Paul Schofield stories, Page 36
Penn-Trafford swimmers off to strong start
Penn-Trafford’s swimming teams are off to a good start to the 2023-24 season. The Water Warriors own wins against Gateway and Greensburg Salem, and coach Dave Babik has been impressed in the early going. “Our win over Gateway is indicative of the strides we have made with our returning swimmers...
2023 TribLive Westmoreland County high school football all-stars
First team Da’sjon Craggette Southmoreland, RB, Sr. The senior turned in a brilliant season. He rushed for 1,462 yards and scored 19 touchdowns. He also caught five passes for 122 yards. Samir Crosby Greensburg Central Catholic, WR/QB/DB, So. This super sophomore caught 31 passes for 623 yards, rushed for 634...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Derry’s Nate Papuga, Greensburg Salem’s Kaitlyn Mankins
Nate Papuga School: Derry Class: Senior Sport: Basketball Claim to Fame: The 6-foot-1 senior guard is averaging 30 points in helping Derry to a 5-1 start. He has scored 30 or more points in four games. Why is Derry off to a hot start? We’re playing together. We’re jelling as...
Franklin Regional swimming team has new coach, youthful squad
Franklin Regional has a new swimming coach, and he’s inherited a young team. Dan Taylor, who recently coached at Fox Chapel, takes over for Vic Santoro, who resigned after the 2022-23 season. Taylor is a teacher in the Franklin Regional School District at the middle school. He once served as...
Frazier grabs win vs. Southmoreland without state champ Lawrence
Frazier won a wrestling match Wednesday and did it without three-time PIAA Class 2A champion Rune Lawrence. The fourth-ranked Commodores recorded seven pins and defeated Southmoreland, 44-33, in a Section 2 battle for first place. Lawrence weighed in and was dressed for the match, but he was there to root...
High school wrestling notebook: Burrell has 3 champions, finishes 2nd in Tennessee
Burrell completed in the McCallie (Chattanooga, Tenn.) Invitational and returned home with three champions and a second-place team finish. Winning titles for the Bucs were Cam Baler (113 pounds), Cooper Hornack (144) and Issac Lacinski (175). Baker defeated Axel Ritchie of McCallie, 5-2, in the finals. Baker had a pin...
WPIAL wrestling rankings for the week of Dec. 11, 2023
Class 3A Top 10 Team (This year’s record) Last week’s ranking 1. Canon-McMillan (0-0) 1 2. Trinity (3-0) 2 3. Connellsville (1-0) 3 4. Waynesburg (0-0) 4 5. Franklin Regional (5-0) 5 6. Plum (3-2) 6 7. North Allegheny (2-1) 7 8. Norwin (7-3) 8 9. Latrobe (2-1) 9 10....
Belle Vernon football team celebrates 2nd straight state title, looks ahead to possible 3-peat
Belle Vernon returned home from Mechanicsburg on Saturday night after winning its second PIAA Class 3A title and partied one last time this year at “The Beach” (James Weir Stadium). The team received a fire truck parade to the stadium, where it rang the victory bell one last time before...
Penn-Trafford baseball making strides in offseason, wins fall league title
With the graduation of the team’s top two pitchers, Nolan Marasti and Dylan Grabowski, Penn-Trafford baseball coach Lou Cortazzo knew he had to get some younger pitchers some work. So Cortazzo got the Warriors into two leagues, played 31 games (going 27-4) and ended up winning the West Penn Fall...
Penn-Trafford’s Antolena Damico hitting all the right notes for future in golf, dentistry
Things are starting to line up for Penn-Trafford senior Antolena Damico. She recently committed to play golf at Washington & Jefferson College and pursue a degree in dentistry. She wants to be an orthodontist and plans on majoring in biology and chemistry. Damico, who carries a 4.6 grade point average,...
Fast start leads Belle Vernon to 2nd straight state championship
MECHANISBURG — There was no suspense in this year’s PIAA Class 3A championship. Belle Vernon made sure of that with another dominating performance starting with the opening kickoff. Anthony Crews scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, and the Leopards (13-1) won their second consecutive state title with a convincing...
Led by NAHL-bound Max Rutkowski, Franklin Regional hockey turns things around
After beginning the season 1-4, the Franklin Regional hockey team has turned things around. The Panthers have won three consecutive games and are playing their best hockey of the season, according to coach John Winebrenner. “We made a bunch of lineup adjustments, and the team is playing with confidence,” he...
Belle Vernon ready to finish job in state championship vs. Northwestern Lehigh
After Northwestern Lehigh rallied to defeat Wyomissing in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals, Tigers coach Josh Snyder told his team “Why not us.” Northwestern Lehigh (15-0) is having a historic season and qualified for the state championship game for the first time in school history. They defeated Wyomissing, 33-24, after...
