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.
During many of his long touchdown runs during the football season, Parkland senior Andre Williams got a good rest before going back out onto the field and trying to go the distance again. Not so in track and field when you run the 110-meter high hurdles and 100 dash, but…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →The Old Course at Saucon Valley Country Club is more than 6,700 yards of architectural beauty and it was graced for seven days by the best women’s golfers in the world. In the end, 23-year-old South Korean Eun-Hee Ji played the rolling hills and fairways best, winning the 64th…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was disaster at hole No. 10 for Paula Creamer, the American star and Pink Panther of women’s pro golf. After a triple-bogey on 10, Creamer dropped her head, her eyes watered and her game continued to go south in third-round play of the U.S. Women’s Open on Saturday at Saucon…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The U.S. Women’s Open was stirred by Creamermania on Friday. And Ochoamania. And Kerrmania. Paula Creamer, though, had the most frenzied support as the 22-year-old from Pleasanton, Calif., played with flamboyance during the second round at Saucon Valley Country Club. She was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Alexis Thompson and Jessica Korda are too young to expect the world, but both feel like they’re on top of it after un-kid-like first rounds of play at the U.S. Women’s Open on Thursday. Both admitted to being nervous when they arrived at Saucon Valley Country Club for the 64th…
· 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 →Since retiring from the LPGA Tour in 2006 with more than $8 million in career earnings, Rosie Jones has been content to walk around her home with “hammer and nails” to fix things or build bird houses. Often she cooks Mexican food, a specialty, or grills ribs, one of her…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Christina Kim walked onto the Saucon Valley Country Club at the first tee on Monday with a big smile, her father and coach Man Kim following close behind, and a throng of people waiting to hug and share a quick laugh with her. She received a loud ovation as she was introduced.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →— Bethlehem Catholic sprinter Hansol Song had one thing on his mind before the start of the Class 2A 400-meter relay final in the PIAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Seth Grove Stadium. It might have seemed crazy to some. “I was thinking I will break my legs just…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s time to run fast, throw far, jump and vault high. It’s time to be better than just good. It’s time to win a District 11 track and field medal, preferably gold. Sprinters Anthony Davidson of Wilson and Bethlehem Catholic’s Tevrin Brandon are confident they’ll achieve their…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Make no mistake, Saucon Valley’s Alyssa Lombardo is young. Just not as young as she was listed in the program for the Colonial League Track and Field Championships on Thursday at Bangor Memorial Park. “They have me listed as a freshman” Lombardo said in a calm and composed…
· 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 →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 →Unperturbed by the wind that whipped across the field, Wilson senior Adam Eckhart raced the runway with confidence and posted the top mark in the Class 2A triple jump at the PIAA Track and Field Championships on Friday at Shippensburg University. With the gold medal already…
· 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 →Any team that’s still playing football past the first week of November has something to treasure, which is why Freedom and Whitehall plan to go all out tonight when they meet for the Eastern Conference Class 4A title. Kickoff is at 7 at Whitehall. Both teams are 8-4. They did…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Normally, you wouldn’t think that a team could set a positive tone for its season by losing, but Central Catholic did it Saturday afternoon. The Vikings did it by fighting back from a 20-3 second-half deficit to pull within seven points of powerhouse Liberty late in the fourth…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Several races involving some of the world’s top cyclists resembled chess matches on wheels at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center Tuesday night. Many were nip-and-tuck, including the final two races for crowd favorite Lanell Rockmore, who’s entering his junior year at Saucon…
· 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 →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 →Marc Holum has been able to forget about pain this week. Both the emotional and physical types. The former Saucon Valley High star is a backup senior center for Air Force, which plays Illinois in its fourth-ever NCAA Tournament game tonight in San Diego. “This was one of the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →George Washington is averaging 84 points per game, nine more than any other Atlantic 10 team, but the Colonials have yet to play a league team. When they do, the high-flying Colonials may not score with such ease. Richmond (50.5) and Temple (52.1) have the top two scoring…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This college basketball season will not be devoid of upsets. They’re already happening, and the biggest so far was Bucknell’s 74-69 win over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome last Tuesday. Lafayette pulled off another stunner on Sunday afternoon, beating favored Princeton on the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jason Roeder’s hiring was heavily opposed by most Freedom players in February when he was chosen to succeed Jim Morgans as football coach. Roeder, 30, had never been a head coach and most of the players had developed a closeness to Michael Heimbach, who had been an assistant on…
