Chris Harlan stories, Page 105

It wasn’t long ago that Thomas Jefferson and Central Valley were linked in a budding rivalry. The WPIAL contenders met three times in the Class AAA playoffs between 2010 and 2015. Central Valley won the first two and Thomas Jefferson won the third. That short-lived rivalry included two semifinals and...

Mt. Lebanon senior Patrick Anderson, the defending state cross country champion, committed to North Carolina. He announced his decision Wednesday on Twitter. Anderson, a contender to defend his title this fall, recently won the PIAA Foundation XC Invitational meet Sept. 21 at Hersheypark. He won the Red, White & Blue...

Baseball coach Steve Bucci, who owns both WPIAL and state titles, is leaving South Park for Baldwin, his alma mater. Bucci coached South Park for 16 seasons over two stints, the most recent beginning in 2011. He also coached at Bethel Park and Canon-McMillan, and celebrated a state title with...

Avonworth football standout Kyros Thorpe was among three transfers left ineligible for the postseason after the PIAA upheld earlier WPIAL decisions Wednesday. Carmichaels transfers Sydney Kuis (volleyball) and Jackson Machesky (basketball, baseball) also had their appeals denied Wednesday when the PIAA board met in Mechanicsburg, WPIAL president Scott Seltzer said....

Sixteen years later, high school football fans still marvel over Darrelle Revis’ performance in the 2003 state championship. If you missed it the first time, the Pennsylvania Cable Network will revist the game at 7 p.m. Saturday. The future NFL star scored five touchdowns as Aliquippa defeated Northern Lehigh, 32-27,...

All-section center Lexi Jackson, who averaged a double-double for Gateway’s girls basketball team, committed Saturday to Kent State. The 6-foot-3 senior averaged 16 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks last season for the Gators, who went 19-4 and reached the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals. Her best performance last winter was...

Not many WPIAL football teams have worked overtime this season, but regulation wasn’t enough for three games Friday night. That equals the number of WPIAL overtime games in the previous five weeks combined. In maybe the most dramatic, West Allegheny defeated Woodland Hills, 21-20, in an Allegheny Eight matchup decided...

WPIAL Football Class 6A Rk., Team, Rec., Last 1. North Allegheny, 6-0, 2 2. Central Catholic, 5-1, 3 3. Pine-Richland, 5-1, 1 4. Mt. Lebanon, 4-2, 4 5. Seneca Valley, 2-4, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Penn-Trafford, 5-1, 1 2. Peters Township, 6-0, 2 3. Gateway, 5-1, 3 4....

Central Catholic and Pine-Richland have a shared history that few recent rivalries can match. In each of the past six seasons, the team that won their regular-season matchup went on to win the WPIAL title. It’s served as a midseason championship barometer for the WPIAL’s largest classification. Pine-Richland won the...

Central Valley traveled 13 miles to play its first conference road game this season and only nine miles for its second, matchups with Beaver County rivals Blackhawk and Beaver Falls. This week, they’re road Warriors. A 70-mile drive each way awaits Central Valley on Friday night. The Warriors have reserved...

A WPIAL hearing scheduled Wednesday for the Allderdice and Connellsville boys soccer teams has been postponed. The hearing was delayed at Allderdice’s request, WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley said. A new date wasn’t immediately set. The WPIAL board voted unanimously last week to investigate allegations that the two boys soccer...

Citing a lack of healthy players, Shady Side Academy notified Apollo-Ridge on Monday that it will forfeit this week’s football game. Shady Side athletic director Gene Deal called the decision heartbreaking. The Indians started the season with 23 names on the roster but finished last week’s game with only 14...

Is there a WPIAL conference more volatile than the Northern? Even defending WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A champion Penn Hills has felt its share of close calls this season. The Indians remain undefeated in the conference, but they’ve won the past two weeks by 11 points combined. After rallying to...

WPIAL Football Class 6A 1. Pine-Richland, 5-0, 1 2. North Allegheny, 5-0, 2 3. Central Catholic, 4-1, 3 4. Mt. Lebanon, 3-2, 4 5. Seneca Valley, 2-3, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Penn-Trafford, 4-1, 1 2. Peters Township, 5-0, 2 3. Gateway, 4-1, 3 4. Penn Hills, 4-1, 4...

Representatives from Connellsville and Allderdice will meet next week to address allegations that the schools’ boys soccer teams used racial and anti-gay slurs. The WPIAL scheduled the hearing for Wednesday afternoon in a meeting room at the Pittsburgh Plaza Hotel, executive director Tim O’Malley said. The WPIAL board voted unanimously...

Bob Palko wants to build Mt. Lebanon into the “well-oiled machine” that his West Allegheny program was, but first, all of the parts have to be assembled correctly. “We’re trying to put the right pegs in the right holes,” Palko said. “We’re just trying to find out what our personality...

Clairton will try to do something that Mohawk, Rochester, Bishop Canevin and California couldn’t. The Bears will attempt to score against Laurel’s so-far perfect defense. The Spartans have shut out their first four opponents this season by a combined score of 135-0. In this era of high-scoring offenses, a dominant...

Citing a lack of healthy players, Bishop Canevin announced that it will forfeit this week’s football game against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The Class A Big Seven Conference teams were scheduled to play Saturday night at Dormont Stadium. “Several of our players have been diagnosed with concussions and...