Chris Harlan stories, Page 82
Young North Catholic lineup wins battle of WPIAL champions over Mohawk
Ava Walker and Alayna Rocco are freshmen starters for North Catholic’s girls basketball team, and teammates Dacia Lewandowski and Tori Drevna are only sophomores. They might form the youngest starting lineup in the WPIAL this season, but their coach reminded them Thursday night how she won’t accept that as an...
PIAA moves state swimming, diving championships to high school venue
The state swimming championships are changing lanes. The PIAA board voted to move this winter’s state swimming and diving meet to Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg. Covid-19 gathering limits led the PIAA to find a host site other than Bucknell, PIAA associate executive director Melissa Mertz said Wednesday. Diving...
PIAA might keep football championships in November, start season earlier
Should the state football championship remain in November, even if that requires an earlier start date or smaller playoffs? That’s a question the PIAA wants its strategic planning committee to consider. For now it’s just talk, but the PIAA might take action before next season if the right plan comes...
Khalil Dinkins’ double-double helps North Allegheny top North Hills in overtime
As a future Penn State football player, there’s no questioning Khalil Dinkins’ athleticism. But his basketball coach has told him there’s one flaw in his game: He’s too nice. North Hills might disagree. Dinkins made a game-saving block at the end of regulation Tuesday night and then scored the first...
WPIAL denies postseason eligibility for Chartiers Valley girls basketball player
The Chartiers Valley girls will be missing one of their top players when the WPIAL basketball playoffs arrive this winter. Marian Turnbull, a junior who transferred from a school in Virginia, remains ineligible for the postseason after a hearing Monday with the WPIAL. The junior guard already was eligible for...
Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame delays induction ceremony until 2022
The Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame has delayed its next induction ceremony until 2022. The hall was scheduled to induct a 10-member class in May, but announced this week that the banquet was postponed until next year because of the coronavirus pandemic. “This was a unanimous decision of the...
Big 33 Football Classic’s Super Bowl streak extended for another year
The Big 33 Football Classic was canceled last spring but the game’s Super Bowl streak continues. All 55 Super Bowls have included at least one alumni from the high school football all-star game, a remarkable streak that was guaranteed to continue once the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs reached...
WPIAL boys basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 23, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Upper St. Clair, 7-1, 1 2. North Allegheny, 6-2, 3 3. Fox Chapel, 5-2, NR 4. Mt. Lebanon, 3-2, 2 5. Hempfield, 3-2, 4 Out: Butler (4-3, 5) Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. New Castle, 7-0, 1 2. Chartiers Valley, 8-1,...
WPIAL girls basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 23, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 7-0, 1 2. Upper St. Clair, 4-1, 2 3. Mt. Lebanon, 6-0, 3 4. Penn-Trafford, 6-0, NR 5. Bethel Park, 4-1, 5 Out: Norwin (5-1, 4) Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Trinity, 6-1, 2 2. Chartiers Valley, 7-1, 1...
Chartiers Valley’s state-record winning streak snapped at 64 games
The streak is over. Chartiers Valley’s girls basketball team lost for the first time in three seasons Saturday afternoon, snapping their state-record winning streak at 64 games with a 49-42 loss at Trinity. This was a nonsection matchup between the top teams in WPIAL Class 5A, and second-ranked Trinity became...
North Allegheny swimmers continue to ‘shoot for excellence’
Swimmers aren’t yet sure how many of them will qualify for the WPIAL championship meet but that’s just the latest twist in what’s been a challenging winter. “The hardest part is there’s so much up in the air still,” North Allegheny coach Patrick Wenzel said. “We don’t know what’s going...
OLSH avenges last season’s only loss with mercy rule win over Aliquippa
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart waited more than a year for this chance to avenge its only loss from last season. The Chargers held nothing back. Jake DiMichele had 30 points and 16 rebounds, Dante Spadafora added 18 points and OLSH celebrated a mercy rule victory over Aliquippa, 77-39,...
