Jan 4, 2018 4 min read

Match for a Marine

Peters Township will hold a Match for a Marine Wednesday at Peters Township High School.

The Indians wrestling team will wrestle Mt. Lebanon in honor of Sgt. Doug Vitale.

All proceeds from the match will go to the Doug Vitale Fund, which provides ongoing support to Doug & Alexis.

Prior to the match, military personnel will be recognized along with Doug and Alexis Vitale.

Donations can be made to: Doug Vitale Fund c/o First National Bank, 3539 Washington Road, McMurray, PA 15317.

Tiger sets golf schedule

Tiger Woods is playing twice in California over the next six weeks as he begins another comeback on the PGA Tour from back surgery.

Woods announced Thursday he will play the Farmers Insurance Open Jan. 25 at Torrey Pines, the San Diego course where he has won eight times. That includes the 2008 U.S. Open, his 14th and most recent major.

He also says he will play the Genesis Open at Riviera in Los Angeles that starts Feb. 15. Riviera is where Woods played his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old amateur. He last played in 2006, though it now is back in play because the Tiger Woods Foundation runs the tournament.

“I’m very excited to be back at Riviera,” Woods said. “To be able to play in an event that I used to come to as an amateur, as a junior and now as the tournament host, that is on one of the most historic sites in all of golf, it’s a dream come true.”

The schedule is similar to the one last year when Woods was returning from back surgery. It just didn’t last long.

He played in the Bahamas against an 18-man field with no cut, said he was feeling good about his health and his game, and then resumed a PGA Tour schedule at Torrey Pines. But he missed the 36-hole cut for the first time in San Diego, flew to Dubai and withdrew after opening with a 77 because of back spasms.

Two months later, Woods had fusion surgery on his lower back – his fourth back surgery in three years – and was out the rest of the year until he returned at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and tied for ninth, 10 shots out of the lead.

McConnell saves Robert Morris

Matty McConnell converted a three-point play with 10 seconds left in overtime to give Robert Morris a third-straight win to start the Northeast Conference season and post an 80-79 win over St. Francis (BKN) Thursday night.

St. Francis’ Glenn Sanabria hit a jumper with 18 seconds left in overtime to give the Terriers a 79-77 lead, but committed the foul that gave McConnell the added free throw for the win.

Dachon Burke and Koby Thomas scored 17 and 16 points, respectively, to lead Robert Morris (9-7, 3-0), with McConnell adding another 13 points.

Rasheem Dunn scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for St. Francis (5-10, 2-1). Milija Cosic added 13 points and Sanabria finished with 12.

In the NHL

Ivan Provorov had two goals and an assist, and Sean Couturier had a goal, an assist and participated in one of several fights for the Philadelphia Flyers in a feisty 6-4 victory over the slumping New York Islanders Thursday.

Travis Konecny energized his teammates with a first-period scrap, then scored to cap a four-goal second. Wayne Simmonds and Michael Raffl also scored for the Flyers, who overcame a poor third period for their second win in six games.

Brian Elliott made 27 saves in his 15th straight start, two nights after an ugly loss left general manager Ron Hextall searching for a spark.