High School category, Page 1048
Wanting to keep family close, Justin Walther accepts Winchester Thurston basketball job
While searching for a boys basketball job, coach Justin Walther wanted a high school that would treat him like family, but just as importantly, a place he could share with his family. That became imperative after his mother’s death in early June. “My parents have been a great part of...
Mix-and-match Independent Players are ready for busy summer
The Independent Players summer baseball team looks like it is going to have a busy summer. “We’re playing about a 25-30 game schedule, so we’re playing almost every day,” said Players coach Jim Basilone, who has run the baseball team since 2000. With a mixture of players from around the...
Aliquippa seeks applicants to replace boys basketball coach Dwight Hines
The Aliquippa school board is accepting applications for a new boys basketball coach, a decision that stunned coach Dwight Hines, whose tenure appears to be over. Hines said he can’t understand the move. “That’s one thing you’ve got to ask the board members,” he said. “They didn’t call me in....
Serra Catholic hires A.J. Corso as boys basketball coach
Serra Catholic hired A.J. Corso to take over the boys basketball team, the school announced Thursday. Corso replaces coach Justin Walther, who resigned in May after four seasons. Corso worked two seasons as a ninth grade coach under Walther and also coached middle school basketball at Upper St. Clair. Walther...
Tanner Nulph, Summer Rams prevail in WPBL opener
Tanner Nulph first helped the Summer Rams at the plate in Wednesday evening’s Western Pennsylvania Baseball League game at Valley High School. The rising Highlands junior then brought it home from the mound in his team’s 4-3 victory over the Independent Players. Nulph drove in three runs with a single...
North Allegheny becomes first WPIAL district to sponsor girls wrestling
The North Allegheny school board voted Wednesday to add girls wrestling to its athletic programs, becoming the first school district in the WPIAL to sponsor the sport. NA will join three other schools in the state to sponsor a team. The others are Easton, J.P. McCaskey and Executive Education Academy....
Radio station. Food truck. Dance studio? Jamal Woodson’s energy earns him Baldwin basketball job
Jamal Woodson isn’t wrong when he says he’s got an energetic personality. How else could he create an AAU basketball program, work as general manager of a radio station, operate a food truck, manage an up-and-coming singing star and run the Abby Lee Dance Company studio? Now, add head coach...
Coronavirus foam insert robs Derry golfer of ace at Isaly’s junior tournament
Hunter Jurica got robbed on Wednesday by one of the new golf regulations put in place because of the coronavirus. The foam insert placed in cups at golf courses denied Jurica his first hole-in-one. Jurica was playing in the Tri-State PGA Isaly’s Junior Golf Tour event at Glengarry Golf Links...
South Park’s Maura Huwalt wins Trib HSSN Best of the Century tournament
The HSSN June Madness results have been tabulated in the championship of the girls bracket to determine the WPIAL athlete of the century. She was a WPIAL and PIAA champion eight times in her golden high school career. Now she has one more accolade to add to her collection. In...
Plum comes out swinging, rolls past Jeannette in Western Pa. Baseball League opener
Plum and Jeannette didn’t let the threat of rain spoil their Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League opener Tuesday evening at Buster Clarkson Field in Jeannette. The showers that fell on the region in the late afternoon dissipated as the game began, and Plum’s experienced squad showed its strength with an...
Belle Vernon hires one of program’s best players, Kaitlyn Slagus, as girls basketball coach
Kaitlyn Slagus is one of the best basketball players to ever take the court at Belle Vernon Area High School. Now, she’ll be taking the court again in a different role — head coach. The former professional and Bucknell standout was hired Monday by the school board to fill the...
2 Pa. football teams, 1 from WPIAL make MaxPreps preseason Top 100 rankings
Defending WPIAL champion Central Catholic was one of two Pennsylvania football teams ranked in the MaxPreps preseason Top 100. The Vikings were ranked 92nd nationally. The other Pennsylvania team to make the rankings was defending PIAA Class 6A champion St. Joseph’s Prep, which defeated Central Catholic in last year’s state...
Spencer Lee wins Trib HSSN WPIAL Best of the Century tournament
The HSSN June Madness results are in from Monday, June 22 in the championship round of the boys bracket to determine the WPIAL athlete of the century. He had his hand raised and received gold four times in the WPIAL championships and three times in the PIAA state finals in...
