Tag Archive for: YOUNGSTOWN

PROSPECTS COACH’S CORNER (EP 1) WITH BRITT TAYLOR

YOUNGSTOWN, OH- It’s a BIG year for baseball at Cene Park. If for no other reason than we’ve come to expect the unexpected in 2020. With a shortened season, all the teams in the B League are poised to put the chips on the table and let it ride for what will be a month and a half of America’s favorite past-time being played in our backyard at one of the most beautiful facilities in the state.

First-time 18U Manager, Britt Taylor is looking to take his youthful bunch of Prospects and make a big splash this season. A roster loaded with talent provides optimal opportunity for the Red and White.

We spoke with Coach Taylor about the team, the expectations, and the differences he feels this year could have. All that and more on the inaugural edition of Prospects Coach’s Corner with Britt Taylor.

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URSULINE BASEBALL COACH’S CORNER (EP 1) WITH MATT WEYMER

YOUNGSTOWN, OH- It’s an era of uncertainty for all in the state of Ohio, as speculation is running wild with rumors on both sides whether spring sports will happen in 2020.  Amidst that speculation, coaches must prepare in the shadows of this news, and be prepared at the drop of a hat to pick up activities and have their program in the best situation possible.

In the case of the 2020 Ursuline Baseball Team, Manager Matt Weymer has circled this season on the calendar.  Going into his presumed 5th season at the helm of the Irish, Weymer has his team primed on defense with the bats to spark the offense in the Division II level.

We sat down with Coach Weymer to discuss his team, as well as the unknown factor of where things are heading into the 2020 season for the Green and Gold.

PERRY POWERS MOONEY PAST URSULINE

YOUNGSTOWN, OH- The Youngstown Ursuline Lady Irish hosted their arch-rival, the Youngstown Cardinal Mooney Cardinals, on Wednesday night at the Cafaro Gymnasium. This would be the second meeting between the two rivals in the 2019-20 season. In the first contest, Cardinal Mooney protected home court, clinching a 43-31 victory over the Lady Irish. The change of scenery was no problem for Cardinal Mooney.

The Holy War was a lopsided one, as Cardinal Mooney would roll past the Lady Irish 66-36. The defense of Cardinal Mooney was lock-tight, and the lack of size cost the Lady Irish precious rebounds. 

The spotlight shone brightly on Cardinal Mooney senior, Caitlin Perry. Her 23 points were just two shy of her career-high, and her overall presence on the court was felt right from the opening tip. The Lady Irish struggled to guard the senior, as Perry found success in the paint and from long range. On defense, Perry read the Lady Irish schemes effortlessly, making quick steals and avoiding screens before they are set. 

Perry dominated on both sides of the floor, and she did so with her teammates scoring in double-figures as well. Katie Hough, Maria Fire, and Alaina Scavina each scored in double-digits for Cardinal Mooney. The lone scorer for the Lady Irish to reach double-digits was Paris Gilmore. 

The Lady Irish fall to 5-11 overall, and will now face Kennedy Catholic on the Lyden Family Court. Cardinal Mooney will prepare for their next matchup, another road test, against the Southeast Pirates.

 

*Story contributed by YSN’s Dom Joseph

IRISH SHOW TOP LEVEL AGAINST GIRARD

YOUNGSTOWN, OH- The Youngstown Ursuline Fighting Irish boys basketball team hosted the Girard Indians at the Cafaro Gymnasium on Tuesday night. The Fighting Irish, fresh off a thrilling victory over the Bristol Panthers, carried the momentum to a 93-47 routing of Girard. For the Irish, much of their success came from three-point shooting. 

Astonishingly, six players scored in double-digits for the Fighting Irish. The leading man was Will Burney, who has been a standout on the Fighting Irish JV squad. In the last two games, Burney has received heavy playing time from head coach, Keith Gunther. Burney scored 14 points, nailing his first four attempts from three. Burney also snagged a rebound in the 4th quarter. 

In yet another breakout performance, Dean Boyd dropped 13 points, along with three rebounds. Terrance Pankey showed off his tremendous athleticism in the game, scoring 12 points, along with five rebounds. Brady Shannon used his size to his advantage, clinching a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Vince Armeni and Tyler Beck each scored 10 points, with Beck finding his groove beyond the arc. Along with 10 points, Armeni was able to collect five rebounds.

The leading scorer for Girard was Christian Graziano. Graziano reached 19 points and grabbed one rebound. Graziano’s great ball-handling skills were matched by strong defense and traps by the Irish. However, Graziano was a wizard in the paint, scoring and-1’s and getting to the line. Graziano finished the game 10-13 from the charity stripe. 

