High School category, Page 1138
Fox Chapel’s Zoe Skirboll swims at U.S. national team camp
Fox Chapel sophomore Zoe Skirboll was one of 48 swimmers from across the country invited to participate in USA Swimming’s Girls National Select Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. During the four-day event, campers experienced the day-to-day routine of a national team athlete and swam in the U.S....
Fox Chapel wrestling team must overcome inexperience
The Fox Chapel wrestling team finished 8-9 overall and 2 -3 in Section 3B-AAA last season. Coach Ron Frank will have to replace graduated seniors Avery Bursick, Jordana Matamoros, James Patterson, Sean Mahon and Stephen Cano. Bursick was section runner-up last season and had 84 career wins, and Matamoros finished...
High school scores, schedules for Dec. 6, 2019
High schools Basketball Boys Friday’s results WPIAL Aquinas Academy tournament Aquinas Academy 79, First Baptist Christian 50 Neighborhood Academy 38, Cornerstone Prep 36 Baldwin/Peters Township tournament At Baldwin Thomas Jefferson 53, Baldwin 35 At Peters Township Central Catholic 58, Peters Township 38 Seton LaSalle 57, Plum 51 Brentwood tournament Brentwood...
High school roundup for Dec. 6, 2019: Butler opens with decisive win
Devin Carney scored 23 points and Mattix Clement added 20 as Butler scored 32 points in the first quarter and rolled to a 73-33 victory over Woodland Hills at the Butler tournament on the opening night of high school basketball Friday. Raeshon Robertson led Woodland Hills with 17. Albert Gallatin...
Leechburg rallies past Apollo-Ridge in season-opener
It was a successful return to the coaching ranks for Leechburg’s Damian Davies, helped by Blue Devils point guard Dylan Cook’s foul shooting. Cook hit 10 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter as Leechburg erased an eight-point deficit to defeat Apollo-Ridge, 47-42, in the Blue Devils tip-off tournament...
Going up? PIAA could force Southern Columbia, others into higher football classification
Southern Columbia has no equal in Class 2A football, a lesson Avonworth learned Friday. The small-school power celebrated its fourth PIAA title in five years at Hersheypark Stadium, but the record-setting state champion and a few other top football teams might be forced into a higher classification next season. Archbishop...
Nazareth Prep boys roll over Ligonier Valley with strong second half
This wasn’t how Ligonier Valley boys basketball coach John Berger envisioned the season-opener. The Rams opened Friday at Derry’s Chuck Smith Tip-Off Classic and got drilled by reigning WPIAL Class A champion Nazareth Prep, 89-52. Nazareth Prep, which got 35 points from senior Will Taylor, outscored Ligonier Valley, 57-23, in...
Whitlock’s big second half leads Belle Vernon boys over JeannetteVideo
With Thomas Hepple visible in the corner of his eye, Devin Whitlock caught ball on the break under the basket and saw the play of the game develop seconds before it happened. Whitlock, the sophomore guard from Belle Vernon, playing his first game since transferring from Monessen, nonchalantly underhanded an...
Deer Lakes takes down Summit Academy to open up 2019-2020 seasonVideo
It’s always nice to start the season off with a win and for the first time of Terence Parham’s tenure at Deer Lakes the Lancers gifted their coach with one in the first game of the season. Led by a 22-point performance from freshman guard Bryce Robson and a 11-point...
Latrobe’s Lane Ruffner signs with Wichita of North American Hockey League
Latrobe senior Lane Ruffner is ready to take the next step in his hockey career. Ruffner signed a contract with the Wichita Warriors of the North American Hockey League. The defenseman is in his second season with the U18 Esmark Stars AAA Hockey Club. “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity...
Southern Columbia routs Avonworth in record-setting PIAA championshipVideo
HERSHEY — Avonworth’s Park Penrod and Trevor Faulkner connected for an electric 43-yard touchdown pass on the opening possession Friday, and for more than 4 minutes, the Antelopes led the state championship. Maybe this wasn’t the mismatch many expected? That question didn’t linger long. District 4 champion Southern Columbia answered...
Shaler Area sports notebook: Swim team must overcome small roster
Keith Simmons knows winning dual meets will be a tough task for the Shaler Area swim program this season. The Titans don’t have a deep roster. “Success will have to come from a collective group because the size of our team has gone from 35 swimmers to 22,” Simmons said....
Shaler girls basketball will lean on trio of seniors
Shaler Area girls basketball coach Cornelious Nesbit doesn’t mince words with seniors Emily Cavacini, Meghan Lacey and Claire Grunden. If the Titans are going to navigate through Section 1-6A and return to the WPIAL playoffs, those three can’t have nights off. None of them will shy away from her responsibility....
North Hills girls ready to tackle difficult challenges
When Jim Dudas accepted the head coaching job for the North Hills girls basketball team, he knew it was going to be a challenge. He didn’t know the challenge to implement his system and culture would be impacted by the injury bug. Dudas, who was named the Indians head coach...
North Allegheny girls finding their way with revamped roster
Every year is a new situation and new challenge for North Allegheny girls basketball coach Spencer Stefko. For the Tigers to adjust this year, they’ll need to bring along many new faces. North Allegheny lost seven seniors from a team that reached the WPIAL finals and PIAA quarterfinals before finishing...
Hampton’s Gillian Mulcahy finds perfect fit with Wanyesburg volleyball
Sometimes everything comes together perfectly. That’s what happened when Hampton senior libero Gillian Mulcahy, who intends to pursue a career in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, wanted a volleyball program headed in the right direction. That led her to Waynesburg. Although the Yellow Jackets endured a tough season under first-year...
Healthy Hampton could pose problems for mat opponents
After a breakout year in 2017 and with nearly every major competitor returning, Hampton’s wrestling team seemed primed to take a step forward to WPIAL title contender last season. Those plans were dashed by a rash of injuries. Seven wrestlers missed time — five with season-ending ailments — as Hampton’s...
WPIAL rushing champ Ben Jackson to play at Army
West Greene’s Ben Jackson, the first rusher in WPIAL history to rack up more than 3,000 yards in a season, has made his college choice. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound senior will play for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he announced via Twitter on Thursday night. “Lately, I’ve been getting...
Top quarterbacks to square off when Central Valley, Wyoming Area meet for PIAA 3A title
As Central Valley football coach Mark Lyons and Wyoming Area’s Randy Spencer look back on the past four months that have led up to their teams meeting on Saturday in the PIAA Class 3A championship game, they both found that the turning points for their respective teams were remarkably similar....
A listing of Friday’s boys and girls high school basketball tip-off tournaments
Boys Friday’s schedule Aquinas Academy tournament Cornerstone Prep vs. Neighborhood Academy, 7 p.m. First Baptist Christian vs. Aquinas Academy, 8:30 p.m. Baldwin/Peters Township tournament At Baldwin Thomas Jefferson vs. Baldwin, 8 p.m. At Peters Township Seton LaSalle vs. Plum, 5 p.m. Central Catholic vs. Peters Township, 8 p.m. Brentwood tournament...
Pine-Richland, South Fayette join 5A football as PIAA officially draws up new classifications in all sports
Claiming a Class 5A title in WPIAL football will be that much more difficult next season, according to enrollment numbers released by the PIAA Thursday. Pine-Richland, a Class 6A finalist this season, will drop to 5A for the new two-year cycle that begins in the fall. The Rams will now...
Thomas Jefferson dominates Dallas, celebrates 4th PIAA titleVideo
HERSHEY — Thomas Jefferson’s Bill Cherpak had coached 24 seasons, won seven WPIAL titles and celebrated three state championships before this year. Needless to say, Cherpak has some fond memories. But as TJ marched toward Hershey, he insisted for weeks that this season was the most fun he’d ever had...
Penn-Trafford boys embark on ‘total reload’
Total reload. Those are the words Penn-Trafford boys basketball coach Jim Rocco paired together to describe his team heading into a new season that begins Friday night with the Warriors taking on North Allegheny at the Hempfield tip-off tournament. The Warriors bid farewell to five quality seniors, including double-digit scorer...
Starting 5: A guide to the Westmoreland County girls high school basketball season
STORYLINES 1. Great expectations Norwin and Southmoreland could be the last local teams standing come the postseason. Both have experienced teams that went a couple of rounds in the WPIAL and PIAA postseason but will need deep benches to sustain prolonged runs. 2. Gene pull A veteran coach returns to...
Starting 5: A guide to the Westmoreland County boys high school basketball season
STORYLINES 1. Youth movement Christian Hyland is the new coach at Greensburg Central Catholic and he is barely older than his players. At 24, he is one of the youngest head coaches in the WPIAL. Can he take the experience he honed as an assistant and turn it into wins?...
