Blog Archives - Eight & 322/Eight & 27

Big bats and K's highlighted Franklin against Corry Thursday

3/31/2022

A monster blast by Rilee Hanna capped off a big second inning for the Franklin Knights Thursday against visiting Corry. In the one inning, they got half the points they needed to 10-run the Beavers in five innings.

Franklin's ace Trinity Edge struck out four innings worth of Corry batters (12) allowing only three hits. Franklin's bats were solid recording 12 hits.

We will have a story at the beginning of next week about the Knights's outlook for the season from our friend Lisa Renwick. She will be keeping an eye on District 10 softball this season for us.

So far the returning District 10 champs are looking pretty solid with a decisive win over Corry Thursday at the sometimes sunny, sometimes cold, always soggy home field.

Legends young and old raise a K for 25

3/29/2022

Updated with final score and final total.

A faculty vs. student game to raise money for the class of 2025 brought a Franklin basketball icon back to the bench.

Coach Bill Hager took his spot as the high school seniors coach giving the younger kids a chance to see the man whose name is synonymous with Knight hoops and for fans to see his familiar face once again in his former second home.

The game itself was mostly fun and for a few light-hearted digs at each other, but the real cause was to raise money to be used towards class trips and other events for the class of 2025.

They managed to raise $1,200 and the organizers were very happy with the turnout. "The Franklin Community members really came through to support us," said Bridget Wood, a class of 25 adviser.

A slam dunk contest as well as a couple of raffles took place. No one managed to win the TV by hitting a layup, a free throw and three three pointers in 30 seconds.

Luke Guth, who is about to start lighting up batters on the baseball diamond acted as the faculty guest coach.

And it was a good chance to see some of the teachers in action and showing they still got game. And they do.... final score: Teachers 56, Students 55.

Cranberry takes the 37th St. Pat's crown

3/21/2022

From a report from Rocky Grove mom Stephanie Anderson, the grove kid's battled back from the loser's bracket to take on Cranberry. She said "It was an exciting game," that went into overtime, but Cranberry prevailed in the ten team two-day double elimination tournament.

Congrats to Cranberry. To read a little story about the tournament please visit our story from yesterday.

Tradition lives on passed school closing

3/19/2022

She normally runs the clock, but this year Paula Klinger is running the whole darn thing.

The 37th St. Patrick's Elementary Basketball Tournament may have had a COVID hiccup, and the elementary school may have been taken out from under them by the Erie Diocese, but when a meeting was held to discuss whether or not to continue the tradition it was an overwhelming "YES!!"

Over 20 former teachers, students and parents of former students stepped up to volunteer.

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"These coaches all played in this," Klinger said looking around the crowded St. Pat's gym. The tournament has grown to 10 teams coming from as far away as Grove City and Hermitage. A few grand is raised for the St. Patrick's parish through T-shirt sales, 50/50 raffle tickets, $1 bucket shoots, concessions and a small admission fee.

The teams are comprised of fifth and sixth graders, though one team from St. John Paul II Elementary School of Hermitage brought a noticeably younger team of third and fourth graders.

"Everyone was cheering for them," said Klinger, who noted they were quite a bit tinier than the rest of the kids. "I think they scored six points, but those boys were so excited and the crowd really cheered them on, even the parents of the team they were playing."

And that, in a nutshell, is why the volunteers got together to make sure the tradition of the tournament didn't die.

"That's why we do this, for these kids. It's been a part of this community now for 37 years," Klingler said. She says they plan to do it again next year.

Below is a slideshow of photos from the Cranberry vs. Cochranton match-up Saturday afternoon. The tournament continues Sunday at the former St. Patrick's School in Franklin.

What a showing

3/12/2022

Screenshot of the FloWrestling coverage of the tournament.

When you are put in the preliminary round, or pig-tail round or the wrestle-in round, the chances of ending up on the podium at the end of three days isn't likely. And when you win that first match to get into the sweet 16 you're still not expected to get there. And when you lose that match, most wrestlers expect to watch others get that medal put around their neck.

