Dave Mackall stories, Page 24
Ian Syam scores 6 TDs in 1st half as Avonworth runs over Mt. Pleasant
Ian Syam had himself a Friday night, running for the length of nearly 21⁄2 football fields while playing in just half of a WPIAL playoff game. He touched the ball only nine times and was tackled on just three occasions. The Avonworth senior running back electrified the home crowd, rushing...
Duquesne finally gets 2nd shot at Hofstra … 44 years later
The last time Duquesne played in an NCAA Tournament men’s basketball game was during the 1976-77 season, the same year the Dukes played their only game against Hofstra, a 76-70 loss to the Pride in the first round of the Pittsburgh Classic at the former Civic Arena. Duquesne finally gets...
Westmoreland County Community College runners have high expectations for national meet
The Westmoreland County Community College cross country team is headed south to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III meet. For a change this year, it’s the WCCC men’s team, not the women, taking center stage Saturday at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, 80 miles southeast of Atlanta. “The...
Retooled Duquesne opens season by beating Rider at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse
Programs here! If you attended Duquesne’s first season-opening men’s basketball game Tuesday night at the new UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse — a come-from-behind, 73-61 victory over Rider — chances are you found yourself staring at your game program as much as you were watching the court. Everything appeared new, including an...
Hempfield football maintains message, builds for future
Mike Brown isn’t budging. Doesn’t matter what day it is, what month or who’s listening. His message isn’t changing. Not one bit. “I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t think we could win here,” he said. “We’ve just got to really develop physically and mentally. The kids understand...
Robert Morris men’s basketball preview: Colonials set to embark on 2nd season in Horizon League after tough debut
Robert Morris enters its second season of men’s basketball in the Horizon League with the idea of concentrating on … basketball. The other stuff that seemingly got in the way last year — covid-19, dissension, defections — shouldn’t be a distraction again this season. Except, sometimes, when you least expect...
Emotional Bishop Canevin beats GCC to win 5th consecutive WPIAL Class A volleyball title
A year ago, Angela Wyman stepped into some big shoes, and she’s been walking the sideline since. Different coach, same result for the Bishop Canevin girls volleyball team. “It’s been a transition year, a hard year, an emotional year,” Wyman said Saturday after top-seeded Bishop Canevin rallied from a first-set...
Early surge pushes South Side past Ligonier Valley in Class 2A
From one end of the WPIAL to the other, Ligonier Valley traveled to South Side Beaver on Friday — a span of 83 miles — for its first appearance in the WPIAL football playoffs. When the Class 2A first-round game was over, the Rams were on top, 34-14 — the...
Senior-led Hempfield relishes run to WPIAL field hockey playoffs
You could say Hempfield’s early exit from the WPIAL field hockey playoffs has cast a persistent pall of doubt over a program that, until this year, hadn’t even sniffed a postseason opportunity. But it did little to break the Spartans’ spirit. Not that the coaches and players were dwelling on...
Greensburg Central Catholic girls best Freedom in semifinals
Back in September, the Greensburg Central Catholic and Freedom girls soccer teams went on a scoring frenzy, combining for 14 goals in a two-goal GCC win. When the teams met again Monday night in the WPIAL Class A semifinals at West Mifflin, it started to look like a repeat of...
Leechburg tops Greensburg Central Catholic in thrilling playoff tune-up
Two playoff-bound high school football teams, eager to flex their muscles one last time during the regular season, waged a heavyweight battle Friday night in the WPIAL Class A Eastern League. In the “someone-wins-and-someone-loses” category, Leechburg came out on top in a wild, 31-27 decision at No. 4 Greensburg Central...
Goalkeepers take center stage as South Fayette tops Franklin Regional in Class 3A shootout
South Fayette goalkeeper Kaylee Hendricks met her counterpart, Aris Lamanna of Franklin Regional, face-to-face, eye-to-eye. And in that moment, all Hendricks could think was, “Make the save and win the game.” A marathon of two halves, two overtimes and a total of nine shootout goals came down to Lamanna, Franklin...
