Greg Macafee stories, Page 32
Alle-Kiski Valley basketball playoff capsules: Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020
Boys Class 6A Quarterfinals No. 2 Fox Chapel (21-1) vs. No. 7 Central Catholic (12-10) 1 p.m. Saturday at Plum Winner plays: Winner of No. 3 Mt. Lebanon (16-6)/No. 6 Bethel Park (14-8) on Wednesday in the semifinals Coaches: Zach Skrinjar, Fox Chapel; Brian Urso, Central Catholic Points scored/allowed: Fox...
Knoch ready for battle with three-time defending champ New Castle
The Knoch boys basketball team is starting to get restless. Since last Tuesday, when the WPIAL announced pairings for this season’s playoffs, the Knights haven’t had the opportunity to play a meaningful game. Sure, they have been able to scrimmage a few teams and get practice, but that’s not the...
A-K Valley Boys Basketball Notebook: Three more teams see their season come to an end
Three more A-K Valley boys basketball teams had their seasons end this past weekend as Deer Lakes, Apollo-Ridge and Leechburg lost their first-round matchups. In a WPIAL Class 3A first round matchup with No. 1 Lincoln Park, the No. 16 Lancers put up a fight. Thanks to intense defensive pressure,...
Springdale boys looking to make WPIAL semifinals for first time since 1991
The No. 4-seeded Springdale Dynamos escaped from Shaler last Saturday night with a big WPIAL Class 2A first-round victory over No. 13 Sewickley Academy. How big? Well, considering that the Dynamos (20-3) walked away with an eight-point victory, and star junior Demitri Fritch only scored six points and exited the...
Plum wrestler Vince Citrano a man on a mission in Class AAA postseason
Plum sophomore Vince Citrano has been a man on a mission all season long. After coming up just short in the section tournament as a freshman last year with a second-place finish and then not placing in the WPIAL tournament, Citrano was motivated to come back even stronger this season....
A-K Valley wrestling notebook: Seven wrestlers earn top seeds for sectionals tournament
WPIAL Class AAA wrestlers will compete in their section tournaments Saturday, and seven from the Alle-Kiski Valley were seeded first in their respective weight class. Kiski Area leads the way with five No. 1 seeds: Sammy Starr (152 pounds), Jack Blumer (160), Nick Delp (170), Jared Curcio (182) and Brayden...
Trib HSSN Wrestler of the Week: Burrell’s AJ Corrado
Burrell’s AJ Corrado has turned in a dominant junior wrestling season, and he earned his first WPIAL title in the same fashion this weekend. He won the 152-pound weight class with two pins and a 2-1 decision over Quaker Valley’s Conner Redinger, who was going for his third WPIAL championship....
Trib HSSN Wrestling Team of the Week: Burrell
Burrell’s wrestling team turned in quite the weekend at Canon-McMillan on Friday and Saturday. First, the Bucs competed in the Section 3-AA individual tournament Friday. They had four wrestlers win section championships, five were runners-up and two finished in third. Burrell followed up that performance Saturday with a strong effort...
Brownsville’s Tessa Dellarose set to compete in UEFA development tournament in England
Brownsville’s Tessa Dellarose continues to stack up invites to prestigious camps and games all over the country. Now, Dellarose has been selected to the U.S. U-16 Girls National Team for a UEFA Development Tournament from Feb. 19-24 in Loughborough, England. The U.S. team will take on teams from England, Spain...
No. 9 Geibel Catholic boys use an electric fourth quarter to earn first round victory over Leechburg
For the past three years, the Geibel boys basketball team qualified for the playoffs. But each time, the Gators lost in the first round. Facing No. 8 Leechburg on Saturday at Thomas Jefferson, the ninth-seeded Gators (15-8) changed their fortune. They used a 29-point fourth quarter to earn a 65-58...
No. 1 Lincoln Park boys shake off sluggish start, cruise past Deer Lakes
WPIAL Class 3A No. 1 seed Lincoln Park is the defending PIAA champion for a reason, and Friday night in the first round of the district playoffs, the Leopards showed why. The Leopards (19-4) came out slowly, and No. 16 seed Deer Lakes took advantage in the first quarter. By...
UPJ’s Pat Pecora, college wrestling’s winningest coach, keeps climbing
Last Friday at Pitt-Johnstown, Pat Pecora did something he never thought would’ve been possible when he started coaching wrestling 44 years ago. With several alumni in attendance, Pecora’s No. 4-ranked Mountain Cats defeated No. 11-ranked Mercyhurst, 22-12, and the longtime UPJ coach earned his 617th career win, making him college...
