Chris Harlan stories, Page 59

The WPIAL tried a new approach for scheduling nonconference football games this year by giving teams a say in who they play. Teams also got to say who they won’t play. Schools were surveyed this winter and asked to list five nonconference opponents they would prefer to face next fall...

The WPIAL has scheduled three basketball semifinals at Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center on Saturday starting with top-seeded Quaker Valley facing defending champion Lincoln Park in a Class 4A boys game at noon. They’re followed by two Class 6A girls semifinals. At 2 p.m., North Allegheny plays Upper St. Clair,...

Sharing the court with a couple of scorers bound for Division I colleges might make some freshmen timid. Not Lincoln Park’s Meleek Thomas, who waved for the basketball when the Leopards needed a fourth-quarter boost Wednesday night. And without hesitation, they passed it to him. Thomas missed much of this...

Butler intends to take legal action after the PIAA upheld a decision banning the football team from the District 10 playoffs, said the school’s athletic director. The PIAA board on Wednesday heard a nearly hour-long appeal from Butler and voted unanimously to sustain an earlier WPIAL ruling that made the...

Say goodbye to flying Hershey’s Kisses and giant chocolate bars. Pennsylvania high school athletes will have to find a new way to celebrate trips to the state championships. The PIAA board voted Wednesday to move the football and soccer championships to Cumberland Valley’s Chapman Field for at least the next...

Tuesday marked the playoff opener for the North Allegheny boys, but the Tigers felt they’d already had a postseason mindset for a while now. For that, they credit life in Section 1. So, when the postseason officially arrived, senior Matt McDonough made four 3-pointers in the first quarter, the team’s...

Steel Valley’s Makhai Valentine wears No. 1 and teammate Cruce Brookins is No. 2, fitting for a combination that delivered a knockout punch Monday night. Fourth-seeded Seton LaSalle was the heavyweight that fell. Brookins scored 30 points, Valentine had 23 and No. 13 seed Steel Valley pulled off a first-round...

The WPIAL has suspended a former Greensburg Central Catholic assistant football coach for violating PIAA rules against recruiting. Shane Goydich is banned from coaching at any PIAA school for one year for attempting to “influence or persuade one or more students to enroll in Greensburg Central Catholic,” WPIAL executive director...

Ayden Owens felt the sunshine of Southern California and the cold of Ann Arbor, Mich., in his first three years of college. Nowadays, you’ll find the former North Allegheny star breaking track and field records down south in Fayetteville, Ark. He knows that may surprise some. “I’ve taken a crazy...

When Matthew White was a little kid, he enjoyed going to high school basketball games and seeing the officials, because his grandfather was one of them. “From when I was very young, I have memories of him taking me with his partners back to the locker room and then going...

The WPIAL basketball committee had a question for playoff teams: “What have you done for me lately?” The Montour boys, the Aliquippa boys and a number of other qualifiers with strong regular-season finishes had the right answer. They received a bump to higher seeds Monday night when the WPIAL revealed...

Class 6A Favorite: North Hills went undefeated and ran away with the Section 1 title, putting the Indians in position to maybe win their first WPIAL title. They’re led by a trio of double-digit scorers, including 6-foot-7 sophomore Royce Parham (20.9 ppg) and 6-3 senior guards Alex Smith (18.6) and...

Laurel Highlands or New Castle? Mt. Lebanon or North Allegheny? Most No. 1 seeds were easy choices, but the WPIAL basketball committee was divided on a couple of others, said chairman Bill Cardone, whose committee met for nearly three hours Monday. The No. 1 seeds in Class 5A boys and...

Cole Young has a Twitter account, so the North Allegheny senior usually notices whenever someone publishes a new MLB mock draft or an updated list of high school baseball prospects. His name gets mentioned often nowadays. “It’s always fun reading it to see what some people say,” said Young, a...

The February Frenzy is about to heat up as WPIAL basketball teams hop on the Path to the Pete. The real WPIAL playoff pairings will be revealed at 5 p.m. Monday on TribLive HSSN. However, while we wait, here’s a look at how HSSN’s Don Rebel and Chris Harlan would...

The February Frenzy is about to heat up as WPIAL basketball teams hop on the Path to the Pete. The real WPIAL playoff pairings will be revealed at 5 p.m. Monday on TribLive HSSN. However, while we wait, here’s a look at how HSSN’s Don Rebel and Chris Harlan would...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 19-1, 2 2. Mt. Lebanon, 20-1, 1 3. Upper St. Clair, 17-4, 3 4. Norwin, 15-5, 4 5. Bethel Park, 10-9, NR Out: Peters Township (11-10, 5) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Chartiers Valley, 19-1, 1 2. South Fayette,...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. North Hills, 21-0, 1 2. Fox Chapel, 20-1, 2 3. Central Catholic, 17-5, 3 4. Mt. Lebanon, 13-8, NR 5. Upper St. Clair, 14-6, 4 Out: North Allegheny (14-8, 5) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Laurel Highlands, 20-0, 1 2. New...

Fox Chapel’s Eli Yofan went from laying under the hoop in pain in the third quarter to swinging on the rim in celebration in the fourth. The second-ranked Foxes extended their winning streak to 19 games and clinched the section title outright Friday night with a 75-65 victory over No....

The WPIAL is looking into possible recruiting violations by Greensburg Central Catholic. The WPIAL board on Wednesday ruled three transfers eligible after hearings, including eighth-grader Samir Crosby, who switched schools from Jeannette to Greensburg Central Catholic. However, the WPIAL has asked GCC administrators to respond in writing to “potential recruiting...

North Allegheny wrestling coach Sanshiro “Sunny” Abe, a former NCAA champion and Olympic wrestler, resigned with one meet left in the regular season and the individual tournaments still ahead. Athletic director Bob Bozzuto said Abe resigned Wednesday for “personal reasons,” but Bozzuto didn’t elaborate. Abe was in his seventh season...

Not many WPIAL football coaches have had two former players active in the NFL at the same time, but New Castle’s Joe Cowart did during his coaching tenure, which came to a close this winter. Cowart resigned in late January after 10 seasons as New Castle’s football coach, but will...

A young basketball team can age considerably in the short span of 25 days. Aliquippa had a noticeable growth spurt between its two games against Seton LaSalle, said Quips coach Nick Lackovich, who starts three sophomores and two juniors. About a month after a heart-breaking loss in overtime, Aliquippa played...

As a parent with three kids in the district, Jon LeDonne already wore a number of hats around Pine-Richland. Scorekeeper for middle school basketball. Coach for a fourth-grade girls team. Scorers’ table duty at youth wrestling matches. “I see him at every event,” athletic director Joe Gironda said. “You’d think...