FOOTBALL
READING, Pa. – Redshirt senior quarterback Tanner Kelly of Olanta enjoyed a career day with 436 yards and four touchdowns through the air and 499 yards in total offense as undefeated Albright began its Middle Atlantic Conference slate by blitzing Wilkes 43-21 Saturday afternoon.
The former Clearfield Area High School standout was named MAC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season and was featured in the D3Football.com\’s weekly Statistical Spotlight for his performance that included 32 completions in 39 pass attempts, dazzling the 1,675 fans at Shirk Stadium.
His sixth career game of more than 300 yards passing fell just short of his record 447 yards against Kean (N.J.) in the second game of the 2007 season. He has topped 200 yards in 14 other games.
Kelly, who has not thrown an interception in Albright\’s four wins, hooked up with favorite receiver Nate Romig Saturday for TD aerials covering 12, 22 and 29 yards, making the Daniel Boone High School grad from Birdsboro the school\’s all-time points leader by a non-kicker with 226. Romig snared 12 passes for 198 yards.
Kelly\’s fourth TD pass, a 30-yarder to Sean Caldwell Jr., gave the Lions a 36-7 cushion with 3:15 left in the third quarter.
The 6-3, 215-pounder was sacked only one time for a loss of three yards and ended up with 63 net yards rushing for 12 keepers. He also punted three times for a 30-yard average.
In torching a Wilkes secondary that had allowed only an average of 240 yards through the air in winning its first three games, Kelly increased his passing efficiency rating to 195.41, which is the best in NCAA Division III among the top 100 quarterbacks. He is one of only five without an interception.
Kelly\’s brilliant credentials are highlighted by a 77.4 completion percentage that also is tops in Division III.
While completing at least 66.7 percent of his passes in each outing, he has connected on 72 of 93 aerials for 992 yards and eight TDs. The latter two totals are second behind the 1081 yards and nine TDs by Bill Winters of Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham in the MAC. Winters has as more completions in 53 more attempts than Kelly, who also is with 248 passing yards per game and total offense with 287.8 yards per game.
Kelly has kept the ball 38 times for 159 net yards and three touchdowns and averaged 37.1 yards for seven punts.
Albright, which is No. 1 in the MAC in team scoring and total offense and No. 2 in passing offense, received two votes in this week\’s D3Football.com Top 25 Poll.
The website salutes one individual or team statistical for each of four regions every week, and Kelly earned the distinction for the East Region.
Interestingly, the South Region honor went to Randolph-Macon junior wide receiver Earl Peoples, who caught all of Austin Faulkner\’s 20 completions for 295 yards in a 21-13 Old Dominion Athletic Conference win over Washington & Lee.
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CLARION, Pa. – Junior strong safety Nick Sipes of Curwensville climbed to the top of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tackle chart with his fourth double-digit performance of the season as Clarion balanced its record at 3-3 by clipping Gannon 42-21 Saturday afternoon.
Sipes had five solo tackles and five assists while free safety Shawn Sopic, another junior from Curwensville, contributed one solo stop and six assists in the PSAC Western Division clash that drew 6,000 fans into Memorial Stadium.
Sipes, who has led the Clarion defense in every game, leads PSAC in solo stops with 38 and total tackles with 66, an 11.0 average. He is tied four fourth in sacks with four (three solo and two assists) and tied for fifth in tackles for losses with eight (seven solo and two assists) for 32 yards. He also has one forced fumble.
Sopic is tied for third among the Golden Eagles with 33 tackles, including a second-best 19 assists. He has two tackles for losses, four passes broken up and the team\’s lone blocked kick.
Diminutive running back Alphonso Haggard earned PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week honors with 18 carries for 134 yards and three touchdowns, two pass receptions for 19 yards and two kickoff returns for 104 yards, one an 87-yarder for a TD.
Clarion is tied for third in the PSAC West at 2-1.
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WESTMINSTER, Md. – Senior free safety Beau Ryan of Clearfield made four tackles, three of them solo efforts, and classmate former Clearfield Area High School teammate Devin Yastro of Olanta had one assist in Juniata\’s 30-3 loss to host McDaniel Saturday afternoon.
Freshman safety Isiah Morgan of Clearfield played on special teams for the Eagles, who tumbled to 0-5 with their third consecutive Centennial Conference setback in front of 5,106 fans at Scott S. Bair Stadium.
Ryan is fifth on the Juniata defense in tackles with 23 and has two of the Eagles\’ three interceptions.
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DELAWARE, Ohio – Freshman quarterback David Kalgren of Curwensville directed the Oberlin offense on the first drive of the second half with the Yeomen in a 14-14 North Coast Athletic Conference dogfight against host Ohio Wesleyan in front of 2,310 fans at Shelby Saturday afternoon.
He completed his only pass for 12 yards and carried four times for eight yards, but the drive stalled at the OW 35.
Starter Joey Zebelian went back into the game for Oberlin, but neither team scored until a field goal with 16 seconds left lifted the Battling Bishops to a 17-14 win that left the Yeomen 0-2 in the conference and 0-4 overall.
