Pioneers Boys Basketball Looks to Build Past First Round Playoffs in 2019-2020
by Zack Zeigler
For the past four seasons, the West Greene Pioneers Boys Basketball team has been in the WPIAL Class 1A Playoffs. However, each of those four years has consisted of an early exit for the team as they got kicked out in the first round all four times.
As the calendar flips to the 2019-2020 season, the Pioneers are looking beyond the first round as they try to move to the Quarterfinals and beyond. With 14 players returning from last year’s team, West Greene has the experience to accomplish their goals and put together a run in this year’s Class 1A playoffs.
Leading this year’s team are seniors Benjamin Jackson and Austin Crouse as West Greene starts their road to a possible fifth straight WPIAL Class 1A playoff appearance. Crouse saw substantial minutes for the Pioneers a year ago and will look to provide the offensive spark that his team needs while Jackson will be a leader on defense throughout the year.
After starting the year at the Brownsville Tournament, West Greene will play their next two games on the road before opening up their home schedule with a section match-up against Geibel Catholic. As the calendar turns to 2020, the Pioneers are looking at a stretch of six straight conference games from January 7th – January 24th which will go a long way in determining their playoff hopes this season.
The Pioneers open the season on December 6th when they take on Chartiers-Houston at the Brownsville Tournament.
Offensive Line Leads Eight Waynesburg Football All-PAC Honorees
by Zack Zeigler
After bringing their 2019 season to a close with a 50-14 loss to Washington & Jefferson, the Waynesburg University football team had eight players recognized as part of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference All-Conference teams.
Senior offensive lineman Alex Paulina led the group earning First-Team All-PAC honors for the third consecutive season. Paulina has been a staple on the Yellow Jackets offensive line all four years in orange and black and ends his career as one of the top linemen in the conference.
Fellow seniors Tyler Smith and Brennan Sefick also made the list earning second-team all-PAC honors. Smith was the team leader in tackles for Waynesburg while Sefick had the most passes defended with nine.
Five Honorable Mention All-PAC players rounded out the awards for Waynesburg with seniors Tanner Six, Alex Stoy, and Vashon Graham and freshman Justin Flack taking home the awards. Junior Cole Booth was named as the lone Yellow Jackets representative on the All-PAC sportsmanship team.
Waynesburg heads into the offseason looking to build off last season’s successes as they continue to grow for the 2020 season.
Young Mighty Mikes Looking to Move Forward in 2019-2020
by Zack Zeigler
The 2018-2019 season was a year of ups and downs for the Carmichaels Boys Basketball team. However, there were just too many tough stretches to overcome and the Mighty Mikes missed out on the WPIAL Class 2A Playoffs, finishing with an 11-10 mark and a 4-8 record in Class 2A section 2 play.
However, with 12 players returning to this year’s roster, the Mikes are looking to build on last year’s experience to get them back to the playoffs. With many of the underclassmen playing a role on last year’s team, they come back with higher expectations in 2019-2020.
Carmichaels finished last season winning each of their final three games including two big section wins against Brentwood and Chartiers Houston. Carmichaels is hoping to ride that momentum into 2019-2020.
Returning to lead the way are seniors Matt Kioska, Garrett Ponick, and Taggert Shea – all of whom will see time on the floor. Carmichaels scored over 70 points only three times last season and those three will be looked at to get the offense going.
Carmichaels opens their season at the Geibel Catholic Tournament on December 6th when they take on Riverview before returning home on Tuesday December 10th for their home opener against Jefferson-Morgan.
PSU-Fayette Volleyball Wins First Ever National Title
by Zack Zeigler
The Penn State Fayette Volleyball team has been one of the most dominant teams in the Penn State University Athletic Conference over the last decade. In that time frame, they have won eight PSUAC Championships, including winning the title in each of the last two seasons. However, the one accolade that has eluded them is the coveted United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship.
After coming in third place in the tournament a year ago, PSU-Fayette achieved their goal in 2019, winning the program’s first national title with a 3-1 victory over the defending National Champions Johnson & Whales.