For Landon Caldwell of Saegertown that didn't seem to be a consideration. In fact, Caldwell's fifth-place finish might be one of the best stories of the entire Pennsylvania State Championship AA weekend in Hershey. He was the highest finisher of the seven local wrestlers we followed into day three of the tournament. (Editor's interjection here--we initially misread the brackets and missed Landon staying alive, our apologies.)

Caldwell had to wrestle seven matches. He won five. He only lost to one wrestler. Patrick Cutchember of Quaker Valley defeated him 13-3 and again 4-3. Caldwell then finished off the weekend with a pin in 1:43 against Brockway's Seth Stewart, who had made it to the semi-final round.

The Saegertown senior ended the year with a 45-7 record.

Caldwell led a strong Saegertown effort. The team tied for 10th best in the state with 44 points.

To view photos of wrestling by Eight & 32 coverage can be found here.

Caldwell's teammate, 106 pound freshman Carter Beck finished in sixth place. Beck was 3-3 on the tournament and finished the season with a 37-8 record. Senior Hunter Robison won his high school final bout as a Saegertown Panther earning seventh place in the 113-weight bracket. He was 3-2 at the state championships and finished the year 36-5. Joshua Perrine, also a senior, finished off his season with a sixth-place finish at 285. He finished with a 37-10 record on the year.

Cranberry freshman Elijah Brosius was Venango County's only medal winner. He earned an eighth-place finish at 106-pounds. Brosius was 2-3 on the weekend and 34-8 for the year.

Hunter Gould, a sophomore from CASH, took sixth place in the 120-weight class. He was 3-3 on the weekend and 38-4 for the season.

Cochranton senior Jack Martinec went out with a win, defeating Kyle McCollum of Beth Center to take seventh place in the 132-weight bracket. Martinec was 3-2 in the tournament and 34-4 in his final season as a Cardinal.

See more Eight & 322 photographs and support local journalism here!

In AAA action, Meadville's Griffin Buzzell had an almost carbon copy story to Caldwell above. He too won the wrestle=in round and then lost in the round of 16 to the same wrestler he would lose to four rounds later after wrestling his way back. He then won the fifth-place medal with an 11-1 win over Juliano Marion of Franklin Regional.

Quite the effort for our local wrestlers in The Sweetest Place on Earth.

Wrestlers to determine spots on podium today

3/12/2022

State championships finish up today.

Editor's note: We learned of a wrestler we inadvertently left off this list. We updated below.

Editor's Note: Story updated to include Saegertown's Landon Caldwell at 189.

Seven area wrestlers advanced to the third day of competition at the PIAA AA Wrestling Championships in Hershey, when hard work comes to a fruition with medals dangling from their necks.

Make no mistake, standing on the podium in Pennsylvania is quite an accomplishment. It is a hotbed for top college recruiters and they take notice of these athletes.

In a battle of North West Region 106 pounders, two wrestlers very familiar with each other from club wrestling in a rematch from a week back, Saegertown’s Carter Beck bested Cranberry’s Elijah Brosius 3-0 to move up in the consolation bracket. Beck later lost his next match against Cole Hubert of Saucon Valley and goes to the fifth-place match against Parker Sentipal of Burgettstown. Brosius wrestles for seventh place against Major Lewis of Trinity.

Hunter Gould of CASH will wrestle for the fifth-place spot on the podium in the 120-weight class. Gould fell to Coen Bainey of Bald Eagle Area in the consolation semis. He will go up against Chris Vargo of Bentworth.

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Joshua Perrine of Saegertown also will be competing for fifth place but in the heavyweight (285) division. He advanced to the semifinal round of the consolations before losing to Emmanuel Ulrich of Mifflinburg.
He will face Leo Muzika of Faith Christian.

Hunter Robison of Saegertown will be wrestling for seventh place at 113. In the Round of 4 in the consolations, he lost to Branden Wentzel of Montoursville. Robison will face Jack Kazalas of Quarter Valley.

