Sep 8, 2022 3 min read

Girls soccer

Chessa Mertz scored one goal in the second half and assisted on another as Belle Vernon defeated Southmoreland 2-0 Thursday.

The win moves the Leopards to 2-3-1 overall. Payton Wlash scored the first goal of the match.

• Bella Spergel and Brooke Opferman each scored twice, and Isabelle Guna added a goal and two assists as Peters Township defeated visiting Baldwin 6-0 Wednesday night in Class 4A Section 2.

Christina Sefer also scored for the Indians. Cam Klein, Sophia Trapanotto and Atleigh Ciprich had assists. Molly Kubistek recorded the shutout in net.

Boys soccer

Peters Township pushed its winning streak to three with a 3-2 win over Norwin in Class 4A Section 2 Thursday.

Blake Gabelhart, Nick Magee and Matthew Milliken scored goals for PT (3-1, 4-1).

• Nick Evans scored two goals and Ringgold defeated Laurel Highlands 5-3 in Class 3A Section 3.

Owen Haywood, Aidyn Whaley and David Molisee had the others tallies for the Rams (3-1, 3-2).

• Undefeated Thomas Jefferson slipped past Trinity 1-0 in Class 3A Section 3.

The Hillers are 2-2 in section and 3-2 overall.

• Juan Melena scored the game-winner with about 10 minutes to play as Chartiers-Houston edged Bishop Canevin 3-2 in Section 4 of Class 1A.

Stephen Hess and Jacob Mankey scored for the Bucs (1-1, 2-5).

Sean Kelsch and Ryan McFetridge had goals for Bishop Canevin (0-2, 0-4).

Men’s soccer

Tyler Mohrbacher scored twice to power Waynesburg to a 5-0 victory over host La Roche in a non-conference match Thursday.

The shutout was the second straight for Waynesburg (2-1).

In auto racing

NASCAR is returning to one of its original venues that it left more than a quarter-century ago – North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Gov. Roy Cooper and North Carolina native Dale Earnhardt Jr. joined the stock car body and the track’s owner on Thursday to announce that the track will host the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race next year – NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season.

The .625-mile (1-kilometer) asphalt oval, located almost 70 miles northwest of Charlotte, hosted the year-ending race in 1949 for what became the Cup Series. It became an annual stop on the schedule, hosting two races a year starting in 1951, and was a throwback to the days when moonshine runners in the region – NASCAR legend Junior Johnson among them – drove fast cars to escape authorities.

North Wilkesboro hosted more than 90 Cup races before it closed in 1996, a result of NASCAR’s dramatic growth during that time and arguments that it wasn’t large or fancy enough as the sport tapped into new markets