Don Rebel stories, Page 136

It was another relatively quiet week with more and more teams starting to kick off the 2020 high school football season across the state. Eight of the 30 HSSN ranked teams did not play. For those that did, it was business as usual with a couple of exceptions. Defending PIAA...

Last fall, Peters Township enjoyed one of the best football seasons in school history. The Indians finished 12-2 and lost in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game to Gateway, 21-20. After having to sit out Week 1 due to covid-19 restrictions, Peters Township got very defensive in its 2020 season...

As summer turns to autumn, we celebrate with plenty of high school fall sports action this week here on the TribLive High School Sports Network. We turn our attention to Week 3 of the high school football season with 37 video and audio broadcasts with a special Monday night edition,...

Keystone Oaks coach Greg Perry has a reputation of being a “quarterback whisperer.” In his successful career as an assistant and head coach at Seton LaSalle and Keystone Oaks, he has coached standout scholastic quarterbacks such as Bruce Gradkowski, Bill Stull, Luke Brumbaugh, Tyler Perone and Alex Smith. All of...

After a delay of a couple of weeks, the 2020 WPIAL girls volleyball season has begun. A pair of local Class AAA teams that reached the playoffs last year entered this season with great expectations. South Fayette was the Section 2-AAA champion a year ago. The Lions reached the WPIAL...

Class 6A No. 4 Mt. Lebanon (0-0) at Canon-McMillan (0-1) 7 p.m. Friday, Big Mac Stadium in Canonsburg Coaches: Bob Palko, Mt. Lebanon; Mike Evans, Canon-McMillan Players to watch: Cooper Austin, Mt. Lebanon (Jr., 6-2, 255, OL/DL); Ryan Angott, Canon-McMillan (Jr., 5-10, 185, RB) Last week: Mt. Lebanon did not...

The first coaching change of the new WPIAL football season came quickly and was surrounded by confusion. One week into the new campaign, Freedom coach Greg Toney resigned after only one year and one game. Toney did not want to discuss the situation, but in a text to HSSN, the...

A high school football season like no other is underway in Western Pa. Here is the latest edition of the Trib 10 football power rankings for the 2020 season. There are no changes from last week as the ranked teams flexed their power on opening night to the tune of...

It was a quiet start to the 2020 high school football season this past week, and not just because fans were not allowed or were limited at stadiums across the state. No, there were very few ripples in the current rankings because there are still many schools and districts that...

In four years from 2016-19, Chartiers Valley football played in Class 5A and struggled, winning only four conference games and amassing an overall record of 10-30. After WPIAL realignment dropped the program to Class 4A, the Colts galloped to a quick start out of the gates with an impressive 34-7...

The high school fall sports season kicks into full gear this week on the TribLive High School Sports Network. We have the debut of WPIAL boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball and field hockey. We turn our attention to Week 2 of the high school football season with 36 video...

Anytime a key player changes position, there is a little hesitation, a little anxiousness and a whole lot of finger crossing. Belle Vernon made the move from an offense built around a pocket passer the last few years to an run-option dynamic by putting the ball in the hands of...

Gone is another natural grass field in the WPIAL as they rolled out the new turf at Frank Bongevingo Field at Glenn “Pop” Johnson Stadium at Shenango High School. However, there was nothing artificial about how the host Wildcats opened up the new season with a 25-12 win over rival...

Girls high school soccer teams that succeeded last fall begin this season trying to build on that momentum while those who stumbled look to a new year as a building block. Such it is for the Chartiers Valley girls soccer team. Last season, the Colts missed the playoff for a...

The 2020 high school sports season is underway. A season once thought to be in jeopardy of being canceled or possibly moved to the spring has kicked off for athletes playing football, field hockey, volleyball, golf, tennis, cross-country and soccer. Four area boys soccer teams reached the WPIAL playoffs a...

Class 6A Canon-McMillan (3-8) at No. #1 Central Catholic (12-2) 7 p.m. Friday, Graham Field in Wilkinsburg Coaches: Mike Evans, Canon-McMillan; Terry Totten, Central Catholic Players to watch: Ryan Angott, Canon-McMillan (Jr., 5-10, 185, RB); Edward Tillman, Central Catholic (Sr., 5-8, 165, RB) Four downs: 1. Junior Ryan Angott will...

The 2020 high school football season kicks off Friday around Pennsylvania with words such as finally, normalcy, excitement and tradition being used to describe games that were up in the air as recently as two weeks ago. Add another word when it comes to state rankings — chaos. First the...

Here is the first edition of the Trib 10 high school football power rankings for the 2020 season. These are the weekly rankings where you throw classifications out the window. We allow for some wiggle room for the smaller schools to participate. I mean, is Clairton or Beaver Falls going...

What a difference a couple of years make. For most of this recent decade, the Shaler football team entered a season just looking to win a game or two. From 2012-17, fans were forgetting the Titans as they struggled to a 2-56 overall record with five winless seasons. However, the...

For the last two years, South Park has played in the strongest of the two WPIAL Class 3A conferences — the Tri-County West. There, the Eagles battled some of the top teams in the class in Aliquippa, Beaver Falls and defending district champion Central Valley. You would think South Park...

The expansion to six classifications four years ago has been a bonanza for many of the WPIAL classes. Close regular season battles for playoff berths have led to some nail-biting moments in the postseason. That has not been the case for the WPIAL’s largest classification. While the number of teams...

In 2005, Mars finished with a 5-5 record after a Class AA first-round playoff loss to Burrell. That was the last time the Fightin’ Planets had a non-winning season. Lately, however, Mars has mastered regular season success, but the Planets aren’t aligning come playoff time. From 2006-15, Mars was able...

In LaRoi Johnson’s first year as head coach at Sto-Rox in 2018, the Vikings improved from the previous year to finish 6-4 but missed out on the Class A playoffs. The next step in the program’s growth under Johnson last year was more like a giant leap. Sto-Rox ended up...

Brentwood was close to having a golden season in 2019. The Spartans finished 10-3 overall with all three losses coming down to the wire. Brentwood lost its season opener to Keystone Oaks, 26-21, fell to Burgettstown for the Three Rivers Conference crown, 16-13, in Week 8 and then was eliminated...

The Carlynton football team won its season opener for a second straight year in 2019 and was actually sitting in first place at 2-0 after outscoring Bishop Canevin and Fort Cherry by a combined score of 77-20. Then a seven-game losing streak derailed its playoff hopes … again. With Southmoreland...