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Titusville Middle School is putting finishing touches on Nemo

3/4/2025

Titusville Middle School will be putting their own spin on the musical Finding Nemo Jr. at 7 p.m. March 13, 14 and 15 with a matinee at 2 p.m. on March 15. All shows will be at the Colestock Auditorium at the high school and the tickets are only $5.at the door or online at https://cur8.com/17592/project/130191

Dress rehearsal will begin at the end of this week and beginning of next week.

Titusville High explores love in a to-hell-and-back musical

2/18/2025

Titusville High is one of the first school’s in the country to put on a production of "Hadestown, Teen Edition."

The show is based on a book by Anais Mitchell that tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology.

According to Nathaniel Licht, one of show’s directors, the musical mirrors many contemporary issues.

“It offers, as art should, a mirror up to the social state of the world and country. It offers some perspective on some tough issues in a creative way," he said. "It really looks at where we are in the world right now. It's a timeless story. That's why Greek literature has been around for so long because it really is timeless. And at the end of the day it's about love."

The show runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in high school's historic Colestock Auditorium.

Tickets are $7 and can be purchased at the door or online at https://cur8.com/26144/project/127893.

"I'm really proud of this show. It's not typically a show that is done by high schoolers," Licht said. "And these kids deliver."

View more photos at sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p862844506

View more photos at sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p862844506

Rockets notch second playoff win in 158 years

11/3/2024

It's not hard to imagine the Titusville football players are feeling pretty happy after accomplishing something only one other Rocket's team had done 35 years ago - they won a playoff game.

They shutout Fairview a week after the Tigers cancelled on the Rocket's senior night game.

They are hoping to parlay that into second win with an upset over Sharon this Friday night at Franklin High School. The two squads met in week nine with the state ranked 10-1 Tigers running all over the Rockets 63-22. Sharon's only loss came in an early matchup with perennial powerhouse Cathedral Prep.
Their high powered offense averages nearly 40 points per game. Titusville is also a prolific scoring machine only being held under 30 points three times this season. All three of those were their only losses.

"There were a lot of mistakes we made that we can fix," Titusville's star running back Jaxon Covell said about the first meeting with Sharon, "It's a playoff game now, anything can happen. We can reel this game in and hopefully bring home the win."

Coach Mike Reynolds knows this is going to be a mountain to climb, but repeats how this team rises together and performs beyond expectations.

"That kid... holy smokes... makes a lot of kids right," Reynolds said about his punter Kameron Mong. Yes his punter. "If I could show you just a highlight reel of his punting. Its doesn't matter if the snap is left, right or over his head he he tracks it down and still kicks it 40 yards down the field."

Mong's name is mentioned over and over again on defense, as a leading blocker, often the second leader in total yards behind Covell, he has caught many passes and even thrown for a touchdown or two.

But it was his punting, which he hasn't done a lot of this season, that really made a difference in last weeks win. Pinned deep with Mong twice punting from the endzone, Fairview was looking at good field position when Mong boomed a 76-yarder and later a 41-yarder that was closer 60 yards in the air. He also added another 36-yarder to push Fairview back.

Kickers, like lineman, don't always get the press. Besides Mong, Max Chatham has had a solid year with almost a guaranteed extra point after ever touchdown, but more importantly his kickoffs well placed often lead to no return and often pinned behind the 20.

To beat Sharon they will need all aspects of their game working, including clock management and keeping the Tigers high powered offense off the field.

The Rockets are hoping for big community turnout with the game just down the road in Franklin.

The game starts at 7 p.m. Friday at Franklin High School. The Rocket Football Facebook page also put out a message to the community for support of Stream TV (www.facebook.com/oilregionstream) that has broadcast the Rockets all season. Playoff broadcasting is more expensive making it more difficult for small businesses to do what they did all season.

If you missed last week's historic playoff win, you can read the story at the Titusville News-Journal.

See more photos from this season at www.weebly.com/editor/main.php#/

As Covell put it earlier this season when his team was cruising and he was taken out in the fourth quarter after another monster game. "Our goal is bigger (than just one game.)"

