One week has past since Washington lost to North Catholic in overtime in the semifinals of the PIAA Class AA boys basketball playoffs and the sports focus is shifting toward the spring sports season.
Over the past week, the Observer-Reporter has several stories on four of our top baseball programs – Canon-McMillan, Trinity, Peters Township and Carmichaels. There will be more, as well as stories on softball and track, in the near future.
Until then, I'm compiling the annual boys and girls all-star basketball teams. There are a few obvious selections like Nick Wilcox and Emily Correal of Peters Township, Nick Bryant and Jocelyn Floyd of Washington and Ringgold's Emily Schartner. There's also been plenty of room for debate about many others. Just wondering what you think.
* Speaking of Correal, she belongs among the great girls players in the history of Washington County and, arguably, the best.
My all-time starting five from Washington County would be Correal, Elizabeth Proudfit (Washington), Amber Harris (Washington), Emily Briggs (Chartiers-Houston) and Brittany Warren (Ringgold).
* It still is difficult to comprehend that, in 2008, Canon-McMillan won the WPIAL Class AAA boys track and field championship yet athletes from Washington and Greene counties produced only two medals – nothing higher than fourth place – at the PIAA championships.
One of those medalists, Bentworth senior Amanda Kennedy, is off to strong start in the javelin.
* Anyone notice that the top two singles players on the Chartiers-Houston boys tennis team are sisters Karli Timko and Tanya Timko and that they're beating the boys?
45 comments:
Wilcox and Bryant are tops. Davis from CM is really good. Wolcott and Radke from PT have to be considered as well.
shane barnes as a sophmore was a top notch role player that shut down some big names or at least held them at bay.
what about that sargent girl from wash high in your all time list. she scored 1,00 points and had a lights out jumper. also what about tiara bennett and jamee bush from that team solid players, tiara especially!
Good luck to the timko sisters as they kick butt!!!
Wilson has to be a top 5 watched best player from opp team everynight second on team in scoring first in rebs.held wilcox's to 15 held the kid from fairview to 14 held the kid from sf to 14 and these's kid avg 21,18,17
Mike when are the all section teams and all district teams coming out? Also when are the state teams coming out?
Wilcox,Nemiec,Belhy,Bryant...not sure of the 5th tough choices
How can u put neminc be in the top 5 and he was out for the whole season.if he played all year then yea a top 5 but not just playing maybe 8games
Wilcox was held to 15 because they threw the ball into Radke every single possession. PT had more weapons than just Wilcox. Although your point is valid, Wilson did a nice job.
I think nemiec prob belongs in consideration, he did avg 23-24 pts when he played although only 10 or so games. Who would we all consider...belhy, wilson, bryant, wilcox, niemiec, heckman, davis, obade
If Radke and Wolcott aren't in the top 10 then it's a shame. Radke would legitimately mash Obade. There is no pg better than Wolcott either. I know I'm all over PT right now but they are legit. Those other guys, outside of the two from Wash High, would be role players to the Big 3 from PT.
This is off subject, but on a sad note today I have to report that one of Clairton's assitant football coaches was shot and killed in a drive by shooting in front of his home last night. I know what you all are thinking right now...just another typical black kid getting shot in Clairton. This was far from that. This guy was truly one of the good ones in town. He was straight-laced, he kept his nose clean, he mentored all of his players and other kids in the school, he had two little children...this was just senseless. I am so sick of hearing about this type of thing every night on the news. Somehow, someway this needs to stop. Its so sad to see this. It would be different if this guy was a drug dealer or a criminal...it wouldnt make it any better but at least people have a way of justifying or rationalizing that in their mind. There is no justification for this one.
So sad...
Even though they had a bad team...Dave Bassi from Ringgold deserves consideration
Once againthe paper truly doesn't pick the best 5 for their work. Any decent player can score 25 in single A. It is what you do against good comp. Case in point. When the wh girls were good for about 5-6 year stretch, only 1 or 2 made all or 1st team when none of the other girls on 1st team other than emily briggs and brittany warren would have been in their rotation. Like last year, the kennedy boy couldn't even get his own shot and it was evident in the all star game. When ryan played the high he never got his points until the game was decided. if any of the wh players over the years played at these schools, they all would be 1000 point scorers. To make my point Name 5 girls 2000-2006 in the OR coverage area that were any better than Amber, Jamee, Jules, tiara, Ebony ,Laura ,Vanessa other than Brittany and Emily. The OR needs to sell papers in that area.
