November and won its third national title in January.
“Who has it better than us?” Jack Harbaugh asked the fans during the trophy ceremony. They replied with a boisterous: “Nobody!”
Now the question is whether Harbaugh has coached the team he once quarterbacked for the last time, with the NFL seemingly beckoning again.
Harbaugh said it felt good to no longer be the only coach in the family without a national championship. His father won a Division I-AA title with Western Kentucky and brother John won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens by beating Jim’s San Francisco 49ers 11 years ago.
“I can now sit at the big person’s table in the family,” Harbaugh said.
As for what’s next?
“I just want to enjoy this,” he said. “I hope you give me that. Can I have that? Does it always have to be what’s next, what’s the future?”
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Evgeni Malkin leads Penguins past Flyers 4-1 in Scrappy Contest

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in a scrappy contest on Monday night.

Rickard Rakell, Erik Karlsson and Chad Ruhwedel also scored for Pittsburgh, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 36 saves.

“I thought we got better as the night went on,” Nedeljkovic said.

Owen Tippett scored for the Flyers, who have lost seven of nine.

“They were the better team,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “We weren’t good enough in either end.”

The game was feisty between the in-state rivals, with several scrums around the net and in the corners after plays. The teams combined for 11 penalties that totaled 24 minutes.

Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang was bloodied 5:43 into the third after he threw Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway to the ice before getting a stick in the face from Nicolas Deslauriers. Twenty-six seconds later, Scott Laughton and Malkin were scuffling along the back boards.

The Flyers honored their late founder and owner Ed Snider on Saturday, and Snider certainly would have approved of the physical play from the Flyers, whose tough fighting style earned them the nickname “Broad Street Bullies” when they won back-to-back Stanley Cups during Snider’s tenure in 1974 and ’75.

Perhaps Philadelphia was showing its frustration after Malkin capitalized on a turnover by defenseman Egor Zamula and netted his 15th of the season 4:29 into the third to put Pittsburgh comfortably in front 4-1.

“We’ve been playing really well as of late and it makes it easy, makes it fun,” Nedeljkovic said. “That’s how you want to play.”

The Penguins will have a chance to even the four-game season series when they host Philadelphia in the final contest between the teams on Feb. 25.

Rakell opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the contest with a power-play tally after an early tripping penalty on Sean Couturier. Karlsson’s shot from long range through a screen almost seven minutes later beat goalie Carter Hart, who made 36 stops.

Tippett got the Flyers on the board with 5:05 left in the first period with a rare power-play goal for Philadelphia. The Flyers entered last in the league by converting on just 10.2% (13 of 128) of their chances this season. But Tippett finished on a wrist shot from the right circle after a beautiful setup from Zamula.

“We’re just struggling scoring,” Tortorella said. “We don’t have enough people going offensively.”

A surprising trade was announced in the first period. The Flyers acquired defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in 2025 from Anaheim for high-scoring college left wing Cutter Gauthier.

Beaver County Radio to Broadcast all Four WPIAL Championship Games on Friday

(File Photo of Acrisure Stadium when it was Heinz Field)

(Brighton Twp., Pa.) Beaver County Radio 99.3 ,1230 WBVP, and beavercountyradio.com  will broadcast live all four WPIAL Championship Games from Acrisure Stadium on Friday. The action will get underway at 11:00 with the Class A game. Robert Mangino and Bruce Frey will have coverage starting at 10:30 AM. Mangino and Frey will also have coverage of the Class AA game as Beaver Falls takes on Steel Valley. The second half of the day will feature Mangino and Mike Azadian with the AAA final featuring  Avonworth and Belle Vernon. The final game of the day will feature Aliquippa and McKeesport.
If you can’t tune into the game you can click the link below to listen on-line via beavercountyradio.com:

 

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Robert Morris secures 66-56 victory against Point Park

 

Nov 9, 2023 9:58 PM – 135 words

By The Associated Press

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Markeese Hastings scored 20 points as Robert Morris beat Point Park 66-56 on Thursday night.

Hastings added 14 rebounds and three blocks for the Colonials (1-1). TJ Wainwright was 7 of 17 shooting, including 0 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 3 for 3 from the line to add 17 points. Stephaun Walker shot 5 of 11 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line to finish with 14 points.

Jamisen Smith finished with 19 points and three steals for the Pioneers. Nate Van added 14 points for Point Park. In addition, Nazareth Fisher had nine points and 10 rebounds.

