Don Rebel stories, Page 108

The calendar turning from September to October wasn’t the only big change last week. Several teams found out that it’s not always easy being No. 1. Three top-ranked teams lost their showdown matchup in Week 5 and also lost their grip on the top spot in their respective classifications. Class...

Seventeen years ago, Pine-Richland senior Mike Van Sickle, now a pro golfer, tamed the Mystic Rock Golf Course and shot a 3-over par 75 to capture his second straight WPIAL boys individual golf championship. On Tuesday, the best boys Class AAA golfers in the district will once again tee off...

After winning two of its first three football games, Upper St. Clair hit a rut. The Panthers were outscored 56-28 in back-to-back losses to Pine-Richland and Penn Hills to wrap up nonconference play with a record of 2-3. “We have battled through a brutal early schedule,” Upper St. Clair coach...

Section play in the 2021 WPIAL girls soccer regular season has less than two weeks left. The top four teams in each section qualify for the district playoffs. All teams tied for a playoff spot in which head-to-head does not break the tie all qualify for the postseason. Trib HSSN’s...

The first full week of WPIAL October soccer begins with a busy night on the pitch for the girls. The marquee match is for first place in Section 2-4A as Moon hosts Peters Township. The Tigers are 6-1 in the section while the Indians are even in the loss column...

No matter how much opposing teams try to slow him down, the man of Steel throws on his maroon and gold cape, takes the football and runs through, around and away from the freshly shredded defenses. Nijhay Burt might not be Superman or even Ironman, but he has put the...

There is nothing quite like another busy week of fall high school sports with a dash of winter scholastic sports sprinkled in during the first full week of October on the TribLive High School Sports Network. Trib HSSN has video and audio coverage of Week 6 of the high school...

WPIAL football now enters prime time. October football begins in Week 5 and yes, nearly all of the games are played in the evening. But prime time in this instance is conference play. For the final five weeks of the regular season starting on Friday, all 17 conferences in WPIAL...

To highlight the final day of September, the district is set to distribute golf gold on Thursday as the WPIAL Class 2A boys individual golf championships tee off at the Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley. Seventy-three district golfers hit the links with the hopes of winning a WPIAL championship. The...

As we hit the midway point of the regular season and September turns to October, there is change in the air in the weekly Trib 10 power rankings. After Belle Vernon scrambled back for two late touchdowns to edge top-ranked Thomas Jefferson, 28-21, in a Week 4 classic, there is...

With just over two weeks left in soccer section play around the WPIAL, each match with first-place implications takes on greater meaning as September winds down. Class 3A in WPIAL boys soccer has a pair of such clashes set for Wednesday. In Section 2-3A, first-place West Allegheny hosts Moon. The...

If you wanted to know which way to run to win cross country gold in WPIAL Class 3A in 2020, the answer was north. In the WPIAL boys cross country team championships, North Allegheny finished first, Butler second and Seneca Valley third. In the girls team championship results, North Allegheny...

The Mohawk football team won a combined three games in the last two years. The Warriors finished 1-6 last fall and 2-9 in the most recent full season in 2019. So when Mohawk started this year by winning one of its first three games, few paid attention. Folks are paying...

He scored the tying touchdown with under five minutes left in the game, then he ran 40 yards for the winning TD with under 10 seconds remaining in a battle between the two top teams in Class 4A of the WPIAL. Belle Vernon senior quarterback Devin Whitlock may not be...

The district individual golf postseason continues Monday with the WPIAL Class AAA boys semifinals. Seventy-two golfers qualified from the sectionals last week to participate in the district semifinals. District 7 produced the most participants with 19 golfers set to tee off at the Willowbrook Golf Course in Belle Vernon. Section...

We turn the calendar from September to October this week with plenty of high school sports on the TribLive High School Sports Network. Trib HSSN has video and audio coverage of Week 5 of the high school football season with 31 WPIAL, District 6, District 9 and independent high school...

Saturday marked the sixth meeting between Penn-Trafford and Shaler on the football field. The Warriors were a perfect 5-0 and had outscored the Titans, 257-15 in those wins. Even the return of Saturday homecoming festivities at Shaler couldn’t alter the one-sidedness of this series. Senior running back Cade Yacamelli scored...

Coming into this season, all eyes were on Chartiers Valley junior wide receiver Lamont Payne, and for good reason. Payne recently committed to play at Penn State. He was named to the Trib 25 Preseason All-Star Team. However, Payne isn’t the only weapon causing pain for opposing defenses. After a...

For some district football teams, it’s the second week of conference play. For others, it is the final tune-up before conference play is underway for all 17 WPIAL conferences. Welcome to Week 4 of the 2021 high school football season. There is a pair of huge matchups as No. 1...

Ten years ago, the two met in the City League championship game. On Thursday, University Prep and Allderdice square off to kick off Week 4 of the high school football season. The 2011 season was the first year for University Prep after the school was formed upon the closings of...

There was little movement in the Trib 10 power rankings after Week 3, but that could change after this weekend. One week after debuting in the Trib 10, McKeesport lost and fell back out, replaced by an Aliquippa team that had been part of the power rankings, exited for a...

After most of the individual boys golf sectionals here held earlier this week, it’s time for the girls to tee it up in three sections. The district will hold its girls individual golf sectionals on Wednesday at one Class 3A and both Class 2A sites. Qualifiers will earn a spot...

While there were no changes at the top, six teams lost their grip and dropped out of the latest edition of the Trib HSSN state football rankings. Only one classification, Class 4A, remained intact from Week 2. Harrisburg, Upper Dublin, Whitehall, Danville, Richland and Rochester got bounced after Week 3...

Even though the pendulum has swung due north with Seneca Valley and North Allegheny winning the four of the last five WPIAL boys soccer championships in the highest classification, there was a time when gold could be found in a four-mile radius of Route 19 in the South Hills of...

In 30 all-time meetings on the football field, Rochester has dominated Class A Big Seven Conference foe Union. The Rams are 25-5 overall. However, Union is now 5-4 in the last nine meetings after Friday’s conference opening stunner. “I don’t think I was the head coach for all those losses,...