In reference to the track thoughts, the WPIAL is the only district that decides a team champion with head to head team competition. To win that you have to place an entire team of athletes in an array of events and field 3 top relay teams as well. Canon-Mac was able to do that and have kids step up to grab seconds and thirds also. To win a medal at States an individual has to be one of the top 3 or 4 in the WPIAL in his or her event just to get there and then be one of the top in the state to place.
Those are two very different scenarios.
The team aspect of track (and cross country) often gets overshadowed by individual achievements. Last year's CM Championship took an entire team of determined athletes as well as several key performers.
i agree with u both the boys from pt are better than obade and heckman and i agree as far as the girls all the girls from 2000-2006 at wash high were players.sorry to hear about the coach from clairton its a shame to there our some good people tryin to help our youths outand something happens like this.so MIKE when are u posting the teams. TOP TEN BRYANT,WILCOX,WILSON,BELHY,THE KID FROM SF,DAVIS WOLCOTT,RADKE,NEMIEC,AND THE TENTH IN A PICKEM
I dont agree with the Class A assessment especially with the junk defenses good players have to see. Because in A, there are not many complete teams and can slack off other players. in regards to wh, ryne was the only one scoring the rest of the team couldnt dribble, pass, shoot, run or anything. it was easy, deny the ball and the others give it away. Also do you really feel nemic would be a role player at PT? I would hardly doubt it, and apparently so does coach brown at cal. i think the top 9 listed are pretty legit.
do the monesson girls count in the OR area?
The nemec boy is legit.There is a lot of good competition in A basketball. You have all of the Catholic and private schools to contend with. Last years Bentworth team, California 2 years ago and how about Clairton and Serra Catholic? I played against the Kennedy's, Nemec and hetherington they are all legit and could play anywhere.
I think you may want to add Wash High baseball in that list of top baseball teams. We have 6 players coming off of the basketball team that are fun to watch! Bryant,Wise,Anderson,Paskert,West and Iams, They have a lot of young big hitters to watch...Poland and Dates. Don't be surprised by their success in baseball as well this year!!!
Clairton Alum
Damn sad story about the coach shot and killed in cold blood for aparently no reason. Its a shame that Clairton is such a horribly dangerous place, all of the drugs and drug dealers and gang bangers run that town and unfortunately the school.
From all I've read the coach sounded like a great guy, too bad he seems to be in a real minority in that town.
May God rest his sole.
monesson is not in washington co so i hope they wouldnt count they dont even carry the or in there city
Deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the young man killed in Clairton. Why do bad things happen to good people? I guess we aren't to understand but still hard to deal with. Hopefully these young people touched by this gentleman will find a way to carry on his mission and touch others. God bless.
Who cares what paper the city carries, we are talking about the players. Monessen should be part of the top pics.
Why should monesson be part of the pics there not in washington or greene co were talkin about players from our area!!!!!
Monn is over rated......they can't play the 1/2 court game thats why they get beat by less athletic teams...
It's "Monessen" not "monesson". Just thought you'd want the top picks and since Monessen and Washington do play one another it would be good pickings...
O-R all-district teams will be out soon and with a different format from previous years. As for all-section teams, that is up to section coaches.
All-state teams will be out whenever the Associated Press gets them done.
As far as Wash High baseball goes they are going to be a team that surprises a lot of people. The core group of Paskert, Wise, Interval, Iams, West, Anderson, Gorby, and Poland have the potential to carry this team deep into the playoffs.
How nice would it be if CM would take AAAA Trinity in AAA and The High AA in wpials dont count it out..
Mike, why was there no coverage of the Canon Mac/Trinity game in the paper? You would think that these 2 teams would have been one of the top priorities for the Observer.
