Early agate
ON THIS DATE
Nov. 4
1922 – Herb Kopf catches a conversion pass from Hal Brenkert in the fourth quarter to give Washington & Jefferson a 14-13 victory over Lafayette in a game played before more than 50,000 at the Polo Grounds in New York. W&J overcomes a 13-0 deficit in the third quarter. Both teams entered with 17-game winning streaks.
1960 – Waynesburg High School ins its third consecutive Southwestern Class A football conference championship by defeating visiting California, 35-7. The Raiders’ John Rafail returns a quick kick 43 yards for a score and throws a touchdown pass to Bob Milliken.
1960 – John Zaby scores on runs of 25 and 2 yards to give Mapletown a 26-6 victory over visiting McGuffey, capping the Maples’ first seven-win season.
1960 – Moses Bailey rushes for 152 yards and three touchdown on only 11 carries as Trinity ends its season with a 28-20 victory over visiting Canon-McMillan.
1966 – Bill Taczak, Mark Spezza and John Sweder each score touchdowns on short runs as Avella defeats Carnegie 18-6 to finish the regular season with a 9-0 record.
1967 – The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers play to a 1-1 tie in the first game between the Pennsylvania rivals at the Civic Arena. Attendance is only 4,179.
1971 – Jack McMahon is fired as head coach of the Pittsburgh Condors of the American Basketball Association and replaced by general manager Mark Binstein.
1976 – The Pittsburgh Pirates trade catcher Manny Sanguillen and $100,000 to the Oakland A’s in exchange for their manager Chuck Tanner.
1983 – Fullback Paul Rock and quarterback Vito Bovalina run for touchdowns as Burgettstown upsets previously undefeated Washington 12-0 on a mud-covered field at Hill Memorial Stadium.
1986 – Only 17 days before the start of the season, California University hires Jim Boone as its head men’s basketball coach. Boone, who was an assistant at Baptist College in Charleston, S.C., replaces Tim Loomis, who resigned to become an assistant at Penn State.
1990 – Fullback Don Meier runs for 205 yards – the second-highest individual rushing effort in school hsitory – as California University defeats Lock Haven, 49-0.
1994 – Trinity clinches its first WPIAL Class AAAA football playoff berth by defeating Canon-McMillan, 21-0, in the regular-season finale. Sam Morgan rushes for 216 yards, and the Hillers hold C-M to minus-38 yards on the ground.
1994 – Derek Beltz gains 122 yards to become Peters Township’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 1976 as the Indians clinch a WPIAL Class AAA playoff berth with a 38-0 win over host South Park.
2000 – R.J. Bowers rushes for 128 yards to become the first player in NCAA history to gain 7,000 yards in his career as Grove City beats Carnegie Mellon, 14-10. Bowers, with 7,127 yards, also increases his all-division record for career touchdowns to 90.
2000 – West Virginia football coach Don Nehlen, following a 31-27 home loss to Syracuse, announces the current season will be his last with the Mountaineers. Nehlen’s 21-year stay at West Virginia produces a 202-128-8 record.
2003 – Behind a strong defensive performance and a goal by Chelsea Ashe with 4:17 remaining, Peters Township defeats WPIAL champion Penn Trafford 1-0 in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA soccer playoffs.
2011 – Sahi McKenzie rushes for 170 yards, Eric Ellis has 3 1/2 quarterback sacks and Washington gets its first football playoff win in six years, a 30-14 victory over Mount Pleasant in a WPIAL Class AA first-round game.
2011 – Quaretrback Tanner Garry has career highs of 29 carries and 198 rushing yards to go with two touchdowns as Fort Cherry defeats host Beth-Center 33-14 in the WPIAL Class A playoffs.
2011 – Ringgold generates only five first downs but they are enough as the Rams rely on their defense and defeat Highlands 14-10 in the Class AAA playoffs. Quad Law runs for a touchdown and throws a 69-yard scoring pass to Fred Johnson.
Nov. 5
1944 – Ray Chappel, Elmer Elonzae and Lou Nagy score goals as Avella Polar Star defeats Flannery Bolt, 3-1, in the first round of the West Penn Soccer tournament at Bridgeville Park.
1955 – Hickory High School’s Joe Smith sets a course record in winning the PIAA Cross Country Championships at Penn State. Smith cuts three seconds off the record by finishing in 10:49.4. Hickory also becomes the first Class B school to win the team title with 53 points, the lowest score in the event’s 16-year history. Hickory’s Smith White places fourth and Willard Jacobs is sixth.
1955 – Seven different players score touchdowns as Waynesburg College defeats visiting Washington & Jefferson, 50-13.
1965 – Joe Lynch runs for two touchdowns and passes for another as undefeated Trinity stays in contention for a WPIAL playoff berth with a 21-7 win over Canon-McMillan.
1966 – Waynesburg College stays undefeated when visiting Findlay botches a fourth-quarter extra point and falls to the Yellow Jackets 7-6 at College Field.
1973 – The Big Ten Conference principals name Ringgold to represent the league in the WPIAL football playoffs after the regular season ends in a three-way for first place between the Rams, Monessen and Thomas Jefferson.
1976 – Gary Kusich has a pair of four-yard touchdown runs, Dave Stefka returns a fumble for a score and Jim Floyd rushes for 138 yards and a TD as Avella defeats visiting Mapletown 30-14 to finish the regular season with a 9-0 record.
1976 – Ron Knotts scores on runs of four, 20 and one yards as Trinity upsets playoff-bound Mt. Lebanon, 27-16, at College Field.
1977 – Kevin Doody catches a 20-yard halfback pass for a touchdown from Dave Yoders for the go-ahead score in the second quarter and West Greene holds on to upset Tri-County South Conference champion Carmichaels 13-7.
1986 – Craig Hutula scores six goals, including five in the third quarter, as Peters Township overwhelms Dubois Central Catholic 17-0 in the first round of the PIAA boys soccer playoffs.
1987 – Shon Fleming scores a goal in the third quarter and Allen Duda scores with 2:04 left as Peters Township wins its second consecutive WPIAL Class AA boys soccer championship with a 2-0 victory over Charleroi in a match played in Mt. Lebanon.
1988 – Washington & Jefferson gets a 59-yard touchdown run from Larry Pitts in the first quarter and a scoring pass from Pat Aigner to Steve Lockridge in the fourth quarter to defeat Carnegie Mellon 14-6 and win its third consecutive Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship.
1994 – George Foreman regains part of the heavyweight title he lost to Muhammad Ali in 1974, stopping Monessen’s Michael Moorer with a two-punch combination at 2:03 of the 10th round. Foreman, 45, captures the IBF and WBA championships to become the oldest champion in any weight class.
1994 – Mark Lee catches a game-winning 30-yard touchdown pass from Darren Elvey with 51 seconds left as host Waynesburg College upsets previously undefeated and 5th-ranked Frostburg State, 28-21.
2005 – Antoine Bagwell rushes for 155 yards and two touchdowns, and Joe Ruggiero throws two first-quarter TD passes, as California spoils Frank Cignetti Day with a 38-23 road win over IUP that clinches the PSAC West Division title for the Vulcans.
2007 – The Pittsburgh Pirates hire John Russell as the team’s manager. Russell spent the past two years as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Class AAA affiliate.
2007 – Ben Roethlisberger throws five touchdown passes before leaving the game with a hip injury in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 38-7 win over the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field.
2011 – Chris Marini kicks a 24-yard field goal with 2:39 remaining and Waynesburg University upsets previously undefeated Thomas More 26-23 in a PAC game. Waynesburg quarterback Josh Graham completes 27 of 51 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns.