Nov 5, 2021 6 min read

ON THIS DATE

Nov. 6

1963 – Jimmy Haught scores on a 20-yard run and a 70-yard interception return in the first quarter and Cumberland Township High School completes its second consecutive undefeated regular season by beating visting Mt. Morris, 41-13.

1963 – Coach Guy Tornabene’s McDonald Red Devils end the regular season undefeated and untied with a 46-6 win over East Washington. Paul Chiff scores on runs of 30 and 70 yards, and he returns a punt 40 yards for a score.

1965 – Waynesburg College’s football team plays to a 13-13 tie at Grove City but it’s enough to give the Yellow Jackets the West Penn Conference championship.

1970 – Kurt Sacco catches touchdown passes of 32 and 38 yards from Rich Campagna as Chartiers-Houston (9-0) earns a spot in the WPIAL Class B football championship with a 26-6 win at Jefferson-Morgan.

1970 – Dan Caldwell throws his third touchdown pass of the game, a 26-yarder to George Billetz with six seconds remaining, to give Mapletown a 26-20 win over Carmichaels. Caldwell also runs for a 40-yard touchdown.

1970 – The Carolina Cougars of the American basketball Association win their first game of the season, 122-107, over Pittsburgh but the Condors’ Charlie Hertz breaks two backboards with dunks. A two-handed slam by Hertz in the second quarter brought down a glass backboard at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, N.C. The game was delayed almost an hour while a plywood backboard was set up. Then, with 1:07 remaining in the game, Hertz shattered the backboard at the opposite end of the court. It was decided at that point to end the game.

1974 – The Pittsburgh Triangles of World Team Tennis acquire Jimmy Connors in a trade with the Baltimore Banners.

1981 – World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, knocked down in the seventh round, stops challenger Renaldo Snipes with a barrage of right hands in the 11th round to retain the title at the Civic Arena. During an in-ring scuffle after the bout, Snipes is accidentally stabbed in the left arm with a cornerman’s scissors.

1987 – The Charleroi defense intercepts four passes and registers three quarterbacks sacks in a 17-8 win over visiting Bentworth that nets the Cougars a share of the Century Conference football championship.

1987 – Martin Samek scores on runs of 76 and 44 yards, Paxton Pratt breaks a tie with a fourth-quarter field goal and Carmichaels upsets Tri-County South Conference champion Jefferson-Morgan 23-20.

1989 – John Lopus scores a goal with 3:12 left in the match, giving Peters Township a 1-0 victory over Quaker Valley in the WPIAL Class AA boys soccer title game at Baldwin. It is the Indians’ fourth consecutive WPIAL championship.

1995 – The Cleveland Browns announce they will abandon Cleveland and move to Baltimore for the 1996 season.

1998 – Peters Township’s Sarah Riske and McGuffey’s Stacey Voelker each advance to the semifinals of the PIAA Tennis Championships with straight-set wins at the Hershey Racquet Club.

2004 – McGuffey’s Jeff Weiss runs away from the competition and wins the PIAA Class AA cross country championship. Weiss covers the 3.1-mile course at Hersheypark in 15:45 and wins by 31 seconds. He becomes the first state cross country champion from Washington County since Ringgold’s Melvin Boyd in 1972.

2004 – Chris Edwards completes 17 of 28 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns as Washington & Jefferson finishes the regular season 10-0 by defeating Washington (Mo.) at Cameron Stadium.

2006 – Peters Township defeats District 6 champion State College, 2-0, to advance to the PIAA Class AAA boys soccer quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.

2007 – Megan Junker’s save on an Upper St. Clair shot in the fifth round of penalty kicks gives Peters Township a victory in the first round of the PIAA girls soccer playoffs. After ending OT tied 3-3, Peters Township wins the shootout 4-3.

Nov. 7

1942 – President E.A. Lucas announces that the Washington Redbirds minor league baseball team’s board of directors voted to leave the Penn State League and the team’s affiliation with the St. Louis Cardinals will not be renewed. In the Redbirds’ last season, the team reported deficits in finances as its attendance dropped to 17,486 for the season, down from 70,944 in 1939.

1950 – Branch Rickey agrees to a five-year contract to be general manager and executive vice president of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1952 – Washington High School completes its first undefeated regular season in football since 1931 by defeating Donora 38-0 at Wash High Stadium. Frank Bonus runs for two touchdowns, including a 74-yarder in the first quarter.

1958 – Waynesburg defeats California 20-0 to complete the Raiders’ first undefeated and untied regular season.

1958 – Angelo Ferrari scores on touchdown runs of 45, 30 and 30 yards as Avella defeats visiting Weirton Madonna 27-0 for the Eagles’ second consecutive undefeated regular season.

1952 – Cumberland Township scores four second-half touchdowns and defeats Glassport 41-12 to finish the regular season undefeated. Larry Krutko scores three touchdowns and kicks four extra points.

1975 – Kevin Bailey and Barry Stotka each score two touchdowns as Beth-Center defeats Peters Township, 34-13, in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs at South Park.

1981 – Otto Birkhead rushes for a season-high 160 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown, and Waynesburg College sacks Cal State quarterback Chuck Colborn six times as the Yellow Jackets edge the Vulcans, 7-3, at College Field.

1984 – Senior forward Kory Sensky scores three goals and Trinity defeats Erie Prep, 3-0, on a muddy field at Fairview High School in the first round of the PIAA soccer playoffs.

1985 – The Pittsburgh Pirates hire Syd Thrift as their new general manager. The 53-year-old Thrift, a real estate agent in Fairfax, Va., has been out of baseball for nearly a decade. Thrift, a Pirate scouting supervisor from 1957 to 1968, headed the Kansas City Royals’ now-defunct Baseball Academy from 1969 until 1972 then headed the Oakland A’s minor league operations until he left baseball and entered the real estate business in 1976.

1986 – B.J. McClay kicks a 20-yard field goal with 5:21 remaining to give Trinity a 10-7 victory over visiting Derry in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs. It’s the first playoff win in Trinity’s football history.

1987 – Pat Aigner passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns as Washington & Jefferson defeats John Carroll 24-3 to cap its first undefeated and untied regular season since 1921.

1988 – The Pittsburgh Pirates hire Larry Doughty as their general manager.

1993 – Chip Sheffield runs for 177 yards and three touchdowns, and Waynesburg College stops a two-point conversion with less than two minutes left, as the Yellow Jackets upset previously undefeated Frostburg State 24-22.

1998 – Peters Township’s Sarah Riske wins her second straight PIAA girls tennis championship by defeating Kristen Nowicki of Greensburg Salem, 6-0, 6-4, in the finals.

2003 – The most successful season for a Washington County volleyball team ends as Beth-Center loses matches to Conneaut Lake and Reading Central Catholic in pool play at the PIAA Class A Championships at Shippensburg.