Indexed locally for search — headlines, people, teams, and short excerpts from reporting originally published in The Morning Call (1998–2010). Full article text on mcall.com; DRE'S TAKE links out and does not republish Morning Call copy.
A standout Liberty swimmer is headed to Duke and two star women’s basketball players have decided to extend their athletic and academic careers at Lehigh and Bloomsburg, respectively. The college decisions were announced at a press conference at Liberty’s art gallery Tuesday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A standout Liberty swimmer is headed to Duke and two star women’s basketball players have decided to extend their athletic and academic careers at Lehigh and Bloomsburg, respectively. The college decisions were announced at a press conference at Liberty’s art gallery Tuesday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Ten seconds. That’s the freelance time new Lafayette women’s basketball coach Dianne Nolan said she gives to her players at the start of games. Her system is helter-skelter after that. “We like to say that we pack 60 minutes into it,” she said. Run and press are the blueprint as…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty’s girls track team is just plain loaded, Saucon Valley has a defending state sprint champion who’s even faster this year, Lehighton boasts a multi-event standout, and Whitehall features a vaulting sensation. And because of the all-around strength of defending Lehigh…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty’s Stephen Lewis is lean and fast. Parkland’s Andre Williams is lean, fast and powerful. Both are outstanding senior hurdlers coming off top five finishes in the Class 3A 110-meter hurdles in the PIAA Track and Field Championships last year. Lewis was fourth in the 110 in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bruised at heart, the Lehigh women now seek to ease the pain from another lopsided NCAA Tournament loss by preparing for next season. Topping the list goals is winning the Patriot League title a third straight year, extending its 33-game home winning streak, and beating teams…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →No tears trickled, no heads hung. A daunting task for Lehigh Thursday night was over in Oklahoma City. Overmatched inside the paint and simply not as gifted as No. 1 Kansas, Lehigh failed in its attempt at history and succumbed like every other No. 16 seed in the history of the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →History will have to wait for at least another year. But Lehigh, unruffled by powerhouse Kansas, gave a good shot Thursday night at trying to become the first 16th seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But the the Mountain Hawks, champions of the Pariot League,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh had plenty of fight, but was ultimately wobbled, fatigued and defeated tonight by top-ranked Kansas, 90-74 in an NCAA Tournament Midwest Region first-round game at the Ford Center. Kansas just had too much size, too much second-half kick and denied Lehigh its bid to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The spotlight belonged to Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks were the last team to meet the media and the last team to practice at the Ford Center on Wednesday. But tonight, the Patriot League champions hope to make history by becoming the first 16th seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh boarded a plane from Philadelphia to Oklahoma City on Tuesday morning, wondering not what powerhouse Kansas will do to it in the NCAA Tournament. But what it can do to Kansas. The Midwest Region first-round matchup Thursday night at the Hart Center, after all, is a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Less than an hour ago, Lehigh practiced for the final time in preparation for its NCAA Tournament first-round game against Kansas Thursday night at the Ford Center. Barring the biggest upset in tournament history it was the last practice of this season, but the Mountain Hawks…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pride and jubilation extended from one former Lehigh 1,000-point scorer to another Sunday night during the NCAA Selection Show. Ed Cahn, 1955 Lehigh graduate and the first 1,000-point scorer in school history, stood off to the side, his eyes focused on the big screen television…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Fear did not enter into the hearts of Lehigh players. Never mind the mammoth challenge ahead in Oklahoma City. Excitement still reigned at Goosey Gander in Bethlehem on Sunday when the Patriot League champion Mountain Hawks (22-10) discovered they will play Kansas (32-2) in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In the sea of Lehigh students, most dressed in brown, some bare-chested, a spirited group known as “Tricia’s Militia” bounced around with a life-size poster of senior guard Tricia Smith. Just the way Smith, a fifth-year defensive workhorse, plays. It’s a relentless stye that her…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One game, albeit the biggest of their careers, will not define Lehigh seniors Marquis Hall and Zahir Carrington, All-Patriot League players and all-around good guys away from the court. Sure, Hall and Carrington want to lead Lehigh (21-10) to a victory over Lafayette (19-12) in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →LEHIGH79 AMERICAN57 Lehigh senior Dave Buchberger was on from downtown. Freshman C.J. McCollum was on from everywhere. Then, there was senior guard Marquis Hall simply playing an all-around smooth game and senior forward Zahir Carrington rebounding with force. The sensational…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette’s Jared Mintz was barefooted, Ryan Willen in flip flops, and their coach, Fran O’Hanlon, had his tie loose. It was easy to be relaxed after what the Leopards accomplished in the Patriot League semifinals on Sunday before a packed and spirited crowd at Kirby Sports…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Patriot League tournament is now about survival and in the case of Lehigh junior guard Prentice Small, about just getting on the floor and staying on it by any means possible. If that means chasing around the opponent’s toughest guard, so be it. If that means, diving…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh is on a 13-game winning streak and has the determination to extend it three more games and advance to the NCAA women’s tournament for a second straight year. Lehigh (26-3) opens defense of its Patriot League tournament title in quarterfinal action at Holy Cross in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →She’s a double-double performer on the court, an academic scholar off it, and one day Army junior forward Erin Anthony aspires to make good use of her civil engineering degree by helping to build roads or buildings. Right now, she’s building a legacy at West Point. On Tuesday,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh freshman C.J. McCollum was rewarded for his end-to-end domination and Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon was honored for leading a team not expected to do well to a third-place finish in the Patriot League regular season. McCollum averaged a league-best 27.8 points over the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh had no problem with perimeter defense against Bucknell and no letdown in its biggest home game in six years Wednesday night. Freshman C.J. McCollum scored 12 consecutive points during one stretch and seniors Marquis Hall and Zahir Carrington got what they’ve coveted their…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The numbers 94, 81, 85 and 90 were not pulled out of a lottery drawing. They represent the trials of defeat for the Lehigh men in Patriot League play. The Mountain Hawks gave up those point-totals in their four league losses. Lehigh also has eight league wins, tops with…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette guard Jeff Kari did not write a Senior Day script for Sunday’s Patriot League matchup against Lehigh. It just seemed that way during a second-half stretch where Kari, energized by the crowd, drilling three straight 3-pointers. The Kirby Sports Center crowd went crazy.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →T he Lehigh women own Stabler Arena and, seemingly, every team that visits. A 31-game home winning streak validates it and the Mountain Hawks have no intentions on losing on Saturday night against Lafayette in their final regular-season home game. Lehigh (23-3 overall, 10-1…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →N ow that it’s known that I will be playing against the Harlem Globetrotters, it has resulted in e-mails and calls from people saying, “Don’t get dunked on” or “You had better score.” Never mind that just playing on the same court as the world-famous Globetrotters is honor…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →N ow that it’s known that I will be playing against the Harlem Globetrotters, it has resulted in e-mails and calls from people saying, “Don’t get dunked on” or “You had better score.” Never mind that just playing on the same court as the world-famous Globetrotters is honor…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →F lip a co in in the Patriot League. Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Navy and defending Patriot league champion American all have a chance to finish the regular season in first place in men’s basketball. Lehigh has the most talent, including the top freshman in C.J. McCollum. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s not all fine and dandy that Lafayette will enter the second half of Patriot League play either in sole possession of first place or tied with Lehigh atop the standings. Never mind that the Leopards were picked to finish last in the league in the preseason. That’s a long…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The DeSales men are not among the nation’s ranked teams in Division III, but the Bulldogs are 7-0 in the Freedom Conference and have a two-game lead with seven to play. Which means, barring a collapse, the Bulldogs will win the Freedom title again and have homecourt advantage…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The DeSales men are not among the nation’s ranked teams in Division III, but the Bulldogs are 7-0 in the Freedom Conference and have a two-game lead with seven to play. Which means, barring a collapse, the Bulldogs will win the Freedom title again and have homecourt advantage…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh forward Zahir Carrington was already working the paint with vengeance. Then, he rocked the backboard with two dunks within one minute, five-second span in the early minutes of the second half at Stabler Arena, rousing the crowd of 3,849. That really got Carrington pumped…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh forward Zahir Carrington was already working the paint with vengeance. Then, he rocked the backboard with two dunks within one minute, five-second span in the early minutes of the second half at Stabler Arena, rousing the crowd of 3,849. That really got Carrington pumped…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →After surviving a scare, Lafayette can now get set for Lehigh. The Leopards, despite blowing a 13-point lead and committing 23 turnovers, clawed out a 61-57 victory over Bucknell Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Jared Mintz, Lafayette’s talented 6-foot-8 junior forward,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The football bowl season is in full swing and several area products will be participating in the college version of the postseason. Robbie Frey, a former all-state running back from Lehighton, is a redshirt freshman running back at Connecticut, who played in a bowl game last…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →E mily Smith dives to the floor, fearless of knee bruises, bent on getting her hands on the ball by any means. Rough pla y and intense demeanor defines the junior forward on Moravian’s women’s basketball team. Scoring points is nice and the nationally ranked Greyhounds have five…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emily Smith dives to the floor, fearless of knee bruises, bent on getting her hands on the ball by any means. Rough play and intense demeanor defines the junior forward on Moravian’s women’s basketball team. Scoring points is nice and the nationally ranked Greyhounds have five…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Mitchell will retire as Northwestern’s football coach Friday and will take with him the blueprint for success both on and off the field. It’s a blueprint any athletic director in the Lehigh Valley looking to hire a football coach might want Mitchell to share with them. It’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Unable to gain weight and realizing that playing quarterback wasn’t in his athletic future, C.J. McCollum gave up on football and concentrated more on basketball in the eighth grade. The basketball coach at Glen Oak High in Canton, Ohio, had to love that decision because…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Mitchell will retire as Northwestern’s football coach Friday and will take with him the blueprint for success both on and off the field. It’s a blueprint any athletic director in the Lehigh Valley looking to hire a football coach might want Mitchell to share with them. It’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The beauty of nature in the fall is something Northwestern legendary football coach Bob Mitchell has only heard about over the last three decades. Next fall, he’ll finally get to enjoy it, perhaps holding his grandchild. His daughter Stacey is expected to give birth in February.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In 19 seasons, DeSales women’s basketball coach Fred Ricther has become so accustomed to developing star players that he doesn’t dwell over losing dynamic players. LeighAnn Burke, a two-time Freedom Conference player of the year, averaged a school-record 20.4 points per game…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton bulldozed on offense, bone-crushed on defense and coasted to a 28-0 victory over Nazareth in a District 11-2-4 Class 4A quarterfinal matchup Friday night at Cottingham Stadium. The top-seeded Red Rovers (10-1) have won their last four games by a 132-21 margin, their only…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Back in the 1960s Nazareth High’s football team filled up the school’s trophy case. “Back them we won championships pretty regularly,” said Easton coach Steve Shiffert, a 1969 Nazareth grad. “Nazareth was the big school. We played Wilson, Bangor, East Stroudsburg. “I think…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Deep and talented and once again favored to win the Patriot League tournament title, the Lehigh women enter the 2009-10 season determined to be better than last season. To do that, the Mountain Hawks will have to win an NCAA Tournament game, something no Patriot League team has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh senior guard Marquis Hall, the Patriot League preseason men’s basketball player of the year, has added muscle, which is a good thing because he’ll have more weight on his shoulders this season. Hall joins senior forward Zahir Carrington in a quest to lead the Mountain…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tipoff to the 2008-09 men’s and women’s basketball season for Lafayette comes Friday in a doubleheader at Kirby Sports Center. On Monday night at Lafayette’s basketball media day, men’s coach Fran O’Hanlon and women’s coach Tammy Smith, shared thoughts on the upcoming season and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 3-6(Independent) Lost to Air Force 35-7 Mike McDermott (Bethlehem Catholic) So. OT, 6-6, 255. Game: Played. BROWN 5-3, 3-2 (Ivy League) Beat Yale 35-21 Brendan Gallagher (Parkland) Sr. LB, 6-1, 225. Game: 1 assisted tackle. Season: 8 solo tackles,10 assisted, 2 INTs, 43…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton no longer has a chip on its shoulder. Instead, the Red Rovers have a bulls-eye on their chest. That’s because a year after having a 10-year district playoff run ended, Easton bullied to a 9-1 regular season record and finished as Lehigh Valley Conference co-champs with…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →All six Lehigh Valley Conference games this weekend have importance, including the Doughnut Bowl Saturday at J. Birney Crum Stadium between Allen and Dieruff. Both those teams are 0-9. All the other games have playoff implications. Central Catholic (8-1, 7-1) and Easton (8-1,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Creating a “Wild, Wild East” slogan for Lehigh Valley Conference football may not be a bad idea, especially for this season. It’s been a wild and entertaining season in the LVC and it could end with Easton (8-1 overall, 7-1 LVC), Central Catholic (8-1, 7-1) and Parkland (7-2,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton boiled with emotion and played with unstoppable force on both sides of the ball to thwart Lehigh Valley Conference rival Liberty 28-7 on Senior Night Friday at Cottingham Stadium. Statistically, Liberty outgained Easton, 293-135. But Easton worked on a short field most of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Two of the area’s top men’s basketball players, Lehigh senior guard Marquis Hall and Kutztown senior guard Stephen Dennis, earned preseason honors on Thursday. Hall, a former Patriot League rookie of the year, was named the preseason player of the year and will try to join…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →I t’s Easton vs. Liberty tonight at Cottingham Stadium in what could be the first of two meetings between the Lehigh Valley Conference powerhouses this season. They could meet again in come in the District 11-2-4 Class 4A subregional playoffs as they did in 2005 and 2006. Easton…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty played with punch on both sides of the ball to knock Nazareth out of a much-hyped Lehigh Valley Conference game early in the first quarter Friday night. Ahead 21-0 after the first, Liberty added 14 more points in the second quarter and breezed through the rain and chill…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Trap games do exist in high school football. Emmaus, Easton and Liberty will try to avoid them tonight in Lehigh Valley Conference matchups that have District 11-2-4 Class 4A subregional playoff implications. Next week is the traditional rivalry showdowns, featuring Emmaus…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton deflated Freedom’s defense with a 19-play, 66-yard scoring drive that took up most of the fourth quarter Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Then the Red Rovers clinched a 14-10 Lehigh Valley Conference victory because of their own rugged defense.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The top two playmakers, Liberty seniors Anthony Gonzalez and Jarrod West, had already made their share of standout plays in their final homecoming game Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Senior kicker Jordan Roman then joined in the fun when he booted a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Your football program is in serious trouble when its internal problems are just as heavy as its external ones, caused by bickering, losing, and parents trying to market their sons as if they’re free agents. That was the shambles Bethlehem Catholic was in while posting a 4-7…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 2-3 (Independent) Lost to Tulane 17-16 Mike McDermott (Bethlehem Catholic) So. OT, 6-6, 255. Game: Started. BOSTON COL. 4-1, 2-1 (ACC) Beat Florida State 28-21 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Sr. PK, 5-10,. 193. Game: 4-for-4 on PATs. Season: 18-for-18 on PATs; 5-for-5 on FGs.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was 48 minutes of grueling, smashmouth, hard-hitting football for Emmaus. And it was at Cottingham Stadium, where the ghosts of storied years past are not supposed to turn against Easton. Not when the Red Rovers are first-and-goal inside the 5-yard line. Actually, Easton…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s Allentown vs. Bethlehem weekend and contender or pretender night in Orefield. There are also Lehigh Valley Conference matchups in Easton and Northampton that figure to be highly competitive. Easton (3-0 overall, 2-0 LVC), Central Catholic (3-0, 2-0), Nazareth (3-0, 2-0) and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton has a chip on its shoulder. Blame it on Parkland, Emmaus and Liberty. All three Lehigh Valley Conference opponents beat the then-inexperienced, mistake-prone Red Rovers by a combined 89-0 margin last season. The chip is still there, despite Easton holding Parkland to 98…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In the previous two seasons, Easton was not a serious contender for the Lehigh Valley Conference title. Last season, without four-year starter and four-year Morning Call all-area defensive back Jarred Holley — now a redshirt freshman at Pittsburgh — Easton didn’t even post a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty senior quarterback Anthony Gonzalez got to see a classic Miami and Florida State college football game in person in on Sept. 7. Florida State lost, 38-34, but that’s not the reason Gonzalez won’t be packing his bags and relocating to Tallahassee next fall to play for the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland backup defensive back Dan Castillo has been called nicknames that no football player wants to be called. “I get it all,” he said. “Tiny, midget, munchkin.” Well, he is only 5 feet, 5 inches tall. But he probably felt taller than the PPL building in Allentown after…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There is no nightclub near the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex, but right tackle Shawn Andrews doesn’t need one to get his groove on. The practice field is good enough for Andrews, who had a back injury that prevented him from practicing during the 17-day training camp at Lehigh’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wide receiver Brandon Gibson put on a slick open-field move. Stunned, cornerback Asante Samuel slipped and went down. His teammates laughed. Samuel fired back. It was verbal sparring in a jokingly manner, something the Pro Bowl cornerback has been doing a lot of this preseason.