They achieved one of their goals and now this next game is huge for them to extend their goal further.

No game Friday, but the team still wants you to join them in celebration

10/20/2024

With one game left in the regular schedule, Titusville was ready to make a statement before heading into the District 10 Class 3A post season. Their opponent was to be Fairview, a team with a similar record and also headed to the playoffs.

Both are class 3A schools and have a strong potential of facing each other the first week of the playoffs. So, citing some banged up players and it not being a region game the Fairview Tigers decided not to play the game even though it is Titusville's senior night.

Rocket coach Mike Reynolds was trying to find a replacement, but as of Sunday afternoon he hadn't and plan B was already being hatched to honor their seniors. "I didn't see this coming," said Reynolds who was looking forward to coaching this senior class's last regular season game.

"Next year we won't schedule senior night in the last game," Reynolds said. "It's frustrating."

Reynolds said Sunday that they will plan to have a senior night celebration with the band and cheerleaders hoping the community will come out to support the team and give thanks to the talented senior class.
There will be more details to come, but as of now they are planning a 6 p.m. start.

Column: What's in a name? They deserve us getting it right that's what

10/11/2024

Adam, Alex… what’s in a name right? Well… identity for one and an individual deserving of individual respect and recognition.

I grew up knowing when I was in trouble because my mother would holler out Robert… Russell… Richard. I wasn’t in trouble often so I think it shocked my mother that it was me and not my older brothers, who she yelled at a fair amount of time for the stupid stuff they did. It's a common thing for the poor younger kids living in the shadow of the family members, both good and bad, that came before. It is hard to rise to your own name.

But Adam Reynolds is not his older brother Alex and the only thing he did wrong a couple weeks ago was not listen to his father (or worse he didn’t listen to his coach) when he fielded a short on-side kick instead of staying away from it because it would be a penalty on the other team if it didn't go ten. Adam, not Alex as reported by this reporter, took an onside kick that hadn’t gone ten yards and took it to the house. It worked out and because it did he deserves to get his name right in print.

The family was very kind and used my snafu as a chance for family fun and humor. I appreciate that, but still seek to be and do better. The real test will come in the swimming season when they both are in the same pool, and I was told possibly in the same race.

If I could be given a pass on misnaming a freshman footballer wearing a helmet, I certainly cannot be forgiven when I misspelled a Rocket gridiron legend a few weeks back. My stumbley two-finger typing and hasty read through of my story missed that I named assistant coach John Wiley, John Wylie.

Wiley is a well respected former head coach with more wins than an entire football team can count on all its fingers and toes combined. His name is everywhere in the record books and hundreds of articles. Heck, I’ve even mentioned him before in stories where I did get it right. And yet there I was writing about a play he called for in a game and lo and behold I found a way to mess it up.

If I had spelled his name Wily, in that story, I could at least make a case that it was because of his craftiness in finding plays to call that are outside the box.... but that's not what I did.

Mr. Wiley is a very nice man, he deserves the respect, as does everyone, to get his name right in the paper.
He was very kind to me when he pointed it out with a funny story about family lineage.

We make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, heck, I’m sure I’ll be reading this today printed in the News-Journal and shake my head because of something I got wrong in this column about getting things wrong, but it still bothers me. I've spelled Jaxon Covell Jackson Covel on more than one occasion and auto-correct insist Kameron Mong doesn't know how to spell his own name - and I haven't always caught it.

Every true newspaper person I know is bothered when a mistake, no matter how small, no matter whose fault it (sometimes we get rosters with names incorrectly spelled) ends up in print.

But that right there is the biggest reason we need to save print, it holds us accountable and hopefully… makes us better.

Here’s to getting things right and getting better. My apologies for when I don’t.

Rockets humbled, but still a strong contender for playoff bid

10/6/2024

Riding the winning high came to a bit of an end Friday as the Titusville Rockets fell to Hickory 56-21.

"We will be better because of tonight's game," said Rocket head coach Mike Reynolds. "There were things we started doing that we thought, 'we can do this.' We were playing against a team that is vying for a state championship."
In recent weeks the strategy for the Rockets has been to score first and set the tone.

