We come to the end of another year! How quickly 2003 has flown. It seems like only a couple months ago we did this for 2002, but here it is the final day of the year.
There will be a lot of sporting events and teams that deserve attention. Unfortuantely, although we try to get allm of them in at least giving brief mention there are many things that happen over a 365 day time period.
The number one story for 2003 was the Bellwood-Antis baseball team winning the state championship. Only the 1999 Tyrone football team has won a state title from either of the two local schools we cover. Individuals in track and field and wrestling have achieved the feat, but no other teams so that is at the top of our list.
Bellwood-Antis baseball team wins state championship
The Bellwood-Antis high school baseball team became the first sports team in school history to win a PIAA state championship when they nailed down the 2003 title with their 2-1 triumph over Eastern representative Elk Lake at the Harrisburg Senators Double-A minor league ballpark on City Island in Harrisburg.
Beginning with a 7-1 win over archrival Tyrone in a game in which it appeared the Blue Devils’ pitcher Adam Plummer wouldn’t make it out of the first inning before he settled down and the B-A bats started to boom, until the final out against Elk Lake when first baseman Nate Carlson fielded a grounder and recorded the unassisted out, it was quite a season.
First-year head coach Steve Conlon kept wondering how far his talented Blue Devils would go and what Bellwood-Antis fans would expect of the team next year.
Bellwood-Antis won 10 of their first 11 ballgames to jump out to a two-game lead in the Blair County League Southern Division on pitching performances by Plummer, Carlson and Zach Stere and the hitting of Derrick Miller, Andy Brisbin, Ricky Shannon, Chris Alley, Stere, Plummer, Carlson and the rest of the potent Blue Devil bats.
Stere tossed a no-hitter against Glendale and Carlson came within one strike of pitching another against Moshannon Valley.
A turning point might have been reached when the team lost three straight games in the middle of the season, by a combined total of five runs.
Regrouping, the Blue Devils put their troubles behind them and won their final 12 games to finish 23-4 with a Blair County League title, District VI crown and PIAA Western Championship in addition to the PIAA state championship.
Bellwood-Antis, often a slow starter in 2003, took a quick 4-0 start in the first round of the district playoffs on the way to a 5-1 win, then waded through West Branch 4-0 to reach the finals. There, B-A disposed of Bishop McCort 6-1, after falling in the semifinal round in both 2000 and 2001.
Beginning PIAA tournament play at Altoona’s Mansion Park, the Blue Devils needed to push across a pair of runs in their final at bat to down Conemaugh Township with a heart-stopping 5-4 triumph. Derrick Miller turned from goat after allowing a run to score on an error, into a hero, drilling a base hit to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Traveling to Clearfield High School’s Bison Sports Complex, Bellwood-Antis earned a berth in the Western Finals by carving out a 2-0 shutout victory over Eisenhower, using a tremendous pitching performance by Adam Plummer and timely hitting by Andy Brisbin and Nate Carlson.
Carlson, Plummer and Zach Stere combined to pitch the Blue Devils into the state championship game with a 7-5 win over Chartiers-Houston at the White Township Recreation Complex in Indiana. B-A rightfielder Ryan Myers made a diving catch that saved at least two runs, then drove in the tying runs in consecutive at bats. Chris Alley reached base for the third straight time in the bottom of the sixth and Plummer rocked a triple to score Alley with the go-ahead run and Conlon and the B-A coaches then pulled off a trick play to get Plummer home from third base with what became the winning run.
Plummer, who recorded a 9-0 mark with 108 strikeouts and just 23 walks in 75 and 1/3 innings to go with a 1.39 ERA and opponents batting average of .178 for the season, pitched another gem in the final against Elk Lake. The senior left-hander, who won six of the Blue Devils eight wins along the playoff trail, gave up just one unearned run on two hits while fanning 10 and walking three. With the score knotted at 1-1, Ricky Shannon reached on an error. Plummer banged his second single of the game into right to advance Shannon to second base and catcher Shawn Weiand wasted no time in lining a single to center to get the fleet-footed centerfielder home with the winning run.