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The offensive line woes may not end anytime soon. Shawn Andrews, the Eagles’ two-time Pro Bowl right tackle, has flown to California to have his back examined again by the doctor who performed surgery on it last Oct. 21, coach Andy Reid said on WIP radio on Monday. Andrews did…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s football team can now have the Goodman Campus practice fields back to itself. The Philadelphia Eagles ended training camp Wednesday and returned to South Philly, carrying back with them truckloads of equipment following a 17-day stay in Bethlehem. Unfortunately, the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s only a preseason game, but tonight’s meeting of the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots at Lincoln Financial Field has a lot of intrigue. The showdown between Donovan McNabb, the yet-to-win-a-Super Bowl quarterback against Tom Brady, the two-time Super Bowl MVP, is…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes is the only man in the Lehigh Valley who almost made Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive lineman Jamaal Jackson melt in his place. Jackson is 6-foot-4, 330 pounds. That would have been a lot of melting. “I had never met a professional boxer,”…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →At the University of Cincinnati, the game plan for tight end Brent Celek was to block first then block again. That’s usually the main job of a tight end. But the Philadelphia Eagles have discovered that the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Celek also has good hands and can make a nifty…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s three days and counting before Philadelphia Eagles rookie running back LeSean McCoy gets to try to juke and elude New England Patriots defenders with the same effectiveness he’s had against his teammates throughout training camp at Lehigh’s Goodman Campus. Never mind that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A season of high expectations for the Philadelphia Eagles’ is not totally lost because of the rash of injuries in training camp which may have prevented total chemistry and consistency from being developed. It’s three days before the first preseason game and not three days…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A second Eagles player has suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee, another blow to the team during a training camp in which there have been season-ending injuries, a death and an arrest. Rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram, a fifth-round draft pick from the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Watch out for wide receiver DeSean Jackson when he cuts to the inside or curls to the outside. Be even more alert when the game is on the line and the Eagles have to go deep and you’re a cornerback trying to cover the speedy Jackson one-on-one. Since his first practice at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Linebacker Omar Gaither came to the defense of Jason Babin following the Philadelphia Eagles’ morning practice Thursday at Lehigh’s Goodman Campus. For the second straight day, Babin, a defensive end who was signed to a contract on Tuesday, tangled with an offensive lineman,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The arrest of defensive end Juqua Parker hours earlier did not appear to dampen the mood of Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie as he made his annual state of the team address Wednesday morning at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus. Lurie said it was “improper” to talk about…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nothing has changed in the way Jeremy Maclin dashes into the heart of the secondary to make a spectacular catch-and-run. The Philadelphia Eagles’ first-round draft pick from the University of Missouri missed the first nine days of training camp while his contract was being…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Don’t start thinking the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense will be exposed in the middle with the loss of Stewart Bradley to an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his right knee. First, give Joe Mays a chance. Safety Quintin Mikell believes that Mays is ready to start in the middle…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Philadelphia Eagles No. 1 draft pick Jeremy Maclin was finally signed to a contract late Monday night and can now make plans to fly back from Missouri to join his new teammates in Bethlehem. Maclin, a two-year standout at the University of Missouri, has missed eight days of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His teammates gave him props, fans cheered, but former Penn State defensive lineman Josh Gaines is not getting overly excited about his 15-yard interception return of a lazy A.J. Feeley pass Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field. But it was the last big play in the Eagles’…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Remember Allen Iverson’s famous practice quote from 2002? “We’re talking about practice,” the former Philadelphia Sixers’ guard said in response to being criticized by then-coach Larry Brown about his practice habits after the Sixers’ were eliminated in the first-round of the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Rain forced the Philadelphia Eagles to shorten their Sunday morning practice, limiting what they could work on at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus. The team, however, also practiced Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Earlier Sunday, one note of discontent…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The NFL penalizes teams for excessive celebrations after great plays or touchdowns. But Chuck Bednarik is not the NFL commissioner, so there is no restriction on having fun in training camp. That’s what Philadelphia Eagles’ fullback Leonard Weaver plans to do tonight at the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Church Van was gassed up on a hot Saturday morning, but not to make a charitable run. Leonard Weaver, the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting fullback nicknamed “The Church Van,” blocked and ran with force during practice at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus that made some…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Kevin Curtis refuses to become the forgotten wide receiver in the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense. He wants to return to the level he reached in 2007, his first season with the team, when he excelled with career highs in catches (77) and touchdowns (8). On Thursday at Lehigh…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →J.J. now has the best view of the Philadelphia Eagles’ training camp practices at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus. Sean McDermott, the Eagles’ first-year defensive coordinator, expressed that opinion on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Jim Johnson passed away following a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The University of Florida won the national football championship last season and all tight end Cornelius Ingram could do was watch from the sidelines because of an injury. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during practice — on a noncontact play — before the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Moise Fokou had a mean streak when he played linebacker at the University of Maryland. Nothing has changed now that he’s with the Philadelphia Eagles. Rookie running back LeSean McCoy from the University of Pittsburgh, an elusive open-field runner, found out just how feisty…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In the locker room after the Philadelphia Eagles lost the NFC championship game to the Arizona Cardinals in January, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson apologized to the Eagles owner for his defense not coming up with more stops. “Oh my God, Jim, I’ve got the best defensive…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Veteran offensive lineman Stacy Andrews’ career with the Philadelphia Eagles began on Monday, minus his brother Shawn, a veteran Eagles lineman. But Stacy, who was an offseason free-agent pickup from the Cincinnati Bengals, did not mind that his older brother (by one year) was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem has become a favorite home away from home for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who opened his 11th consecutive training camp at Lehigh’s Goodman Campus on Monday. “I enjoy being here in Bethlehem,” McNabb said following the morning practice. “The people…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It rained so hard Sunday that it seemed Eagles coach Andy Reid was going to have to take a boat to his first news conference of training camp at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus. Then the sun came back out and Reid appeared. The coach, entering his 11th training camp, would…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Donovan McNabb enters his 11th season as the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, closing in on another 30-something club. Actually, a 30,000-something club. The five-time Pro Bowler, who turns 33 in November, enters training camp at Lehigh University on Monday with a stronger cast…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A Philadelphia Eagles defense that ranked third in the NFL in yards allowed and fourth in points yielded in 2008 now has a new defensive coordinator. But he’s not a new face. Sean McDermott, 35, previously coached the Eagles’ secondary and linebacking corps and will now replace…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Philadelphia Eagles fell one game shy of playing in the franchise’s third Super Bowl last season. That they even made it to the NFC Championship Game, following a 5-4-1 start that included a midseason benching of quarterback Donovan McNabb, was impressive. Though they lost…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →SportsFest XIII begins today — and the creator and chairman of the amateur athletics and entertainment event, Ray Atiyeh, is ready to roll. Nothing new. This is his baby, known as Allentown SportsFest before having A-Town removed for Lehigh Valley a couple years ago to give the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lorena Ochoa looks so young that she could pass for a teenager. Not an ordinary one, of course, because not many teenagers can afford to walk around wearing an expensive diamond ring, chain and earrings. But Ochoa has earned the finer things in life. She has was a star golfer in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was 1 yard and no more. But it was “no mas.” A stop by Northampton’s Aaron Chamberlain on a fourth-and-3 with the help of other gang-tacklers, was the game-saving play of the 39th annual McDonald’s Lehigh Valley Football Classic Thursday night. Only 10 points had been scored…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Kyle Pochek and Matt Stengel became stepbrothers when they were 6 years old. Helped by a mutual interest in football, bonding became easy. They competed on the same teams through high school at Southern Lehigh, and tonight they’ll compete as all-stars on the Lehigh, Carbon and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For one game, their last as high school football players, Liberty’s Brandon Brader and Freedom’s Eddie Mateo will compete as teammates. And the two star running backs hope to put on a show. No better showcase than an all-star game. Mateo, who’s headed to Stony Brook University…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Freedom’s Jermel Lee rolled over, smacked the floor and said to Liberty’s Devin Street, “I’m going home.” Street had just remarked how Liberty beat Freedom twice last season, including 28-14 in the District 11 Class 4A final en route to winning the PIAA Class 4A Championship. “I…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Top-seeded Emmaus unleashed shots on goal fast, building a 6-0 lead before the concession stand had even opened up Wednesday at J. Birney Crum Stadium. The Green Hornets stayed on strong attack, led by Dan Kinek and Will Scott, to bombard Easton 15-4 in a District 11 boys…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wilson’s Anthony Davidson had one race left and he faced a deficit in the final leg of the 1,600-meter relay on Thursday. Anticipation built as Davidson took the baton, seeking a fourth gold medal in the Colonial League Track and Field Championships at Bangor Memorial Park.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Freedom senior Dan McLaughlin prepared for the Liberty-Freedom track and field meet Monday by isolating himself before heading to Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. “I went home, listened to my music, tried to get myself psyched for it,” he said. “I was trying to get myself…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Take your pick, dual meets, tri-meets or relay carnivals. Dual meets involve athletes of all abilities, while relay carnivals, generally, are for the more talented athletes, athletes who have usually received an invitation to compete. Dual meets can be more draining, especially…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland two-sport star Jaleel Clark added another all-state honor to his remarkable high school resume Monday. Clark, the 6-foot-5 centerpiece of the Trojans’ 26-4 team that advanced to the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals, was named to the Associated Press Class 4A third team. The…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Repeating as Patriot League champs and making it back to the NCAA Tournament is now the primary focus of the Lehigh women. It didn’t take long after the Mountain Hawks’ 85-49 loss to Auburn in an Oklahoma City Region first-round game on Saturday for coach Sue Troyan, the Patriot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →— Auburn All-American DeWanna Bonner has deceived a lot of people over her ability to dominate a game because of her skinny figure. That’s why Lehigh coach Sue Troyan made sure that her players would not be fooled when they matched up against the 6-foot-4 senior in NCAA…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh University women’s basketball team went on a sightseeing tour of New York City Thursday night. Something unexpected happened. “We went to David and Buster’s and watched American play Villanova,” said sophomore guard Erica Prosser with a sparkle in her eyes on Friday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s Sue Troyan is a a two-time Patriot League coach of the year who takes more pride in being an even better mom. Her husband, Fran, Lehigh’s softball coach, and her three children can attest to that. The players she coaches, mentors, and is essentially a second mom to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It seemed like Lehigh sophomore guard Erica Prosser was standing at the free-throw line, her team down a point with one second left. But she instead was sitting in front of a large television screen among teammates, coaches, school administrators and media watching the NCAA…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Melissa Rich never got discouraged when she went from starting forward her sophomore and junior seasons at Lehigh to a backup role earlier this season. The former Parkland High star just believed that she’d eventually get her opportunity to deliver in the clutch for Lehigh. That…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s Brown and White against Maroon and White. It’s Bethlehem against Easton. For the first time since 1997, it’s Lehigh against Lafayette for the Patriot League women’s basketball tournament title at 6 tonight at Stabler Arena. It seemed like an unlikely showdown when the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Led by a trio of pesky guards, Lehigh cranked it up and blitzed Army with 14 consecutive second-half points Sunday afternoon. That decisive run enabled the Mountain Hawks to turn a two-point deficit into a 12-point advantage in the Patriot League women’s tournament semifinals at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →March is filled with Cinderella tales and Lafayette is writing its own in the Patriot League women’s tournament. Loser of 10 in a row entering the postseason, seventh-seeded Lafayette turned the seemingly improbable into a reality with its second consecutive win, a 62-55…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh women’s basketball team essentially climbed to the top of the mountain during the Patriot League’s regular season. Lehigh, led by first-team Patriot League guard Erica Prosser, went 12-2 in league play, which included a 7-0 mark at Stabler Arena. The league wins are…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The men’s basketball teams at Lehigh and Lafayette both ended the regular season in a way coaches fret about and in a way players wish they could have back. Lehigh, considered a preseason Patriot League title contender, lost its final three games and lost six of its last eight…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There’s no reason a student-athlete with a burning passion to play college basketball has to give up on his dreams just because he does not have the money to attend a four-year institution, or needs to improve his academics before making that important jump. That’s what…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has a young basketball team that has been on a seesaw ride all season. Four days after an emotional win over rival Lehigh, the Leopards missed a barrage of jumpers, layups and free throws against Army Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. The lethargic shooting — not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has a young basketball team that has been on a seesaw ride all season. Four days after an emotional win over rival Lehigh, the Leopards missed a barrage of jumpers, layups and free throws against Army Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. The lethargic shooting — not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →March is not here yet. It just seemed like it Sunday afternoon as rivals Lehigh and Lafayette played a March Madness-like game at Stabler Arena. It featured a momentum shifts galore, fierce scrambles for loose balls, five ties, six lead changes, and spirited taunts…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a Lehigh and Lafayette women’s basketball game that had more falls than a professional wrestling battle royal Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. The roughhouse play better suited Lehigh, which relied on its height, bench and overall talent advantages to prevail…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Women’s college basketball is at its all-time best in the Lehigh Valley this winter and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan hopes his city will bank on Lehigh’s success. The Patriot League women’s basketball tournament, hosted by Lehigh, is March 7-8 at Stabler Arena, and will be…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →DeSales and Muhlenberg took breaks away from conference play to compete against each other in a non-league game Monday night in Center Valley. But it was no breather for either team. It was a physical, heart-stopping game that wasn’t decided until the final 10 seconds. DeSales’…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →DeSales guard Darnell Braswell got mad. Then, he turned mean. He drove hard, he defended harder, and from end-to-end on the court his facial expression and physical play told the tale of a player unwilling to lose to Muhlenberg on Monday night. Best of all for DeSales, Braswell…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Levi Brown, an all-state defensive lineman at Liberty, pointed jubilantly to the Temple Owls’ hat on his head, then smiled as he looked out into the standing room-only crowd inside the school’s Arts Gallery on Wednesday. Liberty football coach Tim Moncman then came up and rubbed…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a dejected look that told the tale of a Patriot League men’s basketball game that was not going to end favorable for Lehigh on Saturday afternoon at Stabler Arena. Star guard Marquis Hall, who had been immensely pressured by Holy Cross defenders every time he touched the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →As he sat on the bench with a little less than 10 minutes left in Wednesday night’s game, with just three points by his name in the scorebook, Lehigh’s Marquis Hall ran aggressive thoughts through his mind. His coach, Brett Reed, disappointed over Hall’s flat play against…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The final 10 seconds of a wild game between rivals Lehigh and Lafayette was decided by free throws Saturday in Easton. Lafayette’s Jared Mintz missed his two foul shots, but Lehigh’s Zahir Carrington converted his two attempts with 3.0 seconds left to lift the Mountain Hawks to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh and Lafayette are both winless on the road in Patriot League games and that does not bode well for Lehigh on Saturday afternoon, because that’s when the Mountain Hawks will visit the Leopards at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette is 2-0 at home and beat expected Patriot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The drive from Hellertown to East Stroudsburg University never seems that long to Warriors coach Jeff Wilson. It’s something he has enjoyed. “I’ve found whether it’s going to work or coming home from work it’s a good time to get some reflection done,” said Wilson, who’s in his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s time for Lehigh men’s coach Brett Reed to go back to the drawing board to quickly figure out how he can turn around a season that has gone from promising to upsetting after three straight defeats. The Mountain Hawks lost at American, 76-66 in overtime, in the Patriot League…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The enthusiasm level inside Stabler Arena had just risen to its pinnacle as Lehigh guard Marquis Hall drilled a game-tying 3-pointer against Navy in the Mountain Hawks’ Patriot League home opener Wednesday night. Then, Navy forward Adam Teague essentially sent a bullet through…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s 73-64 upset loss at Princeton on Wednesday night must be forgotten quickly as well as tough non-league defeats to Rider and Stony Brook, both teams the Mountain Hawks should have also beaten. But at 10-4, Lehigh is off to its best start since 1925 and the expectations…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brian Hunter is back to running the break, slashing down the lane and playing the type of quality minutes he never got the opportunity to play at Lehigh last season. But Hunter transferred to DeSales, a Division III program that appears to be a much better fit for the 6-foot-3…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Forget about some of the bad teams Lehigh has defeated, such as winless New Jersey Institute of Technology (0-13) and just as sorry Monmouth and Delaware State, who’ve combined to lose 21 out of 25 games. But Lehigh is not about to make apologize for trouncing bad teams. “We…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Bedics wants one more graduation gift. Bedics, a starting offensive lineman for the North Carolina State Wolfpack and former Bethlehem Catholic standout, plays his final college game Monday night. North Carolina (6-6) meets Rutgers (7-5) in the PapaJohns.com Bowl in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Before tip-off, Lehigh appeared to face an imposing challenge, trying to beat Saint Joseph’s for the first time ever Tuesday night. Then, 6-foot-9 Ahmad Nivins, an Atlantic 10 player of the year candidate, made the challenge even more imposing not long after the game clock…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s not always a good sign when your center likes to shoot 3-pointers more than layups. But Lehigh coach Brett Reed had no complaints with 6-foot-10 senior center Phil Anderson’s long-range shooting because Anderson also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds in a 76-58 win…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh returns with what no other Patriot League team has. Junior guard Marquis Hall and sophomore guard Rob Keefer have won the league’s last two Rookie of the Year awards. This season, the guard duo will be depended on to help the Mountain Hawks contend for the league title in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ALBANY 7-3, 6-0 (Northeast Conference) Beat Robert Morris 41-7 Justin Peterson (Palmerton) Fr. RB 2-0, 225. Game: 3 catches, 33 yards. Season: 8 catches, 58 yards, 1 TD; 1 solo tackle, 3 assisted tackles, 1 forced fumble. BOSTON COLLEGE 6-3 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Notre…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh basketball fans, circle Dec. 2 on your calendar. Saint Joseph’s University and its colorful coach Phil Martelli will be visiting Stabler Arena in one of the Mountain Hawks’ biggest non-league home game in years. Fittingly, Saint Joe’s bus trip to Bethlehem comes during a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ALBANY 5-3, 4-0 (Northeast Conference) Beat St. Francis (N.Y.) 27-3 Justin Peterson (Palmerton) Fr. RB 2-0, 225. Game: One catch, 5 yards. Season: Five catches, 25 yards, one TD; two assisted tackles. BOSTON COLLEGE 5-2, 2-2 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Lost to North Carolina…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ALBANY 4-3, 3-0 (Northeast) Beat Sacred Heart 26-21 Justin Peterson (Palmerton) Fr. RB 2-0, 225. Game: One catch, 2 yards. Season: Four catches, 20 yards, one TD; two assisted tackles. BOSTON COLLEGE 5-1, 2-1 (ACC) Beat Virginia Tech 28-23 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Sr. PK,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The mark of a good coach is not only winning and making the playoffs on a consistent basis, but how well he teaches and develops other men to become just as successful as he is when they’re in charge of their own programs. Emmaus coach Joe Bottiglieri is a frontrunner in that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus built a 17-0 lead over Northampton less than a minute into the fourth quarter. And with a defense that had not yielded a touchdown in 19 quarters, it seemed like the Green Hornets had victory secured Friday night at Al Erdosy Stadium. But Emmaus coach Joe Bottiglieri,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →BOSTON COLLEGE 2-1 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Central Florida 34-7 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Sr. PK, 5-10, 198. Game: 4-for-4 on PATs; 2-for-3 on FGs of 22 and 25 yards. Season: 8-for-8 on PATs; 5-for-7 on FGs. BROWN 1-0 (Ivy League) Beat Stony Brook 17-7 Brendan…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s a Week 2 matchup that would have even more hype had it been scheduled for later in the season with the Lehigh Valley Conference title and possibly the No. 1 seed in the district playoffs on the line. But after not playing the last two seasons, Liberty and Parkland are…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Fair or not, Nazareth football coach Rob Melosky knows that he can’t prevent people from judging his every move because that’s expected when you are a high-profile coach. Melosky’s public perception soared, perhaps more so in the negative than positive last month, when he was on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s been a decade of memorable games and streaks, of championship glory and the agony of defeat in state title games for District 11 football teams. History was made in 2002 when Parkland, behind Austin Scott’s state-record 53 touchdowns and 3,846 yards rushing, became the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Spain, Argentina, Greece and China could combine to form an all-world team and the scoreboard at the Beijing Games wouldn’t read any differently than it has after any other game the United States has played at the Wukesong Basketball Arena. Redeem Team would crush any collection…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland senior Jaleel Clark stood at the podium, his two diamond-stud earrings sparkling, and spoke enthusiastically about the upcoming football season and the Trojans’ attempt to go undefeated a third straight season in the Lehigh Valley Conference. Clark, the 2007 Morning…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Like Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, the Lehigh Valley’s Limeport Stadium has created lasting memories for baseball fans. Cozy Limeport Stadium, which resembles a miniature big league stadium from an era gone by, will celebrate its 75th anniversary in grand style…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Devin Street is no sleeper pickup for the University of Pittsburgh. Never mind that Street, entering his senior year at Liberty, only