William Whalen stories

First-year Highlands girls tennis coach Vaughn Hunkele knew exactly what he signed up for when he took the job in August. The 2016 Highlands grad knew he would need to begin to build a foundation, teach tennis and that winning would come later. After the first few weeks of the...

After taking some knocks the past two seasons in Class 3A, the Freeport golf team is back in Class 2A and putting Section 1 on notice. “We bumped up into Class 3A in the last two-year cycle playing against the likes of Fox Chapel and Kiski,” Freeport coach Joe Sprumont...

After two weeks of football, a pattern is beginning to develop with Highlands: A slow first half leads to a dominant second half. Highlands took control of a tight game by scoring 16 points in the third quarter to put away nonconference rival Blackhawk, 23-0, on Friday at Golden Rams...

First-year coach Matt Bonislawski’s debut wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t need to be. After a slow start, the Golden Rams took advantage of University Prep miscues to take control as Highlands rolled to a 34-12 nonconference Week Zero win at Golden Rams Stadium on Friday night. “We came out slow,”...

For the first time under coach Brian Hanson, the West Greene football team will go into the season with a new look. Coming off another WPIAL Class A Tri-County South Conference championship, the Pioneers will be looking to replace 11 seniors from last season’s team. It’s a task Hanson is...

Long-time Mapletown coach George Messich has been coaching football for a little more than four decades, and it’s pretty safe to say he knows a good thing when he sees it. “Our goal right now is to make the playoffs,” said Messich who is entering his 41st season as the...

A career that literally began by accident will end up rewriting the record book at Highlands. Senior quarterback Chandler Thimons was a wet-behind-the-ears freshman when out of nowhere he got the starting nod to be the Golden Rams signal caller. “I can still remember that day,” Thimons said. “It was...

Make no bones about it, Highlands is going to have a different look, feel and attitude under first-year head coach Matt Bonislawski. The players are already in place, with a healthy balance between upperclassmen and underclassmen that could pave the way to success for the Rams this season. “I tell...

Hoagie sales, golf outings and the exhausting obligation of monthly fundraisers was all the Highlands baseball team needed to take its first trip south in program history. With just one week of tryouts and one week of practice under their belts, the Golden Rams loaded the bus for a 13-hour...

For 30 years, it’s been lather, rinse, repeat for Leechburg softball. The only real change has been the faces. The standard has always stayed the same. Coming off a solid postseason run last season, the Blue Devils arereplacing more than half of their starting lineup going into the 2022 season....

Hard work, positivity and optimism. Spend any length of time with first-year Leechburg baseball coach Heath Shimer and it’s obvious a new era of Blue Devils baseball about to begin. “I got an awesome group of kids right now,” said Shimer. “I am surprised that I have them where I...

Going into last season and bumping up from Class 3A to Class 4A, the Burrell baseball team had no idea what to expect. Now, coach Mark Spohn has his Bucs ready to compete in one of the toughest sections in Class 4A, Section 1. “We moved up to 4A, and...

If it seems like the Burrell softball team is filled with a lot of fresh faces this season, that’s because it is. The Bucs roster has 10 players, and five of them are freshmen. “They all play travel ball, and they played for a bunch of years,” coach Rick Nealer...

For the Kiski Area girls basketball team, all the pieces are in place. The only thing to do now is to continue to work, train and wait until next season. “Overall, I was happy with how hard the girls competed,” said Kiski Area coach Nick Dizon, who just finished his...

St. Joseph boys basketball coach Hart Coleman said he is going to attend WPIAL playoff games and recommends his players do the same. He wants them to witness the type of consistency and play that will lead to his team to taking the next step in getting back to the...

Untimely injuries, young players stepping into starting roles, tough calls late in games, buzzer beaters and losing streaks weren’t enough to break the will and determination of the 2021-22 Burrell girls basketball team. All these struggles did was build character and light a fire moving forward. “It was a tough...

The abbreviation AP can stand for many things. But at Grove City College, and more specifically on the women’s basketball team, AP stands for Allison Podkul. Podkul, a 2018 Hempfield grad, is in the midst of putting the finishing touches on a memorable college career. “AP is a competitor, she...

It’s a difficult task to try to trace the history of the Highlands girls basketball team. But it didn’t matter. These Golden Rams are making history of their own. After playing a tense first three quarters, Highlands settled down and play true to form in the final eight minutes. Backed...

Backed by junior guard Jimmy Kunst’s 24 points and a 32-point second quarter, fifth-seeded Highlands made quick work of No. 12 Albert Gallatin, 76-44, in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs Monday night. “We know the sky is the limit for this team and we said that...

The plan for the Highlands girls basketball team entering its final regular-season game was simple: get back to basics, play defense and, above all else, get of the game healthy. Highlands checked all the boxes as the WPIAL Class 4A No. 5 ranked Rams broke the game open with a...

The Springdale girls basketball team knows this feeling all too well. It’s the uneasy feeling knowing its playoff season already has begun weeks before the WPIAL postseason bracket has been released. With just three section games remaining, the Dynamos have little room for error if they want to punch their...

This season seems to be more about the journey than the destination for the Freeport hockey team. Featuring a roster loaded with underclassmen, the Yellowjackets seem to peaking at just the right moment heading into the final month of the regular season. “It’s been a transition this year,” said coach...

Not many sports crown a champion after just 2 minutes, 30 seconds. That’s how much time it took for the Plum competitive cheer team to earn a spot in the PIAA championships for the first time in school history. Though the preparation took much longer than that. “We started putting...

St. Joseph has found its man to guide the athletic department. On Nov. 1, Brad Bestic was hired as the new St. Joseph athletic director and comes to the position ready to lead the school’s teams to the next level. “I’m just really excited, to be honest,” said Bestic, 32....

Winning is contagious. That’s what first-year Springdale boys basketball coach Kobi Phillippi loves about his team. The success his players had in fall sports rolls right into basketball season. “A lot of our kids are multisport athletes,” Phillippi said. “I think a lot of the kids have good coaches in...