The Varsity Letters: Tanner Garry

Showing posts with label Tanner Garry. Show all posts

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Boys Athlete of the Year Finalists

Over the past 12 years, the Observer-Reporter has recognized an United States Olympian (Coleman Scott), a NCAA football All-American (Dan Mozes) and one of the nation's premier marathoners (Jeff Weiss) among others as its Boys Athletes of the Year.

2011 - Christian Brumbaugh, South Fayette
2010 - Mike Hull, Canon-McMillan
2009 - Nick Wilcox, Peters Township
2008 - Dan Conley, Burgettstown
2007 - Andrew Sweat, Trinity
2006 - Robert Heller, Ringgold
2005 - Jeff Weiss, McGuffey
2004 - Coleman Scott, Waynesburg
2003 - Colby Giles, Carmichaels
2002 - Dan Mozes, Washington
2001 - Lanfer Simpson, Waynesburg
2000 - Michael Sutton, Washington

Some years, the choice was easy. Other years, it was a difficult selection.

The O-R Boys Athlete of the Year falls under the difficult category. Time will tell if any of the finalists prove as successful as many of their predecessors, but there were many to choose from.

Zach Challingsworth, South Fayette
The Pitt football recruit played receiver, quarterback, defensive back, punter and kick returner for the Lions and was a first-team All-State pick. He was also on the O-R All-District basketball first team.

T.D. Conway, California
A two-sport (football, baseball) standout headed to Cal U for football. Conway owns several Trojans passing records and pitched the baseball team into the WPIAL Class A finals this spring.

Andrew Erenberg, Peters Township
Erenberg competed against some of the toughest competition the WPIAL can offer as a vital member of the football and baseball teams at Peters Township. An All-State selection and Fordham signee, Erenberg rushed for 1,343 yards with 17 TD. In baseball,. he batted .468 with 22 RBI.
Dustin Fuller, Washington
Fuller played soccer and kicked for the football team last fall, but made his mark in track. In fact, it's been some time since an area athlete had a better track season than Fuller. He became the first male to win four events at the WPIAL championships, and followed it with four medals at the state meet, including one gold and one silver.

Tanner Garry, Fort Cherry
Fort Cherry's career passing leader went for 2,171 yards and 23 TD as a senior with 12 rushing TDs. The future Bowling Green football player wrestled this winter after playing basketball as a junior. In baseball, he batted nearly .500 and struck out 88 as the team's top pitcher.

Quad Law, Ringgold
There wasn't much Law couldn't or didn't do on the football field during his senior season, which was one reason why he was selected the O-R Player of the Year. The future Gannon multi-purpose threat, was an All-State player as he rushed for 1,341 yards and averaged 11.2 per carry.

Chavas Rawlins, Monessen
Name the sport, and chances are Rawlins plays it for Monessen and he excels. It's football, however, where the WVU recruit shines as he accounted for 16 TDs as a junior.

Cody Wiercioch, Canon-McMillan
In his first season with the Big Macs, Wiercioch went unbeaten on his way to WPIAL and PIAA titles. The O-R Wrestler of the Year also helped C-M win team championships at the state and district level.

Josh Wise, Washington
The rare three-sport athlete who excels in every sport he particpates, Wise helped the Prexies qualify for the playoffs in football, basketball and track, where Wash High won a WPIAL title. Wise made the All-District basketball first team and was a WPIAL high jump champion.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

Friday notebook

Pitt basketball fans can see heralded recruit Steven Adams, a 7-0 center from New Zealand, in person Sunday when Notre Dame Prep (Mass.) plays Massanutten Academy (Va.) at the PBC Legends Classic at Ambridge.The game is at 2 p.m.
Adams is considered one of the top senior prospects and Pitt's biggest recruit since, well, Khem Birch, who has transferred to UNLV.
* Never heard of a police investigation into a high school football program. It's happening at Peters Township.

PT football program raises flag - Washington County PA News - www.observer-reporter.com

This has the potential to be a big story depending on the results of the investigation.

* If the Fort Cherry girls basketball team beats North Catholic Saturday and finishes the regular season with an undefeated record, the Rangers deserve the top seed in the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

* After covering the Montour at South Fayette boys basketball game last week, the guess here is that the Spartans will be very difficult to beat once Ryan Lewis gets into basketball shape.

* Fort Cherry senior Corey Garry will decide between Robert Morris and Clarion over the next few days.

