First of all, we have a very busy weekend coming up on Astound TV Network as we bring you our championships and more consolation basketball games than ever before! 

Here’s a look at the games we’ll be broadcasting this weekend… 

Friday, February 27th @ Allen High School 

LIVE at 6:00pm | 6A Girls’ Championship: Emmaus 20-6 vs Easton 24-3 

LIVE at 7:45 | 4A Boys’ Championship: Central 14-11 vs Northwestern 21-5 

Friday, February 27th @ Easton Middle School (consolation games) 

DELAY at 6:00pm | Nazareth 18-6 vs Parkland 18-6 

DELAY at 7:30pm | North Schuylkill 15-11 vs Salisbury 32-4 

Saturday, February 28th 

LIVE Stream at 1:15pm | 4A Girls’ Championship: #8 Blue Mountain vs. #1 Central Catholic 

LIVE at 3:00pm | 5A Girls’ Championship: #2 Southern Lehigh 12-12 vs #1 Bethlehem Catholic 22-3 

LIVE at 4:45 pm | 3A Boys Championship: #4 Executive Charter 15-6 vs #2 Notre Dame-GP 23-3 

LIVE at 8:00pm | 6A Boys Championship: #6 Liberty 17-8 vs #4 Parkland 21-6 

*Please refer to the broadcasting schedule on our website for information on original broadcast times and replay dates. 

Also, click here to check out this weekend’s local regional wrestling championships to be held at Liberty High School, the final local wrestling event of the season! 

Remember, copies of all sports events that ATVN broadcasts can be purchased (discounts are available for Astound video customers). Contact the ATVN studio offices for more information! 

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, company or subsidiary. 

After a major upset last Saturday, with the number one seed/Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys champion Northampton falling to eight-seeded Pocono Mountain East, most other games went pretty much as expected in high school basketball action last week.

Northampton had their season come to a premature exit and with it, lose several talented players who had played varsity basketball for several years to graduation.

Allentown Central Catholic also had a scare as Lehighton battled them for three quarters before the Vikings pulled away in the fourth quarter of their quarterfinal matchup to advance into the semifinals.

Liberty and Whitehall, after having some very tough losses back in December, have persevered and also technically pulled off upsets last week and will face each other on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. as part of Astound TV’s continuing coverage of the District 11 basketball playoffs.

With the top three boys seeds now out of the playoffs entirely, here’s a look at our broadcast schedule for the next several days on ATVN…

Tuesday, February 24th | 6A Girls’ District Semi-Finals at Whitehall

LIVE @ 6pm: Emmaus vs Parkland
LIVE @ 7pm: Nazareth vs Easton

Wednesday, February 25th | 6A Boys’ District Semi-Finals at Easton Middle School

LIVE @ 6pm: Whitehall vs Liberty
LIVE @ 7:30pm: Pocono Mountain East vs Parkland

Keep checking back to our website for changes to our broadcast schedule as they occur and also for our continuing coverage of the district and state playoffs over the next several weeks!

Now, here’s a look at highlights of recent basketball games and wrestling post-season action as seen on the Astound TV Network…

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Liberty vs. Northampton (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Northwestern vs. Notre Dame-GP (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Wrestling – District XI Boys Finals (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls’ Basketball – Bethlehem Catholic vs. Nazareth (1/26)

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, company or subsidiary.

With the arrival of the post-season comes the time to honor some of the top individual performances from this past regular season.

While the Colonial League did away with a formal listing of All-Star teams a few years ago, the coaches in the area formed an association and does identify the top girls in boys basketball players who played during this past season.

Here’s a listing of the top girls’ and boys’ players from the league this year….

Colonial League Girls’ All-League Honors

First Team
Juliana Bonham, Wilson (SO)
Courtney Connell, Palmerton (SR)
Natalie Conner, Northwestern Lehigh (SO)
Hailey Jenkins, Catasauqua (SR)
Olivia Serfass, Lehighton (SR)
Tegan Simms, Northern Lehigh (JR)
Player of the Year: Hailey Jenkins, Catasauqua (SR)

Second Team
Brenna Hammerstone, Notre Dame GP (SR)
Eliana Marques, Southern Lehigh (JR)
Kendra Morgan, Salisbury (SR)
Ava Shonk, Notre Dame GP (SR)
Kaylin Stewart, Catasauqua (SO)
Ryleigh Trotman, Lehighton (SR)

