Kayla Shull

Clarion senior swimmer Kayla Shull, a Franklin native and graduate of Rocky Grove, was named as a Capital One First Team Academic All-District 2 selection.

Shull, a senior Speech Pathology and Audiology major, carries a perfect 4.0 GPA. She was a two-time NCAA Division II All-American this past season, placing fifth in the 100 backstroke in a school-record time of 55.40 seconds and also taking 16th in the 200 freestyle.

Shull, who earned Division II All-America status 15 times in her career, won a fourth consecutive PSAC title in the 100 backstroke this past season.

McDowell running back/outside linebacker James Conner signs his National Letter of Intent with Pitt Wednesday at McDowell's library. MATT MEAD/Erie Times-News

Today is National Letter of Intent Day, and many area football players and other athletes are set to sign with Division I and Division II schools or commit to program at other levels.

The Erie Times-News took a look at the area football players expected to sign today. Read a short bio on each player. Here’s the list:

Football
Damion Terry, Cathedral Prep – Michigan State
Delton Williams, Cathedral Prep – Michigan State
John Chereson, Cathedral Prep – Notre Dame (walk-on)
Erik Swanson, Cathedral Prep – Pennsylvania
Jake Plonski, Cathedral Prep – Mercyhurst
Nick Dubowski, Cathedral Prep – Indiana (Pa.)
Brendan Klemensic, Cathedral Prep – Gannon
James Conner, McDowell – Pittsburgh
Sean Gallagher, McDowell – Edinboro
Riley Dunbar, McDowell – Mercyhurst
DeShawn Coleman, Hickory – West Virginia
Dionte Pope, Hickory – Edinboro
Artrel Foster, Meadville – Temple
Quinn Thompson, General McLane – Connecticut
Aidan Graham, General McLane – Clarion
Nathan O’Brien, Eisenhower – Lock Haven
Aaron Lundmark, Eisenhower – Grove City
Logan Rickert, Reynolds – IUP

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Following are the athletes from other sports who plan to sign today. Read a short bio on each athlete.

Baseball
Eli Flynn, Cathedral Prep – Concord College (W.Va.)
Scott Hess, Cathedral Prep – Indiana (Pa.)

Cross country
Ethan Louis, Cathedral Prep – Dayton
Austin Pondel, Corry – Penn State
Hunter Johnston, Saegertown – Dayton

Soccer
Cory Kuzilla, Harbor Creek – California (Pa.)
Olivia Augustyniak, Mercyhurst Prep – Duquesne
Sarah Kaiser, Mercyhurst Prep – Cleveland State

Track and field
Jaynee Corbett, Corry – Youngstown State

Volleyball
Maria Peluso, Fort LeBoeuf – Shippensburg

Wrestling
Evan Daley, Fort LeBoeuf – Clarion

Water polo
Michael Squeglia, Cathedral Prep – Gannon

Note: Coaches are encouraged to notify the Times-News if an athlete plans to commit to a college.

First-year Lock Haven head coach John Allen/LHU

Seeing is believing.

It’s easy to judge a team by its record, especially when it’s winless like Lock Haven (0-8, 0-6 PSAC West) is.

Add the fact Lock Haven lost its 40th consecutive game today at Edinboro by 35 points, 42-7, and it’s even easier to think the Bald Eagles are a joke of a program.

The Eagles have the NCAA’s longest active losing skid regardless of division and set a PSAC record for most consecutive losses.

However, I can say with conviction after watching Lock Haven play today in person that it’s not nearly as bad as all losing suggests.

First off, the Eagles have a very good tailback in sophomore Brandon Brader, who rushed for a career-high 168 yards against Edinboro, which by the way has a defense ranked second in the nation in total defense.

The guy runs hard, always keeps his legs going, has some shake in his game as well and is a player a team can build around.

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Slippery Rock earned a spot in the PSAC title game after edging Mercyhurst College, 28-21, today at home.

The No. 18-ranked Rock (8-1, 6-0) will close out PSAC West play next week at Gannon (3-6, 2-4), which lost at Clarion (2-7, 2-4) by the same score today.

The irony of it all is the Rock punched their ticket into the conference championship game by beating the defending conference champions.The PSAC title game is Nov. 12.

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Defensive tackle Randy Colling isn't happy with how his senior year at Gannon is going. The Knights are 3-5./ETN file photo.

Gannon senior defensive tackle Randy Colling and junior linebacker Will Giles chose not to discuss the off-field situations involving Gannon assistant coaches Michael Smith, Darren Paige and graduate assistant coach Anthony Ferla.

“I don’t want to get involved in any of that,” Colling said earlier today.

Ferla was dismissed after he urinated near two marked police cars (with police officers in them) less than 12 hours before Gannon played at Indiana (Pa.) on Saturday. He was dismissed today by the university.

Smith and Paige were charged with disorderly conduct after getting involved in a fight with former Gannon player Kendall Brown hours after Gannon beat Lock Haven last week.

Paige and Smith didn’t coach in the IUP game, but are still on the coaching staff.

However, Colling and Giles had plenty to say about what Gannon is doing on the field.

With three games left, the Knights (3-5, 2-3 PSAC West) are a loss away from having a losing season. They’ve gone 6-5 the last two seasons.

“It’s not what we expected,” Colling said. “We all expected to come out and improve from last year. We have a lot of young guys doing good things. It’s just a consistency thing.”

