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Notebook: WPIAL on national TV
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WPIAL football will hit national television twice this season.
ESPN announced Thursday it will televise two games involving WPIAL teams. The first will be Sept. 4 when Central Catholic plays Philadelphia Archbishop Wood at 2 p.m. on ESPN2.
ESPNU will televise the Oct. 14 Hopewell at Central Valley game at 6 p.m.
The games are two of 16 from around the country that will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. The Central Catholic-Archbishop Wood game is part of the two-game Gateway Kickoff Classic at Gateway High School. In the other game at 6 p.m, Gateway plays Bishop McDevitt of Harrisburg on ESPN3, which is only available on the Internet.
The Gateway Kickoff Classic was put together by Gateway coach Terry Smith.
"The biggest holdup originally was the games were scheduled for Saturday," Smith said. "We had to work through some hoops to make sure they could make the switch to Sunday."
Central Catholic is expected to be one of the top Class AAAA teams in the state this season and Archbishop Wood one of the best in Class AAA. Bishop McDevitt features defensive end Noah Spence, who is ranked among the top-10 players in the country by scouting services.
The Hopewell-Central Valley game features Hopewell running back Rushel Shell, who said Thursday he has narrowed his college choices to Pitt, Florida, Virginia Tech and Alabama and likely will reveal his choice in October.
Seton-LaSalle tight end Scott Orndoff (6 feet 5, 240 pounds) made a verbal commitment Thursday to Wisconsin.
"He went to camp out at Wisconsin in June, and they offered him a scholarship," said Seton-LaSalle coach Greg Perry. "He and his parents went back out to visit a few weeks later, met all the coaches and just kind of fell in love with the place. He told me he was going to commit because he didn't think he could do much better. It's a great school, good academics, they're getting Pittsburgh kids out there. It's great for him."
Orndoff originally came to Seton-LaSalle as a quarterback, "but then he grew to be 6-5, 240," Perry said.
Also, Seton-LaSalle offensive tackle J.J. Beggan (6-4, 290) committed to Bowling Green.
First Published August 19, 2011 12:00 am