Unfortunately Hickory won the toss Friday and elected to receive the first kickoff.

And they, like the Rockets the previous four weeks, took advantage by scoring quickly.

It only took the Hornet's three plays to go 66-yards. They then snuffed the Rockets on their first possession forcing a punt that they then returned to the Rockets' 16-yardline. It didn't take long for them to go up 14-0.
On the Rocket’s first possession they tried three straight quarterback keepers, but the second possession looked more like Rocket ball with moving the ball around to different players.

A big fourth and a half yard conversion by Jaxon Covell kapt the eventual scoring drive alive.

Then a stunning bit of football happened.

McDonald was in the pocket and flushed out by a surging Hornet's swarm. He somehow escaped and then escaped again and even a third time before finding an opening to fire a bullet to Kameron Mong who was wide open in the endzone.

The Rockets seemed to be back in business, but on the next possession, Hickory’s quarterback Zander Telesz broke loose for an 88-yard run to go up 21-7.

Titusville again drove, but turned the ball over on downs. Three-minutes later Hickory was again in the end zone.

The Rockets again showed some mettle driving from their own 25 for another score.

Again McDonald scrambled around seemingly going to be dropped for a loss when he found some breathing room to rear back to give it everything he had to send one about 50-yards into the endzone to JJ Miller.

At this point, they were only down two scores with less than a minute in the half. But on the drive Titusville's all-time rushing leader came out after a helmet to helmet collision.

Hickory wasn’t ready to go into the locker room. Morrison ran the kickoff back for another touchdown.

With 34 seconds left Titusville tried to pass and move the ball, but Jadon Phillips intercepted, taking it back to the Rocket five.

Telesz then hit Phillips in the endzone to put the Hornets up 42-14 at the half.

In the second half both Covell and Aiden Yoder came out sans helmet and pads.

Without key players a comeback wasn’t likely.

Titusville scored once more on a four-yard McDonald run.

McDonald passed for 194 yards and ran for another 67 to lead the Rockets. "It was a tough night tonight, but I'm proud of the fight. We'll go back and talk about the things we didn't do well and we will be better because of tonight's game.

The Rockets are now 5-2 on the year and 2-1 in the region. They hit the road to face Slippery Rock next week.

This will likely be a must win against the 2-5 Slippery Rock Rockets because Titusville's final two games are against top ranked squads in Sharon and Fairview.

Rocket's have a new queen

9/22/2024

"I'm so excited. I got the crown. I'm crying. I didn't even think I was going to win," said Amaya Cloud as she was interviewed by Joe Roddy on Stream TV Friday night shortly after being crowned the 2024 Titusville homecoming queen.

Cloud said she will be going to school to become a lawyer.

Below are more photos from the halftime celebration.

Rockets "rain" down on Eagles

9/7/2024

American Legion Post 368 commander Frank Nottingham joined the Titusville Rocket’s out at midfield for the national anthem.

The Rockets were honoring our area veterans and first responders throughout their game against the undefeated Grove City Eagles.

The military theme continued into the game as general (coach) Mike Reynolds and his command staff sent their army of young men out onto the battlefield to take care of business.
And boy did they.

The Rocket offensive strikes were smashmouth and precise as they dominated right from the start in their 36-7 rain soaked and electrifying (literally) win at home.

The Rockets took the opening kickoff and proceeded to march 65 yards down the field, taking less than four minutes to score their first touchdown on an Ian McDonald 1-yard run and Max Chatham extra point to go up 7-0.

McDonald carried most of the weight of that drive gaining 40 yards and punching it in over the line.

The Rockets defense was also primed to hold the line and prevent the Eagles from taking over too much territory.

After a stop, Titusville again marched right back down to the Grove City 22-yard line, poised for another strike and capture more territory when the first of two lightning delays stopped action for about an hour.

The PIAA officials must stop games for at least 30 minutes when lightning is visible.

At 8:21 p.m.play resumed. At 8:23p.m. they were back in the end zone on a four-yard run.A fake kick had McDonald scrambling around when he saw an opening where he could dive his way in to the end-zone to put the Rockets up 15-0.

