Chris Harlan stories

Ten years after high school football expanded to six classifications, the WPIAL might consider going back to four. That idea is among a handful of proposals submitted to the WPIAL office, varying plans for realigning conferences that the football steering committee will soon discuss. “There are four different possibilities, and...

Central Catholic offensive lineman James Halter committed Wednesday to Notre Dame, making him the second member of his family to choose the Fighting Irish. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound tackle is rated as a four-star prospect and ranked as the 10th-best junior in Pennsylvania, according to Rivals. He had nearly two dozen...

Television plans for the upcoming WPIAL football finals remain the same as last year, said the WPIAL administrator who oversees league championships. The four games played at Acrisure Stadium will again be televised through a partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers, while the two games played elsewhere will not. The WPIAL...

The WPIAL will soon have a new administrator at the top. The board on Tuesday accepted WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer’s resignation and voted to promote chief operating officer Vince Sortino to the top spot. The move is effective Dec. 20. “It’s just time to retire,” Seltzer said. “You know...

There were close to a dozen lopsided shutouts this week, but one final score stood out from the rest. Pine-Richland 67, North Allegheny 0. Traditionally a tough WPIAL rivalry game between neighbors in the north, this one wasn’t close. Bolstered by the return of two injured seniors, the Rams scored...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Central Catholic, 8-1, 1 2. North Allegheny, 7-2, 2 3. Norwin, 6-3, 3 4. Canon-McMillan, 4-5, 4 5. Mt. Lebanon, 2-7, NR Out: Seneca Valley (3-6, 5) Class 5A 1. Pine-Richland, 8-1, 1 2. Peters Township, 9-0, 2 3. Woodland Hills, 7-2, 3...

Inconsistency is a trait Montour doesn’t usually like, but this time the Spartans were glad their second half looked different than their first. Sophomore quarterback Brandon Bennett tossed two touchdowns and rushed for another as Montour scored all 34 of its points after halftime to defeat host Aliquippa, 34-20, Friday...

Jon LeDonne can still recall the day a big-name college football coach visited his high school. “I remember in my playing days, Paterno coming to Aliquippa for Josh Lay,” said LeDonne, now Pine-Richland’s coach. “You look down the hallway and say, ‘That’s Joe Paterno. That’s awesome.’” Now is around the...

The WPIAL calendar says the football playoffs don’t start until Halloween, but Aliquippa, Montour and the teams they’re tied with atop the Parkway Conference might disagree. “Our playoffs started this week,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said. “That’s how we’re looking at it. We knew at the beginning of the season...

Students attending a “faith-based” private school can play sports at their home public school district under a new PIAA policy. The policy — adopted to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a religious rights group — applies only when the students’ faith-based private school doesn’t offer a particular sport that...

High school sports have changed in many ways since Bob Lombardi joined the PIAA nearly four decades ago, including a few troubling trends he shared Wednesday while discussing his plans to retire as executive director. He was dismayed by a lack of sportsmanship, an unwillingness to adhere to rules and...

A slate of big games in Week 7 led to more big blowouts than big battles. Seven games matched opponents with undefeated conference records, and only one was decided by fewer than three touchdowns. Southmoreland held off Mt. Pleasant, 14-0, on Friday to stay atop the Interstate Conference standings. Elsewhere,...

Add Imani Christian’s Gabe Jenkins to the growing list of Penn State football commits reconsidering their futures. Jenkins, a highly recruited defensive back, decommitted on Sunday, following similar decisions this week by Pine-Richland wideout Khalil Taylor and McKeesport running back Kemon Spell. All three are juniors. Jenkins’ decision came after...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Central Catholic, 7-1, 1 2. North Allegheny, 6-1, 2 3. Norwin, 5-3, 3 4. Canon-McMillan 4-4, 5 5. Seneca Valley, 3-5, NR Out: Hempfield (4-4, 4) Class 5A 1. Pine-Richland, 7-1, 1 2. Peters Township, 8-0, 2 3. Woodland Hills, 6-2, 3 4....

Pine-Richland junior Khalil Taylor, one of the top wide receiver recruits nationally, is no longer committed to Penn State. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound wideout had committed to the Nittany Lions in March, but Taylor on Friday told recruiting website Rivals he had decommitted. Taylor on social media shared the Rivals story...

City League football power Westinghouse has forfeited a win over Butler for using an ineligible player. Westinghouse athletic director Anthony Hall confirmed the team’s forfeit and said the Week 4 victory at Butler was the only contest affected. Westinghouse had won 40-14. The matchup was a non-league game with no...

Airliners often fly at 35,000 feet, but that’s also just about the height senior Matt Sieg has lifted the Fort Cherry football program in his four years. Combined rushing and passing, Sieg has gained 11,528 yards of offense for the Rangers, leaving the quarterback on the doorstep of breaking another...

Status updates from the training staff became all too common for McKeesport coach Matt Miller, whose football team suffered a rash of injuries this season. Eventually, it wasn’t just the trainers. “Unfortunately, it actually got worse,” said Miller, who didn’t want anyone to rush back too soon. “We were checking...

The PIAA is one step away from adding a shot clock to high school basketball games statewide. A much-debated proposal to start using the clocks in the 2028-29 season earned a second vote of approval Wednesday when the PIAA board met in Mechanicsburg. The tentative plan must pass a third...

East Allegheny teacher Josh Miller woke up early Saturday morning to a half-dozen text messages, each sharing a video of Fox Chapel’s Harran Zureikat kicking a field goal the night before. Miller knew what that meant. “When (Rocco Marcantonio) from Hopewell hit a 55-yarder last year, everyone texted me. And...

There was no fiery halftime speech in Trinity’s locker room when the Hillers found themselves down by 15 points on Friday night. Coach Dan Knause said he didn’t see a need for one. “Honestly, the longer you coach, you learn the less you say the better it is sometimes,” Knause...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Central Catholic, 6-1, 1 2. North Allegheny, 6-1, 2 3. Norwin, 5-2, 3 4. Hempfield, 4-3, 4 5. Canon-McMillan 4-3, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Pine-Richland, 6-1, 1 2. Peters Township, 7-0, 2 3. Woodland Hills, 5-2, 3 4. Upper St. Clair,...

If last week’s win wasn’t already enough, then quarterback Marino Graham says this one surely proves New Castle is for real. The star freshman rushed for four touchdowns and passed for another as host New Castle defeated No. 4 Montour, 34-14, on Friday night at Taggart Stadium. The resurgent Red...

Chartiers Valley’s Steve Spence jokingly says there’s at least one difference between coaching football in college or high school. “In college, when things are going badly at practice, you can threaten them with, ‘Hey, we’re going to be here all night,’” Spence said with a laugh. “In high school, if...

Fireworks punctuate every New Castle touchdown at Taggart Stadium, a home-field tradition that the Red Hurricanes have enjoyed even more lately. Might the budget need an increase? “We always have a plethora of fireworks here,” New Castle coach Fred Mozzocio said. “It’s the fireworks capital of the world.” But the...