In four games, one as the starter, Kalgren has hit 14 of 28 passes for 114 yards and one touchdown and rushed 21 times for 42 yards.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Redshirt sophomore quarterback Andrew Janocko of Clearfield was the holder for Dan Hutchins\’ five extra points as Pitt scored four touchdowns in the second half to thump Louisville 35-10 in their Big East Conference opener Friday night.
A crowd of 39,949 in Papa John\’s Cardinal Stadium and a national television audience saw the once-beaten Panthers notch their fourth win, which earned them votes in both The Associated Press and USA Today Top 25 polls this week.
Pitt quarterback Bill Stull completed 16 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns. He was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week.
The Panthers\’ Big East home game with Connecticut (3-1) will be televised regionally by ABC Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Redshirt junior guard J.D. Skebo of Curwensville blocked on the front line for the extra point and field goal units as Slippery Rock rallied for a crucial 17-16 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory over Mercyhurst Saturday afternoon.
The nail-biter seen by 2,943 fans in Thompson Stadium left both teams 2-1 and tied with Clarion behind Edinboro and California, both 3-0, in the PSAC-West title chase.
The Rock (5-1) was ranked No. 4 in the first NCAA Division II Super Regional I poll released Monday. The top three teams are Bloomsburg (6-0), Charleston, W.Va., (6-0) and Edinboro (5-1).
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GROVE CITY, Pa. – Junior running back Tyler Kirkwood of Frenchville (Clearfield Area H.S.) saw action as Grove City sent a Homecoming crowd of 4,700 home happy by rolling up a 28-0 lead and defeating Saint Vincent 41-20 on Robert E. Thorn Field Saturday afternoon.
The Wolverines are 2-3, including 1-1 in the Presidents\’ Athletic Conference.
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WOMEN\’S SOCCER
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Dani Struble of Lumber City (Curwensville Area H.S.) earned her fourth assist of the season as Westminster posted a 3-0 victory at Waynesburg Saturday in the Presidents\’ Athletic Conference opener.
The junior forward sent a cross into the crease that Amanda Embry\’s converted into the Lady Titans\’ third goal at the 38:58 mark.
Struble accounted for five of Westminster\’s 22 shots, and four were on goal.
She had three shots, one on goal, in a 3-1 non-conference defeat at Fredonia (N.Y.) State on Wednesday.
The Lady Titans (8-4) also came out on the short end of a 2-1 decision against undefeated Thomas More (Ky.) in a home PAC game Sunday.
Struble is Westminster\’s second leading scorer with three goals, all game-winners, and four assists for 10 points. She leads the Lady Titans in shots (43) and shots on goal (18) and is tied for first in assists.
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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Two former Clearfield Area High School teammates opposed each other as starting midfielders last Wednesday as Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division rivals Slippery Rock and Lock Haven wound up in a 1-1 tie after 110 minutes.
Juliana Howell got her first start of the season for Slippery Rock and registered two shots. She has been switched to midfielder after entering her junior year as a reserve forward and coming off the bench in eight games.
Howell has one goal, a game-winner, to show for nine shots. Six of her attempts have been right on the net.
Jen Williams returned to the starting lineup for Lock Haven after seeing action as a reserve for five games.
She still is fourth in scoring for the Lady Eagles (3-6-1, 2-5-1) with the three goals, including the game-winner, she booted in the season opener.
The Rock is 5-3-2 with a 3-3-2 PSAC-West log.
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JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Jilissa Keller of Grampian (Curwensville Area H.S.) has one goal and one assist for Penn State-DuBois, which is 1-7 in its first season after suffering a 10-1 non-conference road setback to Pitt-Johnstown Saturday.
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MEN\’S SOCCER
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Junior John Lhota of Clearfield was a starting midfielder in both games last week as Washington & Jefferson made it five shutout victories in a row by blitzing visiting Penn State-Beaver 7-0 Tuesday and then opening Presidents\’ Athletic Conference play with a 1-0 squeaker at Grove City Friday.
Lhota has one goal and one assist for the 7-3 Presidents. Two of his six shots have been on goal.
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NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Junior midfielder Alan Baldwin of Olanta (Clearfield Area H.S.) played in two of Westminster\’s three games last week.
He got off a shot on goal at Fredonia (N.Y.) State on Wednesday and has been credited with three shots in eight games.
After being nipped 1-0 in the non-conference road game the Titans (6-7) split their first two Presidents\’ Athletic Conference outings over the weekend, winning 5-1 at Waynesburg Saturday to snap a four-game losing streak before falling to visiting Thomas Moore (Ky.) 2-1 Sunday.
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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Mark Auman of Clearfield saw action for Lock Haven in a 3-0 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division loss to No. 12-ranked Slippery Rock last Wednesday.
The junior midfielder has played in eight games, four as a starter, for the Bald Eagles, who tumbled to 1-4 in the PSAC-West and 4-5-2 overall.