had five catches last season, turning three into touchdowns. This summer, the 6-4 Street has attended the Nike Camp at Penn State, the U.S. Army…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Anthony Davidson appeared to be facing a daunting challenge when he showed up later than expected for the finals of the Class 2A 400-meter dash. Lucky for the Wilson junior, he had rival sprinter Austin Cseh of Palmerton to help settle his mind and help him prepare for a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Adam Eckhart has a crazy passion for jumping over things, which is why it’s best for him to always wear sneakers. “I jump everywhere I go,” he said. “It’s like everyone knows me for that. I just jump and jump and jump.” This weekend, the Wilson senior will be jumping in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Google search engine is loaded with links to SportsFest. Not just the one that’s been in Allentown the last 11 summers. There are the Chicago SportsFest, Sports Fest “The Premier Prep Games” at Bethel College in Indiana, the Wisconsin Sports Fest, the SunCoast Sports Fest in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He’s not all hulked up, but Palmerton sprinter Austin Cseh had all the speed and endurance necessary to prevail over Wilson’s Anthony Davidson in a thrilling race to the finish line in the finals of the 400-meter dash at the Colonial League Track and Field Championships on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Ruth Gaal has glittered every time she’s attended a Special Olympics event over the last 32 years. Her son Michael, who has Down syndrome, began in Special Olympics at age 6 and has competed at local, state, national and international levels. “I can still picture that smile on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One of the most gratifying 11-day spans in Rob Melosky’s life was capped off Tuesday when he was introduced as Nazareth’s new head football coach. Austin Scott, the greatest football player Melosky has ever coached, had rape charges against him dropped on April 18, and the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Steve Hixson had another memorable run at the Penn Relays. Never mind that he was not able to rally Kutztown University to a victory in the college men’s Wetzler/Pennsylvania 1,600-meter relay Friday at Franklin Field. Hixson was still overjoyed that he ran one of his fastest…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Distance runner Trevor VanAckeren of Liberty and sprinter Aneurys Santos of Salisbury figure to dominate the headlines in boys track and field this spring. Never mind that both began the season injured — the long-legged Princeton-bound VanAckeren with a tweaked left knee and the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ESPN Classic could replay the 1988 NCAA Tournament first-round game between Lehigh and Temple, but Mike Polaha wouldn’t be sitting by the tube. The former Lehigh star guard could watch tape of the game — played 20 years ago this month in Hartford, Conn. — anytime, because he has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh women’s basketball team has to travel 120-some miles to try and accomplish what it could not do in the Lehigh Valley. That’s beat Lafayette, which swept the season series between the rivals. The Patriot League tournament quarterfinals open today at Army, and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A game of one tenacious defensive stop after another got final separation on a 3-point from the corner by DeSales junior Kim Rarick that bounced once, twice and then hung on the rim before falling through the nets. You can call it a lucky bounce, but it was just a good player…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Here’s another good news/bad news situation. The DeSales and Muhlenberg women won their conference tournaments to earn automatic NCAA Division III Tournament bids. That’s the good news. The bad news is that DeSales (24-3), champion of the Freedom Conference, has to play…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh experienced a setback against Army in the final seconds of the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals for the second straight year on Wednesday. This time, there was no controversy. An attempt to get sophomore guard Marquis Hall the ball in the closing seconds of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It is the shot that has haunted Lehigh senior Bryan White and sophomore Marquis Hall for a year. What they can’t forget is a running bank shot by Army’s Josh Miller that beat the Mountain Hawks, 47-46, in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals last March at Stabler Arena.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh freshman guard Rob Keefer scored six points in his first game, eight in his second and 12 in his third. Get the picture? He continued to improve, and eventually became a starter, winning six Patriot League rookie of the week awards. A graduate of Abington Friends, Keefer…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The only thing Lehigh senior forward Bryan White ever asked for when he entered the program four years ago was an opportunity to showcase his talents. With it, the 6-6 leaping machine from Plantation, Fla., promised that he’d pour every ounce of energy from his slim frame to try…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh is one of the most unpredictable teams, playing in one of the most unpredictable conferences in America. But in a season of ups and downs galore in the Patriot League, Lehigh pieced together a 50-39 victory over Bucknell on Wednesday night at Stabler Arena that rekindled…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →“RayJay” was speedy and dynamic, confident and fearless, the driving force behind the University of Maryland-Baltimore County clinching the America East regular season title Saturday night. “RayJay” is how UMBC coach Randy Monroe referred to Ray Barbosa and Jay Greene after the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brett Reed is in a battle over a lot of things in his first season as Lehigh’s head coach. There’s the battle to maintain consistency and to earn at least one home game in the Patriot League tournament, something the Mountain Hawks (12-13, 5-6) — currently No. 4 — will secure if…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →American University guard Garrison Carr appears to be the leading candidate to win the Patriot League’s player of the year award. How can he not be? Carr, who’s gone from bench warmer in his first two seasons to the most feared guard in the league as a junior, is averaging 18.3…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Everybody who attempted free throws in the final 40 seconds of Saturday night’s Patriot League grind between Lehigh and Army missed. That is, except the one player who probably should have been at home in the bed. But Lehigh senior Bryan White, who missed the previous two days…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →After losing back-to-back overtime games, Colgate appeared headed for what it feared most Wednesday night at Lafayette’s Kirby Sports Center. And that was another overtime. That’s what would have happened if Lafayette’s Matt Betley had converted all three of his free-throw…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has to play five more Patriot League war games, which is the way conference games tend to be throughout the country this time of season. Once the surprise team in the league after starting 5-1 for the first time since 1998-99, Lafayette has now lost three straight…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Every high school athlete should have winning a championship — whether league, district or state — as one of their main goals because they cannot legitimately compete without drive. Making good grades should be an even higher goal. It would only be an excuse for an athlete to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh seemed like it had turned into “Guard U.” under former coach Billy Taylor, who had five guards earn Patriot League first team, player of the year, and rookie of the year honors in his five seasons. But Brett Reed, who was Taylor’s top assistant coach in those five…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Mountain Hawks soared even higher against Bucknell on Wednesday night, led by sophomore forward Zahir Carrington, who used his quickness and desire to dominate the paint. “He’s a problem,” Mountain Hawks senior forward Bryan White said. “When he gets the ball in his hands, I…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →East Stroudsburg University’s Koehler Fieldhouse was packed Wednesday night. It stirred memories for Andy Heimbach, who played in front of frenzied atmospheres at Central Catholic’s Rockne Hall before bringing his sweet jump shot to the Poconos two years ago. The fans loved the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh junior center Melissa Rich was in her comfort zone with 5.4 seconds remaining Saturday night at Stabler Arena. The game against Army was tied at 57-57 and she was at the free-throw line. “I put everything out of my mind and said, “Another free throw, another practice,’ ”…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s time to take notice of the Lehigh women’s basketball team, although the Mountain Hawks have not always performed well when expectations are high. They always seem to fall short when they are expected to contend for the Patriot League regular-season and tournament titles.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Laub has parlayed one season as a record-breaking quarterback at Parkland into a college scholarship. Laub, a Morning Call All-Area first-team selection, made his official visit to Division I-AA Richmond last Friday and verbally committed to the Colonial Athletic…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →If you are a local player, have game and can’t seem to obtain a Division I scholarship, don’t worry. East Stroudsburg coach Jeff Wilson can probably find a spot for you on his Division II team. And not just to work hard in practice and then ride the bench on game night. No,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh could have used an air pump Saturday night. The Mountain Hawks were that flat in losing their Patriot League opener, 71-54, to American at Stabler Arena. There were problems on both ends of the court, disturbing stuff such as missed layups and the failure to get as much…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University basketball coach Brett Reed got a little taste of everything except consistency from his team during the non-league part of the season. A lack of consistency is a major problem, and will cause the Mountain Hawks (7-7) to lose Patriot League games that are far…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh tuned up for the start of Patriot League play by beating longtime nemesis Princeton, 68-49 Sunday afternoon at Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks had lost 23 straight games to the Tigers since last winning, 30-25 on March 6, 1930. “They had to knock it out of the peach…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series of in-depth interviews with Lehigh Valley sports figures. Thirteen games into his first college basketball head coaching job, Lehigh coach Brett Reed is trying to develop a Patriot League championship contender out of a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Coming off a 20-day layoff, Lehigh exhibited little rust in a relatively easy 56-39 nonleague win over Monmouth Friday night at Stabler Arena. Sophomore Marquis Hall, Lehigh’s leading scorer, had team highs of 12 points and five assists. But the Mountain Hawk who enforced…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was 5 yards of determination, and it’s a play that will stick with Brigham Young University senior fullback Joe Semanoff for the rest of his life. It was a touchdown reception against Colorado State on Nov. 3, his first in a career that essentially never took off after he…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Billy Taylor is now coaching in a tougher conference and a better basketball school, but the former Lehigh University coach appears to have a tough rebuilding job ahead of him at Ball State. The Cardinals were in disarray before Taylor was hired on Aug. 8, following a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh women’s basketball team is off to a 1-3 start, which doesn’t look good for a team trying to post its first winning season since 2004-05. But coach Sue Troyan is not about to panic because she believes she has enough talent and depth to improve on last season’s 11-19…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →BOSTON COLLEGE 10-2, 6-2 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Miami 28-14 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Jr. PK, 5-10, 183. Game: 4-for-4 on PATs, 0-for-1 on FGs. Season; 42-for-45 on PATs; 9-for-14 on FGs, long 45 yards. BRIGHAM YOUNG 9-2, 7-0 (Mountain West) Beat Utah 17-10 Joe…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland senior quarterback John Laub can be used as an inspiration to help motivate other Trojan players in the future — those who are talented enough to start, but can’t seem to make it off the bench until it’s their turn. Laub patiently waited his turn, not earning the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh guard Marquis Hall never worried about his shot in the Mountain Hawks’ home opener against St. Peter’s Wednesday night at Stabler Arena. Neither did his teammates. “We always tell Marquis, even if he misses couple shots, we want him to always stay aggressive,” said…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →As Billy Taylor’s top assistant coach the last five seasons, Brett Reed helped restore credibility to the Lehigh men’s basketball program. Now, Reed is the head coach succeeding Taylor, who left in August to take over the troubled Ball State program. With Reed’s new role also…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 3-6 (Independent) Lost to Air Force 30-10 Marcus Millen (Easton) Sr. DE 6-0, 228. Game: One solo tackle, one assist. Season: Four solo tackles, two assisted. BOSTON COLLEGE 8-1, 4-1 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Lost to Florida State 27 -17 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Jr. K…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 3-5 (Independent) Lost to Georgia Tech 34-10 Marcus Millen (Easton) Sr. DE 6-0, 228. Game: One solo tackle. Season: Three solo tackles, one assist. Jake Walsh (Liberty) Jr. DT 6-3, 269. Game: Played. Season: No stats. BRIGHAM YOUNG 5-2 (Mountain West) Beat Eastern…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Whitehall senior Matt Hamscher was offended by not being mentioned as a player to watch in the Morning Call’s high school football preview issue in August. It was a mistake, a big one, and it just goes to show that really good players get overlooked. Hamscher doesn’t have to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 3-4 (Independent) Lost to Central Michigan 47-23 Marcus Millen (Easton) Sr. DE 6-0, 228. Game: Played. Season: Two solo tackles, one assist. Jake Walsh (Liberty) Jr. DT 6-3, 269. Game: Played. Season: No stats. BOSTON COLLEGE 7-0 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Notre Dame…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 2-3 (independent) Beat Temple 37-21 Marcus Millen (Easton) Sr. DE 6-0, 228. Game: Played. Season: One solo tackle, one assist. BOSTON COLLEGE 5-0 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat UMass 24-14 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Jr. 5-10, 183. Game: 3-for-3 on PATs; 1-for-1 on FGs, 37…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 1-3 (Independent) Lost to Boston College 37-17 Marcus Millen (Easton) Sr. DE 6-0, 228. Game: Played. Season: One solo tackle, one assist. BOSTON COLLEGE 4-0 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Army 37-17 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Jr. 5-10, 183. Game: 2-for-3 on PATs; 1-for-2…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 1-2 (Independent) Lost to Wake Forest 21-10 Marcus Millen (Easton) Sr. DE 6-0, 228. Game: One solo tackle, one assist. Season: Same. BOSTON COLLEGE 3-0, 3-0 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Georgia Tech 24-10 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Jr. 5-10, 183. Game: 3-for-3 on PATs;…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ALBANY 1-1 (Northeast Conference) Beat Fordham 23-20 Terrell Dobbins (Bethlehem Catholic) Fr. RB, 5-10, 205. Game: Played. Season: One carry, 2 yards. ARMY 1-1 (independent) Beat Rhode Island 14-7 Marcus Millen (Easton) Sr. DE 6-0, 228. Game: Played: Season: No stats. Jake Walsh…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There’s no such thing as meaningless games for District 11 Class 4A teams anymore, considering the complicated points system used to determine qualifiers for the PIAA subregional playoffs. But some Lehigh Valley Conference teams aren’t worried about matters they can not control…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There will be no more “In Taylor we trust” signs at Lehigh University’s Stabler Arena next basketball season. That’s because Billy Taylor, the first African-American coach of any sport in school history, resigned Tuesday to take over the vacant men’s head coaching job at Ball…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Basketballs will swish nets and bank off backboards. Softballs and volleyballs will be smashed. Footballs and Frisbees will fly. Sheaves will be tossed, muscles will be flexed and dogs will jump through hoops. At the 11th edition of Lehigh Valley SportsFest, kicking off tonight…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic’s Joe Kovacs is committed beyond the norm to playing in McDonald’s Lehigh Valley Football All-Star Classic at 7 tonight at Parkland Stadium in Orefield. If he wasn’t, Kovacs would be in Puerto Rico, perhaps tanning, eating spicy food and enjoying the scenery.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →What happened last December at Hersheypark Stadium is still fresh in the mind of Wilson’s Adam Thomas and Sean Monahan. Chris LaBatch, their teammate, also still has great memories of the Warriors’ 29-28 win over Jeannette that earned the school its first PIAA Class 2A title.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty quarterback Dan Persa plays his final game at Hersheypark Stadium tonight, hoping to help Pennsylvania win its second straight game against Ohio in the Big 33 Football Classic. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. It’s the 50th anniversary of the all-star game that has often been…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The 2007-08 recruiting class for the Lehigh’s men’s basketball team consists of a shorty, a skyscraper, and apparently a player who can take it to the rim as well as shoot from the outside. In all, coach Billy Taylor has signed six players, including 2007 Morning Call player of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty junior Trevor VanAckeren is participating in his fifth varsity sport this school year and he appears to be just as charged up running distance races as he was booting soccer balls and kicking footballs through the uprights in the fall. That’s because he’s still in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bothered little by the rain and dark clouds, Catasauqua junior Kyle Miller cleared 14 feet, 7 inches to establish a Class 2A record in the pole vault in the District 11 Track and Field Championships Thursday at J. Birney Crum Stadium. The height was a personal best for Miller,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The chase is on again for Bethlehem Catholic standout thrower Joe Kovacs. Kovacs, a senior, will attempt to break the area shot put record of 62-113/4 in the District 11 Track and Field Championships. The two-day event begins at 3 p.m. today at J. Birney Crum Stadium in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He’s diminutive and he goes to a small school, but Salisbury’s Anuerys Santos proved that he’s one of the area’s best sprinters by sweeping the sprints in the Colonial League track and field championships on Thursday. “I have something in me: I don’t quit. I know for sure that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →George Bright has spent the last 27 years proving wrong the high school guidance counselor who once told him he might not be much more than a shoe store manager. Bright, Lafayette College’s associate athletic director the last five years, has been succeeding for years, and he’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic senior Joe Kovacs had the mark he wanted to reach in the discus visualized Saturday morning. He just pressed too hard to try and reach it, which threw off his mechanics and spoiled his chance of winning the high school discus event in his first-ever Penn…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Mother Nature frowned on the Penn Relays on Friday. But Whitehall senior Andy Fahringer didn’t use the grey clouds, drizzle, and slippery runway as an excuse for not winning the high school javelin championship event at Rhodes Field. The competition was just the best field he’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s season is officially over, but the controversy remains. The Patriot League announced Thursday night that Army’s 47-46 playoff victory over Lehigh in will stand, despite acknowledging that Josh Miller’s buzzer-beating shot left his hand after the clock expired. The…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a finish that left Lehigh stunned and steamed Wednesday night. Freshman Josh Miller made a running bank shot after the buzzer sounded (as video from Lehigh’s Web site, lehighsports.com, showed) that lifted Army to a 47-46 win over Lehigh in the Patriot League tournament…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Patriot League Tournament starts next Wednesday with the top four seeds hosting quarterfinal games. The two remaining highest seeds will host semifinal games next Sunday. The championship game will be held at the surviving highest seed. This is the first year the league has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Fran O’Hanlon is now the winningest coach at Lafayette College with 171 victories, a distinction he earned with a double-overtime victory over Lehigh last Sunday. He won’t be presented with a game ball — with the date, score and team Lafayette beat painted on the ball — until…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh scrapped hard for every basket, rebound, and steal it got Wednesday night. But that determined effort didn’t result in victory against Bucknell, which prevailed in a 69-56 victory before a crowd of 2,530 at Stabler Arena. The Bison dominated Lehigh in most categories, but…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh picked the wrong Lafayette player to foul Sunday afternoon with 1.6 seconds left in the second overtime. That’s because Lafayette senior guard Jamaal Hilliard is an 81-percent free-throw shooter, and was just waiting for the opportunity to close out his final home game at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University center Jason Mgebroff didn’t return with a bang in his first game of 2007 on Wednesday night. But coach Billy Taylor was not discouraged by the five points Mgebroff scored in the Mountain Hawks’ 56-53 overtime win over Colgate in a Patriot League matchup in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It appears as if Lehigh freshman guard Marquis Hall has never lifted a weight to try and strengthen his upper and lower body. But Lehigh coach Billy Taylor’s isn’t worried about the look of Hall’s body because of the smooth way Hall has run the Mountain Hawks’ offense over the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In these dog days of February, when every league game means the world, every team needs to have a player that takes care of all the garbage. And loves doing it. Lehigh had that player in junior forward Bryan White in its 75-64 Patriot League victory over Army Saturday night at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Adrienne Blount has done everything in her power to help the Lehigh women’s basketball team win, but often to no avail. Throughout her career, Lehigh has lost several close games because of blown leads, lost composure, and some coaching blunders. All the above have cost Blount,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a Patriot League game with rough play, bad free-throw shooting, and not nearly enough execution for Lehigh Wednesday night at Stabler Arena. It’s not like Navy didn’t give Lehigh every chance possible because the Midshipmen made only one free throw in the final nine…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Going head-to-head with Villanova coach Jay Wright or any other Division I coach for a recruit would not appear to be all that enjoyable for Kutztown University coach Bernie Driscoll. After all, Kutztown is a Division II school, while Villanova competes in the Big East…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Super Bowl XLI is a huge event for Lehigh men’s basketball coach Billy Taylor, who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, loving the Bears with all of his heart. But on Sunday his heart will be split. “I’m a Bears fan through and through,” he said, “but I really like Tony Dungy and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jose Olivero believed he had a strong game. Kyle Neptune wanted him to prove it. That was four summers ago, when both were incoming freshmen at Lehigh. Olivero was coming from the Washington metropolitan area, Neptune from Brooklyn, N.Y. They were both guards, Neptune three…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh finally got a lift from its centers, especially when it counted most Saturday night. Phil Anderson, a 6-10 sophomore, scored on a putback with 2.4 seconds left, and then Lehigh survived a close final shot attempt by American at the buzzer. The missed turnaround jumper by…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nowadays, Lehigh’s Jose Olivero is being guarded tougher, sometimes by two defenders, by opponents and, as a result, he’s being dropped to the hardwood more than ever. He’s paying the price for being good, for being a returning All-Patriot League player, for being able to create…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh did not get the rebound it needed most Tuesday night. And Mountain Hawks senior Kyle Neptune didn’t succeed at forcing Columbia’s Niko Scott to lose his concentration from the free throw line with trash talk. Scott converted two free throws with 0.4 seconds left to lift…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University senior guard Kyle Neptune grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and one of the things he discovered at a young age is that the game of basketball is not always easy. Blessed with solid leaping ability, Neptune had his share of high-flying dunks during his freshman season,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Players are always asked to exhibit sportsmanship and the same should be demanded of coaches. A handshake before, and especially after a game, is a good place to start. A few good words to each other isn’t a bad idea, although there are Lehigh Valley coaches who probably want to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nobody may ever see Lehigh coach Billy Taylor rattled. He’s just too smooth, and he’s played and coached at levels much higher than the Patriot League. But in today’s society, it’s always about what have you done for me lately. Winning sells tickets. Losing pushes fans away. So…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →‘COLLEGES ARMY 3-8 (Independent) Lost to Notre Dame 41-9 Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Game: Played. No stats. Season: Same. Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Game: Played. No stats. Season: Same. BOSTON COLLEGE 9-2, 5-2 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There will be television cameras at Fisher Field on Thanksgiving Day, and that alone tells you that this isn’t just another game, just another meeting between Easton and Phillipsburg. This is meeting No. 100, which in our psyche adds another layer to a rivalry that already means…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES BOSTON COLLEGE 8-2, 4-2 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Duke 28-7 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) So. K, 5-11, 175. Game: 4-for-4 on PATs. Season: 15-for-15 on PATs; 5-for-6 on FGs; longest 36 yards. BROWN 3-6, 2-4 (Ivy League) Lost to Dartmouth 19-13 Justin Gallagher…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh women’s basketball team is picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League, which eliminates the pressure of great expectations. The Mountain Hawks were picked to be a contender last season, but ended the season as a team in disarray. They lost four non-league games by…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Northwestern brought everything it needed to Bethlehem Area School District Stadium Saturday night, except boxing gloves. Twice, Northwestern, however, was penalized for roughing the kicker, both 15-yard penalties that enabled the Golden Hawks to keep alive drives. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jose Olivero is now the “Lone Star” in Lehigh’s backcourt. And he’s been a star since arriving on the Bethlehem campus in 2003. As a freshman, Olivero hit a jumper with 3.9 seconds left that lifted Lehigh past American, 59-57, for the Patriot League tournament championship at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland can complete it’s first 10-0 regular season since 1996 by beating rival Whitehall tonight. Even better, Parkland (9-0, 8-0 LVC) will clinch its first outright Lehigh Valley Conference title since 2002, the year the Trojans also won the PIAA Class 4A championship.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus football coach Joe Bottiglieri grew up two blocks from Easton’s Cottingham Stadium and had early ambitions to play for the Red Rovers. He eventually did suit up for Easton and then went on to play at the collegiate level. After graduating from Easton in 1966, he played a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 3-6 (Independent) Lost to Tulane 42-28 Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Game: Played. No stats. Season: Same. BOSTON COLLEGE 7-1, 3-1 (ACC) Beat Buffalo 41-0 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) So. K, 5-11, 175. Game: 4-for-4 on PATs; 2-for-2 on FGs of 25 and 30…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 3-5 (Independent) Lost to TCU 31-17 Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Played. No stats. BOSTON COLLEGE 6-1, 3-1 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Florida State 24-19 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) So. K, 5-11, 175. Game: 3-for-3 on PATs; 1-for-1 on FG of 26…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 3-4 (Independent) Lost to Connecticut 21-7 Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Played. No stats. BOSTON COLLEGE 5-1, 2-1 (Atlantic Coast Conference) Beat Virginia Tech 22-3 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) So. K, 5-11, 175. Game: 2-for-2 on PATs; 2-for-2 on FGs…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 3-3 (Independent) Beat VMI 62-7 Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Played. Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Played. Jake Walsh (Liberty) So. DT, 6-4, 259. Did not play. BRIGHAM YOUNG 4-2, 2-0 (Mountain West) Beat San Diego State 42-17 Joe Semanoff…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 2-3 (Independent) Lost to Rice 48-14 Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Did not play. Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Played. Jake Walsh (Liberty) So. DT, 6-4, 259. Did not play. BYU 3-2, 1-0 (Mtn West) Beat TCU 31-17-0) Joe Semanoff (Lehighton)…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 2-2 (Independent) Beat Baylor 27-20 Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Did not play. Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Played. Jake Walsh (Liberty) So. DT, 6-4, 259. Did not play. BRIGHAM YOUNG 2-2, 0-0 (Mountain West) Beat Utah State 38-0) Joe…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jeff Pammer picked up speed, lowered his shoulder and laid a mean hit on Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka. “I was running from 7 yards away and I just said to myself, “Ah man, this is going to be nice,’ ” said Pammer, the starting free safety at the University of New…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The only reason there would be a lengthy debate on who’s the best quarterback in the area is because none of the bigger schools in the Lehigh Valley Conference or Mountain Valley Conference will put Pius X on its schedule. Can’t blame the Colonial League since its 10-game…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 1-2 (Independent) Lost to Texas A&M; 28-24 Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Did not play. Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Played. Jake Walsh (Liberty) So. DT, 6-4, 259. Did not play. BRIGHAM YOUNG 1-2, 0-0 (Mountain West) Lost to Boston College…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Central Catholic coach Harold Fairclough’s shirt was drenched once again, his palms were sweaty and his heart was pumping fast. Finally, he was in a ballgame at the end, his first victory as a head coach within grasp if his players could make clutch plays late. It was Saturday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY 1-1 (Independent) Beat Kent State 17-14 Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230 Did not play. Julius Meyers (Pennridge) Sr. LB, 6-2, 232. Did not play. Jake Walsh (Liberty) So. DT, 6-4, 259. Did not play. BYU 1-1 (Mountain West) Beat Tulsa 49-14 Joe Semanoff…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic senior Mark Scattene closed out the first and second quarters by thwarting Central Catholic with his hands, moves and speed Saturday night. Terrell Dobbins, the Golden Hawks’ bulldozing tailback, stymied the Vikings even more with breakaway touchdown runs that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY (Independent) Sept. 7 at Arkansas State Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Last season: Did not play. Jake Walsh (Liberty) So. DT, 6-4, 259. Last season: Did not play. BRIGHAM YOUNG (Mountain West) Sept. 7 at Arizona Joe Semanoff (Lehighton) Jr. RB, 5-11,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES ARMY (Independent) Sept. 7 at Arkansas State Marcus Millen (Easton) Jr. DE, 6-1, 230. Last season: Did not play. Jake Walsh (Liberty) So. DT, 6-4, 259. Last season: Did not play. BRIGHAM YOUNG (Mountain West) Sept. 7 at Arizona Joe Semanoff (Lehighton) Jr. RB, 5-11,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nobody is going to overlook Whitehall this season. The Zephyrs have too much size to be ignored as a contender for the Lehigh Valley Conference title, along with Liberty, Easton and Parkland. “We think we have kids who can be competitive and that are powerful,” said Whitehall…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Babb and the rest of his Lehigh Valley Rugby Football Club teammates have left the East Coast heat and humidity for the national rugby championships in Ferndale, Wash. And they have the perfect game plan. “The idea is to intimidate, hit them, hit them hard,” said Babb, a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Babb’s lingering memory about his amateur boxing debut at SportsFest X will be over the decision he wasn’t awarded Saturday. Many fans may remember most the Scottish kilt and socks that Babb wore during his Pennsylvania Golden Gloves super heavyweight novice division bout…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Chris Blount is no longer a coach for all sports. That doesn’t mean he’s less busy. Blount, a 1986 Dieruff High graduate, was hard at work coaching the Southern Lehigh girls basketball team at SportsFest X Friday at Cedar Beach. He was hired as the Spartans’ head coach on June…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →SportsFest X figures to be about fun and adventure, so some people may think that John Babb is joking around when he fights in a kilt at Cedar Beach this afternoon. It won’t seem like a joke once the bell rings. Though his attire will be unusual, Babb plans to demonstrate his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →SportsFest X will not begin or end with a bang. “We are not going to have it like a 10th anniversary celebration,” SportsFest Chairman Ray Atiyeh said. “We are not doing anything like fireworks because this year was a very tough year. “A lot of the big corporations cut down on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Finally, after a mostly frustrating game of overthrown passes, Whitehall quarterback Mike Gnall settled down. Less than a minute remained. Game tied, first-and-10 with 43 yards to go for a touchdown Thursday night at Nazareth’s Andy S. Leh Stadium. Pressure? Not for Gnall, who…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Finally, after a mostly frustrating game of overthrown passes, Whitehall quarterback Mike Gnall settled down. Less than a minute remained. Game tied, first-and-10 with 43 yards to go for a touchdown Thursday night at Nazareth’s Andy S. Leh Stadium. Pressure? Not for Gnall, who…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jim Tkach got his father’s day gift Saturday night. Tkach, the retired Northern Lehigh football coach, sat in the stands at Hersheypark Stadium while his son, Tyler, played defensive end for Pennsylvania in the Big 33 Football Classic. Pennsylvania won the shootout, 61-42,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andres Morales bulled forward and rammed into one Ohio player after another. He was Pennsylvania’s starting fullback, and to a large degree, he handled his job well Saturday night. He even mouthed off a few times, but Morales has never been the quiet type. He was the vocal,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Stroudsburg High’s version of the “Big House” has dominated on the field since he was 12 years old, when he was 5-5, 190 pounds. Chris Neild, an Associated Press Class 4A second-team all-state linebacker, is now 6-3, 305 pounds. Tonight, he’ll start at offensive guard for…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andres Morales is finally a day away from playing in HersheyPark Stadium for the first time. No need to ask if he’s ready. The Big 33 Football Classic is a game that Morales, Liberty’s all-state and Morning Call all-area linebacker, has always dreamed about. That’s why his heart…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andrew Lee has been confronted with one big test after another since practice for the Big 33 Football Classic began on Saturday. He’s had to learn new defensive schemes and adjust to covering wideouts who are faster than he is. He’s also had to prove that he belongs on the same…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic did in 2003 what no Lehigh Valley team had ever done — win a PIAA Track and Field team title. Three years later, the Golden Hawks are boasted by a standout distance runner in Eric Yeager, a rising sprinter in Chris Carter and a top-seeded discus thrower in Joe…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Rushane Scott proved, for the second straight year, that he was the fastest sprinter at the District 11 Track and Field Championships. He did it with ease, leaving the crowd in awe as he overcame a sizable deficit in the 400-meter relay to lead Allen to a Class 3A victory at the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It didn’t take long for Tyrone Faverey to become one of the state’s top high jumpers. The Parkland senior track and field star won the PIAA Track and Field Class 3A high jump title last year at Shippensburg University in just his third year as a jumper. He’s considered a state…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Eric Yeager has eaten mostly pasta and has resisted the temptation for junk food since last Wednesday. He has also focused harder and trained harder. Now, a week later, the Bethlehem Catholic senior is set to close out one of the most successful distance running careers in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brad Walter refused to go to the pine, despite a right hamstring pull that he had suffered less than an hour earlier. His coach even pleaded with him, but to no avail. The Wilson sprinter, who has been the Colonial League’s best in the 100- and 200-meter dashes all spring, had…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor is playing a waiting game to see if he’ll be offered the vacant men’s basketball head coaching job at the University of Pennsylvania. Taylor confirmed in a statement released by Lehigh officials on Thursday that he has been contacted by Penn athletic…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Life goes on for the Lehigh men’s basketball team, which found out on Friday that the Patriot League’s Council of Presidents has ruled that it will have to forfeit 13 games from the 2004-05 season for using guard Joe Knight, who was later ruled ineligible. Lehigh’s 2004-05…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The greatest athletic accomplishment of his life was over, and Parkland’s Tyrone Faverey and his mother, Karen, were driving back to the Lehigh Valley from Shippensburg. There was no music blasting, no horns honking. “I fell asleep,” said Faverey, who won the PIAA Class 3A high…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Ray Barbosa can’t take losing at James Madison University anymore. He’s done that for three basketball seasons, but there won’t be a fourth. The former Allen High standout received his official release papers on Friday from the Colonial Athletic Association member school. He…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The deans of area track and field coaches are back. Freedom’s Ray Herman returns for his 41st season and Southern Lehigh’s Brian Souerwine is back for his 34th. While not a lot has changed since last spring, a whole lot has changed in general over the years. “It’s amazing,” said…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Chaney is not going on a farewell tour, maybe not even closing out his illustrious coaching career on a winning note, but he’ll never have to worry about how much he was loved and respected for what he accomplished in 24 seasons at Temple. Chaney was greeted with a standing…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Villanova senior Allan Ray found out more about the New York City streets than he wanted to Friday night. He didn’t like it. Not even close, and the thing about it is he wasn’t driving. Instead, he was a passenger in an ambulance that was transporting him to St. Vincent Hospital…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor hopes his season isn’t over, that the Mountain Hawks’ 19-12 record puts them in contention for a National Invitational Tournament bid. It’s nice to hope and it would certainly be a major boost for the Patriot League’s profile if Lehigh received a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Mitch Gilfillan puffed hard, his eyes watering. Then he slammed a towel down on the hardwood floor Sunday afternoon at the Hart Center. Joe Knight walked slowly to the sidelines, bent over and grabbed his shorts. The final game for the Lehigh seniors had just ended with a 73-66…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh plans to start its engine early this afternoon and keep it running. But the Mountain Hawks (19-11) do not have history in their favor. They have not beaten Holy Cross (19-11) at the Hart Center since 1998. They are 0-4 against the Crusaders in Patriot League Tournament…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh was missing open shots. The Mountain Hawks were making bad passes. And what could have been the most costly bad pass came with eight seconds left, when star guard Jose Olivero tried to dump the ball inside. “I just made a wrong read,” said Olivero, a junior who two days…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh senior Joe Knight has always taken pride in being a rock to his family, friends and teammates, and especially to his 4-year-old niece, Cassidy. He has always tried his best to not let anybody down, even if that meant putting his own trials aside to make sure others were…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Back in November, Lehigh junior guard Jose Olivero was dejected when he found out that he was not named to the All-Patriot League preseason team. He posted that team up on his dormitory wall to fuel his desire to prove that he deserved to be considered among the league’s elite…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There’s little doubt that Lehigh and Bucknell have a heated rivalry, especially since six of the last eight meetings have been decided by five points or less. You’d expect the fans, those who are loyal, to be more jacked up than normal when the two Patriot League teams meet. The…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The task is now daunting for Lehigh, which lost its rematch with Bucknell Wednesday night, and will have to refuel its tank for the Patriot League season finale at Holy Cross Sunday. The Mountain Hawks’ defense will have to be a lot better than it was in an 81-70 loss to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Frank Scagliotta has his high school football coaching dream job. It’s at his alma mater, Bangor, where Scagliotta was an all-state basketball player and state long jump medalist in track and field in the 1960s. The Bangor School Board unanimously approved Scagliotta as the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This is the week that college basketball players dream about, and it’s when coaches really earn their pay. This is a week for all fans to enjoy, at the Division I, II and III levels. On of the biggest games will involve the area’s hottest men’s team. Lehigh (18-9, 11-1) will try…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh posted its 10th Patriot League victory, 67-58 over Colgate, Wednesday night at Stabler Arena. Now the Mountain Hawks are six days away from a rematch with No. 24 Bucknell in Lewisburg. “My dad told me that rankings are nothing but a number,” said sophomore Bryan White.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →“February Madness” has arrived for local teams at DeSales, Moravian and Muhlenberg. That’s because playoff seeds and berths are on the line. The DeSales women (14-9, 8-4) will have their chance to punch a Freedom Conference playoff ticket with a road victory over Delaware Valley…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Fittingly, Lehigh guard Jose Olivero’s father was in the stands at Alumni Hall at the United States Naval Academy Wednesday night when Olivero dived out of bounds for a loose ball and crashed into a scorer’s table. Appearing unfazed, Olivero rose quickly and went back to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Every inch of the court at Alumni Hall on The Yard was a battleground Wednesday night. Navy made it that way with relentless hustle early in the first half. Lehigh just needed to bang back, stop turning the ball over, and then rely on Jose Olivero and Joe Knight. The Mountain…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The only way to earn respect is to ante up and get on with it, which is what Lafayette women’s basketball coach Tammy Smith finally decided to do entering her 27th year of coaching. She stopped worrying about matters out of her control, like Lafayette not offering any…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University coach Billy Taylor is contending for his third Patriot League coach of the year honor in four years. That’s because Lehigh is once again contending for the league title, entering this week 7-1 in league play, just 11/2 games behind Bucknell. Taylor does not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jose Olivero and Joe Knight put on a two-man scoring show again for Lehigh, but the Mountain Hawks’ grueling Patriot League victory over American Saturday night was not secured with offense alone. It was won with hustle and muscle, which senior Mike Fischman has provided all…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Rich Jarnagin entered Liberty High School four years ago as a skinny freshman, but one with a lot of potential. He became stronger and faster and this year made several game-breaking plays on both sides of the ball to help Liberty go 13-2 and finish as the PIAA Class 4A…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In a weekend dominated by high-scoring performances, not to be overshadowed is the accomplishment of a man who didn’t take one shot. And it probably suited Fred Richter, the DeSales University women’s coach, just fine watching freshman LeighAnn Burke tie a school record with 37…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh men will get another shot at Bucknell Feb. 22 in Lewisburg, and that could be for a first-place tie in the Patriot League. Bucknell finished the first-half of league play 7-0 — with Lehigh at 6-1 and wishing that shots had fallen a different way when the Bison visited…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There was never any doubt in Lehigh junior guard Jose Olivero’s mind. He was going to drive to the basket, and take on anybody who got in his way, including 6-10 Holy Cross center Tim Clifford on Saturday night. Clifford had blocked Olivero earlier, but that, Olivero said, was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh junior Adrienne Blount did what her coach asked her to do in the second half against Holy Cross on Saturday night at Stabler Arena, but it wasn’t enough to save the Mountain Hawks. She scored 16 of her career-high 20 points and collected all six of her rebounds after…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It can be brutally cold in Chicago at Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t stop Lehigh senior Jenny Callan from going outside in shorts and a sweatshirt to play one-on-one games with her three brothers in their parents’ suburban driveway. Games are to 21 and they are physical, which…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh hit big shots down the stretch, 3-pointers by guards Jose Olivero and Joe Knight, and each time they had defenders draped in their face. First it was Olivero. Then it was Knight, who swished a trey with 11.4 seconds remaining, bringing Lehigh to within four of Bucknell…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh women’s basketball team experienced a season-low Saturday in Easton, losing to Lafayette, which entered 0-3 in the Patriot League. Rivalry games bring out the best in both teams, but the theory of throwing out records should not apply when the Lehigh and Lafayette…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s student fans have a chance to prove that they are more loyal than fairweather Wednesday night. They have a chance to get rowdy and become a more effective “sixth man.” They have chance to prove that Stabler Arena is a place you need to bring earplugs to rather than a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh athletic director Joe Sterrett has placed the blame on his administration for the misinterpretation of an NCAA rule regarding academic requirements that led to senior Joe Knight being ruled ineligible for 16 games. But sorry does not cut it for a school that prides itself…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bruce Hall’s talent as a scorer wasn’t being maximized at Cheyney University, so he transferred to Kutztown and is now having a high-scoring senior season. His passion for the game remained high even after he averaged just 10.