The Moon Area Tigers won their second game of the season, 3-1, against the Kennedy Catholic Eagles Monday night.
In the first period, junior forward Zach Wildasin gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the season. The scoring magic happened in the second period, when Riley Hilton netted a goal past Tigers goaltender Lukas Konecsni, to tie the score at one a piece. Then at the sound of the buzzer to mark the end of the second period, Tigers sophomore forward David Pawuk banged one past Eagle goaltender Carsen Burkhart. The power play goal gave Moon a 2-1 lead. Halfway through the third period, Konecsni made a perfect glove save on a breakaway, preserving the lead. With only a few seconds remaining in the period, Wildasin scored again with an empty-netter to make it 3-1. Coach Joe Sell was pleased with how his team played despite battling a few injuries and calling up junior varsity players. “We’re kind of shorthanded,” Sell said. “We have one kid who is out with a concussion; one kid out with a broken wrist; and one out with a bad shoulder. “We are happy with the effort. They battled through and we were able to grab the win.” Konecsni made a lot of great saves Monday night, and Sell noticed. “Lukas is our MVP,” Sell said. “The kid faces a lot of shots and lots of high scoring opportunities and he’s always there. He’s level headed, doesn’t get up and doesn’t get down and that’s definitely something you want from your goaltender.” The Tigers travel to Morgantown High School for their next game, on Nov. 2. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
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![]() Pittsburgh, Pa. - The Robert Morris Colonials lost their third straight game and their second home-and-home game 3-1 against the Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday night. In the first period, both the Colonials and Buckeyes were getting chances, but the pucks weren’t going in. Colonial left-winger Robert Powers had a fantastic shot at giving the Colonials a 1-0 lead, but the puck hit the crossbar. Colonial right-winger Timmy Moore had a few grade-A chances, but Buckeye goalie Sean Romeo wasn’t allowing any pucks behind him. The first period might have been the Colonials’ period, but the Buckeyes came back and battled hard in the second period. Ohio State had many opportunities to score but Colonials goalie Andrew Pikul showed the Buckeyes he can be a brick wall. Halfway through the second period, Pikul made a perfect glove save on Buckeyes forward Matthew Weis, who on the breakaway looked for a shorthanded goal to put the Buckeyes on the board first. The scoring magic happened in the third period however, Buckeyes defenseman Matt Miller opened the third period with a goal past Pikul. The Colonials were sloppy at the start of the third period and couldn’t find chances to bang some in. Ten minutes later, the Colonials tied the score with a power-play goal by left winger Alex Tonge with assists to Michael Louria and Brady Ferguson. The Colonials could have stolen the lead and made it 2-1, but the goal was waved off. With four minutes remaining in the period, Ohio State forward Tanner Laczynski stole the lead to make it 2-1. Then Laczynski scored again with an empty-netter with less than a minute left to make it 3-1. Coach Schooley was expecting his players to play a full 60 minutes, play better defense and not allow easy goals tonight, but unfortunately, that wasn’t what the Colonials did. “I expected work ethic,” Schooley said. “I expected better defense and go out there and play 60 minutes. We can’t go out and allow easy goals. We have an easy goal again tonight, and the last game-winner was an easy goal, and you want to make sure you’re tougher on people and you get people away from the puck, and we didn’t do that.” Andrew Pikul made 37 saves Saturday night, and Coach Schooley praised him after the game, saying he’s the reason why the Colonials stayed in the game. “Andrew was outstanding,” said Schooley. “He was the single reason why we were in the game as long as we were.” Pikul said the Colonials are getting to where they need to be, but they have to pick up a few loose strings. “I think we’re almost there. We’re really really close,” Pikul said. “I think we just have to tighten up a couple of areas and try to limit one or two more mistakes. We need to fix broken plays like the empty-net goal, and it seems like every game we see too many of those.” Pikul, an Ohio native, said it’s cool to play Ohio State because he has friends who are on the team. “It’s pretty cool,” Pikul said. “I had a lot of buddies from high school graduate and go to Ohio State, and I know a few guys on the team. It’s a pretty cool experience.” Pikul enjoys and appreciates the crowded stands with supportive fans especially in big games like tonight. “It’s awesome. The crowd was super into it, the band was getting everyone into it, the lacrosse players were down in the corner as usual, so it was really nice to see everyone come out, and it’s obviously a huge game for us, against a good opponent,” Pikul said. The Colonials are home next Friday and Saturday as they host Holy Cross in Atlantic Hockey Conference play. Puck drops at 7:05 p.m. The OLSH Chargers were defeated by the Sewickley Academy Panthers, 3-1, Tuesday night in the season finale.
