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 →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 →Dave Brown has four daughters under the age of 10 and his wife, Sarah, is not open to the idea of having more kids. So, Liberty’s new football coach won’t get the opportunity to coach his own son one day. “I think we’re good. I think we’re going to wrap it up right where we are…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →She was not vintage Chanelle Price. She was strategical. Competing in her first race since suffering a chest infection 10 days ago, Price ran a solid opening leg for Tennessee in the Championships of America 4×1,500-meter relay at the Penn Relays on Friday at Franklin Field. The…
· 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 senior Stephen Lewis had an unusual Thursday by most early-season track and field standards. But Lewis has his own expectations and they are high and will rise even higher as the PIAA Track and Field Championship weekend nears. On Thursday, during a dual meet against…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →The decision of where they wanted to play college football had long been made by Parkland’s Andre Williams, The Morning Call’s player of the year, and star quarterbacks Anthony Gonzalez of Liberty and Tyler Smith of Wilson. But there’s still nothing like the day of unrestrained…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The decision of where they wanted to play college football had long been made by Parkland’s Andre Williams, The Morning Call’s player of the year, and star quarterbacks Anthony Gonzalez of Liberty and Tyler Smith of Wilson. But there’s still nothing like the day of unrestrained…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It seeme d like the Lehigh Valley’s Division II and III men’s and women’s college basketball teams could not top what they combined to accomplish during 2008-09 season. It’s still to be determined since it’s only January and it’s tough to top a season in which the DeSales men…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It seemed like the Lehigh Valley’s Division II and III men’s and women’s college basketball teams could not top what they combined to accomplish during 2008-09 season. It’s still to be determined since it’s only January and it’s tough to top a season in which the DeSales men…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Freedom senior Darrius Webb was one of the most exciting and effective running backs in the Lehigh Valley over the last two seasons. On Wednesday, Webb joined a cast of star players from around the state with his selection to the Pennsylvania sports writers’ Class 4A all-state…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →You’ve probably heard the phrase “Like father …” Well, how about “Like father and cousin?” That’s the situation Liberty senior three-sport star Jarrod West is now in after being selected to play in the 53rd annual Big 33 Football Classic June 19 at HersheyPark Stadium. West’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Will Witherspoon expressed the feelings of a battered boxer who needs time to heal. It’s not what the Eagles linebacker expected, but there he was on Sunday at his locker at the team’s NovaCare Complex, emotional pain rooted in his heart. “I live and die by the 24-hour rule and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →College football has a new darling — and it’s the Temple Owls. It’s a pretty easy choice. Temple, after all, has not played in a bowl game in 30 years. That drought ends at 4:30 today when the Owls (9-3) play UCLA (6-5) in the EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Three games, three carries, 14 yards. That was the extent of Austin Scott’s brief and disappointing experience with the Cleveland Browns in the 2008 preseason, a far cry from what happened nearly every time he touched the ball six years earlier. And for Scott, his ex-coaches Rob…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Dave McFadden is Central Catholic’s quiet storm on defense. The type of storm that comes up quickly, catching people by surprise, usually wreaking havoc. McFadden causes damage by blowing past the offensive line. He has been quite a force — and in a quiet way — for the Vikings…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton was the first District 11 team to play a Philadelphia team in a PIAA playoff game — in 2004 — and the result was a 15-10 victory over Public League champion George Washington. Five years later, Easton will become the first area team to play a Philadelphia Catholic League…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland again knocks on destiny’s door, hoping another star running back can crash through and carry the Trojans to the District 11 Class 4A title. A mean, stubborn Easton defense awaits, fresh off a punishing effort against rival Phillipsburg on Thanksgiving Day. But punishing…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Only two running backs since 2002 have run rampant on the Easton defense. One was Parkland’s Austin Scott in 2002, who carried the Trojans to the PIAA Class 4A title. Two years ago, a less flashy, but more bulldozing back from Hazleton named Nate Eachus ran for 263 yards and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Muhlenberg women’s basketball team tips off its 2009-10 season in the Scotty Wood Tournament today ready to embark on a journey to top the 26-4 record they posted last season and advance further than the NCAA Division III Tournament’s Sweet 16. Five of the top eight scorers…
· 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 →Unruffled by a three-point deficit and sluggish early play, Wilson cranked it up on both sides of the ball and demolished visiting Pottsville 44-19 in the District 11 Class 3A semifinals Saturday afternoon, setting up a dream matchup with Central Catholic. Talked about for weeks…
· 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 →Shawn Martell, the son of an established local college football coach, began his inevitable climb up the coaching ranks when he was hired as the wide receivers coach at Nazareth last year. The 24-year-old Martell, a 2002 Morning Call all-area wide receiver from Bethlehem…
· 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 →Liberty quarterback Anthony Gonzalez displayed elusiveness and speed on his first carry, which he ran 70 yards for a touchdown against rival Freedom Saturday afternoon at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. More impressive dashes followed for Gonzalez in a must-win game for…
· 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 →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 →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 →The intensity level in the Easton vs. Freedom Lehigh Valley Conference matchup tonight at Bethlehem Area school District Stadium will be so high that a lot of players may be very sore when they wake up Saturday morning. “When Bethlehem [schools] and Easton get together the kids…
· 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 →Central Catholic’s bid for the perfect season continues Saturday night at J. Birney Crum Stadium. The Vikings (5-0, 4-0) are the lone undefeated Lehigh Valley Conference team and will rely on sophomore quarterback Brendan Nosovitch, a threat running and passing, to try to topple…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Freedom senior tailback Darrius Webb is always only one missed tackle at the line of scrimmage from going the distance. That’s because trying to tackle the speedy, elusive Webb is tough once he gets into the open field. He displayed his talents over the previous two seasons at…
· 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 →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 →It’s premature to write Liberty off, despite an 0-2 start and a tough road game to play at Central Catholic Saturday night at J. Birney Crum Stadium. After all, the defending PIAA Class 4A-champion Hurricanes opened up the season losing to state-title contender and established…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Donovan McNabb now has two backups who’ve played in multiple Pro Bowls. But it’s unknown how long McNabb, Michael Vick and Jeff Garcia, who was signed to a one-year deal on Monday, will be “Three’s Company.” For now, with Vick not eligible to return until Week 3 and with McNabb…
· 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 →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 →Donovan McNabb lobbied for Michael Vick, and Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, team president Joe Banner and owner Jeffrey Lurie not only listened but acted on McNabb’s wish by opening their heart and wallet. But signing Vick is not about cost. It’s about McNabb — who enters…
· 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 →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 →Everything quickly fell in place on Jarrod West’s visit to Stanford University last weekend. Before he left the scenic Pac-10 school in California with his mother and father, West had verbally committed to coach Jim Harbaugh’s Cardinal football program. “When you go to these…
· 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 →Liberty’s Devin Street has done a lot of eating, socializing and building confidence this week. Tonight, the 6-foot-4 wideout hopes to help Pennsylvania extend its winning streak against Ohio in the Big 33 Football Classic to four games. Kickoff of the 52nd annual game is at 7…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →You do not need to be an all-state player or get a scholarship to a big-name college to get selected to play in the Big 33 Football Classic. Liberty linebacker Horvin Latimer is proof of that. But he was an easy sell to the Pennsylvania coaches, who believe Latimer is capable of…
· 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 →One race on tired legs that Wilson senior Anthony Davidson lost by a slim margin did little to detract from the astounding two-week period he had running the 400-meter dash. No Lehigh Valley sprinter had ever run under 48 seconds in the 400 — and Davidson did it three times over…
· 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 →Wilson senior Anthony Davidson is on the verge of pulling off a rare feat in the PIAA Track and Field Championships. A year after winning the Class 2A 400-meter dash, Davidson made huge strides toward validating himself as the best in Class 3A at Shippensburg University. Focused…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was cloudy, unseasonably cool and occasionally rainy. The weather, however, didn’t prevent Wilson senior Anthony Davidson and other top District 11 sprinters from blazing to impressive victories in the boys Class 2A and 3A track and field championships on Thursday at…
· 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 →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 →Emmaus High football coach Joe Bottiglieri doesn’t think organizers of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association All-Star game are trying to piggyback off the Big 33 Football Classic. It just looks like it since the ninth annual PSFCA game in Altoona will be…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For a guy who did not play in Penn State’s 67-59 NIT semifinal victory over Notre Dame Tuesday night, Will Leiner sure was happy. Then again, Leiner, a former starter at Whitehall High School, has been content ever since he made the Penn State team as a freshman walk-on in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Editor’s note: Today we begin a weekly series of Q&As;, including video, on participants in Gatorade’s Easton-Phillipsburg Replay football game at 3 p.m., April 26 at Lafayette College’s Fisher Field. Gatorade required The Morning Call to submit questions to players in advance…
· 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 →Penn State has been to Madison Square Garden four times since 1990 and has three semifinal losses and one championship game defeat to show for it. This year, the Nittany Lions are hoping for a more memorable experience. Senior forward Jamelle Cornley doesn’t see how it will not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wilson senior Anthony Davidson, the 2008 PIAA Class 2A track and field champion in the 400-meter dash, and Palmerton senior Austin Cseh, the state runner-up to Davidson, headline the top boys returners this spring. Newcomer Andre Williams, a junior at Parkland who transferred…
· 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 →The Kutztown men are back in the NCAA Division II basketball tournament for the first time since 1988, and hope to stick around for a while. In Division III, the DeSales men and Muhlenberg women have reached the “Sweet 16” and hope to continue playing on. The Golden Bears,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Hold nothing back, finish strong. That was the message from Muhlenberg coach Ron Rohn to his players with less than two minutes remaining in the Centennial Conference championship game Sunday afternoon at Memorial Hall. Erin McSherry, the 6-foot-1 senior center, then made a…
· 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 →It’s imaginable to go undefeated in conference play. It just doesn’t happen too often on any level in college basketball. Which is why the Muhlenberg women, 16-0 in Centennial Conference play, are determined to win at Dickinson tonight and at Ursinus on Saturday to close out the…
· 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 →Freedom High senior Eddie Mateo was down to the final days and his mind was about made up to sign a National Letter of Intent to attend NCAA Division II Bloomsburg University. All it took was just his signature on dotted lines during Wednesday’s Signing Day. Mateo, an Associated…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Penn State men’s basketball is on the verge of moving into the Associated Press Top 25 poll and earning an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since the 2000-01 season. All good, of course, as far as Penn State alum and current head coach Ed DeChellis is concerned. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland senior field hockey player Kyle DeSandes-Moyer signed her National Letter of Intent inside the school’s auditorium on Wednesday. Kisses from her mother and father followed, in addition to extended pound-pounds of the hand with her father, which drew laughter.…
· 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 →February essentially is the nitty-gritty time of the college basketball season. Every game carries significantly more magnitude than the previous one. Every win enhances NCAA Tournament aspirations and top seeding possibilities for teams who are nationally ranked, including the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The St. Benedict’s-Bishop McNamara boys basketball game was the type of back-and-forth thriller, featuring above-the-rim play, sensational moves, blocked shots and enormous intensity that you’d see between very good teams from the New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and the…
