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Soccer
Waynesburg women win
The Yellow Jacket women’s soccer team posted a 3-0 shutout over Pitt-Bradford in Monday’s home opener. Sophomore goalkeeper Amy Mills recorded her first career shutout against the Panthers, while three Waynesburg players netted goals.
Freshman midfielder Juliann Amato scored the game’s first goal off an assist from Brittiny Bennett. The goal was the first of her career after assisting on two Yellow Jacket goals in the season’s opening week.
Waynesburg received an unassisted goal from junior Kate Zimmerman early second half to take a 2-0 lead before Bennett added an insurance goal later in the half, her third of the season.
The Yellow Jackets (1-1-1) travel to Pittsburgh Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest against LaRoche College.
Yellow Jackets hold on
Behind two first-half goals, the Waynesburg College men’s soccer team managed to prevail in a non-conference contest against Pitt-Bradford Monday, 2-1. Freshman Matt Lamp earned the win for the Yellow Jackets in net, his first collegiate start.
Lamp recorded eight saves on 17 Panther shots in 90 minutes of action.
Senior Luke Benton posted Waynesburg to an early 1-0 lead when he netted an unassisted goal in the fourth minute. Benton has recorded four goals this season after posting a career-best six goals last season.
The Panthers tied the game at 1-1 six minutes later when Winnie Rajakumar scored on an assist from Micheal Seth. Sophomore Rick Wirth scored his first collegiate goal with 28:26 remaining in the half to give Waynesburg at 2-1 advantage.
Waynesburg (2-0-1) returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Penn State-Altoona at 4 p.m.
Football
Dennison rallies for win
The Yellow Jacket football team was unable to answer back from 21 straight second-half points by Denison University in their season-opener Saturday, losing 21-17. Denison scored a pair of touchdowns during the opening minute of the fourth quarter, including an interception return for a score to take the lead.
In the loss, junior running back Ryan Abels led the Yellow Jackets with 132 yards on 20 carries. The 100-yard performance by Abels was the 11th of his career.
Junior quarterback Tres Cobb received his first collegiate start against the Big Red after making nine career back-up appearances. Cobb finished the opener, completing 15-of-35 attempts for 116 yards and three interceptions.
Waynesburg carried a 10-point lead into halftime after the Big Red managed just one first down and 41 yards of total offense in the first two quarters.
Momentum seemed to continue for the Yellow Jackets in the second half when senior linebacker Nick Emley intercepted a Larry Capetto pass and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown.
After the two squads exchanged a series, Cappetto led the Big Red on their first scoring drive of the game with a 39-yard bootleg scoring scamper down the left sideline. Cappetto connected with his preseason All-American tight end Frank Roe for a 22-yard play on a crucial third down earlier in the drive.
Cappetto continued his strong second-half play, completing all three attempts on the next drive, including a 16-yard touchdown strike to make the score 17-14 with 14:48 remaining in the game.
During the final 90 seconds of the game, Waynesburg had a chance to win after senior defensive back Eric Singer recovered a Big Red fumble at their 39-yard line.
Cobb connected with senior wide receiver Dominick Hunter on a 12-yard out on third down to continue the possible comeback. However, Cobb was picked off a fourth time to seal the victory for Denison.
Waynesburg (0-1) has a bye week before its home opener against Manchester College on Saturday, Sept. 17 for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff at Wiley Stadium.
Auto racing
Burgoon wins Classic
Rookie driver Brandon Burgoon captured the headline 10th annual Jook George Memorial Limited Late Fall Classic at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, while the Fairmont, W.Va. veteran driver, Steve Baker, padded his points lead by scoring the win in the Pappy Kessler Memorial race for Late Models.
Craig Kamicker clinched his first track championship after taking the win in the Pure Stocks, and rookie driver, Kevin Miller claimed his first career feature win in the E-Modified main event.
Also winning his career first Amateur Stock feature was local racer, Wes Wheeler, from nearby Rosslyn Farms.
The regular racing season comes to a close when the points end, and the track champions will be determined on Saturday.
One week later, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Event, “The 17th Annual Pittsburgher 100” will be taking place at the Speedway on Sept. 16-18.
Roaring Knob racecard
Fans got their money’s worth Saturday night at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex. Five makeup features plus a complete show made for a total of eleven feature events.
Taking wins in the Davies Ford Super Late Models were Doug Horton and Butch McGill. Garry Sisson and Shawn Claar took feature wins in the Garry’s Auto Sales Late Models while Matt Cosner and Shawn Davis grabbed the Jack’s Auto Crushing AMRA Modifieds.
