Jan 9, 2022 3 min read

Roscosky wins weight at tourney

Braden Roscosky earned the 184-pound title and the Washington & Jefferson College wrestling team finished in third place amongst the 12 competing teams at the Waynesburg University Invitational Saturday.

W&J claimed one individual title, had three others finish as runner-ups and eight individuals place at the event. The Presidents amassed 108.5 team points, trailing only Delaware Valley (153) and Heidelberg (120) in the standings.

Roscosky picked up a pair of falls and a tech fall to advance to the finals at 184. The freshman won in 1:28 over Thomas Salois of Alma to open his day. Roscosky then won 17-2 tech. fall over Josh Kumer of Waynesburg in the quarters. He then won by fall (6:43) against John Libby of Johns Hopkins in the semifinals. Roscosky edged Ryan Weitz of Alderson Broaddus by a 5-4 score in the title match. Roscosky finished the day with four wins to improve his collegiate record to 13-0 overall.

Jaden Datz, Hunter Swedish and Tyler Ratledge earned runner-up finishes at their respective weight classes.

Duquesne wins

Jackie Johnson III had 27 points, tying his season high, as Duquesne edged past UMass 78-74 on Saturday. Amir Spears added 21 points for the Dukes.

Kevin Easley Jr. had 10 points and five steals for Duquesne (6-7, 1-0 Atlantic 10 Conference). Leon Ayers III added seven rebounds.

C.J. Kelly had 19 points for the Minutemen (7-7, 0-2). Rich Kelly added 16 points. Noah Fernandes had 14 points and six rebounds.

Denver fires head coach

The Denver Broncos are looking for a new head coach to lead them out of a six-year playoff drought and a half decade of losing seasons that marks the most protracted plunge by a Super Bowl champion in NFL history.

The Broncos fired Vic Fangio after he went 19-30 over three years, including 7-10 this season despite having one of the easiest schedules and the highest-paid defense in the league.

Had Fangio’s dogged determination, unpretentious personality and first-rate professionalism led to better results on the field, he wouldn’t have been let go Sunday morning by team president/CEO Joe Ellis and first-year general manager George Paton.

Paton sounded more like a man hiring Fangio than firing him when he declared, “He’s the best coach I’ve ever been around. And I don’t take that lightly. His attention to detail, his toughness, his work ethic and his football mind is unparalleled.”

“He put his heart and soul into this job,” Ellis concurred. “I’ve never seen a coach work harder. At the end of the day, we’re judged on one thing, and that’s winning.”

Fangio .387 winning percentage includes a 6-11 mark at home over the past two seasons, the worst two-year stretch in Denver since the team went 4-10 in 1967-68. His teams were just 5-13 against the AFC West.

The Broncos are the first team in league history to follow a Super Bowl championship with six straight non-playoff seasons, half of which came under Fangio’s watch.

Fangio, 63, burnished his reputation as a defensive master during his first head coaching gig in Denver, yet his teams struggled mightily on offense under obdurate coordinator Pat Shurmur and on special teams under Tom McMahon.

Fangio isn’t expected to be out of work long. He will be a strong candidate for a defensive coordinator job in the new round of coaching changes this month.