Garry, an all-conference linebacker on three occasions, has offers from both schools. He's also the top-ranked WPIAL Class AA heavyweight wrestler.

Tanner Garry, his cousin, recently accepted an offer to be a preferred walk-on at Bowling Green. He tried to get Falcons coaches to taker a close look at Corey.

"I had as much drive to get Corey to come to school with me as I had to get into school," Tanner Garry said. "I showed the coached Corey's highlight film and pictures of Corey just so they could see how big he was."

* Monessen junior Chavas Rawlins was visited by Penn State Friday and received an offer from Pitt Wednesday. The quarterback figures to be one of the WPIAL's most coveted football prospects.

Just don't expect the 6-3 Rawlins to solely concentrate on football.

Rawlins plays football and is also part of the boys soccer team during the fall. He plays basketball in the winter and has played baseball at Monessen. This spring, Rawlins will play baseball and add track to his of athletic duties.

That makes Rawlins, who sports a 3.3 GPA, a five-sport athlete.

* Chartiers-Houston boys basketball has steadily improved during the two years that Eugene Briggs has been the head coach.

Briggs believe his team took a significant step with Tuesday's home win against Bentworth.

"I think it validates that we're a decent team," Briggs said. "We're three possessions away from being 13-3. There's a big difference between 10-6 and 13-3, especially when people look at your record. To beat a team that had one loss coming in, that was big."

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Garry likes Bowling Green, Challingsworth hearing from BCS programs

Tanner Garry's quest to play Division I college football may become reality.

Garry, who put together a record-setting senior season and a varsity career as a Rangers quarterback, heard from a variety of colleges, from Division I to II, and as recently as a couple weeks ago thought he'd get an invitation to walk on at Pitt.

The Panthers struggles at the quarterback position are well-documented.

"I was hearing from Pitt every week for a while," Garry said, "but they haven't talked to me in a couple weeks so, I guess I'm somewhat on the outs with them."

Garry spoke with Bowling Green offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero Thursday night via telephone and believes his chances of joining the Falcons for the 2012-13 school year are much improved.

"Right now, I'd say it's about 90 percent. I had my first real conversation with (Ruggiero) and I came away feeling pretty good," Garry said.

Garry will visit Bowling Green Jan. 20 and, if things go well, he plans on walking on the football team.

Originally, Garry hoped to land a late scholarship offer from Bowling Green after one recently opened up, but Ruggiero told Garry the Falcons planned on giving that scholarship to their punter.

"What they're telling me is if I go there next year and prove I'm a capable player that they'll give me a scholarship for my sophomore year," Garry said.

Garry passed for 2,171 yards and 23 touchdowns in 11 games for Fort Cherry. He also rushed for 702 with 12 touchdowns.

* If recent activity is any indication, South Fayette junior Zach Challingsworth will be one of the more sought-after football players in the WPIAL next year.

Challingsworth has no official offers but is hearing from several Division I programs, and Division I-AA Villanova.

Maryland coach Greg Gattuso – a former Pitt assistant – recently visited South Fayette to talk to Lions head coach Joe Rossi about Challingsworth, a talented 6-2 receiver. Toledo and Villanova are close to offering.

Challingsworth has also heard from Pitt and Ohio State recently, and he's intrigued at the possibility of being recruited by new Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer.

"It is exciting to know they're interested, and it would be pretty neat playing for a coach like that and seeing what he did at Florida," Challingsworth said. "There's a lot of schools interested. We'll see what happens. Things won't really pick up until March."

Challingsworth, a starter on the basketball team, had more than 700 yards receiving on 48 catches, 250 yards rushing and scored 10 touchdowns. He also intercepted five passes for South Fayette.

Garry and Challingsworth were both selected to the Observer-Reporter Elite 11.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Player of the Year worthy

Brief bios on players who were considered for the Observer-Reporter Football Player of the Year, which will be published Wednesday.

Zach Challingsworth, South Fayette
Challingsworth has received interest from West Virginia, Penn State, Toledo, Maryland, Pitt and Villanova. Maryland was the most recent to visit South Fayette and talk with Lions head coach Joe Rossi about the dynamic Challingsworth, a first-team Century Conference receiver and punter. Challingsworth caught 48 passes for 740 yards, rushed for 520, passed for 60 and scored nine touchdowns to go with five interceptions.

