Canton Troy PA Sports and Outdoors News and Events

Warriors cruise to 3-0 behind Parker's big night

9/9/2022

by Joe Carreon
jcarreon@myweeklysentinel.com

CANTON — If there is one constant on this Warrior team, it’s tough defense and Riley Parker running all over everyone he comes in contact with. That was true again on Friday night as the Warriors shut-out the Wellsboro Hornets 35-0.
Parker ran for a season high 170 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Warriors shut out North Penn in 53-0 win

9/1/2022

by Joe Carreon
jcarreon@myweeklysentinel.com

BLOSSBURG — Last week Coach Tyler Sechrist said he wanted to start faster. Well the Warriors certainly did that as they shut out North Penn-Mansfield 53-0 on Friday night.

"It feels good. It was different coming out here on a thursday night, but I thought they performed well. They did what we asked of them and i'm proud of them," said Sechrist

The Warriors entered the game on a short week escalated by an extended road trip last Friday night to New Castle where they beat Union Area.

A first snap fumble on the Warriors first possession was not a great way to start the game but the team then responded for 53 unanswered points.

"We talked about that and thats the way things happen sometimes. The ball bounces weird in football. There is gonna be adversity, you gotta be able to pick yourself up in that moment," stated Sechrist.

The Warriors got things going in the first quarter when Bailey Ferguson opened up the Warriors passing attack on a 40 yard connection to Hayden Ward to go up 7-0.

The Panthers would get the ball back and go three and out and punt. This was one of many mistakes on the night for the Panthers as Wes Bellows awaited the punt.

Bellows fielded the punt and immediately ran to his right, then scampered through the teeth of the Panthers special teams, made a man miss and would eventually find the endzone on a 66 yard punt return touchdown. The Ferguson kick was good and the Warriors would take a 14-0 lead.

The Warriors would add to their lead shortly after as Riley Parker found a hole on the right side and rushed for 18 yards into the endzone to move the Canton lead to 21-0.

After a long drive, the Warriors would punch the ball into the endzone again on a Hudson Ward two yard run making the Warrior lead 28-0.

On the Warriors next possession, Bellows would find the endzone again from two yards out to finish out the first quarter with the Warriors leading North Penn 35-0.

In the second quarter, Parker would scamper from 30 yards out to push the Warrior lead to 42-0.

A Ferguson field goal from 31 yards out made it 45-0 to end the third quarter.

Michael Davis put an exclamation point on the night on an 81 yard touchdown run to finish off the night. Austin Allen would convert a two point conversion on a botched snap to seal the 53-0 win for Canton.

Ward finished the game with 69 receiving yards and a touchdown. Davis rushed for 102 yards with 81 of them coming on his long run in the fourth.

Allen led the Warriors with 77 yards through the air on five of seven passing. Parker ran the ball six times for 58 yards and Bellows had two touchdowns on the night.

Canton rotated quarterbacks again this week. Coach Sechrist was pleased with their performance.

"I thought all three played really well. It's going to be the same rotation moving forward."

Canton moves to 2-0 and will be home for the first time next Friday night when they host Wellsboro.

Warriors grind out 31-18 road win over Union Area

8/26/2022

file photo by Joe Carreon

by Joe Carreon
jcarreon@myweeklysentinel.com

NEW CASTLE — After a late schedule change, the Canton Warriors traveled to face Union Area and came away with a 31-18 win to open the season.

Head Coach Tyler Sechrist was happy to get a game and some quality competition.

"I think this was a really good test for us. They are a solid team. We didn't play to our potential but week one is when you want to get all of those bugs out," said Sechrist.

Troy Girls Soccer eyes NTL three-peat

8/25/2022

by Jared Wiker
jwiker@myweeklysentinel.com

TROY — The goal for the Troy girls soccer team in 2022 is very clear, they want the NTL three-peat. Expectations are high, and they should be. The team shared the first title with Wellsboro and Athens, and then owned it all on their own last season with a 12-1 record in league play, and a 14-4 overall record.

Senior left forward Makenna Matthews has a clear outlook for the upcoming season.

"My expectations are for us all to work as hard as we can and defend our title,” said Matthews.
Matthews also talked about how she plans to help the team, “Using my speed and skills to help them and benefit them the most.”

Warrior Football looking to go the distance in 2022

8/25/2022

by Jared Wiker
jwiker@myweeklysentinel.com
CANTON — Last year’s success was great, but it doesn’t mean a thing in 2022 if you ask the Canton Warrior football team.
Senior running back Riley Parker sums up what everyone is thinking, “Obviously all of us are thinking about a state championship and coming up short last year but we also just want to work harder than we did.”

The hope for Canton football is no secret, but head coach Tyler Sechrist says there is a lot of work to be done, “I know our goal is to get to that state championship and win it but a lot of things have to come together for that to happen and one of those things for us is to not look back at last year.”