· 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 →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 →A week after Liberty High coach Tim Moncman and his star player Anthony Gonzalez shared tears, hugs and the glory of winning the school’s first state football title, the dynamic duo made a sweep of the Associated Press’ All-State Class 4A top honors. Moncman, who has managed the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For Liberty High fans, it was Anthony Gonzalez, the Hurricanes’ two-way star, who took over the PIAA Class 4A championship game against Bethel Park in overtime last Saturday in Hershey. For his mother, Nancy Mojica, it was just her baby boy finding a way to lead his team to a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Overtime belonged to Liberty. Junior two-way star Anthony Gonzalez made sure of it against Bethel Park in the PIAA Class 4A championship game Saturday night at Hersheypark Stadium. “Everybody wanted to win the first state title in school history,” Gonzalez said. “We were not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethel Park High has advanced to its first PIAA Class 4A football final, helped by fundamentally sound play and luck, according to its coach, Jeff Metheny. The Black Hawks, after all, are 15-0 and have won each of their last three playoff games by four points or less. “There are…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The hug that warms Liberty senior Devin Street’s heart and motivates him to play his best comes before each kickoff and often throughout games. His father, Ted, an assistant coach at Liberty, has been one of his coaches since he was 5 years old. And Ted Street figures he’ll shed…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Some players listen to iPods or Walkmans before games. Liberty senior defensive tackle Al Pujols gets his peace of mind by reading a book. “I read as much as I can and sometimes I read on the bus,” Pujols said. “Sometimes I do it at home, but once I get home I’m usually tired.”…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nazareth coach Rob Melosky hopes that he’ll be joined by Liberty coach Tim Moncman in a glorious company of coaches who have led a Lehigh Valley team to the PIAA Class 4A football title. Since 2002 when Melosky coached Parkland — powered by the record-breaking feats of running…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Having to pick a poison is never a good thing. It’s usually devastating either way you look at it. George Washington High, the Philadelphia city champion, swarmed to the line of scrimmage and contained the rushing attack that has made Liberty so potent all season. No problem for…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty has dominated 50 out of 52 quarters it has played this season. The only two quarters it has not owned was in the first half against North Penn. Blocking assignments were missed and it caused the high-powered Hurricanes to stay out of sync and trail 20-0 at halftime. Levi…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A Bethlehem Catholic football program that went from a consistent district championship contender to rock bottom over the last two seasons is now without a head coach. And Dan Kendra Sr., a longtime Bethlehem Catholic coach, teacher, and admitted die-hard lover of the program,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Senior running backs Brandon Brader of Liberty and Eddie Mateo of Freedom have been rivals since middle school. They’ve also been good friends and admired each other’s feats. But it wasn’t until last week when one of them decided to nickname the other. “He’s Superman,” Mateo…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Somebody has to score when Liberty and Emmaus meet in the District 11-2 Class 4A subregional semifinals tonight at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Even if it’s just by a safety, which is not all that farfetched considering the way No. 2 seed Liberty (10-1) and No. 3…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty enters its first-ever district playoff game against Parkland tonight with two senior linebackers who are determined to have fun. Never mind that fun for Daryl Klotz and Horvin Latimer is administering punishment. “We like to tackle and hit people,” Latimer said. “Yeah,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was about control. Liberty had it in the trenches, led by big Levi Brown, whose emphatic blocking helped clear the way for quarterback Anthony Gonzalez and tailback Brandon Brader to run effectively against rival Freedom in a 20-14 Lehigh Valley Conference victory Saturday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton’s future stars stole the show on Senior Night to help the Red Rovers close out the regular season with a dramatic 38-31 Lehigh Valley Conference victory over Bethlehem Catholic Friday night at Cottingham Stadium. The game-clinching play was like a Larry Holmes left hook.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh Valley Conference’s version of boxing’s “Main Event” takes place Saturday afternoon at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. That’s when Liberty (8-1, 8-0) and Freedom (8-1, 7-1) clash on the Frank Banko Field turf. “As everybody knows, there’s a lot at stake,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh Valley Conference’s version of boxing’s “Main Event” takes place Saturday afternoon at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. That’s when Liberty (8-1, 8-0) and Freedom (8-1, 7-1) clash on the Frank Banko Field turf. “As everybody knows, there’s a lot at stake,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Two regular season games remain and Easton and Parkland are both trying to avoid something that has not happened since 1994. And that’s the District 11 playoffs being held without either of them being involved. But the traditionally strong Lehigh Valley Conference teams still…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Mike Brusko has played almost every position at the University of Maine this season. He hasn’t played the offensive and defensive lines, field goal kicker or holder, but, if asked, the former Emmaus High star would probably accept the challenge. Brusko, a 6-foot-3, 226-pound…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Some high-profile athletes have transferred from one Lehigh Valley Conference school to another in recent years for athletic reasons. A fuss was made about most, and rightfully so since they were blatant, which has put District 11 officials under the gun more to try to stop…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Dieruff coach Keith Brader has a question for all other Lehigh Valley Conference coaches, excluding Chris Kinane at Allen, who is 0-6 in his first season and facing a tough battle trying to make the Canaries competitive. Do you want to trade places? “We probably would not have…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Back and forth Bethlehem Catholic and Liberty went, staggering each other with big plays Saturday night. But the blow-for-blow exchange lasted only for a half before a spirited crowd at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. In the second half, Liberty, upset in the city series…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There are two sides to Liberty junior quarterback Anthony Gonzalez, and both have made him popular with teammates and coaches. “He is low key,” Liberty senior Devin Street said about Gonzalez off the field. But on the field, it’s his aggressiveness and intensity that sets him…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →What happens in a game between longtime rivals is not easily explained. Liberty knows that all too well from its stunning defeats by Bethlehem Catholic the last two seasons. Liberty was considered a PIAA Class 4A title contender both years and seemed to hold major advantages on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Something disturbingly different happened to Easton last week against Parkland. It wasn’t the lopsided score of Parkland 26, Easton 0. Every team gets crushed once in a while, but Easton coach Steve Shiffert wasn’t as concerned about the final score as he was about the way his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic High’s two-way senior lineman Brandon Lally was fired up at practice Tuesday as he prepared for Saturday night showdown against Central Catholic. “It’s the biggest game of the year, the two Catholic schools, rivals,” Lally said. But it’s a rivalry that has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Every strong defense is keyed by an impact player, one who’ll go to any limit to try and punish the opponent each down he’s on the field. Parkland has that player in defensive end Clint Miller, a 6-3, 235-pound Division I recruit, who came into his own last season en route to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Something new in Week 3 of the Lehigh Valley Conference: Neither Liberty, Parkland nor Easton is involved in the top game. Easton (2-0, 1-0) opens its home schedule against Parkland (0-2, 0-1) at 7 tonight at Cottingham Stadium, and it promises to be a festive atmosphere as the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton has played two teams it was supposed to crush. The Red Rovers did just that, beating Stroudsburg by 27 points and Dieruff by 35. Now Easton (2-0, 1-0) hosts two-time defending Lehigh Valley Conference champion Parkland on Friday night at Cottingham Stadium. It’s Easton’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →On every snap of the ball Friday night against Parkland, Liberty offensive lineman Levi Brown looked like a raging boxer leaving his corner at the sound of the bell. Instead of throwing a punch, Brown’s mission was to blow Trojans off the ball and clear the way for Liberty…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic senior Tevrin Brandon was electrifying on punt returns, scoring one touchdown and setting up another with an impressive burst of speed. The Golden Hawks’ small but lightning-quick junior tailback, Darrius Webb, also dazzled with his own speed and acceleration…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Execution. Liberty will probably have nightmares about its failure in that regard in the first half against North Penn Friday night. Execution. It was too late once Liberty found openings in the Knights’ defense. That’s because North Penn, a perennial District One powerhouse,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Execution. Liberty will probably have nightmares about its failure in that regard in the first half against North Penn Friday night. Execution. It was too late once Liberty found openings in the Knights’ defense. That’s because North Penn, a perennial District One powerhouse,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The wait is over for Freedom. Tonight, the defending Eastern Conference Class 4A champion will try to extend its winning streak in season openers under coach Jason Roeder to four games. “There is not a whole lot of room for error,” said Roeder, whose Patriots open at Central…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Winning streaks and more will be on the line in season-opening games for Liberty and Parkland tonight. Both play state-ranked teams that will provide the ultimate early-season test. Liberty, 8-0 under coach Tim Moncman in openers, puts that record on the line when it hosts…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ALLEN Coach: Chris Kinane (first year) Last year: 0-10 (0-9, LVC) Impact players: QB Justin Quaye, sr.; QB Nick Rhodes, jr.; WR Matt Wingler, sr.; WR Nik Davis, sr.; WR/RB David Gibbs, sr.; WR Siddiq Shabazz, sr.; OL Lance Troxell, sr.; OL Eddy Torres, sr.; RB/LB Luciano…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ALLEN Coach: Chris Kinane (first year) Last year: 0-10 (0-9, LVC) Impact players: QB Justin Quaye, sr.; QB Nick Rhodes, jr.; WR Matt Wingler, sr.; WR Nik Davis, sr.; WR/RB David Gibbs, sr.; WR Siddiq Shabazz, sr.; OL Lance Troxell, sr.; OL Eddy Torres, sr.; RB/LB Luciano…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland senior wideout Jaleel Clark accomplished his top goal when he verbally committed to the University of Missouri on Sunday night. Now that Clark, The Morning Call’s 2007 player of the year, has relieved the pressure of having to choose a school, he can tackle the rest of…
· 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 →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 →Before thunder and lightning came and forced the PSFCA East-West All-Star game to be halted, Joey Orlando unleashed his own sparks Saturday night. Motivated by the trash talking and a desire to prove his skills, Orlando, a former Liberty star wideout, toasted West defensive…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Joey Orlando always just found a way. He was a two-way starter on a Liberty football team last season that had an All-American linebacker in Brendan Beal, who’s now at the University of Florida on a scholarship. There also was Ahkeem Smith, now at Temple on a scholarship. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jarred Holley will not be a utilityman in tonight’s Big 33 Football Classic. Which means he will not play quarterback, running back, wide receiver, kick returner or punt returner when Pennsylvania meets Ohio at Hersheypark Stadium. He played all those positions in four stellar…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He’s a Big 33 replacement player, but Parkland quarterback John Laub is also a proven winner. Last season, he led Parkland to a 15-1 record and PIAA Class 4A runner-up finish. It was his first season as a starter, and Laub ran coach Jim Morgans’ Wing-T offense to near perfection…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wilson teammates Anthony Davidson and Adam Eckhart were the only District 11 male athletes to win gold medals in the PIAA Track and Field Championships last weekend at Shippensburg University. Davidson won the Class 2A 400-meter dash and Eckhart won the triple jump. Catasauqua’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jesse Sell would prefer to smash a volleyball over crashing the books any day of the week. But the Emmaus senior never lost sight of the fact that he needed to be successful in both. On Wednesday, Sell was rewarded for his hard work in both at the Lehigh Valley Conference…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wilson sprinter Anthony Davidson spent more time watching youtube.com than anything else over the last week. He didn’t like what he saw, but he kept clicking back onto the popular Web site to watch how he lost to Palmerton’s Austin Cseh in the 400-meter dash in the Colonial…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic junior sprinter Tevrin Brandon is an underdog no more. Fast and confident since his freshman year, Brandon still entered this spring unfulfilled because he had yet to win the 100-meter dash at the Lehigh Valley Conference Track and Field Championships. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s finally time to get down to serious business in track and field. Next week’s Lehigh Valley Conference, Colonial League and Mountain Valley Conference championship meets will weed out the pretenders and establish the boys’ athletes who are most likely to contend for district…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Novogratz cherishes what he accomplished as an All-American offensive lineman at Army in the 1950s. He’s trying not to worry about whether he does or does not make the final cut for enshrinement into the College Football Hall of Fame. For that mind-set, the 1954 Northampton…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nazareth High senior Kevin Kroboth has had an easier time sprinting to 100- and 200-meter dash victories than he did breaking away for touchdowns during the football season. A first-year track and field athlete, Kroboth has used the dual-meet season to prove himself as a league,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty’s Joey Orlando and Whitehall’s Matt Hamscher are both getting one last opportunity to make standout plays on both sides of the ball. And Emmaus’ Joe Davis, who enjoyed trying to rip the helmet off offensive players, gets one last chance to try and make an impact on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A Sweet 16 that will take more of a rugged toll on the body will be contested this weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. The sport is rugby, and Kutztown University coach Gregg “Doc” Jones believes he has a team capable of advancing out of its four-team bracket in the National Division I…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In track and field there’s fast and there’s really blazing, which Nazareth senior Kevin Kroboth was in the 100-meter dash Thursday afternoon at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. A first-year participant in the sport, Kroboth has been under 11.0 seconds in most of his races…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For a break from March Madness, here’s an important announcement from Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon: Speed, shooters and height are coming to College Hill in the fall. The veteran Leopards coach announced his second scholarship class on Wednesday, and it includes 6-10, 250-pound…