Greensburg Central Catholic girls volleyball takes aim at long playoff run
Over the past decade, two teams, including one from Westmoreland County, have dominated the WPIAL Class A girls volleyball playoffs. Allegheny County’s Bishop Canevin has won six championships since 2012, and the Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions gathered up the remaining three. Could there be another title run in store this...
Group effort leads Latrobe girls volleyball to WPIAL playoffs for 4th straight season
The Latrobe girls volleyball team has met its first preseason goal of finishing in the top three in its section to secure a spot in the WPIAL playoff brackets for a fourth consecutive season. Everything else, following its final two scheduled regular-season matches this week, is to be determined. “The...
Cody Rubrecht does it all in Greensburg Salem’s victory over Mars
Cody Rubrecht was everywhere Friday night for Greensburg Salem’s football team. Need a rushing touchdown, a pass reception for a score, a hustling tackle to thwart a long run, an interception to stop a last-ditch drive? Cody’s your man. “He’s amazing. He’s really good,” Greensburg Salem coach Dave Keefer said...
Saint Vincent football slowly coming around under 3rd-year coach Smetanka
After an 0-4 start to his first year as football coach in 2019 at Saint Vincent, Aaron Smetanka since has guided the Bearcats to a combined 8-6 mark while his third season marches on. They are 3-2 this year and angling for just their second winning record since the school...
Baldwin topples Hempfield in coach’s return to Westmoreland County
Baldwin football coach Tim Sweeney has spent a lot of time in Westmoreland County winning games while at Derry, his alma mater. He took the Trojans to four consecutive WPIAL playoff appearances in six seasons. “Yeah, I’ve been following Derry,” he said. “I mean, I’m a Derry grad, so the...
Mt. Pleasant grad Luke Hauger is ‘something special’ as Seton Hill’s kicker
When he was a kid, Luke Hauger did what a lot of aspiring boys liked to do in the backyard: He kicked a football. When he got older, he began to play organized sports and kicked with even more frequency. He seemed to really like it. You could say Hauger...
Leechburg wins at Jeannette for first time
Leechburg’s superb season continued Friday night against one of the WPIAL’s winningest programs. It was a sweet outcome for the Blue Devils, who routed Jeannette, 53-7, in a WPIAL Class A Eastern Conference game for their first victory at storied McKee Stadium. This isn’t your average Leechburg football team. The...
Ligonier Valley finding ways to overcome adversity en route to 5-0 start
“You can’t let things get you down. It’s just staring at adversity right in his eyes and taking advantage of every day you have. You have to go out there and make the most of every opportunity, despite your situation.” Sound like classic coachspeak? You bet, but from a coach’s...
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Boyle an athlete for all seasons, but golf rises to top
Baseball mainly has been his summer sport, hockey in the winter. But golf? Well, for Wade Boyle, it’s becoming something he wants to take part in all the time. So much so the Greensburg Central Catholic junior has given up playing summer league baseball to concentrate on the links, though...
Ligonier Valley goes to 5-0 with rout of Carrick despite another key injury
Ligonier Valley spent another Friday night tuning up for what’s next: The games that count. The Rams, ranked No. 5 in WPIAL Class 2A, open Allegheny Conference play in a week at Steel Valley with what coach Roger Beitel said following Friday night’s 62-12 rout of visiting Carrick will be...
Longtime friends Flynn, Hileman looking to coach Hempfield girls volleyball to success
Friends since birth? Well, perhaps not that far back. But close enough. To the best of their recollection, Ashten Flynn and Payton Hileman have been “best friends” since they were 3 years old. “Our parents were good friends, too,” Flynn said. “They did all kinds of things together, and the...
Derry girls volleyball aims to continue long run of postseason berths
Call Derry girls volleyball coach Brock Smith a perfectionist of sorts, though it’s far from a flawless setting. Derry, which is off to a 2-1 start in Section 5-2A, hasn’t won any WPIAL championships in the sport and has made just one appearance in the PIAA playoffs since Smith took...
Deer Lakes dominates Derry to end 15-game losing skid
Deer Lakes’ long losing streak in football is over. Derek Burk threw three touchdown passes — two to Conner Walker during a 19-point third-quarter outburst that ignited a running clock — to lead the visiting Lancers to a 49-0 rout of winless Derry on Friday night in the Allegheny 7...