· 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 →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 Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs may have finally secured financial backing to survive at least another season and are expected to open defense of their United States Basketball League championship Friday night at Dieruff High School. Service Electric Cable president John Walson…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Freedom High officially has a new football coach and athletic director Fred Harris hopes he doesn’t eventually follow in the footsteps of the last two Patriots head coaches. But Jason Roeder, who was formally introduced as the coach to the players and media on Tuesday, doesn’t…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Marc Holum isn’t scoring points at Air Force like he did at Saucon Valley, but at least now he’s wearing the uniform that he had to turn in last year after leaving the academy to improve his grades. He returned home to the Lehigh Valley and attended DeSales University last year,…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 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 →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 →Andrew Koefer was no star at Allentown Central Catholic and may never experience more than a few minutes playing time in college. But he will not complain. In fact, he believes that he is living out a dream as a freshman walk-on at No. 3-ranked Saint Joseph’s. His dream world,…
· 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 →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 →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 →A couple months ago, Salisbury forward Matt Bubba didn’t get many chances to dribble, shoot and score. That’s because he was the goalie on the Falcons’ boys soccer team that won the District 11 Class 2A title and a game in the first-round of the PIAA playoffs before losing in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Palisades senior Christa Plummer didn’t allow a headache, sore throat or windy conditions to slow her down in the Colonial League girls cross country championship Thursday at DeSales University. That’s because nothing was wrong with Plummer’s legs as she completed the 3.1 mile…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His NCAA championship victory in April, his 635 coaching victories over 27 seasons and his three Big East Conference Coach of the Year Awards rank as great sports accomplishments for Syracuse University men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim. But his biggest victory did not come on…
· 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 →How small was Bethlehem Catholic sprinter Brandon Carter when he was a freshman? “I don’t know if his head came up to a hurdle,” said Golden Hawks track and field coach Gary Mohylsky. “I was pretty tiny,” admitted Carter, who was 5-2 as a freshman. He’s a shade under 5-8 now,…
· 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 →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 →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 →Robbie Thomson’s eyes opened wide, and his foot moved quickly as he blanketed the man he was assigned to defend Saturday at Rider. It was a tenacious side of Thomson, a side that the 2001 Saucon Valley graduate did not always show in high school. But on this more competitive and…
· 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 →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 →And Rob Hauke scored. And again. And again. And the Central Catholic tailback scored four more times, the last on a 60-yard punt return in the fourth quarter, for the final exclamation mark in the Vikings’ 49-0 nonleague victory over host Crestwood of District 2 Saturday…
· 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 →Athletes in The Morning Call’s circulation area from District 11 and District 3 who have legitimate shots of winning medals in the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University today and Saturday probably spent most of Thursday reflecting on what they need to do…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Saucon Valley’s Casie Williams is an all-around athlete with an odd love for fast food at McDonald’s. She loves to order large french fries, toss them in a bag, heavily salt them, shake up the bag and um … um … get her eats. “I go there a couple times on the weekend, sometimes…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →Billy McCaffrey should get out his notepad and scribble down a few things from Kort Wickenheiser, mostly about details of how to move up in the college basketball coaching ranks as an assistant coach before becoming the man in charge. Sometimes the game really is about paying…
· 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 →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 →Easton had to prove to itself, and to opponents around the Mountain Valley Conference, that it could win close games by making all the key plays. So what if it was on the road? And against a Freedom team that had won three in a row for the school’s best start since 1981? A year…
· 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 →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 →Discussions of football and war have been persistent at the house of East Stroudsburg University coach Denny Douds. Especially this week. America is striking back for the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11 and Douds and his coaching staff are preparing the Warriors for a key…
· 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 →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
Read on mcall.com →