Chris Harlan stories, Page 103

Peters Township and Moon, co-champions in the Allegheny Eight, will play for the second time in six weeks when they meet Friday night in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal at West Allegheny. The WPIAL revealed Week 11 playoff sites Monday. Moon won 21-13 at home in Week 6. But that’s...

McGuffey waited 25 years for Friday night’s celebration. West Greene waited 26. New Brighton waited 18. Cornell had waited forever. Sometimes, a WPIAL playoff win arrives only once in a generation, a fact McGuffey junior Evan Wright and a few of his teammates understand well. McGuffey’s wait ended when the...

North Hills and Upper St. Clair haven’t played one another in nearly a decade, but a first-round matchup has stirred some nostalgia. “It seemed like back in the day, that’s who we were matched up with quite a bit,” said North Hills coach Pat Carey, a 1988 graduate. “That’s back...

North Hills’ Rowdie Rooters, the team’s famed hilltop cheering section, hasn’t celebrated a home playoff game at Martorelli Stadium in almost a decade. But when the WPIAL football playoffs start Friday night, North Hills will be among the teams playing on home turf, an advantage that’s proven to be significant....

Friday’s forecast predicts drier weather, but Thursday’s rain was enough to force two WPIAL football playoff games to be moved off grass. The WPIAL announced that Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Clairton will play their Class A first-round game at West Mifflin. They were schedule to play at...

The Cornell football team was hoping to play its first home playoff game since 1983, but a rainy forecast has changed those plans. Instead, Cornell and California will play at 7 p.m. Friday at West Allegheny in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs. The Raiders affectionally call...

Choosing the No. 1 seeds was maybe easier than usual for the WPIAL football committee with one exception: Class 2A. There, the committee had three undefeated teams to pick from. Avonworth (10-0) played the strongest schedule with wins over six playoff teams. Burgettstown (9-0) had the stingiest defense, allowing only...

Class 6A Favorite: It’s hard to say. Central Catholic, Pine-Richland and North Allegheny finished in a three-way tie for the conference title. The WPIAL needed tiebreakers to determine their spots in the playoff bracket. Central Catholic received the No. 1 seed because it ranked first among the three in the...

The field is set for the WPIAL football playoffs and the six brackets will be revealed Monday night. As always, everybody has an opinion on how those brackets should unfold. Many will guess and take stabs at what they feel will be the first-round matchups before the district makes them...

Many at Cornell couldn’t remember the football team ever hosting a playoff game, coach Ed Dawson said, but that’s understandable after more than three decades. Those memories are fuzzy because it happened just once — 36 years ago. It became a hot topic after Cornell clincheda first-round home game in...

WPIAL Football Class 6A 1. Central Catholic, 9-1, 2 2. Pine-Richland, 9-1, 3 3. North Allegheny, 9-1, 1 4. Mt. Lebanon, 6-4, 4 5. Seneca Valley, 4-6, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Penn-Trafford, 9-1, 1 2. Gateway, 8-2, 2 3. Penn Hills, 9-1, 3 4. Moon, 8-2, 4 5....

North Allegheny coach Art Walker hasn’t studied playoff scenarios or counted tiebreaker points ahead of Friday’s regular-season finale at Pine-Richland. This is all Walker cares to know: Win and North Allegheny claims the conference title outright. “That’s it,” he said. “We haven’t done any equations. We’re just worried about the...

Only one team has defeated Aliquippa in the past two seasons combined: Central Valley in Week 9 last year. That’s one loss in 706 days. It’s also the only loss in Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield’s two-year tenure. “You don’t have to remind me,” Warfield said, laughing. The Beaver County rivals...

Karen Arnold was named athletic director for Pittsburgh Public Schools on Thursday, making her the first woman to hold that position. Arnold, a former coach in the City League, will transition from her job as principal at Pittsburgh Fulton PreK-5, an elementary school in Highland Park. She replaces Mike Gavlik,...

The WPIAL found the evidence “credible,” but Connellsville and Allderdice won’t be punished for the racial and anti-gay slurs allegedly exchanged in a boys high school soccer match last month. Instead, both schools must implement “anti-discrimination, diversity and sensitivity training,” the WPIAL announced Tuesday, a day after players, coaches and...

The WPIAL denied an appeal from Clairton transfer Wayne Wade III on Monday, leaving the senior ineligible for the upcoming football playoffs. The WPIAL also denied a postseason eligibility waiver request from Beaver volleyball player Lanie French, a junior who transferred from Quaker Valley. She also played softball for the...

The WPIAL administration supports Ligonier Valley switching districts, if the school is released from PIAA District 6. The WPIAL board didn’t take any formal vote — that can’t come until after District 6 takes action — but it did discuss Ligonier Valley’s situation at Monday’s meeting in Green Tree. WPIAL...