New Castle backs up No. 1 ranking with victory over No. 2 Chartiers Valley
New Castle joined a larger classification this winter but the results seem much the same. The top-ranked Red Hurricanes cooled down one of the WPIAL’s hottest scorers Tuesday night and ran away with a lopsided win over No. 2 Chartiers Valley, 73-45, solidifying their spot as the top team in...
Moon basketball’s Reilly Sunday commits to Duquesne
Moon point guard Reilly Sunday, who’s sidelined this basketball season with a knee injury, committed Tuesday to Duquesne. She announced her decision on Twitter. The 5-foot-10 guard would’ve been one of the WPIAL’s top juniors this season. Sunday was a 21-point scorer last season as a sophomore when Moon reached...
63! Chartiers Valley girls break state basketball win streak recordVideo
Silver balloons hung in Chartiers Valley’s locker room after Monday’s girls basketball game, with some spelling out “yay!” and others “63.” Those balloons were the only hint the team had just made history. Chartiers Valley extended its unmatched winning streak to 63 games with a 91-39 victory over Gateway, breaking...
WPIAL boys basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 16, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Upper St. Clair, 4-0, 1 2. Mt. Lebanon, 2-0, 3 3. North Allegheny, 3-1, 5 4. Hempfield, 2-1, NR 5. Butler, 2-1, 2 Out: Central Catholic (2-2, 4) Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. New Castle, 3-0, 2 2. Chartiers Valley, 6-0,...
WPIAL girls basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 16, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 4-0, 1 2. Upper St. Clair, 3-1, 2 3. Mt. Lebanon, 4-0, 3 4. Norwin, 3-0, 4 5. Bethel Park, 1-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Chartiers Valley, 5-0, 1 2. Trinity, 4-0, 2 3. Thomas...
Now healthy, Habib steps into new role for North Allegheny
Greg Habib’s junior season ended early last winter when a player fell into his leg at Seneca Valley’s gym, forced his knee inward and injured his medial collateral ligament. A lot can change in 12 months. Almost one year to the day, the North Allegheny senior returned to Seneca’s gym...
Chartiers Valley girls quietly tie longest winning streak in state basketball history
There were a couple of high fives when the clock reached zeroes Friday night but nothing more than usual as Chartiers Valley wrapped up a 53-point section win over Moon. There was no indication the Colts had just tied a state record. No idea they’d just won their 62nd consecutive...
Facing 1-game suspension, Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic resigns
Facing a one-game suspension handed down by his school district, Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic resigned instead. Furjanic submitted his resignation letter Friday morning, hours before he was expected to serve his suspension. A longtime college coach, Furjanic cited a poor working relationship with the school’s administration as...
Norwin investigates on-court incident between basketball coach, opposing player
The WPIAL won’t seek to discipline Norwin’s boys basketball coach for an on-court incident with a player since the school district has already addressed the issue. “We let schools take responsibility for what goes on,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said Thursday. In last week’s loss at Central Catholic, two...
Woodland Hills suspends boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic 1 game for social media post
Woodland Hills suspended boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic for one game in response to a social media post last week that criticized game officials. Furjanic confirmed the suspension Thursday after his appeal was denied by the school’s administration. He’ll sit out Friday’s home game against Berlin Brothersvalley. The WPIAL board...
WPIAL ‘publicly censures’ Woodland Hills basketball coach Matt Furjanic for tweet
Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic tweets mostly about presidential politics to his 436 Twitter followers, but the WPIAL found one of his other posts more controversial. The WPIAL board decided Wednesday that Furjanic should be publicly admonished for using social media to question a technical foul called against...
Blistering 32-point quarter carries new-look North Allegheny past Seneca Valley
North Allegheny’s boys basketball team hasn’t reached triple digits in the past five seasons, which isn’t all that surprising since scoring 100 points is rare in the WPIAL. But this year’s team has a chance. “We’re trying to put up as many as we can,” NA senior Greg Habib said....
Pittsburgh City League winter sports will start Jan. 25
City League sports teams can begin their winter seasons Jan. 25, two days before Pittsburgh Public Schools students are expected to resume in-person classes. PPS superintendent Anthony Hamlet announced the updated timeline Monday. The district’s administration had previously said winter sports would be delayed until at least Feb. 1. “As...
