District College category, Page 12
Kiski Area grad Lexi Colaianni becomes key member of Penn State Altoona tennis team after year away
Lexi Colaianni never intended to play two sports at Penn State Altoona, let alone have tennis be one of them. The Kiski Area grad was recruited to play basketball for the Lions. A second-team Valley News Dispatch All-Star as a senior, Colaianni set a Cavaliers school record by making nine...
District college football roundup: Ky’Ron Craggette leads 4th-quarter rally for Seton Hill
Ky’Ron Craggette’s 12-yard touchdown run with 1:03 left in the game gave Seton Hill a 27-24 comeback victory over West Chester in a PSAC crossover game Saturday. Craggette rushed for 132 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Jake Cruz threw for 237 yards and a touchdown for Seton Hill (2-2), which...
Big plays abound as Eastern Michigan shuts out St. Francis (Pa.) 36-0Video
YPSILANTI, Mich. — David Carter Jr. scored on a 99-yard fumble return, Zyell Griffin caught an 89-yard touchdown pass and Eastern Michigan rolled past St. Francis (Pa.), 36-0, on Saturday. Carter grabbed a loose ball out of a goal-line pileup and raced 99 yards for a touchdown to give the...
Hampton grad Dawson Dietz hoping for ‘amazing’ final season at Washington & Jefferson
Hampton graduate Dawson Dietz is already among the most decorated Washington & Jefferson football players in the past 25 years. This season, he can join an elite list on the national level. After earning first-team All-American honors by D3Football.com each of the past two seasons, the senior defensive tackle is...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Penn-Trafford grad Cade Yacamelli running with opportunity
As his production increases and his confidence grows, Cade Yacamelli is looking more the part of a Division-I running back. But it didn’t start out that way. Wisconsin’s redshirt sophomore initially was slotted as a defensive back when he left Penn-Trafford for Madison, a loop that surprised him but also...
Greensburg C.C. grad Mark Mizerak, healthy again, developing into cornerstone of Clarion offensive line
Mark Mizerak Jr. was the quintessential big fish in a small pond. To his Class A opponents, Mizerak, at 6-foot-4 and near 300 pounds, must have looked like an eclipse in shoulder pads. Regardless of whom he was facing, Mizerak, who attended Monessen before graduating from Greensburg Central Catholic, was...
Knoch grad Ethan Wymer aims to build toward another strong finish for Saint Vincent cross country
Every distance runner knows the value of a good finishing kick. Having some fuel left in the tank for a final push can be the difference in where a runner — and his or her team — ultimately finishes. Ethan Wymer certainly knows how to finish strong. But for the...
District college football roundup: Seton Hill scores last-play touchdown to beat Bloomsburg
Todd Phillips caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jake Cruz on a fourth-and-4 play with nine seconds left to lead Seton Hill to a 15-14 comeback victory over Bloomsburg in a PSAC crossover game Saturday afternoon. Phillips’ touchdown capped a 15-play, 62-yard drive for the Griffins (1-2). Ky’Ron Craggette ran...
Saint Vincent mourns the passing of longtime athletic director Rev. Myron Kirsch, O.S.B.
When Rev. Myron Kirsch, O.S.B., was a student at Saint Vincent, he was an outstanding baseball player in the Latrobe area. And before he became the school’s athletic director in 1983, he served as an assistant baseball coach from 1980-83. Kirsch oversaw numerous projects and changes at the school during...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: GCC grad Nate Ward playing final season at St. Louis
Nate Ward had planned to play one last season of college soccer closer to home at Duquesne. But the grad student transfer shifted gears and ended up at St. Louis playing for a nationally ranked program. Ward, a Greensburg Central Catholic graduate, played four years at Indiana of the Big...
Latrobe grad Paige Watson to play prominent role as Chatham women’s volleyball tries to back up top ranking in PACVideo
Chatham students who encounter Paige Watson on campus could be in for a treat. Watson, a sophomore volleyball player, is fond of card tricks and is always eager to show them off. So much so that she is seldom without a deck in her possession. As coach Joe Bortak puts...
Plum grad Lucas Pittman helps drive Penn State Behrend offense as Lions hunt AMCC soccer title
Like any college freshman, Lucas Pittman had the usual uncertainties rolling around in his head when he arrived at Penn State Behrend last summer. New environment, knowing few people, wondering how best to juggle classes and extracurricular activities. The good news for the Plum grad was he had at least...
