High School category, Page 1036
Central Catholic returns 2,000-yard rusher but QB job remains 5-way battle
Central Catholic has five guys competing to play quarterback, and whoever wins the job will practice handing the football to Eddy Tillman. The senior is coming off a 2,000-yard, 26-touchdown season. The 5-foot-8 running back has increased his strength since last season and started drawing Division I interest this summer....
Strong junior class has Mt. Lebanon coach Bob Palko optimistic in Year 2
Mt. Lebanon coach Bob Palko had 14 sophomores earn a varsity letter in his first season with the Blue Devils. That has him excited because those sophomores are now juniors, so he expects to see a discernible jump in their performances. For football players, that transition from 10th grade to...
North Allegheny replaces top rusher, passer, receiver from last year’s lineup
North Allegheny coach Art Walker has always had a go-to guy in the backfield, one running back who’d shoulder the bulk of the carries. Not so, this season. “We’re going to be running back by committee until somebody steps up and takes it,” Walker said. “We could’ve done more evaluation...
Veteran Seneca Valley team out to even the score
Since the expansion to six classifications throughout the state four years ago, even years have been very good for the Seneca Valley football program. In 2016, Seneca Valley finished 8-4 and defeated Mt. Lebanon and North Allegheny in the playoffs to reach the first WPIAL Class 6A championship game. There...
Running game, defense take precedence at Norwin
With a nonexistent running game, a problem that was compounded by a multitude of injuries to its offensive line, Norwin struggled to move the football last season. Rifle-armed quarterback Jack Salopek threw it 303 times but often had to scramble to avoid a rush. Salopek is off to Western Michigan,...
Hempfield looks to stay healthy in 2020
Ninth-year coach Rich Bowen wonders what might have been last year had his Hempfield Spartans not been ravaged by injuries early in the season. An exciting offense, powered by star running back Nathan Roby, and a hold-it-together defense still allowed the Spartans to finish 4-6. But a 2-6 mark in...
With new coach, new class, a season of change at Baldwin
Changing addresses and moving from one football program to another can be taxing and tough. The adjustment period between coaching staff and players can last well into the first season. Preparing for the first season at a new school with the limitations of a pandemic makes a difficult transition so...
Canon-McMillan starting to stack up playoff appearances
For nearly 10 years, the Canon-McMillan football team was a spectator to postseason football. From 2009-17, the Big Macs’ season never carried over to November. However, the team is now riding a new streak coming into the third decade of the century. Canon-McMillan is coming off back-to-back playoff appearances. Sure,...
Central Catholic football star, Pitt recruit Elliot Donald skipping senior season
The possibility he’d infect his granddad or any other family member with covid-19 was too much risk, said Central Catholic football star Elliot Donald, who decided to skip his senior season. The 6-foot-3, 255-pound defensive tackle is a Pitt commit, one of the WPIAL’s elite players and the nephew of...
Killinger, Plum girls soccer ready for repeat performance
Kaitlyn Killinger probably couldn’t have imagined a better start to her high school soccer career. The Plum sophomore striker led her team in scoring last season with 18 goals, and she came up big numerous times in the Mustangs’ run to the WPIAL Class AAA championship game and state playoffs....
Increased roster numbers boost Avella
Low roster numbers have plagued Avella before, but coach Ryan Cecchini can assure you, he’s shaken all he can from the bushes in the school district. He has exhausted his recruiting in the school halls options. The football team had between 12 and 16 players for summer workouts and, “We’ll...
Uptick in numbers helps Bentworth’s confidence
J.J. Knabb, a teacher at Bentworth who doubles as the football coach, took over lunch duty last year so he could get the word out about his team’s sparse roster. If there were football players camouflaged into the student body, his goal was to find them. “It gave me a...
Carmichaels returns to Class A with new coach, momentum
When Ron Gallagher was promoted to the head coach position at Carmichaels in January, he took over a program with momentum. One of the biggest reasons things are looking up is a drop in classification. After spending the previous two seasons as the smallest public school in Class 2A football...
Jefferson-Morgan looking to find swagger, end playoff drought
The Jefferson-Morgan football team has some players who might turn some heads as they step off the bus this season. A pair of wide receivers who stand at least 6-foot-3. A 1,000-yard rusher in the backfield. A 300-pound defensive tackle. These are assets that most teams don’t have at the...
Young Mapletown roster making push to improve
As Mapletown coach George Messich and his staff gathered at his home on Friday nights last season, watching video of the game their team just played, a thought often occurred to them. “We have a really, really great JV football team,” Messich said with a laugh. “They just happened to...
West Greene in position to thrive despite graduation of big-time backs
Don’t look for West Greene to be one-hit wonders, or in this case two-hit wonders Second-year coach Brian Hanson sees a bright future at the school located southwest of Waynesburg in Greene County. West Greene rode a powerful running game featuring Ben Jackson (Army) and Kolin Walker (Waynesburg) to consecutive...
Numbers up at Monessen, but Greyhounds are young
Rumblings about Monessen possibly folding its proud football program because of low roster numbers were quickly stamped out when Shane Swope was hired during the winter to lead the Greyhounds. Numbers actually began to grow over a coronavirus-disrupted spring and summer as Swope, a former Yough assistant, began his mission...
Westmoreland notebook: 5 soccer players on All-American game watchlist
Fifteen WPIAL players are up for the country’s premier soccer all-star game. Five hail from Westmoreland County. The watchlist for the 10th High School All-American Game was announced last week, and the WPIAL is well-represented, particularly on the girls side with 11 of the 30 nominees picked from Pennsylvania coming...
WPIAL volleyball teams grappling with indoor coronavirus safety restrictions
Girls volleyball teams in the WPIAL are beginning to feel like the walls are closing in on them. Volleyball is an outlier in the fall season because it is the only indoor sport, so it is up against tighter covid-19 safety guidelines. The virus, experts say, thrives in enclosed spaces,...
California keeps winning despite less-than-ideal offseasons
Ed Woods is in his second season as football coach at California High School. It’s been a difficult two seasons in the terms of preparing his squad. He was hired late in the process before the 2019 season, and the coronavirus has cut into his preparation for the 2020 season....
Running back tandem of Hough, Livingston to bring thunder for Beaver Falls offense
When it comes to describing a running back tandem, most football coaches normally stick with the age-old phrase of “Thunder and Lighting.” One back normally has the power and strength to run between the tackles and ram defenders over, while, in a change of pace, the other has the speed...
Ellwood City embraces obstacles on path to success
Coach Joe Lamenza read a book over the summer that he found useful when preparing for the Ellwood City football season. Called “The Obstacle is the Way,” it explores the philosophy of stoicism, the wisdom of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the idea that struggles are a necessary part of...
With playmakers back, Freedom has tools to contend in Class 2A
In the first eight years of this past decade, the Freedom football team struggled mightily, going a combined 18-62. However, the decade finished with a flourish for Freedom. The Bulldogs found their bite by going a combined 19-6. The bar has been raised for the program to the extent that...
Line leads Laurel in quest for elusive playoff berth
It’s not the kind of distinction any football team would want to earn, but Laurel is one of the top candidates all the same. The Spartans might just be the best team to not qualify for the WPIAL playoffs either of the last two seasons. “It’s nice to be noticed,”...
Mohawk looking to take 2 steps forward after 1 step back
The Mohawk football team has made the climb from the bottom of the standings to playoff contender once in the past few seasons. Now it’ll just have to do it again. After winning a total of one game in his first two seasons on the Mohawk sidelines, coach Tim McCutcheon...
