Chris Harlan stories, Page 47

Aliquippa is trying to reach the WPIAL football finals for the 15th year in a row, meaning some of the players on the Quips roster weren’t born the last time the team failed to get there. That was in 2007. But as impressive as that record streak may be, Aliquippa...

For a year, McKeesport has wondered what might’ve been. What if the Tigers had won that dramatic double-overtime semifinal game last season against Aliquippa? Would they have followed the Quips’ path as WPIAL and PIAA champions? Nobody knows. “It’s something that’s kind of left a bad taste in our mouths,”...

Bill Cherpak could’ve succeeded in whatever career path he pursued, says his former high school football coach, recalling how the Steel Valley graduate already was a bright leader in those days. “He probably could’ve been a nuclear physicist or something, but he likes football,” said George Novak, who can understand...

The stadiums of Canon-McMillan and North Allegheny were chosen by the WPIAL to host two of the eight football semifinal matchups scheduled for Friday. Canon-McMillan will host the semifinal between Aliquippa and McKeesport while North Allegheny welcomes Thomas Jefferson and Central Valley from the other side of the Class 4A...

Central Catholic wideout Peter Gonzalez missed the first three weeks of the season after knee surgery, but quarterback Payton Wehner kept throwing him passes anyway, while he worked his way back to the field. Now, they’re among the top quarterback-receiver duos in the WPIAL. “Me and Payton just built that...

There was a new piece of equipment on the field at Central Catholic football practice this week: a five-gallon water jug. “We’ve been dumping the balls in water all week,” said quarterback Payton Wehner, whose team was getting ready for a waterlogged WPIAL semifinal Friday night at Mt. Lebanon. “We’ve...

Twenty-seven years ago, Thomas Jefferson started the 1995 football season with a 15-0 win over Belle Vernon behind a first-year head coach named Bill Cherpak. That was win No. 1. Now, almost three decades later, Cherpak could celebrate a much bigger milestone this week that would put him in elite...

Don’t forget to bring an umbrella or two. The WPIAL plans to keep its playoff football games on Friday night as scheduled despite a weather forecast that predicts heavy rains across Pennsylvania from the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole. Another PIAA district moved games to Thursday, but the WPIAL is...

The WPIAL cleared Imani Christian transfer Damon Givner to play his sophomore basketball season with the Saints, but two others were ruled ineligible after separate hearings Tuesday in Green Tree. Kylan Holmes and Robert Sledge were both ruled ineligible in the sport for one year, said WPIAL executive director Scott...

The WPIAL ruled Serra Catholic transfers Matt McNeal and David Jordan fully eligible after the sophomores attended an eligibility hearing Monday in Green Tree. Their transfers raised flags with the WPIAL mainly because both transferred from Woodland Hills. “The board wanted more information because you had two kids leaving one...

The WPIAL chose Canon-McMillan and Gateway to host Class 5A semifinals Friday night. Allegheny Six rivals Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair will rematch at Canon-McMillan. Northeast opponents Pine-Richland and Woodland Hills will play at Gateway. The WPIAL on Saturday released sites for the next round of playoff games. Many...

The drive home from Burgettstown to Lawrence County takes about an hour, but the Union football team had a slight detour Friday night. “Our bus driver took a wrong turn, so it added some time,” coach Kim Niedbala said with a laugh, “but it’s all good.” Winning sure helps everyone’s...

North Allegheny swept the big-school WPIAL cross country team titles this fall for the fifth year in a row, adding two more banners to a long list of league championships. But coach John Neff points to another list that’s also remarkably long — the number of runners who’ve worn a...

Upper St. Clair quarterback Julian Dahlem lost his starting job last month and hadn’t attempted a pass in weeks, yet the sophomore threw a season-saving touchdown Friday night. With the offense needing a late spark, Dahlem was inserted at quarterback in the fourth quarter and led the Panthers on an...

In WPIAL Class 5A, is eight enough? Consider, Gateway and Upper St. Clair each lost only once in conference play, yet they’re matched head-to-head in the first round of a brutal WPIAL Class 5A bracket that was reduced this season to eight teams. “It’s hard to complain wherever you ended...

An injured ankle had Jamaal Brown sidelined at this time last year, making him an unhappy spectator when Upper St. Clair lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Panthers haven’t won a WPIAL playoff game since 2019, back when Brown was a freshman attending high school in Florida,...

The Butler football team will have a chance to win a District 10 championship thanks to a school district victory Thursday in court. A Commonwealth Court judge denied a PIAA request that would’ve kept Butler out of the District 10 playoffs, clearing the way for the Golden Tornado to take...

The WPIAL cleared Lincoln Park transfers Maddie Syka and Abbi Jannuzi to play girls basketball in the regular season this winter after holding separate eligibility hearings Tuesday in Green Tree. Blackhawk had flagged their transfers as maybe motivated by athletics since both played for the same AAU program, but the...

You might say the WPIAL is transferring offices. The league plans to move into a newly purchased building on Swallow Hill Road in Scott Township that’s about 6 miles south of the Green Tree office space the WPIAL has called home for more than 20 years. The cost was $340,000....

Some folks count sheep. As co-chairs of the WPIAL football committee, Norwin athletic director Mike Burrell and Brentwood principal Jason Olexa spent the final night of the regular season endlessly counting tiebreaker points before they could fall asleep. This year, there was more counting to do than usual after the...

Wayne Wade was already envisioning one more Friday night in Clairton under the lights and the festivities that accompany a home football game in the WPIAL playoffs. Now, he’s left to wonder what time the team bus must leave to beat traffic. “It’s unfair to our kids not to have...

Class 6A Favorite: North Allegheny, which is seeking its first WPIAL title since 2012, took care of business in the regular season. The Tigers went 4-0 in conference play to finish alone in first place, but didn’t blow anybody away in the process. They had a one-point win, a four-point...

Defending WPIAL champions Aliquippa and Bishop Canevin were among the six teams that earned No. 1 seeds for the upcoming football playoffs when brackets were revealed online Saturday on TribLive HSSN. Aliquippa is the defending Class 4A champion and Canevin is trying to repeat in Class A. The other top...

Someday, the state’s best female wrestlers will be crowned PIAA champions at Giant Center in matches held alongside the boys, if advocates for the sport get their wish. “We’d like it to be at Hershey with the boys, that’s the goal,” said North Allegheny coach Dan Heckert, part of a...

The WPIAL football playoff brackets will be revealed at 2 p.m. Saturday on TribLive HSSN. In the meantime, here’s a look at what those brackets might look like, according to HSSN’s Don Rebel and Chris Harlan. Class 6A Chris Harlan’s bracket No. 4 Canon-McMillan at No. 1 North Allegheny No....