“We started to believe we had a chance to make history when we won the districts,” said coach Conlon. “After that, we believed anything could happen.”
Golden Eagles (11-2) storm to PIAA quarterfinals
Although most people who knew anything about Tyrone football were saying the Golden Eagles would be better next year, the 2003 edition of the Orange and Black refused to allow that idea to stand in the way of a stellar season this year.
The Eagles jumped out of the gate with a solid 27-0 beating of archrival Bellwood-Antis, then stumbled against Huntingdon.
Showing the youth and relative inexperience that coach John Franco would talk about all season, Tyrone controlled all the statistics and had chances to win the game in regulation and then in overtime, before Huntingdon with Geoff Kozak doing most of the damage, including kicking the game-winning field goal in overtime escaped with a 23-20 victory.
Perhaps this served as an eye-opener for the young Eagles, because with the exception of a tough decision over Bishop Guilfoyle in the final minute of play, Tyrone waltzed through their next 10 opponents without looking back.
Lewistown (34-12), Bellefonte (26-8) and Bald Eagle Area (28-0) were vanquished in games that were never as close as the scores indicate.
Bishop Guilfoyle, a single-A school, moving up to battle Double-A Tyrone was in the contest all the way. Tyrone was forced to go to the play book for halfback Brice Mertiff-to-quarterback Leonard Wilson pass for a 21-yard TD pass with 1:23 remaining on the scoreboard clock. Wilson, a sophomore quarterback, who kept improving in every game, then assured Tyrone the win with a pass interception.
Philipsburg-Osceola (24-7), Indian Valley (28-8) and Penns Valley (40-6) were conquered to finish the regular season 8-1, and qualify as the top seed in the District V/VI playoffs.
The Eagles then turned it up another notch running roughshod over United (42-6), Philipsburg-Osceola in a rematch (58-14) and Forest Hills (31-7) to capture their seventh district title.
Along the way, Tyrone showed a very tough defense that was sometimes overshadowed by an offense that featured 1,523 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns from junior tailback Brice Mertiff and another 669 yards rushing and nine scores from classmate Ben Gummo and 383 yards rushing and four TDs from sophomore Brinton Mingle. Leonard Wilson began slowly as was to be expected of a sophomore quarterback in the starting varsity lineup for the first time, but showed improvement in every game, finishing with 65 completions and 938 yards passing. Wilson threw 11 TD passes and was intercepted only five times.
Max Soellner made a very successful switch from fullback to tight end to lead the Eagles with 20 catches and Tommy Crowl came on late to catch 16 passes for a team-high 361 yards and five TDs.
Defensively, the Eagles never allowed a 100-yard rusher until the final game against Slippery Rock. In fact just United (150) in the 10th game of the season and Indian Valley (106) in the eighth week of the regular season, were the only teams to rush for more than a hundred yards.
Soellner led the defensive unit with 12 sacks, Justin Clark had 6.5 and Terry Tate had 4.5 to lead the Orange and Black and Soellner and Tate were honored with selections to the AP Class-AA Second Team All-State Team to continue the recent showing of John Franco coached athletes picked to honor the school’s football program at the highest level.
The future does appear to be bright indeed for the Golden Eagles. Only four starters graduate and although Soellner, Crowl, Clark and Jason Wilson will be missed, everybody else will have had another year of experience to draw from in 2004.
Martin Oil wins third straight federation title
In the George B. Kelley Federation, there have been many occurrences where a team powers its’ way into the spotlight for two years. Since the inception of the league back in 1948, 10 teams have won back-to-back championships. For a team to dominate for three straight years however, is a feat a lot tougher to accomplish.