Also earning a spot in a seventh-place match is Jack Martinec of Cochranton. He competes in the 132-weight bracket. Martinec lost to Max Stein Faith Christian in the consolation Round of 4. He meets Kyle McCollum of Beth Center in their final match of the tournament.

Lastly, Saegertown's Landon Caldwell, who won his first round preliminary match to make it to the round of 16 where he lost putting him into the consolation rounds, went on to win four straight matches before falling for a second time in the tournament to Quaker Valley's Patrick Cutchmember. Today he wrestles Brockway's Seth Stewart for fifth place.

On to quarters

3/10/2022

Joshua Perrine, Carter Beck and Hunter Robison of Saegertown, Jack Martinec of Cochranton, Hunter Gould of CASH, and Elijah Brosius of Cranberry all advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2022 PIAA Class AA State Championships.

They resume Friday morning with the quarter-final matches.

At 106 pounds Brosius, who won an 8-1 decision over Benton's Seth Kolb will face Park Sentipal of Burgettstown. Saegertown's Beck defeated CJ Carr of Wyalusing 10-4 to move on to face Aaron Seibel of Northern Lebanon. If Beck and Brosius win in the morning they will face off in the semis in a rematch of their regional bout where Beck won a decision. Defending champion Louie Gill of Hickory cruised to a pin.

At 113 Saegertown's Robison won a tech fall to advance to face Branden Wentzel. His teammate Joshua Perrine at 285 won a decision over Tyler Pfizenmayer of Saucon Valley. He'll move on to face Tussey Mountain's Matt Watkins.

Conneaut's Gould will move on to face Chris Vargo of Bentworth after defeating Chase Burke of Benton at 120 pounds.

Cochranton's Martinec will face Conner Heckman of Midd-West at 132 pounds. Martinec won a 2-1 decision over Kyle McCollum of Beth Center.

Unexpected endings

3/9/2022

I'm not going to dwell on it... we had a team that rose to the occasion, a very good basketball team and an extraordinary basketball team enter round one of the playoffs. One team probably didn't have much of a chance, one team was a toss-up if they could advance and one team looked destined, but drew an unfortunate situation.

All three teams had a chance to move on if they could put together a game.

One team just couldn't get out of the gate, one team just didn't quite have what it took and one team walked off the court bloodied and stunned.

Oil City was eliminated by a pretty good margin on Tuesday night down in McKees Rocks. Rocky Grove ended up losing by 10 in what was a much closer game than the final score indicated. And Franklin just could not get their usual buckets to fall in the second half of a physical game against the very good third seed Ellwood City, who pulled out ahead at the end and held on despite Easton Fulmer draining a half-court three with one second left.

Final scores Carlynton over Rocky Grove 48-38 and Ellwood City over Franklin 65-63.

It was a sad end to an extraordinary season with three Venango teams all advancing to the state championship round. These teams were just fun to watch and photograph this season.

Below are some moments from Rocky Grove and Franklin games Wednesday night.

Final thoughts from Eight & 322.

It really was a treat watching these two teams this year. Both showed tenacity and drive to be better. We truly thought we'd be photographing Rocky Grove at least one more game and expected we were going to try to figure a way to afford a weekend in Hershey to document Franklin in Giant Center.

This night just wasn't their night.

We get it.

Sports are played and not determined on paper and certainly not in our dreams.

The other team has the same dream to win and on any given night can find a way to win.

That is life.

The final frame we're going to share from this season is coach Jason Fulmer getting a hug from his youngest son at the end of the game. That encapsulates what is truly the essence of high school sports. We might be in it to win, but we are family more than anything else. And there is so much to look forward to in the future.

Playoffs first round set

3/6/2022

Some photos from the Rocky Grove Friday night game thanks to Olivia Williams Photography

For Venango County boys basketball fans, Tuesday may require a bit of driving, but Wednesday's games are in our backyard.

The Oilers (19-6) travel to McKees Rocks to play the Montour Spartans (20-5) of Allegheny County at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Franklin Knights (23-5) will host the Ellwood City Wolverines (21-3) of Beaver County for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday at The Castle.

