Jayce Powell and Dylan Pitzer play different positions in dissimilar classifications, but the Westmoreland County football standouts share a distinguished honor.
Powell, a junior wide receiver at Jeannette, and Pitzer, a burly senior who plays on the lines at Derry, earned all-state recognition from the Pennsylvania Football Writers.
Powell was named to the Class 2A all-state offense as a wideout for the second year in a row, and Pitzer made the Class 3A defense as a lineman.
Powell pulled in 45 receptions for 950 yards and 11 touchdowns this season and tallied 1,388 all-purpose yards. He also was a key player in the secondary.
The 6-foot-7, 275-pound Pitzer, who was the 3A finalist for the Bill Fralic Memorial Award for the WPIAL’s top two-way lineman, was the Interstate Conference Lineman of the Year.
Both players have received Division I college interest, with a number of Division II schools from the PSAC eager to get Pitzer.
Notable names not on the all-state list included Jeannette’s Kymon’e Brown, a two-time TribLive Westmoreland Player of the Year, and Greensburg Central Catholic star Samir Crosby, who recently committed to play wide receiver at Georgetown.
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Hockey all-stars
The PIHL all-star games will be Jan. 25 at Robert Morris’ Island Sports Center. The five-game schedule has Division 2 Gold vs. Division 2 Blue; Class A (1) Gold vs. Class A (1) Blue; Class 2A (2) Gold vs. Class 2A (2) Blue; Class 2A Gold vs. Class 2A Blue; and Class 3A Gold vs. Class 3A Blue.
Rosters are dotted with Westmoreland County players. In Class 3A, Franklin Regional has four all-stars in Joey Casella, Ryan Crouse, JJ Tensuan and Brandan Yohe; 2A selections include Latrobe’s Jaxson Kettering, Josh Matthews, Preston Miller and Reese Myers; Evan Dunlap, Guerin Gardner, Jonathan Holtzman, Evan Saltsgiver and JJ Williams of Hempfield; Cal Costantino, Zack Katona, Parker Toth and Zayn Zeravica of Norwin; and Brock Bienemann, Tyler Funk, Sean Goodman, Jake Lenart and Ben Zierski of Penn-Trafford; Class A has Luke Dieter, Jeremiah Faulk, Jake Fink and Ace Klingensmith of Greensburg Salem; and Division II features four Burrell players in Madilynne George, Adam Sheftic, Dante Taliani and Jared Wall.
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Tight race
Hempfield hockey scored a key victory over Penn-Trafford last week, taking over first place by a narrow margin over Penn-Trafford in PIHL 2A.
Both teams are 11-2-0-0, but Hempfield has a shootout win, which gives it 35 points. Penn-Trafford has 33.
Hempfield won 7-3 as JJ Williams scored two goals, and Jonathan Holtzman had a goal and two assists.
Penn-Trafford won the teams’ first meeting 6-4.
Hempfield has won six straight and won’t take the ice again until Jan. 8.
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Gridiron Showcase
Jeannette football coach Tom Paulone travels frequently for his day job, but he will hit the road for football reasons again next month.
Paulone will return to the College Gridiron Showcase, where he will work with quarterbacks, Jan. 9-11 in Forth Worth, Texas.
The five-day event for all college divisions is for the top senior players in the country.
This will be Paulone’s sixth year at the event.
He also will call the offense for head coach Fred Armstrong III, who was an assistant with the New York Giants under Tom Coughlin.
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Another offer for Tavares
Norwin senior quarterback Tristyn Tavares picked up his second NCAA Division II scholarship offer, from West Liberty of the Mountain East Conference.
Tavares, who passed for 1,243 yards and ran for 738 this season, also has an offer to play at Edinboro.
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Best finish
The Norwin wrestling team posted its best finish at the Beast of the East Tournament, taking 13th out of 206 teams.
Standout junior Landon Sidun, a Penn State commit, won his second championship at the event held at Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware in Newark, N.J.
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Haugh resigns
Kiski Area’s Colyn Haugh resigned as head football coach last week to take a coaching position with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.
That means Haugh will not pursue another head coaching opening in Westmoreland County, at Franklin Regional, where is a graduate and former lineman.
Franklin Regional had first-round interviews to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Lance Getsy last month after five seasons.