High School category, Page 1058
Trib HSSN May Madness results for Monday, May 18
The HSSN May Madness results are in from Monday, May 18 in the opening round of the brackets to determine the WPIAL athlete of the century. One contest was a bit one-sided while the other was a back-and-forth close vote before the eventual winner pulled away. In the boys’ matchup,...
Trib HSSN May Madness: Jess Strom, Steel Valley vs. Morgan Ryan, Hempfield
Over the course of the next month and a half, May Madness will determine who fans believe is the WPIAL Athlete of the Century. HSSN has put together two 32-player brackets, one for the boys and one for the girls, of WPIAL alums. Outside of a few exceptions, the field...
Trib HSSN May Madness: Ayden Owens, North Allegheny vs. Brendan McKay, Blackhawk
Over the course of the next month and a half, May Madness will determine who fans believe is the WPIAL Athlete of the Century. HSSN has put together two 32-player brackets, one for the boys and one for the girls, of WPIAL alums. Outside of a few exceptions, the field...
Memories stay fresh for Southmoreland standout seniors Pisula, Comforti
Editor’s note: This is the 16th in an 18-part series profiling nominees for the Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete Excellence Awards. When Sarah Pisula starts feeling down during this covid-19 era, she recalls some of the feel-good moments from a feel-good girls basketball season at Southmoreland. “That’s actually been one of the...
New South Park girls soccer coach excited for opportunity at alma mater
For T.J. O’Brien, there’s no place like home. No, he didn’t have to click red glass slippers like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. He simply had to say yes when offered the girls soccer head coaching position at South Park. O’Brien, a 2006 South Park graduate and former Eagles...
Decade’s best WPIAL finals: Baseball No. 10
While it almost became a theme to repeat in WPIAL softball this past decade, it was nearly an impossible dream for district baseball teams. Wild Things Park in Washington continued to be the home for the WPIAL baseball championships, but only twice in 42 title games was a school successful...
WPIAL adopts 2-game series for section baseball schedules, reveals realignment
The WPIAL adopted a revamped baseball schedule Monday meant to keep teams from pitching their ace twice against the same section opponent. Now, rather than play every team once and then rematch later in the season, WPIAL baseball teams will play a two-game series on consecutive days against every section...
Derry set to finalize football coaching candidates list
Derry athletic director Brett Miller is finalizing the list of candidates for the Trojans’ football coaching position that opened when Tim Sweeney left to accept the same job at Baldwin last month. Sweeney energized a program that was 0-10 and outscored by more than 50 points per game in 2013...
North Allegheny expected to hire Dan DeRose as boys basketball coach
Another high-profile WPIAL basketball coach is expected to switch schools this week. Dan DeRose is expected to be hired as North Allegheny’s boys basketball coach Wednesday, pending school board approval, according to a source. DeRose coached at Penn Hills for the past five seasons and won a WPIAL Class 6A...
PIAA board of directors to discuss restarting sports county by county
Could the PIAA take a county-by-county approach to restarting sports, or should the entire state resume summer workouts at the same time? “We want to have that discussion,” said PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi, who expects that question and others related to the coronavirus shutdown will be addressed Wednesday when...
Trib HSSN May Madness: Annessa Schnur, Butler vs. Maura Huwalt, South Park
Over the course of the next month and a half, May Madness will determine who you fans believe is the WPIAL Athlete of the Century. HSSN has put together two 32-player brackets, one for the boys and one for the girls of WPIAL alums. Outside of a few exceptions, the...
Trib HSSN May Madness: Steve Breaston, Woodland Hills vs. Jonathan Baldwin, Aliquippa
Over the course of the next month and a half, May Madness will determine who fans believe is the WPIAL Athlete of the Century. HSSN has put together two 32-player brackets, one for the boys and one for the girls, of WPIAL alums. Outside of a few exceptions, the field...
Hempfield to interview athletic director candidates this weekVideo
Hempfield Area School District is moving forward in its search for a new athletic director after Greg Meisner resigned April 3. Meisner served as the district’s athletic director since 2005. Meisner, 60, is a Valley grad who went on to play defensive line at Pitt and in the NFL. He...