Eric Ellis, Washington
Ellis made the Century Conference second team as an offensive lineman, but it's on defense where the senior made his biggest impact. Among Ellis' 55 tackles were a single-season school record 18 sacks and 25 tackles for loss. Ellis forced turnovers - five fumbles, one interception - and recovered six fumbles. He even blocked two punts and two kicks.

Andrew Erenberg, Peters Township
One of the area's better baseball players, Erenberg enjoyed his best football season as a senior. Erenberg turned down a scholarship offer from Kent State (the first local running back since Wash High's Travis Thomas to be recruited by D1 schools at the position) to commit to Fordham. Erenberg, also a starting safety, rushed for 1,343 yards and scored 18 touchdowns and he rushed for 3,500 yards during his three years with the Indians.

Sal Faieta, Beth-Center
A four-year starter at linebacker, Faieta made significant strides as a quarterback during his senior season. Colleges like Youngstown State like Faieta at linebacker, and he finished with 85 tackles. His efficiency as a quarterback was noticeable. Faieta passed for 1,315 yards and averaged 16.6 yards per completion. He passed for 18 touchdowns and rushed for 10.

Tanner Garry, Fort Cherry
The Offensive MVP of the Black Hills Conference, Garry put together a record-setting season at Fort Cherry. He completed 110 passes for 2,171 yards and 23 touchdowns. As the season progressed, Garry became fort Cherry's top option in the run game and he gained 702 yards with 12 rushing touchdowns. Garry also started at linebacker and safety, and had a knack for making a big play in key games.

Percy "Quad" Law, Ringgold
Dynamic, shifty and fast, Law turned negative plays into highlight-reel material. As the quarterback in Ringgold's version of the spread offense, Law rushed for 1,341 yards and 14 touchdowns despite missing parts of two games due to injury. Before his leg injury, Law was averaging nearly 15 yards per carry. He also passed for 637 yards and made key plays with his arm in both of Ringgold's biggest wins – at Greensburg-Salem and versus Highlands in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

A few thoughts from the first round

The cliche has a few variations, but it goes a little something like this, "Big-time players make big plays in big games."

Over the last two weeks, no player from the Observer-Reporter coverage area has made more plays than Fort Cherry senior Tanner Garry.

And there's been plenty of competition.

Garry has been the best football player on the field in Fort Cherry victories at Chartiers-Houston and at Beth-Center. The latter made Fort Cherry the third-place team in the Black Hills Conference, which represented itself well in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs. The latter came in the first round.

Need big-time completions? Garry has thrown for 400 yards the past two games, and three touchdowns (all against Beth-Center).

Looking for a quarterback who can break the big run? Garry has rushed for more than 330 yards and five touchdowns against a pair of defenses that stuffed the run for most of the season.

He's even intercepted a couple passes.

Thanks, in part, to Garry's play, Fort Cherry (7-3) finds itself in the quarterfinals against Bishop Canevin (10-0), which rallied for a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat Chartiers-Houston.

Fort Cherry suddenly looks like a team capable of making a postseason run. Garry is playing the best football of his career, the Rangers run defense is punishing, as is the offensive line. And Garry has catapulted himself into the Player of the Year picture.

* There's little doubt that Aliquippa deserves the No. 1 ranking in WPIAL Class AA and the top seed in the playoffs.

After Beaver and Beaver Falls made an early exit from the playoffs, anyone else wondering if the Quips didn't face much competition during the regular season?

* Zach Challingsworth may be one of the more under-appreciated players in Class AA.

The South Fayette junior caught a pair of touchdowns in the Lions' first-round win at Beaver Falls and helped a defensive effort that forced five turnovers, which helped the 11th seed advance.

He's a consistent presence, and has been since the beginning of his sophomore season.

* If you're South Fayette head coach Joe Rossi, what do you do if senior quarterback John Lerda is healthy enough to play against Seton-La Salle in the quarterfinals?

Lerda was a 1,000-yard passer before missing the last two games. His replacement, freshman Brett Brumbaugh, is 2-0. He's completed 27 of 36 passes in those games, though Beaver Falls did force him into four interceptions.

* Washington senior Eric Ellis is having the type of season that lands a player on the all-state team.

Ellis, a defensive end, has a single-season Prexies record 18 sacks . He had 3 1/2 against Mt. Pleasant. Ellis has also been in on a handful of turnovers, recovering fumbles throughout the season and even an interception against the Vikings.

