We reached the end of another record setting season at Astound TV Network!

Even with Mother Nature affecting (aka cancelling) a handful of planned broadcasts due to inclement weather, ATVN broke our own record for the overall number of winter high school sports telecasts.  We also brought you more girls basketball games, more girls wrestling matches and tournaments and more Colonial League contests than ever before!

Before we dive deep into examining the playoff picture (which will be our next blog entry), a few observations on the boys and girls seasons we just completed.

In the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, quite a few teams proved to separate themselves as this season wore on.  On the girls side, Emmaus proved that their magical run a year ago was not a fluke and was the only team to go through the league undefeated.  They enter the postseason currently first in both the league and the District XI 6A standings.  Easton, Liberty, Parkland, Nazareth, Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic and Dieruff were the Lehigh Valley teams that also had good seasons and will have chances to compete in the playoffs.  All of those teams posted some impressive wins during the season and it should make for a competitive post-season in their respective classifications.

On the boys EPC side, it seems clear that Pocono West, Central Catholic, Whitehall, Liberty and (after a rare rocky December) Parkland were in the upper “echelon” this season.  Northampton has been inconsistent, but has beaten several good teams (including Central) and came into the season very young in terms of varsity experience.  Any of these teams are capable of beating another team on any given night. (Note for next winter, most of these teams have very few graduating seniors in their rotations.)

There were a number of standout individual performances this winter (including Adrian Brito, A.J. Hines and Jake Pukszyn, who all should get consideration for most valuable for their respective teams), but I’ll be shocked if Jahrel Vigo doesn’t get the MVP award when league honors are released later this month.

ATVN will have first round EPC playoff action starting this Friday (check out our broadcasting plans/schedules here on our website).

The Colonial League playoffs also get underway Friday evening.  The boys teams from Notre Dame-Green Pond, Lehighton (making their debut in the Colonial League this year) and Northwestern had great regular seasons.  Those three teams will be favored to get into the league’s semifinal round (ATVN will broadcast those games slated for Wednesday).

On the Colonial League girls side, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Palmerton Northern Lehigh, Wilson and Pen Argyl were among the top squads this winter and all should be in the mix for both league and district championship hopes.  Their semi-final playoff coverage on ATVN begins Tuesday evening.

Now, here’s some of the top recent plays for boys and girls teams featured on the Astound TV Network.

Astound TV Network Sports: Emmaus vs. Parkland (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Pen Argyl vs. Notre Dame Green Pond (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Parkland (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Whitehall vs. Allen (1/25)

Copies of all of ATVN’s broadcasts and sports productions are available by contacting the Astound TV Network’s studios.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

 In honor of Black History Month, the Astound TV Network pays tribute to one of the great sports accomplishments and the enduring social legacy of Jackie Robinson, by featuring the biopic about his struggles and successes, on ATVN.

For as great a baseball player and tremendous all-around athlete as he was, Jackie Robinson more than held his own on the silver screen portraying himself in the classic film, “The Jackie Robinson Story.”

Robinson became the first African-American to break the color barrier by playing professional baseball as a second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

The movie, filmed and released during the peak of his baseball career in 1950, outlined his life and focused on his struggles against racial prejudices and social injustices he faced to first play…and then excel…as a major league baseball player.

The racism Robinson endured started well before his professional playing days.  After graduating from college he was denied an opportunity to be a baseball coach, before he was even offered his first pro baseball contract. The film also connects with his education and home life and his tour of duty fighting for the United States Army in World War II.

Some of the best moments of this film are the inspirational messages he receives throughout his life, from various sources and from people of different races and economic levels.  One of the best speeches comes from Robinson himself when he delivers a message to the House of Representatives reflecting on his struggles for equality.  He also humbly addresses the inequalities of baseball, eloquently telling of its incredible prejudices and of the malicious acts he had to endure – even initially from within his own clubhouse.

The courage and class that Jackie shows throughout all these ordeals made the emotional impact of the scenes even more real and palatable for viewers to get a sense of what he went through.  The impact of these scenes hit home even more when you realize that it was Robinson himself reliving (and acting through) these real life events.

