Jan 29, 2017 5 min read

With just one week remaining in the high school rifle season, the race in Section 1 couldn’t be tighter.

As things currently stand, Waynesburg and McGuffey sit tied atop the standings at 5-1, while West Greene is right behind at 4-2. The top two teams in each section advance to the WPIAL tournament, which will be held Feb. 7 at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club.

Making things interesting is that McGuffey has to shoot against Waynesburg and West Greene this week.

Waynesburg edged McGuffey, 797-65X-797-58X Jan. 12 and the Highlanders posted their high score of the season, 800-60X, in a win over West Greene Jan. 17.

Waynesburg and West Greene split their two regular season matches.

A Waynesburg win Tuesday over West Greene would give the Raiders a sweep of the Highlanders. Waynesburg also has to shoot against Washington Thursday.

A McGuffey win over Waynesburg could set up the possibility of a three-way tie for first in the section if West Greene can beat the Highlanders Thursday.

In Section 2, things are a little more clear. Trinity and defending champion Woodland Hills have clinched playoff spots.

In Section 3, Butler and Hempfield are again the class of the section and have clinched playoff spots.

It should be a wide-open tournament, with five teams having shot 800s this season.

Woodland Hills and Hempfield have been the most consistent teams in producing 800 matches this season and the Wolverines have posted the highest-single match score, 800-70X, this season. But Bethel Park, Hempfield, Trinity, McGuffey and Butler have posted scores of 800-60X or better this season.

• Frazier-Simplex took control of the Pittsburgh & Suburban Rifle League race with a 1,477-1,472 win over second-place Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsman’s Club last week.

Tom Morley and Jim Mounts led the way with 297s, John Husk fired a 295 and Zach Nicolella and Becca Spencer shot 294 for Frazier-Simplex (10-1).

Dean Trew had a 299, Amy Smith 296, Curtis Turner 294, Matt Piatt 293 and Ali Rovers 290 for Dormont-Mt. Lebanon (9-2).

Despite the loss, Trew was the high shooter for the week, while Smith took home high lady honors. Mounts was the high senior shooter.

• The NRA Metric Three-position Setional and PA State Championship was held Jan. 21 at the Frazier-Simplex Rifle Club with several local shooters doing well.

Trew, the defending state champion, fired a 1,146-49X, six points higher than his winning score from 2016.

Ray Harvey was second at 1,142-48X, while Husk finished third at 1,129-58X.

High lady shooter was Sylvia Dreistadt at 1,117-27X, while Tom Benedict was high senior with a 1,115-36X score. Cassidy Turner was high junior with a score of 1,033-20X.

In the team portion, defending national champion Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Blue shot a 4,499, 21 points better than its title-winning score from last year.

Frazier-Simplex Gold fired a 4,460, which was five points better than the second-place finisher from 2016 and 16 points higher than its fourth-place score of last year.

State rankings won’t be available until all shooting is completed in March, while the national scores will be tallied in June.

But both Washington County-based teams should rank very high in each.

• The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has added six waterways to its Keystone Select Stocked Trout Program, including a section of Oil Creek in Venango County and Chest Creek in Cambria County.

Section 7 of Oil Creek, which is about 1 1/2 miles of the popular trout streak have been added to the plan, while 1.8 miles of Chest Creek are now in the program.

As part of the program, approximately 4,500 14- to 20-inch trophy trout will be stocked in the 14 waterways included in the program, which already included a 1.67-mile stretch of Loyalhanna Creek in Westmoreland County.

The trout are stocked in those waterways at a rate of 175 to 225 per mile, which is comparable to the numbers in a similarly sized wild trout water in the state.

Also added this year were sections of Tulpehocken Creek in Berks County, Big Cove Creek in Fulton County, Harveys Creek in Luzerne County and Kinzua Creek in McKean County.

In addition to the Loyalhanna, other waterways already part of the program are Middle Branch White Clay Creek, Wiconisco Creek, South Branch Tunkhannock Creek, Neshannock Creek, Loyalsock Creek, First Fork/Sinnemahoning Creek and Laurel Hill Creek.

The waterways are regulated under the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only regulations, which means they are open to fishing on a year-round basis.

But the trout can only be harvested from June 15 to Labor Day and have to be a minimum of nine inches in length. For the remainder of the year, the waters are catch-and-release only and tackle is limited to artificial lures and flies.

• New creel and size limits will take effect March 1 for crappie in Pymatuning Reservoir.

Anglers in Ohio and Pennsylvania will be limited to 20 fish per day with a nine-inch minimum.

Prior to this change, there were no restrictions on the lake on panfish, including crappies. The reservoir had seen an increase in crappie numbers from 2001 to 2012, resulting in increased fishing pressure. But the numbers have dropped off in recent years, leading to these new regulations.

• The Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsman’s Club near Eighty Four will host the NRA Junior 4-position sectional and PA state junior championship Feb. 21.

The match is open to all shooters age 20 and under. For information, e-mail dbtrew@gmail.com.

• The Washington County Sportsmen’s & Conservation League’s annual outdoors show will take place Feb. 3-5 at Washington Crown Center. It will feature a free BB-gun range for children 16-under, free face painting and a sporting dog show at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Plenty of other activities will take place, including, as usual, George Block measuring deer antlers at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Gander Mountain Room.

Outdoors Editor Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.