Paul Schofield stories

WPIAL Wrestling Rankings Week 1 Team Class 3A 1. Franklin Regional (3-0) 2. Norwin (6-1) 3. Canon-McMillan (1-1) 4. Trinity (2-1) 5. Connellsville (0-1) 6. Moon (1-0) 7. North Allegheny (1-0) 8. Kiski Area (5-0) 9. Penn-Trafford (0-0) 10. West Allegheny (3-1) Class 2A 1. Derry (0-0) 2. Burrell (0-0)...

The Franklin Regional boys basketball team prepped for Friday’s Section 1-5A opener against Penn-Trafford by defeating Kiski Area, 64-54, on Tuesday in a nonsection game. The Panthers (3-1) used a strong second half and a balanced scoring attack to pull away from an athletic Cavaliers team. Kiski Area (1-2) erased...

It was a close call for No. 1 Franklin Regional on Saturday at the Trinity Duals. The host Hilliers and the Trib HSSN Live top-seeded team were tied 33-33 in the finals, but Franklin Regional was awarded the victory by holding a 7-6 edge in matches for a 34-33 win....

Pitt’s women’s volleyball has had a national title within its grasp the last four seasons and has come up short. It has lost in the semifinals. Will this be the season the Panthers (26-4) break through? “I do not know. We have to get there first,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher...

The way things started out Wednesday night at Greensburg Salem, it looked like visiting Valley was going to win going away. The Vikings (1-2) made six 3-pointers during the first eight minutes and built a seven-point lead. But Greensburg Salem woke up in the second quarter, held Valley to two...

It was a sweep for the Norwin basketball teams Tuesday in their annual battle against rival Penn-Trafford. The girls opened the night with a 62-53 victory, and the boys closed with a 69-55 victory. And it was the energy of their teams that girls coach Brian Broseski and boys coach...

High school wrestling season kicked off this week, and it won’t take long for Canon-McMillan to show what kind of team it has. The Big Macs, ranked No. 4 in the Trib HSSN Class 3A preseason poll, hosted No. 3 Norwin on Tuesday and travels to No. 2 Connellsville on...

Luca Neal was called on to step in for injured starting running back Dimitri Velisaris on Friday night. He stepped in and stepped up. It was not the first time Neal had played the position, and his experience showed, especially when he caught the ball out of the backfield. Neal,...

Yough was not a high-scoring team last season. To be successful during the 2025-26 season, the Cougars must find more scoring. Yough coach Brian Znavor, who is beginning his third season, hopes another year of experience will lead to more production. The Cougars graduated three starters from a squad that...

The 2024-25 boys basketball season at Yough could be considered a disappointment. After tying for a Section 4-3A title in 2023-24, the Cougars stumbled hard in 2024-25 in Class 4A. The Cougars went 1-21 overall and 0-12 in Section 3. The tough season also saw Yough replace Bill Sherbondy as...

The Penn-Trafford girls basketball team has a new voice in charge of the program. Chuck Fontana replaces 19-year veteran John Giannikas, who resigned after leading the Warriors to a 25-2 season last year. The Warriors finished the regular season at 22-0 and earned the No. 3 seed in the WPIAL...

Doug Kelly has been coaching the Penn-Trafford boys basketball team for the past six seasons. He has never before heard the players talk about winning the section. The 2025-26 Warriors are already talking about contending for the Section 1-5A crown. “I like that they are thinking that way,” Kelly said....

Mark Katarski has now completed a circle. The 1995 Mt. Pleasant grad who has earned more than 200 combined victories at the college, high school and middle school levels is back at his alma mater trying to revive a program that hit rock bottom in 2024-25, going 0-22. He replaces...

When Dante Porter took over the Ligonier Valley boys basketball team last year, he inherited a program that had won four games each of the two previous seasons. Ligonier Valley went 13-9 in Porter’s first season, earning a second-place finish in Section 4-3A behind Southmoreland. The Rams dropped a 72-57...

High school basketball practice across the state officially began Nov. 14. For something different, the Mt. Pleasant girls basketball team decided to start when the clock struck midnight for their first official practice. It was a little “Midnight Madness” and team bonding for a squad looking to improve on a...

The Ligonier Valley girls basketball team reached the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs for the first time in 2025. Third-year coach Christy Clark-Hajjar hopes that it is the beginning of an annual occurrence. The Rams finished 7-15 overall, 5-9 in the tough Section 2-3A. The section features Shady Side Academy, Greensburg...

A look at the 2025-26 WPIAL Class 2A wrestling season: The favorite For years, the path to the WPIAL Class 2A team title went through Lower Burrell. That may change. Derry has a program that could supplant Burrell, which has won 19 team titles, including 17 in the last 19...

Greensburg Salem does not only have the smallest enrollment among WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball teams, it also may be the smallest in height. That does not bother veteran coach Rick Klimchock. That is because he plans to use his team’s quickness to its advantage. The Golden Lions will apply...

Greensburg Salem boys basketball coach Paul Sapotichne sees a bright future for the program, but it may not be this season. The veteran coach is beginning his second season of his second stint at Greensburg Salem. He is eager to rebuild the program. He first coached the Golden Lions for...

How good can the Derry wrestling team be this season? The Trojans would have a legitimate chance to contend for a PIAA team title if they wrestled up in Class 3A. But Class 2A in Pennsylvania is a different story entirely. A preseason Class 2A poll has Derry ranked sixth...

When the WPIAL held its second girls wrestling championship in February, five girls defended their titles and three did not. Repeat champs were Moon sophomore Haley Smarsh (130 pounds), Kiski Area junior Ava Golding (136), Norwin junior Josephine Dollman (148), Norwin sophomore Octivia Walker (155) and Plum junior Alaina Claassen...

The 2025 City League team champion was Obama Academy, which defeated Carrick, 65-10, in the semifinals and Allderdice, 40-35, in the finals. The Eagles were defeated, 74-0, against Norwin in the opening round of the PIAA Class 3A team tournament. In the individual championships, Obama edged Allderdice, 159-158, for the...

A look at the 2025-26 WPIAL Class 3A wrestling season: The Favorite Franklin Regional wrestling coach Matt Lebe does not mind that his team is the WPIAL Class 3A preseason favorite, but he said there are six or seven other teams that could wind up being the top team in...

Penn State picked up commitments from two of the top wrestlers in the WPIAL and PIAA: Norwin junior Landon Sidun and Belle Vernon senior Elijah Brown. Sidun announced his choice to be part of the Nittany Lions’ 2027 class Oct. 6, and Brown switched his choice from Pitt to the...

Franklin Regional girls basketball coach Bernie Pucka has a job in front of him. The Panthers, who shared the Section 1-5A section title with Shaler last season, return only one starter, his daughter Chloe, a junior forward who averaged six points. She along with reserve sophomore forward Alyssa Bridges, sophomore...