Grove City was moving the ball at the beginning of the second quarter when Brody Sellen picked off a pass setting up Titusville’s third possession at their own 20. Covell found the end-zone two plays later with a 72 yard run.

Chatham again split the uprights to take the Rockets to 22-0.
Grove City looked like they had some life in them when they took the kickoff and ran a reverse play to start their drive at midfield.

It shifted momentum in their favor and they again moved the ball.

A controversial call that resulted in a Grove City catch helped them remain in possession and a few plays later they scored their first and only touchdown of the game.

WhenTitusville got the ball back on their own 25 with 5:50 remaining they would counter-strike and move the ball back down the field.

By this time the skies opened up dumping gallon of water on the field.

The stands emptied fast.

Not deterred, the Rockets methodically marched down the field and scored on a 17-yard Covell run with 4-seconds remaining to take the Rockets into half leading 29-7.

Lightning was back and it caused a second delay at the start of the second half.

When play resumed, not much was mustered by either squad until lake in the game Grove City caught a break recovering a muffed punt snap deep in Titusville’s territory.

But they failed to capitalize giving the ball back to the Rockets.

A couple more Covell break-away runs found number 22 crossing the goal line for the fourth time on a 35-yard run to give theRockets the 36-7 win.

According to Titusville stat sheets Covell ran for 265 yards on 26 carries. Titusville had 346 yards in total offense and JJ Miller led the defense with 12 tackles.

The Rockets will face Conneaut Area next Friday night at home. CASH is 2-1 like the Rockets.

Their only loss was last night to Hickory 63-6. But they opened the year with a 61-0 win over Warren and followed that with a 33-21 victory over Iroquois.

The game is scheduled to go off at 7 p.m.

Better Scramble Than Lose

8/24/2024

NFL great Fran Tarkenton titled his biography "Better Scramble Than Lose," a phrase that can be used as a metaphor for life or a fairly accurate description of Titusville quarterback Ian McDonald during the Rockets' 28-22 loss to Corry.

McDonald made things happen, but the relentless Beavers caught him a couple of times and forced a few hurried tosses. Yet the senior quarterback nearly led his team back from behind in a terrific season opener on the road.

Below is a summation of the game originally written for the Titusville News-Journal. It has been slightly updated and published here with additional photos.

Titusville ended their winning 2023 season with a close victory over the Corry. They ran all over the Beavers with Jaxon Covell rushing for over 200 yards himself.

Now a year older and with many of the same weapons Titusville had reason to go into their opening round game with confidence.

But Corry had learned a few things from last year's game and was prepared.

They jammed up the line. The Rocket runners were often stopped in the backfield and corralled for either a loss or only a short gain.

In the end, Covell recorded only 67 yards on the ground in the 28-22 Titusville loss.

It wasn't the way coach Mike Reynolds and his Titusville Rockets wanted to begin the 2024 campaign.

"We came in with a little bit of arrogance,” Reynolds said. “I came in feeling like 'yeah we can run the ball down their throat’ and they overloaded us in a couple ways that we didn't adjust to well early enough."

Reynolds takes the blame for not getting his team prepared to take on a better Corry team than they faced last year. "Corry is a good ball team," he said. "It came down to us not providing answers for our kids soon enough for our kids to be successful... that's on us (coaches).”

Titusville struggled out of the gate, going three and out gaining a net of only two yards on three carries. They held Corry but again couldn’t get anywhere on offense and ended their second possession with a punt.

When Corry got the ball back on their own 30, they went to work putting together big plays. Nolan Carey hit Mason Savitz for a big 30 yard pass play. Then facing fourth and eight, Carey hit Blake Cook for 38 yards and the first score of the game at 7:06 in the first.

Titusville countered, finally beginning to move the ball.

Covell had two runs totaling 13 yards for the Rockets' first first down. McDonald hit JJ Miller for another 12 yards, but a penalty negated that play. But the Rockets were seeing how they could move the ball. After a sack, McDonald hit Covell for a big gain and another first down.

