It was another great fall sports season (and for more than just football!) for the teams, coaches and athletes in the RCN viewing area. We had some great individual and team performances, with school districts in many regions bringing home district, region and state gold metals.
It was also a busy season here at RCN-TV covering our local sports teams. We had unveiled new features on our “RCN SportsTalk” show—among them, the “athlete of the week” for the people in the Lehigh and Delaware Valley areas, and the “Sports Minute” for the folks in our Washington, DC region.
Speaking of the “sports minute,” we’re pleased to announce that this element of our show will continue into the winter as we try to cover as many high school basketball teams in our coverage area as possible. Here are a few samples featuring football teams from the DC area.
Also, we will have video from some of the traditional “Turkey Game” football contests from this past Thanksgiving, coming up on this Thursday’s edition of “SportsTalk” (live, Thursdays at 7pm).
In the Lehigh Valley area, we were able to focus on a number of different girls and boys sports teams from both bigger and smaller school districts over the last several months. Here’s a compilation of some of our fall sports features.
Now, it’s time to congratulate the teams from the RCN viewing area that have captured state gold medals this fall season. First, the Parkland girls volleyball team won its second consecutive PIAA championship. The win marks the third straight volleyball state title won by Parkland (the boys team won it this spring).
We saluted the Emmaus field hockey team on both “SportsTalk” and here at the “SportsTalk Shop” earlier this fall due to Head Coach Sue Butz-Stavin’s tremendous accomplishment—becoming the nation’s all-time leader in wins by a high school field hockey coach in September. Butz-Stavin added to those numbers as his team once again captured league, district and finally state championship honors, adding another collection of 3A titles (the highest level in Pennsylvania for field hockey) to the Hornets’ trophy case.
It’s starting to become routine for district tournaments to run through the Route-309 exchange as both Parkland and Emmaus seem like they are nearly always in championship games—and usually winning the title contests. This fall alone, Parkland won four fall sports District XI championships (boys cross, country, girls soccer, girls volleyball and football), while Emmaus won three more (boys soccer, golf and field hockey). The Hornets’ field hockey team has now captured fourteen consecutive district gold metals and the Parkland volleyball team has won five of the last six district championships.
Special kudos are in order for the magnificent paring of Coco Chen and Logan Lencheski from the Notre Dame-Green Pond High School girls tennis team. Chen and Lencheski brought home state gold medals in pairs tennis. I’ve maintained that individual and pair state championships are extremely challenging given all the scrutiny in one or two people, as opposed to an entire team, having to share the workload. The Crusaders pair was also honored on our most recent “SportsTalk” show as the athletes of the week for their tremendous achievement.
Don’t forget! All of the above video features and more scholastic “shout-outs” and stories are available to hear on our podcasts (rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk) as well as through RCN On-Demand. Join us this Thursday live at 7pm for the insights, predictions and analysis of this weekend’s state football playoff games, and also we’ll have strategies and tips for those people involved in fantasy football. Also, we appreciate any feedback or suggestions for sports to cover or to discuss on RCN-TV. Feel free to email your thoughts to us at RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com.
Now, anyone who knows me very well knows that I HATE the cold weather. However, I do love the sports that take place during the winter months, and there certainly are some exciting match-ups featuring teams in our area, and a few schools in both DC and Pennsylvania have opportunities to have very special years. I’m looking forward to embarking on the winter sports season and I hope everyone enjoys our coverage as we move our cameras and microphones indoors. Next week here at the “Shop,” we start to take a look at the upcoming high school basketball season with thoughts and insights from knowledgeably hoop-minded individuals on the upcoming season. Also, we hope to have more good news to report on the high school football teams in our viewing area over the next few weeks.
Lastly, a quick reminder for everyone to tune into the “Dream Come True Telethon” that will be seen live on RCN-TV Monday, December 7th. Telethon details are here: www.rcn.com/atvn/2015-dct-telethon
Not only does the event raise money for a tremendous charity but you should also check out the auctions items at www.biddingowl.com/dreamcometrue as there are some wonderful items—and potential holiday gift giving ideas—for you to try to pick up, while benefiting our local kids at the same time.
