Chris Harlan stories, Page 13
2025 WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball championship breakdown: Upper St. Clair vs. New Castle
WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball final No. 1 Upper St. Clair vs. No. 2 New Castle 9 p.m. Friday, Petersen Events Center On the air: Video livestream: NFHS Network WPIAL titles: Upper St. Clair 4 (2024, ‘21, ‘05, 1996), New Castle 14 (2021, ’19-17, ’14-12, 1999-97, ‘93, ‘82, ‘36, ‘27)...
2025 WPIAL Class A boys basketball championship breakdown: Neighborhood Academy vs. Serra Catholic
WPIAL Class A boys basketball championship No. 1 Neighborhood Academy vs. No. 2 Serra Catholic 5 p.m. Thursday, Petersen Events Center On the air: Video livestream: NFHS Network WPIAL titles: Neighborhood Academy 0, Serra Catholic 1 (2008) Neighborhood Academy (23-1) Coach: Jordan Marks Projected starting lineup No., Name, Ht., Cl.,...
Resurgent New Castle drops Mt. Lebanon to return to Class 6A title game
While celebrating a WPIAL semifinal win Monday night, New Castle’s Ralphie Blundo thought back to this time last year, when he and his teammates were already done for the winter. They’d missed the playoffs entirely. “It was almost embarrassing,” said Blundo, a senior who’d reached the WPIAL finals as both...
North Catholic turns in masterful performance in Class 4A semifinal win over Beaver
In a nearly 30-point win, North Catholic’s Jason Fredericks heard his coach keep urging him and his teammates to master the moment. It’s a phrase North Catholic coach Jim Rocco uses to sum up his team’s basketball philosophy. Nobody ever masters the game, Rocco admits, but he says their drive...
Offensively gifted Chartiers Valley leans on defense in WPIAL 5A quarterfinal victory over Moon
Chartiers Valley has a talented 2,000-point scorer in Jayden Davis, and the Colts have often shown a knack for beating teams on the offensive end of the floor. This time, they won at the other end. Chartiers Valley allowed only 24 points through three quarters Friday night, a determined defensive...
WPIAL sets semifinal sites, times for 2025 basketball playoffs
The WPIAL has set semifinal sites and times for all 24 basketball semifinals. The round starts Saturday with games in Class A and 4A boys and Class 3A and 5A girls. The semifinals continue Monday and Tuesday. Boys basketball Class 6A Monday’s games 1-Upper St. Clair (21-2) vs. 5-Central Catholic...
23 WPIAL, City League football players picked for 2025 Big School East-West Game
Five offensive and five defensive linemen were among the 23 WPIAL and City League football players selected for the 2025 PSFCA Big School East-West Game this spring. The roster was announced Friday. The Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association organizes two East-West all-star games each year, one for small schools (Class...
Central Catholic finds spark in 4th quarter to win defensive struggle with Fox Chapel
Central Catholic and Fox Chapel combined for five points in the first 5 minutes Thursday night, hinting at the struggle between two of the WPIAL best big-school defenses. They were tied midway through the fourth. A tie-breaking 3-pointer by Central Catholic’s Christian Williams sparked a late run for the Vikings,...
PIAA eliminates transgender athlete policy, changes language to comply with Trump’s executive order
The PIAA eliminated its one-sentence transgender athlete policy and changed language in its handbook to no longer ask member schools to determine those students’ “gender” but rather their “sex.” The changes were approved Wednesday by the PIAA board to comply with an executive order signed Feb. 5 by President Donald...
West Mifflin poised to hire former assistant B.J. Pugh as football coach
B.J. Pugh, a former West Mifflin quarterback and current teacher in the district, is expected to be hired Thursday as football coach at his alma mater. The school board agenda lists Pugh as the recommended candidate. A 1995 graduate, Pugh teaches elementary school and has coached a variety of West...
17 WPIAL football all-stars chosen for 2025 Small School East-West Game
WPIAL title-winning South Park teammates Eric Doerue, Troy Cunningham and Kenyan Brown were among 17 WPIAL football players chosen to compete in the PSFCA Small School East-West Game this spring. The roster was announced Thursday. The Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association organizes two East-West all-star games each year, one for...
Avonworth boys hold off Knoch in WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals
Avonworth maybe didn’t win the game in the first 5 minutes, but its hot start Wednesday night certainly shaped the final three quarters. The Antelopes ran out to an early 11-point lead, putting Knoch in a hole it couldn’t quite escape. Avonworth’s Rowan Carmichael bolstered his status as the WPIAL’s...
Liam Sheely overcomes shoulder injury with coach’s help as Mt. Lebanon makes late-season surge
Liam Sheely’s basketball coach is also a physical therapist, a combination that surely helped Mt. Lebanon’s leading scorer get back on the court this week. A 6-foot-3 junior and 18-point scorer, Sheely has endured a rather painful season. His latest setback was a shoulder aggravation one week ago that was...
