Time to look back at the top local sports stories of 2007. Filled with great athletes and great teams that kept our attention from January to December. Here are our top five stories in
2007.

5. Seawolves First to Last
After two seasons of losing, Matt Walbeck was able to bring a winner back to Uht Park as the Seawolves would win the Division. Although they failed again in the playoffs as they have done in the past. Unfortunetly, Walbeck has left to become the 3rd base coach with the Texas Rangers and many of the key Seawolves won't be in Double-A ball next season. But, we got a pretty summer with the highlite, other than clinching the Division Crown, being Nate Robertson's no-hitter while on a rehab assignment in Erie.

4. Coleman's Triple Crown
Golfer Ron Coleman became the first golfer in EDGA history to win all three events this summer. Golf is a tough game as everyone who plays it knows. Even the best players in the world don't always play well enough to win. Coleman defied the odds and played well all summer to win the local version of the golf Triple Crown. To do that, he had to beat a lot of young guns at the top of their game.

3. The Otters Saga
It was quite a ride for the Otters in 2007, from the hype of getting the first overall pick in the OHL draft in May, to a franchise record 16-game losing streak, to a head coaching change from Peter Sidorkiewicz to Robbie Ftorek. It seemed as if the Otters were in the news week in and week out, in season or out of season in 2007

2. Prep goes AAA, McDowell left alone
Cathedral Prep made the decision after getting clobbered for the third year in a row in the state tournament to leave the Quad-A bracket but that left McDowell as the lone Quad-A team in District 10 and that scenario will change the landscape of high school football in the area for years to come. Think about it.....no Prep-McDowell District 10 title games anymore in football....but on the bright side, the Ramblers games with McLane and Vincent will now have a little more meaning to them, especially if the rivals meet for the AAA District 10 title. Now, McDowell must take a different direction in football in terms of scheduling and getting into the state playoffs. They can't become full-time WPIAL members in just one sport, so their journey in the upcoming seasons will be different.

1. General McLane makes History
When the Lancers won the state basketball title in March, they became the first school to win both the football and basketball state titles in the same scholastic year. They speaks for itself. They had a group of senior athletes that had a special bond with each other that comes along once in a lifetime. No question, the top sports story of 2007.

Honorable Mention
We could put a lot of different things into this category, like the Villa Girls Basketball team finishing second in the state, North East Track and Field winning the state title and just this month, Peek'n Peek cancelling the Nationwide Tour stop in '08 with doubts it will ever return to the Upper Course again. State wrestling champs and state track and field champs as well....all made 2007 a memorable year in sports. We were just along for the ride and enjoyed every moment of it.
Thanks for a great 2007, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year and we'll crank it up again in local sports in 2008. Stay Tuned, the best is yet to come.