The Fighting Irish were 48% from the field and a stunning 59% from three-point range. As for Girard, they were 32% from the field, and 24% from three. The teams were fairly even at the free-throw line, the Fighting Irish going 15 of 21 and Girard going 14 of 23. The Fighting Irish outrebounded Girard 43 to 22. 

The Fighting Irish advance to 7-8 overall; however, a challenging six-game road trip is ahead. Their next matchup will come against the Erie Cathedral Prep Ramblers, a 7-5 program. Girard falls to 5-9, with a home game against the Jefferson Area Falcons next. 

 

*Story contributed by YSN’s Dom Joseph

LADY IRISH SEARCH FOR NORTH; FALL TO EAST

YOUNGSTOWN, OH- The Ursuline Lady Irish were looking to make it back to back wins on Monday.  However, Steel Valley Conference Rival, Youngstown East had other plans in a 56-54 nailbiter in the Yo’.

The Irish trailed 27-21 at the half and In the 3rd quarter fell behind 30-21, but would spring back to life to take a four-point lead in the final stanza.  The final three minutes had both teams going back and forth until the final 6.5 seconds East with a 2 point lead 56-54 turned the ball over with 6.5 seconds left. Unfortunately for the Irish after the inbounds pass they turned the ball over as the buzzer sounded.

 

*Story contributed by YSN’s Steve Leslie

FITCH BATTLES BACK TO FIGHT OFF IRISH

YOUNGSTOWN, OH- In a back and forth affair which saw both teams exchange baskets during the First Quarter and into Halftime with Ursuline taking a 40-39 lead.

The Third Quarter saw Ursuline further their lead only to see the Falcons battle back to get within 4 (58-54).

In the Fourth Quarter, the Falcons grabbed the lead for good by outscoring the Irish 24-8. The Falcons had tremendous balanced scoring with Todd Simons scoring 29, Devin Sherwood with 17, Kris Brown with 15, Nate Leskovac with 11, Trae Wilks with 4 and Brian Ferguson with 2.

Ursuline senior, Vince Armeni would lead the Irish with 16, while Tyler Peck had 14.

The Falcons improve to 4-3 with their next game on Friday, January 3rd at Alliance.

 

*Story contributions from Brian Beany and austintownathletics.com

 

GAME PHOTOS: HERE

IRISH WIN A DEFENSIVE BATTLE OVER JFK

WARREN, OH- On Thursday night, a defensive battle was won by Ursuline against Kennedy with a final score of 59-50. This game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, December 10th but was canceled due to a power outage in half of Warren. 

While the Eagles were without one of their starters Hayden Wait, Kennedy and Ursuline had many lead changes at the beginning of the first quarter with Kennedy being the first ones to score by a free throw from Tyrel James. Saba Svani pulled an incredible block on a layup by Daysean Harris, which was recovered by Cam Hollobaugh from Kennedy and fed down the field for a routine layup. At the end of the first quarter, Ursuline was up 20-12, and they seemed to stay on top throughout the entirety of the game. 

In the second quarter, much stayed the same. Ursuline kept the great spacing between them and the Eagles. Kennedy tried to power through the Ursuline defense but just could not get a good flow going. The Eagles suffered an 11 point deficit in the middle of the second period but did their best to cut it down to 5. Kennedy tried to mount a comeback but ended the half down 25-32.

After the half, Kennedy was looking to get some consistent shooting going through the next half of this game. They cut the deficit down to 3 points at one time, but every time the Eagles seemed to get a rhythm going, Ursuline would storm back up and proceed to score 5 points easily. Ursuline ended up being very consistent with three-point shooting just as they were in the first half, and Kennedy cleaned up their game much more in this second half. 

By the end of the fourth quarter, Ursuline kept grinding away at consistent scoring and did not let the Eagles catch up. Ursuline then ran away with the game 59-50. Leading the Fighting Irish in scoring was Daysean Harris with 15 points in the game making 2 out of 3 free throws, and Vince Armini with 7 out of 10 made. On the other side of the ball, the senior from the country of Georgia, Saba Svani, led the Eagles with 12 points and 6 out of 9 free throws made. 

The Eagles will go back to action Friday, December 13 against Cleveland Central Catholic.

