John Grupp stories, Page 16

The slumping Hampton hockey team is slowing things down in hopes of heating things up. “We need to play a conservative game and get back to our style of play,” coach Luke Leya said. “When we try to go run and gun, it has not been too kind to us.”...

Hampton graduate Jason Goodman last winter won a PSAC indoor track championship. This winter, the Slippery Rock senior is doing something even more important. Goodman is working as a nursing assistant at a Pittsburgh-area nursing home during the covid pandemic that canceled all winter sports in the Pennsylvania State Athletic...

On a school night in early November, Hampton’s Jayden Resch disappeared into a spare bedroom for a few hours. The 172-pound junior wrestler had learned the home of classmate Jacob Premick was significantly damaged in a Nov. 3 fire, and he was driven to do something about it. “He’s been...

Hampton had the “best, most intense” three-week preseason in Tony Howard’s 14 years as a girls basketball coach. Then came three weeks with a whole lot of nothing. “They are ready to get back,” Howard said. “There was some excitement building around the team, and we had a lot of...

Joe Lafko has seen a lot in three decades as a basketball coach, but this is the first season he has held court at a computer screen. During a three-week shutdown of high school winter sports because of the covid-19 pandemic, the Hampton boys basketball team joined for twice-a-week Zoom...

After having its state title hopes dashed last season by the covid-19 pandemic, the North Allegheny girls basketball team isn’t worried about a couple of inconveniences. Wear masks at all times for practices and during games? Fine. Social distance and wash uniforms and equipment every night? No big deal. “I...

With most swimming pools shut down for much of the offseason, Hampton coach Morgan Zweygardt was unsure what to expect from her girls team when practices began. To her pleasant surprise, they’ve made a big splash. “I had no real expectations for this year,” she said. “I just wanted to...

The Hampton boys swimming team is looking forward to picking on someone its own size. Coming off a memorable season in which Hampton placed third at the WPIAL Class AAA swimming and diving championships, the Talbots are dropping into Class AA, where they are expected to be a serious title...

North Allegheny’s Spencer Stefko, the reigning PIAA Class 6A girls basketball coach of the year, will never forget this past Thanksgiving. “My wife and I ate 20 feet apart,” he said, “with each of us right next to an open window.” Stefko last week joined his defending WPIAL champion Tigers...

The most challenging, unusual sports season in WPIAL history included something else that has never been seen before. This fall marked the first time that Hampton’s football, boys soccer, girls soccer and girls volleyball teams all reached the WPIAL playoffs in the same season. “With everything that went on (with...

If Hampton senior Justin Hart ever says “uncle” in the wrestling room, it will have nothing to do with giving up. Hart, the nephew of Talbots wrestling coach Chris Hart, is one of the top 189-pounders in the WPIAL Class 3A and joins fellow state qualifier Dawson Dietz in another...

The Hampton girls basketball team is going small in the hopes of something big. Coach Tony Howard is installing a fast-paced, guard-oriented lineup as the undersized Talbots try to return to the playoffs after a two-year absence. With the 2020-21 season scheduled to start Dec. 11 against McDowell, the Talbots...

There are a lot of new faces on the Hampton boys basketball team, even if coach Joe Lafko can’t quite see them right now. “This year is so different from any year that I’ve experienced,” said Lafko, a WPIAL Hall of Famer entering his 25th season at Hampton, “and it’s...

The Hampton bowling team is turning to a familiar face for a season the likes of which it has never seen before. Coach Glenn Thomas, who started the program five years ago, returns to the helm after last year’s coach, Bob Wallace, stepped away because of covid-19 concerns for his...

Plum entered this season with the expressed goal of reaching the WPIAL Class 3A girls volleyball playoffs. Wait. The playoffs? Plum went 3-21 in Class 4A section play the previous two years, including 0-12 in 2018. Turns out the Mustangs sold themselves short. Led by All-American middle hitter Makayla Jackson,...

The Hampton hockey team last season needed three months to reach two wins. This season the Talbots did it in eight days. “Honestly, we are a completely different team,” junior defenseman Owen Cirlingione said. “There is not a bad player on this team.” Hampton opened the delayed 2020-21 season with...

Bill Cardone was sitting in the parking lot at Pittsburgh International Airport on Aug. 21, waiting to pick up his wife, when he got the news. The longtime Hampton athletic director learned the PIAA had approved the return of high school fall sports amid the covid-19 pandemic. “I felt really...

Hampton reached the WPIAL football playoffs for the first time in five years this season, and a lot more help is on the way. The Talbots junior varsity program posted a 7-0 record, including four shutouts, and outscored its opponents 243-58. “Nobody can remember any of our JV teams going...

Hampton senior Corey Scherer needed some time to ease the sting of a 1-0 double-overtime playoff loss to nemesis Mars. “We all gave it our best,” he said. “We just happened to come up short.” When Mars’ Dane Beller scored in the 107th minute of their WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal...

Hampton senior lineman Dawson Dietz stood along a chainlink fence at Aliquippa’s Carl Aschman Stadium, wearing a muddy uniform and a smile. “It was so exciting to go from two wins for the last three years (to the playoffs),” he said. “It’s crazy to be able to be here and...

There was a time when back-to-back triple bogeys at the WPIAL golf championships would have ruined Arianna Erka. But when the once-temperamental Hampton senior carded consecutive 7s on Nos. 2 and 3 at historic Oakmont Country Club, she instead settled down and finished in style what was likely her final...

Hampton’s Liam Nichols and Gabe Viszlay are dynamic teammates on the field and the best of friends away from it. They connected playing recreational youth league soccer about six years ago. Since then, the two have been teammates on Hotspurs club soccer, Hampton middle school and the high school program....

The Hampton girls tennis team is proof a season that looks dreadful on paper can look pretty good in person. Despite enduring an 0-10 match record, the youthful Talbots remained upbeat about the experience and encouraged for the future. “Even though we didn’t have a great record, it was a...

Hampton girls soccer coach Bill Paholich needed one workout to realize freshman Madison Hurst had a chance to be special. The diminutive 14-year-old opened the staff’s eyes when she kept pace with the lead pack during the Talbots’ preseason one-mile run. “We always do a mile conditioner … and she...

Annie Bozzo is Hampton’s third girls volleyball coach in as many years, but the transition appears to be smooth. The undefeated Talbots were in first place in Section 5-AAA with an 8-0 mark (9-0 overall) following a 3-1 win over Knoch on Oct. 6. “It is hard to restart each...