The Panthers opened the scoring early in the first half. OLSH had multiple chances but the Panthers goalie and the goal posts were in the way. It wasn’t until the second half when both teams became more competitive and physical. Half way through the second half, Chargers senior Andrew Heller tied the score at one a piece. Then ten minutes later, the Panthers retook the lead, which they wouldn’t give up. And with three minutes left into the game, the Panthers snuck a goal past Chargers goalkeeper Anthony Cerone to secure the win. OLSH coach Kip Michel thought his team was ready for some late-season heroics. “I was expecting a win. I thought Sewickley’s had a couple of down games and thought we could take advantage of that,” said Michel. “We’re typically better towards the end of the season so I thought this team was ready to play and get the win.” OLSH senior Ian Polidora credited the Panthers’ strong play, especially when the game was still undecided. “The Panthers played tough. They put in everything they had into this game especially in that last ten [minutes],” Polidora said. “They were playing strong but we always expect that from this team.” With playoffs around the corner, the Chargers need to become more aggressive and work on counter attacks to be successful. The Chargers are currently in second place in the WPIAL 1A standings and will face one of the two top teams when the regular season is over. It was a tough loss for the Chargers since most of the team are seniors. Heller and Polidora said playing their last game as a Charger is hard and they’re like a second family. “It’s a comradery here. We’re like a family,” said Polidora. “We play together, we hang out together. We’re all kind of like a unit we put into our game. We play smart and can trust each other on the field.” ![]() Moon, Pa. - The Robert Morris Colonials ended their game against the Bryant University Bulldogs in a 1-1 draw Friday afternoon. This tie would be the Colonials’ third of the season. During the first half of the game, the score was tied at zero, but the Colonials were being outshot 8-3 due to the great play of the Bulldogs offense attacking the Colonials defense and pounding balls on the net. In the second half of the game, the Colonials scored a goal by Bayley Winkel, his eighth of the season with an assist from Keane McIvor at 38:26 to make the score 1-0. After a hard-fought 21 minutes, the Bulldogs got a goal past Colonials goalie Winter Fondi at 17:40 to tie up the score. At the end of overtime, the Colonials bounced back with 10 shots and the Bulldogs 15. Coach Denniston said the Colonials deserved the tie. “We know the way they (Bryant) played and it was going to be probably one of the hardest physical game of the conference play,” said Denniston. “In the beginning, we weren’t up for it but we came around and did very well in the second half, probably deserved the tie.” The Colonials are picking themselves up as they are in third place in the standings. Keane McAvlor gives credit to the coaching staff for the team’s success in the past few games. “The effort was put in with the last week in practice,” said Mclvor. “We want to prove ourselves to other teams. With the help of coaches and staff, it helps us and motivated us.” The Colonials have five more games until playoffs. McIvor says there are doubters and he wants to prove them wrong as the future for the Colonials gets stronger. “Lots of people have doubts in us, but I think we can go on and win the conference if we continue to work hard and put in the work at practice,” said McIvor. The Colonial’s next game is home on Sunday, Oct. 15 when they face Farleigh Dickinson at the North Athletic Complex. ![]() “I believe in the goodness of a free society. And I believe that the society can remain good only as long as we are willing to fight for it, and to fight against whatever imperfections may exist.” – Jackie Robinson Moon, Pa. - On Sept. 25, 1789, Congress authorized the First Amendment, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble; and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Fast forward 227 years. In September of 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to take a knee instead of standing during the singing of the National Anthem. He said he did this to protest police violence against African-Americans. Controversy quickly arose. Other African-American NFL players joined Kaepernick in this protest. However, the controversy was starting to subside when President Trump made several comments about Kaepernick and the NFL, using language not suitable for kids on national television. Last weekend, many more NFL players took the knee and locked arms to protest. A social media explosion ensued. The protest left me wondering if taking a knee takes place in high school sports. Evidently, it does. The Garfield High School football team in Seattle took the knee a few weeks after Kaepernick did. Their opponent that night joined them. But the biggest story took place only a few minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and at a school that received death threats due to this issue. Cornell High School is one of the smallest schools in Western Pennsylvania, serving 750 students from grades K-12. Dr. Aaron Thomas is the superintendent of the district, whose typical high school graduating class is between 35 and 55 students. Thirty percent of the student body is African-American, and 2% is Hispanic. The majority of students are Caucasian. On the afternoon before a 2016 Raiders football game, nine out of 12 cheerleaders took a