Honorable Mentions
Leah Apostol, Pen Argyl (FR)
Hailey Barry, Palmerton (SR)
Riley Boyle, Notre Dame GP (JR)
Grace Donahue, Saucon Valley (FR)
Samantha Fontanez, Southern Lehigh (FR)
Hannah Gober, Northwestern Lehigh (SR)
Cate Morgan, Palmerton (SR)
Gianna Martini, Pen Argyl (SO)
Olivia Reinhart, Northwestern Lehigh (SR)
Sierra Skoda, Saucon Valley (FR)
Leah Uyvari, Lehighton (JR)

Colonial League Boys’ All-League Honors

First Team
Frankie Pujols, Catasauqua
Steven Lozada, Salisbury
Lafayette Acree, Wilson
Cole Dietz, Lehighton
Jason Marcantonis, Bangor
League MVP: Justin Manning, Notre Dame

Second Team
Kellen Bauer, Northern Lehigh
Pierce Gothard, Jim Thorpe
Brady Krimmel, Northwestern
Mason Bollinger, Northwestern
Drew Boyd, Notre Dame
Julian Makhoul, Salisbury

Honorable Mentions
Blake Roberts, Lehighton
Aalani Nix, Catasauqua
Reece Lopez, Catasauqua
Malachi Coleman, Northwestern
Hamaad Jenkins, Catasauqua
Thomas Cahill, Saucon Valley
Michael Bauer, Northern Lehigh
Tommy Murphy, Notre Dame
Cody Driscoll, Notre Dame
Cole Lazorick, Jim Thorpe
Brady Zimmerman, Northwestern
Bryan Gonzalez, Salisbury
Parker Spigelmyer, Southern Lehigh
Kaen Kaiser, Pen Argyl
Blake Ogliaroro, Palisades
Jack Trickel, Palisades
Sam Joseph, Moravian Academy

We invite local leagues representatives, school officials, and athletic directors in our coverage area to forward outstanding achievements and other all-conference honors to us to spotlight here at The SportsTalk Shop.

Please email that information to Chris.michael@astound.com and we can try to feature your information in an upcoming blog entry!

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, company or subsidiary.

After a sluggish first quarter of our first game last week, (if you missed it, we had a total of four point score between Liberty and Northampton), the rest of the week was filled with great individual and team performances, with all four championship games being competitive.

So while all the winning teams celebrate a league title, we quickly turn our attention to the next round of the district high school playoff season.

With that in mind, here is a look at our upcoming broadcast schedule:
*Refer to our schedule for Saturday airtimes and rebroadcast times.

Friday, February 20th

6A Girls’ Basketball @ Catty High School
6:00pm LIVE | #6 Liberty vs #3 Emmaus
7:30pm LIVE | #7 Freedom vs #2 Parkland

4A Boys’ Basketball @ Allen High School
6:00pm Delay | #5 North Schuylkill vs. #4 Becahi
7:30pm Delay | #6 Lehighton vs. #3 Central

Saturday, February 21st

6A Boys’ Basketball @ Easton Middle School
2:30pm LIVE | #6 Liberty vs #3 Nazareth
4:00pm LIVE | PM East/Stroudsburg vs #1 Northampton
6:00pm Delay | #5 Allen vs #4 Parkland

Make sure you also bookmark and return back to our website over the next several weeks to follow your favorite teams as we advance through the district playoffs and then onto “states.”

We also will have a special edition of ATVN SportsTalk with local basketball reporters/analysts recapping the regular season and league playoffs with insights and predictions on the upcoming district and state playoff races for boys and girls teams. Catch the show live on ATVN and streaming for free on ATVN’s YouTube channel, Thursday at 7:00pm EST.

Now, here’s a look back at some of the top highlights from recent sports action as seen on Astound TV Network…

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball | Catty vs. Notre Dame-GP (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls’ Basketball | Parkland vs. Easton (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Wrestling | Freedom vs. Parkland (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls’ Basketball | Emmaus vs. Becahi (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball | Nazareth vs. Parkland (2/26)

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, company or subsidiary.

Astound TV Network‘s coverage of the local league basketball playoffs continue with the championship rounds of the girls’ and boys’ Colonial League and Eastern Conference playoffs….

EPC Championship | Thursday, starting at 6pm EST:

• Girls’ Championship
  #2 Beca 21-2 vs #1 Easton 21-3
• Boys’ Championship
  #2 Northampton 20-4 vs #1 Parkland 19-5

Colonial League Finals | Friday, starting at 6p EST:

• Girls’ Finals
  #3 Lehighton 21-2 vs. #1 Notre Dame Green-Pond 19-4
• Boys’ Finals
  #4 Catty 20-5 vs. #3 Northwestern 19-5

Before you watch those games on ATVN, here’s highlights of recent games and wrestling matches seen on Astound TV Network

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Emmaus vs. Parkland (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls’ Wrestling – Liberty vs. Freedom (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Whitehall vs. Emmaus (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls’ Wrestling – EPC Finals (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Wrestling – Emmaus vs. Parkland (1/26)

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, company or subsidiary. Copies of ATVN broadcasts can be purchased by contacting the Astound TV studio. (Astound video customers receive a discounted rate).