The drive was capped by a 17-yard scamper by Covell. It was the first of Covell’s three touchdowns on the night.

The fake kick resulted in a two-point conversion to put the Rockets up 8-7.

It looked like the Rockets had the momentum when they forced Corry to punt on the next possession. A muffed snap led to Titusville getting the ball in good field position on the Corry 28.

A couple plays later, however, the Rockets put the ball on the ground and gave it back to the Beavers.

Turnovers would plague them all night.

Corry went back to big plays and moved the ball fast down the field to score again, making it 14-8 midway through the second quarter.

McDonald showed his scrambling ability to elude the Beavers' blitzes and find ways to get positive yardage.

Titusville again put the ball on the ground, but, were fortunate it rolled out of bounds on the six-yard line. Three plays later they punched it over the line with a one-yard touchdown by Covell.

McDonald played escape artist on the two-point conversion to eventually find Kam Mong in the back of the end zone, putting them up 16-14 with 4:05 left in the half. It was enough time for Corry to strike again.

It only took Carey and crew five plays in two-minutes to go 67-yards to take back the lead 21-16.

Titusville had another chance to score, but a sack put them on their heels. A long pass attempt resulted in an interception to end their drive and the half.

Corry ate up a lot of the clock to start the second half but Titusville eventually stopped the Beavers and got the ball back.

Again Titusville moved the ball, mostly through the air on short passes and runs.

An apparent touchdown pass by a scrambling McDonald was called back as an illegal forward pass thrown past the line of scrimmage. On a third and 17 McDonald was intercepted in the end-zone.

Then Corry took the ball 80 yards including an untouched 35-yard run by Nicholas Lesher with 10:08 to go in the game.

In their next possession, Titusville started in good field position and managed one first down before turning it over on downs with just over six minutes remaining.

Up two scores, Corry decided to employ clock management and eat up as much time as they could by running the ball.

A key first down forced Titusville to start using its timeouts with three and a half minutes remaining. It worked and Corry was forced to punt, pinning Titusville back on their own 17 with 3:18 left.
Needing two scores, the Rockets went to work in a hurry.
Aided by a personal foul at the end of a long pass play to Mong, Titusville found themselves on the Corry 36 in quick fashion.

At 2:21 remaining, Covell ran 25 yards to score off a short pass from McDonald and bring them to within six at 28-22.

Corry got the ball back after a failed onside kick attempt and ate out the game, ending on a punt with no return.

In the end, McDonald had 161 yards in the air and 183 total yards. Covell ran for 67 and added anther 78. Mong added 36 and Miller caught four passes for 44 yards. Miller had 11 of the teams 39 tackles on defense.

"There were a few things we needed to take advantage of and we didn't. We really just weren't patient, and that's on me," Reynolds said. "We were really trying to push the ball in the end zone when we really just needed to settle down.

"In a game like this, if we took the time in the second quarter to put the ball in the end zone, the end of this game is totally different."

Titusville hits the road again next week to take on Girard

8/23 Corry 28-Titusville 22
8/31 at Girard, 7 p.m.
9/6 Grove City, 7 p.m. Carter Field
9/13 Conneaut, 7 p.m.
9/20 Warren Homecoming, 7 p.m.
9/27 at North East, 7 p.m.
10/4 Hickory, 7 p.m. Carter Field
10/11 at Slippery Rock, 7 p.m.
10/18 at Sharon, 7 p.m.
10/25 Fairview, 7 p.m. Carter Field

Rockets set to kickoff with playoff goal in mind

8/20/2024

This is a variation of the football preview story we wrote for the Titusville News-Journal.

That very distinctive sound heard around the corner from Pasquale's Pizza is music to football lovers like head coach Mike Reynolds - it the crack of good shoulder pads coming together with force and determination.

It's the echo off the historic concrete Carter Field football stadium of whistles, grunts from hard working players and the occasional up-level voice of a coach teaching passionately about the disciple and stray of being a football player on a football team.

A lot of learning takes place between the conditioning and drills.

