High School category, Page 1041
Westmoreland County H.S. notebook: Another school, Southmoreland, needs an AD
Another Westmoreland County school district is looking for an athletic director. The local AD carousel continues to turn as Southmoreland has a vacancy after the resignation of Charlie Swink. The head of Scotties athletics since 2010, Swink plans to stay as the district’s transportation director. This means six county schools...
Allegheny County Health Department offers to assist WPIAL with covid-19 restrictions
The WPIAL and Allegheny County Health Department will meet Friday to discuss plans for potentially playing high school sports this fall. Those talks will include the county’s 50-person limit on outdoor gatherings, a restriction that has school administrators concerned Allegheny County football teams won’t be able to host games. “We...
GOP bill that would leave sports decisions to school districts clears state House committee
Republican-sponsored legislation that would give Pennsylvania school districts the final say over whether to hold sports and other activities during the pandemic cleared a House committee Thursday, one day before the governing body for interscholastic sports was to decide the fate of the fall season. With dozens of parents, students...
U mad, bro? Fans rant about Bryan Rust, grouse about Gov. Wolf, get ticked off about Mike Tomlin vs. Mike Sullivan
This week’s “U mad, bro?” gets into some pretty choppy waters. Mike Sullivan versus Mike Tomlin. Bryan Rust versus trade talk. Governor Tom Wolf versus high school sports. And me versus copyright infringement. Read carefully. This could get dicey. Let’s start with James. He really enjoyed my recent column about...
Western PA Bruins players continue to gather basketball offers
An extended “dead” period in NCAA recruiting during the covid-19 shutdown did not stand in the way of the Western PA Bruins girls AAU basketball program. The Bruins continue to be a prime target for Division I college coaches who know where to take their scholarship offers. Those offers have...
Ligonier Valley’s football schedule down to 5 games
Ligonier Valley is set to makes its WPIAL debut for its second stint in the league this fall. The Rams have not played in the WPIAL in 50 years. But the football team is hurting for games. The Rams will open the season — should it be played — with...
Health department restrictions could force Allegheny County football teams elsewhere
If there’s a high school football season this fall, teams from Allegheny County might play home games at stadiums in neighboring counties. That’s a possibility if the Allegheny County Health Department maintains its strict 50-person limit on outdoor gatherings, North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto said Wednesday. Bozzuto, president of...
Fox Chapel’s Zoe Skirboll excited about decision to swim at Virginia
Zoe Skirboll was not cavalier when she made the announcement Tuesday of her verbal commitment to swim for the Virginia Cavaliers. The rising junior at Fox Chapel and one of the top swimmers in the state and the country expressed her excitement with photos and a message on Instagram. Skirboll...
New coach takes over successful Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer program
Olivia Kruger is new to the Pittsburgh area, but she knows a lot about Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer. Even from halfway across the state, in Chambersburg, Kruger followed the program’s dominance in the WPIAL and PIAA. It was hard not to notice the Centurions come postseason time. “I knew...
Yough hires Scott Morrison as athletic director
Scott Morrison plans to take sports at Yough in a different, fresh direction. That’s not to say his longtime predecessor, Tom Evans, did not have things running smoothly as athletic director in Herminie. It was quite the contrary. Evans is well-respected in WPIAL circles for his decades-long work as an...
Quaker Valley halts team workouts after off-campus exposure to covid-19
Quaker Valley suspended all workouts by its sports teams after learning several athletes were exposed to covid-19 at an off-campus gathering, the school announced Tuesday. “We are working swiftly to identify all student-athletes who were in attendance at this non-school event so that they can quarantine, and the remaining student-athletes...
Burrell stadium renovation project moves ahead
The renovation of Buccaneers Stadium at Burrell High School continues forward, and the project now is expected to be completed in about a month, athletic director Drake D’Angelo said Tuesday. The Burrell School Board voted unanimously in March to move ahead with the renovations, which include the installment of artificial...