Connellsville school board decides to opt out of WPIAL football schedule, play as an independent
Another Fayette County school district has decided not to accept a football schedule from the WPIAL. Connellsville Area School District’s board voted 9-0 to withdraw from the WPIAL in football for the next two seasons. Connellsville joins Albert Gallatin, Uniontown and Brownsville in playing an independent schedule. Butler has also...
Pin in final match gives Valley win over Greensburg Salem
They needed the rulebook to decide Wednesday’s WPIAL Class 2A Section 6 match between Greensburg Salem and Valley. The match ended deadlocked at 30-30, but after the official looked at the scorebook, Valley was awarded the victory for most matches won, 6-5. Greensburg Salem coach Randy Parsley actually cut Valley...
Wrestling notebook: Penn-Trafford’s Barrett, Coy win titles at Hickory tournament
Penn-Trafford sophomore Dylan Barrett (114) and senior Hayden Coy (145) captured titles at the Hickory Invitational on Dec. 2. Barrett (5-0) record four first-period pins and then defeated Northwestern’s Micah Rodriguez by technical fall, 18-3 (5 minutes, 27 seconds), in the finals. Coy (5-0) rolled to easy wins in his...
WPIAL wrestling rankings for week of Dec. 3, 2023
Class 3A Top 10 Team (Last year’s record) Last year’s rankings 1.Canon-McMillan (0-0) 1 2. Trinity (0-0) 2 3. Connellsville (0-0) 3 4. Waynesburg (0-0) 4 5. Franklin Regional (0-0) 5 6. Plum (0-0) 6 7. North Allegheny (0-0) 7 8. Norwin (4-1) 8 9. Latrobe (0-0) 9 10. Kiski...
Jim Schall steps down as girls volleyball coach at Penn-Trafford
There will be a new person coaching the Penn-Trafford girls volleyball team next year. Longtime coach Jim Schall said he felt it was time to step away. It will allow him to spend more time with his family (wife Nancy and children Patrick and Kate) and focus more on the...
Jim Schall steps down as girls volleyball coach at Penn-Trafford
There will be a new person coaching the Penn-Trafford girls volleyball team next year. Longtime coach Jim Schall said he felt it was time to step away. It will allow him to spend more time with his family (wife Nancy and children Patrick and Kate) and focus more on the...
Franklin Regional wrestling building toward future
Franklin Regional wrestling coach Matt Lebe said he has a good feeling about his team, especially when it counts once January begins. That’s when he feels his lineup will be set. The Panthers were co-Section 3-3A champions with Norwin and Penn-Trafford last season and Lebe sees another tight race. He...
Belle Vernon runs over Hickory, headed back to PIAA title game
Belle Vernon football coach Matt Humbert said he preached to his players not to look ahead. That will change this week. That’s because the Leopards have reached the final game of the season for the second consecutive year by running over Hickory, 42-16, on Friday at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium....
Belle Vernon faces Hickory with a trip to the PIAA Class 3A championship game on the line
PIAA Class 3A WEST REGIONAL (10-1) HICKORY Hornets (11-2) v. (7-1) BELLE VERNON AREA Leopards (10-1) 7 P.M. FRIDAY North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium, Wexford The Boy Scouts of America’s motto is “Be prepared.” That’s the concept Belle Vernon football coach Matt Humbert is following in advance of the PIAA Western...
Mt. Pleasant wrestler Jamison Poklembo has a full trophy case, but something’s missing
Mt. Pleasant senior Jamison Poklembo has succeeded at almost every level of wrestling. He was a WPIAL champion at 132 pounds as a freshman, finished second at 133 as a junior and third at 138 as a sophomore. He’s qualified for the PIAA individual championships three consecutive years, but he’s...
WPIAL Class 2A section breakdowns for 2023-24 season
Section 1 Reigning WPIAL champion Burgettstown (17-2) looks for back-to-back titles by returning nine starters. Heading the list of returnees are three PIAA qualifiers: senior Parker Sentipal (47-7), senior Gaven Suica (43-13) and senior heavyweight Joe Baronick (41-15). … McGuffey (11-3) looks to challenge for the section title. The Highlanders...
WPIAL Class 2A wrestlers to watch for 2023-24 season
Class 2A Wrestlers to Watch Rune Lawrence Frazier, Sr., (112-7 career, 45-3 2022-23) • 2023 WPIAL 189 champion, 2022 WPIAL 172 champion, 2021 WPIAL 172 champion; 2023 PIAA 189 champion, 2022 PIAA 172 champion, PIAA 2021 172 champion. Committed to West Virginia. Cooper Hornack Burrell, Sr., (116-19 career, 43-6 2022-23)...