In the GNH Trucking Street Stocks, Jim Byers and Russ Redshaw both took features, Floyd Carey and Mikey Hay were PA Mod Lite winners.
The Ft. Necessity Garage Chargers ran one feature and Wes Nicholson grabbed a career first win on Commercial Tire of Uniontown night.
The season comes to a close on Sept. 10 with the annual King of the Knob sponsored by Ed Nicholson & Sons and Henry Motor Sales.
Football
Krepps honored
Senior wide receiver and Belle Vernon graduate Aaron Krepps was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Krepps helped lead Washington & Jefferson to a 42-0 win at Tri-State by totaling 184 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. He caught six passes for 133 yards and two scores and also found the end zone on a 19-yard rush.
He is currently seventh in W&J history with 112 receptions for 1,844 yards and 26 touchdowns. With six more receiving scores, he will pass Ryan Silvis (’00) for the all-time record.
McLee wins WVU award
Uniontown graduate Kevin McLee won the Hammer Award as selected by the West Virginia University coaching staff for outstanding play in the 15-7 win at Syracuse. The 1-0 Mountaineers host Wofford in a 6 p.m. game Saturday.
Golf
Leonardo records ace
Carrie Leonardo carded a hole-in-one on No. 5, a 115-yard, par-3, at Cedar Brook Golf Course, Red Course, Sunday. She used a pitching wedge for the ace.
Baseball
Bonds works out
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Barry Bonds worked out with the San Francisco Giants on Monday, taking batting practice and testing his throwing arm before the team opened a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bonds, recovering from three operations on his right knee since Jan. 31, said he didn’t know when he would return to the lineup.
“It’s day-by-day right now, get through today and see how I turn out,” he told a horde of reporters in the Giants’ dugout.
The 41-year-old slugger took 17 swings and hit five balls over the fence during his turn in the batting cage.
“I did pretty well today,” he said. “When I get back on the field, I want to be playing where I left off.”
Early arriving fans watched Bonds.
“Come on, Barry!” one shouted. Another taunted him by yelling “Barry BALCO,” a reference to the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative that a federal grand jury investigated for steroid distribution. Bonds has publicly denied using steroids.
He joked that having fans yelling for him at Dodger Stadium was “confusing, but it’s a great feeling.”
“It’s great to be out on the field, it’s great to smell the grass and be in my uniform again and just being around the guys, it’s a great feeling all the way around,” he said.
A locker was set up for Bonds in the Giants’ clubhouse, where a black warmup jersey bearing his name and number hung.
Giants manager Felipe Alou welcomed Bonds, but he said they didn’t talk about the slugger’s status.
“The main thing is he’s here now,” Alou said. “That’s big.”
Bonds went through an individual workout on the field before any of his teammates emerged for pregame warmups. He threw some long toss, jogged, and did cutting drills under the watchful eye of physical therapist Clive Brewster.
“My mind changes as each day goes by,” Bonds said about a comeback. “There’s a lot of times that I’ll come in and say, “I need a day off,’ and 10 minutes later I change my mind.
“I may wake up and I’m so sore I feel like I can’t do it and by two hours later, I feel great and I do it. I’ve been doing that for years.”
Bonds appeared to be in good spirits, laughing and chatting about a Labor Day weekend barbecue he had hosted at his Beverly Hills home.
He has been in the area for two months rehabbing his knee and practicing his hitting.
“Hitting is something I feel comfortable with, but I still have a little bit more work to do to keep myself consistent,” he said.
Alou said he’s confident Bonds’ swing will be as potent as ever when he returns.
“I don’t have doubts that he’ll hit or that they’ll walk him,” Alou said. “The swing has always been there.”
However, Bonds’ defense and baserunning ability have yet to be tested. He has missed the entire season and there has been talk that he wouldn’t play again until 2006. He has 703 homers, third on the career list behind Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).
He admitted that drawing his usual number of walks would take a toll. He was walked a major league-record 232 times last season on the way to his record seventh NL MVP award.
“When you’re on that base a lot, it takes a lot out of your body,” he said. “That would be a huge, huge test for me. That’s the thing I have to think about because that would be real, real hard if that situation came up.”
Bonds believes he can still be an everyday player, but he said there might be days he would sit out.
“It has nothing to do with my leg, it would be because I’m just too damn old to do it,” he said, laughing.
The Giants have made a late surge in the NL West. They were in second place going into Monday night, 51/2 games behind the San Diego Padres.
“That doesn’t push me at all, the game pushes me to come back,” Bonds said, joking that “they’re doing so well, I don’t want to mess it up.”