High School category, Page 1224
Like his older brother, Seton LaSalle’s Dom Popa commits to Pitt baseball
Seton LaSalle’s Dom Popa, whose brother stars for Pitt, committed Monday to also play baseball for the Panthers. The younger brother is a rising senior who batted .470 for the Rebels, who went 21-3 and won the WPIAL Class 2A title this past spring. The outfielder led his team in...
Gateway transfer Diego Bledsoe remains ineligible over father’s critical comments
The PIAA listened to critical public comments made by Diego Bledsoe’s father and then upheld a WPIAL decision that leaves the Gateway transfer ineligible to play football. Bledsoe, a rising junior who transferred from Steel Valley, had a PIAA hearing Tuesday in Mechanicsburg. The WPIAL had ruled Bledsoe ineligible June...
George Guido: 40-second play clock ‘most substantial’ new rule in H.S. football
The implementation of a 40-second play clock is the most significant change to high school football this season. It’s one of seven rules revisions recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations and approved by the NFHS Board of Directors. The 40-second clock for the next play will...
PIAA overturns suspension levied against Central Catholic coach Brian Urso
The PIAA overturned a WPIAL decision and lifted the suspension given to Central Catholic boys basketball coach Brian Urso. While investigating recruiting allegations, the WPIAL board in June ordered Central Catholic to suspend the first-year coach for one scrimmage and two regular-season games for contacting eighth-grade athletes. But Central Catholic’s...
WPIAL duo helps Pennsylvania sweep Maryland in Big 26 Baseball Classic
Pennsylvania swept past Maryland in a three-game series over the weekend at the Big 26 Baseball Classic in Maryland, and WPIAL products Jarrett Heilman and Ryan McGuire contributed to the triumphs. Pennsylvania, which lost two of three to Maryland in the 2018 series, collected 30 runs over the three games,...
PIAA overturns WPIAL, makes West Mifflin football standout Nahki Johnson eligibleVideo
The recruiting allegations made against Nahki Johnson and coach Rod Steele were “unsubstantiated,” the PIAA decided Tuesday, so it ruled the West Mifflin football standout immediately eligible. Johnson, a Pitt recruit and one of the WPIAL’s top rising junior, was ruled ineligible last month by the WPIAL, but that decision...
Derry’s Adams, Ligonier Valley’s Spiker pull in offers from St. Francis (Pa.)
Like the big boys themselves, Division I college interest in area linemen keeps growing in size. St. Francis (Pa.) is following suit with a number of other FCS schools in the market for front-line talent by making inroads to Westmoreland County programs. Two more local players received scholarship offers this...
Springdale girls soccer hopes new coach is a hit
A lot of hit songs have come out of Liverpool, England. Bands like the Beatles, A Flock of Seagulls and 1980’s sensation Rick Astley all claim the city as home. Springdale’s betting it found the next big hit in new girls soccer coach and Liverpool native Marc Bentley as the...
Clairton, McGuffey schedule Week 1 football game
Left idle by forfeits, McGuffey and Clairton will have Week 1 football games after all. The two teams announced Monday that they will play one another Aug. 30 at McGuffey. Kickoff is 7 p.m. McGuffey was left without a Week 1 game when Northgate announced last week that it would...
Aliquippa linebacker Zuriah Fisher sets commitment dateVideo
Aliquippa’s Zuriah Fisher hasn’t picked his college but the star linebacker did set a commitment date. The rising senior will commit Aug. 5, he said Sunday on Twitter. Fisher lists nearly two dozen FBS offers. His most recent came last month from Texas A&M. He also has Pitt, Penn State...
Powerade field adds nationally ranked team
When Canon-McMillan athletic director and Powerade Tournament director Frank Vulcano announced the 2019 holiday wrestling tournament field in June, he said he was still hoping to add one of the top teams in the country. He did when perennial private school power Wyoming Seminary agreed to come to the Dec....
Alabama, rarely seen around WPIAL, offers Gateway junior Derrick Davis
Joe Namath starred there in the 1960s and Robert Foster picked Alabama earlier this decade, but Crimson Tide football offers don’t appear all that often in the WPIAL. Saturday, one arrived. Gateway’s Derrick Davis announced a scholarship offer from Alabama, adding to the rising junior’s status as one of Pennsylvania’s...
