Chris Harlan stories, Page 114
2 WPIAL football recruits announce 1st Division I offers from St. Francis
Two rising seniors in the WPIAL each received their first Division I football offers this week from St. Francis. Baldwin’s Naseer Penn and Bethel Park’s Jehvonn Lewis announced offers days apart from the Red Flash, an FCS program in the Northeast Conference. Lewis (5-10, 160) plays running back and defensive...
Like famous uncle, Central Catholic’s Elliot Donald seems poised for ‘great things’
The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 23 during Trib HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Central Catholic’s Elliot Donald noticed a video on Twitter this week that showed...
Pine-Richland pitcher Tommy Beam commits to West Virginia
Pine-Richland pitcher Tommy Beam, who helped the Rams win a WPIAL title this spring, committed Friday to West Virginia. Beam will be a junior in the fall. The 6-foot-5 right-hander went 5-3 with a 1.48 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings. He earned the win in the WPIAL...
Trib HSSN rewind: A look back at the 2018 football season
Fifteen years had passed since Darrelle Revis last played WPIAL football, but his name came up often last December in Hershey. Penn Hills senior Daequan Hardy had a four-touchdown, three-interception effort in the PIAA Class 5A football championship that drew comparisons to the former Aliquippa great. A day later, Revis’...
Former North Allegheny track star Ayden Owens transferring to Michigan
Ayden Owens enjoyed his freshman year on the West Coast, the warm weather and the Los Angeles lifestyle. But to reach his decathlon dreams, the former North Allegheny track star decided he needed a change. Owens announced Monday that he’ll transfer from Southern Cal to Michigan, leaving the Pac-12 for...
Incoming North Allegheny freshman announces Division 1 basketball offer
North Allegheny’s Jasmine Timmerson hasn’t started high school but already has a Division 1 basketball offer. The freshman-to-be announced an offer this week from Duquesne coach Dan Burt. The Dukes recruit Western Pennsylvania thoroughly and has five current players with WPIAL roots, but rarely does an incoming ninth grader receive...
Trinity basketball’s Riley DeRubbo adds St. Francis offer
Trinity’s Riley DeRubbo, who missed most of her junior basketball season after knee surgery, has added another Division 1 offer. DeRubbo announced a Fordham offer earlier in June and added St. Francis, Pa. this week. Her AAU program, the Western Pa. Bruins, announced her latest offer. The 5-foot-9 guard will...
Pennsylvania has nation’s No. 1-ranked small school football team
Defending PIAA champion Southern Columbia was ranked Sunday as the No. 1 small school football team in the country by the website High School Football America. The District 4 power has won the state’s Class 2A title three of the past four years and owns nine PIAA titles overall. The...
2 WPIAL schools honored nationally in preseason football rankings
WPIAL football teams Penn Hills and Pine-Richland were recognized by High School Football American in its national preseason rankings. Neither school cracked the Top 125 released Friday, but both were included in a list of 100 honorable mention selections. Three Pennsylvania teams were ranked. St. Joseph’s Prep was fourth overall,...
Aliquippa’s Devonshire named Trib HSSN Boys Athlete of the Year
MJ Devonshire might be too humble to rank himself among the high school greats from Aliquippa, but his accomplishments speak for themselves. As a senior, he guided the Quips to a state football title, led his basketball team to the WPIAL playoffs and won two gold medals at the PIAA...
Looking back at the top 15 high school sports stories of the 2018-19 school year
8.6.18 The WPIAL receives a wave of paperwork from athletes hurrying to beat an Aug. 6 deadline for a new PIAA rule that makes transfers automatically ineligible for the postseason. 9.6.18 Connellsville defeats Penn Hills, 6-1, in a boys soccer game marred by allegations of racial slurs. The accusations against...
Mars basketball’s Bella Pelaia commits to Mount St. Mary’s
For the third time in three years, the Mars girls basketball team has a Division 1 recruit. Bella Pelaia, a 6-foot forward and rising senior, announced her commitment to Mount St. Mary’s on Friday. She follows former teammates Tai Johnson (Bucknell) and Lauren Wasylson (Xavier) as D1 recruits. Johnson was...
Ex-Blackhawk baseball star Brendan McKay making major league debut
As the Trib’s player of the year in 2014, Blackhawk’s Brendan McKay was asked to predict where he saw himself in five years. “Hopefully playing baseball somewhere,” he answered. “In the minor leagues, probably. Maybe even close to the major leagues.” Accuracy always was a strength for the talented left-hander....
