High School category, Page 1043
PIAA decision to postpone sports by 2 weeks met with excitement, concerns
Jody Brockett nervously awaited the PIAA’s announcement Friday as to whether high school athletics would proceed in the fall. Her daughter Leah, a freshman, plays soccer at Burrell. She feared the season would be canceled. She worried about her daughter, who has been having a hard time coping with the...
Frank Morea, pillar of Kiski Area football program, dies at age 90
Richard “Dick” Dilts and Frank Morea were opponents on the football field in high school in the mid 1940s. Dilts played at Butler, and Morea represented Vandergrift. “We had a little verbal confrontation on the field one time, and later in college (at Slippery Rock), I heard his voice,” said...
Yough opens regional tournament with walk-off win
Yough walked off with a win to open Region 7 baseball action Friday at Hollidaysburg. Joel Nemec was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Ray Halahurich, as Yough, the third-place team from the Westmoreland County American Baseball League, edged Mt. Union, 4-3. Yough will now play Claysburg,...
PIAA delays fall sports for 2 weeks to talk with Gov. Wolf, state legislature
The PIAA heard “thousands of voices,” so it’s trying to save fall sports. The board voted Friday to delay the start of fall sports for two weeks — until Aug. 24 — giving the PIAA executive staff time to talk further with Gov. Tom Wolf, his administration, state legislators and...
State legislator urges PIAA to keep high school sports in fall
The governor wants high school sports delayed until January, but at least one member of the state legislature disagrees. House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, sent a letter Friday to the PIAA in support of playing sports in the fall. Benninghoff’s letter stressed that Gov. Tom Wolf’s recommendation “is not...
Irwin rolls to Western Pa. Summer Baseball League championship
When the spring high school sports season was canceled, the Norwin Knights thought they missed out on a chance to contend for a WPIAL baseball championship. Nothing that happened in the Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League playoffs could have possibly changed their minds. Irwin, with a roster full of Norwin...
Pittsburgh Public Schools plans to postpone fall sports in City League
Pittsburgh Public Schools announced plans Thursday to postpone fall sports in the City League, a move tied to the district’s decision to start classes exclusively online. The delay still requires school board approval. The decision was made before Gov. Tom Wolf recommended all youth sports be delayed until Jan. 1....
A day after his twin brother received one, Penn-Trafford’s Nate Frye gets offer from Butler
One day after his identical twin brother received a scholarship offer from Butler, Penn-Trafford’s Nate Frye netted the same arrangement from the same school. Could a package deal be in the works for the talented siblings? A running back and free safety, Nate Frye recorded 74 tackles and returned an...
Gov. Wolf’s recommendation to postpone high school sports gets mixed reactions
Gov. Tom Wolf’s recommendation that youth sports be postponed until Jan. 1 was met Thursday with mixed reactions. Wolf’s suggestion that “we don’t do any sports until Jan. 1” first came during a morning news conference when he was asked about spectators at high school sporting events. By the afternoon,...
Fox Chapel boys golf places 4th at NHSGA National Invitational
When the Fox Chapel boys golf team headed to Pinehurst this week to compete in the NHSGA National Invitational at Pinehurst Resort they had one thing on their mind and that was to compete. After three days of team competition, the 2019 PIAA Class 3A champions did just that. With...
McGuffey’s Ed Dalton, Avonworth’s Andrea Patton become WPIAL’s 1st father/daughter athletic director duo
Andrea Patton remembers growing up in her father’s shadow. Where Ed Dalton was, Andrea normally followed. Whether it was at a high school football game, a WPIAL playoff basketball game, or any different type of activity that involved his job as an athletic director, coach or educator. “I was at...
Gov. Wolf recommends high school sports be delayed until Jan. 1Video
With fall sports in the balance, will the PIAA treat Gov. Tom Wolf’s recommendation as a suggestion or a mandate? Wolf’s administration wants all youth sports — interscholastic and recreational — postponed until January, a request that jeopardizes football, soccer and other high school sports days before they’re scheduled to...
