Paul Schofield stories, Page 33

The Penn-Trafford football team didn’t win the Big East Conference, but the Warriors did dominate the first team all-conference team with eight players selected by conference coaches. Selected to the first-team offense were junior center Ethan Septak, senior guard Riley McCaw, senior tight end Mark Jollie, junior running back Tasso...

Peters Township would not be denied this time. After falling in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game to Gateway in 2019 and Pine-Richland in 2020, the top-seeded Indians put together a dominating performance Saturday and rolled over Pine-Richland, 43-17, at Norwin Knights Stadium. It was the program’s first WPIAL football...

CLARION – Westinghouse continued its march in the PIAA Class 2A playoffs by outscoring high-scoring Central Clarion, 46-30, Friday at PennWest-Clarion. The Bulldogs (11-0) overcame a sluggish first half and numerous penalties to reach the next round against the winner of Saturday’s District 10 championship game between Farrell and Mercyhurst...

When the Greensburg Salem girls basketball team takes the floor this season, it will present veteran coach Rick Klimchock some options. Will he send out a big lineup and try to outmuscle teams, or will he go with a smaller, quicker lineup? Whatever he selects, opponents will be spending extra...

It’s been a while since the Greensburg Salem boys basketball team has had a winning season. But second-year coach Cam Auld sees a change on the horizon — a brighter future for a program that has floundered since the 2011-12 season. The Golden Lions finished 5-17 overall and 1-9 in...

The last time East Allegheny reached the WPIAL semifinals was in 1992, when the Wildcats were Class 2A champions. Coincidentally, the quarterback of that team was Dave Loya, who is now East Allegheny’s athletic director. Loya and some of his teammates attended last week’s 28-21 victory over South Park in...

Gene Brisbane has been on the bench for 49 seasons, and his passion for coaching high school girls and boys never has wavered. As he begins his fifth season as Derry girls basketball coach, he hopes the program has turned a corner. During his first season in 2019-20, he helped...

Derry boys basketball coach Tom Esposito isn’t making any brash predictions about the upcoming season, but after watching section opponent Deer Lakes make a stellar run last year, he often thinks, “Why not us?” Deer Lakes finished as co-champion with Shady Side Academy in Section 3-3A during the 2022-23 season...

When you have recently won the WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A football titles, expectations for future remain high. You get spoiled. Once you break through that barrier, you expect another, and the next one should be easier to obtain because you know how it’s done. For Penn-Trafford, after winning those...

Franklin Regional football coach Lance Getsy spent Nov. 6 collecting equipment and doing exit interviews with his players. He would have rather been preparing his team for another game. For the third consecutive season, the Panthers were one-and-done in the WPIAL playoffs. The Panthers’ last postseason win was in 2018...

Aliquippa football coach Mike Warfield, his team and fans took a deep breath at the end of Friday’s WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal at Heinz Field. That’s because No. 9 Latrobe took No. 1 Aliquippa to the brink before losing 37-29. After falling behind 25-7 at halftime, the Wildcats threw everything...

Latrobe surprised football fans with its dominating performance against West Allegheny in the first round of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs last week. And that showing by the Wildcats caught the eye of quarterfinal opponent Aliquippa and its coach, Mike Warfield, who attended the game and left impressed. “In the...

During Manheim Central’s three-hour ride to its PIAA Class 2A field hockey playoff game against WPIAL champion Penn-Trafford, Baron coach Morgan Briggs talked to her team about starting fast. Manheim Central, the District 3 fourth-place team from north of Lancaster, heeded the coach’s advice, pressuring Penn-Trafford from the start and...

The late Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince used the saying “hidden vigorish” to describe a player who was in a batting slump and was due for a hit. That saying could describe the lack of success that the Penn-Trafford field hockey team has had in the PIAA playoffs. The Warriors...

Penn-Trafford girls volleyball coach Jim Schall would have rather been coaching a semifinal-round match than being at home watching the World Series. That’s because team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to No. 3 Canon-McMillan on Oct. 26 in the WPIAL quarterfinals. It was a match that could have gone the...

Penn-Trafford’s ice hockey team opened the season by defeating Norwin. Since then, the Warriors have dropped three games while they look for stronger goaltending. “It’s been frustrating; until we fix our goaltending problem we’re going to struggle,” Penn-Trafford coach Chris Cerutti said. “I have four guys I’m working with.” The...

Cross Country is alive and well in the WPIAL. It was a golden day as four of the six PIAA individual champions and two teams brought back titles from Hershey on Saturday. The individual champions were: Butler senior Drew Griffith (3A boys), Ringgold senior Ryan Pajak (2A boys), Mohawk junior...

Wrestling at Saint Vincent College returns on Saturday for the first time since 1975. The Bearcats are in Michigan to participate in the Adrian Invitational. First-year coach Dom Nania has 11 wrestlers from Westmoreland County on the squad. Some of the top wrestlers include Ryan Klingensmith (Kiski Area), Charlie Mesich...

Maybe the WPIAL committee gave the Parkway Conference too much credit and not enough to the Big Seven. No. 9 Latrobe (8-3) showed the committee what the Big Seven is all about as it took it to the Parkway Conference fourth-place team, No. 8 West Allegheny, on Friday in the...

The Robert Morris men’s basketball team was picked to finish seventh and the women’s team last as the Horizon League released its preseason polls. Northern Kentucky, which has won four league titles during eight seasons in the league, was tabbed as preseason favorite in voting of the conference’s men’s coaches....

Player of the week Tristyn Tavares Norwin, So., QB The sophomore ended the 2023 regular season with a memorable performance against Hempfield. Tavares threw for a career-high 318 yards and six touchdowns, completing 19 of 30 passes, and rushed for a score as Norwin won 47-21 over Hempfield. He and...

When the WPIAL football committee released the Class 4A first-round pairings Saturday, all Latrobe coach Ron Prady could do was shake his head in disappointment when he saw his team was traveling to West Allegheny. The opposite reaction happened at West Allegheny. Coach Dave Schoppe was thrilled to get a...

Penn-Trafford coach Chris Cerutti will be keeping an extra-close eye on his players as they take the ice for their next game against Armstrong. He will be making sure each player is wearing protection around his neck in light of the tragedy last weekend involving former Penguins player Adam Johnson,...

Larry Hohman coached the Penn-Trafford wrestling program from 2007-2013. He’s been an assistant and a youth coach since. Because Travis McKillop’s duties at work have changed, he wasn’t sure how things would work out if he stayed on as head coach this season. So Hohman will return as head coach...

Penn-Trafford senior Amelia Barilla achieved her goal Oct. 26 at the WPIAL Class 3A Cross Country Championship at White Oak Park. Barilla placed eighth overall and qualified for the PIAA Championship Nov. 4 at Hershey. Her goal is to earn a medal, which is Top 25. Last year she placed...