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Sophomore Cody Harris threw two touchdowns and ran for another as Edinboro upended Clarion, 21-10, tonight at Sox Harrison Stadium.

No scoring at all in the second half, but here’s the deal.

With a 3-2 record in the PSAC West, Edinboro (6-2)  is two games behind Slippery Rock (7-1, 5-0) and a game back of IUP (5-2, 4-1) and Cal (6-2, 4-1).

The Scots have already lost to IUP and Slippery Rock, but do get a crack at Cal on Nov. 5. In between that, they face Lock Haven next week.

So for the Scots, it’s about trying to make the playoffs.

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Mercyhurst College has now lost its last four games after falling in overtime, 32-26, at California (Pa.) today.

In a game that had missed PATs, blocked kicks, the biggest play seems to have happened in overtime when Mercyhurst third-year sophomore quarterback Anthony Vendemia threw an interception in the end zone on a 1st-and-10 play from the Cal 10-yard line.

Cal (6-2, 4-1) took possession and scored as Jeff Knox punched it in from four yards out. The Vulcans can still win the PSAC West if they beat IUP and Edinboro and Slippery Rock losses its last two games.

Slippery Rock (7-1, 5-0) plays Mercyhurst at home next week and ends PSAC West play at Gannon, which lost by 28 points at IUP today.

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In a continuing series of Q&As with local players who are playing area college football, Duane Rankin caught up with Indiana (Pa.) senior strong safety Andre Henderson to talk about several topics.

A Strong Vincent graduate, Henderson has returned from a serious right arm injury that cost him the 2010 season and is having a big senior year for IUP (4-2, 3-1), which faces Gannon (3-4, 2-2) in a 1 p.m. PSAC West game at George P. Miller Stadium in Indiana.

The 6-foot, 200-pound Henderson returned a blocked field goal 83 yards for a touchdown in IUP’s 38-7 win against Clarion last week. This season, Henderson has 34 total tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. Talking to Henderson on the phone this week, Rankin asked the playmaking safety about his 83-yard return, coming back from injury and new IUP coach Curt Cignetti

When was the last time you ran 83 yards for a touchdown? Ah man. I had to have been in a uniform playing for Strong Vincent. Against Thomas Jefferson in the Western finals. It’s been that long. Back in 2005.”

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Rob Stoner returned from a season-ending injury to help Edinboro have one of its best offensive lines in years./ETN file photo.

If experience is the greatest teacher, then the Edinboro offensive line is very well schooled.

Led by senior left guard Rob Stoner, the unit has paved the way for Edinboro to rank sixth in the PSAC in rushing offense this season.

“It’s all experience,” said Stoner, a General McLane graduate who came back from a season-ending back injury in 2010. “Game play.”

Senior Nick Christman is at right guard, senior Shane Hess plays right tackle, sophomore Ryan Wilson is at center and junior Shawn Ellenberger plays beside Stoner at left tackle.

“Shane Hess is in his sixth year due to injury,” Edinboro coach Scott Browning said. “Rob Stoner is in his fifth year. Nick Christman has played ever since he’s been here and our center is a redshirt sophomore and then you got Shawn Ellenberger, who is a redshirt junior. That’s the one area that experience helps you more than people realize.”

The Scots (5-2, 2-2 PSAC West) are averaging 164.9 yards on the ground and have scored 13 rushing touchdowns heading into Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against Clarion (1-6, 1-3 PSAC West).

“They’re all five intelligent guys,” Browning said. “They’re all five special guys. It’s very rare to have the experience we’ve had there.”

Last season, Edinboro averaged 126 yards rushing to rank 12th in the conference.

Scots coach Scott Browning said Edinboro’s offensive line hasn’t been this experienced since 2004 when the Scots averaged 201.4 yards rushing to rank fourth in the PSAC. They had 28 rushing touchdowns.

“Before that, it was probably 1995,” Browning said.

Bloomsburg head coach Danny Hale has a four-game win streak going against Indiana (Pa.)./ETN file photo.

The No. 8-ranked Bloomsburg Huskies (2-0) are traveling to Indiana, Pa. to face the IUP Crimson Hawks (1-0) tonight at 8. CBS Sports Network is televising the game live from George P. Miller Stadium.

For IUP, which won its season opener last week under new coach Curt Cignetti, 28-13, against East Stroudsburg, this is chance to reestablish itself as a national power. Cignetti, the son of legendary IUP coach Frank Cignetti, replaced former Edinboro coach Lou Tepper.

For local interest, this is a chance to check out two local players from Erie that are starting for the Crimson Hawks  – senior receiver Javon Rowan and senior safety Andre Henderson. Henderson made two tackles last week.

IUP officials confirmed Rowan didn’t play last week because of “undisclosed team issues,” but he is expected to play tonight.

As for Bloomsburg, it has a four-game winning streak going against IUP. The Huskies are coming off a 45-10 win at Clarion.

Knowing for its running game, Bloomsburg is averaging a hefty 324.5 yards rushing. Sophomore Franklyn Quiteh, who rushed for 2,015 yards last season, is leading the team in rushing this season with 258 yards and a touchdown, but re-injured his ankle against Clarion.

Quiteh, who hurt it in the season opener, is expected to play tonight.

Sophomore Eddie Mateo replaced him and rushed for 179 yards and five touchdowns, which tied a school record. The Stony Brook transfer earned PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week honors.