The local league basketball playoff season got underway last week, including bringing you two of the best games (Allen/Nazareth and Whitehall/Northampton, which went to overtime) to start the postseason on Astound TV Network!

Before we take a look back at recent highlights of games broadcast on ATVN, here’s a look at our upcoming broadcast schedule for both the EPC and Colonial League playoffs coming up over the next few days:

Monday 2/9 starting at 6pm LIVE: EPC Boys’ Semi finals
#6 Liberty vs. #2 Northampton
#5 Nazareth vs #1 Parkland

Tuesday, 2/10 starting at 6pm LIVE: Colonial Boys’ Semi-Finals
#3 Northwestern at #2 Salisbury
#4 Catty at #1 Notre Dame-GP

Delay at 9:30pm: EPC Girls’ Semi-finals
3 Emmaus vs #2 Becahi
#4 Parkland vs #1 Easton

Now, here’s highlights of your favorite local sports teams as seen on Astound TV Network…

Astound TV Network Sports: Allen vs. Nazareth (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Whitehall at Northampton (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Basketball; Southern Lehigh vs. Catasauqua (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls Basketball; Notre Dame Green Pond vs. Wilson (2/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Liberty vs. Nazareth (2/26)

Check back to the ATVN website for continuing coverage of local winter sports postseason action!

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, company or subsidiary

The EPC Tournament brackets are set, and district playoff teams are pretty much solidified.

On the girls’ basketball side, Pocono Mountain West finished undefeated in divisional play, which not only guaranteed their spot in the district playoffs, but it was enough for the Panthers to get into the 8-team conference tournament as the 7-seed.

Led by Pocono Record Player of the Year Emma Campusano and new(ish) coach Daniell Palazzi, West has a lot of momentum going into the postseason, especially districts.

Pocono Mountain East is technically still alive for district playoffs, but to get in, Pottsville will likely have to lose its final two games for the Cardinals to swap places with them. Regardless of the result, Ben Battle’ done a good job in his second year, and with no seniors on this year’s roster, East could look to take a step next season.

On the boys’ side, West enters the EPC Tournament as a 3-seed, and they will host 6-seeded Liberty inside Brad Pensyl gymnasium. The Panthers had to come back against the Hurricanes for a regular-season victory, and that was without Brady Behr.

Of all the matchups in the EPC quarterfinals, that might be the most intriguing one.

There aren’t any other teams in the conference tournament, but Pocono Mountain East and Stroudsburg will also compete in the 6A district playoffs, and it’ll likely be against each other.

Both teams are led by their point guards – Dominic McManus for East and Tae El-Bassiouni for Stroudsburg. The teams are No. 8 and 9 in the power rankings, respectively, so it’ll likely be a play-in game for the opportunity to face the top seed in the class.

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, company or subsidiary

We’ve reached the last few days of the high school basketball season…and still there’s some playoff spots yet to be had, for both girls and boys teams in the Astound coverage area.

Also, a number of teams are fighting for playoff positioning, which means the all-important home-court advantage for the first round of the league and, potentially district, post-season.

With that in mind, here’s a look at getting a handle on some of these key issues by watching the following “final four” regular season games on ATVN this winter (be sure to check back to our website for Astound TV Network‘s coverage/broadcast schedule through the playoffs):

Monday, February 2nd
LIVE – Emmaus at Whitehall

Delay – Nazareth at Liberty

Tuesday, February 3rd
LIVE – Southern Lehigh at Catty
Delay – Notre Dame-GP @ Wilson (GIRLS)

Now, here’s highlights of recent games as seen on the Astound TV Network…

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Allentown Central Catholic vs. Parkland (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Southern Lehigh vs. Notre Dame Green Pond (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys Basketball – Northampton vs. Liberty (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Northwestern Lehigh vs. Lehighton (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Allen vs. Allentown Central Catholic (1/26)

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, company or subsidiary

It’s the last full week of contests for the girls’ and boys’ basketball teams on the mountain, and while it’s mostly shaking out as expected, there is one surprise that has made things very interesting.

