High School category, Page 970
PIAA, WPIAL delay team wrestling championships
The PIAA remains committed to crowning team wrestling champions this winter, but for now it doesn’t know when or where. The PIAA board voted Tuesday to postpone its team tournament until a date to be determined. The team tournament was delayed until after individual state champions are crowned March 12-13,...
PIAA relaxes preseason practice rule, anticipates restarting sports Jan. 4
Help has arrived for high school teams that fell behind schedule on their preseason practices. PIAA rules require 15 preseason workouts before starting competition, but the board Tuesday cut that number to 10 for teams this winter. As a result, many athletes will begin their winter seasons days sooner than...
PIAA files suit claiming it should not be subject to Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is suing the commonwealth and the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, alleging that it should not be subject to the state’s Right to Know Law. The complaint, filed in Commonwealth Court on Friday, comes nearly 12 years after Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law took effect...
5 Central Valley teammates voted all-state; Ameer Dudley named top player in 3A
Undefeated Central Valley was unmatched this season, a dominance that was rewarded in all-state voting Tuesday. Warriors quarterback Ameer Dudley was named the state’s Player of the Year in Class 3A, four teammates earned all-state honors and Mark Lyons was named Coach of the Year in a vote of Pennsylvania...
Beaver Falls trio leads 7 WPIAL players on Class 2A all-state football team
A month after winning a WPIAL football title, Beaver Falls teammates Josh Hough, Mitchell Myers and Tyler Jones have reason to celebrate again. The three seniors were among seven WPIAL players and one City League athlete who earned Class 2A all-state honors Tuesday in a vote of Pennsylvania football writers....
Jeannette’s Birch brothers among 7 WPIAL players named all-state in Class A
Jeannette brothers Brett and Brad Birch, who combined to lead the Jayhawks to a WPIAL title, are together again. Teammate James Sanders is there, too. They were among seven WPIAL players named all-state Tuesday in a vote of Pennsylvania football writers. Brad Birch, a freshman who passed for 1,676 yards...
Trib HSSN Top 20 stories of 2020: Gateway swimmer wraps up record-setting career
The most unique year in our lifetime is coming to an end. With so many mass starts and stops, highs and lows, just about all walks of life were affected by the coronavirus in 2020. High school sports were no different. The first two and a half months of the...
Waynesburg community mourns death of football coach Chad Coss
Devastating is the word West Greene athletic director Bill Simms used to describe the sudden death of Waynesburg football coach and close friend Chad Coss on Monday. A cause of death was not immediately known. Coss, 45, had been Waynesburg’s coach for the past three seasons. “It’s a shocker,” Simms...
WPIAL adopts ‘open tournament’ for basketball playoffs allowing all teams to participate
WPIAL basketball teams can forget about playoff scenarios this winter. Everybody’s already in. The basketball playoffs will be an open tournament and include all teams willing to participate, the WPIAL board decided Monday. Picking playoff qualifiers would be a difficult task if covid-related cancellations leave section standings unbalanced, so this...
After 5-month search, Shady Side Academy has new nickname
Shady Side Academy officially has a new mascot and nickname — the Bulldogs. The SSA Board of Trustees began a five-month search process in July after they decided to discontinue the use of the Indian as the school’s mascot and team name. During their search for a new mascot, a...
Trib HSSN Top 20 Stories of 2020: Burrell’s streak continues
The most unique year in our lifetime is coming to an end. With so many mass starts and stops, highs and lows, just about all walks of life were affected by the coronavirus in 2020. High school sports were no different. The first two and a half months of the...
After wild offseason, Kiski Area’s Enzo Morlacci ready to prove himself
Kiski Area wrestler Enzo Morlacci has had quite the year, but he’s made the most of the past seven months. “It’s been weird, but I couldn’t have asked for it to lay out any better,” Morlacci said. “I met some amazing coaches, and I got a lot better. I wouldn’t...