Mt. Lebanon boys win rubber match with Norwin, advance to WPIAL Class 6A quarters
Mt. Lebanon’s Sam Deibert scored a game-high 24 points as the sixth-seeded Blue Devils ran away with 61-34 victory over No. 11 Norwin in a first-round rubber match Monday night in the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs. The section foes split their two regular-season matchups starting with a two-point overtime win...
‘It’s nice for us to be No. 1’: 50 years later, coach, players recall Richland baseball’s 1st section title
Whenever Rick Frederick visits the Pine-Richland gym nowadays, he admires the baseball banner hanging on the wall, the one that lists 18 section titles. The first was in 1975. He knows with certainty that the Rams couldn’t have won a section title any earlier. That’s because the high school didn’t...
12 WPIAL all-stars chosen for 2025 Big 33 Football Classic
Five offensive or defensive linemen were among a dozen WPIAL players chosen Friday to represent Pennsylvania in the Big 33 Football Classic this spring. The 68th playing of the annual all-star game is May 25 at Cumberland Valley. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. The Pennsylvania roster includes South Park’s Parker Cunningham,...
Rod Steele won’t return as West Mifflin football coach
West Mifflin intends to hire a football coach next week, but it won’t be incumbent Rod Steele. Steele was originally a finalist to retain his job but said Thursday he withdrew his name from consideration last month. All West Mifflin coaching jobs were open to applicants, with current coaches able...
Two-time champ Deer Lakes shows its playoff experience in beating Quaker Valley
Deer Lakes is still unbeaten in the WPIAL playoffs under coach Albie Fletcher, a remarkable three-year streak that added another win Friday night. The Lancers’ postseason poise was evident in this one. Seventh-seeded Deer Lakes upped its defensive intensity and scored 21 consecutive points in a decisive run that spanned...
WPIAL breaks unwritten rule about 1st-round rematches in basketball playoffs
Some WPIAL basketball teams won’t need to scout their playoff opponent much. Avoiding section rematches in the first round was an unwritten rule the WPIAL historically tried to follow, but this season the basketball steering committee at times moved away from that idea. The philosophical change was most obvious in...
Breaking down the 2025 WPIAL boys basketball playoff brackets
Breaking down the 2025 WPIAL boys basketball playoffs Class 6A Favorite: Defending WPIAL champion Upper St. Clair has some impressive size that’s tough to match, starting with 6-foot-10 senior Tyler Robbins (16 ppg), a Miami (Ohio) recruit. His sophomore brother Ryan Robbins is 6-7, and senior Kaamil Jackson is 6-6....
No time to waste for 3-time champion South Fayette as WPIAL reveals basketball playoff brackets
South Fayette girls basketball coach Bryan Bennett was surprised by what he saw when the WPIAL released playoff brackets Monday. His three-time defending champions were favored to win again as the No. 1 seed in Class 5A. Sure, that could’ve surprised somebody, but that wasn’t what surprised him. Bennett was...
WPIAL bracketology: Chris Harlan, Don Rebel forecast the 2025 boys basketball playoff pairings
The 2025 boys basketball playoff field is set with 85 teams in the six classifications. Class A heads straight into the quarterfinal round while the five other classifications start with first-round games. Class 5A has 17 teams with one pigtail game and 3A has a full 16-team bracket with no...
WPIAL bracketology: Don Rebel, Chris Harlan forecast the 2025 girls basketball playoff pairings
The 2025 girls basketball playoff field is set with 84 teams in six classifications. Class 6A girls starts with eight teams in the quarterfinals while Class 5A has a complete 16-team bracket and 3A is one short with 15. Both 4A and 2A have 17 teams, which means pigtail-mania. Class...
WPIAL boys basketball rankings: Week ending Feb. 9, 2025
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Upper St. Clair, 20-2, 1 2. New Castle, 18-3, 4 3. Imani Christian, 13-7, 3 4. Central Catholic, 13-8, 2 5. Mt. Lebanon, 14-7, NR Out: Fox Chapel (15-6, 5) Class 5A 1. Montour, 20-1, 1 2. Baldwin, 20-1, 2 3. Uniontown, 19-3,...
WPIAL girls basketball rankings: Week ending Feb. 9, 2025
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Norwin, 13-7, 1 2. Upper St. Clair, 15-6, 2 3. Seneca Valley, 15-5, 3 4. Canon-McMillan, 12-8, 5 5. Mt. Lebanon, 12-9, 4 Out: none Class 5A 1. Peters Township, 19-2, 1 2. South Fayette, 21-1, 2 3. Penn-Trafford, 22-0, 3 4. Shaler,...