In 2003, the Martin Oil team with its boundaries those of the Bellwood-Antis school district captured their third straight league championship for manager Ed Davis. They became only the third team to win three sraight and the first since 1965. While there has been a nucleus of six young men who have been together throughout the trio of titles, many others have come and gone after adding their contributions. Derrick and Damion Miller Zach Stere, Dan Houser, Cory Daly and Nate Carlson were on all three teams as have Davis and coaches Mark Miller, Bob Miller, Bill Edevane and Tim Kovac.
Each of the three teams have been different despite the presence of some of the same people. The first championship was a big inning-type of club that could afford to wait until a six-run rally sorted things out. They went 31-0, the only undefeated team in Kelley Federation history. The middle champions relied on speed and more speed, a bit of pitching and a bit of defense.
The 2003 edition had a large red target on their backs after winning the past two. This team got off to a late start with the state champions high school baseball team delaying the opening of Martin Oil’s federation schedule which was compounded by the weather and unplayable fields. When they started, not only was everybody gunning for them, but they were forced to play nearly every day, sometimes playing two in a schedule Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks would have loved. Then when Martin Oil was finally through the regular season, eventually playing more games than several teams in the league whose high schools did not qualify for district playoffs and topping it off with a doubledheader on the final day of the season, the playoffs went everyday until a champion was proclaimed.
Martin Oil (18-2, with a first place in the regular season and top seed in the playoffs), suffered one speedbump. then cruised through the finals by winning seven of eight games to complete their trifecta with a composite record of 82-6 during the three championships.
The 2003 team used a lot of power and speed to burn, combined with the best pitching of the three teams and a defense that kept tham out of long innings in the field. They had probably the most dedicated players of the three champions, less vacations were taken during the season, missed less games due to work than either of the other two Martin Oil championship teams and had more mental stress with the long season of the high school team followed.
Knowing the schedule was going to be brutal, Davis used eight different pitchers and seldom got a complete game from one hurler. This was to conserve arms and to have as many pitchers ready as possible when needed.
“There’s no question, we’ve had some outstanding talent the last three years,” said Davis. “I think it really started about four or five years ago when we began to turn the program around. You don’t get a run like we have had very often, particularly with the numbers our kids have put up (82-6). I think we have had six players participate in all three championships. You can tell we have had a lot of turnover. We had a lot of different talent each year.”
Your own hometown baseball team
The continued support of their fans and fine play of the Altoona Curve who made the playoffs for the first time in their five-year history is another truly remarkable sporting event.
During the first four years, it seemed like a love affair of the area faithful with the Double-A minor league franchise, that the Pittsburgh Pirate organization landed in our midst. No matter whether it was a good year for the Curve or a bad one, fans flocked to watch them and spent money for eats and all kind of baseball gear and clothes at Blair County Ballpark.
Finally in 2003, the team rewarded all those fans who poured through the gates in ever-increasing numbers with a playoff appearance. Altoona looked like the new kid on the block in losing a short playoff series with the Akron Aeros, but the enjoyment the Curve provided can’t simply be measured in wins and losses.
Now we will look forward to hearing and watching the exploits of the Shawn Garretts, Sean Burnetts and Shaun Skrehots and all the others as they continue their upward battle to get to the major leagues. We can say we saw them when….
Mike Johnson pitched himself into a job at a higher level next year. Shawn Garrett became the first Curve to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game and the slugging outfielder could be a fourth or fifth outfielder on some major league team in the future. Chris Duffy showed us what it was like to fly while covering an unbelievable amount of territory in center field. Duffy got such a quick jump on the ball. he made tough plays look routine. Sean Burnett has so much stuff, he was voted Eastern League Pitcher of the Year for his 14-6, 3.21 ERA. 86 strikeout, 29 walk performance. J. R. House finally made it back after a long recpovery from injuries and batted .333 and looked like he belonged. Chris Shelton started out 0-20 when he was brought up late in the season, but showed plenty of promise hitting .333 for the rest of the season. He was lost to the Pirates in the Rule 5 Draft after the season, so somebody else liked what they saw in Chris. Todd Ozias was a s close to a sure thing in the bullpen as they come with 21 saves.