In 2006, the film was recognized by the American Film Institute’s top 100 films in the “100 Cheers” category.

“The Jackie Robinson Story” also features equally emotional and courageous scenes from Ruby Dee, playing the role of Jackie’s wife, Rae, along with stellar performances by Louise Beavers (portraying Jackie’s mother) and veteran character actor Minor Watson, who signed Robinson to his professional baseball contract.  

Alfred E. Green, who was no stranger to great biopic films, also did a credible job mixing in realistic baseball scenes while also framing and highlighting the key personal moments and private conversations in the movie that were so integral in the retelling of Jackie’s journey.

Years later, the movie “42” took a more modern view of Robinson’s tremendous accomplishments and epic struggles.  Although that too is also a great film, both baseball supporters and non-athletic fans alike really must see the original version of Robinson’s life story, featuring the man himself, who transcended sports in multiple ways, complete with his brilliant acting performance in his own film.

You can see “The Jackie Robinson Story” airing this month on the Astound TV Network.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The race for positioning in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys playoff race got a bit more interesting after last weekend’s games.

With Parkland beating Whitehall and Northampton beating Liberty (the first divisional loss of the year for the Hurricanes), the competition for the top spots in both the Lehigh and Northampton county divisions got a lot tighter going into the final week of the regular season.

Central, Whitehall, Parkland and Allen in particular are all neck-n-neck in the Skyline division of the EPC.  Ironically, all four teams will be playing each other on Tuesday night and ATVN will have the broadcast of both Allen vs. Whitehall and Central vs. Parkland, starting at 7pm.

 Later in the week, we’ll have what is now a big game for Liberty as they try to hold on to the top spot in the division, playing a Freedom team that almost beat the Hurricanes when the two teams met earlier this year.

We’ll also have three girls basketball games featuring teams fighting for post-season positioning as well: Wilson vs. Freedom, Parkland vs. Emmaus and Notre Dame-Green Pond vs. Pen Argyl.

Be sure you catch all the action this week on the Astound TV Network!

Now, here’s some of the top recent plays for boys and girls teams featured on the Astound TV Network so far this month.  Included are Becahi and Liberty girls’ overtime battle, Liberty’s grind-it-out win over Allen, Emmaus girl’s come-from-behind victory over Allentown Central Catholic, Whitehall’s wrestling team’s solid performance edging Liberty, and more exciting action from local players!

Astound TV Network Sports: Bethlehem Catholic vs. Liberty (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Bangor vs. Southern Lehigh (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Emmaus (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Liberty vs. Allentown (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Liberty vs. Whitehall (1/25)

Please note that copies of all of ATVN’s broadcasts and sports productions are available by contacting the Astound TV Network’s studios.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Before we bring you some basketball notes for teams in Northampton and Lehigh counties, here’s some of the top recent plays for boys and girls teams featured on the Astound TV Network so far this month…

Astound TV Network Sports: Lehighton/Bangor (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Parkland/Nazareth (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Pocono Mt West/Central Catholic (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Easton/Liberty (1/25)

Astound TV Network Sports: Liberty/Freedom (1/7/25)

Please note that copies of all of ATVN’s broadcasts and sports productions are available by contacting the Astound TV Network’s studios.

As we head into the final two weeks of the regular season, there are currently 14 girls teams and 16 boys squads that have already clinched a spot in the district playoffs.

In terms of the league post-season, there are still at least two spots up for grabs on both the boys and girls side in both the EPC and in the Colonial League, which make for plenty of interesting match-ups for the next two weeks.

ATVN will be featuring many of these key games over the next 13 days – make sure you bookmark and check back to our website for our broadcast schedule to see your favorite teams and players!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

We are approaching the end of the regular season for high school basketball. Teams a starting to turn green in the District 11 power rankings, signifying their playoff berth in their respective class for the district tournament.

