The hardware followed the history in Inola.

When the 2025 Class 3A-4 All-District honors were released, they read less like a list and more like a recap of one of the most significant seasons Inola football has ever produced.

Coming off a 9-3 campaign that delivered a long-awaited return to playoff relevance, the Longhorns were rewarded with a wave of major awards and all-district selections that reflected both individual excellence and a program-wide breakthrough.

Inola finished 9-3, earning a home playoff game for the first time since 2016 and securing its first winning season since 2019. The nine-win total marked just the sixth time in school history the Longhorns reached that benchmark, and the postseason success carried historic weight as well.

Inola’s first-round playoff victory over Checotah was its first playoff win since 1994 and first home playoff win since 1984 — milestones decades in the making.

The district awards were headlined by Brennan Lawley, who was named Offensive Player of the Year after spearheading an offense that consistently delivered in key moments.

On the defensive front, Inola’s dominance in the trenches was recognized twice, with Alejandro Gallegos and Brock Landsaw both earning Defensive Lineman of the Year honors. Elsewhere, Eddie Yang was named Special Teams Player of the Year.

The district also acknowledged toughness, resilience and impact beyond the stat sheet, as Jenner Estes received the Purple Heart Award.

At the top of it all, Brett Thomas was voted Coach of the Year, a fitting honor for the architect behind Inola’s resurgence.

That success extended well beyond the major awards. Several seniors earned First Team All-District honors, including Micah Schwing at wide receiver, Tyler Yoder on the offensive line, Caleb Helling at defensive line, Angel Mata at inside linebacker and Huston Wilhite in the defensive backfield.

Additional recognition went to Zeke Rodriguez, Caleb Sims, Chance Lawrence, Alejandro Pando and Gus Robertson, all of whom received Honorable Mention honors after playing key roles in the Longhorns’ historic run.

The first month of the 2025-26 high school basketball season is already complete. Schuylkill League teams have been strong and competitive, setting the stage for an exciting rest of the season.

Class 1A

In Class 1A, Bethlehem Christian leads with a 7-1 record. The Panthers have a comfortable lead over No. 2 Weatherly, who has started the season 5-2.

Lincoln Leadership Academy in Allentown sits at No. 3 with a 5-3 record. Nativity BVM is currently slotted into the No. 4 spot despite a 2-7 start to the season, while Lehigh Christian Academy, Notre Dame, Salem Christian and sub-regional District II program MMI Preparatory School round out Class 1A.

Class 2A

The small Class 2A only consists of four teams, including a trio of Schuylkill League programs in Marian Catholic, Schuylkill Haven and Tri-Valley, with Lehigh Valley-based Moravian Academy also included.

The Tri-Valley Bulldogs lead the way in the Class at 7-1, holding a narrow edge over Schuylkill Haven, which is off to a strong start themselves with an 8-1 record. Marian Catholic sits in third with three wins in their first seven games while Moravian Academy, off to a slow 0-8 start, is in fourth place.

Class 3A

11 teams are currently in the Class 3A classification, including four Schuylkill League programs: Mahanoy Area, Minersville, Shenandoah Valley and Williams Valley.

The currently highest-ranked Schuylkill League team is the Minersville Battlin’ Miners, in the No. 2 spot behind Notre Dame of Green Pond, thanks to an 8-1 start this season, their lone loss coming to Pottsville.

Williams Valley is currently ranked sixth in the class with Catasauqua, Executive Education Academy and Lehigh Valley Academy all ranked ahead of the Vikings between No. 3 and No. 5. The Vikings are 4-4 this season through eight games.

At No.7 is Northern Lehigh, while Mahanoy Area is ranked eighth as they look to find their footing after a 3-5 start to the season. Rounding out Class 3A are Pen Argyl, Shenandoah Valley and Palisades.

Class 4A

The 4A classification consists of 12 teams, including Schuylkill League representatives North Schuylkill, Pine Grove Area, Tamaqua and Panther Valley.

The North Schuylkill Spartans are currently the highest-ranked Schuylkill League program, ranked sixth thanks to a 5-3 record this season.

Pine Grove at 3-7 is ranked ninth, Tamaqua 10th with a 1-7 record and Panther Valley is the 12th-ranked team after a 2-7 start to the season.

Leading Class 4A is Northwestern Lehigh, Salisbury Township, Allentown Central Catholic, Wilson Area and Bethlehem Catholic.