Altoona finished the regular season with a 78-63 record averaging a record 5,621 fans per game. No other sports entity with so small a population to draw from has anywhere near as many fans attend their games.
The Curve reset their attendance record for the fourth straight year.
The Curve clinched their playoff berth with a victory at Blair County Ballpark in the first game of a doubleheader against Reading in a 7-1 triumph, the first of a doubleheader sweep.
Altoona slpit the first two playoff games at Akron before coming home to the first ever playoff games at BCB. Although they lost in two straight to the powerful Aeros, who finished with the best regular season mark in the Eastern League, the Curve will take the field in 2004 and their loving fans will be there once again to watch the future Pirates in their own backyard. For the baseball fan, what could possibly make for a better summer entertainment than a night at the ballpark watching professional baseball without having to travel two hours plus to see a team that hasn’t had a winning season since whoo remembers when?
The best of the rest
Anytime a list of the top events are compiled for a year or any other length of time, there will be arguments over the order and what was missed or what was included. We try to put a complete list together, but apoligize now for any descrepencies with your favorites.
The Tyrone golf team of Thad Westley, Jimmy Gillam and Derrick Soellner became the first Eagle golf team to win a district title. Gillam qualified for the State Golf Tournament as well.
The Bellwood-Antis Track and Field boys and girls teams both won the respective Mountain Conference championships, the B-A boys won the division title in the newly formed Mountain Athletic Conference and the Bellwood-Antis girls volleyball team won their division and had their best year ever finishing 17-2 with both losses as well as one win to Bishop Guilfoyle.
On the other side of the coin. it was easy to root for the local high school athletes and local athletes who performed for colleges in the area.
Doug Roseberry finally worked his way on the field as a walk-on. Roseberry played in the Continental Tire Bowl for the Pitt panthers as punt protector and was in on one tackle. Matt Garner led Juniata College in total tackles and tackles per game from his strong safety position and Duane Ehredt was in on special teams and Josh Tyler plays basketball.. Dan Grazier worked his way onto special teams at Westminster. Dan Graham was the placekicker for Saint Francis Unversity. Randi Baker and Missy Wertz were members of Mount Aloysius national champion girls basketball team. Christina Burnett is well on the way to becoming a world-class heptathlete at Duquesne University. Ryan myers is playing basketball at Lock Haven, where Dave and Chris Miler play baseball. Kevin Conlon is playing basketball at University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg. Adam Plummer and Zach Stere are playing baseball at IUP where Eric Castorina is playing basketball and Tyler Mertiff is on the football team. Ryan McClellan plays football at Manfield University. Alana Daniels is playing basketball at Seton Hill. Albert Hammers finished up last year at Saint Francis as the starting center and was a four-year All NEC Academic Team member.Amy Gilliland is a pole vaulter at the Air Force Academy and Christi Screckengost partipates in track at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.
What made it so easy to watch the young athletes was a year in which the Pittsburgh pro teams all seem to be either falling apart or already reaching the bottom of the spin cycle with no place to go but further down. The Pirates had all of their minor league teams make their respective playoffs, but that didn’t help the Pirates much. By the way, the Buccos conducted a fire sale during the season. If you see any Pirate you like, make an offer, everybody else is buying them. Ditto for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have Mario Lemieux and little else and he’s injured again. Penn State had the worst year in history as far as number of losses and the Pittsburgh Panthers lost just about all the really important games on their schedule, including the Continental Tire Bowl where it seems Walt Harris somehow lost Larry Fitzgerald.
Lots of luck for all of you for the new year. Whatever resolutions you make for the new year, remember to attend the local sporting events and remember to act like adults who are watching all the kids do the very best they can no matter what.
