Holtz down to two ..... other notes
Some items that fell off my laptop.
Shaler Area football player J.P. Holtz has narrowed his college choices to two - Pitt and Michigan State.
Holtz, a tight end-linebacker, visited Michigan State last weekend. He also has visited Purdue, but has crossed the Boilermakers off his list.
*** Don't be surprised if Montour quarterback Dillon Buechel picks Duquesne University. He visited New Hampshire this past weekend, but New Hampshire didn't offer a scholarship. Maine also has offered, but Buechel seems to like Duquesne.
I'd like to clear up a quote from Buechel in a Post-Gazette story this morning. He talked about how he is going to spend the next four to six years in college. Someone commented to me today that it doesn't sound too good if Buechel is talking about spending six years in college. Well, here is the deal. Buechel very well might be a pharmacy major and pharmacy is a six-year program at many colleges.
So please don't think Buechel is a knucklehead who will take six years to complete college. He is a good student.
*** Just posing a question here: Do you think the Pitt football team cares all that much that Penn Hills receiver backed out of his commitment and is headed to Toledo instead?
*** If the Pitt basketball team would offer Beaver Falls' Sheldon Jeter, I think he would take it immediately. He'd like to go to Pitt from what I understand, and the Panthers have been showing more interest lately. Penn State offered Jeter a scholarship Saturday night. South Carolina offered him a week before and Wisconsin also offered recently.
It would be nice to have a local kid at Pitt, wouldn't it? I think Jeter is as good as some other Pitt recruits in the past. He's long, athletic, filled with potential and has looked very good this season. Stay tuned on this one. But what do you think? Should Pitt take Jeter? Can he play at Pitt?
*** I saw South Fayette's Zach Challingsworth play basketball yesterday. While he is a good high school basketball player, I was thinking more about football while watching him. I was very impressed with his overall athletic ability - quickness, agility and jumping ability. He showed enough athletic ability that I think he might be a Divisioin I player in football. He plays receiver and defensive back.
*** How is this for opposite ends of the spectrum? In two close basketball games this week, I saw one player make 10 free throws in a row in the fourth quarter. Then five days later, I saw a player go 0 for 10 from the line in the fourth quarter.
*** It will be interesting to see how the Chartiers Valley basketball team bounces back from its first loss yesterday. It was a lackluster performance in a loss to Montour. You know the Colts are better than they looked. Will they come up with a bounce in their step in a big game tomorrow night against Mt. Lebanon?
*** Beaver Falls is good enough to make a long, long run in the state playoffs and even good enough to win a state championship.
*** With Monessen, Aliquippa and Wilkinsburg dropping down from Class AA to Class A in basketball next season, imagine how good Class A is going to be?
*** The WPIAL basketball committee met today to come up with section alignments for the next two years. The sections need to be ratified by the WPIAL Board of Control next month. One of the interesting things to see is what did the committee do with Hampton and New Castle moving up from Class AAA to AAAA? Some coaches in Section 3 hoped the committee didn't put both New Castle and Hampton in Section 3. That would create a "super section" and make Section 3 so much better than other sections. There would be a couple good teams not making the playoffs in Section 3 while some average to below-average teams might be making the playoffs in other sections. Hampton and New Castle are expected to be very strong next year.
New Castle "has" to go to Section 3 because there really is nowhere else to put the Red Hurricanes in terms of location. But Hampton could conceivably be placed in Section 2 against teams from the eastern suburbs, like Gateway, Woodland Hills, Penn Hills and Plum. Hampton could jump right on the turnpike to get to a few of those schools and it wouldn't be a long trip.
*** I saw a call in a recent game that you never see. An official called a technical foul on a player because he smacked the backboard. It's not an incorrect call. Slapping the backboard is supposed to be an automatic technical. However, you never see it called.
What I think needs called is when a player smacks the backboard trying to block a shot and nothing is called, despite the backboard shaking a little while the shot is on the rim. That's when the official can't swallow his whistle.