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in two seasons at Cheyney,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh guard Joe Knight stormed in, stole the ball, and drove furiously toward what seemed like an uncontested layup attempt. But out of nowhere came Army’s Marshall Jackson, who fouled Knight hard. Knight sprawled to the hardwood. Knight was not hurt, but it was typical of the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Joe Knight waited 17 games to play, missing out on Lehigh games against Washington and No. 3 Villanova along the way. He wore suits to home games, often sitting at the end of the bench. “It was hard, but I had the patience and practiced hard every day,” Knight said Wednesday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The stage is never as big, the spotlight far from blinding, but Moravian coach Mary Beth Spirk has always considered the NCAA Division III playoffs just as important as March dancing that Division I teams do. That’s why Spirk and her players are dreaming big now, hoping that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Muhlenberg coach Dave Madeira knows a Division I player when he sees one, and his eyes lit up when he first saw Lehigh junior guard Jose Olivero catch the ball, turn and bury a 3-pointer with such ease on Wednesday night. Not just once, not just twice but five times in Lehigh’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jose Olivero’s 1,000th career point came on a 3-pointer less than a minute into the second half of Lehigh’s Patriot League opener at American on Saturday afternoon. Less than a minute later, Olivero came off a screen, turned and buried a short rainbow in the face of American’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s weakness in the low post was exposed by a Muhlenberg player who probably could start for most Patriot League schools — including Lehigh. But the hard banging and soft shooting touch of Jeff Stewart wasn’t enough to help the Mules upset the Mountain Hawks Wednesday at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh men and women closed out 2005 by losing non-league games at Stabler Arena on Friday, but they cannot afford to dwell on those setbacks as they prepare for Patriot League play. And fresh starts. They have final tune-ups in doubleheader action Wednesday at Stabler. The…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Frank Trovato, the best friend of West Virginia sophomore quarterback Adam Bednarik, has drawn up the perfect scenario for tonight’s Nokia Sugar Bowl matchup between the Mountaineers and Georgia. It’s reminiscent of their senior season at Bethlehem Catholic in 2002, when…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This time last year, Gary Neal had more on his mind than basketball. While playing for La Salle University, he was fighting rape and sexual assault charges. And it wasn’t until last month that those charges were dropped. Now his thoughts are focused on one thing — playing…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh guard Sara Ellis swished 3-pointers off the dribble, and sometimes from another area code. She also had a sweet short-range game against Fairfield in the nightcap of the ninth annual Christmas City Classic, Thursday night at Stabler Arena. She was so confident in her…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A jury trying to decide what type of team Lehigh will be once Patriot League play begins next month would probably end up hung. It’s hard to tell, because senior guard Joe Knight, a solid scorer, passer and defender, won’t make his season debut until a Jan. 11 game against Navy…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Joe Semanoff has enjoyed the luxuries of a casino hotel in Las Vegas this week. The former standout running back from Lehighton is a sophomore backup at Brigham Young, which plays California in the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl tonight. By game time, Semanoff will have to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The biggest game of his coaching career, the biggest in school history, ended with Liberty getting drubbed 49-10 in the PIAA Class 4A championship game last week in Hershey, but coach Tim Moncman did not shed a tear. Not in front of his players, not away from them. After the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There was much preseason hype surrounding the Lehigh women’s basketball team. In fact, the Mountain Hawks were picked to finish second in the Patriot League. And while the league’s sports information directors and coaches predicted the No. 2 finish, the Lehigh women may have had…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty quarterback Dan Persa showed up at Carl’s Corner steak and sub shop a few blocks from school earlier this week and saw an NBC-10 television reporter interviewing the owner about the football team Persa has helped lead to the PIAA Class 4A championship game. He was awed.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They made jokes, lots of them. They will do so again tonight, and maybe even on Saturday before making the first-ever trip to Hershey for a Bethlehem Area School District team to play for a PIAA football championship. Pressure, you see, is easier to deal with when you share…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES NEW HAMPSHIRE 12-1, 7-1 (Atlantic 10) Lost to Northern Iowa 24-21 NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals Jeff Pammer (Northampton) So. FS, 6-0, 210. Season: Team-high 53 solo tackles, 61 assists, one blocked kick, one interception, two pass break ups. WEST VIRGINIA 10-1, 7-0…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES DELAWARE 6-5, 3-5 (Atlantic 10) Season completed Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4, 243. Season: Five solo tackles, two for losses, four assists, two pass break ups, two sacks. DUQUESNE 7-3, 4-0 (MAAC) Season completed Travis Decker (Parkland) So. DL, 6-2, 225.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →An uncontested dunk by Lehigh center Mike Fischman was the game’s first rim-rattler on Sunday night. Lehigh’s Bryan White had the next-best stuff, a dunk over Villanova’s Will Sheridan. And White followed it with a growl. But Lehigh’s first meeting with No. 4 Villanova since…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh is not anywhere close to ready for No. 4 Villanova, its next opponent, Sunday. And not having senior guard Joe Knight will make the challenge even more imposing. Knight, the Mountain Hawks’ top returning scorer, was officially ruled ineligible on Monday by the NCAA until…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES DELAWARE 6-5, 3-5 (Atlantic 10) Beat Villanova 38-13 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4, 243. Game: One assisted tackle. Season: Five solo tackles, two for losses, four assists, two pass break ups, two sacks. DUQUESNE 7-3, 4-0 (MAAC) Beat Saint Francis 44-17 Travis…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh stumbled in transition, fumbled passes in the lane and generally played too clumsily to end its 75-year drought against Princeton on Sunday afternoon. A 6-minute, 24-second scoreless stretch of the first half proved to be too much for the Mountain Hawks to overcome in a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Mike Gnall is best man in his brother Joe’s wedding next Saturday. But, if Whitehall wins tonight’s District 2-4-11 subregional Class 3A title game, he may not get the chance to wear the tuxedo he was recently fitted for. The fourth-seeded Zephyrs (9-2) visit No. 2 Pottsville…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor upgraded his non-league schedule, adding Princeton of the Ivy League and Big East preseason favorite and national championship contender Villanova. And the Mountain Hawks competed in the Black Coaches Association Invitational preseason tournament in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES DELAWARE 5-5, 2-5 (Atlantic 10) Beat William & Mary 22-21 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4, 243. Season: Five solo tackles, two for losses, three assists, two pass break ups, two sacks. DUQUESNE 6-3, 4-0 (MAAC) Bye Travis Decker (Parkland) So. DL, 6-2, 225. Season:…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For 33 years, including 23 straight at Temple, Hall of Fame coach John Chaney has never gone into a game and had fun. Before tipoff, Chaney’s suit coat is off, his tie is loosened, and his sleeves are rolled up. Soon, he revs into high gear, screaming, stomping his feet and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The black and red bull-rushed, seeking once again to tackle, deflate and possibly sideline Liberty quarterback Dan Persa. Three times Persa was tackled for negative yards. Each time he rose quickly, apparently more determined to prove that he could survive every one of Easton’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES DELAWARE 4-5, 1-5 (Atlantic 10) Lost to Massachusetts 35-7 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4, 243. Game: One assisted tackle. Season: Five solo tackles, two for losses, three assists, two pass break ups, two sacks. DUQUESNE 6-3, 4-0 (MAAC) Beat La Salle 56-14 Travis…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Patriot League is now on the college basketball map, thanks to Bucknell’s stunning upset of Kansas in last season’s NCAA Tournament, and with Holy Cross shocking Notre Dame in the National Invitational Tournament. Now Lehigh, under fourth-year coach Billy Taylor, gets a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A coach who has established a legacy in the state, and who might be able to run for mayor in Slatington and win, is about to make one final run at a PIAA Class 2A title. But Northern Lehigh coach Jim Tkach would first like to win a PIAA District 11 Class 2A subregional semifinal…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES BRIGHAM YOUNG 4-4, 3-2 (Mountain West) Beat Air Force 62-41 Joe Semanoff (Lehighton) So. RB, 5-10, 215. Season: One carry, 6 yards; two catches, 25 yards, one TD. DELAWARE 4-4, 1-4 (Atlantic 10) Lost to Maine 25-15 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4, 243. Game: One…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Getting mentally up for Dieruff on Sept. 16 at J. Birney Crum Stadium was no problem at all for Liberty, even though the Hurricanes knew they had major advantages on both sides of the ball. Liberty played Dieruff with the same tenacity it expects to have against Easton (5-2,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Junior guard Jose Olivero didn’t hesitate when he was asked to be Lehigh’s student-athlete representative at the Patriot League’s media day Thursday at the College Sports Television Network, located at Chelsea’s Pier. That’s because the event was in the Big Apple, the one city…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES BRIGHAM YOUNG 3-4, 2-2 (Mountain West) Lost to Notre Dame 49-23 Joe Semanoff (Lehighton) So. RB, 5-10, 215. Season: One carry, 6 yards; two catches, 25 yards, one touchdown. DELAWARE 4-3, 1-3 (Atlantic 10) Beat James Madison 34-28 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES BRIGHAM YOUNG 3-3, 2-2 (Mountain West) Beat Colorado State 24-14 Joe Semanoff (Lehighton) So. RB, 5-10, 215. Season: One carry, 6 yards; two catches, 25 yards, one touchdown. DELAWARE 3-3, 0-3 (Atlantic 10) Lost to Richmond 20-10 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Gross does not experience quiet nights, the way he did growing up in Slatington. As a starting offensive lineman for Temple, he doesn’t experience many victories either. The Owls are 0-6 this year and have gone 7-34 in his four seasons. That’s not what he was used to in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES DELAWARE 2-3, 0-2 (Atlantic 10) Lost to Hofstra 10-6 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4, 243. Season: Four solo tackles, two for losses, one assisted, two pass break ups. DUQUESNE 2-3, 0-0 (MAAC) Lost to Georgetown 10-7 Travis Decker (Parkland) So. DL, 6-2, 225.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES DELAWARE 3-1, 0-1 (Atl. 10) Lost to Towson 35-31 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) Soph. DL, 6-4, 243. Season: Three solo tackles, two for losses, one assisted, two pass break-ups. DUQUESNE 2-2, 0-0 (MAAC) Bye Travis Decker (Parkland) Soph. DL, 6-2, 225. Season: Five solo…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The game that will likely decide the Bethlehem city championship is a week away. But Bethlehem Catholic and Liberty must first contend with tough Lehigh Valley Conference opponents before worrying about their showdown at BethlehemArea School District Stadium next Friday night.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGES BRIGHAM YOUNG 1-1, 0-0 (Mountain West) Bye Joe Semanoff (Lehighton) So. RB, 5-10, 215. DELAWARE 2-0, 0-0 (Atlantic 10) Beat West Chester 42-21 Jeremy Kametz (Freedom) So. DL, 6-4, 243. Game: Did not play. Season: Three solo tackles, two for losses, two pass breakups.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brothers Oscar and Justin Rivera were so excited the first day they put on pads as 95-pound players for the Bethlehem Steelers’ football team that they went home and continued tackling. But not outside. Oscar and Justin, who now play for Liberty High School, plowed each other…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Harlem Diamonds lost their first game of the summer and in their first appearance at Pates Park on Sunday night. But the all-African-American women’s softball team pleased fans with their humor, tricks and overall skill level. They also received an invitation from Allentown…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The International Olympic Committee has struck out with players, coaches and other supporters of baseball and softball in the Lehigh Valley. That’s the response to the IOC’s decision to eliminate baseball and softball from the 2012 Olympic Games in London. “It’s actually very…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →SportsFest chairman Ray Atiyeh plans to sleep on the couch in the hospitality tent at Cedar Beach starting tonight. That will be his home through Sunday night, as it has been for the last eight years the popular sports festival for amateur athletes of all ages has been held. He…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Big Keith Weaver has never been asked to return kickoffs during a game. But the Palisades two-way lineman got his chance to try it during a light practice Tuesday at Nazareth’s Andrew S. Leh Stadium. “Hey, Keith stay back there and receive the kickoff,” Northampton Gold team…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Goffredo was on the sidelines waiting to be transported to the hospital in his last high school football game, an all-star classic at Catasauqua in 1982. But he was cognizant enough to know the outcome. “Yeah, we won,” said Goffredo, now the Pius X football coach. “The boys…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tyrone Faverey reached down and touched the surface, rose up and leaped high into the air. He landed, stretched his back, glared forward and, after a few seconds of deep concentration, the Parkland junior sprinted toward the high jump pit and the destiny that awaited him…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus senior Nate Gilbert didn’t need his sunglasses until after his fifth jump. By then, he needed them to block the sun and to hide the tears he thought he was about to shed. He had one jump left and his heart was pumping faster than ever, because he had already clinched the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Carelli doesn’t worry about the stares he often gets from more-imposing athletes, the ones he has to compete against in the high jump. He just does his thing. Often, that’s win. He’s just 6-feet tall, and many of the athletes the Parkland High junior has beaten in the long,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor’s recruiting ability continues to be impressive. Otherwise, Lehigh would not be getting a 7-foot center who NCAA runner-up Illinois and powerhouse Oklahoma State were both recruiting. But John Gourlay, a 250-pound standout from Hot Springs Village,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Allen junior Rushane Scott was slightly behind out of the blocks, but he was way ahead at the tape. He’s closed many 100-meter dashes in the same fashion this spring. The stakes were higher in the Class 3A final in the District 11 track and field championships, but Scott easily…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He was just about even with his rival, the one distance runner Northampton High senior Tyler McCandless said he thought he had lost to 80 times before. This time, only 50 meters remained in the 3,200-meter run and McCandless was no longer worried about past failures against…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic still has speed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, just not the best around. That’s because former Becahi standouts Brandon Carter and Eddie Scipio have graduated and the area’s fastest boys runner is Allen’s Rushane Scott, who’s been timed at 10.6 in the 100…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Southern Lehigh stamped its name all over Bangor Memorial Park in the Colonial League track and field championships Thursday. But winning their second straight league championship — with 163 points — was not good enough for the Spartans. They can’t wait for next Wednesday and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The numbers may startle you because you are talking about a track and field team — not a football team. But Parkland’s track team is much larger than any other team in this area, perhaps as large as any team in the state, maybe even the country. The Trojans have 297 athletes —…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Justin Gaymon refused to settle for a repeat performance of his 2004 showing in the 400-meter hurdles at the Penn Relays. Never mind the 9 a.m. starting time for the high school boys championship race, the wet track and the driving rain. All Gaymon, a Phillipsburg High senior,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus High senior Sam Luff calmed his nerves and then went out and ran the best 3,000-meter race of his career Friday evening at Franklin Field. His debut at the Penn Relays was a memorable one. He used a solid breakaway kick over the final 200 meters to finish in second place…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Allen High junior Rushane Scott stunned his coach, Erika Smith, when he finished the 100-meter dash in 10.9 seconds on March 31. But Smith was stunned even more on April 14 when Scott clocked a 10.7 in a dual meet against Parkland. She won’t be surprised by anything else Scott…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Southern Lehigh seniors Justin Babich and Mike Snowden will try to lead the Spartans to another memorable Penn Relays finish at Franklin Field. Meanwhile, two first-time participants, distance runners Sam Luff of Emmaus and Tyler McCandless of Northampton, will try to achieve…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs’ potential new owner from Kentucky has backed out, and the navy blue and golden yellow uniforms the team wore the previous six seasons have disappeared. And are you ready for this? The 12 players who suited up in the ‘Dawgs’ United States Basketball…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Northampton senior distance runner Tyler McCandless still wants to run a personal-best in the 3,200 and to beat area rival Sam Luff of Emmaus in at least one big race this spring. Recently, McCandless signed a national letter of intent to the University of Maryland where he…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Chris Pates was running with the wrong crowd and headed toward a dead end until he joined the Liberty High track and field team in the spring of his freshman year. Finally, he had goals to chase, first in the classroom, because without making the grade he wouldn’t have been…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Billy Taylor insists that he was not interested in the no-longer-available UNC-Greensboro job and that he’s not going to pursue any other vacancy. He’s excited about building for his fourth season, one that figures to be his most challenging as the Mountain Hawks try to rebound…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The first week of April is far from when you’d expect track and field athletes to be peaking. But Parkland junior Tyrone Faverey may have done just that in the high jump. The hope is that he’ll continue to improve, but it may be tough to surpass the 6 feet, 10 inches he posted…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Members of Villanova’s 1985 national championship team developed a bond that extended way beyond the court. That’s because they were more than just teammates. “It was like a family, a brotherhood, a fraternity, whatever you want to call it,” said Chuck Everson, a reserve center…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The tears have dried and another season of blown chances has faded away for the Lehigh women’s basketball team. For the first time ever, the Mountain Hawks had both the Patriot League player of the year — Jessica DePalo — and the coach of the year — Sue Troyan. But the end of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh senior Jessica DePalo displayed the same grace when she spoke as she had when she played Saturday afternoon. But she did it with tears in her eyes instead of a smile of her face. Her season-high 30 points had gone for naught because Lehigh squandered a 12-point lead with…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Winning in the playoffs often comes down to who handles the pressure the best as well as who bumps and grinds the hardest. That’s what Lehigh senior Jessica DePalo, the Patriot League’s player of the year, kept doing until only one second remained in the tournament quarterfinals…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Winning in the playoffs often comes down to who handles the pressure the best, and who bumps and grinds the hardest. That’s what Lehigh senior Jessica DePalo, the Patriot League’s player of the year, did until only one second remained in the tournament quarterfinals against…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh senior forward Mary Frances Hynoski doesn’t seem like just a basketball player to her teammates or coaches. “Mary is a tank,” said junior Jenny Callan. “It’s kind of like a football game out there,” said Lehigh coach Sue Troyan. “She’s banging people around, pushing,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Sue Troyan has finally earned the Patriot League Coach of the Year award that her star senior Jessica DePalo thought Troyan deserved four years ago. DePalo’s league-best 18.0 points per game, to go with her 5.4 rebounds and 47.9 percent field-goal shooting and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This time of the college basketball season, opinions on teams can vary from week-to-week, depending on how those teams play. Good teams don’t falter, suspect ones do. Last week, I touted Lafayette for having won two straight games. Then the Leopards got wiped out by a 71-33…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh did not die easy. And Lafayette refused to die on its own court. The Leopards had an 11-point lead with 1:48 remaining, which dwindled down to one, before settling for an 81-76 victory Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette had lost its previous game by 19…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Teams that make postseason runs in March usually start to play harder and smarter and win more convincingly at this time of the season. Lafayette has done that in its last two Patriot League games. Teams that have short runs in March usually do what Lehigh has done over its last…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor called on his reserves to try and help rescue the Mountain Hawks from defeat against Navy Saturday night at Stabler Arena. It almost worked, but almost isn’t good enough. Numerous inconsistencies were too much to overcome, resulting in Lehigh’s 76-75…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Heartbreak City no longer has Lafayette as a tenant. Jamaal Hilliard, who ranks ninth in the nation in free-throw shooting, made sure of it. Hilliard made two free throws with 6.8 seconds left to clinch a 93-89 Patriot League overtime victory over American Saturday before a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Saint Joseph’s is making another run at the NCAA Tournament. And the Hawks don’t even control Philadelphia. But that’s the beauty of college basketball because rankings and computers do not determine a team’s fate. Saint Joe’s (12-9) can advance to the “Big Dance” for the third…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh senior Jessica DePalo kept moving through a crowded lane and begging for the ball. In the second half of Friday night’s Patriot League contest with Army at Stabler Arena, her teammates obliged. DePalo responded with bucket after bucket and helped lead the Mountain Hawks…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →With pens in hand and wearing broad smiles, four Liberty High football players signed letters of intent with Division I-AA and Division II schools Thursday afternoon in a conference room adjacent to Liberty’s main office. Brendan Van Ackeren, who made big plays on both sides of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bucknell coach Pat Flannery did not allow his spirits to be dampened after losing to Lehigh 57-54 on a Joe Knight 3-pointer at the buzzer Sunday at Stabler Arena. Flannery had missed three games because of an undisclosed medical condition. He hated being out, hated not having to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Finally, Lehigh experienced a super Sunday in Patriot League play. Joe Knight helped make it that way by converting the last basket of the first half, and then sent Lehigh students pouring onto the Stabler Arena hardwood by sinking a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the Mountain…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh guard Joe Knight drilled a 3-pointer from the corner that tied it at 50 with a little under seven minutes remaining. Then Lehigh center Jason Mgebroff scored off his own miss, Jose Olivero swished a deep 3, and Mgebroff scored again off a slick pass from Olivero. That was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic senior two-way tackle Matt Kushner appeared to be an unlikely Division I product before last season. He’d made just 12 tackles in two previous seasons. He had played mostly as an offensive lineman and pancake blocks are not listed on any stats sheets. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s failure to inbound the ball with three seconds remaining against Holy Cross cost the Mountain Hawks more than just a shot at overtime Sunday at Stabler Arena in front of 2,104 fans. Lehigh’s 58-56 loss to Holy Cross prevented the Hawks from moving into a three-way tie…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Drexel University senior Danny Hinds is not about to let a fractured left wrist keep him out of the Dragons’ starting lineup. He’s worked too hard to get into it, so he’s not about to let discomfort in his non-shooting hand spoil his last season. Besides, Drexel coach Bruiser…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s no surprise that “The Sopranos” is Lehigh senior Nick Monserez’s favorite television show. He’s just tough, especially when he defends and rebounds as emphatically as he did in the Mountain Hawks’ 63-45 Patriot League victory over Army Friday at Stabler Arena. “He’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jessica DePalo appeared suited to be more than just a student-athlete before coming to Lehigh on a basketball scholarship four years ago. Lehigh coach Sue Troyan found that out on a recruiting trip to DePalo’s hometown of Rumson, N.J. that lasted longer than the normal working…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Villanova’s non-league schedule had been nothing to boast about, except for games against Big 5 rivals Temple and Pennsylvania. But Saturday, the Wildcats took a break from from the Big East to play second-ranked Kansas at the Wachovia Center. There wasn’t supposed to be…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s Patriot League opponents are not having many good nights trying to contain Mountain Hawks junior guard Joe Knight. The 6-1 transfer from High Point University has turned into a clutch late-game performer, hitting the game-winning shot with 25.4 seconds left in a 56-53…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Neither Lehigh nor Lafayette won style points on offense, but they might have impressed a boxing promoter with the way they battled in their first Patriot League meeting of the season Wednesday night in Stabler Arena. In one fierce second-half flurry, Lehigh’s Nick Monserez and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Perhaps the person who makes up the Patriot League schedule overlooked the fact that Lehigh and Lafayette are two neighboring teams with a storied rivalry. Otherwise, the first league meeting between the two would not have been scheduled for 8 tonight at Stabler Arena while both…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The real Patriot League games began Saturday. For Lafayette, no more top-25 teams like Louisville and Georgia Tech, both of whom drubbed the Leopards by more than 30 points. Lafayette will now only play teams more on its level, but those teams are more familiar with the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College’s talent pool is not as depleted as the Patriot League’s sports information directors and coaches preseason poll seemed to suggest. The Leopards were picked to finish sixth. It’s too late to change, but Lafayette will finish closer to the top than the bottom in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College has a slim chance of pulling off this college basketball season’s biggest upset Tuesday night in a non-league game against No. 9 Georgia Tech in Atlanta. But the Leopards (3-6) may not get too blown out of Alexander Memorial Coliseum, which is located on the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Opposing defensive linemen might have been more successful blocking Keith Weaver, Palisades’ massive 6-4, 320-pound senior lineman, if they had done what Pirates coach Brian Gilbert used to do in practice. “What we would do was put two guys over him and just treat them as one,”…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette will experience on Dec. 28 what former Allen High star Ray Barbosa has already experienced when the James Madison sophomore and his teammates played then-No. 3 Georgia Tech Dec. 15 in Atlanta. Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon is in no rush to find out. “They are pretty…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh had more runs of sloppiness than runs of sharpness, more defensive breakdowns than stops, and only a crowd of 512 to cheer in a non-league game against Columbia Monday night at Stabler Arena. Making matters even worse is that Lehigh was vastly out-hustled in losing 75-61.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGE BUCKNELL 7-4, 4-2 (Patriot) Beat Duquesne 30-20 Mike Cangelosi (Nazareth) Sr. 6-0, 197. Season: 14 carries, 93 yards, 1 TD; 6 catches, 62 yards, TD. DELAWARE 6-3, 6-1 (Atl. 10) Beat Richmond 23-14 Sean Bleiler (Parkland) Sr. 6-0, 220. Season: 66 carries, 333 yards, 2…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty has yet to hit the panic button in a game this season. There’s that one loss — 21-7 to Easton — but the Hurricanes have demonstrated mettle and perseverance in many tough games, including last week’s dramatic 28-23 win over Wyoming Valley West that set up a rematch with…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Winning has created such enthusiasm at Lehigh that sophomore guard Kyle Neptune inadvertently slipped into a dream world when discussing this season’s goals. “We are just excited to start the season, try and repeat [as Patriot League Tournament champs] and go to the national…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGE BUCKNELL 6-4, 4-2 (Patriot) Beat Colgate 42-7 Mike Cangelosi (Nazareth) Sr. 6-0, 197. Game: One catch, four yards. Season: 14 carries, 93 yards, TD; six catches, 62 yards, TD. DELAWARE 6-3, 6-1 (Atl. 10) Beat Richmond 23-14 Sean Bleiler (Parkland) Sr. 6-0, 220. Season:…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGE BUCKNELL 5-4, 3-2 (Patriot) Beat Fordham 21-20 Mike Cangelosi (Nazareth) Sr. 6-0, 197. Game: Two catches, 25 yards, TD. Season: 13 carries, 89 yards, TD; six catches, 62 yards, TD. DELAWARE 6-3, 5-1 (Atl. 10) Lost 20-13 to James Madison Sean Bleiler (Parkland) Sr. 6-0,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Though he’s just 6-0, 165 pounds, Liberty junior Brendan Van Ackeren is fearless on the football field. In fact, he seemed to go beyond the norm to prove it against the bruising Easton defense last Friday night. He loved it. So did his teammates, who have come to expect nothing…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGE BUCKNELL 4-4, 2-2 (Patriot) Beat Holy Cross 42-27 Mike Cangelosi (Nazareth) Sr. 6-0, 197. Season: 13 carries, 89 yards, TD; 4 catches, 37 yards. DELAWARE 6-2, 5-0 (Atl. 10) Lost 34-20 to Navy Sean Bleiler (Parkland) Sr. 6-0, 220. Season: 66 carries, 333 yards, 2 TD; 5…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGE BUCKNELL 3-4, 1-2 (Patriot) Lost 40-17 to Lehigh Mike Cangelosi (Nazareth) Sr. 6-0, 197. Game: Three carries, 11 yards. Season: 13 carries, 89 yards, TD; four catches, 37 yards. DELAWARE 6-1, 5-0 (Atl. 10) Beat William & Mary 31-28 Sean Bleiler (Parkland) Sr. 6-0, 220.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGE BUCKNELL 3-3, 1-1 (Patriot) Lost 14-13 to Lafayette Mike Cangelosi (Nazareth) Sr. 6-0, 197. Game: Three carries, 19 yards; one catch, 24 yards. Season: 10 carries, 69 yards, TD; four catches, 37 yards. DELAWARE 5-1, 4-0 (Atl. 10) Beat Hofstra 20-19 Sean Bleiler…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Defending Patriot League tournament champion Lehigh isn’t worried about preseason predictions. They’ve been wrong the last two seasons. So Lehigh coach Billy Taylor doesn’t consider it a snub that the Mountain Hawks have been picked by the league’s coaches and sports information…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The students are now mad about basketball at Lehigh. Really mad. Tonight, they plan to prove it with Lehigh’s first-ever “Midnight Madness” at Grace Hall. ESPN’s Trey Wingo will be on hand to host the event, which is free to the public. Service Electric TV2 will televise the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →COLLEGE BUCKNELL 3-2, 1-0 (Patriot) Lost 32-25 to Penn (2OT) Mike Cangelosi (Nazareth) Sr. 6-0, 197. Game: seven carries, 50 yards, one touchdown. Season: seven carries, 50 yards, one TD; three catches, 13 yards. DELAWARE 4-1, 3-1 (Atlantic 10) Bye Sean Bleiler (Parkland) Sr.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh Valley Conference teams have to be on their own Hurricane watch, but it has nothing to do with high winds and heavy rains. “Watch out for Liberty,” Easton coach Steve Shiffert said before Liberty went to Parkland Stadium Friday night and throttled the Trojans defensively…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →East Stroudsburg-South may or may not be as good as some LVC teams such as Easton (2-0), Parkland (2-2), Liberty (3-0) or Freedom (3-0). However, the Cavaliers may never know. It would be nice to find out on the field, but that can only happen in the PIAA Class 4A sub-regional…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In the review of the second week of high school football games, much was observed. The main observation is that all seems well at Parkland, Phillipsburg, Pennridge and Northern Lehigh. Those teams are considered the area’s top heavyweights along with Easton, which was idle. Each…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Diehard Lehigh Valley sports fans might have had discussions over coffee or tea Saturday morning about many of the high school football teams that played Friday night. Like Parkland, which blew a 21-point fourth-quarter lead in losing to Cumberland Valley 41-38 in overtime. Like…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Must-win games will begin the second week of the season for Lehigh Valley Conference teams after they lose their season-openers. That’s because of the PIAA’s new sub-regional playoff format that has combined District 11 with District 2 and District 4 teams in a chase to secure…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wide receiver Patrick Ferguson unleashed his speed in the second half as high-powered Shippensburg made the Kutztown secondary look ragged Saturday afternoon. Helped by Shippensburg’s missed field goals from 44 and 39 yards, Kutztown had trailed by only a touchdown at halftime…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Please, not another inning. Nobody from Birches yelled that out, but shortstop Brendon O’Connor sure thought it a few times against Boyertown in the American Legion Region 2 Tournament semifinals Friday night at Hackett’s Park in Easton. He probably wasn’t alone. After all,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →All-stars from Pennsylvania and Ohio will finally get to pop, juke and, in all likelihood, trash talk each other in the 47th Big 33 Football Classic tonight at Hersheypark Stadium. As usual, the cast on both sides of the field features players headed to Penn State and Ohio…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs have the United States Basketball League title again. Now they are in search of bandwagon jumpers in the Lehigh Valley. But they don’t plan on waiting until next season to find them. On Monday, less than 24 hours after beating the Brooklyn Kings for…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was the type of game meant for playmakers to show off, either on offense or defense Thursday night in Nazareth. Then, maybe enjoy a Big Mac and french fries for a postgame meal with a milkshake or apple pie for dessert. It was, after all, the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Don’t expect Easton coach Steve Shiffert to be all fired up for the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic tonight at Nazareth High. The fund-raising game for the Ronald McDonald’s charities just won’t seem the seem as Easton playing against Parkland or Bethlehem…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Central Catholic coach Donnie Roberts may be one of the luckiest coaches in the history of the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic. He has a quarterback for every situation. If you like pass-happy offenses, which Roberts does, he has quarterbacks who can…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic tailback Fred Rice never cared about being chased down by faster defensive backs or linebackers, because they still had to take him down once they caught up to him. He also never worried much about who was in front of him, because he’s nicknamed “Boomer” for a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland High senior Steve Stern pictured the place on his stacked bedroom wall where he could put his silver medal. Emmaus junior Sam Luff, also a silver medal winner, said he was going to hang his medal on a wall, too. Easton senior Rich Ryan said he was going to give his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This time, the color of the medal didn’t suit Parkland sophomore John Carelli’s taste. That’s because Carelli had gotten spoiled after winning six gold medals over the previous two weeks in the Lehigh Valley Conference and District 11 Class 3A Championships. Otherwise, Carelli…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His speed picked up and his head bobbed as the lead to the finish line narrowed. The previous two years, Allen High senior Eugene Clay had been denied victory in the Class 3A 110-meter high hurdles in the District 11 Track and Field Championships, placing second as a junior and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →No more 800-meter runs for Bethlehem Catholic senior Jules Eggleston. Once was enough, so he hoped. “After I run one lap, my body shuts down,” Eggleston joked. “I’m not ready for two laps.” But it may be hard for Bethlehem Catholic coach Gary Mohylsky to grant Eggleston his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Northern Lehigh sprinter Bob Sutjak cleared hurdles with ease to establish school and meet records Thursday in the Colonial League Track and Field Championships at Bangor Memorial Park. Sutjak had already broken the school record in the 100, 200, and 400-meter dashes, the 110…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs’ attendance figures have not improved with their move from Stabler Arena to Liberty High’s Memorial Gymnasium this spring. But the Dawgs’ operating budget has decreased (from last year’s $300,000 to $250,000) largely because of the move, team owner…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Blowing out the field and breaking school records would not have been as special to Northern Lehigh senior Bob Sutjak had his team not won the meets. The success of the team means more to Sutjak than his personal triumphs. Lately, he’s been able to enjoy both. Last Thursday in a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Antonio Meeking looked like an NFL defensive lineman visiting the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs’ practice Tuesday at Lehigh Carbon Community College. But team vice president and general manager Sam Unera painted a more intimidating picture of the 6-8, 265-pound Meeking, who has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A 1,600-meter relay race that appeared dim after one lap turned into a success story for the Southern Lehigh boys Saturday at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field. That’s because junior Mike Snowden rallied the Spartans from near last place into third with a solid second leg.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The great Wilt Chamberlain and the famous Harlem Globetrotters once dazzled crowds at Liberty High’s Memorial Gymnasium. Former Philadelphia 76ers center Darryl Dawkins hopes to do the same today, but he’ll have to rely on his Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs players. The ‘Dawgs will…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Central Catholic High distance runner Frances Koons capped off two days of fantastic running in the Penn Relays Friday at Franklin Field. Koons, a senior, ran a 2:12.8 anchor-leg that helped the Vikettes place eighth in the High School Girls Championship of America 3,200-meter…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Artie Owens made sure he did his offseason conditioning work when he was with the San Diego Chargers in the late 1970s and 80s, but he also made sure he scheduled his vacation time around the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Owens had been a football and track and field star at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Home-grown official Frank Scagliotta will be sitting by his television this evening in his Slate Belt home watching the Final Four games, cheering more for the three guys wearing zebra shirts than for Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Duke or UConn. Scagliotta, 53, officiated 1996…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A former assistant coach from Lehigh University’s past is still alive in the NCAA Tournament and hoping the big stage could lead to his first head coaching job. Monte Ross, who was an assistant coach at Lehigh under Dave Duke for the 1993-94 season, is in his eighth season as an…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh senior guard Ra Tiah has been a good sport about having to give up his starting spot to a freshman. even though Tiah entered the season as a co-captain and as Lehigh’s poster boy. This was supposed to be his best season. His jump shot and confidence had improved. His…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →American University advanced to its third straight Patriot League Tournament championship game with a victory 65-55 over Colgate on Sunday. But the Eagles would have felt cheated had Lehigh not also won. That’s because the Eagles’ two regular-season losses to Lehigh remain sore…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Now might be the time to jump on the Lehigh bandwagon. The Mountain Hawks will be returning to Stabler Arena with a chance to win their first Patriot League Tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988. Senior guard Austen Rowland made…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a physical Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal that featured bad shooting and players galore who tumbled hard to the hardwood floor Saturday at The Show Place Arena. Tempers of players and coaches flared. The rugged play never ceased. It was the last game of the day,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Top-seeded Lehigh never panicked against No. 8-seeded Navy Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament. Not when it appeared to have its NCAA Tournament calling card almost disconnected in the first half, as evidence by its 7-for-26 shooting. Not when it…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh and Lafayette both slumped at the end of the Patriot League season and both could be headed for one-and-done games in the league tournament this weekend. Lehigh, which went 10-4 in league play to finish tied for first and earn the No. 1 seed for the first time ever, needs…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh basketball ascended to a larger-than-ever level after senior guard Austen Rowland and coach Billy Taylor received the Patriot League’s highest individual honors on Wednesday. The biggest honor for both, though, has yet to come. And that’s a trip to the NCAA Tournament.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Danny Hinds was one of the many Drexel players disappointed with Saturday’s 76-64 loss at Delaware, which prevented the Dragons from clinching first place in the Colonial Athletic Conference. But Hinds, a 6-6 junior forward from Central Catholic, also knows how to look past the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lafayette women’s basketball team that was on the Kirby Sports Center floor when the final buzzer sounded Saturday afternoon, got tackled. Soon after, all the players got drenched with water. “We did it,” Lafayette senior forward Colleen Fitzpatrick said was her immediate…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College is in a must-win situation entering its regular-season finale at 3:15 today against American at Kirby Sports Center. In the last three games, all losses, the Leopards’ defensive and rebounding weaknesses have been exposed. “I saw them every day in practice,”…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University senior guard Austen Rowland zoned in on his coach Billy Taylor longer than usual at practice on Wednesday. Rowland could not stop staring at the sparkling watch Taylor was wearing and was wondering what it would be like to win a similar piece of jewelry this…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh students did not storm onto the Stabler Arena floor after the Mountain Hawks’ 78-73 win over Lafayette Sunday. So Lehigh senior guard Ra Tiah raced over, leaped over the railing and dove into a frenzied sea of Lehigh students wearing Lehigh T-shirts. “I told a couple…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Temple assistant coach Mark Macon and college basketball analyst Digger Phelps, a former coach at Notre Dame, both need to get up to speed with what Saint Joseph’s has done this season. That would help keep both from putting their feet in their mouths as the No. 2-ranked Hawks…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College can now focus on its rematch with Lehigh. But the Leopards won’t carry any momentum into the showdown for first place in the Patriot League after being manhandled 79-61 by Bucknell Friday night. A crowd of 3,308, the second-largest at the 13-month-old Sojka…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College coach Fran O’Hanlon couldn’t have been more correct Saturday when he said, “We haven’t won anything yet.” O’Hanlon was responding to Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard’s statement that he had picked Lafayette to win the Patriot League title. Lafayette (18-5) beat…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Stop, pop, simply hot. That was Lehigh senior guard Austen Rowland during a second-half scoring tear that overwhelmed American and enabled the Mountain Hawks to coast to an 86-65 Patriot League victory Friday night at Stabler Arena. Rowland entered averaging a league-best 19.6…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College’s bid for a 14-0 regular-season record in the Patriot League ended with the Leopards’ 85-77 loss to Colgate on Friday in Hamilton, N.Y. But the the Leopards’ hope to win the league’s regular-season and tournament titles remains alive. Even if Lafayette coach…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Northampton High athletic director Mike Schneider would like nothing more than for interest in the school’s football program to boom following the Jeff Pammer’s ceremony this morning for NCAA national letter of intent day. Pammer, a multiple position star who was named The…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh women narrowed the gap against Holy Cross to one point five times in the second half Friday night at Stabler Arena. But each time, either a missed shot, turnover, or defensive breakdown prevented the Mountain Hawks from taking the lead. The blown opportunities cost…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh got its transition game in gear in the second half and had little trouble running away from Holy Cross Friday night at Stabler Arena. Senior guard Austen Rowland, who shot just 2-for-11 from the field, keyed a second-half surge with his passing, defense, poise and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There are arenas that are great because of their style, seating capacity, or crowd noise. Lafayette College’s Kirby Sports Center is not exactly a state-of-the-art facility. It lacks the pizzazz of other venues because of its lack of theater-type seating and has a seating…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →With 56 seconds remaining in Sunday’s game at Kirby Sports Center, Lafayette senior Rob Dill emphatically blocked a Bucknell shot. Winston Davis, his teammate, recovered the ball just before it went out of bounds. But Bucknell, whose physical, defensive-oriented team had held…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College’s Kirby Sports Center rocked like the Palestra in Philadelphia and all the other famous basketball venues in the country Friday night. Lehigh and Lafayette, both battling to remain undefeated in the Patriot League, went through 19 lead changes, a dramatic close…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tickets are still available for tonight’s Lafayette-Lehigh men’s basketball game at Kirby Sports Center in Easton. But not many. “The game is almost sold out,” said Phil LaBella, Lafayette’s sports information director. That’s because two hot teams will be battling for first…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University now has a fun-and-gun offense, led by guards Austen Rowland and Jose Olivero, that is entertaining and producing winning results. Maybe it’s a taste of what’s to come in future years under Billy Taylor, the second-year coach who now sports a 25-18 record after…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Austen Rowland’s mother saw him play for the first time in a Lehigh University basketball uniform Saturday afternoon. M. Michele Rowlands picked the perfect game to attend. She just had to wait a while for the game to end, but it was worth it as Lehigh relied on the one-two…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Villanova showed Allen High football star Eugene Clay the town and got what it wished for in return. Clay, a two-time Morning Call All-Area selection and Associated Press PIAA Class 4A second-team pick at wideout in December, announced Tuesday that he had orally committed to the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He takes at least two insulin shots a day to help control his diabetes. Sometimes he’s woozy and so fatigued that he could just skip a practice or a game without anybody complaining. But the fire within Lafayette College senior forward Mike Farrell burns too much. He scores,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University’s athletic administration might want to consider giving head men’s basketball coach Billy Taylor a contract extension — and maybe offer to pay his dry cleaning bill. It might not hurt to send his wife Avlon a dozen or so roses once in a while as an expression…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor has established himself as a disciplinarian in his first two seasons. And nobody is openly complaining. Maybe that’s because Taylor has proven himself to be a good coach who is winning games, even when the odds appear to be against the Mountain Hawks.