Local Sports

The WPIAL announced their 2017 high school basketball playoffs Tuesday night with three local teams earning a playoff birth.  Both Riverside girls and boys squads made the playoff picture along with the Ellwood City boys basketball team. For the boys in their Class 3A playoff bracket with opening round action on Saturday, Riverside (15-7) squares off against Burgettstown (11-11) at North Allegheny, 3 p.m. while Ellwood City (9-10) plays vs. Washington (18-4) at Peters Township, 3 p.m. An opening round victory could possibly pit the Panthers against heavyweight Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (17-5 overall) in second round action, while a upset…

Taylor Petrak, a senior swimmer at Lincoln High School won a double gold medal in her MAC Swim Meet, according to Lincoln High’s Twitter page. Saturday, Feb. 11,2017 was the MAC Swimming and Diving Championship hosted by Moon High School and directed by West Allegheny’s coach Bob Miller. “High school swimming is a little bit different than other sports in that you are only permitted to enter two individual events. However, if you are on a team you may also be a member of two relays.  We were pleased that Taylor won her two individual events – 200 yard freestyle…

Ellwood City’s summer youth baseball, brought to the community by the Ellwood City Amateur Baseball Federation, is preparing for their 67th season. Parents can sign their kids ages 4-18 up and registrations are from now until the end of February. Once a widely participated sport, Michael Widmaier, the organizations Vice President stated that they’re lucky if they get over 300 sign ups, which was almost doubled in the past. “The idea of the summer youth baseball program is to promote youth in the community being outgoing and active,” Widmaier said, “were hoping to see a good turn out this year.”…

The first season of bocce matches for Ellwood City’s Lincoln High School is already proving to be a success. Ellwood reigns champion against New Wilmington after their first and only home game, which included the support of the high school’s band and cheerleaders, on Tuesday night. The team of 12 students has been practicing since the beginning of December, and the coach says the students couldn’t be more excited about winning their first game. “I have several of the team members in my class and they have been so upbeat and excited since the win,” Mr. DiBuono, the coach said….

After two successful summer seasons, the Ellwood City Basketball League is preparing for their third season – this time as a winter league. “We have some really good teams in the league, it’s competitive, but it’s also about having fun and hanging out with friends,” Matt Boffo, a coordinator for the organization stated. The season is 10 weeks followed by two weeks of playoffs; the games take place at the Ellwood City Family Center, formerly known as the Y. More information below. Schedule: Games will be held on Sunday nights at 5:00pm from February 12-April 30 in the Ellwood City…

The Ellwood City Wolverines used an early cushion to easily cruise to a 59-34 victory over New Brighton Tuesday night while the Riverside Panthers found their stroke from the free throw line to hold on and beat Aliquippa 61-59.  With victories for both squads, Ellwood City (8-7 overall) next travels to Riverside (10-6 overall) for their second meeting of the season – with playoff implications on the line. For the Wolverines, a early 16-3 first quarter cushion and 17 points from senior Jordan Recce was enough to oust the Lions.  Ellwood City junior Anthony Roth led all scorers with 18…

Congratulations to the Ellwood City Wolverine Wrestling Team, who just finished their last section match against South Side and won 40-23 clinching the 2nd place spot in our subsection 1B with a section record of 4-1. The Wolverines will participate in the team WPIAL section playoffs January 25 location tbd. Craig Alberts, the Wolverines Wrestling coach provided the following match information: “Every one played a part in the win. We had to move Tyler Alberts, Donavin Chambers, Austin Walley, and Braden Strohecker up in weight to give us our best chances. Jake had a tough match and avoided the pin…