Carnegie Mellon football joining Centennial Conference in 2025
Beginning in 2025, Carnegie Mellon football will compete within a new league as the Tartans announced Monday morning they will join the Centennial Conference as an associate member after this season. Since 2014, the Division III Tartans have competed in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) for football only, winning league...
Wrestling community mourns death of legendary coach Pat Pecora
The day Larry Hohman was headed to college when he was 18, his dad died. He walked into the office of Pitt-Johnstown wrestling coach Pat Pecora for guidance. Pecora instructed him to go home for a week to be with family, and he would take care of things. “On that...
District college football roundup: Edinboro stuns Robert Morris on 4th-quarter safety
Edinboro recorded a safety to break a fourth-quarter tie, upsetting Robert Morris, 23-21, on Saturday night. With the score tied 21-21, Edinboro’s Reed Martin (Plum) backed Robert Morris up to its own 1 with a 74-yard punt. On first down, Edinboro’s Tristan Waldier, a Yough graduate, forced a fumble by...
St. Francis (Pa.) beats Kent State for 1st win over NCAA Division I FBS opponent
KENT, Ohio — Jeff Hoenstine threw for one touchdown and ran for another, leading NCAA Division I FCS member St. Francis (Pa.) to a 23-17 victory over Kent State on Saturday. Hoenstine’s short touchdown run gave the Red Flash a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and they stretched it...
Westmoreland Campus Clippings: Norwin’s Edwards joins Dayton
Patrick Edwards is making his way up the college basketball coaching ladder. The 2018 Norwin graduate was named director of basketball operations at Dayton, his alma mater. “Basketball has always been a love of mine growing up,” Edwards said. “I realized I wanted to coach, specifically at the college level,...
Ligonier Valley grad Haley Stormer provides power for Point Park volleyball as it moves to NCAA Division II
When Haley Stormer reached out to Point Park women’s volleyball coach Bridget Bielich about transferring to her program, Bielich knew almost nothing about her. So, like any fastidious coach, Bielich did her homework, beginning with some video study. The first thing that stood out was the Ligonier Valley grad’s strength....
Plum grad Emma Bennethum eager to help Pitt-Johnstown women’s soccer team thrive under new coach
Emma Bennethum looks back fondly on her days as a soccer player at Plum. And why not? Her time with the Mustangs included three consecutive trips to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game. Though each of those matches ended with a loss to Mars, Bennethum and her Plum teammates were...
Utah State pulls away from Robert Morris in 2nd half
LOGAN, Utah — Backup quarterback Bryson Barnes passed for two touchdowns and ran for another Saturday night, Kyrese White caught three balls for 131 yards, including touchdowns of 57 and 53 yards, and Utah State beat Robert Morris, 36-14, in the season opener for both teams. Nate Dreiling, who was...
District college football roundup: Mercyhurst wins Division I debut
Adam Urena threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns as Mercyhurst defeated Wheeling, 28-25, on Thursday to win its first Division I FCS game after making the leap from Division II this season. Cameron Barmore caught seven passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns for the Lakers (1-0). Earnest Davis...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Area players set for Mercyhurst debut in Division I
Mercyhurst will open its first season as an NCAA Division I football program Thursday at Wheeling. The Lakers are not short on local talent. Eight players from Westmoreland County will suit up in green and white for the team’s D-I debut season. Several are part of the Lakers’ deep linebacker...
3rd-year coach has high expectations for Pitt-Greensburg women’s volleyball team
Coaches generally are hesitant to heap too much praise on their teams. Preseason, in season, postseason, doesn’t matter. Most coaches would prefer not to inflate their players’ collective ego. That’s why Kevin Conroy’s assessment of his women’s volleyball team at Pitt-Greensburg is eyebrow-raising. Especially considering that, over his first two...
Penn State New Kensington men’s soccer team full of confidence after PSUAC title-game berth in ’23
The Penn State New Kensington men’s soccer team has experienced a considerable amount of success in recent years. In the three seasons since the covid-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 schedule, the Lions are 34-16-2, including 22-3-2 in the Penn State University Athletic Conference. Last fall, for the first time...
Westmoreland County standouts dot D-1 college football rosters this fall
Gianni Rizzo and Trent Holler are close friends and always have supported one another in sports despite going to different high schools. The pair has something more in common on the eve of another college football season. Both are set to play a grad season at the Division I level,...
