Parkland Press

A number of animals sharpen their own teeth for when they attack their prey. So, despite playing to a draw in their season opener to Emmaus, the metaphor Parkland boys’ soccer head coach Patrick Birns used to describe his squad is pretty spot on.

“There were a lot of kids that sharpened their teeth for the first time on the varsity level, against Emmaus,” Birns said after Friday’s scoreless draw. “So the speed and the pace we played with, I was super happy with that.”

Several former Parkland High School athletes will be competing on college teams this fall.

Lafayette College’s Jacob Bissell got his college football career off on the right foot last fall. In connecting on eight of his 14 field goals and handling kickoffs for the Leopards, Bissell was named an All-Patriot League Second Team selection in 2015. He returns for his sophomore season that starts in a matter of weeks.

Ever since his sophomore season, there has been steady improvement. After Reno Kriz and the Vassar College men’s volleyball team endured a tough 2014 season that resulted in a 10-21 record, the rise back to success began.

As a junior, Kriz helped guide Vassar back to the United Volleyball Conference Tournament and 20 regular season wins.

A few months ago in his senior campaign, he led the Brewers a step further in the UVC Tournament as they eventually fell in the semifinals to Stevens Institute of Technology while finishing with the second-most wins in program history at 24.

Obstacles and hurdles have been thrown at Derek Ziegenfuss. Every time he has overcome them in a remarkable manner.

The first setback came in his senior year of high school when a number of injuries derailed him from what he anticipated to be a memorable state performance in the javelin. Instead, a rib injury forced him to be less than full strength once his performance at Shippensburg University came around.

Next week will not only be a big week for the Keystone State Quarter Midget Club. It’ll be a historic week for the city of Schnecksville as well.

The Keystone State Quarter Midget Club track, located in Schnecksville, will host a dirt grand national race event in the upcoming week. The week-long event begins on Monday and concludes Saturday with the championship 40-lap race for each of the 12 classes. Participants range from age 5 to 16 and will compete on the club’s dirt oval track.

The summer league basketball for the Parkland boys basketball team continued just two days after an Elite Eight appearance at SportsFest. And the Trojans didn’t miss a beat.

There were no signs of tired legs or worn down bodies. The Trojans amassed 58 points on some good outside shooting, winning their quarterfinal Stellar Summer League playoff game 58-48 versus Bangor Tuesday evening at Cedar Beach Park.

The cards were stacked against the North Parkland knee-hi baseball team. But despite the odds, North Parkland finds itself as one of the final two teams playing for a Lehigh Valley Little Baseball League Knee-Hi championship.

North Parkland advanced to that title game after its 6-0 shutout victory over rival South Parkland on Tuesday evening at Wehr’s Dam. It was a six-inning, scoreless effort from ace Drew Sorrentino and relief pitcher Ryan Correll closed it out in the seventh inning.

Rising senior Sam Iorio walked off the court last Wednesday in the final minutes after being subbed out. Parkland was already well out in front of Emmaus when the Trojans’ leader exited.

That’s been a familiar scene for Parkland this summer.

The Trojans beat Emmaus 65-37 last week at Parkland High School. Iorio scored 15 while Jake Bartholomew added a team-high 16 points in the rare Wednesday summer league game that was a make up date for a previously postponed contest.

In an all-star football game that featured 127 points, a quarterback with seven touchdowns and an unbelievable 42-0 lead for one squad, it’s a bit ironic that a defensive play would be the game-defining moment.

But that was the case in Thursday’s McDonald’s All-Star Football Classic at Andrew Leh Stadium at Nazareth High School.

Vassar College senior Reno Kriz recently capped a historic season for the school’s men’s volleyball team. The former Trojan finished the spring season with 385 kills, 147 digs and 68 blocks. His 358 kills wasn’t just tops on the team, but that ranked him third amongst all United Volleyball Conference (UVC) competitors. Kriz finished his career with 1,352 kills (third in Vassar history) and school records in attack attempts (3,381), sets played (426) and matches played (125).