· 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 →Revitalized after receiving a surprise NCAA Division III tournament bid, Moravian hopes to make amends for its play of late when it meets John Jay College tonight. The Greyhounds lost their final three games, including a conference semifinal playoff game, but the the NCAA…
· 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 →Couldn’t make it off your high school team’s bench to get playing time but still want to play college basketball? Don’t worry, Northampton Community College women’s coach Art Wolfe may have a spot for you on his team. And it’s not riding the pine. Wolfe, who finished his 19th…
· 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 →Easton celebrated its biggest Signing Day since 1968 with football star Jarred Holley and U.S. Olympic track and field hopeful Chanelle Price heading the list of five Red Rover athletes who signed national letters of intent to Division I-A schools on Wednesday. Holley, a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Moravian guard Maurice Young didn’t make any freshman mistakes in the rematch against Susquehanna on Friday night at Johnston Hall. He was just too quick to be trapped, too confident to be rattled, and eager to step up and make big plays after the Greyhounds’ best post player,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty senior football star Ahkeem Smith has found a college football home in the City of Brotherly Love. Sorry James Madison. Smith, a two-time Morning Call all-area first-team pick, confirmed Wednesday night that he has verbally committed to Temple University. James Madison,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The odds are stacked against the Cedar Crest College women’s team winning more than a game each season. The Falcons are a Division III program that has posted a 5-115 record in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference this decade, which includes 0-16 records in league play in…
· 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 →Easton football star Jarred Holley intercepted passes with apparent ease the last four years, but making his college choice wasn’t so easy. He had narrowed 30 scholarship offers from every conference in America to Pittsburgh, Iowa and Virginia. Wednesday morning, Holley decided…
· 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 →Rutgers redshirt freshman Andres Morales has entered 2008 doing what he most loves to do. “It’s kind of cool because all we do is play football now, like a pro team,” Morales said. “School is over. You just relax and play ball.” A punishing all-state linebacker at Liberty High…
· 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 →Boston College kicker Steve Aponavicius has a simple game plan for tonight’s Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla. “Just to go out and put the ball through the uprights,” said Aponavicius, an Easton High graduate, who’ll be making his 22nd career start when the Eagles (10-3) meet…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pius X wide receiver Wade Williams got open to catch passes and score touchdowns with ease. “He’s real smooth on the football field, that’s for sure,” said his coach, Bob Goffredo. Williams caught 45 passes for 958 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, breaking the Royals’ school…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Palmerton senior Justin Peterson bowled over opposing Colonial League players with his hard running style. He punished them even more as a standout linebacker, which is where he really changed the course of games in leading Palmerton to a 9-3 record and a District 11 Class 2A…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland junior wide receiver Jaleel Clark was unstoppable, gracefully and effortlessly racing downfield to make tough catches and score touchdowns. Easton senior Jarred Holley once again played the role of lockdown defensive back, Liberty senior Brendan Beal was a hard-hitting…
· 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 →Some Parkland players stood frozen in place, some cried and many embraced as the state championship they dreamed of winning ended on a bittersweet note Saturday night. Unable to manufacture the offensive plays or make the defensive stops that had been the cornerstones to its…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pro Bowl quarterbacks Dan Marino and Marc Bulger are part of the rich history of football at Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Parkland’s opponent today in the PIAA Class 4A title game. But so too is the 16-0 Viking team of 2004 that captured the school’s second state 4A title. Terry…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland coach Jim Morgans is a former offensive tackle and nose guard from Louisiana College who describes himself as having been just an average player. The same cannot be said of his coaching. He won two PIAA Class 3A titles in an eight-year span at his alma mater, Central…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland offensive lineman Ian Tomcho hopes to continue what his dad and his uncles did in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s at J. Birney Crum Stadium. And that’s win big games. None, however, have been as big as the one that Tomcho will play at noon today when Parkland (14-0) and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Hike the football quickly, Parkland wideout Jaleel Clark is matched up one-on-one with a defensive back. Throw it deep, and Clark promises to make something good happen. “I’m mostly going to win because I have moves to make on them,” Clark said. At 6-4, he also has the height to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brendan Beal paused, gathered himself and then rejoiced at the news that made his Friday. The Liberty High senior linebacker, who posted 113 tackles in his one season with the Hurricanes, was named Gatorade’s 2007-08 Pennsylvania football player of the year. “I’m definitely…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Moravian coach Mary Beth Spirk has what can be considered a platinum resume. She led the Greyhounds to six NCAA Division III Tournaments and posted winning seasons in 18 of her 20 seasons at Moravian. Her last NCAA Tournament appearance was in the 2005-06 season. “It seems like…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jarred Holley was the last Easton player standing on the Bensalem High field on a cold December afternoon in 2004, answering questions and putting a season that had finally ended with a playoff loss to Neshaminy in proper perspective. You would have thought that he was a senior…
· 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 →Liberty quarterback Anthony Gonzalez accounted for more than 200 yards of offense, wideout Joey Orlando made circus catches and tailback Ahkeem Smith gained the tough yards. All three owe gratitude to big Levi Brown and the other Hurricane offensive linemen for the way they…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A player from Freedom High apparently said something that offended players from Liberty. “This is the first time that we’re the underdogs in a game, which is pretty surprising, but let the best team win,” said Liberty senior linebacker Brendan Beal, who verbally committed to the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh Valley Conference all-star team won’t be announced until the regular season ends, but I don’t have to wait that long to make my selections. The final regular season games won’t prove who’s the best because anybody can have a really good game. But the best do it week…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty senior linebacker Brendan Beal figured he was in a no-lose situation. He had scholarship offers from defending national champion Florida, perennial powerhouses USC, LSU and Boston College, which is currently ranked No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series and No. 2 by the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The intensity level among certain teams figures to exceed that of any other Friday night of the season. The increased shift in adrenaline is because of showdowns between rival Lehigh Valley Conference teams. Pick a game: Parkland (8-0, 7-0 LVC) at Emmaus (6-2, 5-2) or Liberty…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Boston College kicker Steve Aponavicius is still waiting for the perfect scenario: Final play of the game, win or lose on his field-goal attempt. Maybe that moment of make-or-break pressure will come Thursday night when Boston College, ranked No. 2 in both the Associated Press…
· 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 →Parkland coach Jim Morgans doesn’t want to hear any talk about his team being unbeatable. Some people thought that of Liberty, which unraveled on both sides of the ball in losing 28-14 to Bethlehem Catholic last Friday night. “We don’t concern ourselves with other teams, except…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pius X is still the little guy — still hoping that the Colonial League will give it an invitation to join and still hoping that it will, one day, not have to drive all the way across the state just to find an opponent. But, despite all the people that may “player hate” against…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The punishment for skipping a class at Liberty for the average student is nothing more than a detention for a first-time offender. But Liberty coach Tim Moncman enforced a much harsher punishment on seniors Brendan Beal, Ahkeem Smith, Michael Fritz, Justin Rivera and junior…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton senior Jarred Holley started at quarterback for the first time in his career and experienced success both passing and running against the Central Catholic defense Saturday night. He completed his first five passes, a couple on spirals across the middle, and he stayed in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One week after losing its first game, Easton seeks redemption. But the Red Rovers have to beat Central Catholic to achieve it. It won’t be easy. Central Catholic has been one of the top early-season success stories in the Lehigh Valley Conference, helped by a strong…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty made a whole lot of big plays Friday night. But only a few were on offense, which suited Hurricanes two-way senior standout Joey Orlando just fine. That’s because Orlando made as many big plays on defense as he did on offense in helping Liberty prevail 21-7 over Emmaus…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus can forget about being overlooked by high-powered Liberty in their Lehigh Valley Conference matchup tonight at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. That’s because one loss could be detrimental to the Hurricanes’ chances of earning the No. 1 seed and homefield advantage…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty senior linebacker Brendan Beal has to wait until Oct. 26 to meet Easton and star defensive back Jarred Holley at Cottingham Stadium. Both players will probably make plays all over the field on that night. It will be the first game that Beal, a transfer from Roxbury High…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brothers Kevin and Daryl Herod arrived at Parkland High with enormous talent and unselfish attitudes to go with it. But, much like all Trojan players not named Austin Scott or Tim Massaquoi, the Herod brothers have had to wait their turn in line. And the line at Parkland is…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Over the last four years Freedom’s football team has produced three Division I players. Ryan Ehrie is a redshirt sophomore offensive lineman at Syracuse, Colin Neely a redshirt freshman at Michigan State, and Jeremy Kametz is in his final season at Delaware. The three of them…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →What happened in Emmaus last Friday night is not being be dwelled on. That’s because of the request Green Hornets coach Joe Bottiglieri made to his players. Bottiglieri, who’s in his sixth season at Emmaus, tells his players to only concentrate on the current challenge and not…
· 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 →Easton senior two-way star Jarred Holley was dazed after being gang-tackled out of bounds early in the second quarter and did not play the remainder of the Red Rovers’ season-opening game against H.D. Woodson Friday night at Cottingham Statium. No flag was dropped on the play,…
· 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 →Liberty senior Ahkeem Smith is ready to carry the offensive load, and his teammates, on his shoulders. It’s a big task, especially considering one of his teammates is 6-3, 315-pound two-way tackle Levi Brown. But Smith has waited four years to be in the spotlight and to be a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Michael Vick may be in prison by the end of the year, may never play in the NFL nor receive a million-dollar endorsement deal again, and it’s all because of what he termed, “immature acts.” “I need to grow up,” Vick said during a press conference in Richmond, Va. on Monday, not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty is bent on trying to make it back to Hershey and finally win the PIAA Class 4A title, but first must earn its stripes against Easton and other tough Lehigh Valley Conference opponents. That’s because the LVC season figures to be another series of weekly dogfights.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jarred Holley is now buying shaving cream and razors regularly. He’s also looking at life a whole lot differently as he enters his final high school season at Easton. “I’m growing up a little bit. That’s always good,” said Holley, 17, who will start at defensive back for a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Terrence Roderick has finally moved on to a bigger stage, albeit a stage that is 800 miles away from Allentown, his closest friends and the guarantee that he could get a nice, fresh haircut any time he wanted it. But the former Allen High basketball star is happy with the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty High senior linebacker Brendan Beale requested the No. 1 for his jersey and was granted his wish without debate or jealousy. “I’m not cocky, but I’m confident that I’m No. 1, and that’s how I want to represent,” said Beale, a transfer from Roxbury High in New Jersey,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty High senior linebacker Brendan Beale requested the No. 1 for his jersey and was granted his wish without debate or jealousy. “I’m not cocky, but I’m confident that I’m No. 1, and that’s how I want to represent,” said Beale, a transfer from Roxbury High in New Jersey,…
· 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 →Thaddeus Young had a curfew that extended past midnight when he was in high school in Memphis, Tenn. But don’t think the 76ers’ first-round draft pick (12th overall) was out doing something wrong. Quite the contrary. Young, who turned 19 on June 21, could be found in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Aaron Gray is on board with draft analysts, who are predicting Ohio State’s Greg Oden and Texas’ Kevin Durant to go No. 1 and 2 in tonight’s NBA draft. “They can play basketball and they will be great,” Gray said. “They will be the No. 1 and 2 picks in the draft, let’s face it.”…