The Rocky Grove Orioles (19-6) will meet the Carlynton Cougars (20-3) of Carnegie, Allegheny County also for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday but at the Oil City High School House of Hustle.

A long hard weekend with a trip to Hershey on the line

3/5/2022

A third place match usually isn't the premiere match of a tournament, and maybe this wasn't in terms of the PIAA North West Regionals, but we're Eight & 322 so when an Oil City kid wrestling for Cranberry squares off against a Rocky Grove kid wrestling for Franklin that is the match we get excited about.

Sure it would've been sweeter if this was for first place, but when Cel Dailey stepped on the mat against Elijah Brosius, the two had been through hell just to make it to that match and both are headed to Hershey.

In the end freshman Brosius of Cranberry bested Franklin's sophomore Dailey 4-2. It was the third match of the day for the 106 pounders who earlier respectively lost to Saegertown's Carter Beck and Hickory's Louie Gill, who is last year's state champion.

Cranberry's Conner Reskowski defeated Titusville's Trenton Rodgers to take fifth place at 126 while teammate Brayden McFetridge placed sixth at 215.

There, of course, were many bouts of interest across the region. A strong Brookville squad was way out in from in points going into the finals with Saegertown, Reynolds and Brockway all jockeying for second place in the team standings. As with all tournaments, there were surprises and upsets, but there were also a lot of expected results. Below are the area wrestlers headed to Hershey this week including our two Venango County standouts at 106.

Several wrestlers in the Eight & 322 radar from Saegertown, Cochranton, Conneaut Area, Commodore Perry and Cambridge Springs (many of these wrestlers Eight & 322's Richard Sayer photographed when they wrestled JO's as little guys.)

See more photos from Saturday at https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p679514502

Regional qualifiers are list first through fourth place:

106: Louie Gill of Hickory, Carter Beck of Saegertown, Elijah Brosius of Cranberry and Cael Dailey of Franklin.

113: Hunter Robison of Saegertown, Weston Pisarchick of Brockway, Jacob Cartley of Curwensville and Hunter Geibel of Commodore Perry.

120: Cole Householder of Brookville, Hunter Gould of Conneaut Area, Chase Bell of Reynolds and Owen Hershelman of Saegertown.

126: Mark Palmer of Brockway, JoJo Przybycien of Fort LeBoeuf, Gunnar Gage of Cambridge Spring and Chase Weimer of Port Alleghany.

132: Owen Reinsel of Brookville, Jack Martinec of Cochranton, Wyatt Lazzar of Commodore Perry and Parker Pisarchick of Brockway.

138: Connor Pierce of Harbor Creek, Connor Saylor of Hickory, Cody Hamilton of Grove City and Brayden Kunselman of Brookville.

145: Carter Gill of Hickory, Story Buchanan of Girard, Reece Bechakas of Kane and Camren Klenke of Reynolds.

152: Kane Kettering of Reynolds, Hunter Hohman of Grove City, Conner McChesney of Fort LeBoeuf and Gannon Jaquay of Eisenhower.

160: Aiden Zimmerman of Johnsonburg, Collin Hearn of Conneaut Area, Vito Gentile of Reynolds and Stetson Boozer of Cochranton.

172: Brock Covell of Titusville, Kaden Dennis of Johnsonburg, Jalen Wagner of Reynolds
Easton Belfiore of Brookville.

189: Cole Kerpinski of Greenville, Seth Stewart of Brockway, Jackson Zimmerman of Brookville and Landon Caldwell of Saegertown.

215: Hayden Linkerhof of Corry, Bryce Rafferty of Brookville, Abraham Keep of Girard, Cael Black of Eisenhower.

285: Xavier Reyda of Corry, Josh Perrine of Saegertown, Lodge Nosko of Titusville and Mike Mazurek of Sharon.

Above is Joshua Perrine, he used to ride tiny motorcycles up behind the photographer's house when he visited his grandparents.

Below are more photos from Saturday. Visit https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p679514502 for even more.

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