High School category, Page 1087
Jake Hoffman scores 40 as defending champ Mt. Lebanon pounds Bethel Park
Mt. Lebanon senior Jake Hoffman started the regular season with a statistical anomaly: four straight games in which he scored exactly 30 points. The defending champion’s leading scorer decided to raise the stakes in the Blue Devils’ postseason debut as he dropped 40 points in a runaway 70-48 win over...
Decade’s best WPIAL finals: Boys basketball No. 3
There were a lot of changes to the WPIAL basketball championships over the past 10 years. They expanded from two days to three days and from eight boys and girls finals to a dozen championship games. The district also switched venues, moving from Duquesne’s Palumbo Center to Pitt’s Petersen Events...
Strong 2nd half carries Upper St. Clair past Pine-Richland, into semifinals
Maybe it is the team’s gritty style. Maybe it is coaching adjustments, or maybe it is just the names on the roster. Whatever the reason, Upper St. Clair often is better after halftime than before, a trait that let the fourth-seeded Panthers regroup and defeat No. 5 Pine-Richland, 62-59, on...
North Allegheny girls, Fox Chapel’s Manelis dominate at WPIAL diving championships
Going into the 31-diver girls event at the WPIAL Class AAA diving championships Saturday, the host North Allegheny Tigers had the top three seeds: freshman Zoe Ky first, junior Maya Ennis second and freshman Christina Shi third. When the dust settled, the order had reversed, but the Tigers still dominated...
Westmoreland H.S. notebook: Rich Garland lands at Mt. Pleasant
When Rich Garland left Franklin Regional, he knew his days of coaching girls soccer in the WPIAL were not over. He was looking for a fresh start. It didn’t take him long to land with a new program. Garland, who guided Franklin Regional for 19 years and win 211 games,...
Avonworth girls push past South Park into WPIAL semifinals
The Avonworth girls basketball team understood that if it wanted to return to the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals, the Antelopes would have to play to their strength — their size. The No. 5 Antelopes (18-6) did exactly that as they jumped out to a 13-point lead at halftime and never...
Belle Vernon boys basketball upsets Quaker Valley, clinches PIAA spot
Listed at 5-foot-9, Devin Whitlock was the shortest player on the floor in Saturday’s game between Quaker Valley and Belle Vernon, but what he lacks in size he makes up for in many other areas. He has a good vertical leap, a keen eye and a feel for the big...
Central Catholic boys upset No. 2 Fox Chapel in WPIAL quarterfinals
Central Catholic boys basketball first-year coach Brian Urso never doubted his team Saturday afternoon. His confidence was justified. The seventh-seeded Vikings knocked off Urso’s alma mater— one-loss, second-seeded Fox Chapel — by a 42-34 score in the Class 6A quarterfinals at Plum. Central Catholic players and assistant coaches joined an...
New Castle boys hold on to beat No. 2 seeded Knoch
When the playoffs roll around, New Castle instantly becomes a tough team to beat and Knoch learned that the hard way Saturday afternoon at North Allegheny. At one point in the second half, the No. 7 Red Hurricanes (17-7) had built an 11-point lead on the second-seeded Knights (19-4). With...
Ethan Morton, No. 1 Butler outlast Peters Township in double-overtime barnburner
It took four quarters, two overtimes and 32 points and a buzzer beater from Ethan Morton for No. 1 Butler to finally escape a tough No. 9 Peters Township (14-10) team, but escape they did in a 78-76 victory in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball playoffs....
Highlands rolls past Ringgold in Class 4A boys quarterfinal
So much for problems getting untracked after a 15-day layoff. No. 1-seeded Highlands scored early and often, rolling to an 80-57 victory over Ringgold in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal Saturday afternoon at North Hills Middle School. Highlands (20-3) staged a 13-0 run in the first half, holding Ringgold (12-10)...
Marinchak brothers move Ligonier Valley into District 6 semifinals
Top-seeded Ligonier Valley survived the first game of its final season in the District 6 boys basketball playoffs Friday night, but it took a big scoring surge in the fourth quarter, led by the Marinchak brothers, to do it. Senior Michael Marinchak scored 22 points, and sophomore Matthew Marinchak added...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Feb. 21, 2020
Basketball Boys WPIAL playoffs Class 6A Quarterfinals Saturday’s schedule Butler (17-4) vs. Peters Township (14-9) at Mt. Lebanon, noon Upper St. Clair (19-3) vs. Pine-Richland (15-8) at North Hills, 3:15 p.m. Fox Chapel (21-1) vs. Central Catholic (13-10) at Plum, 1 p.m. Mt. Lebanon (16-6) vs. Bethel Park (14-8) at...
Brayden Reynolds’ clutch shot sparks Chartiers Valley past Shaler
Chartiers Valley coach Brandon Sensor thought Shaler did a pretty good job on his standout guard Brayden Reynolds through the first three quarters of Friday’s WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal game. Sensor also knew that the all-section senior would come through for his team when they needed him to, because he’d...
Decade’s best WPIAL finals: Girls basketball No. 3
There were a lot of changes to the WPIAL basketball championships over the last 10 years. They expanded from two days to three days and from eight boys and girls finals to a dozen championship games. The district also switched venues, moving from the Palumbo Center at Duquesne to the...
Michael Carmody’s big game leads Mars past South FayetteVideo
Mars didn’t have its A game Friday night in its 2020 playoff debut, but the Fightin’ Planets survived and advanced to their fourth straight Class 5A final four. Senior Michael Carmody scored 23 points and dominated the glass with 19 rebounds as the two-time defending WPIAL champions knocked off South...
High school roundup for Feb. 21, 2020: Thomas Jefferson shrugs off West Allegheny
With top-seeded Penn Hills falling victim to a quarterfinals upset, the Path to the Pete in WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball took a left turn Friday night. Thomas Jefferson is still chugging along down that road. Jake Pugh scored 14 points and Ethan Dunsey came off the bench to add...
Wrestling and diving and hoops, oh my. All the action Saturday on Trib HSSN
The second round of the WPIAL basketball playoffs concludes Saturday afternoon with quarterfinals games in boys 6A, boys 4A, girls 5A and girls 3A. On the boys side, Upper St. Clair against Pine-Richland is a standout matchup among many good contests Saturday. The Panthers and Rams each finished second in...
Winchester Thurston shocks Springdale to earn second playoff win in school historyVideo
Sometimes, it’s not the third but the fourth time that’s the charm, and the Winchester Thurston Bears experienced just that Friday night at Shaler. After losing to Section 1-2A rival Springdale three times over the course of the regular season, the No. 12 Bears (12-10) finally got the better of...
Laurel Highlands scores with 3.5 seconds left, stuns No. 1 Penn Hills in WPIAL quarterfinalsVideo
Laurel Highlands coach Rick Hauger called for a timeout, but the crowd was still raucous from Penn Hills’ game-tying 3-pointer. “Thank goodness they didn’t hear me,” Hauger said. Laurel Highlands fought through the trap that had Hauger worried, and senior Keandre Cook banked in a game-winning runner with 3.5 seconds...
Phenomenal freshman leads Upper St. Clair girls to upset win over Norwin
It’s not to be confused with the 1950s harmony group, the Four Freshmen, but four freshmen starters contributed to a big upset Friday night. Sixth-seeded Upper St. Clair surprised No. 3 Norwin, 52-39, in a WPIAL 6-A playoff quarterfinal at Charleroi High School. One of the ninth-graders, Katelyn Robbins, had...
New strategy brings PIAA quarterfinal win for Derry’s Cymmerman
Derry junior Ty Cymmerman decided to change his style late in the season, and for the past two weeks it has worked fine. The three-time WPIAL Class AA champion learned his old style of taking down his opponent and releasing him was getting himself tied and making matches closer than...
Shenango mans up, knocks off Jeannette in boys Class 2A quarters
Shenango had planned to come out in a 3-2 zone defense against Jeannette in the WPIAL Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinals, but coach Bob McQuiston had an 11th hour change of heart. “I was laying on bed (Thursday night) thinking about it, and I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s just...
North Catholic sweeps WPIAL Class AA diving championships
North Catholic, on the backs of a freshman and a senior, dominated the girls and boys events at the WPIAL Class AA diving championships Friday at South Park. Freshman Maggie Foley led the 14-team girls field the entire way through 11 dives, winning by 41.40 points with a score of...
Burrell senior wrestler Feroce surprises at PIAA regionals
While it was business as usual for Burrell juniors Ian Oswalt and AJ Corrado, senior Ricky Feroce capped off Day 1 of the PIAA Class AA Southwest Regional on Friday at IUP’s Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex with a satisfying victory. Feroce, a 182-pounder who lost in the consolation round...