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The acrobatic one- and two-handed dunks, quick moves and soft jumpers, defensive handcuffing and blocked shots by Villanova sophomore Curtis Sumpter made for a miserable homecoming Sunday for UNC-Greensboro coach Fran McCaffery. McCaffery, a native of Philadelphia who attended…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →You’ve probably seen the Hollywood movies where the former water boy grows up to to earn a position on the high school football team. Rarely is that position as a starter. Hardly ever does the water boy become the star. But in a real life story, Northampton senior Jeff Pammer is…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Aliquippa High’s multi-purpose star Darrelle Revis had breakaway speed and open-field moves, which he used to keep breaking the back of Northern Lehigh’s defense Sunday in the PIAA Class 2A championship football game at Hersheypark Stadium. “He has special giddy-up,” said…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Northern Lehigh needed one last touchdown to cap off the greatest season in school history with the most memorable comeback Sunday in the PIAA Class 2A Championship game at Hersheypark Stadium. But the dreams of the Bulldogs players and estimated 3,500 fans were shattered along…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The men in suits who represent the NCAA and the college basketball coaches who are often at odds with them, met in Chicago before the season started and discussed ways to help change apparent perceptions that coaches will go to unethical lengths to win and stay on top. Also…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The University of Connecticut is no longer No. 1 in all major polls today, but the Huskies will still be the best team Lehigh will play this season. And one of the toughest ever. Lehigh did play Georgetown and Patrick Ewing in the 1985 NCAA Tournament, losing, 68-43, and the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh University women’s basketball team appears to have a mountain of a task trying to replace the Patriot League’s all-time career rebounding leader, Anne Tierney, at center. Tierney, who was voted to the league’s first team three straight seasons, was also the Mountain…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s basketball game on Dec. 2 isn’t highlighted or circled on the Mountain Hawks’ schedule. But the game against Connecticut, led by center and projected NBA lottery pick Emeka Okaforare, will mark the first time in school history that the Mountain Hawks have played the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College fifth-year senior guard Winston Davis has envisioned what his coach, Fran O’Hanlon, has refused to think about. That’s a Lafayette team ready and capable of unseating Holy Cross as Patriot League champion and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For the fifth straight year, Easton and Bethlehem Catholic will meet in a meaningful game. But it’s more meaningful for Easton. The Red Rovers (7-1, 4-0) can clinch the Lehigh Valley Conference Northampton Division title outright and the No. 1 spot and homefield advantage in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Despite their uniforms and cleats being covered in mud, both Emmaus and Whitehall turned to their defenses to make their Lehigh Valley Conference matchup even nastier Friday night in Whitehall. That played more to Whitehall’s advantage, which was a crunching change from the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It didn’t matter that the Parkland High offense stumbled for most of its Lehigh Valley Conference game against Central Catholic because the Trojans’ defense gave a bone-crushing performance Saturday night at J. Birney Crum Stadium. Led by defensive end Travis Decker, the Trojans…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Opportunity to beat an elite team knocks for Liberty when the Hurricanes play Bethlehem Catholic at 7 tonight at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. “It knocks too many times,” said Liberty coach Tim Moncman, which isn’t exactly a joke considering that the Hurricanes (3-2)…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Notre Dame of Green Pond junior Chris Unera busted through the line of scrimmage and mad thoughts rushed through his mind as he stared down the Palisades kicker and holder on an extra-point attempt during a recent Colonial League game. “I didn’t know if I should tackle the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Dribble, dribble, make a defender miss. Dribble, dribble, make another defender miss. And a third? No problem. Salisbury junior forward Jason Yeisley made another Pen Argyl defenseman appear helpless trying to prevent Yeisley from ringing up another goal in the Colonial League…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Salisbury junior forward Jason Yeisley is being talked about by Colonial League coaches more than any other player in the league. And it’s for good reason. Yeisley has scored 53 goals the last two seasons, and may be just as prolific dialing up net as he leads the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Like all the players in the McDonald’s Football Classic, Bethlehem Catholic quarterback Adam Bednarik will wear his school’s helmet for the final time at 7 tonight at Nazareth High. It just won’t be the same Golden Hawks helmet he wore during the season, the one that was loaded…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He was in the middle of a game with Emmaus High when his helmet clamped down awkwardly, resulting in a nasty gash on his face. “It was painful,” said Parkland High senior Nick Pinchek. But Pinchek finished the game and continued to play through the discomfort of the gash until…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Allentown Sports Festival’s Web site had 44,955 hits from July 1 to July 13 last year. “The athletes go on the Web a lot,” said SportsFest chairman Ray Atiyeh, adding, “And we have a pretty good webmaster [Kathy Moyer]. She lists all the winners, even from past years. It’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Allen’s Eugene Clay jumped up and exclaimed, “Yes!” His teammate, Desroy Miller, said joyfully, “Wow,” to a close bystander. You’d have thought that the Canary juniors had won their races. But Miller was second in the 100-meter dash and Clay second in the 110 high hurdles in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Freedom track coach Ray Herman, who has been coaching and winning consistently in the sport for more than 30 years, has a request that he wants all the principals and members of the District 11 Committee to consider. “I prefer the two-day meet, like our league [Lehigh Valley…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →As he prepared to try to vault to a personal-best height, Catasauqua junior Allan Fatzinger paid no attention to the deceptively positive omens that appeared. There was a rainbow to his left and the sun had just broken through the clouds on his right. But Fatzinger focused only…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Willie Chandler scored the second-most points ever in Division III basketball. Now the 6-5 guard from College Misericordia near Scranton is scoring big with the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs and for himself in the United States Basketball League. Chandler scored 2,898 points in four…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs changed uniforms at halftime. They didn’t change the way they were drubbing the Brevard Blue Ducks in transition Saturday night at Stabler Arena. And the fun continued even when the ball wasn’t in play. Former NBA center Olden Polynice playfully…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In the next four weeks league, district and state champions will be crowned in track and field. May is designed for that. April is supposed to be about building speed, strength, distance and mental toughness. Unfortunately, April was also a misleading month for far too many area…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs rookie Matt Logie has always had his favorite shooting marks on the Stabler Arena floor. Most of them are beyond the arc. In four seasons at Lehigh, Logie ranked as one of the top 3-pointers shooters in the Patriot League. He may be on his way to earning…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Southern Lehigh junior Steve Hixon was being pelted by raindrops as he awaited the baton Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field. Winning the 1,600 relay heat was impossible because of the distance the Spartans trailed before Hixon began his anchor leg. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Confetti will not be dropped from the rafters and fireworks won’t be fired off in the building. No big-named musician will sing the National Anthem. The Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs just want to open their home season at Stabler Arena, please the fans with dunks, long-range…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic sprinters stampeded the grass field, perhaps awakening the dead the faster they ran, and passed the baton from hand-to-hand at Wednesday’s practice. Odd as it seemed, practice was at Memorial Park Cemetery, located across the street from the high school. “This…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University senior Matt Logie might get his chance to play in the same game with, and maybe even pop a jumper in high school phenom LeBron James’ face before Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady or any of the other NBA stars do. That’s providing James, the projected first pick of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Darryl Dawkins, the former Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets center, is currently being more outspoken than during any of his 14 seasons in the NBA. He is more vocal about many NBA issues, including those involving inflated salaries and egos. He is naming names and telling…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Who’s back? Who’s fast? Who’s faster? Who’s stronger and hungrier? Every spring those are the No. 1 questions in track and field. Nothing has changed, except the weather has been absolutely horrible, making it difficult for sprinters and field performers to train like normal.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The conference and NCAA Tournament games of March should not be overshadowed by the scandal and controversy of a few naughty programs. Because for every Georgia, Fresno State and St. Bonaventure, there are dozens upon dozens of Lehighs and Lafayettes, Penns and Princetons —…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh went cold at the wrong time, blowing a 10-point lead against Bucknell in the Patriot League quarterfinals Saturday. Even the Mountain Hawks’ best shooter, senior Matt Logie, went more than 15 minutes without scoring. By the time he connected again, tapping in a miss, only…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Teary eyes from the bite of defeat was something the Lehigh and Lafayette women shared in Friday’s Patriot League quarterfinals at The Show Place Arena. Lafayette lost 60-40 to top-seeded Holy Cross because it did not have nearly enough depth or equal talent to avoid being…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor didn’t hesitate to make bold coaching moves all season. He won because of that. On Friday, Taylor announced academic shortcomings have forced him to suspend star point guard Zlatko Savovic for the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game at 7:30…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →First-year Lehigh coach Billy Taylor is ready and confident as he leads the Mountain Hawks into the Patriot League tournament this weekend. These are the games that can lead to tears trickling down the faces of the losers and exuberance overwhelming the winners. It takes three…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh freshman guard Dawn Gorynski will be recovering from knee surgery in Manhattan today instead of running the point for Lehigh tonight at the Patriot League Tournament. An MRI exam Thursday revealed Gorynski has a medial collateral ligament tear in her right knee. The news…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette won back-to-back Patriot League Tournament championships in 1999 and 2000 before Holy Cross became the league’s team to beat. So Leopards coach Fran O’Hanlon knows how to win in March. This weekend, he’ll get a chance to prove his astuteness again, as the Leopards try…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Billy Taylor won people over by winning more games than any other first-year men’s basketball coach at Lehigh. On Wednesday, the Patriot League named Taylor its coach of the year, marking the first such accomplishment for Lehigh. Taylor’s honor was one of four postseason awards…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The men’s basketball team at Lehigh is receiving ongoing accolades for posting a 16-11 regular-season record, which marks the first time since 1990-91 that the team has a winning record entering the Patriot League Tournament. But Lehigh has been stuck on 16 wins since beating…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh had its 11-game winning streak at Stabler Arena snapped this weekend, losing both home games against Colgate and Holy Cross. But the fans who stood and applauded as the coaches and players walked off the court following a 72-64 loss to Holy Cross on Sunday, seemed to care…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Maybe it’s time to send out a search unit to find the Lehigh team that, at one point of the season, was in first place in the Patriot League. That team won, in part, because seniors Matt Logie and Zlatko Savovic were making clutch plays down the stretch to win close games. That…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh and Lafayette have split their two regular season meetings, but both need to do better in their final two Patriot League games this week. If both go 2-0, they could end up as the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds in the league tournament, which has its quarterfinal and semifinal rounds…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Little room was open on the baseline when Lafayette College senior guard Kim Costello began her dribble toward the basket, and ultimately, triumph, in her final home game at Kirby Sports Center Sunday afternoon. Leopards junior forward Colleen Fitzpatrick, who had been the most…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College senior guard Andrew Pleick saved his best scoring game for his final home game at Kirby Sports Center Sunday. He also handled the ball with exceptional care and did a good job distributing it to his teammates, much like he has all season. But when the Leopards’…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →About the only thing that kept Justin DeBerry from practicing in those scorching Tucson, Ariz., summers was a dust storm. Outside of that, the Lafayette College guard shot jumpers in his backyard for hours, unconcerned about heat stroke despite 100-degree temperatures. “You get…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Justin DeBerry and Winston Davis, two players Lafayette College needs to have solid performances in most games to have a chance to win, both struggled shooting Friday night against Bucknell at Kirby Sports Center. Without either in peak form, Lafayette couldn’t keep pace with a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Making the adjustment from the high school to college game has been, at times, a smooth experience for Lehigh freshmen Chris Stephenson and Mitch Gilfillan. At times, however, it’s also seemed dreadful. Like the games where neither plays much or scores any points. Stephenson, a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh found American University not so hospitable, losing 69-59 Saturday at Bender Arena. The loss was Lehigh’s third straight on the road to a Patriot League team, preventing coach Billy Taylor from winning his 16th game and placing his name in the school record book for…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In normal games, Lafayette College guard Justin DeBerry could probably keep track of his rebounds in his head. But the 6-3 junior was scrapping so hard to get position and yank down boards in the Leopards’ 57-43 Patriot League victory over Army Wednesday night at Kirby Sports…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Webster Dictionary definition of ugly was played out early and often in the Lehigh-Bucknell Patriot League game Tuesday night at Stabler Arena. Both teams shot a barrage of bricks and had no rhythm from the opening tip-off on. But despite shooting 38 percent from the field,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Making the varsity basketball team at the United States Naval Academy as a freshman this season was starting to look like an impossibility for former Parkland star Adam Lane until his coach called him over after a JV practice for some stunning news. “Coach just called me and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Years of playing and making six-figure salaries as a professional basketball player has spoiled former Lehigh University great Daren Queenan, who was considering applying for an assistant coaching job at Winthrop University until he was told about the salary. “When coach [Gregg]…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Despite his arm being smacked, Zlatko “Zo” Savovic hung in the air long enough to dish to Matt Crawford for a one-handed dunk. It was just another in a long list of deft plays the Lehigh senior guard made against Navy Saturday night. Behind Savovic’s well-rounded play and senior…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Once Billy Taylor decided to pass up the 9-to-5 job and start coaching basketball, it seemed likely he’d rise quickly from assistant coach to Division I head coach. That’s what Fran McCaffery thought. The former Lehigh coach, now in his fourth season as coach of the University…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Two tough road losses last weekend to Holy Cross and Colgate did not spoil what was a successful first half of play in the Patriot League for the Lehigh men’s basketball team. The losses — 63-39 at Holy Cross and 77-68 at Colgate — have the Mountain Hawks waiting impatiently to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A road trip that began with the Lehigh men holding onto sole possession of first place in the Patriot League, ended with a second straight setback. It wasn’t for a lack of hustle because Lehigh played hard on both ends of the court in a 77-68 loss to Colgate Sunday in a Patriot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was 18 seconds of pulsating, heart-pumping action, and at the end of the frenzy Friday night, Lehigh junior Teniece Johnson stood at midcourt with her arms raised. Johnson’s pick off of in inbounds pass enabled Lehigh to rejoice and go dancing off Holy Cross’ Hart Center…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh’s big challenge against Patriot League defending champion Holy Cross was more of a big chill, and ultimately a big letdown in a 63-39 loss Friday night at the Hart Center. Nobody in a Lehigh uniform made a field goal in the first half except senior guard Zlatko Savovic,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Patriot League standings has a sole occupant of first place. It’s not two-time defending league champion Holy Cross, which has the league’s tallest and best frontcourt; it’s Lehigh. But the Crusaders can move back into a tie for the top spot on Friday by beating the Mountain…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Cleaning off the glass with solid rebounding is something Lehigh senior Anne Tierney had considered a part of her job throughout her college basketball career. Tierney’s biggest rebounding job has been helping the Engineers (7-10, 4-1 Patriot) come back from a 1-7 start. It was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The 197th meeting between rivals Lehigh and Lafayette tipped off with enough fireworks to light up the city of Bethlehem Friday night. That’s because Lehigh and Lafayette went full-throttle at each other in a Patriot League game before a loud crowd of 3,892 at Stabler Arena. It…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The 197th meeting between rivals Lehigh and Lafayette tipped off with enough fireworks to light up the city of Bethlehem Friday night. That’s because Lehigh and Lafayette went full-throttle at each other in a Patriot League game before a loud crowd of 3,892 at Stabler Arena. It…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh men’s basketball coach who seemed to be tailor-made for the position will have the opportunity to prove himself and his team to the man who taught and motivated him back in Illinois. Dennis Taylor, whose son Billy is in his first season as Lehigh’s coach, will make…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College scrapped back with a much-improved offense, a hustling defense that forced turnovers, and just about everything else it had left over the final 10 minutes of the second half against the University of Pennsylvania Tuesday night at Kirby Sports Center. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College gets a break from its Patriot League schedule tonight, but the Leopards’ 7:30 home game against the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania is a step up in competition. It could be considered a level higher than the Leopards’ games against Arizona State on Nov.