Pine-Richland hires assistant Bob Petcash as boys basketball coach
Pine-Richland stayed in-house Monday night and hired assistant Bob Petcash as its new boys basketball coach. A longtime assistant for the Rams, Petcash replaces Jeff Ackermann, who resigned in May to become Baldwin’s coach. Petcash spent six seasons as a top assistant on Ackermann’s varsity staff after more than a...
WPIAL connections lead Gateway defensive back Shane Thrift to DelawareVideo
Shane Thrift hasn’t visited Delaware’s campus yet, but he’s confident he’ll feel comfortable there. The Blue Hens already have seven former WPIAL athletes on the football roster, so Thrift decided to join them. The 6-foot, 170-pound defensive back and wide receiver announced his commitment Monday. “There are a lot of...
Trib HSSN June Madness finals: Tyler Boyd, Clairton vs. Spencer Lee, Franklin Regional
We have finally reached Championship Week in June Madness as we finally determine who fans believe is the WPIAL Athlete of the Century. HSSN put together two 32-player brackets, one for the boys and one for the girls, of WPIAL alums. Outside of a few exceptions, the field was made...
Pine-Richland’s Miguel Jackson identifies 9 finalists, wants to visit every campus
Pine-Richland defensive lineman Miguel Jackson set out to pick eight finalists from his list of 30 college offers, but that task proved harder than expected. “It was difficult to choose,” he said. “I was planning on doing a Top 8, but another school came in.” So, Jackson created a Top...
Tom Evans retires as athletic director at Yough
The longest-tenured athletic director in Westmoreland County has retired. Yough’s Tom Evans, who has been athletic director or assistant AD since 1993, will retire as a teacher on June 30. Evans has also been a PIAA official for more than 35 years and has served on various committees with the...
Driscoll Westmoreland scholar-athlete banquet set for July 15
It looks like the 64th annual Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete banquet is a go. According to banquet host Judge John J. Driscoll, the banquet will be 6 p.m. on July 15 at Ferrante’s Lakeview Lounge in Hempfield. Guests will be limited to scholar-athletes, families, athletic directors and committee members and sponsors....
Montour’s Jaiden Hill sticks with 1st Division I offer, commits to LibertyVideo
Jaiden Hill’s first offer turned out to be his favorite. The Montour rising senior announced he committed Sunday to Liberty, the school that gave him his first Division I offer in March. He’d since added Duquesne and Robert Morris but ultimately stuck with the Flames, an independent FBS team. The...
Westmoreland high school notebook: 2022 recruiting resumes
With excessive early commitments in Division I women’s soccer sweeping the country in recent years, the NCAA opted to make a rule change in 2019. Players regularly were committing as freshmen and sophomores. So rising juniors — girls or boys — were not allowed to have contact with Division I...
Trib HSSN June Madness semifinal results for Friday, June 19
The HSSN June Madness results are in from Friday, June 19 in the final semifinals match of the brackets to determine the WPIAL Athlete of the Century. Two real life friends and former AAU teammates fought for the final championship berth in the Battle of the Alleghenies, and in the...
Q&A with new WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman: Will there be fall sports?Video
As Amy Scheuneman points out, there was no coronavirus pandemic when she agreed to become the WPIAL executive director. While that’s true, she’s certainly not running from the challenge. “One of my favorite movies is ‘The Replacements,’” said Scheuneman, who borrows a line from football coach Jimmy McGinty, played in...
Noel Roach commits to Akron after talks with former Penn Hills teammateVideo
Noel Roach couldn’t visit Akron’s campus, so the Penn Hills senior found other ways to learn about the school and its football program. It helps to have a trusted source on the inside. Roach committed Friday to Akron, where former Penn Hills teammate Corey Thomas is a redshirt freshman on...
13 WPIAL wrestlers rated among nation’s best in preseason rankings
Four Waynesburg wrestlers were among a group of 13 from the WPIAL that cracked the top 20 in TheOpenMat.com’s national preseason rankings. Four PIAA returning champions from the WPIAL made the list: Franklin Regional senior Carter Dibert, Seneca Valley senior Alejandro Herrera-Rondon, Waynesburg senior Wyatt Henson and Mt. Pleasant junior...
