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March 21, 2016

Ellwood and Riverside Sports Schedule Week of March 21

Ellwood City Monday 3:45PM S Softball at North Catholic Tuesday No Events Wednesday 3:30PM Boys Tennis at Neshannock Thursday 4:30PM Baseball Laurel Home 5:00PM Softball Freedom Home Saturday 1:00PM: Baseball Moon Home Riverside Monday, March 21 3:30PM Boys Varsity Tennis Ellwood City HS Away Tuesday, March 22 4:00PM Boys and Girls Varsity Track Wilmington Area Senior High Sch Away Wednesday, March 23 3:30 PM Boys Varsity Tennis Postponed- Beaver Area High School Home 4:00 PM Boys Varsity Baseball Union Area MS/HS Home Thursday, March 24 11:00 AM Boys and Girls Varsity Track WILMINGTON RELAYS Away 4:00PM Boys Varsity Baseball Western…

March 17, 2016

Ellwood’s Petrak Travels to Swimming PIAA as Defending State Champion

As a sophomore, Ellwood City’s Taylor Petrak did what few other Ellwood athletes ever accomplished: win a PIAA individual championship. Petrak, a swimmer from a school with no team and no pool, claimed the gold in the 50-yard freestyle and the silver in the 100-yard freestyle. As a junior, she’s returning to the PIAA at Bucknell University as a defending state champion. Two weeks ago, she won the WPIAL 50-yard with a time of 23.33 seconds and placed second in the 100-yard with a time of 50.33 seconds. In both races, she beat her PIAA times from last year. Between…

March 11, 2016

Ellwood City Has Opening for Boys and Girls Basketball Coaches

At the school board meeting on Thursday, the board accepted the resignation of the girls basket coach and declared that the boys basketball coach position was open and is taking applicants. Both the girls coach, Jolene Krupa, and the boys coach, James Kosior, had been in their positions for two years and competed in Class AAA conferences. Krupa’s record was 21-24 and her team advanced to the first round of the playoffs in 2014-15, the first time a girls team has done so since 1997-98. In addition, Krupa had coached the team’s five seniors since 8th grade. Her sister, Dena…

March 9, 2016

EC Wrestling: Alberts Has Sights on a PIAA Medal

Tyler Alberts is on the road to Hershey with a medal on his mind. The Ellwood City junior will be competing in the PIAA wrestling championships on Thursday through Saturday and in a way, he’s been preparing most of his life for this. Alberts started wrestling in first grade through clubs. In the Ellwood junior high wrestling program, he advanced to the state competitions. Last year, as a sophomore, Alberts advanced to states but lost the preliminary round. He won the first consolation match but lost the second. Now, with a taste of states, he’s more prepared, knows what to…

March 8, 2016

Riverside Relay Team Wins WPIAL, Two Individuals Qualify for PIAA Swimming

Spring sports season has officially started but for an elite few, winter sports goes on. At the WPIAL swimming competition last Thursday and Friday at the University of Pittsburgh, four Riverside girls and one boy qualified for the PIAA next week. The girls claimed one win in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.53. The team consists of junior Erica King, junior Alana Nulph, freshman Meghan Rosendale and senior Kelly Krechowski. It wasn’t an easy season. The team struggled with injuries and illnesses. Indeed, the qualifying relay team had only swam together as a unit once before. “We…

March 7, 2016

Ellwood, Riverside Athletes Advance to PIAA Competition

Although the winter sports season has largely concluded, local athletes are still experiencing the post-season in swimming and wrestling. Over the weekend, two Ellwood and five Riverside athletes qualified for the PIAA competition. Both schools are in Class AA. Correction: [Riverside sophomore Dean Kralic also qualified for the swimming PIAA.] Taylor Petrak- Ellwood City Swimming Ellwood City may not have a swimming pool or swimming team but that doesn’t slow down junior Taylor Petrak, who competes individually and practices at other schools’ pools. At the WPIAL competition last Thursday and Friday at the University of Pittsburgh, Petrak won the 50-yard…

February 25, 2016

CCBC Men’s Basketball Team Finds Success on and off the Court

Monaca, Pa. – With the spotlight on a new basketball team after a year-long hiatus, head men’s basketball coach Steve Brodzinski, who started at CCBC last February, took on the important task of coaching, mentoring, and preparing a team that is not only successful on the court but also in the classrooms at CCBC and beyond. With their focus on academics, scholarship, transfer, and a good balance of practice and playing time for all players, Brodzinski and his team shined on and off the court this season. “My main goal was to cultivate a winning mentality on the court and…

February 24, 2016

Riverside Loses Two Games, Still in Playoff Run

Riverside lost two playoff games on Friday and Monday against Greensburg Central Catholic and Burrell but is still in the running pending tomorrow’s game against Chartiers-Houston. Unfortunately, that run will be minus the team’s top scorer, senior Katie Stang, who averages 19 points per game. During the Greensburg game, Stang suffered a season-ending knee injury and watched the Burrell game from the sidelines on crutches. Riverside’s post-season got off to an excellent start with a comeback game against Brentwood on Feb. 18 where the Lady Panthers won 45-42 after trailing 25-15 in the first half. In Friday’s game against Greensburg,…

February 23, 2016

Four Ellwood Wrestlers Advance to WPIAL Championship

Four Ellwood City wrestlers advanced to the WPIAL championship by qualifying in the Section 1 Individual Championships on Saturday, Feb. 20. Tyler Alberts not only qualified but won his weight class of 113 pounds. In addition to Alberts, the following athletes qualified: Freshmen Donavon Chambers, 5th placed, 139 pound weight class Sophomore Tyler Baird, 5th, 113 Senior Carter MacMurdo, 3rd, 120 The top five in each weight class advance to the WPIAL championship next weekend on Friday and Saturday. “The competition will grow and we will be training hard this week in hopes of moving on to the SWR,” coach…

February 19, 2016

They Came From Behind: Riverside Girls Basketball Defeats Brentwood, Advances to Next Round of Playoffs

In a late game upset, the Riverside girls basketball team overthrew Brentwood for a narrow 3-point victory in Wednesday’s 45-42 game against Ambridge High School. Riverside was pinned down in the first half 25-15, but came came back in the second half, especially in the 18-8 final quarter, to narrowly snatch victory from Brentwood. Top scorer Katie Stang delivered 26 points, 16 from field goals and 10 from free throws. Also scoring for Riverside were Morgan Bailey, nine, Jordan Annarumo, six, Natalie Bologna, two, and Sydney Wolf, two. The Lady Panthers will play Greensburg Central Catholic at North Allegheny High…