Archive - Sep 2011 - Sports Article
September 18th
STATE COLLEGE — The Spiked Shoe Cross Country Invitational was held Saturday at Penn State, and the Punxsutawney Chucks boys' team placed fifth out of 13 complete teams.
"We had a real solid showing on the Blue and White Golf Course at Penn State Saturday," Punxsy head coach John Smith said. "As a team we finished fifth with 183 points with some great performances."
Senior Dane Baker led the Punxsy squad, running the 3.1-mile course in 17:18 and placing 20th overall out of 129 total finishers.
Smith called him "very aggressive" and said it was Baker's best race time on the course.
September 16th
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Leading 12-6 entering the third quarter, St. Marys broke free for three big running plays that led to three touchdowns and pulled away for a 34-12 win over the Chucks Friday night in Punxsutawney.
The first big play came just two minutes into the fourth quarter on a third-and-inches. The Chucks appeared to have St. Marys quarterback David Aul stuffed at the line of scrimmage, when he bounced outside the pile and scampered 84 yards down the sideline to the Chucks' five. Three plays later, Justin Quiggle scored on a three-yard sweep to put St. Marys ahead 19-6.
BROOKVILLE — The Brookville Raiders hosted their home-opener Friday night and suffered a disappointing loss, 43-21, at the hands of the Moniteau Warriors.
The Raiders gave up more than 500 yards to a team that is now 3-0 on the season, and Brookville head coach Chris Dworek said he was disappointed with the overall team effort.
"These guys really upset me today, and the coaches and the coaches' office upset me, so I put out a challenge to them, and hopefully, they'll respond (today in practice) and fix some things up next week," Dworek said. "If we get to that point, I'll be happy."
September 15th
BROOKVILLE — Punxsy senior Tyler Presloid was the main presence for the Chucks, scoring five goals and leading his team to a dominating 7-3 victory over the Brookville Raiders Thursday afternoon in Brookville.
"Tyler makes us go," Punxsy head coach Phil Shenkle said. "We have a lot of guys that can score, but he's just a special player. We can move him all over the field. ... Where ever I have him, he's the best player on our team."
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Behind a 227-yard, three touchdown rushing performance by Perry Arrinington, the Chucks ninth-grade football team defeated St. Marys 36-6 Wednesday evening in Punxsutawney.
Punxsy struck first in the contest with 4:41 remaining in the first quarter on a 32-yard touchdown run by quarterback Dakota Thomas, who followed up Arrington's 227 yards with 68 of his own on the day.
"Our 328 team rushing yards is the kind of statistic that a college or professional team would be envious of," Punxsy head coach Jason Grusky said.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — The eighth-grade Lady Chucks basketball team put up 19 points in the first quarter of Thursday's game against DuBois Central Catholic and led 27-6 at halftime, cruising to a 35-10 win in Punxsutawney.
Six different Lady Chucks put points on the board, led by Emma White with 11.
Beth Barnett, Claire Smith and Ivy Ferko each had six points, while MiKeelee Brink added four, and Hope Bridge chipped in with two.
Punxsy head coach Mike Carlson was very pleased with his girls' performance.
September 14th
PUNXSUTAWNEY — For many, Saturday is a day to sleep in and catch up on rest after a long work week, but 77 runners from six states — including one from Missis-sippi — awoke early last Saturday to take advantage of what many would consider less-than-ideal running conditions at the 13th annual Groundhog Fall 50K Trail Race.
This year's race was hosted by Big Run VFW Post 9044. Previously, the race had been hosted by the Punxsy Road Runners Club.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Despite a late rally by St. Francis, bringing them within three points of Punxsy at 16-13, the Lady Chucks rallied to score the last 10 points of the game and won 26-13 Wednesday afternoon in Punxsutawney.
A catalyst in the late rally was Punxsy's smothering defense, which forced several turnovers late in the game and led to easy fast break lay ups.
On the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, I found myself doing the same thing I have done so many days since then to take my mind off the tragedies of the world: Watching sports.
It didn't hurt that the anniversary also happened to fall on the first Sunday of the NFL season, but most weekends this time of year, one could find me planted in front of my television watching some type of sport — if, that is, I'm not at the field watching.
September 13th
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Punxsy's Dane Baker set the pace for a 18-41 win over Kane, completing the cross country course in 18:41 Tuesday afternoon at Punxsy's first home meet of the season.
Punxsy's Nathan Ward took second at the meet, finishing just nine seconds behind Baker's time.
"Dane Baker went at a torrid pace and set the pace for everybody," Punxsy head coach John Smith said. "Actually, at the two-mile mark, Nathan Ward was coming on strong, so those two finished very well."
Seth Burkett ran a 19:41 to complete a top-three sweep for Punxsy.
