Don Rebel stories, Page 116
Trib HSSN broadcasts for the week starting Monday, Sept. 6
With the traditional end-of-summer holiday weekend behind us, we labor toward a busy week of high school sports on the TribLive High School Sports Network. Trib HSSN has video and audio coverage of Week 2 of the high school football season with 36 WPIAL and District 6 high school football...
McKeesport edges Woodland Hills in throwback showdown
For the better part of the second quarter Saturday afternoon, the scoreboard clock at McKeesport was not operational. For all of three quarters, fans may have thought the entire scoreboard wasn’t working — neither team registered a point. However, both teams broke through in the fourth quarter with one touchdown...
Trib HSSN don’t-miss high school football matchups for 2021 Week 1
In what we hope is not a flashback to last year, five area high school football games slated for this holiday weekend have been postponed due to covid-19 related issues. Beaver at Central Valley, Hopewell at Blackhawk, Riverview at Chartiers-Houston, Kirtland (Ohio) at Westinghouse and Butler at Erie have been...
Trib 10: Gateway tops 1st power poll of season
Once again this season, teams across the WPIAL can flex their muscles when the Trib 10 power rankings are released each week. Could a Class 2A school beat most 6A schools? Probably not, but these rankings are more like fantasy booking to determine the elite teams each week in District...
Trib HSSN State Football Rankings for Aug. 31, 2021
The first edition of the weekly 2021 HSSN state football rankings is here with a lot of familiar faces from the end of the 2020 high school football season. Five defending PIAA champions are back at the top of their class with St. Joe’s Prep (6A), Thomas Jefferson (4A), Central...
Trib HSSN Football Team of the Week 2021: Week Zero
On Sept. 22, 2017, Northgate edged Sto-Rox, 17-14 to improve the Flames’ record in the Class A Big Seven Conference to 2-2. Little did anybody know it would be the last Northgate football victory for nearly four years. The Flames torched a district high 32-game losing streak Friday when Northgate...
Trib HSSN broadcasts for the week starting Monday, Aug. 30
We turn the calendar from the heat of August to the comfort (fingers crossed) of September with another busy weekend of high school football on the TribLive High School Sports Network. Trib HSSN has video and audio coverage of Week 1 of the high school football season with 42 WPIAL...
Trib HSSN Football Player of The Week 2021: Week Zero
If he wasn’t on the list of top quarterbacks to watch around the district in 2021, Carson Davidson has ‘thrown’ his hat in the ring after a big start in Week Zero. “He came in confident and didn’t get rattled,” Blackhawk coach Zack Hayward said. “Playing Beaver Falls at Beaver...
Westinghouse dominates Seton LaSalle, scores one for the City League
The dog days of summer produced another hot and steamy evening as Week Zero concluded Saturday at Dormont Stadium. Westinghouse is proving these are the dog days in the City League as well, as the Bulldogs are off and running toward what they hope is a third straight District 8...
Trib HSSN don’t-miss high school football matchups for Week Zero 2021
The 2021 high school football season kicks off this weekend with Week Zero games. All of the contests are nonconference. Here is a look at some of the top matchups in each class. Final records from 2020 are in parenthesis. Class 6A vs 5A Class 6A No. 2 Mt. Lebanon...
This week on Trib HSSN: Week of Aug. 26, 2021
Let the games begin! We kick off another season with August high school football for the first time in two years this weekend on the TribLive High School Sports Network. Trib HSSN has video and audio coverage of Week Zero of the new scholastic gridiron season with 33 WPIAL and...
Butler’s major rebuilding project making significant strides
In a move to save the football program, Butler school officials decided to leave the WPIAL for football only after consecutive 0-10 seasons in 2018-2019 and with roster numbers shrinking despite the school’s large enrollment. The Golden Tornado played an independent schedule in 2020 and early indications are looking good...
Independence breeds success for Albert Gallatin
It had been 35 years since the Albert Gallatin football team enjoyed a winning season when school district officials made the decision to leave the WPIAL in football only. The idea was to breathe new life into a program that was not even competing. In 2018, the Colonials finished 0-10...
Burgettstown looks to rebound from down season behind 1st-year coach
In searching for a new football coach for the first time in six years, Burgettstown went right next door with the hiring of Greg Marshall. Marshall was an assistant coach at West Allegheny, where he had also played quarterback until his graduation in 2005. Now he takes over for Mark...
Bishop Canevin continues to build winning atmosphere
In 2019, Bishop Canevin finished 1-9 and had to forfeit a game because of a lack of healthy players. In his first season as head coach at Bishop Canevin last year, Richard Johnson led the turnaround that resulted in a big roster and a winning season. “We were able to...
2021 WPIAL Class 6A football breakdown: District playoffs to now feature 5 teams
Class 6A may have been the hardest-hit classification when it came to playing football during a global pandemic in 2020. There are only eight football teams now in the biggest class in District 7. Seven weeks of conference play with four 6A games in those seven weeks equals 28 total...
Led by line, Montour out to finish strong
Following an opening night loss to Chartiers Valley, the 2020 Montour football team ripped off four straight wins and looked to be in good shape for a playoff spot with two Parkway Conference games remaining. However, the Spartans hit a wall and lost back-to-back games to conference champion Aliquippa and...
Chartiers Valley looks to keep ball rolling
It seems like every fall, there are those high school football programs around the WPIAL that are a gridiron force. No matter how many players they lose to graduation, they always find a way to be in the championship mix. However, there are also teams each season that burst on...
Led by defense, McGuffey feels ‘championship-level good’
On Oct. 23 last season, McGuffey beat Beth-Center to clinch an undefeated Class 2A Century Conference title. After earning the No. 2 seed in district playoffs, the Highlanders’ season ended in the first postseason game with a heartbreaking 20-13 loss to Serra Catholic. A successful season came to a sudden,...
Beth-Center turns back the clock as Tony Ruscitto returns to lead Bulldogs
It was late May when Joe Kuhns resigned after five years as head coach of the Beth-Center football team. The program that had a 17-year playoff run from 2003-18 had fallen on hard times, winning only one game in each of the last two seasons. So the school district decided...
Loaded Sto-Rox chasing elusive title
There were a lot of new faces for Sto-Rox in 2020 as the team that lost to Clairton in the 2019 Class A title game braced for what might be a bumpy ride moving up to Class 2A in 2020. However, it was the young Vikings who turned a season...
Carlynton looks to turn corner in more normal season
The Carlynton football team won its season opener for a third straight year in 2020, albeit via forfeit when Sto-Rox could not field a team for its Class 2A Three Rivers Conference opener. The Cougars also ended last season with a convincing victory over Riverview. In between, though, were losses...
Blue-chip QB boosts West Allegheny’s hopes
As September became October last season, West Allegheny was 3-1 and in good shape to earn one of eight Class 5A football playoff spots. However, the Indians lost their final three games and missed the postseason for a second straight year. West A coach Dave Schoppe wasn’t pleased with the...
South Fayette working toward Class 5A breakthrough
In the 2002 WPIAL football season, South Fayette moved up from Class A to AA, finished 4-5 and missed the playoffs. After 14 years and three WPIAL championships, the program made the big move from AA to 4A in 2016 with state expanding to six classifications. That year, the Lions...
Carlynton hires new girls volleyball, basketball coaches
While the summer months are down time from actual events going on, coaches and athletes are working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the upcoming season. That preparation is amped up a bit when new coaches are involved. Such is the case at Carlynton after athletic director Nate Milsom...