After winning the first two sets by scores of 26-24 and 25-21, Fayette took a 2-0 advantage into the third set looking for their third sweep of the tournament. However, Johnson & Whales came back and took the third set 25-18 to force the game into a fourth set. Both teams battled to a 23-23 tie before senior Siteri Tale closed out the game with two big kills to give Fayette the 25-23 set win and the program’s first USCAA National Championship.
Tale led the way for the Lions finishing her career with a team high of 22 kills on 51 total attacks in the win. Junior Macheala Hall led the defense with 24 digs and sophomore, Carmichaels alumnus Jaydyn Barnish led the way with 20 assists.
For PSU-Fayette, it is the second USCAA National Championship by any sport in the school’s history. The Track & Field team was the first team to win a USCAA National title when they won the National Championship meet in Burlington, Vermont back in April.
“I am so proud of the team for this incredible season,” said reigning PSUAC and USCAA Coach of the Year Samantha Swetz in an interview after the game. “My mental state of mind has been on national championships all season and I knew that we had the talent to do it.”
Coach Swetz and her team now head into the off-season looking to continue the National Championship tradition for years to come.
Greenesports – Bringing You More Than a Decade of Greene County Sports
by Greenesports Staff Writer
A little over a decade ago, Jason Tennant and Lanfer Simpson, friends and co-workers at WANB radio, realized something was missing in Greene County. After an extensive nine-month search for the proper equipment that allowed Tennant and Simpson to move the county’s sports coverage from the airwaves to the internet, Greenesports.net was born.
“We worked together for a number of years broadcasting football and wrestling for WANB Radio,” Tennant said. “When a decision was made to cut back on WANB’s sports coverage, Lanfer and I started thinking about the idea for GreeneSports.”
For the past 11 years, Greenesports has been the only source for coverage of Greene County high school volleyball, soccer, golf, basketball, wrestling, baseball and softball over that same time span. Of course, football has also been a part of the website’s lineup, even going as far as covering multiple games each week.
Simpson, who has a well-known reputation as a former football and wrestling standout at Waynesburg Central High School, knew that local fans needed a new way to follow their favorite high school teams. He also wanted to provide an avenue for hard-working county athletes to be recognized for their efforts on the field, the court, the mat and beyond.
“We recognized that there was just no way for local fans to follow high school sports if they weren’t at the site of competition,” Simpson said. “Jason and I feel very lucky and blessed to be able to fulfill that need. We feel like it not only helps the fans, but it gives the athletes a chance to be recognized for all their hard work.”
Since Greenesports first went live in 2009, Tennant, Simpson and their crew of announcers have attended well over 1,000 events covering nearly every county program. Over that same time span, the operation has expanded its coverage capability by forming a partnership with the Waynesburg University Department of Communication. The agreement, which was formed in 2013, allow Greenesport to not only provide even more content to its listeners, but it gave student broadcasters a chance to apply their training and sharpen their skills.
Over its lifespan, Greenesports.net has been in attendance at some truly memorable moments in local sports.
“We’ve had multiple state champion wrestlers and done broadcasts of multiple WPIAL Championship events,” Tennant said. “The event, or in this case, the team that was most memorable to cover, were the West Greene Pioneer Softball teams from 2016 to2019. As for a specific event, it would have to be the game at which they won their first State Championship, coming back from a 7-0 deficit to win. It was an unbelievable comeback on the biggest stage.”
After more than a decade successfully following the five Greene County high schools, Tennant and Simpson have no plans to cut back on what is the most thorough local coverage of local athletics.
“We just to thank the sponsors and our listeners for their continued support. What we have been able to do over the course of a decade would be absolutely impossible without the support of all of them. There have been a few special sponsors that have been on every single broadcast we have done and there are others that have been with us for a long, long time. We’re proud to have been able to provide our coverage for the last 10-plus years, and hope to continue doing this for a long time.”