Penn-Trafford hockey finishes memorable season as state’s best Class 2A team
It was quite a week for the Penn-Trafford hockey program. The Warriors began the week by winning their first PIHL Class 2A Pens Cup title, defeating rival Hempfield, 4-3. They ended the week by stunning returning state champion and Flyers Cup champion North Penn, 3-1. “It has been a crazy...
Franklin Regional notebook: Wrestling team celebrates big season
It was quite year for the Franklin Regional wrestling program. The Panthers (22-0) won their second consecutive WPIAL 3A team title, fourth overall, and claimed their third PIAA championship. They defeated rival Norwin in both the WPIAL and PIAA finals. The season concluded in Hershey at the individual championship and...
Norwin’s Landon Sidun leads 2026 TribLive Westmoreland County boys wrestling all-stars
Wrestler of the Year Landon Sidun Norwin, jr., 121 pounds 2025-26 record: 51-1. Career record: 124-3. When Norwin junior Landon Sidun lost in the finals of the PIAA Class 3A West Regional, he did not pout. He addressed the media and talked about what he needed to do the next...
Penn-Trafford hockey goes viral with ‘Fake Michigan’ play from PIHL championship game
In the 1996 NCAA hockey tournament, Michigan forward Mike Legg successfully executed a trick play. From behind the net, he picked the puck up on his stick blade and scored on a lacrosse-style wraparound. The play became known as “The Michigan.” Penn-Trafford coach Brian Zagorac saw a similar play where...
PIAA takes 1st step toward approving fall playoff brackets
It is going to be a few more months before the PIAA releases the fall playoff brackets. During the March board of control meeting Wednesday, the board voted on first reading to approve the fall brackets. The PIAA needs to approve the fall brackets two more times. WPIAL executive director...
Jeannette grad Ethan Berginc leads WPIAL contingent at NCAA wrestling championships
The start of March Madness officially gets underway at noon Thursday. But so does the NCAA Division I wrestling championships at Cleveland, and the WPIAL will be well represented. There are 50 wrestlers from Pennsylvania who are entered in the tournament, 21 from the WPIAL, including Jeannette grad Ethan Berginc....
Late free throw lifts West York past Chartiers Valley in Class 5A semifinalsVideo
HOLLIDAYSBURG – Chartiers Valley will have to wait another year for a chance to win its first PIAA boys basketball title. West York, the District 3 champions, got a free throw from 6-foot-5 junior Brecklin Lasher with 5.1 seconds left to defeat the Colts, 45-44, in the Class 5A semifinals...
‘We always expect to be here’: Senior-led Burrell reflects on trip to Division 2 final
Burrell hockey coach Drew Burkett was not in a talkative mood Monday after the PIHL D2 Championship game at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. Who could blame him? For the third time this season, Ringgold had beaten Burrell in overtime, this time 3-2. Ringgold won both regular-season matchups 4-3. It was...
In another tight game, Ringgold beats Burrell in OT for PIHL Division 2 titleVideo
It took overtime to decide the PIHL Division 2 championship. Burrell and Ringgold played the championship game like they did two meetings during the regular season: tight, one-goal games. Ringgold won both regular season meetings in overtime by the identical scores of 4-3. It was not an identical score, but...
Penn-Trafford beats Hempfield to win program’s 1st Penguins Cup titleVideo
If they gave a star of the game in the PIHL Class 2A Penguins Cup final, Penn-Trafford goalie Tyler Funk would have won it. A close second would have been Brock Bienemann, who scored two goals and assisted on a third, to lead Penn-Trafford to a 4-3 victory Monday night...
Hempfield, Penn-Trafford enter final looking for 1st Pens Cup title
There will be a first Monday in the PIHL Class 2A Penguins Cup final. Either No. 1 seed Hempfield or No. 3 Penn-Trafford will win their first Pens Cup title. The champion will also be the first Westmoreland County team since Latrobe in 2013 to win the Pens Cup in...
Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown to represent WPIAL on Pennsylvania team at Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic
Two-time PIAA Class 3A 215-pound champion Elijah Brown was the only WPIAL wrestler named to the Pennsylvania team for the 52nd annual Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic. The Pennsylvania squad will tangle with a talented United States squad at 6 p.m. March 28 at Peters Township’s AHN Arena. A team of WPIAL...
Westmoreland County high school baseball preview: ‘Tight-knit bunch’ planning encore at Norwin
It was quite a year for Westmoreland County high school baseball teams in 2025 as 11 qualified for the WPIAL playoffs. Four teams — Norwin, Hempfield, Belle Vernon and Greensburg Central Catholic — reached the semifinals. Norwin played for a WPIAL title. Will any of the county schools challenge for...
