High School category, Page 331
Blackhawk makes adjustments, rolls past Greensburg Salem in WPIAL quarters
The Blackhawk girls defended their home court and mauled Greensburg Salem, 49-25, in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal Friday. The Cougars faced the Golden Lions earlier in the season, and Greensburg Salem took the 20-2 Cougars into overtime. Blackhawk came out on top 40-35, but going into the rematch, Blackhawk...
Elizabeth Forward buckles down on defense to oust Knoch in Class 4A quarterfinals
Elizabeth Forward got downright defensive Friday night, switching from man defense to a zone to stifle No. 6 Knoch and cruise into Tuesday’s WPIAL semifinals. The Warriors forced 25 turnovers, many leading to easy layups in transition, to pick up a 43-31 win over the visiting Knights (14-10). Elizabeth Forward...
Mt. Pleasant’s Greg Shaulis breaks out, reaches WPIAL wrestling semifinals
When the Mt. Pleasant wrestling team was mentioned the past few seasons, Dayton Pitzer, Jamison Poklembo and Dylan Pitzer stole the headlines. That didn’t bother senior Greg Shaulis. That’s because he knows it’s his time to shine at the WPIAL Class 2A championships at Chartiers Valley. Shaulis (32-4) advanced to...
Westmoreland high school basketball notebook: Franklin Regional boys continue storybook run
Jesse Reed was elated after his Franklin Regional boys flattened Gateway, 53-35, in the quarterfinals to keep their title chase on course. After spending a few minutes with family, the third-year boys basketball coach looked around an emptying gym at Norwin on Thursday night and flashed a face-covering smile. It...
Westmoreland WPIAL basketball playoff capsules: Games of Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024
WPIAL basketball playoffs Girls Class 2A Semifinals 12-South Side (15-9) vs. 1-Greensburg Central Catholic (18-5) 2 p.m. Saturday at AHN Arena, Peters Township Winner plays: Winner of 3-Serra Catholic (20-4)/2-Aliquippa (21-3) in championship 7 p.m. Feb. 29 at Petersen Events Center Coaches: Brent Darroch, South Side; Chris Skatell, GCC Players...
Blackhawk senior, Hampton sophomore win WPIAL Class 2A diving championships
Blackhawk senior Brecken Finkbeiner maintained the same spot on the podium as last year. Hampton sophomore Gabby Elk moved up two steps. Both left North Allegheny with WPIAL Class 2A diving championships Friday. Finkbeiner finished with a final score of 425.75, outpacing runner-up Jacob Hauser of Derry (395.05) and becoming...
Cheswick Christian Academy boys vie for 1st SWCAC title since 2015
The last time the Cheswick Christian boys basketball team won a Southwest Christian Athletic Conference championship was in 2015 when it captured the second of back-to-back league crowns. Since then, the Chargers have played for the title three times, most recently last season when they fell to Natrona Heights’ Harvest...
PSFCA announces rosters for 2024 East-West all-star football games
Forty WPIAL and City League football players were selected Friday to take part in a pair of East-West all-star games organized by the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association. The two games — one for small-school athletes and one for large schools — are May 19 at Cumberland Valley High School...
A-K Valley high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 24, 2024
WPIAL basketball playoffs Boys Class 5A Consolation tournament 12-Kiski Area (16-8) at 8-Fox Chapel (13-11) Noon Saturday Winner plays: Winner of 7-Gateway (17-7)/11-Bethel Park (12-12) in fifth-place game Wednesday (time, site TBD) Players to watch: Colin Keller, Kiski Area; Jefferson Moorefield-Brown, Fox Chapel Layup lines: Kiski Area dropped a 73-57...
WPIAL sets playoff sites, times for Monday’s basketball semifinals
The WPIAL has scheduled four semifinal doubleheaders in the basketball playoffs on Monday. The games are for Class 6A girls, 5A boys, 3A boys and A girls. The schedule includes a rematch between Franklin Regional and Shaler in the Class 5A boys bracket. The teams met in January for a...
Shaler pulls out low-scoring win over Bethel Park with 1 basket in 4th quarter
The numbers on the scoreboard sure seemed to be stuck. A few days after scoring more than 70 in its playoff opener, Shaler finished the third quarter Thursday tied at 24 in a grinding game that was playing right into its opponent’s plans. The Titans then made only one basket...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports on Feb. 23, 2024: Class 6A boys finally get postseason started
It’s the final night of the WPIAL basketball quarterfinals with boys Class 6A and 2A along with girls Class 5A and 4A second-round contests. As the classic rock group Boston once sang, “It’s been such a long time. I really should be goin’.” That is how the eight boys 6A...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Feb. 22, 2024
High schools Basketball Boys WPIAL playoffs Class 6A Quarterfinals Friday’s schedule Pine-Richland (7-15) at Mt. Lebanon (18-4), 8 p.m.; North Allegheny (11-11) at Baldwin (16-6), 7 p.m.; Canon-McMillan (10-12) vs. Central Catholic (14-8) at Gateway, 7 p.m.; Butler (15-6) at Upper St. Clair (17-5), 7 p.m. Class 5A Quarterfinals Thursday’s...