Central Catholic’s A.J. Beatty grows along with expectations
The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 23 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. When A.J. Beatty arrived at Central Catholic last summer, defensive coordinator Dave Fleming saw...
North Allegheny grad Ayden Owens leaving Southern Cal after stellar freshman year
North Allegheny grad Ayden Owens, who earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year track honors this spring, announced Wednesday that he’s transferring from Southern Cal. Owens, who revealed his decision on Facebook, didn’t say where he would transfer. “I want to thank the University of Southern California, USC track and field,...
North Allegheny lineman Jake Lugg chooses Ivy League football
The Ivy League added a top WPIAL lineman for the second time in two days when North Allegheny’s Jake Lugg committed Wednesday to Harvard. The 6-foot-3, 255-pound rising senior had more than a dozen Division 1 offers, many from Ivy, Patriot and Mid-American schools. He announced a Harvard offer May...
Thomas Jefferson lineman Mac Duda commits to Ivy League championVideo
Thomas Jefferson lineman Mac Duda, who counted all eight Ivy League schools among his offers, committed Tuesday to Princeton. The 6-foot-4, 275-pound rising senior earned all-conference honors last season at offense tackle in the WPIAL Class 4A Big Eight Conference. He listed nearly 30 college offers in all, including many...
Peters Township’s Joe Maize resigns as baseball coach after 35 years
A sign in Joe Maize’s game room reminds visitors that “Baseball Lives Here,” an item he picked up while visiting Cooperstown, N.Y. “I used to have it over our entrance way when you walked into our house, and my wife after about five years finally said that needs to go...
2 WPIAL basketball recruits named in updated ESPN rankings for 2020
Two WPIAL basketball recruits received spots close together in updated ESPN 100 rankings for the 2020 class. Butler’s Ethan Morton was ranked No. 55 overall and Moon’s Donovan Johnson was No. 61 in rankings revealed Monday. Morton, a 6-foot-4 guard, committed to Purdue in May. Johnson, a 6-7 forward, remains...
Head of the Class: Baseball Player and Coach of the Year for each classification
The WPIAL baseball playoffs were as unpredictable as ever this season with only one top-seeded team winning a title. That was California in Class A. But that led to some unexpected champions and some long-awaited celebrations. Two first-year coaches claimed WPIAL titles, while Shaler and Seton LaSalle each were finally...
Woodland Hills tight end Josh Rawlings commits to Virginia over ACC rivalsVideo
Virginia was the first Power 5 program to offer Woodland Hills’ Josh Rawlings a football scholarship in December. Six months later, now holding offers from Pitt, Syracuse, Minnesota and others, the rising senior committed Sunday to the Cavaliers. The 6-foot-6, 235-pound tight end and defensive end announced his decision on...
Serra Catholic’s Mark Black named Trib HSSN Baseball Player of the Year
The Youghiogheny runs beyond the outfield fence at Boston Field in McKeesport, the home for Serra Catholic baseball. If opponents agree to pitch to him, Eagles star Mark Black might one day launch a home run into the river. He’s already had a few come close, according to folks in...
WPIAL’s youth movement shows in 2019 Trib HSSN baseball all-stars
WPIAL baseball has witnessed an influx of talented freshmen in recent years and their arrival is reflected in the Trib 10. Seton LaSalle’s Drew Lafferty and North Allegheny’s Cole Young, both ninth graders with bright futures, joined a list of talented upperclassmen in this season’s TribLive HSSN all-star selections. Lafferty...
West Mifflin standout Nahki Johnson among 2 ruled ineligible by WPIAL
West Mifflin’s Nahki Johnson and Gateway’s Diego Bledsoe played football together last season at Steel Valley before each transferred elsewhere. In separate hearings Thursday, the WPIAL declared both ineligible for next football season, ruling that their transfers were motivated at least partially by athletics, WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley said....
WPIAL awards playoff eligibility to Kiski, Gateway football transfers
The WPIAL ruled Kiski Area’s Kenneth Blake and Gateway’s Shane Thrift fully eligible to play football this fall following separate hearings Thursday at the league office in Green Tree. Blake transferred from Central Catholic. Thrift transferred from Seton LaSalle. Both are rising juniors. The WPIAL had previously ruled them eligible...