* Unless you're Clairton or Aliquippa or Pittsburgh Central Catholic, winning in the postseason can be difficult.

It's particularly tough when you're a program without a postseason win since 1999.

But Ringgold broke a seven-game postseason skid with a 14-10 win against Highlands at Joe Montana Stadium. Highlands deserves credit for the defensive job it did against Ringgold's run game, but Quad Law made a couple big plays passing to help the Rams advance.

Learning how to win in the postseason is a big step.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Week 9 thoughts

Fort Cherry football coach Tim Garry got the idea from an administrator in the Canon-McMillan School District, where Garry teaches. The admini

strator coached high school football in Virginia.

While there, the high school ran a version of the single-wing offense. Fort Cherry debuted it with great success Friday night during a 37-13 win at Chartiers-Houston that was more impressive than the final scored indicates.

The Rangers call the package "The Spinner" and it entails quarterback Tanner Garry in his usual shotgun formation with a sidecar. Against the Bucs, the Rangers put a series of possible runners just behind the right side of the offensive line in a wishbone-esque formation.

The possibilities were many. Garry can run, or direct snaps can go to Kolton Kobrys or Corey Garry. End-around to Ryan Babirad are another possibility.

"I watched it on film and thought we could put in some plays," Tim Garry said.

Fort Cherry originally planned to showcase the offense a week earlier.

"We actually threw it together for Clairton but we didn't have a good enough handle on it and we fell behind so we decided not to use it," Tanner Garry said.

The package certainly gives Fort Cherry's upcoming opponent in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs something to think about. So does the play of Tanner Garry.

Garry always turns in strong performances against Chartiers-Houston, but Friday night may have been his finest 48 minutes. In conditions far from ideal, Garry completed 13 of 17 passes for 172 yards and he rushed for 137 yards and three scores. He also topped 4,000 passing yards for his career.

"He's had b

igger numbers but, considering the level of competition, I'd say this was his best game," Tim Garry said.

* The record-setting career of Peters Township tailback Andrew Erenberg will end at some point during the Class AAAA playoffs.

Erenberg rushed for 174 yards and four touchdowns as the Indians secured a postseason berth with a win against Canon-McMillan. It gives him 1,301 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns on the season.

Teams know what's coming against PT, yet Erenberg produces.

C-M head coach Tim Sohyda said it well in Saturday's edition of the Observer-Reporter, "What more could you want? You know he's getting it, but you still have to stop it. He always falls forward, he doesn't put it on the ground. He's a great running back. He's a solid, in-your-face player. He's hard to stop."

* Ringgold's defense must be feeling better after it put up a zero against Uniontown. The Rams also must feel good about the return of Quad Law.

* Anyone else expecting a Ringgold-Hopewell game in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs?

* If freshman Brett Brumbaugh's 13-for-14 passing performance for 228 yards and two scores against Quaker Valley is any indication, South Fayette is set at quarterback the next three years.

* Trinity had its string of six consecutive playoff appearances snapped.

* Anyone else amazed at the lack of quality kicking this year? It could prove costly in the postseason for some, and it contributed to at least one team missing the postseason.

* Washington has its best team since 2001. Whether it translates to postseason success or not will unfold this week.

I, for one, am not sold on the overall strength of Class AA. Except for Aliquippa, the MAC appears down. So does the Interstate Conference after the top two teams and the Allegheny Conference as a whole.

If the Prexies continue to get play up front like they did today against Burgettstown, they can win a couple games.

* With the regular season complete, here's a short list of players worthy of consideration for O-R Player of the Year: Law (Ringgold), Erenberg (Peters Township), Garry (Fort Cherry), Sal Faieta (Beth-Center), Shai McKenzie and Eric Ellis (Washington).

Monday, September 26, 2011

Week 4 thoughts

The wait is finally over.

Washington notched a signature win.

It came Friday night at Wash High Stadium as the Prexies rushed for 258 yards during a 33-14 win over south Fayette that was nothing short of impressive.

Earlier in the week, South Fayette coach Joe Rossi said that no team in the Century Conference – not even high-powered Seton-La Salle – boasted a backfield with the talent of Washington's. And South Fayette sure saw a lot of Jaylin Kelly, Shai McKenzie and Joe Phillips.

Kelly rushed for 103 yards; McKenzie scored three touchdowns; and, Phillips help wear down the defense. Washington was far from one-dimensional as Josh Wise threw a pair of touchdowns, one to talented receiver Ethan Gordon, who sometimes gets lost in the Prexies' run-oriented attack.

