3+ hour, 47+ min ago (1869+ words) In a span of 20 seconds, Shamokin's Logan Steele showed why he is one of the state's most dynamic football players. He scored on a 6-yard run, then returned an interception 40 yards for a score to give Shamokin a 12-point lead early in the third quarter of last Friday's PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal against Southern Lehigh. It was the junior's 21st rushing touchdown and ninth interception of the season, respectively. Steele's plays were followed by a holding call negating Luke Kawczenski's 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for Southern Lehigh. Everything was working against Southern Lehigh, much like it did for three quarters of its regular-season finale " its only loss this season " at Northwestern Lehigh. Heads may have gone down just a bit. Frustration may have set in for a moment, but coach Phil Sams' club then remembered what all the sweat and…...

10+ hour, 49+ min ago (551+ words) Like everybody else who works at Penn State's Lasch Football Building, Terry Smith doesn't know what will happen after the regular season finale Saturday at Rutgers. But Smith, the interim head coach, expects the seniors and other draft-eligible players to participate in a bowl game if the Nittany Lions beat the Scarlet Knights for their sixth win. "Rutgers is all that matters," Smith said Monday at his weekly press conference. "It means everything to us in the building and we're trying to go out and get this victory. "I would anticipate that our guys are going to play (in a potential bowl game). I'm sure there may be a one-off or a two-off here or there with some type of circumstance. I have full anticipation that our guys are going to play." Penn State recognized 34 players on Senior Night before…...

14+ hour, 4+ min ago (720+ words) Penn State interim head football coach Terry Smith repeated Monday that he wants to be named the permanent coach but he wouldn't definitively say whether there has been a job interview scheduled. "I think there will be an opportunity to sit with Pat (director of athletics Pat Kraft)," Smith said. "We'll just go from there." The 56-year-old Smith was named the interim coach Oct. 12 after Kraft fired James Franklin in the middle of his 12th season following a one-point loss to Northwestern that dropped the Nittany Lions to 3-3. Smith has guided Penn State to a 2-3 record, including decisive wins over Nebraska and Michigan State the last two weeks. The Lions (2-6 Big Ten, 5-6) need to beat Rutgers (2-6, 5-6) Saturday at 3:30 (TV-BTN) in New Jersey in the regular season finale to become bowl eligible. "I love Penn State," he said. "I would be open…...

20+ hour, 8+ min ago (666+ words) As the Giants continue to blow games on the field, the blame game off the field intensifies. Interim head coach Mike Kafka fired defensive coordinator Shane Bowen on Monday morning following the Giants" 34-27 overtime loss to the Lions on Sunday in Detroit. Outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen will serve as the interim defensive coordinator for the remainder of the season. Sunday marked the third straight game and the fifth time overall this season that the 2-10 Giants held a fourth-quarter lead and lost. In three of those losses, including Sunday, they led by at least 10 points in the fourth quarter. The Giants took a 27-17 lead against the Lions with 12:16 remaining and then allowed the Lions to drive 81 yards for a touchdown in only three plays. Detroit later drove 53 yards in 2:26 for a game-tying field goal as time expired, then scored a…...

21+ hour, 18+ min ago (528+ words) The gnashing of teeth began long before the clock hit zero Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Since 2016, and except for 2020 when District 11 opted out of the state football playoffs over pandemic-related concerns, the District 11 football champion in Class 6A has had an unpleasant ending to what had been a glorious season. La Salle College High School supplanted St. Joe's this year as the District 12 champ, and Easton had its first shot in the state playoffs since 2010, but the result was the same as so many of the Prep games against Parkland, Nazareth and Freedom. Unlike Parkland, Freedom and Nazareth, the loss to a PCL power doesn't mean the end of the season. That's because Easton has a Thanksgiving morning game against Phillipsburg at Lafayette's Fisher Stadium that many consider to be more important than a state playoff game....

1+ day, 2+ hour ago (698+ words) Josh Snyder was watching film Wednesday, a day after Northwestern Lehigh's scout team offense carved up the first-team defense during the first day of install, when he saw something he liked that was run by Scranton Prep, the Tigers' PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal opponent two days later. Snyder liked it so much that he stole it. Yes, Snyder is a thief, and he's proud of it. The Tigers head coach put in two pages of new plays for Friday night's playoff game against the Cavaliers, including a play he stole from coach Terry Gallagher's club. With Northwestern Lehigh facing a fourth-and-7 from the Scranton Prep 40-yard line and leading 35-14 in the fourth quarter, Snyder called the stolen play. Quarterback Shane Leh, who already had four touchdown passes in the game, dropped back to pass, turned and looked to the right before…...

1+ day, 9+ hour ago (829+ words) As an abomination, it was an A+. The Eagles built a 21-0 lead, watched it evaporate, and walked out of AT&T Stadium with a 24-21 loss that dropped them to 8-3 and a suddenly tightened NFC East race. Dallas (5-5-1) outgained the Birds 473-339, including a decisive 125-63 edge on the ground, and shut out the Eagles (8-3) over the final 2 1/2 quarters. Of course, it's a long shot the Cowboys could come back and win the division, or even make the postseason, but the Eagles just gifted them an opening as holiday season approaches. And stranger things have happened, like the Birds' collapse two seasons ago after starting 10-1 with a bunch of shaky wins. Now, they have a short week to prep for the 8-3 Bears on Black Friday. Here's the position-by-position report card from Sunday's meltdown: Jalen Hurts was both the reason the Eagles surged ahead…...

1+ day, 13+ hour ago (576+ words) DETROIT " Mike Kafka saw no point in second-guessing himself. In his second game as the Giants interim coach, Kafka made a bold decision that ended up costing his team. With 3:07 left against the Lions on Sunday, the Giants were leading 27-24 and had the ball deep in Detroit territory. On third-and-goal from the 2, New York went with a sweep to Devin Singletary, but the Lions wrecked it for a 4-yard loss and called timeout. The safe decision at that point would have been to kick a field goal, take a 30-24 lead, and force the Lions to score a touchdown to win the game. Kafka decided to go for it, and Jameis Winston threw incomplete to Theo Johnson, ending a 14-play, 86-yard drive with no points. "We're trying to win the game, so we want to score as many points as possible,…...

1+ day, 20+ hour ago (478+ words) After beating up on a bottom-dwelling Raiders team last week, the Dallas Cowboys seemed to think they were on top of the world, talking about the playoffs and even winning the division. "Why not us?" quarterback Dak Prescott and several of his cohorts openly asked. It may have seemed like a joke to the first-place Eagles, the reigning Super Bowl champions. They clearly didn't take it seriously on Sunday. After jumping out to a feverish 21-point lead, the Eagles flatout blew it and lost 24-21 to a team that entered the game below .500 in Week 12. Here are five things we learned. Whatever coaching accountability looks like, who knows. No one is suggesting that head coach Nick Sirianni needs to go " he definitely doesn't " but something needs to change on the offensive side of the ball. The Eagles' defense held one of…...

2+ day, 6+ min ago (742+ words) STATE COLLEGE " No matter how hard some people have tried to divide Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, their bond remains concrete thick. They arrived at Penn State at the same time in 2022 and immediately forged a kinship. They have spent countless hours together as roommates, teammates, workout partners and friends. And in their final game at Beaver Stadium, they received a coronation as the most productive set of running backs in Nittany Lions history. Allen became Penn State's all-time leading rusher and Singleton tied two career touchdown records Saturday night in a 37-10 beatdown of Nebraska. "It's special because it went back to all the winter workouts and things like that," Allen said. "Pushing each other and feeding off each other. It just means a lot. He's my brother, and we are just tight. We are always talking to each other…...