Hot turf leads to burn injuries for Greater Latrobe basketball players, AD says
Three members of the boys Greater Latrobe High School basketball team have resumed workouts after district officials said they severely burned their hands last month on hot football field turf during a training session. Athletic Director Mark Mears said team members were doing off-season lifting and conditioning on July 20...
PIAA wants to move forward with fall sports, executive director tells legislators
The PIAA wants to move forward with fall sports, executive director Bob Lombardi told state legislators Tuesday, citing favorable data collected by UPMC athletic trainers. His words were an early indication the governor’s wishes will be ignored. “It is worth at least attempting to pursue a fall sports program,” said...
State’s health secretary says Gov. Wolf won’t mandate cancellation of high school sports
If the PIAA ignores Gov. Tom Wolf’s advice and allows fall sports to continue, his administration won’t turn his strong recommendation into a mandate. “The governor has been very clear about that: There are no plans to do that,” state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Tuesday. Wolf’s administration wants...
Norwin hires new athletic director in 5-4 vote
Norwin hired an athletic director Monday who was Greensburg Salem’s athletic director the past 20 months and previously was an assistant athletic director at Norwin. Mike Burrell Jr. was hired by the school board on a 5-4 vote at a pro-rated school year salary of $84,000. Burrell’s first day on...
State lawmakers question data used to recommend PIAA sports shutdown
Republican state lawmakers are questioning the specific data — or lack thereof — that Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration used to recommend shutting down youth sports this fall. Wolf issued a “strong recommendation” interscholastic and recreational youth sports be postponed until Jan. 1, but members of the Republican House Caucus criticized...
Freedom cancels football workouts over covid-19 concerns
Freedom administrators canceled football workouts for this week over concerns a player was possibly exposed to the coronavirus. Superintendent Jeffrey Fuller informed parents in a letter posted on the school district’s website. Fuller said the move was taken out of an abundance of caution after an athlete was potentially exposed,...
Slow-pitch softball league planning ‘full bore’ for upcoming season
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League’s 15th fall season is scheduled to begin Labor Day weekend. League officials are planning to start on time, but they also are monitoring upcoming announcements from the PIAA and other possible rulings from school districts and local and state government officials that might throw...
Kiski School will adopt bubble strategy to play sports
The NBA and NHL successfully used an isolation “bubble” to restart their sports, and now Kiski School will take that idea to the high school level. Athletes at the private, all-boys boarding school in Saltsburg will compete this fall under a plan that involves team-specific dorms and on-campus covid-19 testing,...
Oakmont to host WPIAL girls Class AAA golf championships for the first time
Oakmont Country Club has hosted nine U.S. Open championships, three PGA championships, two U.S. Women’s Opens, five U.S. Amateur Opens and several WPIAL boys championships, including the 2016 and ‘18 Class AAA individual finals. History will be made Oct. 8 when the storied golf course hosts the WPIAL Class AAA...
PIAA ‘disappointed’ with answers in meeting with Gov. Wolf’s staff
In a word, Friday’s meeting with Gov. Tom Wolf’s staff was “uneventful.” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi offered that analysis after an unproductive conversation regarding Wolf’s recommended shutdown of fall sports. The governor isn’t budging from his recommendation, and his staff wasn’t receptive to concerns raised by the PIAA. “There...
Bethel Park’s Emily Carter commits to run at Oklahoma State
Emily Carter is heading west to continue her cross country and track and field pursuits. The Bethel Park senior distance running standout has verbally committed to Oklahoma State in the Big 12. Carter said she informed the Oklahoma State coaches Wednesday and posted announcements of her decision on social media...
Allderdice girls soccer workouts suspended amid positive covid-19 test
The Allderdice girls soccer team will not hold conditioning workouts for two weeks after one of its players tested positive for covid-19. Pittsburgh Public Schools announced the move in a release, stating that the asymptomatic athlete notified the district Thursday of the positive test result. It said the student trained...
PIHL in a holding pattern, hoping to start season on time
The PIHL hopes to begin its 2020-21 season in early October, but league officials and teams are waiting for clarity on certain issues before going full speed ahead. While many of the programs have been working out on and off the ice in anticipation of a season, PIHL commissioner John...