Maybe the most impressive fact of the win – the Prexies trailed 7-0. Granted, that's not a significant deficit, but they've clearly played their best playing with a lead in the past.

I'm calling it Washington's best win since the 14th-seeded Prexies shutout Aliquippa, 7-0, in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs in 2005. That win, coincidentally, remains the High's only postseason win since winning the PIAA Class AA championship in 2001.

* Ringgold senior Mike Beveridge is an absolute menace as a defensive end, and his disrupting presence plays a significant factor in the Rams' fun-to-watch 42-41 win at Greensburg-Salem.

Beveridge might be this area's most disruptive defensive lineman since some fella named Dan Mozes helped Washington win that state title.

* If I'm a local Division II football coach, I'm recruiting Ringgold's Quad Law. Like right now.

* Former Fort Cherry standout Mike Vernillo held the WPIAL career rushing record for 12 years before Hopewell's Rushel Shell broke it Friday night.

Shell, who regularly faces some of the toughest teams around, has an opportunity to put the record where it may not be touched for decades.

* Mapletown snapped a 15-game win streak with a 22-12 win over West Greene. It's always a little easier coming to practice after a win, and it's a nice reward for all the players who have hung around throughout the streak.

* I always thought the one thing that hurt Beth-Center during the postseason was the lack of a playmaker with the speed to hang with players on elite teams. Say 'Hello' to Cody Durant.

Durant is averaging around 15 yards per carry ans scored four times against Carmichaels.

Durant and the Bulldogs face a tough test this week against neighboring rival California. The Trojans' held a double-digit lead at Monessen, but lost 20-13.

* I'm guessing that Tanner Garry's 99-yard touchdown pass to Koltan Kobrys is not only a school record, but a WPIAL and PIAA record as well. Heck, add the National Federation of High Schools to that list as well.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Camp Kovak takes the back roads to Fort Cherry

With players like Tanner Garry, Corey Garry, Ryan Babirad, Tyreke Brown, Zack Dysert and Jeff Whalen, Fort Cherry fields one of the better sets of skill position players among Class A teams in the WPIAL.

That set is one player larger this football season.

Koltan Kobrys, a sophomore, has transferred from Avella and is quickly integrating himself into the Rangers' diverse offense.

"He's naturally athletic. He can carry, the ball, and he's really quick," Tanner Garry said Monday following the first day of training camp. "He's a Wes Welker-type player. … He's a very, very well-rounded player and we already have him in on defense to, trying to mix him in."

Kobrys led all local receivers with 55 receptions during the regular season in 2010, and his play drew extensive praise from then-Avella head coach Frank Gray, who lobbied to get Kobrys nominated for All-State consideration.

The addition of Kobrys should help Fort Cherry, which finished 5-5 last season but in second place in the Black Hills Conference, but so showed an additional year of maturity and work for many of their returning players.

Top players: Tanner Garry, Corey Garry
The cousins and grandsons of long-time Fort Cherry head coach Jim Garry enter their senior seasons as key components of the Rangers' offense and defense.
At quarterback, Tanner Garry can make throws a lot of high school quarterbacks can't, which is one reason why he's received college interest from team in the Mid-American Conference and Division I-AA programs like Youngstown State. On defense, Garry will move from safety to linebacker.
Corey Garry is the Rangers' tough guy. At fullback, he'll be the lead blocker for Whalen. As a middle linebacker, he'll be the quarterback of the defense.

Watch out for: Ryan Babirad
Babirad has the size and the speed to get behind defensive backs, and the hands to haul in passes. He's a big-play receiver.

Key positions: Defensive back/safety
In losses, the Fort Cherry defense struggled against the pass. Granted, the Rangers played a schedule that included both WPIAL Class A finalists in Clairton and Rochester, but, for the Rangers to advance in the postseason, players like Brown, Babirad and Kobrys must avoid breakdowns that struck Fort Cherry at inopportune times a year ago.

Follow me on Twitter @TheMikeKovak

Thursday, August 4, 2011

It's tricky

Fort Cherry's Tanner Garry is one of the area's top senior football prospects, and one crafty fella when it comes to doing the unusual with a football and applying those skills to social media.

