Salisbury Press

In this year's newly-formatted divisions in the Stellar Construction summer basketball league, four teams from both the Small School and Big School groups qualify for the playoffs.

Salisbury, after defeating Phillipsburg 46-41 last Thursday, was one of four teams that finished the regular season with a 9-3 record and moved onto the postseason.

Salisbury boys soccer team was one of a handful of squads entering last week without a loss in summer league play.

The Falcons added yet another victory behind the leg of sophomore Patrick Adams.

Adams scored all three goals to keep Salisbury (CSG Falcons) unbeaten with a 3-1 win over Allen (Robinson Plumbing B) last Wednesday at Lehigh University's Campus Fields. The Falcons are now 4-0-1 in the Lehigh Valley Summer Soccer League's Group A with the highest goal differential of any team at plus-14.

The Lehigh Valley and Berks-Schuylkill Legion All-Star teams battled to a 5-5 tie in 10 innings of baseball at Reading's FirstEnergy Stadium Monday night. Both teams had opportunities to win the game, but just when one team would gain an advantage, the other would come fighting back.

Tamaqua's Matt Roberts started for Schuylkill-Berks and put down Lehigh Valley in order in the top of the first and North Parkland's Nate Kern did the same against Schuylkill-Berks in the bottom of the inning.

Salisbury met Wilson three times during last winter's high school boys basketball season. The Falcons won all three meetings, including a 30-point romp in the District 11 playoffs.

The two teams met once again last Thursday in the Stellar Construction Summer League, and the Falcons once again found a way to come out on top.

Several Salisbury graduates are excelling for their current college teams.

Saint Joseph's freshman pitcher Justin Aungst was named the Atlantic 10 Baseball Rookie of the Week to open his collegiate career. In three appearances for the Hawks, he has pitched 7.2 innings (the most of any relief pitcher) with a 0.00 ERA. Against the 25 batters he's faced, Aungst has eight strikeouts compared to three hits and three walks. He is 1-0 on the season.

The 40th annual Via All-Star banquet will feature Doug Flutie as their keynote speaker, as the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem will host the annual basketball celebration of 37 local high schools from the Lehigh Valley.

Flutie has been a football hero, receiving honors such as All American at Boston College, 1984 College Football Player of the Year, the 1984 Heisman Trophy Winner, 1991-1994/1996/1997 Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, NFL Pro Bowl, and NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

With the PIAA field hockey tournaments nearing a close, a number of area teams are still fighting for a state championship. But for many, the season ended weeks ago.

Salisbury's 2014 campaign came to a close against one of those squads vying for state gold. The Falcons' 7-1 loss back on October 8 against Moravian Academy cemented a 3-13 record. But while the wins were few and far between for Meredith Makoul, the first-year head coach watched her team grow until that final whistle against Moravian over a month ago.

As head coach Rick Babyak is in the midst of his third season at the helm of the Salisbury girls soccer team, the Lady Falcons have yet to taste the sweetness of the Colonial League playoff.

0That all changed last week as the regular season came to an end.

Even entering the Lady Falcons' regular season finale against Southern Lehigh, their league position was already determined. Despite a 2-0 loss to Southern Lehigh on Thursday, Salisbury remained the No. 4 seed entering the playoffs.

Sean Adams had a very successful high school soccer career at Salisbury. He was one of the all-time leaders in goals scored, and he played on teams that consistently were contending for league and district championships each and every year.

But it did not come so easy in his first year of college. The 2013 graduate always found playing time as a Falcon, and was a contributor to the varsity roster from the get-go, but that wasn't the case his freshman season last year at Catholic University in Washington D.C. Adams saw time in four games in 2013.

Last week, Salisbury played its best half of football since head coach Andy Cerco's took the helm three years ago. it came in the final 24 minutes against Saucon Valley.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, the road doesn't get any easier even though they'll be returning to their home turf.

A week after facing last season's Eastern Conference Class AAA champion Panthers, the Falcons host a Palisades (0-1) squad that finished as District 11 Class AA runners-up and won eight games in 2013.