The Barrow Civic stepped into Jane Austin'e world when it opened its two-week run of Pride and Prejudice. Click here to read more about the show and see more photos. 

There were kids singing our language with the Titusville Middle School production of Newsies Jr.. Click here to read more about this show and see more photos.

We witnessed two extremely similar games this past week with the Maplewwod girls down, but battled back to take the lead only to watch it then disappear. And almost identical thing happened when Franklin too battled their way back into a game only to fall flat in the waning minutes. Both had great seasons that will go down in their school's histories.

Maplewood valiantly battles back but falls short in the end. ​ Click here for more.

Franklin valiantly battles back but falls short in the end. Click here for more.

Prior to Franklin's loss they had a terrific win against Our Lady of Sacred Heart. Click here for story and photos. 

A new school record for sophomore Joe Herman in Titusville. We got a chance to chat with him and his coach before his great swim at states. Click here to read that story.
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Oil City's 200 medley relay also broke a school record. Connor Malek, Garret Morse, Robert Wheeler and Sam Smith finished 18th overall and now hold the Oiler record. The 400 freestyle team of Garret Morse, Charlie Motter, Caleb Stover and Logan Rackow also broke an Oil City school record.

Eleven Oil City swimmers: Boys Caleb Stover, Charlie Motter, Garrett Morse, Logan Rakow, Bob Wheeler, Sam Smith & Connor Malek - Girls Team: Kallie Smith,  Brea Fennick, Emily Russell & Madyson Kissell.

​Five Franklin swimmers: Nate Pfennigwerth, Ethan Nightingale, Kye Winslow,  Camden Smith & Alaina Brown. 

And the lone Titusville Rocket, Joe Herman, are headed to Bucknell University to compete in the Crass 2A State Championships beginning Wednesday morning.

​Franklin's Camden Smith is the highest seeded local male swimmer making the top 10 in two events. Alaina Brown is seeded top 20 in two events.
​We wish these swimmers good luck in their quest for medals.

In a bit of a heartbreaker, the Oil City Oilers had command  over Neshannock all the way into the fourth quarter. Their terrific season came to an end. Read about the game here.
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We kept track of the Cranberry wrestler with updates last weekend. Three of the Berries came home with medals. Read more in Sports by scrolling for all the updates or here for final roundup.
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 The Titusville Middle School production of Newsies Jr.  will be held at 7 p.m. March 16 and 17, and 2 p.m. March 18 at the Titusville High School auditorium. ​
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Titusville girls basketball won their first state playoff game in 29 years defeating Aliquippa fairly easy at home. They will play tonight in Slippery Rock.

​March 16 to 18
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SHREK THE MUSICAL - Students from the Oil City Area School District will present their spring musical at 7:30 p.m. at the high school auditorium. Tickets are $8 at the door. 

March 16 to 19, 24 to 26

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE - The Barrow-Civic Theatre will present the classic play adapted from the novel by Jane Austen at 7:30 p.m. March 17, 18, 24, and 25, and 2 p.m., March 19 and 26. Tickets are $16 to 22 and can be ordered online at barrowtheatre.org. 

March 23 and 30

“Spring, are we there yet?” That was a question I kept repeating to myself over the fluctuating weather of the past weeks."

Anna Applegates column gets into why, even when the weather is looking like spring one should no abandon their "clout" yet for the season. Read more about calendar spring and meteorological spring here.

The Franklin Public Library has created a new program to help teenagers learn skills that will help them in adulthood while teaching them about different trade careers. 

Adulting 101 starts with Cooking Essentials on Friday and Saturday. Teens age 12 to 18 can register for any or all of the month's cooking-related workshops by going to the library's website. 

Additional workshops, each covered by the month's designated theme, will be held throughout the year and require separate registration. Read all about the program by clicking here.  

Cranberry freshman Dalton Wenner earned the squad's first North West AA Regional title in more than three decades when he pinned Sierra Chiesa in less than a minute Saturday during the 107 finals bout. 

He is one of five members of the Cranberry team who will make the trip to Hershey later this week. 

​Barrow Theatre Institute, a workshop series at the Little Theatre, continues with "Everyone's a Critic with Peter Greene" from 10 a.m. to noon on March 11. The class will focus on how to develop useful criticism and analysis (without simply turning into "That Person"). Read about it here.

Titusville held a run of it's annual show with performances of "Seussical the Musical" last week. Cranberry High School also did their show "Honk" on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

​Rocky Grove High School will be next when they perform "Decendants the Musical" on March 9, 10 and 11. Students from the Oil City Area School District's "Shrek the Musical" and the Titusville Middle School production of "Newsies Jr."  will both be held March 16, 17 and 18. Check out the calendar for details.  

A couple compelling stories within the Oil Region Ballet's performance of "Alice in Wonderland" caught our attention when we photographed one of their rehearsals before opening this weekend at the Academy Theatre in Meadville. ​They will bring the show to the Barrow-Civic Theatre in Franklin this Friday and Saturday.  Click here for the story. 

Local high school singers added their voices to over 150 others to create a regional choir concert experience in Meadville. Students from all over northwest Pennsylvania were competing for a chance to go to states in the Pennsylvania Music Educators' Association program. Read about which local kids made the cut by clicking here.  

Brayden McFetridge and Dalton Wenner earned spots on top of the podium Saturday at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gymnasium. Teammates Elijah Brosius and Conner Reszkowski placed second. Dane Wenner finished third and Devyn Fleeger was fourth. Read about the D9 championship by clicking here. 