Bryan Rust makes sure his second OT goal counts as Penguins defeat Kings 4-3

(Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, second from right, celebrates an overtime goal by right wing Bryan Rust as Los Angeles Kings goaltender Pheonix Copley, left, and center Phillip Danault stand in goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, in Los Angeles.0 (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

 

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After having a goal waved off in overtime, Bryan Rust quickly made sure it didn’t happen twice. His wraparound goal with 1:15 remaining on the clock in overtime gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, giving them a sweep of their California road trip for the first time since 1996-97. Rust appeared to put in his own rebound 19 seconds earlier, but the goal was waved off when he was ruled offside. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist as he became the 11th player in NHL history with 450 career multi-point games. He also extended his point streak to seven games.

Miguel Andujar Claimed by Athletics off Waivers From Pirates

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Miguel Andujar was claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics on Monday from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 28-year-old outfielder and infielder hit .250 with four homers and 18 RBIs in 90 plate appearances in his second season with the Pirates, who claimed him off waivers from the New York Yankees in September 2022. Andujar batted .338 with 16 homers and 86 RBIs in 103 games this year with Triple-A Indianapolis.

Andujar batted .297 with 27 homers and 92 RBIs for the Yankees in 2018 but his production has dropped considerably. He has a .270 average with 39 homers and 149 RBIs in parts of seven big league seasons.

New Brighton/Western Beaver Game For Friday Night Moved To Beaver High School

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
(Image/BCR Archives)

The Week 7 game for Friday night between Western Beaver and New Brighton will be moved to Pat Tarquinio Field on the campus of Beaver High School.

The game was originally set to be played under portable lights at Rich Niedbala Field in Industry, but Western Beaver Athletic Director John Rosa told Beaver County Radio that the game had to be moved due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

Traditionally, the home games at Western Beaver are played during the daytime, often on Saturday afternoons. A recent petition has begun to install lights for the field for night games.

Heading into the game, Western Beaver has an overall record of 4-3, with a 3-1 record in Midwestern Athletic Conference (2A) play. New Brighton is 0-7, with a record of 0-4 in the MAC.

The time of the game will be at 7:00 PM.

Connor Bedard Picks Up an Assist in his NHL Debut as the Blackhawks Rally Past Crosby, Penguins 4-2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Connor Bedard skated into the faceoff circle, saw one of his idols standing across from him and tried to soak in the moment.

That really was Sidney Crosby within arm’s reach. That really was referee Kelly Sutherland welcoming him to the NHL on national television. That really was a sellout crowd pulling cameras out trying to capture the meeting of two generational talents at opposite ends of their careers.

Then the puck dropped, and the instincts that have made the 18-year-old Bedard the NHL’s next big thing kicked in.

Playing with a charismatic fearlessness, Bedard dazzled in Chicago’s 4-2 comeback win over Crosby and the Penguins on Tuesday night.

The top pick in the draft picked up an assist and fired five shots at Tristan Jarry while playing 21:29, hardly looking intimidated by the stage, the stakes or pretty much anything else.

“I think, for me, it’s just trying to get better every shift, every game,” Bedard said. “I created a bit. There’s obviously things I can get better at. But felt pretty good.”

Looked pretty good too. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang gave Bedard a couple of “welcome to the NHL hits,” not in an attempt to send a message but because at times it was the only way to keep up with Bedard.

“He’s so good, so shifty,” Letang said. “He’s got great moves. I had to play him hard. He’s really deceptive. You can’t even look at the puck one second, because he’s so fast.”

Chicago trailed 2-0 when Crosby began his 19th season by scoring his 551st career goal, a shot into an open net off a pass from Jake Guentzel 11:56 into the second period.

The Blackhawks roared back behind a goal from Ryan Donato — with a secondary assist from Bedard — in the second period and Cole Guttman’s goal midway through the third. Jason Dickinson gave Chicago the lead with 4:31 remaining. Nick Foligno’s empty-netter with 1:33 to go sent most of the sellout crowd that came to watch one of the NHL’s brightest stars take on one of its newest home.

“I feel like that was a complete game,” Dickinson said. “We played the full 60. We stuck to our game plan. We played a hard game. It’s nice when you get rewarded.”

Petr Mrazek stopped 38 shots for the Blackhawks.

Crosby and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins, who had their run of 16 consecutive playoff appearances end last spring thanks in part to a late-season pratfall against the Blackhawks. Pittsburgh retooled over the summer, including adding three-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson.

Fireworks, however, were hard to come by for the NHL’s oldest team. Jarry made 32 saves but the Penguins let a lead slip away late, a problem that plagued them at times last season.

