High School category, Page 1045
’Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 45: Schenley’s DeJuan Blair stayed home, almost led Pitt to Final Four
The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number. No. 45: DeJuan Blair DeJuan Blair stood 6-foot-4 in eighth grade when he was first spotted dunking a basketball. That feat occurred at the Ammons...
Norwin’s Nick Fleming catching eye of Division I baseball programs
Nick Fleming did not have a junior baseball season at Norwin because the PIAA canceled fall athletics due to health concerns over the coronavirus. But that hasn’t stopped him from drawing attention from college programs. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound incoming senior received a pair of Division I scholarship offers this week,...
New Riverview football coach Trevor George hopes to build momentum through summer workouts
When Trevor George was hired as the head coach of the Riverview football team, he hit the ground running with workout and conditioning sessions that helped him get to know better the players with whom he would be working. The Carlynton grad said momentum built over the few weeks from...
New Derry coach Vince Skillings committed to program’s trademark ground game
When Woody Hayes spoke, Vince Skillings listened. A former Derry football star who is taking the reins of his high school alma mater as a first-year head coach, Skillings played defensive back for the legendary Hayes at Ohio State. New coaches often bring new schemes. When asked if Derry will...
PIAA approves weight class reduction for wrestling from 14 to 13
PIAA wrestling is dropping weight. The PIAA board gave final approval Wednesday to a plan that reduces the number of weight classes from 14 to 13 starting next season. The vote was unanimous. The PIAA will maintain weight classes 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152 and 160 pounds....
Norwin’s Kurtis Phipps, Hempfield’s Olivia Persin earn top honors at Driscoll awards
After a delay of more than 2½ months, the winners of the Excellence Award were revealed Wednesday at the 64th annual Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete banquet hosted by Judge John J. Driscoll. Hempfield’s Olivia Persin and Norwin’s Kurtis Phipps were surprised. Maybe even shocked. Persin, a three-sport standout, and Phipps, who...
WPIAL grads come to grips with PSAC’s decision to suspend sports for fall semester
Michael Marisco walked the golf course as often as possible over the past couple of months. The Fox Chapel graduate built a measure of momentum with successful results and made the field for the West Penn Amateur at Allegheny Country Club with a first-place finish in a qualifier last month....
PIAA moving forward with fall sports as scheduled
The PIAA won’t cancel or delay fall sports, for now. The board of directors met online Wednesday and agreed to keep the start dates as scheduled, including Aug. 10 for football’s heat acclimatization period. Some neighboring states already delayed their fall seasons, but the PIAA won’t follow their lead, PIAA...
2 WPIAL sophomores announce basketball offers from MarshallVideo
Two rising sophomores in WPIAL girls basketball received Division I offers from the same school Tuesday. Pine-Richland’s Kaili Doctor and North Catholic’s Dacia Lewandowski announced offers from Marshall hours apart. Both play AAU basketball with the Western Pa. Bruins, which competed last weekend at the Hoosier Heat event in Indianapolis....
Upper St. Clair’s Jordan captures medalist honors at Isaly’s Junior event at Youghiogheny
Scott Jordan of Upper St. Clair shot a 1-over par 73 to capture the Isaly’s Junior Tour tournament at Youghiogheny Country Club on Tuesday. Pittsburgh’s Adam Steinmetz was second with a 75 in the 17-18 age division. Cranberry Township’s Dante Rossetti won the 15-16 division by shooting a 77, while...
Penn-Trafford football standout Ethan Carr takes his versatility to Villanova
Ethan Carr navigated unprecedented times in college football recruiting. He connected with coaches via his web cam and relied on his junior season highlights to do the rest of the talking during the most critical time in the process. Showcases and camps were wiped from his schedule and never happened....
Pine-Richland’s Miguel Jackson becomes 3rd WPIAL senior committed to LibertyVideo
Pine-Richland’s Miguel Jackson visited Liberty’s campus on Independence Day weekend and saw some fireworks on the drive home. The “oohs” and “aahs” came a few days later, once he called the school’s football coaches to commit. “They were excited and surprised,” said Jackson, who committed to Liberty on July 8,...