The #1 team in AAAA and the #2 team in AAA go head to head, they are both Washington County teams, and both are very hyped up this year, yet the Observer doesn't send anyone to cover the game.
Yet another black eye for the Observer! Very disappointed that our local paper would not cover this game....By the way, you missed a great game that showcased the areas top talent!
Anon,
We did print the results of the Trinity/Canon-McMillan game. Why weren't we there? Well, I'm sure you might have been hearing stories about the impact of the economy on newspapers. I'm also sure you don't care nor should you but it is going to impact how we cover things in the foreseeable future, particularly when it comes to things like early season, non-section baseball games.
We're trying our best and if both teams live up to all the hype they're receiving on the blog, we'll have plenty of opportunities to cover them during key section games and in the postseason.
It would have been nice for someone from Trinity or Canon-McMillan to inform the O-R that the game was rescheduled for Friday night after being postponed last Wednesday. It's tough to assign a reporter to cover a game when we haven't been notified that the game has been rescheduled.
I would put the girls from the 80's up against the girls from the 90's-present any day. There was not a 3 point line back then. They had to play a more physical game and to get the 1,000 pt milestone in that situation is quit the accomplishment. Hats off to the girls from back in the day!!
Swin Cash would beat your 80`s team by herself dont think she ever took a three point shot and scored over 1000 points.She was the best lady player from this region.Allen`s game was nice but far from swin`s
Chris, I was unaware that the schools had to contact the Observer to get coverage in Washington. With the Internet these days, you would think that the Observer sports reporters would maybe look at the teams websites, highschoolsports.net, or just call the coaches or the school AD's. (Actually the Post Gazette lists the daily games within the WPIAL). You knew the games were cancelled, doesn't it make sense that you would try to find out when they would be replayed? Poor work ethic Observer!
Poor work ethic, surely you gest. There are 111 high school and small college athletic teams playing in the spring in Washington and Greene counties. If anyone had to spend the time searching the Internet and calling coaches and athletic directors for rescheduled dates for postponed non-section games, it would be a 168-hour-a-week job. I know that if I were an athletic director or coach at a high school team that was competing for space in the local newspaper with 110 other teams, I would let the newspaper know about rescheduled dates, especially in the spring when schedules change almost daily. On Monday, we had the vast majority of the games scheduled end up being postponed. The O-R received only two notices (Waynesburg University and West Greene High School) of a postponement or scheduling change.
Didn't the Observer and Mike Kovak call Canon Mac and Trinity two of the top stories for this Spring?!! Surely that would make the CM/Trinity game a sure bet for the Observer to cover the game.
So sorry that you have 111 teams to cover......Oh wait, here is the list on the Post Gazette for March 27th:
Cal @ Frazier
Chartiers Houston playing in Tennessee
Jefferson Morgan @ Bentworth.
All others postponed.
Also, W&J Played a double header with no coverage!!
But none of these games were covered as well. Yes you did cover the All-Star basketball game and a fine job was done.
But the point is, when a high profile game for the community is being played. It should be one of the local papers top priorities to get the coverage. Quit making excuses. It IS your job to find out what games are being played each day. It IS NOT the job of the schools to contact you! On a Friday night, you should be covering our local kids and giving them the recognition that they deserve. The papers and the websites are vital to their recruiting. It is a shame that the Observer doesn't have reporters who care more!
it`s preseason it means nothing go to the game yourself and watch it you act as if ESPN should be there as soon as mike writes negative things about cm maybe your crying will stop BP,Peters will be thumping them anyway then will hear we didn`t have a coach we couldn`t practice one lucky year and now cm home games should be played at falconi
Nice sentence structure! Talk to me when your education level reaches that of a 3 year old! As for the previous posts about the CM/Trinity coverage, I agree. The Observer should be there doing their job......Reporting!
Reporters and teachers ... no one gets told how to do their jobs more often by unqualified people.
Mike,
Don't forget coaches in that category
You're absolutely right.
Imagine being a teacher by day and a coach on the side. Yikes!
Oh, look, a CM fan crying. Thats something you almost never see.
Sarcasm intented.
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