· 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 →Wilson quarterback D.J. Lenehan came alive in the second half of the PSFCA East West All-Star Game, rifling passes all over the field that led to touchdowns and stirred memories of his many feats last season. But the ending Saturday night wasn’t as rewarding as last December,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Before this week, only Parkland teammates of the Trojans’ dominating offensive lineman Michael Fay had seen his humorous side. That’s because Fay, a Morning Call All Area first team pick and second-team Associated Press Class 4A selection, doesn’t play around when he’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For the second straight week, a record-breaking quarterback from the Lehigh Valley will showcase his talents in an all-star game. Wilson’s D.J. Lenehan, who’s headed to Toledo on a scholarship, will play his final high school game in the seventh annual Pennsylvania Football…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty quarterback Dan Persa once again found himself running for his life at Hersheypark Stadium. But this time he used elusive moves and breakaway speed to twice escape and rumble to the end zone. This time, Persa also kept making big plays, running and passing en route being…
· 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 →Liberty quarterback Dan Persa won everything in high school, except a game at Hersheypark Stadium. Now bigger, stronger and faster, Persa hopes to finally experience victory in Chocolatetown USA when he teams with other Pennsylvania all-stars for the 50th Big 33 Football Classic…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Aaron Gray didn’t attempt a 3-point field goal in his college career at the University of Pittsburgh, except in practice. But he seemed comfortable shooting from beyond the arc in a four-player workout before Philadelphia 76ers’ assistant coaches Thursday in the team’s practice…
· 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 →Every time he makes his spin move and lifts the shot put, Bethlehem Catholic’s Joe Kovacs is pointing toward heaven, where his father, Joe, has been watching and enjoying his every throw. His mother, Joanna, has been only a hug away, offering warmth, support, and also the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic’s Joe Kovacs delivered his best-ever shot put to win the Class 2A gold medal and establish a record in the PIAA Track and Field Championships Friday at Shippensburg University. Whitehall’s Andy Fahringer, in the discus, and Catasauqua pole vaulter Kyle Miller…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic senior Joe Kovacs is seeded No. 1 in the Class 2A shot put and discus by wide margins, which gives him a strong chance of winning two gold medals in the PIAA Track and Field Championships. Several other Lehigh Valley male athletes also appear to have strong…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Mike Hartenstine was an All-American defensive lineman at Penn State and a starter on the Chicago Bears’ 1985 Super Bowl team. He said both experiences were unbelievable. For years, Hartenstine, who lives in Chicago, also savored the area shot put record of 62 feet, 11 3/4…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The pressure is now off Bethlehem Catholic senior Joe Kovacs. He took it off with the throw of his life, breaking the 36-year-old area record in the shot put on his final attempt Thursday in the District 11 Track and Field Championships at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown.…
· 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 →The chance of an athlete winning a medal in his or her first PIAA Track and Field Championships is pretty slim. Often, athletes who were dominant in an event in intra-district competition, complete their high school careers without ever having won a state medal. Ryan Wagner, a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The finish line was 100 meters away and Liberty junior Trevor VanAckeren was determined to make it there first Wednesday at J. Birney Crum Stadium. His legs were heavy, he was fatigued, and he was being pushed to the limit in the finals of the 800 run at the Lehigh Valley…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Standout throwers Joe Kovacs of Bethlehem Catholic and Andy Fahringer of Whitehall both faced immense pressure Tuesday afternoon. It was in different events, and the chase was also different for both in Day 1 of the Lehigh Valley Conference Track and Field Championships at J.…
· 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 →Seniors Joe Kovacs of Bethlehem Catholic and Andy Fahringer of Whitehall have had as much attention paid to them in the throwing events as sprinters, the usual glamor grabbers, have had heeped on them this spring. It’s been hard not to pay attention to good pals Kovacs and…
· 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 →Courtney Molinaro has two more years left to play college basketball, but she won’t be playing them at Penn State. The former Central Catholic star center announced Thursday that she is transferring from the university. Molinaro, who won three PIAA Class 3A titles at Central…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The high school track and field preseason is now over. It’s time to get serious. The athletes who are likely to contend for district and state titles will be competing in either the 113th Penn Relay’s in Philadelphia this weekend or in today’s Allentown School District…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s tough to succeed in track and field without having confidence to go along with talent. Fortuntely for him, Whitehall High senior standout thrower Andy Fahringer definitely has both. He also has posted early-season results in the discus and javelin that validate him as a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There are hurdlers who have been affected by the cold, windy and rainy weather, which seems to dampen the start of the track and field season each spring. Northampton senior Ryan Wagner, however, has not been slowed. That’s because inclement weather doesn’t bother him, and it…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Seniors Andy Fahringer of Whitehall and Joe Kovacs of Bethlehem Catholic headline the top returning boys track and field performers in District 11 this spring. Both are standout throwers. Fahringer is the defending PIAA Track and Field Class 3A discus champion. Fahringer, who’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Aaron Gray will finally have the opportunity to show UCLA coach Ben Howland how well he can play. The stage is big. Gray and third-seeded Pittsburgh (29-7) meet second-seeded UCLA (28-5) in an NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinal tonight at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Aaron Gray has his confidence back. Now, he’s hoping to prove that his shooting touch is also back when third-seeded Pittsburgh meets No. 14 Wright State in an NCAA West Regional first-round game tonight at HSBC Arena. He missed layups, hooks, and jump shots en route to a…
· 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 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 →Chris Huber was spoiled when he was at Parkland High. That’s because Huber, now a senior shooting guard at Muhlenberg College, had the perfect point guard in Eddie Ohlson, who’s a junior at DeSales University. Back at Parkland, all Huber had to do was get open and Ohlson was…
· 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 →It’s all over. There are no more college recruiting trips to take, no more worrying about whether this school or that school is the right fit. Childhood dreams of playing college football were brought one step closer to reality by several Lehigh Valley Conference standout…
· 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 →Muhlenberg College has provided incredible experiences for Meghan Courtney, who has gone from a small-town farm girl to a basketball star and one of the most diverse students on campus. That’s why the mere mention of graduation brings a tear or two to her eyes. Courtney has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Aaron Gray took up space in the middle, scoring with ease nearly every time he put up a shot. But two aggressive guards, Levon Fields and Antonio Graves, played the biggest role for No. 7 Pittsburgh down the stretch of its grueling, 65-59 victory over Villanova before a crowd of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Villanova has another fearless guard with a nasty crossover dribble and awesome finishing ability coming to the Main Line in the fall. Corey Fisher, the starting point guard for nationally ranked St. Patrick’s of Elizabeth, N.J., displayed his wide range of skills before an…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Dan Persa’s postseason awards parade continued Thursday night. The Liberty High senior, who led the Hurricanes to a second straight PIAA Class 4A runner-up finish last month, was named winner of the Maxwell Football Club’s 22nd annual Jim Henry Award as the best high school…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Kutztown has the luxury of having a 6-10 center with quick feet, a soft shooting touch, 3-point range, and shot-blocking ability. But junior center Sean McKeon wasn’t much use to the Golden Bears in the closing minutes against West Chester in the Pennsylvania State Athletic…
· 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 →Liberty senior quarterback Dan Persa got an early Christmas gift on Saturday. And it wasn’t gift-wrapped. But Persa, who recently capped off the best statistical season by a quarterback in school history, got the gift he’s coveted his entire career. He was named the Associated…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One vs. 11 doesn’t work on the football field. Wilson’s defense proved that en route to winning the PIAA Class 2A Championship Saturday at Hersheypark Stadium. The Warriors did it by halting Jeannette quarterback Terrell Pryor’s one-man show in the second half. “We knew coming…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty High coach Tim Moncman and Wilson coach Bret Comp have identical 27-3 records over the last two seasons. For the second straight season, both men have also led their teams into a PIAA championship game in Hershey. It is the first time in Lehigh Valley football history…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty senior quarterback Dan Persa has a lot on his mind, but having his career ended by Pennsbury today is not one of them. He’s ready to play, ready to lead the Hurricanes to their second straight appearance in the PIAA Class 4A Championship game. The ‘Canes (13-1) meet…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →With a little under 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon, Liberty finally called off its defensive assault. The 35-point mercy rule was in effect. Frankford then scored 15 unanswered points, but it was against Liberty’s second-team defense. And that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He’s 6-4, 305 pounds, and he enjoys sacking quarterbacks. He has scholarship offers from West Virginia, Temple, and James Madison. It’s hard not to notice Frankford senior defensive lineman Tyree Dudley. Last season, however, Dudley didn’t stand out all that much when Frankford…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →With 22 seniors gone from last season’s PIAA Class 4A runner-up team, Liberty entered this season with only a few standout playmakers and vocal leaders. So it seemed. Senior quarterback Dan Persa figured to provide the playmaking, while seniors Oscar Rivera and Al Petros figured…
· 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 →Easton-Liberty II is now set. Liberty tuned up for the rematch with a 42-7 annihilation of Abington Heights in the District 11-2-4 Class 4A subregional semifinals Saturday afternoon before a standing-room only crowd at scenic Comets Stadium. Liberty’s main offensive star was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Several Bethlehem Catholic players bent over, some crying, while others simply appeared dumbfounded Saturday night. The Golden Hawks had just lost 35-33 to heavy underdog Northwestern in a District 11 Class 3A semifinal at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. It may be one of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland, Easton, Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic, start your engines. It’s time to begin the more serious chase on the road to Hershey. Each Lehigh Valley Conference team is heavily favored to win its first-round playoff game this weekend. Parkland (10-0), Easton (9-1) and…
· 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 →The Lehigh Valley Conference finally had a high school football game live up to the hype Friday night. It wasn’t because it was a shootout. It wasn’t because it went down the final seconds before being decided. It was because Easton and Liberty went toe-to-toe, each taking and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s no secret that Easton and Liberty want to hit each other hard. It’s still great hearing them say it. It will be even better seeing them do it when Easton (8-0, 7-0 LVC) and Liberty (7-1, 6-1) meet in the much-anticipated Lehigh Valley Conference showdown at 7 tonight at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Stem was nearing his exit from a diner in Easton when an older woman walked by and expressed her high school football loyalty in a very sharp, yet also funny, tone. “Bad luck Thanksgiving,” the lady said. “I wouldn’t be an Easton rooter if I didn’t say that.” The man with…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty senior quarterback Dan Persa will face the daunting prospect of trying to beat Easton standout defensive back Jarred Holley on deep throws Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. He’ll also be summoned to score points against Easton’s first-team defense,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Two weeks ago, Bethlehem Catholic senior Kyle John bulldozed through Liberty offensive linemen with the most fierce pass rush of his life. It was overtime, his Golden Hawks were ahead by a point, and it was loud inside Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. It became even…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s time for the 20-some remaining players on Dieruff’s football team to walk the hallways, the cafeteria line, and maybe even the streets of East Allentown to ask the former players who abandoned them if they’re happy about the Huskies’ 18-game losing streak, which dates back…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andres Morales, Andrew Lee, Rich Jarnagin and Mike McClarin, all big playmakers with voices that carry on the sidelines and in the locker room, are not around to fire up their teammates at Liberty High, anymore. They graduated in June, but somebody else better try and find a way…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A national television audience will watch Steve Aponavicius do what he used to do for fun before soccer practices at Easton High two years ago. And that’s kick a football. However, Aponavicius, a walk-on at Boston College, won’t just be kicking the ball over a fence on Thursday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty coach Tim Moncman, a former linebacker at Lafayette College, a married man with two young children, and at times a father-figure to many of his players, deserves some praise. Even if his Hurricanes don’t make it back to Hershey to compete in the PIAA Class 4A…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jarred Holley intercepted two passes, rushed for a touchdown, caught passes, returned punts, and was one of the first Easton High players to give Brittany Ryan a high five as she came to the sidelines after becoming the first girl in school history to kick a field goal last…
· 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 →For years, Jeremy McCullough got away with being a really good football player and just an average student. The latter changed after he graduated from Liberty High in 2002. Forced to improve his grades before he could attend Division I-AA Duquesne, McCullough attended Wyoming…