“First game, I don’t think anybody is firing on all cylinders at this point,” Crosby said. “There are certainly some things we can do better, be more detailed defensively.”

Bedard’s arrival in the NHL had been anticipated for years, much like Crosby’s when the Penguins grabbed him with the top overall selection in 2005, all of 13 days after Bedard was born. His arrival in Chicago has given the beleaguered franchise a much-needed jolt even though there almost certainly will be some growing pains on a team that’s missed the playoffs five of the last six seasons as the dynasty that won three Stanley Cups between 2010-15 faded.

Like Crosby, Bedard seems at ease with the attention that has followed him from childhood prodigy to the NHL. He joked during the morning skate that he slept “like a baby.” He sprinted onto the ice with fellow Blackhawks rookie Kevin Korchinski during warmups, the two teenagers having the rink to themselves momentarily as is tradition for players making their NHL debuts.

Bedard was fidgety during the national anthem, his legs in constant motion, eager to get a moment he’d been dreaming about since he was a phenom growing up in British Columbia, Canada.

While he didn’t win that opening faceoff — he didn’t win many, going just 2 for 13 on draws — once the puck was in motion, Bedard was frequently a blur.

He recorded the first shot of his career just over six minutes in on a one-timer with Chicago on the power play. He kept right on pumping pucks at Jarry, his No. 98 constantly in motion. He was unafraid to fling his 5-foot-10, 185-pound frame into tight spaces, be they the front of the net or the corners.

Bedard seemed to surprise Jarry with a shot from the short side early in the second and collected the first point of his career late in the second period when he dropped a backhand pass to Alex Vlasic, who then bulled his way in close for a shot whose rebound ended up on the stick of Donato to bring the Blackhawks within 2-1.

Guttman then tied it just past the midway point of the third period with a laser from the slot and Dickinson put the Blackhawks in front to offer a glimpse of the team Chicago hopes it can become on a regular basis, with Bedard at the center of it all.

“He’s a very mature kid for his age,” Dickinson said. “There’s a ton that’s been put on him. It doesn’t seem to phase him. Doesn’t seem to even hit him.”

UP NEXT

Blackhawks: Travel to Boston on Wednesday.

Penguins: Visit longtime Metropolitan Division rival Washington on Friday.

Miguel Andujar and Joshua Palacios Drive In 3 Runs Apiece as Pirates Beat Cubs 8-6

CHICAGO (AP) — Miguel Andújar had thee hits and drove in three runs, Joshua Palacios hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the ninth inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates held off a late rally by the slumping Chicago Cubs to win 8-6 on Thursday night.

The loss was the 10th in the last 13 games for the Cubs, who fell into a tie with Miami for the final NL wild-card spot.

“We didn’t play our style of baseball,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “When we hit, we didn’t pitch. Some calls didn’t go our way. We’re not going to win when we don’t play clean baseball. Guys that don’t make mistakes, made mistakes. That’s just where we’re at right now.

“We got nine games left to play our style of baseball. We got to play better.”

Pittsburgh’s Johan Oviedo (9-14) threw six scoreless innings, giving up four hits. The right-hander walked five but escaped trouble on multiple occasions and held the Cubs hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Connor Joe and Ji Hwan Bae each drove in a run for the Pirates, whose bullpen surrendered six runs in the last three innings.

The Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the third when an error by shortstop Dansby Swanson on a potential double play set the stage for Andújar to drive in Joe and Bryan Reynolds with a two-out double into the right-center field gap.

Andújar knocked in another run in the fifth. His hits and RBIs all came against Kyle Hendricks (6-8), who went six innings and gave up seven hits and three runs (one earned).

“Obviously a little frustration, but no panic at all,” Hendricks said. “We still know what we’re capable of. We’re right where we want to be. It’s all in our control. We just got to play fundamental baseball and get back to playing the brand of baseball that we’re used to.”

The Pirates made it 5-1 in the eighth inning when Bae drove in Jared Triolo with a two-out RBI triple. Joe scored Bae with an RBI single before he was thrown out at second.

Mike Tauchman had an RBI double in the eighth and scored later on an RBI groundout from Nico Hoerner to get the Cubs within 5-4.

“This is a playoff-type atmosphere,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The crowd was in the game. They got back in the game because the Cubs kept punching back. I think you saw from our young players that they continue to go, continue to play, continue to execute and it was fun to watch.”

Palacios homered in the ninth to make it 8-4.

Swanson hit a two-run homer in the ninth off All-Star David Bednar before the closer retired the next three batters.