High School category, Page 1125
Top 19 of ’19: Trib HSSN breaks down the top stories of the year — No. 4
The 2019 high school sports season is nearly in the books. While we anxiously look ahead to 2020, let’s reflect on the district high school sports scene over the last 12 months. Here is a look back at the top 19 stories from around the WPIAL in 2019. HSSN Top...
Trib WPIAL boys basketball rankings: Week ending Dec. 29, 2019
WPIAL rankings Boys basketball Class 6A 1. Fox Chapel, 8-0, 3 2. Butler, 5-3, 1 3. Mt. Lebanon, 6-2, 2 4. Pine-Richland, 6-2, 4 5. Upper St. Clair, 8-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Penn Hills, 5-2, 1 2. Trinity, 6-2, 2 3. Shaler, 5-3, 3 4. Mars, 6-2,...
Players from Ligonier Valley, Belle Vernon garner all-state football honors
WPIAL-bound Ligonier Valley’s days of dominating the District 6 Heritage Conference might be over, but the Rams left lasting memories. They also had a run of outstanding individual talent, some considered among the best in the state. That point was validated Saturday when the Pennsylvania Football Writers Class 2A All-State...
Class 2A all-state football: Avonworth’s Duke Johncour named Coach of the Year
Fresh off their team’s first PIAA championship appearance, two Avonworth players earned all-state honors Saturday and Duke Johncour was named Pennsylvania’s Coach of the Year in Class 2A. Antelopes running back Jax Miller and lineman Josh Elm were among six WPIAL players named all-state in a vote of Pennsylvania football...
Class 4A all-state football: 4 Thomas Jefferson players selected, Cherpak voted top coach
Thomas Jefferson’s quarterback, top running back, wide receiver and lineman all earned all-state honors Saturday, statewide recognition for winning WPIAL and PIAA titles with an undefeated 16-0 record. Additionally, Jaguars coach Bill Cherpak was chosen as the Class 4A Coach of the Year in the vote of Pennsylvania football writers....
Class 6A all-state football: Central Catholic leads WPIAL with 4 players
Central Catholic senior Jonathan Opalko twice made game-winning field goals in the playoffs and had a school-record 54-yarder in the regular season, kicks that earned him all-state honors Saturday. Opalko was one of four Central Catholic players named all-state in a vote of Pennsylvania football writers. The Albany recruit was...
Deer Lakes boys basketball tournament to begin Saturday after postponement
The Deer Lakes boys basketball tournament will begin Saturday evening after Friday’s first-day doubleheader was postponed because of water leakage in the high school gymnasium. Athletic director Chuck Bellisario said because of the warmer-than-usual temperatures for late December, the air conditioning system kicked on, causing condensation to fall to the...
Trib HSSN girls swimmer of the week: Mt. Pleasant’s Heather Gardner
Heather Gardner put pen to paper last month on the first day of the National Letter of Intent signing period for swimming and finalized her commitment to Division I Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The Mt. Pleasant senior, last year’s PIAA runner-up in both the Class AA girls 50-yard freestyle...
Trib HSSN boys swimmer of the week: Belle Vernon’s Ian Shahan
Ian Shahan entered the 2019-20 high school swimming season as the hunted. The Belle Vernon standout set a gold standard at the close of his sophomore season in March with championships in both the 100-yard butterfly and 100 freestyle at the WPIAL championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool and the state...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Dec. 27, 2019
Basketball Boys Friday’s results Apollo-Ridge tournament Apollo-Ridge 65, Saltsburg 46 Leechburg 66, Riverview 55 Avella tournament Avonworth 85, Brownsville 50 Burgettstown 62, Avella 59 Chartiers-Houston 63, Propel Montour 25 McGuffey 63, Fort Cherry 28 Bentworth tournament Eden Christian 45, Jefferson-Morgan 34 Propel Braddock Hills 63, Bentworth 18 Bethel Park tournament...
High school roundup for Dec. 27, 2019: Lincoln Park knocks off Butler
Tanner Mathos scored 20 points as Lincoln Park pulled away in the second quarter and defeated Butler 74-60 in a marquee boys basketball matchup Friday night at the CJ Betters tournament at the Golden Dome in Monaca. Andre Wilder scored 14 points and Isaiah Smith added 13 for Lincoln Park...
Zach Rocco, Penn-Trafford boys hold off Franklin Regional comeback bidVideo
As a 15-point lead faded to five midway through the fourth quarter Friday night, Penn-Trafford did not take on the look of a timid team. Even with inexperienced juniors and sophomores new to that scene handling the ball against full-court pressure and Franklin Regional chipping away, the Warriors showed no...