Brock Covell had Titusville's highest D10 championship finish, securing a third place. He and teammates Nate Stearns, Sawyer Wolfkiel and Gavin Donaldson will move on to next weekend's regionals. The Franklin Knights struggled in the tournament and did not have any regional qualifiers this year. Read more about the Rocket wrestlers by clicking here. 

It was an uncharacteristically poor shooting afternoon for the Franklin girls basketball team Saturday. But the big problem was an Eagle with the number 15 jersey who gave them fits and was the difference in the score.

Never walk alone even if your only companion is a head butting goat. The Nature of Things column explore philosophy thanks to a new homemade sweatshirt. Click on photo for column.

More news from Titusville can be found on out Eight & 27 page and we also partner with weekly newspaper The Titusville News-Journal which can be picked up at the office at 150 Central Avenue #1 in Titusville or at Save-A-Lot in Titusville.

Cranberry wrestling coach Dustin Wenner was named the District 9 Coach of the Year. The honor is determined through voting by coaches in the district. 

Two Titusville basketball payers were recognized by the Erie Times-News for their seasons and were named Breakout Players of the Year. Franklin's Jalen Wood was also on the list. Click here for more.

Allegheny College advanced to the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference championship with a dominating win over Theil 106-66 Thursday night at home. They then dropped a nail biter against Chatham 76-73 on Saturday. They are waiting with fingers crossed to see if they get and NCAA Division III bid.

You may have noticed some political ads appearing in the last week on Eight & 322. We have offered political candidates a place to reach their constituents at an affordable rate. So far the three candidates cross filing for Venango County's two judge positions have taken this opportunity. Our website is currently averaging over 3,000 views a week and it seems to be trending upwards in the last few weeks. Businesses or candidate interested in advertising with us, can email 8and322@gmail.com to find out more about our rates. 

Denise Jones was named the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year. Honors were also given to the Oil Region Library Association, Klapec Trucking Company and Patti Shontz. Read about the ceremony by clicking here.

The Franklin Civic Operetta Association's Youth Theatre returned with "The Rainbow Fish Musical" this week. The show took audiences through the story of a colorful fish that needs to learn about kindness and friendship. See photos here. 

High school wrestling moves into the District championships. Click on the sentence to read the coverage under the Sports tab.

​Titusville's Nate Stearns wins a Section 1 title.
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D10 2A brackets feature several Venango and Crawford wrestlers.

D9 2A contests get underway Friday and Cranberry has two top seeds. 

Beith

Speth

Abramovic

Breene

Bryan

Moon

Betty Morrison now carries the designation of Rocky Grove High School basketball's "most loyal fan." On Friday night during halftime of the boys game versus Farrell, Morrison was suprised with a plaque of appreciation for "50 plus years" of attending games at The Nest.

Here are some other stories that were posted in the past 14 days. (Click on the sentences to read the full stories.)

• ORA is accepting Historic Preservation Award nominees.
• Titusville Historical Society is holding a program on recipes from the 19th century. 
• Winners were determined in several Franklin weekend competitions. ​
• Cold weather fun at Franklin on Ice and the Two Mile Run County Park Polar Plunge. 
• Franklin rolls out Honorable Knights program at junior and senior high school. 

With Groundhog Day just around the corner, our resident Nature of Things expert takes a look at the hibernating habits of different animals in northwestern PA. 

Here's a hint, groundhogs are notorious hibernators, but grey squirrels and the canine crew at the Nature of Things estate - not so much. 

Venango County is looking toward the future and is looking for help to identify needs, wants and priorities.  
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The county is looking for feedback and suggestions on a variety of topics, including the location, character and timing of future development, land use, housing needs, transportation, community facilities and utilities. 

Click here to read more about the four open house meetings to be held at various locations within the county. 

Thomas was the first-ever Venango County representative in the contest. She and the other contestants were evaluated by a panel of three judges on their written and speaking skills, knowledge of the fair and agriculture industries, and their poise and personal presentation in business attire. 

Chloe Bomgardner of Lebanon County was crowned the 2023 PA State Fair Queen on Saturday at the 110th annual convention of the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs (PSACF) and Pennsylvania State Showmen’s Association.  

Updates on the contest were posted throughout the weekend on the Venango County Fair Facebook page including the following message on Sunday: " ... as a fair we want to thank Jaimie for representing us. She was graceful and flawless each step of the way. She has so many ideas that she wants to bring back to our county that she learned from the other queens. Even though she did not bring back the state title, she is still our hometown queen, and forever will be. We are proud of all you have done and will do in the future. We hope the memories you have made this weekend are unforgettable and that there will still be more to be made until you crown the next queen in August."

Watch the PA State Fair Queen broadcast on the group's Facebook page. 

Rocky Grove falls to Kennedy Catholic in their opening game of Region 1 play. 

Franklin defeated Titusville handily to improve to 2-0 in Region 6 while the Rockets fall to 0-2.

Congrats to Cranberry who recorded six first-place finishes on their way to winning the Howland Wrestling tournament.

Franklin grapplers Cael Dailey and Jonah Heckathorn also stood at the top of the podium during the weekend competition. 

Read more about the tournament under the Sports tab or by clicking here. 

The Titusville wrestling squad recorded two wins last week. Wednesday they won 57-12 on the road against Youngsville. We were there Friday when they easily defeated Slippery Rock 60-6. Lots of pictures of the match under the Sports tab.

EMT Course Starts Soon
​An EMT class will run from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursdays for 15 weeks starting Jan. 26 at the Venango Technology Center. Mark Baughman, who teaches protective services classes at the center, is facilitating the class and can be reached at 814-673-0681 or mbaughman@vtc1.org.