Also ranked are Lehighton (No. 7), Saucon Valley (No. 8), and Palmerton (No. 10).

Class 5A

Two Schuylkill League teams are among the nine teams in the Class 5A classification in Blue Mountain and Pottsville.

The Crimson Tide, arguably the top team in the Schuylkill League so far this season, leads the way in the class with a 7-2 start, their losses this season coming to Hazelton and Wilson, while defeating Class AAAA leader Northwestern Lehigh on Tuesday evening.

Southern Lehigh (No. 2), Selinsgrove (No. 3), East Stroudsburg – North (No. 4), round out the top four, while Blue Mountain at 4-4 is currently ranked No. 5 in the class.

Bangor Area, Jim Thorpe, Shikellamy and Athens Area are all ranked respectively sixth through ninth.

Class 6A

No Schuylkill League programs compete in the Class 6A classification.

Currently, the top five teams in Class 6A are William Allen, Pocono Mountain East, Northampton, Parkland and Nazareth.

Liberty, Stroudsburg, Dieruff, Pocono Mountain West and Whitehall close out the top 10 while Emmaus, Easton, Pleasant Valley, East Stroudsburg – South and Freedom are currently ranked 11th through 15th.

Postseason awards and honors continue to be handed out across the state of Pennsylvania and on Wednesday, the Maxwell Football Club announced its Mini-Max Award recipients which included a trio of local talents.

The award is given out to athletes from across the commonwealth that excel on the field, in the classroom, and within the community. This year, 55 athletes earned the award.

All 55 athletes will be invited to attend the Mini-Maxwell Awards ceremony in February. During the ceremony, one player will be announced as the state’s Player of the Year

Earning the award from the area was Minersville quarterback Dante Carr, Tri-Valley linebacker Cole Gemberling, and Panther Valley quarterback Brody Breiner.

Carr, a University of Central Florida signee, was recently named a Class AA All-State honoree at quarterback. The Minersville quarterback threw for over 1,800 yards this fall and 29 total touchdowns, setting a school record in the process. He also ran for nearly an additional 1,400 yards and picked up 19 rushing touchdowns. He finished his high school career with 5,891 passing yards, 3,535 rushing yards and 136 total touchdowns.

Gemberling, a Class A All-State selection, totaled a Schuylkill League leading 178 total tackles this season, bringing his career total to 408 total tackles. He also totaled 668 yards of total yards of offense and nine touchdowns this season for the Bulldogs.

Breiner for Panther Valley this fall, completed 145-of-239 passing attempts for 10 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,003 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Defensively, he recorded 50 tackles including two tackles for loss.

JAMM AQUINO / APRIL 26 Hawaii men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade guided the Rainbow Warriors to 27 wins and a Big West Conference championship last season.

JAMM AQUINO / APRIL 26 Hawaii men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade guided the Rainbow Warriors to 27 wins and a Big West Conference championship last season.

The Hawaii men’s volleyball team will open its 2026 season in 10 days ranked No. 2 in the country according to the AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Preseason Poll released today.

The Rainbow Warriors, who finished 27-6 last season and won a Big West championship before losing in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship, received seven of 25 first-place votes and was eight points behind No. 1 UCLA, which ended Hawaii’s season in a three-set sweep in Columbus, Ohio in May.

Defending national champion Long Beach State received five first-place votes and is ranked No. 3 going into the season, ahead of Pepperdine and No. 5 Southern California, which earned the final first-place vote.

The other Big West teams in the top 20 include No. 6 UC Irvine, No. 10 UC San Diego, No. 11 Cal State Northridge and No. 17 UC Santa Barbara.

UH’s nonconferene schedule includes home matches on Jan. 6 and 8 against No. 7 Loyola Chicago and road trips at No. 9 Stanford and No. 13 Penn State.

Hawaii also hosts the fourth-ranked Waves and will play No. 12 Lewis and the top-ranked Bruins in the Outrigger Invitational.

A four-team NIL Tournament in currently scheduled for Feb. 19 and 20 in the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., and will feature four of the top five teams in the poll.

Hawaii lost starters Kurt Nusterer and ‘Eleu Choy to graduation last season but return its top four leaders in kills as well as junior setter Tread Rosenthal.

Rosenthal was named to the All-Big West first team along with returning sophomores Adrien Roure and Kristian Titriyski.

