Dave Mackall stories, Page 12

Thirty-eight years. That’s how long Janine Vertacnik has been coaching basketball, most of it at the high school level. Thirty-eight years and counting, she said. Will she keep going, say, forever? “We’re working on it, but we’re not there yet,” the sixth-year Monessen girls coach joked. After leading the Greyhounds...

How far can Monessen go this year? A fair question in the Mon Valley, where things can get gritty. And the tough-minded Greyhounds, indeed, are a part of it. Pause. There’s the matter of last season’s ending, a sore chapter in Monessen’s storied basketball program. Nevertheless, in this new year...

The traditions at Thanksgiving are endless. The turkey trots, the parades and don’t forget about Charlie Brown. In Westmoreland County, volleyball enthusiasts were hoping the Westmoreland County Coaches Association All-Star Game continued a tradition that started last season and evolved into a second year Tuesday night at Ligonier Valley High...

She first excelled on the basketball court as a talented player in a remote, northeast corner of Westmoreland County before continuing on as a successful coach at the now defunct St. Clair school, where she is the all-time leading scorer. Later on, Laurel Valley icon Christy Hajjar enjoyed more prosperity...

It’s just Ligonier Valley’s misfortune. Since rejoining the WPIAL in 2020, the Rams have played in a section that has produced a District 7 champion in each season. In 2020-21, South Allegheny won the Class 3A title, followed by Shady Side Academy in 2021-22. Deer Lakes took the prize in...

Someone must have lit a fire under the Duquesne Dukes. Perhaps it was the Princeton Tigers, who in coldhearted fashion two days earlier handed Duquesne its first loss. Apparently, it wasn’t sitting well with the Dukes, who took out their frustrations Friday night on visiting Rider in the second game...

By now, it’s no secret Duquesne’s basketball schedule was assembled with postseason aspirations in mind. Not the College Basketball Invitational, where the Dukes made an appearance last season, mind you. Not even the National Invitation Tournament. “We’re building this to get to the (Atlantic 10 Tournament) championship and to get...

It’s early, but the Duquesne men’s basketball team already appears to be carving a niche. “We’re getting there. We’re just going to keep putting it together,” emerging sophomore point guard Kareem Rozier said. For the second game in a row, the Dukes overcame a lethargic first-half showing and scored at...

Like many players on a football field, Alex Torrance gets very little mention. It doesn’t bother him, though. As a longtime offensive lineman in high school and college, Torrance is used to it. Really, if you attended one of his games and you didn’t know him, he probably would blend...

A season of promise at Duquesne began Monday night with a heart-throbbing, two-point victory for a college basketball program that has been starving for substantial success. “That’s pretty much exactly how I thought it would go,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. Dae Dae Grant, voted to the Atlantic 10 Conference...

This time, things might be different. This time, there could be no excuses. It has been 45 years since Duquesne last appeared in an NCAA Tournament in men’s basketball. Perhaps, the once-proud Dukes finally will make their sixth showing in one of college sports’ biggest events. “We’re going to have...

They played Thunderstruck, among AC/DC’s most powerful anthems, after another lightning strike by the Penn Hills offense early in the fourth quarter Friday night of the Indians’ 63-28 rout of Penn-Trafford in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal football game at Yuhas McGinley Stadium. It was strike after strike as No....

A handout at Viking Stadium in Mt. Pleasant Township promoted the neighboring high school football rivalry between Mt. Pleasant and Southmoreland as “The Real Backyard Brawl.” The results suggest otherwise: Mt. Pleasant leads the all-time series 36-8. And that includes Southmoreland’s dominating 40-3 Interstate Conference victory Friday night. “They’ve dominated...

For Moon girls soccer coach Bill Pfeifer, winning never gets stale. Even after notching back-to-back PIAA championships, his two-time WPIAL champion Tigers continue to provide daily thrills. Thursday night on their home turf at Tiger Stadium was no different. In a particularly chippy atmosphere that saw multiple players tumbling to...

A funny thing happened Friday night at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium: Two winless high school football teams in conference play squared off with the winner still in the hunt for a WPIAL Class 3A playoff berth entering the final week of the regular season. Drew Ross passed for 133 yards...

Looking relaxed and satisfied, Ron Prady stood back and admired his team’s quiet celebration. The Latrobe football coach knows all too well the feeling of success and he wants his players to experience it as well. So far, so good. Quarterback John Wetzel rushed for three touchdowns and passed for...

It took a former Westmoreland County star and one of Pennsylvania’s top all-time high school receivers more than four years to find the end zone recently in a college football game. Aaron Tutino was hoping it wouldn’t take nearly as long to do it again. Tutino caught 61 touchdown passes...

A lively celebration enveloped Clearview Arena on Saturday, and for good reason: Division I hockey is back in the hockeytown of Pittsburgh. Outside Robert Morris Island Sports Center’s Neville Island complex, tailgaters were undeterred by a chill in the air as they partied between games of the men’s and women’s...

“Three yards and a cloud of dust.” The late Hall of Fame coach Woody Hayes’ run-first Ohio State football teams of several decades ago helped coin that popular gridiron cliche, a phrase sure to have come to the minds of fans Friday night at Ligonier’s foggy Weller Field. Hayes would’ve...

Jeannette’s steady climb back to respectability took another step forward Friday night. Is the WPIAL’s winningest football team all the way back? “I’m not ready to say it yet,” Jayhawks coach Tommy Paulone said. “The progress is pleasing, but we know there’s still work to do.” Payton Molter threw three...

Washington coach Mike Bosnic cracked a smile when reminded of his team’s elevated standing in the WPIAL rankings as the Pennsylvania high school football season nears the halfway point. The top-ranked Little Prexies have built quite a resume in the first half. “We actually talked about that this past week,”...

It’s been 23 years since Greensburg Salem has won a WPIAL playoff game in football, long enough for Ty George maybe to remember. After failing to qualify in 2022, the Golden Lions are attempting to make it back to the postseason in George’s first year as their coach. They took...

The spotlight on a pair of Westmoreland County running backs with 200-yard games last week during the opening night of high school football shifted Friday night to Southmoreland’s Da’sjon Craggette. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior ran every which way again, finishing with 193 yards and three touchdowns to lead the visiting...

ALTOONA — Paul Skenes’ highly anticipated Double-A debut with the Altoona Curve on Saturday turned out to be a dud. The No. 1 overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in July’s MLB Draft failed to get through the first inning of an Eastern League game against the Akron RubberDucks before...

Thomas Jefferson is hoping to extend its string of WPIAL playoff appearances in football to 29 this season. Judging by Friday’s opening night performance, the Jaguars could be well on their way. Running an offense using alternating quarterbacks, Thomas Jefferson, the No. 2-ranked WPIAL Class 4A team, jumped on Class...