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Coaching on the big-time level has brought big-time thrills to former Lafayette College assistant coach Pat Brogan, who is in his first season as an assistant coach at Penn State. But Brogan has not forgotten the eight seasons he spent coaching at Lafayette, a period that ended…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Holy Cross’ upset of Boston College and Lafayette’s stunning defeat of the University of Massachusetts have done little to improve the Patriot League’s extremely low Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), and as a result, only the league tournament champion appears likely to advance to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The music preferences of Lehigh starting guards Ra Tiah and Zlatko Savovic are about as different as their offensive styles of play. Tiah prefers rap music over anything else, especially songs performed by Jay-Z. Savovic is more into alternative tunes. “I like Three Doors Down,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Big East Conference has been a headache to Patriot League teams this season, though not as big as you might think. Not even to improved Lehigh, which had a chance to drown the fans in Coral Gables, Fla. on Dec. 30 with disappointment before Ohio State’s football team did the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Remember all the carelessness of Lehigh men’s basketball in the past when the opponent turned up the heat with pressure defense? And what about all the defensive breakdowns? And the seeming loss of passion for the game at times? Well those things may stay memories because you…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Those who wondered whether 28-year-old Billy Taylor could rescue the Lehigh men’s basketball team from the cloud it has been under for so long have their answer. Ten games into Taylor’s rookie season as a coach, Lehigh has confidence, better chemistry, and — best of all — a 6-4…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The way Parkland senior lineman Cody Decker likes to eat, the refrigerator at the Decker’s house has to be stacked with food. “He’s chowing all the time,” said Decker’s father Gary. “He’s at the refrigerator now.” But Decker wasn’t looking for junk food. He’s more interested in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Winston Davis, the slasher, and Justin DeBerry, the shooter, are not so concerned that Brian Burke is no longer around to dial up 3-pointers with the game on the line for Lafayette. Neither is point guard Andrew Pleick or forward Mike Farrell, who, like Davis and DeBerry, would…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →First-year Lehigh men’s coach Billy Taylor decided he’d rather have his wits and the moxie of his players tested the second game of the season with a road trip to Big Ten power Illinois Saturday night than to play Wagner. The Engineers played Wagner the second game of the season…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Northern Lehigh used a bruising defense and two first-half scoring plays by all-purpose star Ryan Hluschak to take all the pop out of Springfield (Montco) in a District 11 Class 2A subregional semifinal playoff game Saturday night in Slatington. It was the type of grinding and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Northern Lehigh coach Jim Tkach has been getting more “kicks” out of Colonial League games this season than ever before. That’s because junior kicker Aaron Mill has thrilled Tkach, his teammates and Bulldogs fans with his field goal accuracy. Even on rainy nights and muddy…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Bethlehem Catholic, Catasauqua and Salisbury football teams each won weekend games that provided encouraging signs about the success they might enjoy the rest of the season. For Bethlehem Catholic, the Class 4A state title that has eluded the last two Becahi teams seems all…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Billy Taylor was a man trying to adjust to a different environment in his first head coaching job, and to top it all off, he had to win over some of his emotionally depleted players — players who had just lost their coach and agonized through a 5-23 season. He also had a student…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →All that counts to Parkland High senior Nick Pinchek is that he’s happy and the Trojans are winning. Never mind the fact that Pinchek won’t come anywhere close to the 1,321 yards he rushed for last season as the Trojans’ featured tailback. Never mind that he was moved to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A soft pillow should have been among the requirements for players signing up for the Pius X football team this season. It would have been put to good use. The Royals, a Class 1A school in Roseto, will log 2,500 miles on six away games. On Friday they traveled to Shamokin, losing…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The mind games started as early as 4 a.m. when Dieruff wide receiver Joel Rupp’s father had him running 40-yard sprints. “I tell him you have got to be ready to run whenever the coaches ask you,” said Rupp Sr. The mind games also extended from 20 feet away when Rupp’s father…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Donnie Roberts might have looked like a maintenance worker to people driving or walking by on American Parkway the way he was manicuring the Central Catholic High practice field Saturday. More people might have thought the same of Roberts following the opening day of football…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Darryl Dawkins has been a professional basketball player and head coach, and now some of the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs hope he is promoted one more level. Veterans Ronnie Fields and Cory Hightower, who helped the team win the franchise’s first United States Basketball League…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs spent about as much energy trying to beat the Adirondack Wildcats as Lehigh University officials probably used trying to keep Stabler Arena cool Sunday afternoon. Cool play that included slashes through the lane for baskets and high-flying dunks were…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The search for new players to fill the void left by graduating seniors and transfers led Lafayette men’s basketball coach Fran O’Hanlon into the European talent pool. O’Hanlon found two 6-7 forwards who, he said, are athletic but need work. In other words, Miran Omanovic, a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Three players with impressive athletic backgrounds have been sold on Lehigh University and men’s basketball coach Billy Taylor. Lehigh, despite having authored only one winning season since going 19-10 in 1991, has become the choice of 6-1 transfer guard Austen Rowland and of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University’s rookie men’s basketball coach Billy Taylor has quickly found out how much of a demanding job it is to maintain cohesiveness in a Division I program. Taylor, 28, has also come to understand that there are some things that he just can not control. Like…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Now it’s time to run faster, throw further, and jump higher as the District 11 Class 3A and 2A track and field championships draw closer. “You don’t need much to motivate the kids now,” said Easton coach Frank Messa. Indeed, they now must “just do it.’ Even those who have been…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Allentown A’s youth football organization probably doesn’t know it, but the return of one of the Lehigh Valley’s most popular recreational events could eventually lead to the A’s home field at Bucky Boyle Park receiving a much-needed manicure. If it happens, members of the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Winning the Colonial League track and field championship in the 1,600-meter run was basically a given for Southern Lehigh’s Tim Erickson before he even stepped onto the all-weather surface at Bangor Memorial Park Friday. Even with an injured right knee. But Erickson’s runaway…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The answer to the most intriguing question of the scholastic track and field season, “Who has been dedicated enough to win a state title,” will be revealed over the next two weeks. For now, most people in District 11 know that Freedom junior Beth Crocus has a serious shot at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Outside of the Franklin Field stadium where a record-crowd of 50,827 cheered, clapped and waved Jamaican and American flags on Saturday, Lehigh University’s Patrick Dugan and Lafayette College’s Ethan Blose captured a piece of Penn Relays glory in the javelin event. Dugan’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A Penn Relays race that Southern Lehigh senior Tim Erickson sat in the stands of Franklin Field and prayed for for more than three hours Friday, was going fine after two laps. But keeping pace in the studded field of high school boys’ mile runners in Day 2 of the 108th running…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nadine Keller’s school teachers at Northampton Junior High School do not have to worry about athletics taking away Keller’s academic focus. She’s an A student. “I’ve had just one B,” said Keller, who is in eighth grade, adding that she also had a B in seventh grade English. Her…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Off to the side, Mark Lesko stood. Other players were loafing around, some were showboat dunking, throwing the ball off the back wall inside the Lehigh Carbon Community College gymnasium, catching it and then jamming. Others were swishing jumpers from way out. But some of those…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He’s 28 years old, personable, vigorous on the recruiting trails, and he’s the first African-American head coach at Lehigh University. He’s also married with a baby girl due in early June. Billy Taylor is also much more than that to University of North Carolina-Greensboro head…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University batters rode the slight breeze around and twice out of Moravian College’s Gillespie Field in a 11-5 nonleague victory Wednesday afternoon. The first Lehigh batter to jack a ball over the fence was sophomore third baseman Jesse Novalis, whose 350-foot-plus shot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Some players have shown up at the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs tryout camps the last two weeks with a support team which has included girlfriends, wives and family members. Juwan Justice, a 6-4 guard from East Stroudsburg University, has traveled to Lehigh Carbon Community College…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The telephone at the Pennsylvania VallyDawgs headquarters in Easton rang more often than usual Tuesday, but not all the calls were from people wondering if head coach Darryl Dawkins was really serious about wanting to coach at Lehigh University. Inquiring minds, mostly those of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The marketing department at Lehigh University would probably have some fun promoting the men’s basketball program, perhaps billing it as “chocolate delight,” if the man formerly known as “Chocolate Thunder” is hired as the school’s next head coach. Don’t laugh. This is serious.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pat Brogan played as a freshman at Lafayette College in the mid-1980s, then got cut the next season. Now, he’s Fran O’Hanlon’s top assistant coach at Lafayette. If a similar pattern follows at Lehigh, then Brogan will end up being the Engineers’ next head men’s basketball coach.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His university asked him to stand out more than he does on the basketball court, to project what Lehigh is about in an astute and more vocal way than most student athletes. Bobby Mbom did that time and again, speaking to national scholars entering the school, serving on the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s time for Lehigh University to consider making a change in philosophy and make history by hiring its first African-American head men’s basketball coach and just the second ever in the Patriot League. Maybe Lehigh search committee chairman Glenn Hofmann should first look at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Darryl Dawkins was treated like royalty during his visit, along with his Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs bosses, to the Philippines three years ago. He loved the food and the environment. He made jokes and signed tons of autographs. Dawkins even worked a few basketball clinics. Now,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In the end, all the hustle any coach could expect of his players was there. Victory just was not. Neither was the patience of Lehigh University Athletic Director Joe Sterrett, who decided on Tuesday not to extend the annual coaching contract of men’s head basketball coach Sal…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The verbal outbursts from the Scream I and II movies will compare little to the noise level inside the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra at 8 tonight in the most important game of the Ivy League season. “It’s going to be very, very, very packed,” said Carla Shultzberg,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette had every reason to be concerned about visits into the lane by American University’s Patriot League Player of the Year Patrick Doctor Sunday evening. Doctor had the type of medicine Lafayette could not ingest. Mostly, the dosage came in strong moves that were often…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Two regular-season meetings against Army, two Lehigh victories. But there was nothing charming about the Engineers’ third meeting against Army, a 71-66 loss in the women’s quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament Friday at the Show Place Arena. With Army hitting just…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Defensive players are sometimes faced with no-win situations when Lafayette’s Brian Burke and Lehigh’s Matt Logie are in their zones, both converting shots from distances that most players wouldn’t dare shoot from. In playground terminology, both just enjoy trying to shoot the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh senior Bobby Mbom, quite undersized at 6-5 for the type of work that he’s commanded to do inside the paint, is unlike so many college basketball players. The sport does not make him. Few players that Mbom goes up against make his heart race uncontrollably for fear that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Something about Lehigh is starting to impress me. No, it’s not the campus. Too hilly. Certainly, it’s not one of the university’s nicknames. It’s the men’s basketball program, yes, that 5-22 team that closed out the regular season by losing 11 of its final 12 games. Until…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For one play in the first half, the Lehigh Engineers looked more like the Harlem Globetrotters than the last place team in the Patriot League Sunday afternoon at Stabler Arena. That’s because it was capped off by a deft passing sequence of Alex Jensen to Scott Taylor to Alan…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Never mind the 20-point Lehigh Engineers’ lead. The suspicions were heavy that it would not last as long as Brian Burke kept shooting. Distance did not matter, neither did hands swarming in his face. It was Burke’s final home game of his Lafayette career before a crowd of 3,124…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The guessing game of who’s in, who’s out, and who needs to do what to get into the good graces of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has heated up as college basketball enters its final two weeks of the regular season. Locally, Lafayette (13-12) and Lehigh (4-21) can only…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →I stopped by Lafayette College’s Kirby Sports Center on Monday and was amazed at the skinny kid with the braids gliding effortlessly through the air, doing windmill dunks and several other impressive slams. It was Leopards sophomore Winston Davis. I said to myself: “Why is this…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh losses keep coming, many of them by close margins. Whether by two points, the Engineers’ narrowest setback, or by their season-worst defeat of 19 points, little consolation is gained. Lehigh remains in the Patriot League basement with a 1-7 record and is 4-17 overall…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Some may remember the ugly stuff — the errant passes, wild shots, hard falls and maybe even the Lehigh University mascot crawling underneath the back stage at one point. Others may remember the seven ties and five lead changes in the second half of the Lehigh-Lafayette Patriot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The noise level is more boisterous and the atmosphere more lively at the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra than at any other college gymnasium in Philadelphia, especially in matchups between Big 5 teams. “This is a great place to play when it is filled,” Penn junior Ugonna…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →What seemed like a possible steal for Lehigh turned into a late giveaway against American Wednesday night at Stabler Arena. Victory was there for the taking with a little over 12 minutes remaining, and the Engineers leading the Patriot League’s co-first place occupants from the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →“Yo, get over here,” yelled the well-dressed man with the salt-and-pepper hair on a snowy Saturday afternoon. Lehigh was down five at home and looking very much like a team that was about to drift even further away from Holy Cross in a Patriot League matchup. Then, Lehigh coach…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s mid-January now, the third week of league play all over the land. More rivals are hooking up, intensity escalating. What happened in November and December, setting the record straight, still matters. Just not as much. Win the league regular season title and gain extra…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The “Beast” arrived just in time to take a bite out of Colgate with a yeoman offensive play, and helped ignite a furious Lehigh rally in the final 9 minutes of Saturday night. For some reason, Bobby “The Beast” Mbom did not play a lick in the first half, but Engineers coach Sal…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Now that the Patriot League games are set to begin, the Lehigh and Lafayette men’s teams believe they will triumph more often than fail the rest of January and February. And March, if one is still alive following the league tournament. Never mind the previous 13 games for Lehigh…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Too much “hot Koko” on a cold Saturday night and countless spot-up 3’s early on led to an inevitable doomsday for Lehigh by halftime Saturday night. But getting thumped by the more skilled, quicker, smoother, sharper-shooting Penn Quakers was a picture that had been in Lehigh…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →As the 2002 part of the college basketball season rolls in, let’s take a capsule look at what has gone on and what is expected of Division I teams in the Lehigh Valley/Philadelphia/University Park areas. Lehigh — Playing against weaker teams has enabled the Engineers (3-8) to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →What happens when the head basketball coach goes on a rampage, criticizing one player in particular in front of everybody in the gymnasium? Both are boiling, the coach from repeating himself and not getting expected results, and the player from being berated by a man other than…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bewilderment rocked the Penn State campus two weeks ago when Yale beat the Nittany Lions on the basketball court. It has happened before. It’s just that nobody on the current Nittany Lions roster or head coach Jerry Dunn was even born when the Bulldogs beat Penn State 33-31 in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a game that was lost in a crushing way, kind of like The Grinch waiting for everybody to go to sleep before stealing gifts. Only this was a game Lafayette had control over, holding leads of seven points in both halves. But carelessness with the ball and missed layup…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Watching from the bench at the climax of a Big 5 matchup in the old and stuffy Palestra seemed a little odd for Drexel freshman Danny Hinds Wednesday night. Especially since the game against neighboring University of Pennsylvania was close. “I don’t know if I would have been…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has been close. Really close to Miami of the Big East in the second half on Saturday. The Leopards also led Penn State by 13 points in the first half last Wednesday. The two road games ended in defeats, 75-66 to Penn State and 79-69 to Miami. Lafayette beat Albany,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Three recruits with ball-handling skills and from far away places will be joining Lehigh’s men’s basketball program next year. They are not just average players, either, to hear Engineers coach Sal Mentesana tell it. He has been all decked out in a suit and tie to see them all…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They wait. They think, visualizing as best they can how the season-opening college basketball game will go. Winning big, yes that’s it, but the butterflies are still there. So are the what-ifs, like “What if we lose?” Like us, the nationally ranked team getting upset by the team…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The voice that has been known to rattle the ears of players was back at the Lehigh men’s basketball practice Nov. 3, along with his quick twist of the body and eyebrow raised in frustration. It was nothing unusual because Sal Mentesana, entering his sixth season as had coach of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Billy Hahn wants the administration, fans and anybody else associated with the La Salle University men’s basketball program to know that he’s a construction worker, not a miracle worker. He wants everybody to allow him to build and to have patience as he tries to lead La Salle…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Allentown Central Catholic graduate Danny Marakovits and Parkland High product Brad Szalachowski turned cheek on what other people thought and used hearts that are actually larger than their abilities to make the rosters of Division I teams as walk-ons. Right now, Marakovits, a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One Danny rested in a hotel room Saturday night in Greensboro, N.C., another in his dorm room at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Neither player will be suiting up in a college uniform anytime soon, Hinds because he is in a cast and out at least another six weeks with a high…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The guessing game doesn’t work on College Hill. So don’t ask Lafayette men’s basketball coach Fran O’Hanlon to pick a number of games he might win in the 2001-02 season. He can’t do it. He doesn’t want to do it. Besides, a fair prognostication cannot be made now. The Leopards…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →You can look at the 102 losses in five seasons and wonder why Sal Mentesana continues to have passion for his job as coach of the Lehigh men’s basketball team. “I’ve never questioned what I do,” the 53-year-old Mentesana said. “I love this. My passion for the game has not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was the 11th day of December last year, a trial-filled day that Lafayette senior guard Brian Burke couldn’t stop thinking about as he stood at the podium accepting the ECAC Award of Valor on Oct. 2 in Hyannis, Mass. Stories of players returning to play Division I basketball…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →“Beca, Beca, Beca.” The words have become so draining that it’s gotten to the point where all the Parkland players want to do is … well, let them speak for themselves. “I think we may try and strike fear into them right away, show them that we’re coming out to play and that we…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Calvin Robinson Jr. saw the opening and took advantage quickly, cheers almost guiding him as he dribbled toward the basket at Allentown’s Roosevelt Park two Sundays ago. It had been four years since he had people rooting for him so loudly. But with the game clock winding down in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs will soon be on the loose. Once off and running, they won’t stop until the end of June, maybe a day into July if they advance to the United States Basketball League championship game. The ‘Dawgs, who are entering their third season — all with former…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wilson’s horror show of missing fourth-quarter free throws lasted until the final 21/2 minutes of this Colonial League game Tuesday night at Catasauqua’s Lincoln Gymnasium. That’s when senior guard Joe Templeton, Wilson’s coolest and most accurate shooter, stepped to the fore to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One minute remained in a blowout win over Columbia at Miami Arena on Nov. 21 when Danny Marakovits was told to take off his University of Miami warmup suit and check into his first collegiate basketball game. What could he do in a minute? That really didn’t matter. He was going…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Less than two seconds remained in overtime when Notre Dame freshman Jeff Dailey had the ball kicked out to him in the corner, just inside the 3-point line. A fastbreak thriller, the type of game fans enjoy and players have more fun with, was just an 18-foot jump shot away from…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Unstoppable is not just Bethlehem Catholic. It’s also Central Bucks West, winner of 58 straight football games. Dominating is not just Bethlehem Catholic. It’s also Central Bucks West, winner of three straight PIAA Class 4A titles. “We want you,” is not what Central Bucks West…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It started early with an interception that set up a long scoring drive of 72 yards in six plays, that consumed 4 minutes, 8 seconds. Believe it or not, that was a long scoring drive for Bethlehem Catholic against Easton in the District 11 Class 4A championship game Friday night…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Former Dieruff and NFL player Mark McCants and Dieruff alumnus Jamie Smith have joined Geraldine Ross in an effort to help give former Dieruff star Anthony Ross an athletic and academic life past high school. All Ross, the slick 6-foot-1 guard who completed high school at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Palmerton High’s Jeff Dobias is the area’s best long distance runner, and he probably could have won the both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs in Wednesday’s District 11 Class 2A Track and Field Championships in Pottsville. Dobias, a senior, decided to run just the 3,200,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bangor Memorial Park, they love you. They love your spongy track surface and well-manicured grass field. They love your environment — a clean stadium, clean bathrooms, nice concession stands. And, most of all, Mountain Valley Conference track and field athletes and coaches have…
· Andre D. Williams
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