Thomas heads to Turkey; week 1 of high school football in the books

September 02, 2008 04:56 pm

— Glen Thomas, who graduated from West Middlesex High in June, is on the 2008 Junior World Target Archery Team that is going to Antalya, Turkey, for the Junior World Target Championships from Oct. 6-12.
This year, Glen won the National Indoor JOAD championship and then both the Pennsylvania State Indoor and Outdoor championships. After that, he won his division at the eastern competition, the oldest archery tourney in the country which was hosted locally by Gold-N-Grain Archery. He then placed 3rd at the National Outdoor Target Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Glen will be attending the Pennsylvania College of Technology to study manufacturing engineering technology. The school has an archery team that competes nationally and has had national success.
ä Week one of the 2008 high school football season is in the books and there weren’t too many surprises over the weekend.
The game that caught my attention was Wilmington blowing out Brentwood, 42-7, on Friday. I thought there might be a dropoff in the running game since the Greyhounds lost arguably the state’s best RB in Chris Burns, but as I said in the preview, the Hounds don’t rebuild, they reload.
Terry Verrelli benefits from a great junior varsity program as the Hounds’ JV team hasn’t lost a game (2 ties) in 8 years.
´´ Sharon and Farrell put on a good show. Those Steel Bowl games are always close, hard-hitting affairs.
´´ Greenville and Mercer registered the most exciting wins on Friday up north. David Holiga tossed a 4-yard TD pass to Nate Houpt with 31 seconds left in the game to lift the Trojans past North East, 12-10. Jeff Carniewski rushed for 208 yards and a score for NE but Houpt caught 6 passes for 102 yards.
´´ At Mercyhurst College’s Tullio Field, Mercer coach Pat McClearn’s Mustangs topped Mercyhurst Prep, 26-14, the first regular season loss for MP in more than 2 years (24 games). It was also the first time McClearn has started the season at 1-0 in his 4 seasons at Mercer. Mercer’s only 2 losses of the season last year came at the hands of the Lakers, in the season-opener and in the District 10 Class A title game (21-19).
On Friday, MP led 14-0 and a blocked punt just prior to intermission switched all the momentum to Mercer. The Mustangs blocked the rugby-style punt by Marshall Huntsman with less than 30 seconds prior to the break and recovered at the 25-yard line. Mercer QB Andrew Erdos threw a 16-yard pass to Andy Reda, who then flipped the ball to Terrence Davis in the left flat and Davis powered his way into the end zone with 5.8 ticks left on the clock.
´´ Grove City topped Central, 21-12, at Forker Field on Friday. Stats were never submitted to The Herald. The Eagles’ Mike Burk posted a 1-yard QB sneak and fired a 36-yard TD pass to Dwayne Martin. The other score was a 55-yard run by Joe Kochemba.
´´ Incomplete or no stats at all drive me insane. I keep stats for every kid in our coverage area that touches the ball and I would just like to remind coaches to CALL US after every game. Have an assistant or the statistician call us.
When we start running the stats leaders with our preview each week and a parent doesn’t see his kid’s name on the list, you now know why.
Call us at 981-6100, ext. 250, fax at 981-5116 or e-mail at lsaternow@sharonherald.com.
ä This is the best time of the year as high school and college football kicked off and the NFL regular season starts Thursday.
There were a few upsets in college ball on Saturday, but nothing like last season’s Michigan loss to Appalachian State in the Big House in Ann Arbor. I was rooting for Appy State Saturday vs. LSU, but they weren’t going to sneak up on a team like they did with the Wolverines.
´´ Pitt, which was ranked No. 25 by The AP, suffered an embarrasing loss to Bowling Green (27-17) at Heinz Field. Dave Wannstedt’s days are numbered at Pitt. It’s a good thing Pitt upset WVU last season because that’s all most people remember, even though they stunk it up last year, too.
Some of you might remember the name Nate Waldron of Rochester High. He’s a 5th-year senior WR for BG.
Pitt hosts another MAC team, Buffalo, on Saturday at 6 p.m., and Buffalo hammered UTEP (42-17) last Thursday. Mario Henry (Strong Vincent) is a junior RB for Buffalo.
´´ Terrelle Pryor looked pretty good for Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes on Saturday. Of course, they were playing YSU. But he was 9 carries for 52 yards rushing with 1 TD and was 4-of-6 for 35 yards in passing.
ä The cross country season kicked off on Saturday with the 10th Hornet Harrier Invitational in Hermitage.
The annual West Middlesex Big Red Invitational is this Saturday. Kacey Gibson of Neshannock has won titles the past 2 years, but she graduated and is now running cross country at Florida State.
Gibson and Harbor Creek’s Lauren Zarger have been dominant cross country athletes over the past few years. Zarger, a senior, won her 4th straight title on Saturday at the 35th McDowell Invitational in Erie. Her time was 18:45, nearly a full minute ahead of North East’s Katie Perkins (19:35).
Zarger will run at the Sharpsville Invite on Sept. 20.

Rob Malsom is a sports writer at The Herald

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