High School category, Page 750
Sydney Lindeman takes Tribune-Review Westmoreland Girls Soccer Player of the Year honors
Soccer players can get pigeon-holed into a position and the duties that come with it. Franklin Regional senior Sydney Lindeman took the midfielder tag and stretched it three ways. Sure, she lived up to the job description, working the ball between defenders and forwards to create the best scoring opportunities....
Franklin Regional’s Anthony DiFalco again named Tribune-Review Westmoreland Boys Soccer Player of the Year
Special talents such as Anthony DiFalco don’t come along often. So when the four-year prep career of a player of his caliber comes to a close, the accomplishments, the full body of work, tend to be that much more impressive. Consider what DiFalco did at Franklin Regional: • He was...
Trib HSSN WPIAL girls soccer all-stars: Steel Valley’s Salopek takes game to next level
TribHSSN Fab 15 Player of the Year Kelsey Salopek Sr., F, Steel Valley As a Kent State commit, Kelsey Salopek already was on the WPIAL radar, but she took her individual talents a step farther as she led Steel Valley to its first WPIAL championship in its first try. The...
Trib HSSN WPIAL boys soccer all-stars: Franklin Regional’s DiFalco caps remarkable career
Trib HSSN Fab 15 Player of the Year Anthony DiFalco Sr., F, Franklin Regional Special talents like Anthony DiFalco don’t come along that often. So when the four-year prep career of a player of his caliber comes to a close, the accomplishments, the full body of work, tend to be...
Springdale boys basketball expects winning ways to continue
Winning is contagious. That’s what first-year Springdale boys basketball coach Kobi Phillippi loves about his team. The success his players had in fall sports rolls right into basketball season. “A lot of our kids are multisport athletes,” Phillippi said. “I think a lot of the kids have good coaches in...
Experienced backcourt gives Penn-Trafford postseason hope
Since the inception of the six PIAA classifications, the Penn-Trafford boys basketball team has followed a steady uptrend. The Warriors had just five wins during the 2016-17 season, but finished with double-digit wins the past three seasons and advanced to the WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinals a year ago. Getting back...
Springdale girls basketball team ready to make noise in playoffs
There’s an air of quiet confidence and cautious optimism that surrounds the Springdale girls basketball team, and there should be. Coming off their first postseason appearance since the 2012-13 season, Springdale feels like it has all the necessary pieces. Simply put, it’s postseason or bust. “We built this from the...
Penn-Trafford girls basketball looking to take next step after reaching playoffs last season
The Penn Trafford girls basketball team made a return to the WPIAL playoffs last winter. The Warriors, who finished 10-7 and 9-5 in Section 1-6A, started the season with six consecutive wins but stumbled down the stretch before falling to Baldwin in the first round of the playoffs. This year’s...
George Guido: Wrestlers now limited in number of matches per day
As wrestling and other winter sports prepare to take center stage starting Friday, the only real change in wrestling rules regards matches in one day. Now, wrestlers cannot represent their school in more than one weight class in any meet or wrestle in more than five matches in one day...
Mt. Lebanon trounces State College, earns 1st trip to Hershey for state football finals
ALTOONA — Mt. Lebanon already proved itself as the best team in the WPIAL. Last week they added the title of best team in all of Western Pennsylvania. Now, the Blue Devils are thinking bigger. “We want to show we’re the best team in the state,” said senior Eli Heidenreich,...
Central Valley’s Sean FitzSimmons receives Bill Fralic Memorial Award
About 12 hours after getting showered with Hershey’s Kisses as he helped his team to a PIAA semifinal win, Sean FitzSimmons was putting away syrup-soaked pancakes in a room full of former Pitt football greats. It’s been a pretty sweet couple of days for the senior from Central Valley. After...
With new starting lineup, Sewickley Academy girls look to return to WPIAL semifinals
Sewickley Academy girls basketball advanced to the WPIAL semifinal round the past two seasons. Although the Panthers may be hard-pressed to replace five senior starters from a year ago, they do have a talented group of athletes looking to make some noise this season. This year’s team is built around...
Thiero, Frank among veteran returning starters set to lead Quaker Valley
The Quaker Valley boys basketball team has two important characteristics: The Quakers are talented and experienced. That should lead to some difficult times for opponents this winter. Adou Thiero, Markus Frank, Jack Gardinier and Wil Dunda are returning senior starters. All are 6-feet tall or taller. “We return four seniors...