 

*Story contributed by YSN’s voice of the JFK Eagles, Dom O’Brien

MOONEY PICKS UP FIRST WIN

YOUNGSTOWN,OH– Cardinal Mooney picked up its first victory of the 2019-2020 season against St. Thomas Aquinas 52-46.
Mooney was led by their big man, Michael Pelini,  for the second game in a row. Pelini tallied 16 points throughout the game. Right behind him was guards Sonny Rodriguez and Thomas Fire who notched 7 points each.

Mooney jumped out to a 10-0 run in the early stage of the third quarter and was able to kee the momentum rolling to secure its first win of the season. St. Thomas Aquinas drops to 0-2 on the year, while Mooney is 1-1.

 

*Contributed by YSN’s Richie Juliano

 

CHANEY SETS THE TONE AGAINST SPIRE

YOUNGSTOWN, OH-  The Chaney Cowboys and Spire Academy battled for 3 closely contested quarters. Marlon McGaughy’s Cowboys dominated the 4th quarter to distance themselves from Spire 75-62. 

          The international roster from Spire had players from Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, Turkey, and Spain on it.  Spire Academy came in and led the Cowboys after the 1st quarter 18-15. Jason Lai from Taiwan led Spire in the 1st quarter coming off the bench for 7 quick points. Chaney was led by Cameron Lawrence in the first quarter with 6 points as Travis Easterly tallied 5 points in the quarter. 

       The pace quickened in the 2nd quarter. The quarter ended 39 to 37 Cowboys. They used a late run in the quarter to close the half up by two. Easterly had 7 points in the quarter thanks to 5 made free throws.  Sharrod Taylor had 7 also in the quarter. Easterly led the Cowboys with 12 first-half points. Tait-Jones had 3 quick baskets late in the quarter to lead Spire with 7 second-quarter points. Tait-Jones led Spire in points in 1st half with 13 points.

     The 3rd quarter the pace was really lightning quick and the teams were off to the races.  The quarter ended in a tie 54-54, It seemed like we were into a battle till the end. Omer Kucuk from Turkey came out and scored 9 3rd quarter points for Spire. Sharrod Taylor had another big quarter with 8 3rd quarter points. 

      The 4th quarter was controlled from the start by the Cowboys out scoring Spire 21 to 8, thanks to really strong defense and getting to the basket on offense. Quincy Jones had a big two-handed dunk got some wide-open layups and had a big 12 point 4th quarter. Taylor had 5 points and Lawrence haded a 3 in the 4th quarter. Spire only got 4 from Tait Jones a 2 from Lai and a bucket from Kucuk, in the 4th quarter. 

          Leading scorers for Chaney Taylor had 23 points Jones had 20 points and Easterly had 16 points for a balanced Chaney Cowboy offense. Tait-Jones led Sprie with 23 points. 

    The Cowboys (1-0) are on their way to Butler on December 5th and 6th to play Knoch and Butler at Butley High School in Pa. The next home game for the Chaney Cowboys is December 20th against the Warren G Harding Raiders. 

 

*Story contributed by YSN’s John Bolino   

BERNIE; THE BROWN FROM YOUNGSTOWN

By Scott Mincher

 

The high school playoffs are in full swing, The college season’s getting interesting and the playoff picture is taking shape in the pros. Depending on how you view life, It’s either fun or agonizing to be a football fan during November. It can be less gut-wrenching through, for a person or people to still be a fan of the game while rooting exclusively for players. This brings us to our first 2019 player profile. It brings me great delight to write about a guy that’s a legend with Boardman high school and with the Cleveland Browns, You probably guessed it, That man is Bernie Kosar. Depending on who you ask. He’ll go down as a local football favorite as well as a great pro quarterback who is the definition of veneration in Youngstown and Cleveland. Or one of the many really good quarterbacks who weren’t great or elite because he lost three AFC championship games to Hall Of Famer John Elway. Because of my age what I respect Bernie most for is his football mind and his ability to see a play and know what’s gonna happen before the play unfolds, So from my perspective, it’s all relative. One thing I think all fans that know anything about Bernie’s playing days agree he was a very smart and accurate quarterback. As a senior at Boardman high school, he earned Parade magazine All-American honors for the 1981 season. During his career at Boardman, his teams were 6-0 (during a strike-shortened season) and 8-2 his senior year, when he threw for 2,022 yards and 19 touchdowns and was named Ohio Player of the Year. In his junior year, the fall of 1980, Kosar claimed the starting quarterback job, despite the coaching staff’s trepidation about his throwing motion — a critique that would stay with him for years. “He doesn’t throw the ball, he lets go of it like a guy losing a bar of soap in the shower,” legendary sports columnist Jim Murray once wrote. “The first look you get at Kosar’s delivery you think it’s a gag. “I’ve seen bridal bouquets thrown with more velocity.” His mobility was another issue or lack thereof. Kosar’s cumbersome gait, his sidesaddle way of standing at the line to get his feet out of the way of his center at the snap, his arm slot, throwing motion, release point — it was all a hot mess. But inside that package was some special stuff, too — something virtually every coach at every level had to learn for himself Kosar had an elite football IQ and was frequently able to decipher a defense quicker than his coaches. He was also a pinpoint passer and had the toughness and moxie to move an offense against a superior foe. His penchant for delivering in the clutch would become another key trait, to the point he was described as a pressure junkie. “The ultimate way of how a quarterback is judged is on the end results. How I look is of no consequence to me,” Kosar said. “Sometimes I throw underhanded, side-armed, off the wrong foot, all the good stuff. But I’ve been doing that my whole life.”