· 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 →Nobody from Nazareth wants to dwell on the last game of the season, a 13-3 loss to Nor-Gwyn on Friday night. There are too many good memories from the 28-game season. There’s the Northampton County title it won for the second straight summer, an accomplishment that followed 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 →Liberty quarterback Dan Persa has made his college choice and is now focused on trying to lead Liberty to a state championship next season. “We got there last year,” he said. “We just need to finish the job this year.” Finish it, that is, before Persa, who established a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →New beginnings for Allen’s Keith Massey and Central Catholic’s Pete Geist start as soon as the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic finishes tonight in Nazareth. Massey is headed to Kutztown University to play football while Geist is going to Penn State University…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Aaron Gray has a passion for everything in the city of Pittsburgh, except the Super Bowl-champion Steelers. “I was never an Eagles fan,” Gray said with laughter. “I was never a Steelers fan. I’m a Raiders fan.” But Gray loves the fans who cheer on the Steelers because a lot of…
· 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 →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 →Warren West is no longer nicknamed “Smurf,” though he’s still close friends with Ricky Watters and others whom he shared a memorable Big 33 Football Classic experience with 19 years ago. At 5-6, 190 pounds, West was the smallest Pennsylvania all-star player, however he had…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Rushane Scott is still running on clouds. He can’t help it because his emotions have remained high. Last Saturday, Allen’s standout senior accomplished what no Lehigh Valley sprinter had done in 41 years when he won the Class 3A 100-meter dash at the PIAA Track and Field…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Rushane Scott’s tears of joy lasted for several minutes. Memories of what he accomplished at the PIAA Track and Field Championships Saturday will last forever. The Allen senior closed out his career by winning the Class 3A 100-meter dash in a time of 10.60. Scott surged into the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andy Fahringer’s mind said, “Go slow,’ but slippery conditions forced him to move faster than he wanted to in the Class 3A discus throw Friday morning at Shippensburg University. But driving rain could not prevent Fahringer from winning the event to become the first Whitehall…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Give Rushane Scott a paint brush — or anything else to draw with — and he’ll craft an image of exactly what he plans to accomplish at the PIAA Track and Field Championships. Allen’s star senior sprinter will paint a picture of himself winning the Class 3A title in the 100 and…
· 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 →It was raining and windy, but Bethlehem Catholic junior Joe Kovacs was not bothered. He was pumped and anxious to blow out the competition early in the Class 2A discus throw at the District 11 Track and Field Championships Wednesday at Blue Mountain High School. “I practice in…
· 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 →Allen sprinter Rushane Scott had other sprinters looking at the back of his jersey each time he ran Wednesday afternoon at J. Birney Crum Stadium. But he said his victories weren’t as easy as they seemed. Scott gained early leads in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and pulled out…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland senior John Carelli made the high jump and triple jump seem like routine business Tuesday at the Lehigh Valley Conference Track & Field Championships. It seemed that way because Carelli won both jumping events for the third straight year. He tied his personal best in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette won’t be small in the middle next season. Nor the season the follows. Marek Koltun, a 6-10, 265-pounder, will likely be manning the paint, and who knows what towers Leopards coach Fran O’Hanlon will get to commit to Lafayette next spring. After all, O’Hanlon now has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Breathe easy, Lafayette. Fran O’Hanlon won’t be cleaning out his office anytime soon — not even for the temptation to return to Philadelphia. O’Hanlon said Monday that he’s happy as Lafayette’s men’s basketball coach and not a candidate for the vacant job at the University of…
· 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 →For Jason Donnelly, the gut-wrenching final seconds of Villanova’s NCAA Tournament game against Arizona last Sunday night were nothing compared to the final days of his mother’s life. But the mentally tough way he reacted to both was the same. That’s because Donnelly,…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →Baseball Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, a former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, and former Philadelphia 76ers center Darryl Dawkins both went straight from high school to their respective professional leagues. Neither got to experience college, something both men said Thursday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Villanova coach Jay Wright has been given everything by the university that, years ago, wasn’t interested in offering him a scholarship to play basketball. “I grew up in Philly,” Wright said. “I grew up a Big 5 fan. Of all the Big 5 teams, Villanova is my favorite team. I wanted…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →Liberty High defensive stars Andres Morales and Andrew Lee will have a second chance for a last impression of before closing the book on their high school careers. Morales and Lee were selected on Sunday to the Pennsylvania squad for the 49th annual Big 33 Football Classic in…
· 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 →Aaron Gray tried to bring down the basket early in the game Wednesday night. He got the ball just outside the lane, made a swift move, then rose way over Rutgers center Byron Joynes to dunk. But Joynes fouled Gray, preventing the emphatic finish. But Gray stayed aggressive,…
· 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 →Syracuse center Sara Antolick recalled an awesome highlight from a high school matchup with Villanova forward Jackie Adamshick. It was in Antolick’s sophomore year at Bethlehem Catholic. Adamshick was a senior at Central Catholic, the school Antolick transferred to for her…
· 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 →Tim Massaquoi has had touchdown receptions at Michigan Stadium, played in two Rose Bowls and has been named the Big Ten’s best tight end. But the former Parkland High star’s proudest moment over the last five years did not come on a football field. Two weeks ago, with his mother…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andres Morales gave his mother, father, brothers, and sister Rutgers paraphernalia for Christmas gifts on Sunday. Then, the all-state and Morning Call all-area linebacker from Liberty asked them if they could figure out which college he had orally committed to attend next fall.…
· 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 →Lehighton running back Robbie Frey often ran by, and away from, linemen during a 2,000-yard season. Central Catholic offensive lineman Chris Waldron bowled over opposing linemen, and as a result, exceeded his own expectations in helping to clear the way for an offense that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andrew Lee took a few minutes away from watching King Kong at a movie theater Saturday night to reflect on some of the beast-like things he and co-defensive star, linebacker Andres Morales, did this season for Liberty. For Lee, there was the PIAA Class 4A Eastern final against…
· 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 →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 →His fist was closed and he was steamed, but Liberty senior Andres Morales says he did not do anything that warranted his being ejected from Saturday’s PIAA Class 4A Eastern final at J. Birney Crum Stadium. But Ted Deptula, the back judge, thought Morales threw a punch, and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →North Penn coach Dick Beck reclined in his office chair on Thursday and reeled off the names of Lehigh Valley players and teams he has admired. He humbly talked about his team, which is coming off a 55-20 win over Downingtown East in the District One championship game, which…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andrew Lee is like a magnet when it comes to the spotlight. He loves being in it. Whether he’s playing football, doing the pole vault, or in a classroom at Liberty High, Lee is often the center of attention “You never see him without a smile on his face,” said Liberty football…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nobody can look into the mind of Liberty junior quarterback Dan Persa, holder of the school’s single-season passing touchdown record, and see what’s brewing. Liberty fans probably hope that it’s full of excitement and drive, and that he doesn’t have any space available for fear.…
· 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 →Frankford did not tune up for its first-ever PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal appearance the way coach Mike Capriotti had hoped it would on Thanksgiving Day, losing to previously winless North Catholic, 12-0. But the Pioneers woke up Friday morning a renewed team, Capriotti said. They…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andres Morales is the Homecoming king at Liberty, but he’s no pretty boy. The Hurricanes senior linebacker considers himself the opposite, because what he does on the field is not pretty. He hits hard, and doesn’t care if he gets bruised in the process. There are days following…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty’s 48-10 victory over Easton last Friday earned the Hurricanes their third District 11 Class 4A Championship, and gave them a 10-win season for the third time in school history. It also finally got the monkey off the ‘Canes’ backs. They had lost nine straight to Easton,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The biggest day in Freedom senior Colin Neely’s life came in August when he announced that he had committed to Michigan State, the Big Ten program where he hopes to mature and become a winner once again. His signature on scholarship papers to Michigan State won’t officially come…
· 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 →First-year Dieruff coach Jake Williams didn’t think he’d contend for the Lehigh Valley Conference title this season. He didn’t figure on finishing last, either, but that will be the harsh reality if Dieruff (0-8 overall, 0-6 LVC) doesn’t pull off an upset over the next two…
· 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 →Somebody needed to redirect focus and refuel the hunger in Liberty’s attack Friday night. Enter linebacker Andres Morales, who had already laid a few mean licks on Northampton players in a Lehigh Valley Conference game played in rainy and muddy conditions at Al Erdosy Stadium.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty, Easton and Whitheall control their PIAA sub-regional playoff destinies with four regular-season games remaining. All each has to do is win, though somebody will lose when Liberty (6-0, 4-0) and Easton (5-1, 3-1) meet Oct. 28 at Cottingham Stadium. Whitehall (5-1, 4-0)…
· 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 →Liberty hopes to blow out Parkland in the same fashion it has its first three opponents. But it might not satisfy at least one Liberty High teacher. “One of my teachers said, “Can you make the games more interesting,’ but I said interesting games are usually the bad ones. 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 →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 →Bethlehem Catholic and Parkland entered the second half the way they began the first: scoreless. The only highlights had been crunching hits, topped by a sandwich of Bethlehem Catholic quarterback Alex Atiyeh by blitzing Trojans Owen Thomas and Matt Wasley to end the half. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty has “Hoagie,” which is what they call star senior linebacker Andres Morales, who’s being recruited by N.C. State, Duke and other Division I schools. It also has junior quarterback Dan Persa, an accurate passer and slick runner who’s healthy again and can pick apart…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Freedom High defensive star Colin Neely reeled off a long list of people whom he wanted to thank for helping him earn a scholarship to Michigan State. Then, the rising senior thanked the person who was most responsible for the strenuous work he has done on and off the field over…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Domenique Price’s name will be on the back of his Pennsylvania uniform tonight at the 48th annual Big 33 Football Classic at HersheyPark Stadium. He’ll get to keep the jersey, and the memories of his week in Hershey may never fade, but Price is lucky to be on Pennsylvania’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In his senior season at Pennridge, Ryan Greiser rushed for 2,030 yards, scored 33 touchdowns and was selected as The Morning Call’s player of the year. He was also named to the Associated Press Class 4A All-State first team and invited to the Big 33 Football Classic. But Greiser…
· 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 →David Horton made playing in the Big 33 Football Classic a personal goal last July. He just needed to have a breakout senior season that would increase his chances of getting selected to the Pennsylvania team that will meet Ohio’s best July 23 at Hersheypark Stadium. The former…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The bigger the meet, the tougher the competition, the faster Justin Gaymon runs. He’s winning gold medals and breaking his own Phillipsburg High track and field records. “The thing now is he knows he has the potential to be pretty good,” said Phillipsburg coach Bill Hurst.…
· 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 →Kyle Newell has plowed and leaped over other athletes on the football field. He has rebounded, intimidated and dunked with ease on the hardwood. And he has been named to several all-star teams in his four years at Bethlehem Catholic. But Newell doesn’t consider himself any…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →John Carelli probably won’t show up at J. Birney Crum Stadium with a broom this afternoon. Maybe his Parkland teammate Tyrone Faverey will bring one for him. Carelli is on the verge of sweeping the jumping events in the Lehigh Valley Conference Championships for the second…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Erika Smith is a former Miss Pennsylvania contestant, but don’t let her astonishing looks fool you. She’s more than just glamorous. When her school day as an English teacher at Dieruff ends, she prefers to tie up her hair, throw on sweats and head across town to J. Birney Crum…
· 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 →Arthur Perryman has probably looked down through the clouds countless times over the last 10 years to bless the people who once cheered and idolized him during his standout basketball career at East Stroudsburg High. Many of those people have refused to let memories of the…