The brown and gold are poised for a pretty solid 2024 campaign with a talented senior class that saw the school’s first winning season since 2016 last year as juniors.

A couple weeks of practice, a couple scrimmage games and now that are looking forward to their season opener on the road up in Corry on Friday.

This season was supposed to be their breakout season with a playoff berth in the end. The region they had been playing in with Oil City, Franklin, Warren, Conneaut and Meadville was definitely getable for the Rockets. Oil City will be without their offensive machine Ethen Knox for the first time in four years and other than Meadville, Titusville was looking at teams they had beaten last year.

However, they won't know how they'd fare because in the off-season District 10 said, wait a minute, we’re going to try to lump a bunch of AAA teams into two regions. So Titusville and CASH were moved into a region with Mercer County powerhouses Grove City, Hickory, Sharon and Slippery Rock. They make up the new Region 4. The district also created a second all AAA region with Fairview, Fort LeBoeuf, Girard, North East, Harbor Creek and Corry.

Despite the change, Reynolds remains enthusiastic and the goal remains the same. “This is a great opportunity,” he noted with a schedule that also includes Warren, Corry, Girard, Fairview and North East.
It will be a good indication who the top 3A teams will be at season’s end.

Reynolds said they are moving forward with the only goal they've ever had in mind - build Rocket football to compete against whatever opponent is in front of them.

“It’s really about the team and building this program." Reynolds said. "And the guys really understand that everyday we’re working toward our vision of what a team looks like in terms of honoring our family and our community of student athletes, building lasting relationships and competing for a District 10 championship,”
Reynolds, standing on the sidelines of Carter Field, was looking over practice with 40 someo dd players and coaches broken up into groups for drills. “We really love the chemistry of this group.”

Reynolds conducts practice almost like a symphony. He has many parts moving at once in many areas of the sport’s complex. Over a half dozen coaches are doing their part to teach the program, including one donning a blocking pad being knocked on his derriere by a kid stronger than the coach realized. “That’s good, good hit” said the coach as he gingerly got back up and found his sunglasses about six feet away on the turf.

“It’s really exciting having a new year in front of us and working through our system and all the fundamentals necessary to help us be successful,” Reynolds said smiling optimistically.

And why wouldn't he be optimistic? Last year’s talented junior class included incredible offensive outputs from its three top weapons, Jaxon Covell, Kam Mong and Ian McDonald. The trio combined for over 4,000 yards of total offense. Covell had over 2,000 yards himself including 1,353 on the ground. Reynolds knows having three explosive weapons keeps opposing defenses off-balance.

“Last year, our offensive output was great. We’re going to still continue to work and score points,” he said. “But we struggled defensively for about three weeks at the beginning of the season. Our coaching staff and our kids did a really great job coming together to improve on the things we didn’t do well and this year, defense is a big focus for us.”

Reynolds also noted some key errors on special teams cost them a couple games they maybe could have won.

“The big focus for us is, we’ve got to get better every week. We need to be better today than we were yesterday and just keep pounding those fundamentals, execute quickly, protect the ball and play good defense, he said. “One of the things I’m really proud of is that our seniors understand the need to teach the lessons they’ve learned to the juniors, the sophomores and the freshmen. It has been stated as a goal that we want to pass down what we’ve learned and that is a really important component of being successful and building that culture we love so much.”

8/23 at Corry, 7 p.m.
8/31 at Girard, 7 p.m.
9/6 Grove City, 7 p.m. Carter Field
9/13 Conneaut, 7 p.m.
9/20 Warren Homecoming, 7 p.m.
9/27 at North East, 7 p.m.
10/4 Hickory, 7 p.m. Carter Field
10/11 at Slippery Rock, 7 p.m.
10/18 at Sharon, 7 p.m.
10/25 Fairview, 7 p.m. Carter Field

They will get to work out some things hosting Saegertown and Mercyhurst Prep for back to back scrimmages on August 17 before their first regular season game on the road. They have their home opener in the third week of the season on September 6 against Grove City.

“We’re very confident that we have a mature group of kids that can go out and compete for a District 10 championship and that is ultimately what we want to do day in and day out.”