The Boardman staff learned not to tamper with success and watched Bernie guide their squad to a 6-0 record. The season was sidetracked only by a teacher’s strike in the district that cost the Spartans a conference title and a playoff spot. But Bernie showed enough that coach Gene Pushic scrapped the program’s power-oriented attack to take advantage of their budding star’s arm talent. In 1981, Boardman finished 8-2 and just missed the playoffs. Kosar earned first-team All-Ohio recognition and was the state’s Division I offensive player of the year. He longed to attend Ohio State, but Earle Bruce couldn’t get past those mechanical flaws. Instead, Howard Schnellenberger was convinced of Kosar’s talent and wooed him to Miami, Fla. But before that, while he was still at Boardman, He was a basketball starter as a sophomore and eventually became Boardman’s leading scorer and rebounder. An excellent third baseman and pitcher in baseball, his father and one of his coaches figured that was his best sport. But Bernie’s passion was football. And, despite his unorthodox style, it was his future, too. You can find this and more on Bernie’s high school career as well as other stories about him on richlandsource.com As far as his college career goes, Bernie had a magical clutch performance against the Nebraska CornHuskers. He passed for 300 yards and two touchdowns, all while ending Nebraska’s 22 game winning streak and leading Miami to their first National Championship and winning 1983 Orange Bowl MVP honors, Arguably his greatest accomplishment at Miami. In 1984, he set Hurricane season records with 3,642 yards and 25 touchdowns, was a second-team All-American and finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting. Kosar’s career completion percentage of 62.3 percent is still a Hurricanes record. In 1985 underclassmen had until April 15 to notify the league about their eligibility for the April 30 regular draft. In January 1985, a Florida television report stated that Kosar had decided to forgo his two years of eligibility and declare for the NFL Draft. Kosar denied the report at the time but added that he would keep his options open. At a March 15 news conference, Kosar announced that he would make himself available for the 1985 NFL Draft and that he would like to play for the Cleveland Browns in his native Ohio. After the announcement, both NFL and United States Football League teams were interested and Kosar’s agent, John Geletka, even met with the USFL’s commissioner, Harry Usher to confirm the USFL’s interest level.

After a prolonged NFL draft controversy. On June 25, 1985, Kosar became officially eligible for the supplemental draft when he took his exam finals and the university notified the NFL front office that he had graduated. On July 3, 1985, the Browns selected Kosar and signed him to a five-year contract.

Some of his biggest career highlights with the Browns are when he had his most productive year statistically in 1987. During that strike-shortened season, he completed 62 percent of his passes for 3,033 yards and 22 touchdowns and led the AFC in quarterback rating. He’d also go on to set a record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (3 games) having thrown three scores against both Indianapolis and Denver in 1987, and three against Buffalo in 1989. Some other career accolades include setting an NFL record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception with 286. In 1990 and 1991, Kosar set a league record by throwing 308 consecutive passes without an interception, which stood for almost two decades. Being a two time Pro Bowler in 1987 and 1989, and helping the Cowboys get to Super Bowl XXVIII by filling in for Troy Aikman and passing for a touchdown in a victory. He would end up taking the last snap in Super Bowl XXVIII getting a ring as the Cowboys backup quarterback. For as many great accomplishments that Kosar achieved in his career, Our team at YSN was able to find a quote from Bernie stating that he had only one regret. “My goal was to win a Super Bowl for Cleveland,” Kosar said. “It’s why I wanted to play here in the first place. It’s home.” (Quote via richlandsource.com)

It’s quotes like that that make Bernie Kosar an idol in Youngstown and Cleveland even to this day. and even more, the reason why I like to think of him as Bernie The Wonderful Brown from Youngstown!!