Check out this video that sure captivated my 2-year-old daughter Anna, who particularly enjoyed the playground footage. Myself, well, it's hard to top that sweet dancing at the end.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Varsity notebook

Like many readers of The Varsity Letters, I make a regular practice of reading Mike White's Varsity Blog, available on the Post-Gazette web site. It's highly informative and always a good read.

And that's where I saw the sad news concerning Lawrence "Deuce" Skurcenski, a Western Pennsylvania high school statistical institution.

Deuce, as he's called by everyone, suffered a stroke last week and remains in Allegheny General Hospital. Deuce is one of those guys that, if you've been around high school football or basketball for any amount of time, you know.

He's quite the character, so much so that a documentary film was made about him. (Yes, I got to see it.)

The last time I encountered Deuce was during the PIAA basketball playoffs and he was quick to tell me that the game was the 10,987,345th or so that he's attended. He's been to nearly as many football games and the man is literally known by coaches from Class A high schools to major college basketball powers.

Deuce is a fountain of information, and other things. He also can provide some great tips, like letting me know that a young man named Dan Davis was transferring from Peabody High School to Fort Cherry. Davis went on the be the O-R Boys Basketball Player of the Year. He also loves to share his opinions, like he did with me while trying to write near deadline following the WPIAL Class AAA championship basketball game between South Fayette and Montour.

Here's to a speedy recovery and hope to see you out this fall.

* This is the absolute worst spring for rain that I can remember.

* Fort Cherry junior Tanner Garry struck out 17 Southmoreland batters in an eight-inning game last Friday. That's the most I can remember in a varsity game for a local pitcher in some time.

* Speaking of the Rangers, junior Jessie Merckle had another outstanding early-season javelin throw.

In a meet Thursday at Burgettstown, Merckle had a WPIAL-best throw of 143-5. Merckle's personal best is a 147-7, which came during her sophomore year and is the 16th best throw in WPIAL history according to Jim Faiella's honor roll.

Merckle, the Girls Field MVP at Saturday's Washington & Greene County Coaches Meet, is ranked sixth nationally according to milesplit.us. With Beka Bellhy and Jenna Lucas, Fort Cherry has three of the top six javelin marks in WPIAL Class AA.

* Clairton's Trenton Coles ran a wind-aided 10.37 in the 100-meter dash at Thursday's Blackhills Invitational at Chartiers-Houston. It may be wind-aided, but that is an outstanding time regardless.

* The WPIAL will announce its fifth Hall of Fame class Tuesday, April 26 at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the History Center in Pittsburgh's Strip District. A total of 15 inductees will be announced, in addition to the 2011 WPIAL Courage Award winner.

Former O-R sports writer and proud Wash High graduate Jim Montecalvo, who died on June 7, 2008 at the age of 26, was honored posthumously with the Courage Award in 2010.

* Washington is dropping varsity boys golf.

* Beth-Center senior Jeff Tarley is a three-sport standout who is in the middle of baseball season for the Bulldogs, who look like one of the better teams in Class A at this point.

Tarley's best sport is wrestling and there's a chance he could end up signing with West Virginia University soon.

* Burgettstown has hired Rich Tranquill as its new boys varsity basketball coach. Tranquill, an Avella graduate, spent the past three seasons with the Blue Devils as an assistant coach.

* The Washington-Trinity alumni football game is scheduled for July 8 and, according to Robert Bishop of Alumni Football USA, there are waiting lists to play for both teams and a venue outside of Washington is interested in hosting.

Both teams will hold a meeting Saturday at the Vernon C. Neal Sports Complex at noon.

* Follow me on Twitter: @TheMikeKovak

About the blogger

A devoted fan of the Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, 1990s rap and Tom Petty, Mike Kovak works as a sports writer for the Observer-Reporter, a newspaper located in Washington, Pa. Kovak covers high school sports – from football to softball and everything in between. He's known to appear at the random Pitt football and men's basketball game or the occasional West Virginia game and previously helped Steelers beat writer F. Dale Lolley at home games. When not tracking college basketball – his sport of choice – or watching That 70s Show reruns, Kovak is busy playing Mr. Mom for his daughter, Anna Noel Kovak.

Kovak was hired by the Observer-Reporter in 1999. He previously spent two years at the Beaver County Times and four months as an intern at the Tribune-Democrat, located in Johnstown.

Kovak invites any and all movie buffs to exchange lines from classic comedies, such as Anchorman, Caddyshack and The Hangover.

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