Harrison City’s Turowski wins again on Isaly’s Junior Tour
Nick Turowski continued his dominance on the Tri-State PGA Isaly’s Junior Golf Tour in the 11-14 age division. The Harrison City native shot a 6-under 66 at Willowbrook Country Club on Monday to breeze to a seven-shot victory. Pittsburgh’s Connor McKenzie was second with a 1-over 73. He’s won four...
Westmoreland County scholar-athlete awards to be handed out Wednesday
The votes are in and the winners have been selected for the annual Judge John J. Driscoll Westmoreland Scholar-Athlete banquet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Ferrante’s Lakeview. As long as Gov. Tom Wolf doesn’t make any surprise announcements over the next two days, the winners will be honored in person....
Major Corley, championship coach of Monessen girls basketball team, dies of coronavirus
To many who didn’t know him, Major Corley was an imposing figure. He was 6-foot-8 and walked with a slow, mission-oriented pace. Not to mention his nickname was “Tuffy.” But to those who knew him, Tuffy was nothing like his gruff exterior suggested. He was a calm, compassionate and mellow...
Quaker Valley gets a golden kick out of winning the Trib Cup 4A championship
Consistent success throughout the fall and winter sports season and a big season on the pitch by the boys soccer team has Quaker Valley getting their kicks this summer as the Quakers have earned the Class 4A Trib HSSN Sports Cup. Quaker Valley captured gold in both the WPIAL and...
Pitt, Penn State make the cut as Gateway’s Derrick Davis narrows his college options
Pitt and Penn State both made the cut Sunday as Gateway football star Derrick Davis narrowed his college recruiting options. The rising senior announced a Top 7 on Twitter. Joining the Panthers and Nittany Lions on his list were Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and Southern Cal. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound...
Avonworth tight end Trevor Faulkner commits to Air Force AcademyVideo
Avonworth rising senior Trevor Faulkner, who had more than a dozen Division I offers, committed Sunday to Air Force. A 6-foot-5, 225-pound tight end and defensive end, Faulkner announced his decision on Twitter. He also held FBS offers from Akron, Army and Liberty. The converted quarterback helped Avonworth win the...
New Yough football coach Chris Chunko tackling unorthodox offseason
Unorthodox and fluid, the first few months of Chris Chunko’s rookie year as a head football coach have been a slow but surprisingly steady process. The job did not come with a how-to manual, especially one that included a section on negotiating the effects of a global pandemic. Football has...
Pitt commit Nahki Johnson announces offer from national champion LSUVideo
West Mifflin’s Nahki Johnson committed to Pitt last summer, but on Saturday night he announced an offer from the defending BCS national champion. “Extremely blessed and humble to say I got an offer from LSU,” the rising senior wrote on Twitter. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound defensive end committed to the Panthers...
Gateway’s Derrick Davis ready to narrow college football offers to Top 7Video
The WPIAL’s top football recruit is getting closer to a decision. Gateway’s Derrick Davis, a rising senior and heavily recruited four-star prospect, announced on Twitter that he’ll reveal his Top 7 schools Sunday. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound safety, linebacker and running back holds offers from nine of the first 10 teams...
A few more doors open for Black athletic directors as WPIAL tries to promote diversity
When Sto-Rox hired LaRoi Johnson as athletic director this summer, he used social media to thank those who had opened doors for him in his career. His list included friends, colleagues and mentors. “I’m happy for all of the people who helped me so much,” said Johnson, a first-time school...
Another neighboring state decides to delay high school football season
Another of Pennsylvania’s neighbors is delaying the start of high school football season. The director of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission — that state’s version of the PIAA — announced Friday that the first day of football practice there is postponed from Aug. 3 to Aug. 17. As...
Mt. Lebanon’s Ashleigh Connor adds 1st Division I basketball offerVideo
Mt. Lebanon’s Ashleigh Connor, one of the WPIAL’s top rising juniors, announced her first Division I basketball offer Friday from Xavier. The Musketeers offer came while Connor was competing at an AAU event in Indianapolis with the Western Pa. Bruins. A 5-foot-10 guard/forward, Connor averaged 22 points and six rebounds...
Franklin Regional athletic director: Prepping for fall sports ‘an uphill battle’
A meeting is planned next week between regional and state high school sports officials and athletic directors “to discuss possible alternatives, like moving fall sports to the spring season and thinking outside the box in ways we haven’t before,” Franklin Regional Athletics Director Zach Kessler said. Kessler called the challenges...
