Late November brings with it shorter days, some funky weather patterns and just enough leftovers to make a Black Friday turkey sandwich.
It also means that we’re currently entrenched in one of the best times of the year to be a sports fan. High school football playoffs are underway while winter sports started their practices, the NFL has more high-stakes games and you can’t shake a stick at your TV without hitting an NBA or college hoops matchup.
What more could any sports-crazed fan want? Personally, I could go for a few more sunny days, but having the chance to watch athletes – both live and on screens – perform at their highest levels is almost as good as 70s and sun.
Almost.
Thanksgiving Day begins a whirlwind three-day stretch of important football games in high school, college and the pro ranks. Not included in that is the annual Sirianni backyard Turkey Bowl, where sources say Mom has spent the better part of the month fine-tuning her read-option skills from the quarterback position.
For the first time that I can remember, there are actually competitive-looking games on Thanksgiving, which is always a hard thing to do since the Lions play every year. They take on the Vikings for control of the NFC North, while the suddenly relevant Redskins and Cowboys are leaders in the NFC. In the nightcap, the Colts host the Steelers as Pittsburgh tries to decide if it wants to be good this year.
Football fans in Ridgway have waited a long time – since 1989 – to see an Elker team progress this far into the postseason. They’ll head to Slippery Rock University Friday night to take on Farrell, a tough team from the WPIAL. The Elkers are known, at least this season, for their defense, but 45 points last week in the District 9 title game shows that their offense can keep teams honest.
If you have family in Washington, you’ll be hard-pressed to seize the clicker off of the No. 6 Washington at No. 22 Washington State game. Rumor has it the winner of this game gets an Ichiro bobblehead doll.
And, finally, on Saturday, Kane tries to continue its unbeaten run into the state final four for the second time in school history. Standing in their way is Wilmington, which thumped Sharpsville, 56-7. Wilmington will make the long 19-mile bus ride to Slippery Rock, while the Wolves are one of five teams in Class AA without a loss.
Later that afternoon, Penn State has a chance to go to the Big 10 title game if it wins against Michigan State and has Ohio State win in the early game against Michigan. Tyler, a friend I met on the first day of college, got us Nittany Lions tickets back in the summer, so I’ll hopefully be taking in a great game in the happiest of valleys.
My predictions? I like Ridgway and Kane to win (sending me out on the road with them), my mom for Turkey Bowl MVP, Washington, Ohio State and Penn State.
Extra film study paying off
Kane’s Keaton Rounsville was coming home from a friend’s house last week when he received a text from head coach Todd Silfies about a certain play he noticed Chestnut Ridge running on film. That preparation led to Rounsville staying at home in his defensive end position as Lions’ quarterback Logan Hauck rolled out to his right setting up a screen pass across the field that Rounsville would eventually intercept in the second half of Friday’s PIAA Class AA first round game.
“Keaton and I talked about that interception the other night at about 10:30,” Silfies said. “We had a conversation about the whole play, how we saw it, how we saw it develop and how we needed a stop and how he was going to get a pick.”
Quickly after picking off the pass, the receiver he was covering corralled Rounsville to the ground. The only difference between the conversation and reality?
“In the conversation,” Silfies, “he was going to score.”
Sportsperson of the Year finalists announced
Sports Illustrated on Monday released its finalists for the Sportsperson of the Year. Usually, there are some obvious undeserving nominees, but not this year, especially with it being an Olympic year.
You can make strong cases for swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, all-around gymnast Simone Biles, basketball players Steph Curry, LeBron James and Breanna Stewart or for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. The Chicago Cubs (108-year championship drought) and Leicester City (5,000-1 odds of winning Britain’s Premier League soccer title) are strong team choices as well. Heck, even Vin Scully is a finalist, and you couldn’t go wrong awarding him.
Touching moment
Prior to Kane’s state playoff game against Chestnut Ridge, two area radio stations offered some thoughts on the recent passing of Kane graduate and former football player Matt Burton, who died Nov. 10 in a work accident. The Hound’s (97.5, Ridgway) Barry Morgan, in a pre-recorded message, talked about how Burton energized a sluggish Wolves team in 2002 in a late-season contest, the year Kane won the Allegheny Mountain League for the first time and played in the district final.
Joe Szymanski of WXZY radio in Kane offered similar sympathies, with a special sponsorship from Steve Chittester Excavating, where Burton worked.
