Jonathan Bombulie stories, Page 2

In an effort to cut down on travel time and promote natural rivalries, Union made the decision to voluntarily bump up to Class 2A this season. Despite being the fifth-smallest public school playing football in the WPIAL, the Scotties are excited about the move. “It’s much better than going to...

Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 23. Even though Steel Valley is easily one of the favorites to claim the WPIAL Class 2A championship this season, the Ironmen have some holes to fill,...

Before he started as a full-time sports writer out of college in 1980, Paul Schofield’s exposure to high school wrestling was minimal. As a kid, he remembers watching the state finals on WQED-TV, hearing about far-away places such as Tyrone or Shikellamy or Shickshinny and wondering what they were like....

If St. Joseph administrators wanted to have an early graduation practice, it could have been scheduled for Saturday at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. The students who filled Section 115, wearing red, rooting on their girls basketball team, almost certainly would have provided a quorum for a school that, in the...

When Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas pulled off a three-team, nine-player trade to acquire defenseman Erik Karlsson in August, he probably had nights like Tuesday in mind. The Penguins were looking to complete a comeback on the road against the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks when Karlsson alertly kept...

They were celebrating in Shenango when the Wildcats won the school’s first WPIAL girls basketball championship last March. Could another first-time champ be crowned in Class 2A at the Petersen Events Center this spring? There’s certainly a good chance of that. Four-sport Freedom star Shaye Bailey was sidelined for the...

North Catholic, Blackhawk and Elizabeth Forward won section titles with undefeated records last season, and all three bring back their leading scorer. That doesn’t mean this season is destined to be a repeat of last in Class 4A girls basketball, but it does mean it will take some doing for...

While there are dozens of top players grabbing the attention of college scouts and more than a few teams capable of hoisting the the trophy at Petersen Events Center in March, it’s probably fair to say the road to a WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball championship goes through Wexford. North...

Ever notice how Aliquippa never really has a rebuilding year? “We graduated a lot of seniors. Going to be lucky to go 5-5,” said no Quip ever. Sto-Rox coach Marvin Mills is a former Aliquippa assistant, which explains how he’s approaching this season, his second with the Vikings. “I still...

More than two decades since the last time they had a chance to welcome their new head coach with the phrase, the Riverside football team is ready to again say, “Aloha, Mr. Hand.” A longtime coach and teacher in the Riverside School District, Bill Hand is about to begin his...

When a team goes winless like New Brighton did last season, it has two options. Players can either burn the memory into their brains and use it as motivation or they can burn the game tapes and immediately turn the page. Lions coach Tony Caltury decided to take a little...

If traffic is light, a trip from Neshannock to Cleveland takes less than 90 minutes, so maybe it makes sense for the Lancers to take on a motto catcher Jake Taylor made famous in the movie “Major League.” (Albeit with one word left out in polite company.) I guess there’s...

Forgive the Western Beaver football team if it comes into the 2023 season with a chip on its shoulder. For a couple of months, last season was going exactly as planned. With quarterback Xander Lefebvre leading the way, the Golden Beavers got off to a 7-1 start. Then, in Week...

Beaver Falls coach Nick Nardone has no idea who is going to end up as the top rusher and receiver for his team this fall. He’s kind of psyched about that. “It’s not, ‘I have no idea because we have no talent,’” Nardone said. “It’s, ‘I have no idea because...

In his 34th season as a head coach, Ray Braszo lifted the WPIAL championship trophy for the first time last November when Steel Valley beat Beaver Falls in the Class 2A finals. How did he celebrate that momentous achievement once practice began again in August? “You start all over and...

From the outside, it was hard to explain the ups and downs Washington experienced last season. How did a team that finished the regular season with consecutive losses to Keystone Oaks and rival McGuffey suddenly knock off defending WPIAL champ Serra Catholic in the first round of the playoffs? How...

Neal Brown didn’t even wait for the question to be asked. During his opening remarks at Big 12 football media days Thursday, the West Virginia coach immediately stared down the elephant in the room – the fact that his Mountaineers had been picked, in a preseason vote of media members,...

Between now and the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline, one topic figures to be the subject of plenty of debate amond Pittsburgh sports fans: Should the Pirates trade All-Star closer David Bednar? MLB.com got the ball rolling Thursday, naming Bednar one of the six All-Stars most likely to be dealt...

Is Penguins director of hockey operations Kyle Dubas holding a pocket pair or is he just drawing to an inside straight? In an appearance on NHL Network on Monday night, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said he believes the race to acquire Norris Trophy winning defenseman Erik Karlsson from the San Jose...

For the better part of the past five decades, on radio and television, Stan Savran provided some of the most insightful commentary on the Pittsburgh professional sports scene. Within hours of his death at age 76 on Monday, it became clear how far his voice had reached. In addition to...

Five weeks into the USFL season, the offense might be catching up to the defense for the Pittsburgh Maulers. After falling behind on an early touchdown sparked by a special teams play, the Maulers shut down the Michigan Panthers the rest of the way, winning 23-7 on Saturday afternoon at...

Here is a look at the significant deals made by Ron Hextall in his two-plus years as general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins: April 11, 2021 Penguins acquire: Forward Jeff Carter Los Angeles Kings acquire: 2022 third-round pick (conditional), a 2023 fourth-round pick Carter was good at first, filling in...

There’s a trope that gets trotted out this time of year that goes something like this: Why am I laboring over my March Madness office pool picks when it’s probably going to be won by a receptionist who makes her selections based on whose uniform is prettier or whose mascot...

One of the most revered records in WPIAL sports in on thin ice on the Class A hardwood this season. Aquinas Academy scoring machine Vinnie Cugini is back for his senior year, having already racked up 2,078 points in his career. The WPIAL scoring record has stood since Valley’s Tom...