UH opens the season against NJIT on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, at 7 p.m. at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

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CUMBERLAND — Zach Steckman knew he had something in Liam Hamilton when he coached the then 7-year-old’s JCP team.

Fast forward to 2025, and Hamilton capped a brilliant four-year career by leading Steckman’s Fort Hill Sentinels in goals and assists and to a 12-3 record — the program’s first double-digit victory campaign since 2019.

His opposing head coaches took notice too, awarding Hamilton the Ebbie Finzel Player of the Year.

“Liam is just an incredible kid,” Steckman said. “He’s an incredible player. It’s been an honor for four years to coach him and actually, a lot longer than that.

“It kind of came full circle, when I got the job in ‘21 and he came along in 2022. This is an incredible honor for him. He’s one of the best players in Fort Hill history. His stats prove that, his production proves that, but most importantly, he’s just a great person.”

Hamilton bested Calvary’s Sammy Scritchfield, Allegany’s Chris Manherz and Frankfort’s Liam Orndorff for the honor.

The boys soccer awards were chosen at a meeting of the area’s coaches following the season.

Hamilton rounds out the award recipients, which include Calvary’s Scritchfield (Dr. Raul Felipa Offensive Player of the Year), Allegany’s Jack Hensel (Joe Rowan Memorial Defensive Player of the Year), the Campers’ Eoin Mowbray (Dave Searles Memorial Goalkeeper of the Year) and Steckman (Coach of the Year).

The award winners, with the exception of Coach of the Year, will receive their awards at the 77th Dick Sterne Memorial Dapper Dan Sports Banquet at a date/time to be announced.

The All-Area boys soccer team will be revealed in Wednesday’s edition of the Times-News.

Hamilton is the eighth Fort Hill player to win boys soccer Player of the Year, joining Daniel Hott (2016), Austin Parker (‘13), Michael Moyer (‘10), Daniel Johnson (‘09), Eric Dudley (‘99), Adam Fletcher (‘98) and Brian Jennings (‘94).

The senior was tied for fifth in the area in goals (17) and first in assists (19) for 53 points. His 3.53 points per game ranked third locally behind Scritchfield (4.92) and Orndorff (3.73).

Hamilton’s production came a year after tallying 18 goals and 13 assists. He was co-Offensive Player of the Year locally as a sophomore.

“A player of his caliber, to have the 19 assists, that’s just incredible,” Steckman said. “Seeing him at practice every day and his leadership, especially this year, it’s just no surprise.”

Hamilton was a set-piece specialist, both on free kicks and long throw-ins.

Jacob Bone, a defensive midfielder, was a beneficiary of the latter, illustrated by his eight goals.

Bone wasn’t the only Sentinel to benefit from Hamilton’s wizardry with the ball. Three other players had at least seven goals in Sam Spencer (10), John Reinhardt (nine) and Anthony Palumbo (seven).

Hamilton had nearly four-times as many assists as his next closest teammates — Korbin McKenzie and Reinhardt had five each.

“We certainly were not a possession-based team,” Steckman said. “Our strengths were defend, counter and set pieces. I think teams knew that when we got a throw-in or corner kick or a free kick, our chances of scoring went through the roof.

“Liam was either chucking it in there because he could, he could really launch it, or he was using his 6-foot-2 height to just get up over top of people and put it in the back of the net.

“A lot of times he was able to read the ball a lot better than people in the air. He would know if it was coming down to the feet or if it was getting over somebody. He just was always a step ahead on set pieces.”

Hamilton and his senior Fort Hill teammates left quite a legacy in South Cumberland.

Fort Hill was 1-12 during their freshman year, which included an 18-0 loss to Allegany in Homecoming.

They capped their city soccer careers with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory over the Campers on Oct. 2 in Homecoming on their way to a 12-2 regular-season finish and top seed in the region playoffs.

FROSTBURG — After reaching the quarterfinals of the Division II football playoffs, Frostburg State ended the season ranked in both national polls Monday.

The Bobcats finished 14th in the coaches poll and 20th in the D2football poll.

Frostburg went 11-3 and won a share of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) championship.

The Bobcats won the first two Division II playoff games in program history and set a program record with 5,478 total yards of offense.

FSU's 2,318 rushing yards were the most in the program's Division II era while the 3,160 passing yards set a program record.

Head coach Eric Wagoner was named the Coach of the Year while Doug Pruim II, Wylan Harich and Owen Doyle all received All-American honors.