Forest Hills jams up Aliquippa in PIAA Class 3A 2nd roundVideo
The Aliquippa boys basketball team had travel troubles getting to Norwin High School for its PIAA Class 3A playoff game Tuesday. That was the least of their problems. They had trouble slowing down District 6 runner-up Forest Hills and its big man, 6-foot-6 junior forward Dylan Stohon, who scored 18...
Hempfield, Penn-Trafford win 2A semifinals to get shot at 1st Penguins Cup championshipVideo
There is a reason the Hempfield hockey team has the lowest goals-against average in the PIHL. His name is Evan Saltzgiver. The Spartans goaltender made 34 saves to help Hempfield to a 6-2 victory in the PIHL Class 2A Penguins Cup semifinals on Tuesday at the Robert Morris University Island...
Norwin’s Landon Sidun, Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown win 2nd titles; Kiski Area, Connellsville wrestlers also take PIAA 3A gold
HERSHEY — There can be a lot of pressure on a wrestler going after a second PIAA wrestling title. There is a bull’s-eye on their chest, and they expect to get their opponent’s best. Norwin junior Landon Sidun and Belle Vernon senior Elijah Brown did not seem bothered by the...
Only WPIAL 2A finalist, Derry’s Mason Horwat, captures PIAA wrestling silver
HERSHEY — Mason Horwat’s dream of becoming Derry’s next PIAA champion will have to wait for another season. Horwat gave up a takedown in the second period and another in the third and dropped an 11-2 decision to Montoursville senior Gage Wentzel (49-2 this season, 188-32 all time), who was...
Derry’s Mason Horwat reaches PIAA 2A finals thanks to upset of returning state champ
HERSHEY — Derry wrestling coach Troy Dolan Jr. insists that junior Mason Horwat thrives in big matches. Horwat had two Friday at the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships at Giant Center, and he now finds himself in the 172-pound final. He was the only WPIAL wrestler to reach the Class...
Connellsville’s Tommy Gretz spoils potential marquee rematch with upset win in PIAA Class 3A wrestling
HERSHEY — For those who were hoping for a Landon Sidun-Mateo Gallegos rematch in the 121-pound PIAA Class 3A wrestling championship finals, Connellsville junior Tommy Gretz ruined it. Gretz used a takedown in the first period and added another in the second period in an 8-6 shocker against Gallegos in...
Elijah Brown breaks Belle Vernon record; 10 from WPIAL reach PIAA Class 3A semifinals
HERSHEY – Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown has hardly broken a sweat in his two matches at the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships. He had a pin in 34 seconds Thursday and a 44-second technical fall Friday in the quarterfinals at a chilly Giant Center. Those two victories gave him the...
Derry sends 3 wrestlers to PIAA Class 2A semifinals
HERSHEY — It has been quite a season for the Derry wrestling program. And that trend continued Friday morning in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 2A wrestling tournament at the Giant Center. Freshman Patrick Bulger (114 pounds) and juniors Mason Horwat (172) and Brady Brown (189) advanced to Friday...
Hempfield’s Nico Kapusta has eventful Day 1 at PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships
HERSHEY — Hempfield senior Nico Kapusta left the Giant Center on a stretcher Thursday during the opening day of the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships. He also got his first ambulance ride after being slammed in his first-round match. Kapusta was taken to Hershey Medical Center, where he was checked...
Patrick Bulger’s comeback win highlights strong Derry showing at PIAA wrestling championships
HERSHEY — Things did not look good for Derry freshman Patrick Bulger in his debut match at the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships Thursday. He trailed after one period, but he never lost confidence. He chipped away at the lead against Trinity (District 3) sophomore Cameron Smith. Once Bulger got...
Derry’s Keesecker brother-sister combo make history, hope to medal at state wrestling
It could be a big weekend in Hershey for the Keesecker and Kolesar families. They are the first brother/sister duos to compete in the PIAA wrestling championships, which begin Thursday at Giant Center. The tournament runs through Saturday. Mason Keesecker and Kaila Keesecker are from Derry, and Asher Kolesar and...
PIAA wrestling preview: Norwin’s Sidun looks to rebound after regional loss
DuBois sophomore Matt Gallegos shocked the wrestling community Feb. 28 when he upset Norwin junior Landon Sidun in the PIAA Class 3A West Regional finals. But Sidun was back to work trying to correct his mistakes. “There are things I can do better,” Sidun said. “He wrestled a good match,...