Sechrist wants his team to forget last season and focus on this season, “Expectations are high. We have a strong core back of returning starters. We’re just focused on getting better every week and not resting on the laurels of last year’s success.”

The Warriors dominated the NTL last year finishing 9-0 and beat Troy 36-0 at home to win the “Old Shoe” game.

Canton's Legendary Senior Class ready for last dance on the gridiron

8/24/2022

by Jared Wiker
jwiker@myweeklysentinel.com
CANTON — The Canton Warrior football team loses seniors every year, but this year just seems different. This 2022 senior class includes 16 seniors who return to the team this season. Of the 16 returners, 14 have played football together for a really long time.
“When I saw them in youth I knew they were a good team,” said Junior High head coach Craig Route.
Route became Canton’s Junior High head coach in 2016, but he also has spent the majority of his years coaching at the Junior High level since he joined in 1994 as an assistant.
Route explained what he thinks is the seniors’ strongest skills, “The biggest thing about this group of kids is they’re unbelievable tacklers and that helps them because they’re defense is just so strong. Defensively they are very good, offensively they have multiple playmakers.”

Softball team replaces veteran flags for Memorial Day

5/26/2022

photo provided/DARYL JANNONE
Canton’s Junior High Lady Warrior Softball Team are shown replacing all the veteran’s flags in the Main Street Cemetery in Canton on Thursday, May 19. On behalf of VFW Post 714, Daryl Jannone would like to thank Mr. Jacopetti, Canton High School Principal, and the Canton JH Lady Warrior Softball team for taking care of veterans by completing this time-honored tradition, just in time for Memorial Day on Monday, May 30.

Parker finishes sixth at PIAA State Wrestling

3/12/2022

HERSHEY — The goal from the time you start preseason workouts is to go to Hershey and "come home with hardware" as Canton Coach Lyle Wesneski stated last weekend at regionals. Riley Parker did just that in his first trip to states as he comes home with a sixth place medal.

"This was my first time coming down here. I wanted to do what I could, push myself and compete with everyone," said Parker.

Parker knows that he will be able to use this experience as he prepares for next season. "There are obviously things I know I can work on. I learned a lot being here. No matter where you are at in a match, you have to keep battling and keep scratching."

Parker lost his final match of the state tournament to Southern Columbia's Garrett Garcia by fall 4-0.

Parker made it all the way to the semi-final round but ran into a buzzsaw in his opponent Rune Lawrence, who went on to be the state champion at 172.

Match-ups like the ones that Parker faced this weekend make wrestlers "battle tested" as Wesneski likes his kids to be.

"We had a good week of practice and we managed our bodies well. You have to stay focused and stay confident at this stage," said Wesneski.

Wesneski is confident about his group of kids as they move into the spring and even next season.

"We feel like we are prepared. Our schedule is going to get harder next year and thats the way we planned it. As you can see this is a meat grinder and a lot of really good kids didn't medal. Thats what we prepared (Parker) for."

This Warrior wrestling squad should see some wrestlers back at Hershey next season. Hayden Ward will be a senior and have more experience. Parker has tasted the tough competition and knows what it takes. Mason Nelson is expected to make a leap next year with the experience he gained through the District tournament.

This marks the second consecutive time the Warriors have had a wrestler take the podium. No one from Canton qualified last year due to covid and the super regional that was held. 2020 saw Timmy Ward take sixth and now Parker takes home a sixth place finish. Expect the battle tested Warriors to come home from Hershey with more hardware next year.

story and photo by Joe Carreon

Parker headed to state semis, Ward goes 1-1 in second day at Hershey

3/11/2022

photos by JOE CARREON

HERSHEY — Canton's Hayden Ward and Riley Parker took to the mats on day two of state competition in Hershey.

Ward faced off in the third place consolation bracket against the Shawn Symanski from Burrell and earned a 6-4 decision.

In the third round consolations, Ward had to face a juggernaut in Ty Watson from Penns Valley. Watson finished his regular season 38-0. Ward wrestled Watson hard deep into the third period where he control Watson until the very end. In Sudden Victory, Watson was able to earn a takedown and won the match by fall 2-0 in 5:43.

Parker wrestled his was into the Semi-Finals with his win over Caleb Close from Bald Eagle area with a gritty 10-4 decision.

Parker earned a takedown in the first period along with a near fall to go up 4-0. Close narrowed the gap with a late period escape to bring it to 4-1. Close then used two escapes to make it 4-3 heading into the third period. Parker pulled away in the third period with an escape, takedown and a near fall to seal the 10-4 decision.

Parker will return to action tonight. Parker will face top seeded Rune Lawrence from Frazier who comes into Hershey with a 33-3 record. Ward's season ends with the loss to Watson.

