Conway sets school touchdown passes record
North Park senior quarterback T.D. Conway, a California graduate, was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Offensive Player of the Week for his performance Sept. 3 in a 41-13 victory over Anderson (Ind.).
Conway, a native of California and a former standout in high school for the Trojans, became North Park’s all-time leader in career touchdown passes as he threw for three in the Vikings’ victory over Anderson. He also totaled a career-high 508 passing yards and he tied the school record for the most completions, connecting on 37 of 62 attempts.
For the season, Conway has completed 96 of 203 passes for 1,118 yards. Conway has thrown 58 career touchdown passes for North Park, which is coached by his father, Mike, who had stints as the defensive coordinator at both California University and Washington & Jefferson.
Virginia Commonwealth sophomore midfielder Maddi Santo, a former Peters Township standout, had a breakout game for the Rams in a 5-1 win over American last month. Santo scored two goals in the contest, which is the Rams’ biggest offensive outburst of the season.
Santo is the second-leading goal scorer for the Rams with four. She has one assist for nine points.
While at Peters Township, Santo scored 38 career goals and had 24 assists. She played in 16 matches as a freshman at VCU, starting seven contests and registering three goals with a .429 shooting percentage.
It has been a rough start to the season for Robert Morris, which has won only one of its first six games, but the Colonials have received significant contributions from Malik Wells, a sophomore running back from Washington.
In Robert Morris’ lone win, 21-19 over Malone Sept. 24, Wells scored the game’s first touchdown on a six-yard run. The next week, in a 41-7 loss at Liberty, Wells led all ball-carriers, rushing 17 times for 73 yards.
Last Saturday during a 24-10 loss to St. Francis (Pa.), Wells was the Colonials’ leading rusher 61 yards on 16 carries.
A Wash High graduate, Wells is Robert Morris’ second-leading rusher with 160 yards on 39 carries and averages 4.1 yards per attempt. He also has four pass receptions.
Penn junior wide receiver Justin Watson is off to a good start to the season. The Bridgeville native who was a member of the 2013 Class AA state championship team at South Fayette, had eight pass receptions for 133 yards in the Quakers’ 49-28 season-opening loss to Lehigh.
Through four games, Watson is the Quakers’ leading receiver and with 38 catches for 384 yards and two touchdowns. The 38 receptions is tops in the Ivy League.
Watson led the Ivy League in several receiving categories last season including receptions (74), receiving yards (1,082) and touchdowns (nine). He finished second in the voting for the league’s offensive player of the year.
West Liberty senior linebacker Garrett Vulcano tied a career-high with 14 tackles in the Hilltoppers’ 16-15 loss to McKendree Sept. 10.
A Chartiers-Houston graduate, Vulcano is West Liberty’s third-leading tackler with 31 stops, including 1½ for losses. He has played in four of the Hilltoppers’ six games.
Vulcano is one of two Washington County natives who are getting significant playing time on the West Liberty defense. Senior defensive lineman Zach Barnes of Washington 20 tackles including six behind the line of scrimmage, 2½ sacks and also recovered two fumbles. Barnes had a season-high six tackles in the season opener against Concord. In the Hilltoppers’ 40-23 win Saturday over Charleston, Barnes returned a fumble 27 yards.
Quad Law and his brother Nico Law, both former standouts at Ringgold High School, are two of the top three receivers for Gannon. Quad, a redshirt senior, is the Golden Knights’ leading receiver with 29 catches in six games. Nico, a redshirt freshman, is tied for second with eight receptions with one touchdown.
Nico Law is Gannon’s primary punt returner, averaging 10 yards on nine opportunities. Both Laws have played on the kickoff return unit.
Mike Kope, a redshirt senior defensive tackle from Charleroi is the fifth-leading tackler for Slippery Rock.
Kope has made 24 tackles including three behind the line of scrimmage, with 1 ½ sacks and three quarterback hurries. He began the season by making a career-high eight tackles in The Rock’s 31-28 victory over New Haven.
Point Park senior outside hitter Shiloh Simonson, a Peters Township graduate, reached the 1,000-kill milestone for her career last month in a match against Indiana University-East.
The Pioneers won, 25-27, 25-19, 25-19, 25-19 with Simonson registering 11 kills that gave her 1,010 for her career. She became only the fifth player in Point Park history with 1,000 kills. The first year of Point Park volleyball was 1991.
Simonson had a team-high 18 digs to go with her 11 kills.
For the season, Simonson has a team-high 198 kills, is tied for the team lead with 45 service aces and is second with 48 assists and 271 digs in 25 matches.
Pitt’s Nick Wolk was named Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Cross Country Freshman of the Week for Sept. 4-10.
A McMurray resident and Peters Township graduate, Wolk had the top finish by any freshman at the Tommy Evans Invitational in Akron, Ohio, finishing in fourth place as Pitt went 4-0 in dual meet competition Sept. 9. Wolk was Pitt’s No. 3 finisher, posting a 6.4K course time of 20:23.1.
“Nick has competed very well early in the cross country season,” Pitt coach Bryan Jackson said. “It is exciting for him to get this recognition. I know he has big goals for this fall, for this year and for his college career.”
Wolk is the first from Pitt to earn the award and the first Pitt cross country runner to receive an ACC weekly accolade 2014.
At Peters Township, Wolk was a WPIAL Class AAA cross country champion.
Washington & Lee sophomore Kirsten McMichael won her first collegiate race, the Hornet Harrier, hosted by Shenandoah, Sept. 24 in Virginia.
McMichael, an Eighty Four native and Ringgold graduate, crossed the finish line of the 5K race in 19:57.40 to take the top spot out of 87 competitors. She beat the second-place runner, Shelby Shrader of Shenandoah, by more than 41 seconds and helped Washington & Lee to a second-place finish in the team standings.
McMichael placed fifth in the Light Up the Night Invitational in Carlisle, covering the 5K course in 19:21:50.
Washington & Lee was the preseason pick to win the Old Dominion Athletic Conference women’s cross country championship.
McMichael was a two-time state qualifier at Ringgold and a three-time Washington County Coaches Meet winner.
Lauren Waller of Canonsburg has had a strong fall season for Penn State.
The sophomore, who was a WPIAL champion while at Canon-McMillan, helped Penn State to a fifth-place finish Oct. 4 at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C., and win the team title at the Nittany Lion Invitational played last month on the Penn State Blue Course.
At the Cougar Classic, Waller shot even par 72 in the final round. She had an eagle on a par-5 and four birdies during the round as she tied for 34th overall. In the Nittany Lion Invitational, Waller placed fifth overall with a 4-over 220 total.