Subsection wrestling tournaments among ideas WPIAL board to consider
The WPIAL wrestling committee wants subsection tournaments added to the individual postseason schedule this winter as the league adjusts to covid-19 restrictions. The move would let additional wrestlers compete in the postseason while also complying with a PIAA directive to limit brackets to no more than eight athletes. “Everybody would...
Trib HSSN Top 20 Stories of 2020: After delayed start, fall sports move forward
The most unique year in our lifetime is coming to an end. With so many mass starts and stops, highs and lows, just about all walks of life were affected by the coronavirus in 2020. High school sports were no different. The first two and a half months of the...
New A-K Valley basketball coaches go through obstacles of another shutdown
The first year at the head of a program can be tough for any new coach, but imagine taking over a program in the middle of a pandemic. Then, as some might have expected, everything just stops. Practices. Games. In-person, face-to-face camaraderie. Everything. It’s all put on pause for three...
Greensburg Salem shuts down athletics until Jan. 26
Greensburg Salem athletes received some sobering news Friday when the school district announced that all sports will be halted until Jan 26. The decision, according to athletic director Frank Sundry, wasn’t easy, but it came after school officials listened to health experts about the current spread of the coronavirus. All...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Football standouts still mulling college offers
While Ethan Carr of Penn-Trafford, James Sanders of Jeannette and Jack Dilts of Kiski Area were the only Division I football signees from Westmoreland County on Wednesday, a number of others from the area could sign in February when the NCAA regular signing period begins. It runs from Feb. 3...
Trib HSSN Top 20 Stories of 2020: Butler boys basketball ends title drought
The most unique year in our lifetime is coming to an end. With so many mass starts and stops, highs and lows, just about all walks of life were affected by the coronavirus in 2020. High school sports were no different. The first two and a half months of the...
PIAA will consider relaxing 15-practice requirement for winter sports teams
Will the PIAA let athletes skip practice? Some coaches hope so. Currently, rules require all teams to complete 15 preseason practices before starting regular-season competition, but the PIAA board on Tuesday will consider reducing that number to 10. If not, that practice requirement could become a hindrance for teams that...
Athletes motivated to stay in shape during pause in high school sports
With repeated shutdowns of school sports and closing of local gyms, high school athletes have had to find their own ways to train throughout this year as they prepared for fall and winter sports. Now, due to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf “pausing” high school sports until Jan. 4, the ball...
Mars’ Blair Gerlach wins national coach of year award
Most people will be more than happy to throw away calendars from 2020 and hang a new docket on the wall. While the year has been downright revolting to the masses, it has been pretty good to Mars girls soccer coach Blair Gerlach. The leader of the Fightin’ Planets received...
New dates set for Powerade, Southmoreland wrestling tournaments
The Powerade Holiday Tournament has a new date. Tournament director Frank Vulcano said the event will take place Jan. 29-30 at Monroeville Convention Center. Powerade originally was scheduled for Dec. 28- 29, but Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to halt high school athletic until Jan. 4 in hopes of helping slow...
High school basketball teams appreciate, take lessons from pre-shutdown games
Last Friday, 71 WPIAL and City League boys and girls basketball teams kicked off their 2020-21 seasons in the shadow of a looming shutdown that will extend through the first couple of days of the New Year. In the climate of covid uncertainties, the games were a chance for those...
Trib HSSN Top 20 Stories of 2020: Mercifully, Central Valley football wins state title
The most unique year in our lifetime is coming to an end. With so many mass starts and stops, highs and lows, just about all walks of life were affected by the coronavirus in 2020. High school sports were no different. The first two and a half months of the...
North Catholic sweeps MVP awards on Allegheny 7 all-conference football team
Conference champion North Catholic was rewarded with nine first-team spots on the all-Allegheny Seven football team, and three Trojans earned individual awards in a vote of coaches. North Catholic quarterback Joey Prentice was named the conference’s offensive MVP and teammate Mathias Benson earned the defensive award. Jack Friel was honored...
