Chris Harlan stories, Page 61
2022 WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball championship breakdown: Laurel Highlands vs. New Castle
No. 1 Laurel Highlands vs. No. 2 New Castle 9 p.m. Friday, Petersen Events Center On the air: Video livestream: TribHSSN.TribLive.com WPIAL titles: Laurel Highlands 2 (1968, 2020), New Castle 14 (1927, ’36, ’82, ’93, ’97, ’98, ‘99, 2012, ’13, ‘14, ’17, ’18, ’19, ‘21 ) Laurel Highlands (24-0) Coach:...
2022 WPIAL Class 3A boys basketball championship breakdown: Shady Side Academy vs. Avonworth
No. 3 Shady Side Academy vs. No. 8 Avonworth 5 p.m. Friday, Petersen Events Center On the air: Video livestream: TribHSSN.TribLive.com WPIAL titles: Avonworth 1 (1959), Shady Side Academy 1 (1999) Avonworth (18-6) Coach: Mike Mancuso 2, Rowan Carmichael, 5-8, fr., G 3, Jordan Kolenda, 6-2, sr., G 5, Colin...
Adou Thiero seals victory as Quaker Valley edges Montour for WPIAL Class 4A title
Adou Thiero endured the pain of a fractured thumb to avoid the hurt of another silver medal. The Quaker Valley senior made eight free throws in the final 72 seconds and delivered a key late-game block, finishing touches on his dominant double-double as the top-seeded Quakers defeated No. 2 Montour,...
2022 Big School East-West roster includes nearly 2 dozen WPIAL, City League players
State champions from Aliquippa, Mt. Lebanon and Penn-Trafford were among nearly two dozen WPIAL and City League players announced Thursday as all-stars for the Big School East-West Game this spring. Aliquippa teammates Cyair Clark (WR) and Tyrese Jones (OL), Mt. Lebanon’s Joey Peters (OL) and Owen Halter (DE) and Penn-Trafford’s...
11 WPIAL, City League football players picked for 2022 Small School East-West Game
The WPIAL’s leading rusher was among 11 WPIAL and City League players chosen Thursday for the Small School East-West Game this spring. Central Valley’s Landon Alexander, who topped 2,000 rushing yards last season for the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champion Warriors, was one of the running backs selected for...
2022 WPIAL Class 4A boys basketball championship breakdown: Quaker Valley vs. Montour
No. 1 Quaker Valley vs. No. 2 Montour 9 p.m. Thursday, Petersen Events Center On the air: Livestream: TribHSSN.TribLive.com; Radio: 1230 AM, 99.3 FM, 1460 AM WPIAL titles: Quaker Valley 1 (1997); Montour 2 (2011, ’13) Quaker Valley (22-0) Coach: Mike Mastroianni 3, Adou Thiero, 6-6, sr., G 4 Will...
What to watch in WPIAL finals: North Hills boys, 3 others seek 1st basketball title
North Hills senior Alex Smith and his older brother Nick have a strong sibling rivalry that carries over to the basketball court. Here’s a debate they just can’t seem to finish: Whose high school team was better, Alex’s or Nick’s? The younger brother hopes to have the last word in...
No. 1 North Hills reaches WPIAL finals with low-scoring win over Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon is notorious for consuming clock with long possessions, but when the Blue Devils did so Tuesday night, it was often because they found no easy route to the rim. No. 1 seed North Hills leaned on a stout half-court defense, allowed only three points in the first quarter...
14 WPIAL players chosen for 2022 Big 33 Football Classic
Fourteen players from the WPIAL were selected Tuesday for the Big 33 Football Classic, including four from Mt. Lebanon’s state championship team and two from Penn-Trafford. Mt. Lebanon quarterback Joey Daniels, running back Alex Tecza, wide receiver Eli Heidenreich and defensive tackle William Harvey were picked for the May 30...
Defending champion New Castle reaches WPIAL finals for 8th time in 11 years
The road to the WPIAL championship winds through gyms all across Western Pennsylvania, but New Castle rarely gets lost along the way. They know the route better than most. “This is the road we take every year,” senior Mike Wells said Monday night, after the Red Hurricanes clinched their eighth...
North Allegheny relies on balance in quest for 3rd straight Penguins Cup championship
As the hockey schedule reached late February, North Allegheny’s Connor Chi pushed his season-long scoring streak to 19 games. The senior recorded at least one goal or assist in every contest, cementing his spot as an elite scorer. But this winter, he’s had help. North Allegheny clinched the top spot...
Quaker Valley’s Adou Thiero scores 25 in semifinal win despite fractured thumb
Adou Thiero wore tape on the knee he injured last winter and a wrap on the thumb he fractured earlier this week. His junior season was cut short by one injury, costing his team a chance at a WPIAL title, so the Quaker Valley star was determined that this season...
Freshman Rylee Kalocay’s late-game heroics take Upper St. Clair back to WPIAL finals
Upper St. Clair freshman Rylee Kalocay didn’t start Saturday’s semifinal, but she certainly finished it. Kalocay scored her team’s final nine points including a tying 3-pointer, a go-ahead runner with 3.2 seconds left and two free throws with seven-tenths on the clock. Combined, that let No. 3 seed Upper St....
No. 1 North Hills celebrates 4th win over rival North Allegheny in WPIAL quarterfinals
As the saying goes, it’s tough to beat a basketball team three times in one season, but what about four? The sold-out crowd that packed into North Hills’ gym was there to find out. Indians sophomore Royce Parham scored 24 points, senior Alex Smith had 21, and No. 1 seed...
Ellwood City basketball coach Steve Antuono suspended 2 games after chaotic playoff loss
Game officials imposed a two-game suspension on Ellwood City boys basketball coach Steve Antuono for unsportsmanlike actions during a chaotic ending to Thursday night’s playoff loss. Antuono confronted officials and others and was assessed a “supplemental disqualification” after the top-seeded Wolverines were upset by No. 8 Avonworth, 66-55, in a...
Gateway upsets No. 3 Mars, earns 1st WPIAL semifinal appearance since 2012
Gateway was only a couple of minute away from upsetting No. 3 seed Mars, but for the Gators, those final moments seemed to last forever. This was a big moment for a team that hasn’t reached the WPIAL semifinals in a decade. “That last two minutes felt like an hour,”...
Schools get some say as WPIAL releases football schedules for 2022, ’23 seasons
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...
WPIAL schedules 3 basketball semifinals at Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center
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,...
Confident and now healthy, star freshman Meleek Thomas leads Lincoln Park past North Catholic
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 plans legal action after PIAA upholds WPIAL ruling keeping football team out of District 10 playoffs
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...
PIAA football, soccer championships moving from Hershey to Cumberland Valley
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...
Strong 1st quarter leads No. 8 North Allegheny past No. 9 Baldwin in WPIAL playoff opener
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 knocks out No. 4 Seton LaSalle with 1-2 punch in WPIAL playoff upset
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...
WPIAL suspends former Greensburg Central Catholic assistant football coach for recruiting
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...
North Allegheny grad Ayden Owens lands at Arkansas with record-setting splash
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...