Penn-Trafford’s Mason Frye grabs Division I-FCS offer
Mason Frye is expected to line up at receiver and also play a key role in the secondary for Penn-Trafford this football season. Frye went from being another key returning two-way starter to a Division I prospect in one tweet Wednesday night. The 5-foot-8, 155-pound senior announced a scholarship offer...
Bushy Run wins Westmoreland County summer baseball championship
Throughout the Westmoreland County American Baseball League playoffs, Bushy Run relied on pitching and solid defense. In Wednesday’s championship game at Latrobe, Bushy Run’s hitting joined the party. Bushy Run pounded out 14 hits, including three each by Luca Baccari, Anthony Sherwin and Gavin Berardi, and defeated regular season champion...
Uncertainty remains for spectators hoping to attend high school games
New covid-19 guidelines for spectators at high school sporting events weren’t released Wednesday as many school administrators, coaches and fans had hoped. Gov. Tom Wolf and state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine raised expectations Monday when they said updated information would be coming in “two days.” However, a spokesperson...
Kiski Area football holds combine for athletes to increase exposure in strange times
This summer has been strange for college recruits all over the country. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, young athletes haven’t been able to visit colleges, compete at showcases and most importantly, get in front of college coaches. Players and coaches have attempted to find a way around those obstacles. On...
Yough edges Murrysville in WCABL consolation game
Yough picked a good time to play one of its better games in recent weeks. Backed by strong pitching from Nate Wilkins and Vinny Martin and solid defense, Yough defeated Murrysville, 5-4, on Tuesday in the third-place game of the Westmoreland County American Baseball League playoffs. Yough jumped out to...
AD job at Eden Christian leads Latrobe grad back to Western Pennsylvania
Mark Ackerman’s journey both in and out of sports the past three decades has brought him home to western Pennsylvania. The 1987 Latrobe graduate continues to settle into his role as the new athletic director at Eden Christian Academy. His career as an athletic administrator and a coach for both...
Former WPIAL star Phil Jurkovec receives NCAA waiver, eligible at Boston College
Former WPIAL star quarterback Phil Jurkovec, who transferred from Notre Dame to Boston College in January, was granted an NCAA waiver Tuesday that makes him immediately eligible. The Pine-Richland graduate has three years of eligibility remaining. Boston College begins preseason camp Thursday. At Notre Dame, Jurkovec played in six games...
Mars’ Teddy Ruffner turning heads on baseball diamond this summer
Despite the circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, Mars senior Teddy Ruffner has stayed busy this summer, and he’s making the most of the situation. The Mars catcher has made up for his lost junior baseball season. He said between the Youngstown Class B league and his Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgz team,...
Central Valley’s Myles Walker commits to AkronVideo
Central Valley’s Myles Walker, who celebrated a WPIAL football title last fall, committed Monday to Akron. The rising senior announced his decision on Twitter. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound defensive back and wide receiver also had offers from Duquesne, Kent State and New Hampshire. Walker scored 12 touchdowns in multiple ways last...
Tennis standout Ava Catanzarite commits to UCLA
Franklin Park junior tennis standout Ava Catanzarite has committed to compete for one of the top college women’s teams in the country. Catanzarite, 17, plans to join UCLA for the 2021-22 season. A rising senior at PA Cyber who trains full-time in Florida, Catanzarite is listed 171st in the International...
Uniontown votes to cancel fall football, soccer seasons
Uniontown Area School District’s board members voted 9-0 on Monday night to start the 2020-21 school year with online-only instruction and, in turn, decided football and boys and girls soccer should be canceled. Amid uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, board members decided to follow Gov. Tom Wolf’s recommendation that...
North Allegheny’s Nate Hoke commits to ‘dream school’ BYU, where dad playedVideo
Nate Hoke doesn’t promote himself on social media like many athletes his age. A rising senior at North Allegheny and the son of a former NFL player, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker prefers to let his play on the football field speak for itself. But this summer, with college campuses closed...
Westmoreland County American League names all-stars
After a mostly flawless regular season and a strong start to the playoffs — a fine summer baseball run, all things considered amid the covid-19 pandemic — the Westmoreland American League stayed the course with another tradition by naming its all-league teams. The league, which normally is known as District...
