Leroy Boyer: Cleaning out the sports editor's notebook

Nov. 17—It's time to clean off the sports editor's desk.

There are always items that come across the Republican Herald sports desk that don't get the full attention they deserve. Especially during busy times of the year, like the past couple of weeks of fall sports playoff games.

They merit your attention as local sports fans. They're important enough that we probably should have put together bigger stories on them, if we weren't scrambling to cover our local teams playing for championships.

So, let's clean off the plate with a few local sports news items that you need to know:

All-Star time

A pair of fall sports will hold all-star contests for their senior standouts in the upcoming days.

The Schuylkill League Volleyball Coaches All-Star Game is set for 6 p.m. tonight at Martz Hall in Pottsville. Players are divided into four teams, which play one game to 30 against each of the other teams in a round-robin format.

Rosters for the event can be found on Page B2 in today's edition. The event is free of charge and a concession stand will be available. Come out and see some of the league's best volleyball players one more time.

The Lehigh Valley Health Network SCFCA All-Star Game will be held Wednesday, Nov. 23, at Schuylkill Haven's Rotary Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

The annual North/South football clash of senior stars is coordinated by the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association. Nativity's Pat Mason is the head coach of the South, while Tamaqua's Sam Bonner will guide the North.

More information on the game will appear in next week's newspaper.

Sharing knowledge with students

Monday night was a tough game for Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham, who committed a costly penalty late in the fourth quarter that attributed to the Eagles' first loss of the season, a 32-21 setback to the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football.

Roughly 14 hours later, Graham shook off that frustration to spend time via Zoom with Tyler Dean's seventh-grade guidance class at the Schuylkill Haven Area Middle School.

The 13-year NFL veteran participated in a program called "Community Tuesday with Character Playbook," sponsored by Everfi, an online guidance program Dean uses for his classes.

Community Tuesday is a virtual event that invites middle school students across the region to join in a discussion with an Eagles player. In Character Playbook, students make decisions in real-life scenarios such as navigating social media, reflecting on their emotions and building healthy peer relationships.

Dean's Schuylkill Haven class of 22 students was one of several groups to participate in Tuesday's Zoom session, during which the Super Bowl 52 hero discussed topics like mental wellness, resolving conflicts and violence prevention. One of Dean's students even got the opportunity to ask Graham a question.

Awesome chance for a bunch of teenagers to get to interact with an NFL star.

Busy week for World Series champion

It's been a pretty hectic month for Orwigsburg native and 2007 Blue Mountain graduate Andrew Ball.

Ball, 33, was hired a little under a year ago as an assistant general manager of the Houston Astros after serving as director of baseball operations with the Los Angeles Angels from 2016-2021. In his first year with the club, he got to win a World Series ring.

Contacted by phone Wednesday, Ball said he was in Philadelphia for Games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series and got to participate in the victory parade in Houston after the Astros won the Series 4-2 over the Phillies. "That was a pretty cool experience," he said.

In the two weeks since then, however, it's been chaos as the Houston front office has seen a massive shake-up, leaving Ball as basically one of the last men standing at a busy and key time of the Major League Baseball offseason.

General manager James Click, whose contract had expired Oct. 31, was fired just days after the title celebration. So, too, was assistant GM Scott Powers, while another assistant GM, Pete Putila, left to become the general manager of the San Francisco Giants. Click came to Houston from Tampa Bay in 2020 after the previous general manager, Jeff Luhnow, was fired in the wake of the Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

According to published reports, Ball and Bill Firkus, who was recently promoted to assistant general manager, are handling the day-to-day operations of the team. But owner Jim Crane, who is a very "hands-on owner" and heavily involved in the baseball decisions of the team, has been essentially running the show, opting to re-hire manager Dusty Baker on a one-year deal, negotiating a new three-year, $34.5 million deal with reliever Rafael Montero, and holding talks with right-hander Justin Verlander, who opted out of his contract and is a free agent.

According to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, Crane said he probably won't hire a new general manager until the new year. ESPN's Jeff Passan published a story Tuesday that details the entire mess.

"It's kind of cliché to say it's been a roller coaster ride, but it feels like that," Ball said. "It's been a wild couple of weeks."

Let's hope things work out for Ball, who also worked previously with the Tampa Bay Rays, was the baseball operations manager for the York Revolution and an associate scout for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Whether that's in Houston, or somewhere else, remains to be seen.

Unfortunately, a quiet exit

Official preseason practices for winter sports begin Friday, with the regular seasons in basketball, swimming and wrestling set to begin Friday, Dec. 1.

When the Blue Mountain girls' basketball team begins practice Friday, the Eagles will have a new leader for the first time in 17 years.

Rose Carper, an assistant athletic director and physical education/first aid teacher at the Blue Mountain High School, was appointed as the Eagles' new head coach in June to replace Ruth Weidman. Carper had served previously as an assistant coach with the Blue Mountain boys' basketball team.

Weidman didn't retire or leave the position on her own. When the district opened the position, she re-applied, but was turned down for the job.

In the end, there was no real fanfare surrounding the decision ... it appeared as a paragraph in the June 25 edition of this newspaper as part of a longer Blue Mountain School Board story. The sad part is that it's a quiet ending to one of the greatest coaching careers in Schuylkill County girls' basketball history.

Weidman was a high school girls' basketball coach in Schuylkill County for 31 seasons, the first 14 at Nativity, the final 17 at Blue Mountain. She finished with a career record of 613-237 (.721 winning percentage), which, according to available records, is third all-time behind only Paul Brutto (754) and Ron Rhen (675).

Weidman compiled a 353-84 record at Nativity from 1991-2005 that featured two PIAA Class A titles, three PIAA silver medals, five District 11 Class A championships, three District 11 runner-up finishes, four Schuylkill League titles and two Schuylkill League second-place finishes. Her Golden Girls made the PIAA playoffs all 14 seasons, going 35-12 in state playoff games.

She went to Blue Mountain for the 2005-06 season and compiled a 260-153 mark with the Eagles that included three PIAA appearances, the 2020 District 11 Class 5A crown and four trips to the Schuylkill League playoffs. In her 31 seasons, she had only two losing campaigns, in 2012-13 (8-14) and 2020-21 (7-12).

Weidman didn't just coach basketball. While at Nativity, Weidman was also the school's girls' softball coach for 17 seasons — coaching Nativity to the 2003 District 11 Class A title — coached golf for three seasons and was the school's athletic director. She also coached field hockey at Hamburg during that time frame, guiding the Hawks to a PIAA state championship.

Weidman also served as the Blue Mountain athletic director for several years and still teaches physical education/health at the Blue Mountain Middle School.

Congratulations on a great career Ruth.

Coaching changes

Some other coaching changes around the area:

Jordan Lehman is the new boys' basketball coach at Pine Grove, replacing Frank D'Agostino III, who resigned after last season.

A Pine Grove graduate, Lehman has stepped down as the head baseball coach at Tri-Valley after guiding the Dawgs to back-to-back District 11 titles. That position remains unfilled after the Tri-Valley School Board tabled a decision to hire a coach at its October meeting.

Pottsville graduate Kevin McFarland was hired Monday as the new boys' basketball coach at Hamburg.

Blue Mountain baseball coach Bill Dobrolsky has resigned after coaching the Eagles to the Schuylkill League title last spring. Jarrod Kramer, the son of former head coach Tom Kramer and an assistant with Dobrolsky, was named the Eagles' new head coach.

Contact the writer: Lboyer@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6026; @pubsportsboss on Twitter