knee, without telling anyone of their plans. To make matters worse, the VFW color guard was in attendance. A local television reporter did a story about it. Adults got on board and attacked Thomas. Thomas explained what happened to a local newspaper and apologized to the VFW for their actions. Just when Thomas thought the fire was blown out, it wasn’t. A national news source picked up the story. People from around the country called Cornell for days. Thomas and his family soon started receiving death threats. Next, a woman posted to her Facebook page a twisted version of Thomas’ interview and portrayed him as the mastermind behind what the cheerleaders had done. Seven million people read it. Thomas woke up the next morning to a full inbox of emails from her supporters leaving more death threats to him and his family. People took pictures of Thomas’ small children and his house and posted them on social media. His kids were escorted by police to and from school, and their house was under police supervision for several days. Thomas decided to close football games to the public. Parents of the players couldn’t attend those games. Thomas said that taking a knee during a sporting event has no gray area. “It’s either you’re completely offended and it’s wrong, or you’re on the other side where you’re like, ‘Well, someone has a right to stand, sit or kneel down.'” Thomas told me that he received over 600 death threat emails and thousands of phone calls because of this issue. The First Amendment allows us to say what we want. But targeting a high school, its superintendent and his family go too far. Thomas said he supported his students and their beliefs. “This was basically ruled upon in the 60’s. The kids can do this,” Thomas said. “I can’t force any kid to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance. I can’t force a kid to stand during the National Anthem. I can’t force a kid to pray. I can’t do that from a school standpoint.” When interviewing Thomas, I asked, “Do these cheerleaders know what they’re protesting or are they doing it because they saw an NFL player doing it?” “Nine out of the 12 cheerleaders knelt; it was led by two of them. The other seven did it because their friends did it,” said Thomas. “Two of them had their own reasons. One was based on inequality and something they had read and believed about the original lyrics to the anthem that promoted slavery. And the other girl went on a humanities trip to South Africa the summer before and saw some things and did that out of respect for what she saw.” Should taking the knee exist in high school sports? Yes. I support the First Amendment and Dr. Thomas. If students know what they’re doing and what taking the knee means, I wouldn’t care. Everyone has a right to express themselves and to stand true to the First Amendment. And those who disapprove of that position have the right to express that sentiment. It’s not hurting anyone. Freshmen should not play on varsity sports. They need to learn the intensity of the game, grow into themselves and watch and learn from the varsity team.
Proponents of freshmen playing at the varsity level say that if those ninth graders are strong, fast, or plain good enough, they should be able to play on varsity. The argument is that immediately going to varsity showcases their skills that they have shown in the years before entering high school. However, while they may be amazing, they should have one year or two years to work on their skills. They also need the time to adjust to the intensity of a high school game. High school varsity is a different game from middle school. Bill Pfeifer, head coach of Moon Area High School girls soccer team, noted after a rough start to a recent game that “a lot of young kids out there that aren’t used to the level of this game and the intensity.” When freshmen are coming out of middle school, they are also changing and growing. They need time to grow into themselves and learn how to move while getting taller and gaining muscle. Having them do that while also participating in an intense varsity game is difficult. “Coach Rodriguez recommended the transition to a varsity team should be a “slow one, not a large jump…Bring the player to the freshmen level, if they excel there move them to the JV level, if they excel there then perhaps they are ready for the demands of varsity but perhaps not,” said a study by Jeffrey Cherubini and Tiffany Bentley. People learn by watching. Having freshmen come in and immediately play with the varsity players is a disservice to them. They should have the time to play on a junior varsity team and watch the varsity players. They can train with the varsity players to learn, but actually playing with them on the field takes away from the time they could spend learning the game better. “More than half of the coaches noted that it takes time to bring a young athlete up to the mental and emotional level needed to play varsity,” said Cherubini and Bentley in their study. “A primary indicator of whether or not a young athlete will be able to successfully ‘make the jump’ from a modified or junior varsity level to the ‘prowess’ of a varsity level sport depends on this level of coachability.” While freshmen may be amazing players, they still need time to learn. High schools should give them that time by allowing them to play on junior varsity until they are sophomores or juniors. It would allow them to adjust to the intensity of the game, their own bodies as they grow and learn from the varsity players. |
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