Thomas Jefferson outside hitter honored for ‘outstanding’ season
Thomas Jefferson captured the Section 3-3A championship with an unblemished 12-0 record this season. Nine members of the TJ squad were lauded as section all-stars. Junior OH Delaney Concannon, junior libero Cate Galioto, senior setter Caitlyn Chalovich and sophomore outside hitter Mia Fox were voted to the first team. The...
Gateway boys aim to challenge for Section 3-5A title
Gateway boys basketball coach Alvis Rogers said he has a lot to be excited about with his team as it is on the cusp of a new season in Monroeville. Four starters are back for the Gators who hope to challenge for the Section 3-5A title and make a deep...
Pine Creek Journal notebook: 6 football players make 1st team all-conference
The Pine-Richland Rams football team was well represented on the Class 5A Northeast Conference teams. Three offensive and three defensive players made first-team all-conference. Senior tackle Jalen Klemm, senior wide receiver Alex Gochis and junior wide receiver Andrew Mellis were the Rams that made first-team offense. Gochis had 48 receptions...
WPIAL championship near-miss drives Pine-Richland boys basketball
There are two major themes for the Pine-Richland boys basketball team this winter: They’re experienced and they won’t lack for motivation. The Rams have six seniors — Luke Shanahan, Joey Dudowski, Andrew Alexander, Andy Swartout, Jameson O’Toole and Nate Zavasky — who all played significant roles for a team that...
Expectations rising for veteran Plum wrestling team
Expectations are on the rise for the Plum wrestling team this winter. The Mustangs return several contributors from last year who had winning records and will be looking to make some noise in Class 3A. Coach Mike Supak expects his wrestlers to achieve team success as well as some individual...
Norwin Star notebook: Adam Bilinsky springs into action on hardwood
Adam Bilinsky can fly. He proved it during AAU basketball season in social media videos that showed him slam-dunking over defenders with ease. Adam Bilinsky T O O K O F F ???????? (@AdamBilinsky) @MasonElite2023 pic.twitter.com/aZpLiVaBj8— Prospect Media (@prospectmedia_) July 13, 2021 But the Norwin junior’s newfound leaping ability didn’t...
Bethel Park girls soccer continues resurgence with another playoff season
The turnaround began last year and continued into the 2021 season. After sitting out the WPIAL playoffs from 2015-18, Bethel Park’s girls soccer team qualified last year with a 6-4-2 section record, then continued its upswing this year. The Black Hawks went 5-1-1 in the home stretch of their schedule...
Thomas Jefferson football ends solid season with unusually short playoff run
Heinz Field had become a second home for the Thomas Jefferson football team in recent years. Not 2021. The two-time defending WPIAL and state champion Jaguars lost Nov. 19 to rival Belle Vernon, 21-7, at West Mifflin in the WPIAL semifinal round. TJ had won the past two and five...
New coach walks into great situation with talent-rich Bethel Park girls basketball program
There’s a new look to the Bethel Park girls basketball program. Samantha Loadman is in her first year as the team’s coach, taking over for longtime legendary floor boss Jonna Burke, who resigned to become a coach and physical education teacher at Shady Side Academy. Loadman is a local product....
Redbank Valley steals momentum, stops Bishop Canevin short of state finals
In one moment, Bishop Canevin went from potentially going up two scores to seeing Redbank Valley tie the game. It was a momentum stealer the Crusaders could not recover from. With the Crusaders driving inside the Redbank Valley 10 early in the third quarter, Chris Marshall intercepted a pass and...
Serra Catholic forces 6 more turnovers, upends Farrell to earn trip to PIAA championship game
Serra Catholic has developed a reputation as the most ball-hawking defense in the WPIAL, and nothing the Eagles did Friday night did anything to change that. In a PIAA Class 2A semifinal matchup with the Farrell Steelers of District 10, the Eagles used six takeaways to win 27-18, booking a...
Central Valley makes key defensive stop, keeps state title repeat hopes alive
With Martinsburg Central rallying for a potential game-tying touchdown inside the Central Valley 5, the Warriors needed a big stop Friday night. Matt Merritt tackled Red Dragons quarterback Jeff Hoenstine at the 2, and on fourth down, Hoenstine was chased into making an incomplete pass. On the next play from...