Imbt, Barrett. lead Trojans to D4 semi-final win over Bloomsburg

3/1/2022

photo by Joe Carreon

MONTGOMERY — Troy felt they had been disrespected. The Trojans, who came in with a record of 21-4, had heard all of the talk around district 4 about teams that were not them. They felt like, in Tuesday night’s semi final against Bloomsburg, they would have a chance to prove themselves, and challenged themselves to do that.

They rose to the challenge. Troy played one of its best games, was strong in all facets, and beat third-seeded Bloomsburg, 63-43 in the PIAA district 4 class AAA boys’ semifinals at the Montgomery area community complex Tuesday evening, reaching their first district final since 1996.

“They’ve been calling it the no talent league. The boys get a little fired up themselves when they hear that. We’ve got to play with a chip on our shoulder and play like the underdog. We'll do that the rest of the way through,”Troy coach Steve Renzi said.

That’s exactly how Troy played all night. From the jump, it was the Trojans who brought more energy, were more focused, and got all of the loose balls.

“We didn't mess around in practice this week, Coach Renzi lost his voice from practice. That’s how we are going to have to play if we want to contend with Loyalsock,” Senior captain Mason Imbt said.

Imbt, one of three seniors who have been four-year starters for Troy, dominated the inside all night. His 16 points on 7-11 shooting was coupled with 11 rebounds. Imbt was simply too strong for the interior defense of Bloomsburg, and his arsenal of moves and nifty post footwork was on full display Tuesday evening.

Our plan going into this game was to pound it inside because we know what they had. We knew they didn't respect us very much, Imbt said. “

That helped open things up for the backcourt tandem of Ty Barrett and Ethan VanNoy

“That's what we want him to do every night. I mean, these bigger games he's really shown us how good he can be and we are really tough to beat when all three of us are going like this,” Barrett said.

Barrett had 24 points against a defense that was pretty focused on the near-2000 point scorer. When Bloomsburg had to apply more ball pressure in the 2nd half as they were chasing the game, Barrett took advantage with a flurry of great drives to the rim.

VanNoy continued his strong play of late with 12 efficient points, and the three combined for 52 of the Trojans’ 63 points.

Troy started out red-hot, and after an Imbt bucket-and-the-foul and a Evan Woodward three, they led 10-2 with just over half the first quarter remaining, and had taken all of the momentum. Bloomsburg fought back through buckets by HAC II player of the year Adam McGinley and Daniel Guzebich to quickly make it 10-6. After an Imbt bucket and a Bloomsburg foul shot, Troy led 12-7 after 1.

Troy would extend their lead in the 2nd quarter. A Bloomsburg 3 by Madden Locke was sandwiched around another Imbt score and a Woodward foul shot and Troy led 15-10. A few minutes later, after a McGinley three from Bloomsburg cut it to 19-15, Barrett instantly answered back with a trademark long three of his own and Troy led by seven, 22-15.

After a Bloomsburg bucket by Guzevich, Troy went on a run led by VanNoy. He started it off with a three, then got a steal, passed it to Collin Loveland who passed it ahead to Barrett for a layup. Finally, on the next possession, VanNoy had a fantastic spinning layup with just the right amount of english on it for it to spin in while drawing the foul. He made the ensuing free throw and Troy led 30-17. Nasir Heard would end the scoring of the first half with a basket, but Troy led by 11 heading into the break.

Bloomsburg got a huge boost on their first possession of the 2nd half. Nasir Heard scored and was fouled. He missed the ensuing foul shot, but the ball was immediately stolen away from a Trojan rebounder and Guzevich put it up and in through a foul. He made the foul shot, and Bloomsburg had scored five points in five seconds to make it 30-24. A Rae Grant layup made it 30-26, and it was game on.

The Trojans responded. Barrett drove in for a score, before an Oldroyd steal led to another Barrett layup. 90 seconds later, Woodward hit his 2nd three of the night, to give the freshman seven points, and all of a sudden Troy was up 11 again.

Bloomsburg would cut it to five a few times, and had it at five in the closing seconds of the quarter, but a deep Barrett three with nine seconds left made it 49-41 heading to the fourth.

It was the Trojan defense’s time to shine. The Troy defense hounded the Panthers, allowing just two points in the final frame and quickly put the game out of reach. The big three seniors scored all fourteen points for Troy in the quarter, as Imbt had eight to continue his strong game, his last basket coming at the 1:30 mark to put Troy up 20. A few seconds later, Renzi subbed out all five starters, sending the Trojan crowd that traveled in a strong contingent into a long and well-deserved standing ovation as Troy cruised home 63-43.

Troy will play Loyalsock for the district 4 class AAA championship at a time and place to be determined.

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