High School category, Page 821
Chartiers Valley looks to keep ball rolling
It seems like every fall, there are those high school football programs around the WPIAL that are a gridiron force. No matter how many players they lose to graduation, they always find a way to be in the championship mix. However, there are also teams each season that burst on...
Experience, new addition to bolster Blackhawk
The 2020 season was a humbling reminder of how important health and preparation are for high school football teams. There is likely no one who understands that more than Blackhawk coach Zack Hayward. The Cougars, decimated by injuries and early shutdowns due to covid-19, limped to the finish line last...
New coach wants to change direction at Beaver
Cort Rowse is certainly no stranger to the tradition of the Beaver football program. Rowse, a Beaver grad and long-time assistant who had two sons play for the Bobcats program, was named head coach in February. He became just the third coach at Beaver in the last 55 years, following...
New Castle ready for playoff return after year to forget
After a rare down year in which New Castle saw its seven-year playoff streak snapped, Red Hurricanes coach Joe Cowart said his players better have a chip on their shoulder and a desire to get back on the right track. New Castle went 1-5 last year in a season shortened...
2021 HSSN football position-by-position breakdown: Scouting the defensive line
TribLive HSSN will break down the top players at one position per day until Week Zero. Here’s a look at the top defensive linemen for the 2021 season. 1. Sean FitzSimmons Central Valley Senior, 6-3, 275 FitzSimmons’ coach may praise the two-way lineman’s underrated blocking skills, but almost everyone else...
Mt. Pleasant’s Aaron Alakson hopes special bond with teammates translates to wins
It was an easy choice when Mt. Pleasant football coach Jason Fazekas was asked to name a player who was having a good camp. Aaron Alakson. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior will be counted on to be a leader for the Vikings. Alakson led the team in rushing with 630 yards...
Leechburg football to lean on talented tandem of Eli Rich, Braylan Lovelace
Every program looking toward advancing into WPIAL playoff contention needs star power. And Leechburg has it in senior Eli Rich and junior Braylan Lovelace. The Blue Devils’ quest to end its long drought of playoff appearances and winning seasons will center around that duo. Lovelace was a first-team Valley News...
Young Gateway golfers look to make impact this season
Paul Doonan sees a youth movement with his Gateway boys golf team. There is just one senior, with two juniors, eight sophomores and five freshmen on the Gators roster. “We’re very young,” Doonan said. “We graduated four or five kids from last year’s team who really carried the load. I...
Collier Township girl, 14, learning the ropes as boxer
Annamarie Armenti piled in the car Aug. 10 with her mom Sarah and boxing coach Chris Williams to make a 62-mile trek from Pittsburgh to Youngstown, Ohio. With less than a year of experience boxing, and at an age group and weight class that doesn’t feature much female competition, traveling...
South Hills notes: Thomas Jefferson grads team up at Duquesne
Notebook items from around the South Hills: Thomas Jefferson • TJ is 60-5 overall and 41-2 in regular-season play over the past five football seasons, including one 10-0 and two 9-0 records. The Jaguars have won 19 of 22 playoff games, along with four WPIAL and two PIAA titles, and...
Thomas Jefferson grad Lexi Dadig set to play basketball at next level
Lexi Dadig graduated with honors from Thomas Jefferson this spring. A quick, sharpshooting senior guard on the girls basketball team in 2020-21, Dadig plans to extend her playing days at the next level. The 5-foot-5 Dadig will continue her hoops career and education at Saint Vincent, which won the Presidents’...
Penn-Trafford girls golf looks to rebound after rare playoff miss
It was an unusual season for the Penn-Trafford girls’ golf season in 2020. Not only did the Warriors, like all high school athletic teams, endure the challenges of the coronavirus, the team failed to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs for only the second time in the last 16 seasons. “I...
