High School category, Page 1221

Senior running back Rock helps spark culture change at Latrobe

A.J. Rock doesn’t hold back his emotions this preseason as he speaks with great conviction about the school’s playoff-hungry football team, insisting the Wildcats are out to change their second-fiddle image. He believes the process already has begun. Latrobe posted four victories in 2018 for a second consecutive season, qualifying...
Reloaded Belle Vernon girls soccer ready for a long playoff run

With nine starters back, new Belle Vernon girls soccer coach Tracy Lovett is excited to see what the team can achieve this year. The Leopards cruised to the Section 2-3A title last year with a 12-0 mark. However, the team’s postseason stay was short as it fell to South Fayette,...
Belle Vernon boys soccer focusing on defense first

Belle Vernon’s boys soccer team graduated only five starters from a year ago, but two of them accounted for most of the Leopards’ offense. Markello Apodiakos led the team with 27 goals and rewrote most of the program’s scoring records before departing for Duquesne. Aaron Brown (14 goals, 15 assists)...
Central Catholic turns the page after frustrating ’18 season

Last season was a difficult one for Central Catholic, hampered at times by turnovers and other self-inflicted mistakes. In a September matchup with Pine-Richland, the Vikings lost the football seven times to their rival, one of the low points in a season that they’re eager to put behind them. The...
Large, veteran offensive line to pave way for Mt. Lebanon

If there’s a difference between Class 5A and 6A football, maybe it’s the size of the linemen. At least, that’s what Bob Palko has seen since taking over Mt. Lebanon’s program in February. Palko coached West Allegheny for 24 seasons and won eight WPIAL titles, but this Blue Devils’ offensive...
High expectations for Class 6A Seneca Valley after WPIAL title-game run

Seneca Valley used mainly its experience and size to reach last year’s WPIAL Class 6A title game. This year, the Raiders are adding speed to the mix. “We’re not as experienced as we were last year, but we are going to be really athletic,” said coach Ron Butschle, in his...
Canon-McMillan must make up for loss of more than 20 graduates

Almost on a daily basis, Canon-Millan coach Mike Evans will get stopped by people and asked the big question. “People ask me every day who do I have coming back,” said Evans, who is entering his fifth season as the Big Macs coach. “I say, ‘I have two people coming...
Hempfield players vow to change the program’s culture

Hempfield’s football program has produced only two winning seasons over the past 22 years. That was in 2013, when the Spartans went 6-4, and in 1997, when they finished 7-3. Hempfield ended the 2018 season with consecutive wins against Butler and Plum to finish 3-7. Eighth-year coach Rich Bowen said...
Led by Division I QB Salopek, Norwin takes aim at winning season, playoff berth

It has been more than 10 seasons since the Norwin football program had a winning record. During that stretch the Knights have won five games in a season six times, including finishing with a .500 mark four times. Norwin is coming off a 3-7 season in 2018, and senior quarterback...
Shaler Area to honor Junker in latest hall of fame class

Brian Junker’s spring was one he won’t easily forget. The 1995 Shaler Area graduate got the call for the school district’s athletic hall of fame in May. “No doubt, it’s an honor,” Junker said. “Just to be thought of like this where you were born and raise, it’s nice.” Meanwhile,...
Class 6A Butler faces debilitating lack of numbers

After going 0-10 in his first full season as coach at his alma mater, Butler’s Eric Christy knows the real challenge is about to begin. Hampered by a debilitating lack of juniors and seniors in the football program, the Golden Tornado will face another trying season in Class 6A with...
Pine-Richland football team striving for 3-peat

The Pine-Richland football team will be seeking to accomplish one of the most rare achievements in WPIAL football history, winning three straight championships in the league’s highest classification — a feat that has only been accomplished by one team in the last century, North Allegheny from 2010-12. However, this year’s...
North Allegheny football sets sights on elusive WPIAL Class 6A title

North Allegheny has been knocking on the door for three years for a return to the WPIAL championship at Heinz Field since the state expanded to six football classes. Each time, the Tigers were turned away by a conference rival. Senior offensive lineman Ben Grafton is eager to get back...
WPIAL football position-by-position breakdown: Scouting the wide receivers

Western Pennsylvania was known historically for producing hall of fame quarterbacks, a trend that shifted in recent decades to superstar defensive backs. But nowadays, the WPIAL seems to be producing quite a few Division I wide receivers. Last season, the WPIAL sent wideouts to Pitt, Ball State, Kent State, Maryland,...
Fox Chapel golf ready to take next step

Throughout his nine years of coaching at Fox Chapel, golf coach Bryan Deal has built a strong program that has produced two individual WPIAL champions. But a team title always has eluded Deal. This year might be different. The Foxes return four starters from a WPIAL runner-up team that finished...
WPIAL and City League girls basketball players ranked on state Class of 2020 list

PAGirlsHoopsReport.com recently released its list of the top 100 players from the Class of 2020, and a sizeable group from the WPIAL and City League made the cut. North Catholic 5-foot-10 guard/forward Tess Myers, a Duquesne commit, fronts the the local group at No. 7. Myers earned Class 4A first-team...

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