Pocono Mountain East and West boys continue to stand atop the mountain, with West continuing to lead from the front after a 10-point victory over the Cardinals. The Panthers look like a top contender for the EPC title and the Class 6A title. While the Cardinals have a strong chance of making the EPC tournament, a Thursday night loss to Northampton doesn’t help their case. Additionally, Mark Dudley’s squad is 2-4 against potential playoff teams; that isn’t a confident stat as the postseason approaches.

Pleasant Valley has the next best record among the public schools, but the Bears still need a few more wins to guarantee a district playoff spot. Four of their remaining games are against teams with losing records, but they’ll need at least one win against a team with a winning record to get to 11. That said, it’s a nice turnaround of Bobby Hahn after a disappointing record last season. Zach Prator has played well for Pleasant Valley, as has sophomore forward Sebastian Sacci. 

Notre Dame – East Stroudsburg is also in contention for a playoff spot in 1A. The reigning back-to-back district champs are currently fifth, and the top six teams qualify for the postseason. Their final few weeks are tough, arguably a tougher strength of schedule compared to some of the other teams on the mountain. Senior guard Preston Protheroe will need to continue his herculean effort to give his team the edge.

East Stroudsburg North is the only team in the are that hasn’t won a game in 2025, yet the Timberwolves are benefitting from an overall weak Class 5A that allows them to remain in playoff contention. Denzal McKenzie has pieces, but so far they continue to struggle and lose. Hopefully that turns around before February gets here.

Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg South are continuing their rebound. Nothing new to report besides the debut of a promising player for the Cavaliers – freshman guard Julian Acevedo. He’s missed most of the season due to an injury, but he looked OK in his debut against Liberty, dishing out four assists. Scott Moskovitz was right to speak highly of his skill.

On the girls side of the mountain, Stroudsburg is clearly the best team in the area. McKayla Strunk is only a couple of games away from 1,000-career points, and the Mounties are preparing for their ninth district tournament appearance in 11 seasons.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

It always gets here faster than you think, but this week marks the passing of the halfway point of the high school basketball regular season in Pennsylvania.

There’s some interesting matchups this week (see our broadcast schedule page here on our website) and, with a few exceptions, it’s mostly divisional opponents facing each other for a second time after this week wraps up.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from recent games seen on ATVN, including top plays from Allen, Central Catholic, Easton, Emmaus, Liberty Northampton and Parkland with more EPC notes below…

Astound TV Network Sports: Allentown vs. Northampton (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Emmaus vs. Easton (11/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Liberty vs. Northampton (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Dieruff vs. Allentown Central Catholic (12/24)

Central Catholic, Whitehall and Liberty are the teams in the Lehigh Valley sections of the EPC that have already qualified for district playoff berths.  As for the league playoff picture, there’s currently 11 teams still in the hunt for the top 8 post-season spots, with no team a sure lock for the number one position.

On the girls side, Emmaus, Pen Argyl and Northwestern are the teams that have clinched a district playoff spot.  In addition to some great girls hoops games we’ve broadcast already this winter, we’ll be featuring more of the teams in the post-season hunt the next few weeks on the Astound TV Network.

We’ll have more on the “Mountain” teams coming up in Mason Smith’s blog…check back to our website later this week for his latest insights on those teams!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The new year is officially upon us, along with the start of the second half of basketball season. We have a good sample size of every team, and all six public schools in the Poconos can be divided into three categories on the boys’ side.

At the top is Pocono Mountain East and West High School, who sit near the top of Class 6A. The Panthers ended 2024 with two quality wins over Liberty and Parkland while surviving a slugfest with Scranton Prep. The Cardinals bounced back from their close loss to William Allen and finished 3-0 to become District 11 and the EPC’s first 10-win team. You could argue that East’s schedule isn’t the toughest, but they open 2025 with four potential district playoff teams, including West. If Mark Dudley’s squad is legitimate, we’ll know at the end of next week.

West also added two more members to its 1,000-point class as Adrian Brito and KJ Coles both reached the mark over Christmas break. Brito enters 2025 as the favorite to win EPC Player of the Year, and Coles could be in contention for an All-State selection.