Fox Chapel’s Chip Ganassi celebrates race team’s 30th anniversary
When Chip Ganassi was a young kid, he always found himself on something with an engine. Whether it was a go-kart, a dirt bike, a snowmobile or a car, Ganassi loved to just go. “I sort of had a fossil-fuel-fired youth,” Ganassi said. “I was always racing one thing or...
A-K Valley basketball playoff capsules: Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020
Boys Class 2A First round No. 4 Springdale (19-3) vs. No. 13 Sewickley Academy (7-12) 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Shaler Winner plays: No. 5 Laurel (14-8) vs. No. 12 Winchester Thurston (10-10) Friday in the quarterfinals Coaches: Aaron Epps, Springdale; Win Palmer, Sewickley Academy Points scored/allowed: Springdale, 64.3/53.8; Sewickley Academy,...
A-K Valley boys basketball notebook: Highlands, Knoch, Fox Chapel plan to stay sharp during bye week
Earlier this week, Highlands, Knoch and Fox Chapel were named among the top two seeds in each of their brackets for the WPIAL basketball playoffs. Highlands (19-3) and Knoch (19-3) were given the first and second seeds, respectively, in the Class 4A tournament and the Foxes (21-1) nabbed the No....
Apollo-Ridge boys snap five-year playoff drought
Just last year, the Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team was on the verge of breaking a four-year playoff drought, but when it came down to the waning moments of the regular season, the Vikings barely missed. They finished the season with the same Section 1-2A record as Springdale, but the Dynamos...
Burrell’s Mikey Scherer exceeds expectations in return to mat
When Burrell’s Mikey Scherer was in eighth grade, he decided he didn’t want to wrestle anymore. Looking back, he said he wasn’t having any fun in the sport. So as he stepped into the high school corridors as a freshman, he thought he never would step on the mat again....
A-K Valley wrestling notebook: Burrell nabs three top seeds for sectional tournament
WPIAL Class AA wrestlers will converge on Canon-McMillan high school this weekend for their sectional and WPIAL individual tournaments. The sectional tournaments will take place Friday, and when the seedings were announced Wednesday, a few Burrell Bucs found themselves atop the Section 3-AA brackets. Juniors Ian Oswalt (132 pounds) and...
Trib HSSN wrestler of the week: Luca Augustine, Waynesburg
In his team’s run to the state championship, the Raiders’ 160-pounder went 4-0 and picked up two pins, a technical fall and a 2-1 second tiebreaker win in the state championship match against Nazareth Area. All season long, Augustine has been a staple for Waynesburg. He’s produced an overall record...
Trib HSSN wrestling team of the week: Waynesburg
The Raiders finished as the runner-up in the PIAA Class AAA state championship this weekend in Hershey, falling just short of their ultimate goal. They took down District 3 third-place finisher Central Dauphin, 40-21, in the first round. Then, the Raiders advanced to the quarterfinals to take down Cathedral Prep,...
Highlands, Knoch take top 2 seeds for WPIAL Class 4A bracket
After jockeying back and forth this season atop the WPIAL Class 4A boys basketball rankings, Highlands and Knoch claimed the top two spots in the tournament when the WPIAL revealed the brackets Tuesday night at the annual pairings meeting in Green Tree. Fox Chapel and Springdale also earned top-four seeds....
Riverview tabs Carlynton alum Trevor George as football coach
The Riverview Raiders have found their new football coach. On Monday, the Riverview school board approved Trevor George, a former offensive coordinator for Ambridge and assistant for Blackhawk, to lead the program. “(Riverview) is a great place to be, and that’s the most attractive thing about it,” George said. “One...
Fox Chapel learns from loss to Upper St. Clair as postseason approaches
For a majority of this season, the Fox Chapel boys basketball team produced a spotless record. The Foxes have defended with an intensity that has allowed them to produce the best scoring defense in the WPIAL at 43.5 points per game, which is just over two points lower than the...
Fox Chapel’s Sammy Brown fulfills dream by committing to Duquesne
Since he was 8 years old, Fox Chapel’s Sammy Brown hoped to play college football for a hometown school. On Thursday, Brown achieved his goal when he signed a national letter of intent with Division I FCS Duquesne, where he likely will play linebacker or safety. Has Always been a...
Franklin Regional boys punch ticket to playoffs with win over Kiski AreaVideo
Sometimes, it’s not always how you start, but how you finish that matters. That statement has rung true for the Franklin Regional boys basketball team (11-11, 8-6) this season, and it rang even louder Friday night. The Panthers overcame a slow first quarter and cruised to a 72-55 victory over...