Larger roster a boost for Pine-Richland girls golf
There were 14 girls who came to tryouts for the Pine-Richland girls golf team, and each one had a varying degree of experience. A couple of them, Emily Campbell and Ruby McCune, played on the varsity team last year. Others have played golf, but not in competition, and there’s some...
Hampton girls tennis vows to show improvement after winless season
Junior Abi Green is hoping to put a new spin on her 2021 season with the Hampton girls tennis team. The program’s top returning singles player worked this spring and summer to tweak her forehand and backhand strokes as the Talbots look to rebound from a winless season. “I worked...
Bethel Park football to feature deep group of receivers, linemen
A quick dose of Bethel Park football, by the numbers: • There are three quarterbacks listed on this year’s 70-player team roster — senior Max Blanc, a Youngstown State recruit, junior John Barr and freshman Jack Bruckner. “Max will be our leader on offense. We expect great things from him,”...
Led by defense, McGuffey feels ‘championship-level good’
On Oct. 23 last season, McGuffey beat Beth-Center to clinch an undefeated Class 2A Century Conference title. After earning the No. 2 seed in district playoffs, the Highlanders’ season ended in the first postseason game with a heartbreaking 20-13 loss to Serra Catholic. A successful season came to a sudden,...
Ligonier Valley continues to adjust in 2nd year in WPIAL
Ligonier Valley’s return to the WPIAL was a learning experience for football coach Roger Beitel in 2020. Not only did the Rams discover what type of styles and athleticism opponents had, they also got a geography lesson. Ligonier Valley played in six counties — Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Fayette, Greene and...
Apollo-Ridge excited to build on strong season
Apollo-Ridge was an experienced team in 2020. That experience helped the Vikings navigate the covid landscape and truncated season to a 6-1 overall record and a rout of perennial Class 2A contender Washington in the WPIAL playoffs. Graduation took away many of those main players — names such as Jake...
Players make new coach feel at home at Waynesburg
Making the transition to coach Waynesburg’s football team wasn’t something Aaron Giorgi was apprehensive about for long. The players Giorgi inherited took any lingering apprehension away shortly after camp started. “The kids have been working hard and made the transition easier for me personally,” said Giorgi, who was the head...
Washington regroups after difficult season
Pretty much everyone is glad 2020 is over. Nowhere is that truer than inside the Washington football program. Trying to replace one of the most successful senior classes in school history, the Prexies came into last season needing a little bit of time to reload. Instead, offseason workouts and preseason...
Chartiers-Houston returns experienced group to challenge in Century Conference
Chartiers-Houston has quite a luxury this season. The Bucs have experience returning at all the skill positions, on both sides of the line and each level of the defense. The key for 17th-year coach Terry Fetsko will be turning that experience into victories in the Class 2A Century Conference. “As...
Beth-Center turns back the clock as Tony Ruscitto returns to lead Bulldogs
It was late May when Joe Kuhns resigned after five years as head coach of the Beth-Center football team. The program that had a 17-year playoff run from 2003-18 had fallen on hard times, winning only one game in each of the last two seasons. So the school district decided...
Familiar coach guides Summit Academy’s return from 1-year hiatus
What’s old is new again at Summit Academy. After a two-year retirement, John McCloud is back at Summit as the head football coach. The 1972 Valley High School graduate was an assistant football coach, wrestling coach and athletic director for nearly 20 years and has dedicated his life to serving...
Steel Valley finding its way back to top
Just three years removed from its latest WPIAL football championship, Steel Valley is trying to find a way back to the top. “They’re getting it, slowly but surely,” said coach Ray Braszo, who returned to the Ironmen’s helm in 2019, a year after the school won its second WPIAL Class...
Shady Side Academy has new look, from mascot on down
The nickname might have been changed, but the goal is still the same. Shady Side Academy, with Bulldogs now as its moniker instead of Indians, is anxious to get back into WPIAL playoff contention. The school compiled a 1-3 conference record and was 2-4 overall in the truncated 2020 season....