· 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 →Madison Square Garden could provide the stage for Saint Joseph’s senior guard Pat Carroll to do something Hawks junior point guard Dwayne Lee has not seen too often the last three years. And that’s a Pat Carroll dunk. “You know what? I might have seen him dunk 10 times since…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They have no fear of North Carolina. Not of Sean May, the Tar Heels’ dominating wide-bodied center. Not of Rashad McCants, the guard with incredible speed and shooting range. In fact, the Villanova Wildcats fear no player that will be wearing the Carolina baby blue uniform in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Temple’s season of underachievement will likely end tonight in a first-round NIT game against Virginia Tech. But the major question after the game probably won’t center on what the Owls need to do to get better for next season. It probably will be on why Temple coach John Chaney…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Chevon Troutman, a bruising 6-7, 240-pound University of Pittsburgh senior, has been convinced for a long time that his teammate, 7-0 Emmaus High graduate Aaron Gray, is more than just a big fella. Flying elbows and dunks by Gray in practice keep Troutman and other Panthers,…
· 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 →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 →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 →Phillipsburg native Tom Brennan has reached a point in life where he’d rather spend his summers sailing on Lake Champlain in Vermont than recruiting players across the country for his Catamounts basketball program. Brennan, 55, announced his retirement as Vermont’s head coach on…
· 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 →Tony Cocca had forecasted the future for Bethlehem Catholic two-way standout Kyle Newell long before Newell had even begun to assert himself on the football field. “Keep an eye on Newell,” Cocca said before the start of the 2002 season. “He’s a Division I player.” Good forecast.…
· 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 →For the first time in his life, John O’Connor is far away from Philly cheesesteaks and the City of Brotherly Love, in which he grew up. His living situations, not to mention diet, are much different these days. His job as Georgia Tech’s director of basketball operations is also…
· 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 →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 →Pius X wide receiver Quintin Lopez likes to imitate his NFL idol, Randy Moss. The senior enjoyed nothing better than frustrating defensive backs, who were charged with trying to prevent him from making a big play. He would catch passes over their outstretched arms and use his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Central Catholic senior David Horton probably has Vikings coach Donnie Roberts high on his Christmas list. Roberts’ decision to move Horton from running back to wide receiver as a junior has panned out wonderfully. Horton’s 51-catch, 617-yard season with five touchdowns was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pennridge High senior tailback Ryan Greiser, The Morning Call’s player of the year, received an expected honor but at an unexpected position Saturday. And Parkland’s 6-4, 310-pound, two-way standout lineman Morgan Thomas, finally got his due. Greiser and Thomas were selected to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The opponents hit hard. Easton just hit harder. The opponents were often bigger. Easton never buckled. For 13 straight games, Easton just won, mostly with smashmouth offense and punishing defense, and by taking advantage of some turnover opportunities in the playoffs during…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Imagine the oddity of a fan holding up a sign in the Liacouras Center Monday night that read, “All I want for my birthday is a Wake Forest win.” That fan got his wish, but Temple and junior guard Mardy Collins did not make it easy for No. 6-ranked Wake, finally losing 67-64…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton senior tailback Ovid Goulbourne broke quickly to the outside and raced 34 yards down the sideline. Along the way, last Saturday, he stiff-armed a couple George Washington defenders. It was a vintage run, his longest of that PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal game in Philadelphia.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Get ready, Easton. Here comes speed, precision and high-powered offense. Here comes Neshaminy High (12-1), a 51-34 destroyer of 2003 PIAA Class 4A champion North Penn in the District One final last week. Here comes a Redskins team that’s driven, by any means possible, to win the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton played its third game in eight days, second in just three days, but the Red Rovers sure did not play like a fatigued team Saturday night. The Red Rovers were just as tenacious, hard-hitting, and efficient on offense when they absolutely had to be in persevering 15-10 over…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →PIAA playoff rookie George Washington can’t wait to play Easton in the Class 4A Eastern semifinals at 7 tonight at Northeast High’s Charles Martin Stadium in Philadelphia. But the Eagles (12-0) aren’t talking smack because they’re just happy to be in the chase for what would be…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Thanksgiving is for feasting. The big gifts aren’t supposed to come until Christmas. But opportunistic Easton collected early against mistake-prone Phillipsburg in the 98th Turkey Day Bowl before a sold out crowd Thursday at Lafayette College’s Fisher Field. And Easton defensive…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Thanksgiving is for feasting. The big gifts aren’t supposed to come until Christmas. But opportunistic Easton collected early against mistake-prone Phillipsburg in the 98th Turkey Day Bowl before a sold out crowd Thursday at Lafayette College’s Fisher Field. And Easton defensive…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The 98th Thanksgiving Day meeting between Easton and Phillipsburg is not just a game for bragging rights. It’s for historic achievement since both teams will enter Lafayette College’s Fisher Field Thursday morning undefeated for the first time since 1958: Easton at 11-0,…
· 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 →An area high school football coach, who showed little mercy when it came to an opponent, was just a fan Saturday afternoon watching the District 11 Class 4A subregional playoff game between Easton and Emmaus at Cottingham Stadium. But former Bethlehem Catholic High coach Bob…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →With Easton sporting a 9-0 record and Liberty, Emmaus and District 2’s Wyoming Valley West each 9-1, the PIAA Class 4A sub-regional playoffs would appear to be up for grabs. “Anything can happen,” said Easton coach Steve Shiffert. But Easton losing at Cottingham Stadium may not…
· 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 →Liberty is now the talk of Bethlehem. That’s what happens when you’re 5-0 and ranked No. 9 in the state in Class 4A by the Harrisburg Patriot-News. The Hurricanes also still have bragging rights because they swept city rivals Freedom and Bethlehem Catholic last season. Until…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus and Whitehall are no longer being overlooked by other Lehigh Valley Conference teams. “That’s too bad,” said Emmaus coach Bottiglieri. “We need them to overlook us a little bit.” Neither Emmaus (3-1, 1-1 LVC) nor Whitehall (3-1, 2-0) will get breaks tonight, next week or…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Dieruff High senior linebacker Nick Davis has racked up 275 tackles the last three seasons and is on pace for another 100-plus-tackle season. “The kid gets crazy, crazy out there,” said Dieruff coach Keith Brader. “They just can’t stop him. “He is so hard-nosed. He is the best…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →North Penn, the defending PIAA Class 4A champion, and Mount Carmel, a Class 2A powerhouse with five PIAA titles since 1994, will both be playing in the Lehigh Valley Saturday night. Whether that’s good news or bad for the Lehigh Valley Conference teams they are playing remains…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic, Easton and Parkland have had their runs of dominance in the previous two years of the Lehigh Valley Conference. Now, Central Catholic hopes to make its own run. The Vikings, who have gone 10-12 under coach Donnie Roberts the last two seasons, begin their…
· 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 →Nobody threw up or fainted at Easton High. Nobody took lunch break and decided not to return for the afternoon practice. Most of the 108 players on the practice field were in good shape and brought good attitudes as far as coach Steve Shiffert was concerned as the high school…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brothers Dave and Doug Spadt, former Emmaus High basketball standouts, shared the same concerns as clouds darkened, light rain fell and leaves floated from trees and onto the Catasauqua Playground court Thursday. The Spadt brothers were playing for G&S; Fastening against Ackey’s…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andrew Battle used to knock people down out of anger, and occasionally get suspended from school as a result. He was ultimately labeled a trouble maker. But now Battle, 23, is a rookie free agent linebacker with the Detroit Lions. “Now I get paid to clean clocks,” he said…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Some of the Pennsylvania and Ohio All-Stars who feuded in the Big 33 Football Classic Saturday night at Hersheypark Stadium will compete against each other again. Some at Penn State and Ohio State, some at other Big 10 schools. But Allen’s Eugene Clay and East…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Some of the Pennsylvania and Ohio All-Stars who feuded in the Big 33 Football Classic Saturday night at Hersheypark Stadium will compete against each other again. Some at Penn State and Ohio State, some at other Big 10 schools. But Allen’s Eugene Clay and East…
· 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 →At the top of the not-so-fun list for Allen High’s Eugene Clay, preparing this week for Big 33 Game, is practice. His fun list is a lot longer, including a visit to the Adventure Sports amusement park with his host family, feasting and sharing laughs with teammates — experiences…
· 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 →Joe Crispin perked up and had the type of second-half shooting performance that brought a huge smile across the face of Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs general manager and vice president Sam Unera. Crispin had a season-high 35 points, including 28 in the second half of the ‘Dawgs’…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Unseasonably cool temperatures and persistent rain were not strong enough elements to force Allen sophomore Rushane Scott to change his mind about competing in a local Junior Olympic track and field meet Saturday at J. Birney Crum Stadium. A year ago, Scott wasn’t so…
· 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 →Seeds mean more than what’s on paper, at least according to Bethlehem Catholic track & field coach Gary Mohylsky. If he’s right, then the most accomplished sprinter in the Lehigh Valley over the last two years will dominate in the District 11 Track & Field Championships today…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Darryl Dawkins played 14 years in the NBA and never recalled an official puffing out his chest and barking during a heated dispute, “I ain’t scared of you.” No NBA player ever approached Dawkins in that manner. “No, not like that,” said Dawkins, who has been coach of the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Everything about the way Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs guard Tim Winn played the game Thursday night was considered too erratic to his coach in France, who had asked Winn to walk the ball up the court rather than run and try to create something. “I don’t think he could do it if you…
· 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 →Former Penn State guard Joe Crispin has a newborn girl and a new house in Glassboro, N.J., that he and his wife, Erin, are close to settling on. And the free-agent contract he signed with the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs last week offered him a new lease on his professional…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh Valley’s fastest sprinter has entered the spring track and field season without a college scholarship offer. That could change for Bethlehem Catholic senior Brandon Carter after he competes in the Penn Relays, April 22-24 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wake Forest guard Chris Paul has shown little sign of rookie jitters in his first NCAA Tournament. The Demon Deacons’ 6-0 freshman has averaged 25.5 points and 7.5 assists, better than expected numbers for even the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year. But now Paul will…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →When Jameer Nelson was starring at Chester High, his mailbox didn’t fill up with scholarship offers until after his junior year. By that time, Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli had offered Nelson a full ride to the tiny Jesuit school on Hawk Hill. Later, Kentucky, USC,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs management is busy doing what it does each March — watching the NCAA Tournament and getting serious about a new United States Basketball League season. The season, which begins in April, will bring a change of homes for the Dawgs. They will play each of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The worst 40 minutes Saint Joseph’s has played this season will likely make the Hawks’ first-ever No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press and ESPN/Coaches polls short-lived. But the Hawks’ top player, senior Jameer Nelson, and coach Phil Martelli, both believe that their lopsided…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Maryland and Georgetown were in Delonte West’s backyard, but never looked in his direction when he was a local high school star guard at Eleanor Roosevelt in Prince George’s County, Md. Neither did Duke, Stanford or any of the other big-named college basketball programs. But now…
· 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 →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 →It must have been destiny that rivals East Stroudsburg and Kutztown would play two buzzer-to-buzzer games decided by a combined six points. Sole possession of fourth place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division was on the line when they met Wednesday night…
· 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 →Sean Knitter’s mother calls often from Philadelphia to needle her son about the scholarship offer he did not accept from Saint Joseph’s four years ago. “How about Saint Joe’s?” Donna Knitter asks. “Yeah, I know,” Knitter says. Knitter, a junior center for Lafayette, would be a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A meeting at the line of scrimmage between Freedom’s 6-6, 297-pound Ryan Ehrie and Northwestern’s 6-5, 290-pound Jake Figner might have been a grueling matchup, testing more than just the strength of both. It could not happen because Northwestern played in the Colonial League…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →Some interceptions alter games, but the first interception of Bethlehem Catholic defensive lineman John Bedics’ career did more than that. His 42-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter against Parkland in last year’s season-opener increased his confidence…
· 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 →A team-leading 18.7 points per game scoring average, Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week accolade and a starting position after just three games may seem like a fantasy tale for most freshmen who were not McDonald’s High School All-Americans. The reality is that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →North Penn junior quarterback Adam Hearns was the only Knights player left on the field on a brisk Tuesday night, but it was not by choice. He still had running to do. Again, it was not by choice. It was by demand of coach Dick Beck that Hearns did a series of flexibility drills…
