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Things taking shape in high school rifle season

4 min read

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The final two weeks of the WPIAL rifle season will be big ones for the Trinity High School rifle team.

The Hillers, who have won 17 WPIAL titles, are in danger of missing the postseason tournament for the first time in more than a decade.

As things currently stand, Woodland Hills leads Section 2 at 7-0 and 9-0 overall. Bethel Park is second at 6-2 and 8-2 overall. The Hillers are just one match back at 5-3 and 6-3, having lost once to Woodland Hills and twice against Bethel Park.

Because of the two losses to Bethel Park, the Hillers must finish ahead of the Black Hawks in the standings to make the postseason. If they finish tied, Bethel Park would advance based due to its better head-to-head record.

In Section 1, things are a little more clear cut.

McGuffey leads with an 8-0 record in section and has already clinched a spot in the postseason. The Highlanders are 8-2 overall. Avella (6-2, 6-4) is second, while Washington (5-4, 6-5) is third.

The top two teams in each section advance to the WPIAL championships, which will be held Feb. 11 at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club on Linden Road, Canonsburg. This year’s individual championships will be held Feb. 13 at the same site.

Woodland Hills is far and away the favorite in this year’s team tournament. The Wolverines have shot 800 seven times, including an impressive 800-76X in a win over Indiana back in December.

Defending WPIAL champion Hempfield, which leads Section 3, has fired an 800 four times this season, while Trinity has three 800s, Bethel Park two and McGuffey one.

• Last Wednesday night’s showdown in the Greater Pittsburgh and Suburban Rifle League lived up to its promise as Frazier-Simplex edged Dormont-Mt. Lebanon, 1,485-1,481, in a meeting of the top two teams in the league. The winning score was the highest shot in the league this season.

Tom Santelli and John Husk were high shooters for Frazier-Simplex (10-0), with both firing 299. Those were also the individual highs for the league last week. Tom Morley and Jim Husk shot 296 each, while Zac Szabo fired a 295.

Tom Gerner was high shooter for Dormont-Mt. Lebanon, firing a 198. Amy Smith and Matt Piatt each shot 297, while Rich Janoski came in at 295 and Miles Ford at 294.

Smith was high female shooter for the week, while Jim Husk took home the senior honors. Brandon Meier of Irwin was the high junior shooter of the week with a 297.

Dormont-Mt. Lebanon (7-2) is at third-place Irwin Post 228 this week, while Frazier-Simplex is off.

• The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission voted at its quarterly meeting last week to create a voluntary $1 youth fishing license. Proceeds raised by the license fee will be used to fund programs aimed at increasing youth fishing participation.

On first glance, adding a non-mandatory license fee appears to be folly.

But every voluntary license sold will help the commission receive increased federal funding, which accounts for 25 percent of the commission’s budget.

For every youth license sold, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will receive approximately $5 in federal funding through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sport Fish Restoration Act program. The program provides funds to states based on a formula that includes the number of licenses a state sells.

According to a survey, 367,000 children between the ages of 6 and 15 took part in fishing in 2010.

“This is a purely voluntary youth license, and it is not required for kids to fish,” commission executive director John Arway said.

“It just 25 percent of those 367,000 children were to purchase a voluntary $1 license, it would result in more than $550,000 in revenue for the commission to invest in youth programs.”

The cost of the voluntary youth licenses will actually be $2.70, with the additional $1.70 covering the agent and transaction fees.

Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.

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