North Catholic’s Kylee Lewandowski commits to Richmond
North Catholic’s Kylee Lewandowski, one of the WPIAL’s top rising seniors, committed Saturday to Richmond. The 6-foot-1 guard had more than a dozen offers. She chose the Spiders over offers from Bryant, Bucknell, Denver, Fairfield, Fordham, Hartford, Marshall, Miami (Ohio), Niagara, Quinnipiac, Xavier and Western Michigan. Lewandowski announced her decision...
Darren Rogers starred on, off the field at Quaker Valley
Darren Rogers starred on the track, basketball court, football field and in the classroom while attending Quaker Valley. Despite graduating in 2006, Rogers will add more honors to his storied high school career when he joins the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame on Sept. 29 at a ceremony at...
Pine-Richland’s Tommy Beam: WVU ‘really fit my personality’
While Pine-Richland baseball player Tommy Beam is only halfway through his high school career, he decided he did not need the next two years to deliberate on his college plans. The Rams standout pitcher cemented his college decision July 5 when he announced on Twitter he had committed to play...
After narrowly missing out on postseason, Baldwin football is motivated
The Baldwin football team is highly motivated. Moreso than most. The Fighting Highlanders’ 2018 season ended with a bitter taste, as they missed out on a WPIAL Class 5A playoff berth by one game. They are laser-focused on advancing to the postseason this fall. “We have been doing just about...
Fox Chapel sophomore Shepherd doubles down on tennis training
Carissa Shepherd, a sophomore, is one of the key veterans returning to the Fox Chapel tennis team this fall. As a freshman, she played second singles and teamed up with Lexi Quackenbush to finish third at the WPIAL doubles tournament. “I think we’ll have a very good team this year,”...
WPIAL will re-evaluate how it schedules football after Northgate forfeits
The WPIAL will change the way it schedules nonconference football games after a team strategically forfeited for the second time in two years. Northgate decided to forfeit its Aug. 30 football game against McGuffey to avoid injuries to an already thin roster. The decision was made by the school’s administration,...
Gateway’s Derrick Davis adds Louisville offer as Gators take team tripVideo
The Gateway football team took a road trip this week to Louisville and linebacker Derrick Davis picked up a souvenir to bring home. The rising junior announced Thursday a scholarship offer the Cardinals. Gateway traveled there for seven-on-seven competitions with Louisville-area high schools St. Xavier, Fern Creek and Ballard. Along...
Peters Township wide receiver Josh Casilli commits to Penn
Peters Township’s Josh Casilli committed Thursday to Penn, choosing an Ivy League path that was wildly successful for another WPIAL wide receiver just a few years ago. Casilli chose the Quakers from a list of offers that included Duquesne, Robert Morris, Air Force, Cornell, Holy Cross, Rhode Island, Lafayette, Sacred...
Freeport’s Jarrett Heilman ready to test himself in Big 26 Classic
Jarrett Heilman will be among select company at this weekend’s Big 26 Baseball Classic in Harrisburg. The Freeport pitching standout will join other top rising juniors and seniors from Pennsylvania for the annual three-game series against a team from Maryland. Heilman said he’s excited for the opportunity. “I’ve played against...
Kiski Area’s Delp commits to wrestle at Bucknell
Nick Delp now knows where he will wrestle when his time in high school concludes. The Kiski Area rising senior gave a verbal commitment Wednesday to Division I Bucknell University. He made the announcement on Twitter. Committed!! ?? pic.twitter.com/rfRSJKFSHF— Nicholas Delp (@nicholas_delp12) July 24, 2019 Delp reached the 100-win milestone...
WPIAL’s best football players take break for TribLive HSSN event
High school football teams have worked out together for months in weight rooms and practice fields, but suddenly those offseason sessions have a more serious tone. Camp is only three weeks away. “Absolutely, things start to heat up,” Norwin quarterback Jake Salopek said. “We start to work a little bit...
George Guido: Burrell softball field undergoing facelift
Usually, 30 isn’t the age for a facelift, but Burrell’s softball field at Bon Air Elementary School is getting one. The facility — one of the finest in the Alle-Kiski Valley — is having work done this summer. W.G. Land, Inc. of Champion was awarded a $276,500 contract by the...
7 from WPIAL selected to Class AA boys volleyball all-state team
The Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its Class AA all-state team Monday, and eight from the WPIAL were selected. Representing the WPIAL are Ambridge’s Liam Buck (junior, outside hitter), Dorien Priddy (senior, setter) and Kevan Rotthoff (junior, libero); Derry’s John Kerr (senior, outside hitter) and Colton Nemcheck (senior, outside hitter);...