· 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 →Compelling questions about Freedom (5-1) and Easton (4-1) will be answered when they meet in a Lehigh Valley Conference Northampton Division game at 7 tonight at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Who’s tougher? Who can run the ball better? And, of course, who’s No. 1? With…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton was expected to be a top contender for the Lehigh Valley Conference title and a top District 11 Class 4A playoff spot. Emmaus and Northampton did not have the same expectations, but all three teams enter the fifth week of the season with stronger possibilities for…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A year ago, Bethlehem Catholic and Parkland played two games that were like the Super Bowls of Lehigh Valley football. Bethlehem Catholic won the first meeting, 29-28 in overtime. Parkland prevailed in the second game, 14-11 to win the District 11 Class 4A title en route to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The atmosphere was not like old times between Bethlehem Catholic and Central Catholic, at least not the way former Central Catholic lineman and current Vikings assistant coach William Edwards proudly remembered. “We used to play in front of 18,000 fans,” he said during the week.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One more chance. “This is my fourth year,” said Central Catholic High senior quarterback Josh Hinkle. “I’ve got to get one.” Just one victory over Bethlehem Catholic, the arch rival that has bombarded Central Catholic by a 126-31 margin in their last three meetings. Hinkle has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland and Liberty linemen tangled at the line of scrimmage, both trying to plow over the other. Only Parkland succeeded. Liberty was missing key players, but the lopsided final margin still might not have mattered had the Hurricanes been at full strength. That’s because…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They are the Bethlehem Towers, each tall and solid. Their potential appears to be limitless. Division I football scouts must think so because they have been hawking Freedom High two-way lineman Ryan Ehrie and Bethlehem Catholic two-way standouts John Bedics and Kyle Newell.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The stadium lights will be turned on and the blocking, tackling, passing, punishing and juking between the lines will commence throughout the Lehigh Valley this weekend as the high school football season kicks off. Lehigh Valley Conference powers Parkland, Bethlehem Catholic and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Adam Bednarik had a celebrated high school football season at Bethlehem Catholic last fall, throwing for 27 touchdowns and over 2,300 yards. He was named to the Associated Press Big School first team and was The Morning Call’s all-area quarterback. He was also selected to the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There is a no-blitz rule for the PNC Big 33 Classic Saturday night at Hersheypark Stadium. But defensive players can hit quarterbacks, wideouts and running backs as hard as they want. And Freedom defensive star Jeremy Kametz can’t wait to make contact with an offensive player in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Phillipsburg High tailback Leonard Brice waited too late to get serious in the classroom, and that cost him a chance of earning a Division I scholarship. Fortunately, Brice still has a chance to achieve his goal. He just has to go to Hutchinson Junior College in Kansas before…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →So much for the Gold team all-stars’ speed and the hope of it being unleashed in a mighty way. The Red team all-stars, led by a defensive backs that blanketed wideouts and defensive linemen that created havoc, dampened the aspirations of fans looking for a shootout in the 33rd…
· 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 →Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs coach Darryl Dawkins is battling the tough odds of joining John Lucas and Eric Mussleman as the only United States Basketball League coaches to be hired as head coaches in the NBA. Is Dawkins ready? He says yes. Is he qualified? He says yes. Is his 88-54…
· 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 →Quakertown High senior distance runner Adam Breisch crossed the finish line in the PIAA Track and Field Championships’ Class 3A 1,600-meter final with his arms raised and his mind running faster than his track shoes Saturday at Seth Grove Stadium. Though Breisch had just won his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For 400 meters, one circuit around the track, Kutztown University senior Scott Eisenhart says he falls into a relaxed zone. Even when he has trailed, Eisenhard has not changed his style or his focus. “You want to stay relaxed,” he said. “You don’t want to try too hard so your…
· 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 →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 →Freedom two-sport senior Tyler Jones may look imposing at 6-3, 280 pounds, but his twin sister Amy says he’s really a teddy bear. “He doesn’t cry at movies or anything,” Amy said. “He’s just one of those brothers who you get along with. Maybe, it’s because we are the same age…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Two defending PIAA Class 3A track and field champions, Beth Crocus of Freedom and Liberty’s Lauren Birckhead, will head the list of local athletes who will compete in the 109th Penn Relays today at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. An intriguing question is: Will both try to peak…
· 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 →Tony Lattimore is an assistant track & field coach at Easton and the father of one of the area’s top female sprinters. But he doesn’t brag much about daughter Danielle. Sure, he’s always happy about her accomplishments in high school and the Junior Olympics. But Tony is just as…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Losing wasn’t anything Freedom High thrower Beth Crocus feared in a dual meet against Easton on Tuesday at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. It wasn’t a district, state or national meet. That’s where Crocus, a senior and two-time defending PIAA Class 3A champion in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland High’s Garrison Rausch wanted to drive Bethlehem Catholic pitcher Adam Bednarik off the mound. When the chance came, Rausch did just that, lining a three-run double to center field in the bottom of the fifth inning that put the Trojans ahead by three runs en route to a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →If they had played on the same high school basketball team, Allen’s Ray Barbosa and Emmaus’ Aaron Gray believe they would have won a PIAA Class 4A title. “No question,” said Barbosa, The Morning Call’s Player of the Year who has a scholarship to James Madison University. “If we…
· 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 →Emmaus center Aaron Gray will be playing Division I basketball next season, but it is no longer guaranteed that he will be wearing a University of Pittsburgh uniform. The 6-11 Gray was disappointed to learn last week that Ben Howland had resigned as Pittsburgh’s coach to take…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Darryl Dawkins’ nickname growing up was “Goofy.” This, despite the fact that Dawkins towered over most of the people calling him names and trying to embarrass him on the outdoor basketball courts in Orlando, Fla.He lacked coordination, charisma, and toughness. His mother used to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Penn State guard Kelly Mazzante did not touch the ball in the early moments as Holy Cross defenders hawked her every move Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. When she went left, there was Liz O’Connor blanketing her. When she worked to the top of the key, hands flew in her face.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Gerry Cooney is satisfied with his life 21 years after he failed to win the heavyweight championship from Larry Holmes. That loss has not haunted him. It only made him stronger and more committed to helping other boxers get their lives in order after they retire. His health is…
· 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 →Parkland running back Austin Scott and Bethlehem Catholic quarterback Adam Bednarik will rush and pass as high school players on the same football field one more time. Finally, it will be as teammates. They have been selected to the Pennsylvania All-Star team that will play the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Austin Scott turned into Kid Scott on Tuesday afternoon at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel grand ballroom. He just couldn’t believe that he was in the same room with athletes and coaches he has seen so often on television. Nor could Scott believe that later Tuesday the Maxwell…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 →Saint Joseph’s guard Jameer Nelson was slick with his handle, quick with his penetration. Trying to trap him seemed pointless. Fouling him did not work either because Nelson was smooth at the free throw line, too. Nelson was in command, and his poise was a big reason the Hawks…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They were a highly-touted freshman class, each having played high school basketball within an hour’s drive of each other. Expectations of them were high from the start, and have not been lowered 17 games into their careers at Villanova. They all seem to still be operating on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland High’s all-everything running back Austin Scott has fallen into countless daydreams while watching ESPN’s SportsCenter. Often he hears the voices of Stuart Scott and Chris Berman ringing through his mind. Stuart Scott, the master of airwaves slang, is saying, “Did you…
· 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 →Going to the playground to play basketball was a chance for “Slim” to throw down dunks that often impressed the older players in Tampa, Fla. “I remember a few times where the old guys would be like, “Slim, you have the highest ups on our team, you have to give us something,’ so…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a classic no-blood, no-foul basketball game, the kind that forces tempers to flare and a capacity home crowd to fume at every no-call. Such was the case Tuesday afternoon. But Big Five matchups are typically grueling. Throw in the fact that it was Temple against…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tom Osonte was just as involved in Parkland football games this season as anyone dressed in uniform or on the coaching staff. Never mind that he was the statistician, because he was just as busy as coach Rob Melosky on game nights, mostly charting each Austin Scott run. Scott…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The losing streak is over. Thank the schedule makers for setting up a date for Lafayette with Division III Ursinus Tuesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette, winless in its previous five games, took advantage of the many weaknesses from the undersized and overmatched Bears…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic senior quarterback Adam Bednarik seemed to almost faint when told that he had been selected to the Associated Press Big School (Classes 4A/3A) All-State team. “That’s awesome,” Bednarik said, pausing on the phone before becoming even more exhilarated over his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →She was the lady in the fur coat standing on the muddy steps in Hersheypark Stadium Saturday night, requesting to talk to the star Parkland running back, her nephew Austin Scott. He was the man wearing a much less flamboyant coat, proudly talking about the astuteness of his son,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There are many ways to score touchdowns. Long runs, short runs. Long pass receptions, short pass receptions. Punt returns. Kickoff returns. Defensively. Parkland’s Austin Scott has explored most of these options during his memorable and historic season. And he’s not done, yet.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Woodland Hills High football team has three 300-plus-pound starting offensive linemen and a safety in Ryan Mundy, who is being recruited by Pittsburgh, Penn State, Michigan, Virginia and Notre Dame. In essence, it’s the type of talent pool that veteran Wolverines coach…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland High senior Nick Pinchek had to turn over the reins of the Trojans offense, knowing that the return of tailback Austin Scott would mean less handoffs and the possibility of not rushing for 1,000-plus yards again. But less touches of the football has not meant less…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They are not called “hogs” or “beef brothers” or the “the plow crew.” Nothing intimidating. Instead, Parkland’s offensive linemen go by the nickname, “Merculators”, which sounds more suited for a dance studio than for the trenches on a football field. But they are called that…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Their mark in school history was cemented before they even stepped onto the field Saturday at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. They had already earned the first-ever District 11 Class 4A playoff berth for Freedom. But there’s a more important mark still to be accomplished…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Austin Scott seemed to learn more from playing hide-and-seek and tag as a youngster than most kids. That’s because he concentrated on being elusive and running fast. “I used to get away any way that I could,” said Scott. The Parkland High senior tailback has returned from a knee…
· 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 →The Easton Red Rovers are going on a shopping spree at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium for the second week in a row when they play the Liberty Hurricanes in a Lehigh Valley Conference matchup at 7 tonight. And the thing the Red Rovers (3-2, 3-1) will be looking for most…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Liberty defense was being attacked by air and surrendered a first down to Dieruff on fourth-and-11 with less than two minutes to go at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Pop, pop, another first down for Dieruff. But junior defensive back Jeremy Kittek intercepted…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic quarterback Adam Bednarik notices the passing statistics of all the area’s other top quarterbacks. He was impressed by Friday night’s air shows of 258 yards yards by Allen’s Michael Bernhard against Liberty and the 269 yards Dieruff’s Richard Ocelus torched…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Liberty Hurricanes know they’re not facing a cupcake in the Allen Canaries, who visit Liberty for a Lehigh Valley Conference game tonight at 7. But the Hurricanes aren’t buckling at the knees. They want to prove their mettle against a good team. “As long as everybody plays…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland tailback Austin Scott did not want to be hounded by bandwagon jumpers the rest of the season, especially since his heart has been set on playing for Penn State since his sophomore season. The senior Trojans star will make his choice official today by making an oral…