Decade’s best WPIAL finals: Softball No. 10
From classification expansion to field renovations forcing a change in the venue for the district championships, there was a lot going on with the WPIAL softball championships this past decade. From Lilly Field at Cal (Pa.) to Seton Hill to a mishmash of title games played here and there or...
In the midst of challenges, Don Holl settling in as Gateway’s athletic director
Don Holl’s first official day as Gateway’s new athletic director was March 13. It also was the day Gov. Tom Wolf announced all schools in the state would close temporarily and all school-related activities suspended as part of the early response to the coronavirus pandemic. The state made that ruling...
Dek hockey athleticism earns North Hills lineman 1st college football offerVideo
At 6-foot-5 and around 230 pounds, North Hills’ Matt Hummel is bigger than most dek hockey players. Off-the-shelf sticks are often too short. But the athleticism that lets him play multiple sports also has college football coaches interested in recruiting the offensive lineman. The junior added his first Division I...
Air Force Academy football makes recruiting push into Western Pa.Video
Two military service academies have successfully recruited Western Pennsylvania football players for years. Combined, Army and Navy had seven former WPIAL athletes on their rosters last fall. The Air Force Academy wants to join them. The Falcons have extended offers to a number of WPIAL juniors this spring including at...
Penn-Trafford seniors defined excellence during high school careers
Editor’s note: This is the 15th in an 18-part series profiling nominees for the Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete Excellence Awards. During their high school careers at Penn-Trafford, Gabe Dunlap and Corina Paszek were the definition of excellence on the athletic field and in the classroom. Dunlap went down as one of...
Pine-Richland’s Luke Miller wastes no time making commitment to Kent StateVideo
Pine-Richland junior Luke Miller didn’t need long to decide. Two days after receiving a Kent State offer, Miller committed Saturday to the Golden Flashes. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound linebacker and receiver chose the Mid-American school over more than a dozen other Division I offers. Miller took an unofficial visit to the...
Norwin’s Crosby, Phipps finished high school athletic careers in style
Editor’s note: This is the 14th in an 18-part series profiling nominees for the Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete Excellence Awards. When Juliana Crosby made her decision to attend Florida State last month, the move, she said, was not only closure for her high school career but also a bit of good...
Thomas Jefferson linebacker Preston Zandier commits to Youngstown StateVideo
Not often does a university president get involved in football recruiting, but these are unusual times. And of course Youngstown State’s president isn’t your usual school administrator. Thomas Jefferson junior Preston Zandier committed Saturday to YSU, two weeks after a video-conference call with new Penguins coach Doug Phillips, his assistants...
Trib HSSN May Madness results for Friday, May 15
The HSSN May Madness results are in from Friday, May 15 in the opening round of the brackets to determine the WPIAL athlete of the century. Both matchups were won comfortably by a three-star stud and a lightning fast runner, both from south of the city of Pittsburgh. In the...
Belle Vernon girls basketball coach Ronnie Drennen steps down after 2 successful seasons
After winning 30 games during the past two seasons, Ronnie Drennen resigned as girls basketball coach at Belle Vernon. Drennen, a physical education teacher at the high school, took over in 2018 after Lisa Fairman resigned and became coach at Thomas Jefferson. In his first varsity head coaching job, Drennen...
Mt. Pleasant athletes etched names in school’s record books
Editor’s note: This is the 13th in an 18-part series profiling nominees for the Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete Excellence Awards. They will be remembered for big plays — splash plays, even — from their thrilling prep careers at Mt. Pleasant. Heather Gardner and Jake Johnson were headliners. But mention their names...
Trinity junior Courtney Dahlquist adds 2 college basketball offersVideo
Trinity junior Courtney Dahlquist, who saw her season cut short by the coronavirus outbreak, added two college offers this week. The 6-foot-3 forward received a Division I offer from UMass Lowell and a Division II offer from IUP, which finished last season ranked seventh nationally. Her AAU team announced the...