Pocono Mountain West girls’ basketball, now led by Danielle Palazzi after Jim Dempsey stepped down in December, are making a last-minute push to qualify for the District 11 6A playoffs, and the odds are looking better every day. The Panthers have won their last three games against South, East and North, and if they win the final four games against Pleasant Valley, East again, Stroudsburg and Panther Valley, they will guarantee a playoff berth.

There’s also a scenario where West gets in even without winning out; Northampton, who’s No. 9 in the power rankings, already has 12 losses and faces a much tougher schedule to end the regular season. The top-8 are guaranteed a playoff spot, so if West is No. 8 when it’s all over, West gets to go dancing.

In fact, depending on how Dieruff finishes, West could actually qualify for the EPC Tournament.

Outside of the Panthers, the odds for any other Pocono girls basketball teams making the playoffs are slim. The next best odds are Notre Dame – East Stroudsburg, who’s on the outside looking in within the 1A class, and East, who’ll likely need to win out and need Bangor to drop a game or two. Stroudsburg’s loss to Liberty gave the Mounties 12 losses; and the other teams have long since been eliminated from playoff contention.

Now on to the boys…

Pocono Mountain West boys, despite the numerous injuries, sits atop the 6A District 11 power rankings and are currently fighting for positioning in the EPC playoffs. KJ Coles continues to deliver, but it’s been the play of sophomore forward Teddy Stiehler and senior wing Nate Cruz that have anchored the success of the Panthers.

The next best team is still in the same school district as Pocono Mountain East became the second area team to win 10 games after a 10-point win over Pleasant Valley. Joe McManus has built a balanced offensive ecosystem that works to the strength of his roster. The Cardinals rely heavily on the senior duo of Dominic McManus and Aiden Pierre to push them forward, and both have delivered in different ways.

Additionally, Scott Lockley, Kenyon Bell and Anthony Tapia have rounded out the backcourt rotation while Isaac Infante and Fred Allicock are manning the interior. East is also in contention for EPCs, but with the losses to Nazareth and Northampton, it’s going to take a sound game plan to pull off the upset.

Stroudsburg High School has taken a big step forward, from winning only 4 games last season to probably reaching the district playoffs with mostly underclassmen. The EPC hopes may be over, but this could be a fun team to watch in the postseason. Tae El-Bassiouni and Jarel Jackson are going to be really good, and Josh Ivers-Green and Isaac Gibbs could be a dangerous 1-2 punch as athletic forwards.

Notre Dame – East Stroudsburg is technically still alive in the 1A playoff hunt, and they’ve looked good at times, but with a tough Catasaqua team coming in and North and South on the horizon, the odds are not in the Spartans’ favor.

The remaining teams – East Stroudsburg North, East Stroudsburg South and Pleasant Valley, are eliminated from playoff contention, and they each have a different outlook. South has freshman Marcel Staple and junior Aaron Purse to build around next year; Pleasant Valley has a reliable double-double forward in Sebastian Sacci who’ll be back for another season; and North, although fundamentally deficient in some areas, have promising guards in Brandon Bowen and Landon Love, along with juniors Keegan Montouri and James Payne in the frontcourt.

We’re heading into the final week-and-a-half of the high school basketball regular season (with local wrestling post-season action already underway, as you saw last weekend on Astound TV Network with the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Girls Tournament!)

It has been a very interesting season so far. While there have been some very competitive games this winter, it doesn’t seem like any one team has completely dominated throughout the season to date. There have been some great team and individual performances but in talking with many of the coaches this year, the word “consistency” keeps popping up.

There’s a number of teams that have flashed some truly high level of play, but the squad that can put it together on a consistent basis will have the best chance of bringing home some gold medals over the next two months.

Who are the teams that might be able to do that? You’ll be able to see for yourself as Astound TV Network brings you the following games over the next couple of days (weather permitting)…

Tuesday, January 27th
LIVE at 7:00pm: Boys’ Basketball – Allentown Central Catholic @ Parkland
Delay at 9:30pm: Boys’ Basketball – Notre Dame @ Southern Lehigh

Wednesday, January 28th
LIVE at 5:30pm: Girls’ & Boys’ Wrestling – Liberty @ Freedom

We will also have a special edition of Thursday’s SportsTalk show, live at 7:00pm on ATVN recapping high school basketball season to date with a look ahead to the final regular season games and playoff possibilities.

Now, here’s highlights of recent high school boys’ and girls’ hoop action as seen on ATVN…

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Parkland vs. Allen (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls’ Basketball – Allentown Central Catholic vs. Emmaus (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Salisbury vs. Wilson (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Girls’ Basketball – Easton vs. Parkland (1/26)

Astound TV Network Sports: Boys’ Basketball – Liberty vs. Nazareth (1/26)

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, company or subsidiary.