· 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 →The swagger is still there, though the players who figure to be leading the Bethlehem Catholic charge are different. The speed is also there, maybe more so than in the past. Look out for a junior named Brandon Carter. There is a new team leader, senior quarterback Adam Bednarik,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Running on playing fields as hard as concrete was more fun than swimming for high school football stars Austin Scott of Parkland and Freedom’s Afa Anaoi and Jeremy Kametz on a Monday where temperatures neared 100 degrees. Each player said he had eagerly awaited the opening day…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Rich Baker worked his whole life to become a Division I basketball player, and when the opportunity came, he earned a starting position in the backcourt of the Rider Broncs of the Metro Athletic Conference. But now Baker is again searching for the right college situation. Rider…
· 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 →Darryl Dawkins, who has awed sports fans throughout the Lehigh Valley since he arrived in the spring of 1999 as head coach of the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He lives in the Valley; his wife is from here. He and assistant coach Rick Nash have…
· 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 →The future fast lanes of District 11 athletes may have been paved by Bethlehem Catholic’s Eddie Scipio and his supporting cast of Golden Hawks sprinters in the PIAA Track and Field Championships last weekend at Shippensburg University. Scipio, a senior three-sport star, anchored…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic’s Maurice Simmons boasted about what he did Friday night at the school prom. “I danced all night,” the Golden Hawks junior sprinter said. So did his teammate, junior Frank Trovato. “I had a good time,” Trovato said. In some ways, they rewarded themselves early…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They made winning their races look as easy as blowing out candles on a cake. Congratulations, however, for these District 11 track and field champions, were awarded in other ways. First, with the cheers of parents, coaches, teammates, and of course, admiring fans. Then with…
· 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 →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 →He is the idol of so many kids in the South Side of Bethlehem. They want to go to Liberty High and become standout athletes just like him. He is a product of the Bethlehem Saints, the youth program where he gained his early football stripes as a small, but fast and elusive…
· 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 →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 →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 →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 closest highway is a short walk from College Hill in Easton, and Lafayette College coach Fran O’Hanlon doesn’t mind telling any player disgruntled with his role in to take that highway — Route 22 — and not worry about coming back. Simply put, it’s O’Hanlon’s way or the…
· 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 →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 →The first shot of insulin is just the beginning of each day for Lafayette College forward Mike Farrell. Three more injections follow, and then there’s a barrage of sugar-count tests, eight to 10 times a day during the college basketball season. “If [the sugar count] goes too…
· 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 →Whew! It was that close, that breathtaking. It was also that drenching, especially for La Salle coach Billy Hahn, who could have taken a shower at halftime of Tuesday night’s Big 5 game against Penn before a crowd of 3,722 at La Salle’s Gola Arena. By game’s end, after 45…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Now the man with the baby face looks back at those snowy days in Whitehall when his dreams ran wild along with his older brother, NFL star Eddie McCaffrey of the Denver Broncos. But unlike “Easy Ed,” the now 29-year-old Billy McCaffrey, often thought about playing pro basketball…
· 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 →It was about 2 hours before game time last Thursday in Emmitsburg, Md., a serene small town about 75 miles north of Washington, D.C., and ex-Whitehall star Jerry Lloyd was seemingly as calm as the environment in which he has lived during the last four school years. “I like it…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →“Hit the showers,” the rowdy Saint Joseph’s student body shouted often. The verbal taunt was directed at Drexel center Steve Showers, a 6-9 freshman from Northwestern High. But numerous times throughout the No. 16 ranked Hawks’ 85-64 victory it seemed like outgunned and…
· 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 →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 →John Chaney’s tie and collar were loosened early, even though his young Temple Owls were leading the Florida Gators by eight points. Later, he took his tie all the way off and took a relaxing seat in the interview room. A long Thursday night with more misery than anything else…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Maryland Terrapins and the Florida Gators, ranked No. 2 and No. 6 in the preseason Associated Press poll, are looking to get off to perfect starts. Unranked Arizona, the defending national runner-up will be looking to gain confidence with at least five freshmen playing…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jameer Nelson’s celebrity status extended well past the Saint Joseph’s University campus before he even made his first collegiate basket last Nov. 17. He didn’t even need to win the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year award or play on last summer’s gold medal-winning USA Junior…
· 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 →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 →“Go, Nick, go.” That’s a cheer Parkland junior Nick Pinchek has waited two years to hear more regularly than just a few times a game when he would be given token handoffs. No, the game plan has changed at Parkland. Pinchek is now a key part of the game plan, the running back on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Austin Scott waits and wonders, hoping that he will play high school football for Parkland again this season. One doctor says no. Another will give his opinion on Monday. Tonight, however, Scott will sit and watch. His nerves may be unsettled when the Trojans play host to Pocono…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The tranquility of early mornings in the wild is something East Stroudsburg senior punter Adam Hostetter loves just as much as placing punts inside the 20-yard line. The only difference is there is no pressure when he’s hunting and fishing. It’s just him and his outdoors…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Allen Holloway doesn’t look that tough on the football field. He’s just 5-10, 150 pounds. But Easton’s senior free safety had opposing offensive players wondering last season, “Did you catch that number?” Holloway was everywhere, making plays, sticking hard. “He has some real…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A disciplinary action that resulted from an alcohol-related incident on campus involving five Kutztown football players, including star quarterback Josh Warren, has left the Golden Bears short-handed heading into their season-opening game Saturday in Elizabeth, N.C. Warren,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A record-breaking high school football season by Parkland High’s Austin Scott was followed by a spring of mistakes, one that resulted in him being expelled from the school in April and forced to attend a private school the rest of the school year. Scott hung out with the wrong…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →As guaranteed by center Dikembe Mutombo, the Philadelphia 76ers are going to the NBA Finals in a true East versus West matchup. Can the Los Angeles Lakers handle them? The Milwaukee Bucks, with All-Star guard Ray Allen aching from a hard fall in the third quarter, sure couldn’t,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His statistics do not measure up to the man who has gone from the troubled streets of North Philadelphia to the glamour lights of the NBA. Through it all, Sixers guard Aaron McKie has remained humble and thankful for the people in his life who’ve helped elevate him to the player…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There’s no reason to give up. Not yet, anyway. The Sixers are still alive, though heartbroken, after losing 96-93 to the Toronto Raptors Sunday night at the First Union Center. Now they have to find a way to get even as they head into Game 2 of the best-of-seven series,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Philadelphia 76ers probably wish that all they had to worry about these days were injuries to Allen Iverson and Aaron McKie. They’ve already proved that they can handle and bounce back from injuries, but now they have to prove they can return to the same dominating team they…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bishop Hannan guard Gerry McNamara had an open floor to dribble and nobody in his way. Big thoughts entered his mind as he moved closer to the basket before rising up and failing miserably on a dunk attempt. “Actually, I didn’t know what to do,” said McNamara, the Golden…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The hardwood floor at Memorial Gymnasium opened up like the runway at nearby Lehigh Valley International Airport for Central Catholic’s Daniel Hinds in the second half Tuesday night. With the lanes to the basket more clear, his passion to score and take command of the game…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There were big shots, one after another. There were devastating fastbreaks, capped by behind-the-back or deftly delivered passes for dunks. There were defensive stands, incredible in the hard, fierce way they were carried out. Whatever it took, the Sixers had the means and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Professional basketball player and crowd rouser Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers has a serious question. “How can there be racism at basketball games?” Iverson asked Thursday night following a standout 31-point performance at Madison Square Garden and a day before being…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Ray Barbosa was the creator and Jon Brown the finisher. Get used to it because they have more years to go, more games in which to dominate, more dramatic finishes to enjoy. They are the foundation of the Allen boys basketball team — Barbosa the sophomore guard and Brown the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Building blocks and gaining a measure of respect and perhaps develop an identity to be reckoned with by Mountain Valley Conference opponents the rest of the season is all Easton had to work for in the second half. The Red Rovers are in the midst of another down season and they…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Vacation time would be a welcome sight for the Philadelphia 76ers right now, but the NBA schedule affords them only today and Monday off before they must take their aching bodies and depleted lineup out West for games this week against Utah, Golden State and Sacramento. They’ll…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Central Catholic was out of groove and down by two points when Danny Hinds broke loose, basically demanding to have the ball in his hands. He is the senior leader, the go-to player who’s on the recruiting list of several Division I men’s basketball programs. So when the game is…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They have to watch what they say, and be careful what they do, on and off the court, otherwise NBA players, coaches and owners are subject to fines by commissioner David Stern and his discipline board. That’s the way it looks, that’s the way it has been, and that’s the way it…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →East Stroudsburg’s Rob Moylen had a right shoulder separation and he was playing an uncomfortable position last Thanksgiving Day when the Cavaliers played crossbridge rival Stroudsburg. Moylen had been a linebacker since he first began to understand how to really play the sport,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They needed nobody to tell them what they already knew. ‘We knew the whole week that we were going to win, honestly,’ said Easton quarterback Matt Loebsack. ‘We had the confidence.’ ‘The difference between this game and the last game is I felt a lot more confident, and when you…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tim Massaquoi made Michigan his college choice before the high school football season kicked off, ending speculation over which Big Ten program he’d choose and allowing him to concentrate on scoring touchdowns for Parkland this season. But in nonleague games against Emmaus and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jeff Van Gundy works in Gotham City where hearts are cold and where expectations are seemingly higher than the Empire State Building. But as coach of the New York Knicks, Van Gundy has not lost his decency or his respect of the men who help make the NBA the greatest professional…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His movement in the pocket is swifter, his throws crisper, his ability to read defensive coverages even better, but the thing that has East Stroudsburg quarterback Jim Terwilliger gloating most is in the Cavaliers’ 4-2 record. Six weeks into last season East Stroudsburg was 0-6…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His team was nursing an eight-point lead over rival Whitehall with just 2:51 remaining last Oct. 9. Parkland kicker Greg Knauss was summoned by coach Rich Sniscak to attempt a 47-yard field goal. Make it and victory in the Mountain Valley Conference football game that had…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Andrew Guman made the catch that sent a buzz through the crowd. Then, the Central Catholic multi-purpose senior covered 73 yards of ground that shook up the Parkland defense. He just couldn’t finish off the game-breaking play with a touchdown. ‘I just ran as hard as I could,”…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tim Massaquoi looked around the auditorium at Parkland High School on Wednesday and shook his head in amazement. ‘I didn’t think it would be this big,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think this many people would show up.’ That’s because the announcement of Massaquoi’s college choice was big…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was the final drill of Parkland High’s exhausting varsity morning football practice, and many of the players were running half-speed. That had head coach Rich Sniscak disgruntled. ‘We’re 45 minutes over schedule, so I know you won’t make it because you’re mentally weak,”…
· 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 →Andrew Mahaney was 50 meters away from the finish of the 200-meter butterfly, and the thought that flashed in his mind was, ‘I’m swimming the best race of my life.” Indeed, he did, and now the rewards are numerous for the 18-year-old swimming phenom from Easton. ‘If there is a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →She stands in goal, gobbling up and turning away shots. She does it with such ease. Her goal is to disrupt the attacking team’s flow, and Central Catholic senior goalkeeper Naomi Campano does just that. Campano recorded 20 shutouts in her previous two seasons and continues to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Stem, the highly successful head football coach at Bethlehem Catholic, has won 201 games in 26 seasons. Obviously, what Stem and his staff have done is working. The results, year-in and year-out prove it. Jim Morgans, the head coach of Central Catholic’s 1993 and 1998 state…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The idea in scholastic athletics is to provide an arena, playing field or surface where a student-athlete can look to achieve maximum results. Personal or for the team. But an athlete can not experience thrills or disappointments without tough competition — at least something on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →