Chris Harlan stories, Page 15

ALTOONA — Chrys Black Jr. hoped to take a game ball home with him Saturday, surely a rare treat for a Central Catholic freshman in the state playoffs. If so, he surely earned it. A 5-foot-8 defensive back who wears No. 1, Black made a game-saving interception in the end...

ALTOONA — Bishop McDevitt is headed to the state finals, thanks to a decades-old commitment by the Crusaders to embrace WPIAL football. The District 3 champion got three more touchdowns from its record-setting quarterback, but Bishop McDevitt relied most on the physical running of Nazir Jones-Davis. The junior rushed 29...

ALTOONA — A dominant second quarter by Thomas Jefferson meant a trip to the state finals was just 24 minutes away. That made Friday’s loss tougher to take. Two failed fourth-down tries, a near-miss on a sure touchdown pass, a couple of lapses on defense, penalties and some other forgettable...

An SEC-bound quarterback with a record-setting arm and rock-solid game awaits Pine-Richland in the state semifinals. Bishop McDevitt senior Stone Saunders is a Kentucky recruit with a state-record 199 career touchdown passes. While preparing for Friday’s matchup with the District 3 champion, Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne talked with some coaches...

Whenever Thomas Jefferson holds a Thanksgiving Day practice, coach Bill Cherpak never knows who might show up. One year it was Barry Sanders. OK, so it wasn’t really the NFL legend. But instead, the Jaguars players have a favorite holiday tradition of wearing a jersey representing a favorite college team...

Former Serra Catholic assistant coach Akeeme Robinson was hired as head coach, the school announced Wednesday. Robinson replaces Jose Regus, who resigned after eight seasons and won a WPIAL title in 2021. Robinson, a Serra Catholic assistant from 2017-22, was defensive coordinator when the Eagles won the Class 2A title....

Chartiers Valley may start looking for a new football coach. The district’s school board was poised to open the jobs of coach Aaron Fitzpatrick and his assistants, according to the agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting. Chartiers Valley went 8-22 in three seasons under Fitzpatrick. The Colts finished 3-6 this fall...

Jay Timmons pointed to a corner of Acrisure Stadium where he watched games as a kid, remembering back to when his father played linebacker for the Steelers. So, yes, he knows a little about defense. “I’ve been dreaming of playing on this field for so long,” said Timmons, a Pine-Richland...

Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne wonders what the grass at Acrisure Stadium might look like when the WPIAL 5A final kicks off Saturday night. He’s not necessarily worried, just curious. The three WPIAL championship games LeDonne coached in previously were all played elsewhere on artificial turf. Peters Township’s T.J. Plack shares...

There are plenty of old football coach sayings that link defense and championships. Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne offered this one ahead of the WPIAL finals: “If they don’t score, they can’t win.” Simple enough. No. 1 Pine-Richland (10-1) plays No. 3 Peters Township (11-1) in a WPIAL Class 5A final...

Thirty-four years after landing his first head coaching job, Kiski Area football coach Sam Albert has decided those days are over. But he’s not ready to retire. Albert resigned Wednesday at Kiski Area after eight seasons as coach with plans to serve elsewhere next fall as an assistant. A former...

The PIAA has pushed Thomas Jefferson’s state playoff game back a day and changed the location of games involving Westinghouse and Central Catholic. Citing impending weather, the PIAA moved Thomas Jefferson’s Class 4A quarterfinal against District 9 champ Clearfield to 1 p.m. Saturday at Mansion Park in Altoona. It was...

The PIAA reversed an earlier WPIAL decision and ruled Imani Christian basketball player Kieshaun Demus eligible after an appeal hearing Tuesday. The 6-foot-3 sophomore guard transferred from North Hills. “He is super excited to know he’s back with the team and gets to compete and not lose his sophomore season,”...

After three straight losses here in the WPIAL finals, three words summed up Central Catholic’s mood this week: “Enough is enough.” This time, the Vikings were too much. Top-seeded Central Catholic scored on its first five possessions, played stifling defense and enacted the mercy rule early in the third quarter...

Xxavier Thomas is about to play in his fourth WPIAL championship game, a rather rare feat accomplished by the Central Catholic senior. But he admits he expects more out of this one after three runner-up finishes. “Hopefully, we can come out victorious,” said Thomas, a Penn State-bound cornerback and wide...

Josh Nindl celebrated Friday night with a WWE-style championship belt slung over his shoulder. The 6-foot-4, 305-pounder and his big-bodied cohorts on the line proved they were ready for a heavyweight rumble. Top-seeded Pine-Richland used their combined muscle to win at the line of scrimmage and defeat No. 5 Bethel...

There were concerns Aaron “Oobi” Strader had broken his collarbone late in the regular season, an injury that would’ve cost top-seeded Pine-Richland its quarterback. The injury was painful but proved less severe than first feared, letting the dual-threat sophomore return for a limited role in last week’s quarterfinal win. Strader...

McKeesport’s Matt Miller and Central Catholic’s Ryan Lehmeier will try to win their first WPIAL titles as head coaches this week. It won’t come easy, since their coaching counterparts in Saturday’s finals already have big trophy collections. Among active coaches, Thomas Jefferson’s Bill Cherpak and North Allegheny’s Art Walker rank...

Citing a “negativity” around the program, Ron Butschle resigned Tuesday as Seneca Valley’s football coach, saying his exit might give the team a fresh start. This was Butschle’s second stint as the Raiders head coach starting in 2017. The team went 39-42 in the past eight seasons and reached the...

Former Lincoln Park basketball star Meleek Thomas committed Monday to Arkansas. A 6-foot-4 guard, Thomas bypassed what would’ve been his senior season this winter in the WPIAL to join a high-profile league in Atlanta. Thomas had narrowed his college options to the Razorbacks, Pitt or UConn. In a social media...

It took a big win by another elite program to snap Aliquippa’s amazing WPIAL championship streak. Aliquippa had reached the WPIAL finals 16 years in a row, but that incredible run ended Friday night with a 38-21 loss to fellow titan Thomas Jefferson in the Class 4A semifinals. This will...

The WPIAL on Saturday released sites for the next round of football playoff games. Class 5A, 3A, 2A and A have semifinals Friday at various sites. The 6A and 4A finals are Saturday at Norwin as previously announced. WPIAL playoffs Class 6A Final 1-Central Catholic (9-2) vs. 2-North Allegheny (10-1)...

The streak is over. Sixteen years in a row, Aliquippa had remarkably reached the WPIAL finals, often by exploiting any mistake an opponent made. This time, the Quips were on the other side. Top-seeded Thomas Jefferson blocked two punts, scored the first 28 points and played mostly mistake-free football Friday...

Rarely does a WPIAL football team play the same opponent in back-to-back games, but that’s the situation facing Beaver. Two weeks after beating Avonworth in the regular-season finale, Beaver opens the WPIAL playoffs Friday night with another matchup against the Antelopes. The fourth-seeded Bobcats (8-2) earned a first-round bye, so...

Go back in time four years to when Thomas Jefferson and Aliquippa met in the 2020 WPIAL finals. It seemed then that a new rivalry was blossoming with the Quips’ arrival in Class 4A. Yet, they haven’t met since. “It’s been kind of surprising that we haven’t,” TJ coach Bill...