High school roundup for Feb. 22, 2024: Chartiers Valley stops Mt. Lebanon in Class 6A quarters
Lilah Turnbull scored 25 points to lead No. 5 Chartiers Valley to a 34-26 victory over No. 4 Mt. Lebanon in the WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball quarterfibnals Thursday night. The Colts (16-6), who took control of the game with an 8-2 advantage in the second quarter, will face No....
Franklin Regional keeps rolling, beats Gateway in quarters
Cam Rowell caught the basketball on the wing, squared up and fired. His 3-pointer splashed down just before the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter, and the Franklin Regional senior guard held his shooting hand in the air, his body frozen in a shooter’s pose. “I held it up...
No. 11 Burrell grinds out win over Shady Side Academy to reach Class 3A semifinals
The rubber matchup between Burrell and Shady Side Academy in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal Thursday went the way of the Bucs. But it wasn’t easy. None of the Burrell players thought it would be. In a grind of a game that went to the final seconds, the No. 11...
No. 3 Neshannock holds off No. 12 Derry in WPIAL quarters
For more than three quarters of Thursday’s WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal, Derry’s defense kept Neshannock sophomore David Kwiat in check. But Kwiat, who averages 16 points and is the Lancers’ leading scorer, found his touch. He drained three consecutive 3-pointers, scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter...
Deer Lakes fends off Ellwood City in chaotic final seconds of overtime
With a last-second shot, Collin Rodgers kept Deer Lakes’ hopes of defending its WPIAL Class 3A boys basketball championship alive. Rodgers scored after Nathaniel Moore stole an inbounds pass in the final seconds, and the top-seeded Lancers survived an upset bid by No. 9 Ellwood City in a 39-38 overtime...
Thomas Jefferson boys use strong shooting to pull away from Kiski Area
Playoff games typically are decided by which team can make timely plays, and it was Thomas Jefferson that used a strong offensive performance to hold off Kiski Area on Thursday night, 73-57, in a WPIAL Class 5A playoff game at Gateway. The No. 4 Jaguars (21-3) advanced to the WPIAL...
Riverview girls sink Monessen in Class A, advance to semifinals
The Monessen girls basketball team wanted to avenge a 25-point loss to Riverview from earlier this season when the teams met in a WPIAL Class A quarterfinal Thursday at Fox Chapel. But No. 4 Riverview wasn’t about to let its chance to reach the semifinals fall by the wayside. Katerina...
Top-seeded Norwin girls sharp in playoff-opening rout of Seneca Valley
Norwin girls basketball coach Brian Brozeski said his team played “challenged” basketball late in the regular season. Things weren’t quite right. While the top-seeded Knights were not as sharp as the coach had hoped for heading into the postseason — they had to sit through a 14-day layoff — the...
Kiski Area’s Veronica Flanagan gets back to WPIBL girls finals, wins championship
As a sophomore last season, Kiski Area’s Veronica Flanagan came within one win of a WPIBL girls singles championship, falling in the final match. As a junior, Flanagan got back to the finals Thursday evening, and this time, she was second to none. Flanagan saved her best game of the...
Bishop Canevin aims to win elusive title in PIHL Division 2 playoffs
Sometimes the puck just doesn’t bounce your way. It doesn’t help when that unlucky shot happens on the biggest stage of the season in sudden death. That uncomfortable memory for Bishop Canevin was embedded after falling in overtime on a “fluky” shot from the point against Ringgold in last year’s...
A-K Valley WPIAL basketball playoff capsules: Games for Friday, Feb. 23, 2024
WPIAL basketball playoffs Girls Class 4A Quarterfinals 5-Laurel Highlands (19-2) at 4-Highlands (16-6) 8 p.m. Friday Winner plays: Winner of 8-Greensburg Salem (16-7)/1-Blackhawk (20-2) Tuesday in semifinals (site/time TBD) Coaches: Shawn Bennis, Highlands; Stewart Davis, Laurel Highlands Players to watch: Kate Myers, Highlands; Sierra Jenkins, Laurel Highlands Layup lines: Highlands...
Westmoreland WPIAL basketball playoff capsules: Games for Friday, Feb. 23, 2024
WPIAL basketball playoffs Boys Class 2A Quarterfinals 10-Eden Christian (12-10) vs. 2-Greensburg Central Catholic (21-2) 8 p.m. Friday at Fox Chapel Winner plays: Winner of 6-Jeannette (14-7)/3-Northgate (17-5) on Tuesday in semifinals (time, site TBD) Coaches: Aaron Smith, Eden Christian; Christian Hyland, GCC Players to watch: Nathan Garrett, Eden Christian;...