Five Westmoreland players make all-state football teams
Jeannette football players and coaches will say they did not reach their full potential as a team this season. The Jayhawks made it to No. 1 in the Class A state rankings but ended the year with losses to Clairton and Sto-Rox, the latter defeat coming in the WPIAL quarterfinals....
Penn-Trafford girls use fast start to down Franklin Regional
Penn-Trafford junior guard Allie Prady was hoping she and her teammates would get out of the gates faster than they had in recent basketball games. The Warriors would rather wind up and go early than have to rally late. “We haven’t started out good in the first quarter lately, so...
Powerade wrestling tournament notebook: Waynesburg, Seneca Valley earn top five spots heading into quarters
Heading into the quarterfinals of the 2019 Powerade wrestling tournament at Canon-McMillan on Friday, just two WPIAL teams found themselves within the top five teams of one of the toughest competitions in the country. The hosts found themselves just outside of the top five looking in. Both Seneca Valley and...
Leechburg boys turn up pressure, run past Riverview
One thing Leechburg coach Damian Davies likes about Christmas week — besides the gifts — is the chance to work on some things during the off days on the schedule. The Blue Devils turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, forcing six Riverview turnovers in the third quarter...
Fox Chapel girls pull away to beat Knoch in Shady Side tournamentVideo
A jumper from Knoch senior forward Lauren Cihonski 40 seconds into Friday’s matchup with Fox Chapel at the Shady Side Academy Tournament gave the Knights a two-point lead. But the Foxes quickly countered from long range as a pair of 3-pointers from senior Gabby Guerreri and a third from junior...
Gateway girls embrace being Road Gators in early going
Gateway girls basketball coach Curtis Williams preaches to his team the three “E’s” — energy, effort and enthusiasm. The Gators had to use all three and more to persevere through a challenging early season schedule with just one home contest in the season’s first nine games. “Being on the road...
Thomas Jefferson notebook: Zandier brothers share memorable day on gridiron
The Zandier family will remember the date — Nov. 29 — for a long time. On that day, TJ junior Preston Zandier helped the Jaguars win a PIAA Class 4A semifinal game to advance to the state finals. Also, and at the same time, Virginia linebacker and older brother Zane...
C.J. Ziegler, Zach Keib spark Brentwood boys in December
Brentwood coach Dan Thayer was pleased, as expected. The Spartans won twice in the Brentwood tip-off tournament to claim this year’s boys championship. “This was an excellent way to start the season,” Thayer said. “We were very happy with the results. It has been a long time since we’ve won...
Baldwin notebook: Seven Highlanders make college choices
Seven Baldwin High School athletes participated in national signing day last month. The following will be advancing their academic/athletic careers at the next level next year: Cassie Carlson (Youngstown State softball), Nick Dolan (Ohio baseball), Salena Jaquay (Cal, Pa. softball), Jenna Lutz (Allegheny basketball), Allison Murray (St. Francis, Pa. volleyball),...
Quaker Valley’s Huang focusing on details, technique in defense of WPIAL gold
Isabel Huang’s swimming is a thing of beauty, Quaker Valley coach Alexis Glenn said. The Sewickley Academy sophomore excels for the Quakers on a cooperative swim team, but she wasn’t always a natural in the water. If not for her parents’ encouragement, Huang said, she likely would have dropped the...
Aquinas Academy fencing finds strength in numbers
The Aquinas Academy fencing program is continuing to grow, with this season’s squad counting 20 fencers, 12 of whom are primed to compete as high schoolers in Pittsburgh Interscholastic Fencing Association play. And while there was some attrition from last year’s roster to this season’s group because of graduation, coach...
Despite shorthanded roster, Plum wrestlers aim for improvement
Coming off a 2-5 season in 2018-19 when the team had one senior and just four juniors, Plum’s wrestling team was looking for improvement. The Mustangs weren’t just looking for a better record with new, yet familiar coach Mike Supak; they were looking for individual improvement day-by-day that comes with...
Franklin Regional girls relying on underclassmen early on
Franklin Regional’s girls basketball team is one of the youngest in Class 5A, if not the WPIAL. There is only one senior — 5-foot-6 forward Noelle Boyd — on the Panthers’ team roster, which has been flooded by a large group of freshman athletes in 2019-20. “Our expectations for this...