At the bottom of the EPC Monroe Division are Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg South, two programs that are clearly in a rebuild, but may have found some pieces for the future. Jaiden Martinez-Tovar has proven he can score at a varsity level for the Cavaliers, but the team overall still has growing to do when it comes to winning basketball.

For the Mounties, freshman guard Tae El-Bassiouni has played his way into the starting lineup as the team’s leading scorer. The son of head coach Tarik El-Bassiouni is one of several young players with high ceilings, including Jarel Jackson and Josh Ivers-Green. This season will serve as a good experience for those players.

Then you have two teams in the middle – East Stroudsburg North and Pleasant Valley. Both teams have had disappointing starts to the season, but have the pieces and play style to be better in 2025. The Bears are three spots out of eighth place in District 11 6A, but they’ve gotten what they expected from center Zach Prator, who’s hovering around 20 points per game. The test will be if the guards can slow the game down and be the perimeter support Prator and Sebastian Sacci need.

For the Timberwolves, a veteran rotation with athleticism shouldn’t be 2-8, but that where Denzal McKenzie and North finds themselves entering 2025. Fortunately, Class 5A is uncommonly weak this season, so their current record still has them in the playoff picture. Time is running out for them to figure it out, though. Hopefully they can rattle off some wins to get the momentum going.

On the girls’ side, Stroudsburg is by far the team to beat on the mountain. Matt Field’s squad is the only one that’s .500 or better, but the test is when the team plays Pocono Mountain West, who swept the season series last year. Senior McKayla Strunk is also close to being the third Pocono player to reach 1,000-career points this season.

Stroudsburg will also be testes when it leaves the mountain for competition, seeing as that’s what it will take to achieve postseason success.

Things are heating up for high school sports early in 2025!

Tuesday on ATVN we’ll have two great boys basketball matchups as Liberty plays Freedom and Allentown Central Catholic plays Whitehall–all four teams have had impressive starts to the year to date!

Then on Wednesday, a rematch of one of the biggest wrestling matches in the NATION from last year as Bethlehem Catholic plays Easton – this will be broadcast on Astound TV and streamed for free on our YouTube channel: YouTube.com/AstoundTVNetwork

Speaking of outstanding wrestling action, here’s some of the top highlights so far this year from teams at Nazareth, Northampton and Easton…

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls Wrestling – Northampton vs. Nazareth (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys Wrestling – Nazareth vs. Easton (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys Wrestling – Northampton vs. Nazareth (12/24)

Additionally, we’d like to showcase basketball highlights from Emmaus, Freedom and Dieruff at “The Shop” this week…

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys Basketball – Emmaus vs. Dieruff (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys Basketball – Freedom vs. Emmaus (12/24)

We’ll also have more highlights from local boys and girls basketball and wrestling action…check back next week to the “SportsTalk Shop” to see more of your favorite teams and players!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

First of all, we want to wish a wonderful start to the new year to all our viewers/readers here at The SportsTalk Shop and look forward to another great year of covering local sports in our coverage areas in 2025!

We start off our first blog of the New Year with a look at some of the top plays and players from our high school basketball broadcasts from games played at the end of 2024, featuring impressive individual and team performances from Allen, Bangor, Freedom, Easton, Nazareth, Whitehall, Saucon Valley, Salisbury and Catasauqua through the first few weeks of the basketball season…

Astound TV Network Sports: Bangor vs. Salisbury (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Nazareth vs. Allentown (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Freedom vs. Easton (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Saucon Valley vs. Catasauqua (12/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Parkland vs. Whitehall (12/24)

We jump right into doubleheader HS sports coverage early in 2025 as we’ll bring you a girls/boys basketball doubleheader this Friday, followed by a girls basketball/boys wrestling doubleheader on Saturday.  Check the “Sports on ATVN” webpage here on our website for the latest game details.

We’ll also have more highlights from local boys and girls basketball and wrestling action…Check back next week to The SportsTalk Shop to see more of your favorite teams and players!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.