High School category, Page 1091
Polce leads Pine-Richland boys past Connellsville
Pinpoint perimeter shooting and dominant rebounding led Pine-Richland to an 81-51 victory over Connellsville in the first round of the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs Tuesday at Fox Chapel High School. Kyle Polce scored 27 points, Joseph Petcash added 14 and Levi Wentz chipped in 12 for the fifth-seeded Rams, who...
Monessen holds Aquinas Academy scoreless in 1st quarter but loses
After a dominating start, the Monessen girls basketball team saw its opening-round game of the WPIAL Class A playoffs slip away Tuesday in a 34-30 defeat by Aquinas Academy at Peters Township. “I’m shocked, myself,” Monessen coach Janine Vertacnik said. “In 33 years of coaching, I’ve never been involved in...
Gateway girls stage furious rally to run past Penn-Trafford
Facing a 13-point deficit that felt more like 30, Gateway had to remind itself this was the playoffs and there was no next game. “Late in that game, we decided it was time to play,” Gators coach Curtiss Williams said. “Our girls believed they still had a chance.” Sixth-seeded Gateway...
Moon rockets past Mars in return to WPIAL girls basketball playoffs
After a five-year hiatus, it was a successful return to the WPIAL playoffs for Moon. The Tigers used a strong surge to start the second half and rolled to a 52-36 victory over Mars in a Class 5A girls first-round game at North Hills Middle School. Leading by only 24-21...
Westmoreland high school athletes of the week: Latrobe’s Cole Ferri and Penn-Trafford’s Corina Paszek
Cole Ferri School: Latrobe Sport: Hockey Class: Senior Claim to fame: Ferri, who is tied for the second in Class AA with 46 points, recorded his fourth hat trick of the season and added an assist to lead Latrobe (15-1-1) to a 6-3 win over Hempfield on Feb. 13. Ferri,...
Thomas Jefferson girls impress in playoff-opening win over Armstrong
A solid defensive effort got fifth-seeded Thomas Jefferson off to a good start in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs Tuesday night. Dalaney Ranallo led the way with a game-high 11 points and the Jaguars rolled past No. 12 Armstrong, 47-23, in a first-round matchup at Mt. Lebanon High School. “We...
Penn Hills girls pull away from Plum late to advance in Class 5A playoffs
The Penn Hills and Plum girls basketball teams, longstanding section rivals in the old Class AAAA, hadn’t played in more than four years until the WPIAL brought them together Tuesday for a Class 5A first-round game at Fox Chapel. Numerous games in the series between the Mustangs and Indians were...
Wrestling notebook: Norwin’s Weinzen done for season with arm injury
The season is over for Norwin senior Ryan Weinzen. Weinzen suffered an injury to his left arm at practice, and it was serious enough that he might need surgery. Weinzen (19-3) was having a good season and was ranked behind returning state champion Gerrit Nijenhuis of Canon-McMillan and Donovan McMillen...
Plum wrestler Vince Citrano a man on a mission in Class AAA postseason
Plum sophomore Vince Citrano has been a man on a mission all season long. After coming up just short in the section tournament as a freshman last year with a second-place finish and then not placing in the WPIAL tournament, Citrano was motivated to come back even stronger this season....
A-K Valley wrestling notebook: Seven wrestlers earn top seeds for sectionals tournament
WPIAL Class AAA wrestlers will compete in their section tournaments Saturday, and seven from the Alle-Kiski Valley were seeded first in their respective weight class. Kiski Area leads the way with five No. 1 seeds: Sammy Starr (152 pounds), Jack Blumer (160), Nick Delp (170), Jared Curcio (182) and Brayden...
A-K Valley high school athletes of the week: Samantha Coleman and A.J. Corrado
Samantha Coleman Class: Freshman School: Kiski Area Sport: Gymnastics Report card: Coleman placed second overall in all-around in the Intermediate II division at the WPIAL gymnastics individual championship Saturday at Moon. She placed 15th on vault, eighth on bars, fifth on beam and fourth on floor for a total score...
Yough champs enter school’s wrestling record books, still have goals to achieveVideo
Shane Momyer and Glenn Christner did something Friday at the WPIAL Class AA section tournament that is a rare occurrence in Yough wresting history. They won section titles. The last Yough wrestler to win a section title was Tom Sever in 2015. And in an even rarer occurrence, Yough wrestlers...
Westmoreland County basketball playoff preview capsules: Games of Feb. 19, 2020
Wednesday’s games Boys Class 4A First round No. 11 Derry (7-14) vs. No. 6 Belle Vernon (16-6) 8 p.m. at Fox Chapel Winner plays: No. 3 Quaker Valley (17-5) Saturday in quarterfinals Coaches: Tom Esposito, Derry; Joe Salvino, Belle Vernon Points scored/allowed: Derry 56.0/65.2; Belle Vernon 70.6/62.5 Players to watch:...
A-K Valley basketball playoff preview capsules: Games of Feb. 19, 2020
Girls Class 3A First Round No. 8 Seton LaSalle (14-7) vs. No. 9 Deer Lakes (13-9) 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at North Allegheny Winner plays: No. 1 Beaver (19-3) Saturday in the quarterfinals Coaches: Jordan Giles, Seton LaSalle; Dave Petruska, Deer Lakes Points scored/allowed: Seton LaSalle, 51.2/47.7; Deer Lakes, 44.7/37.9 Players...
Trib HSSN individual wrestling rankings for Feb. 18, 2020
Class AAA 106: 1. Mac Church, fr., Waynesburg (36-4); 2. Jacob Houpt, so., Canon-McMillan (26-12); 3.Briar Priest, so., Hempfield (29-3); 4. Vincent Kilkeary, fr., Latrobe (21-5); 5. Ty Watters, so., West Allegheny (11-0). 113: 1. Carter Dibert, jr. Franklin Regional (31-2); 2. Ethan Berginc, jr. Hempfield (26-4); 3. Nico Taddy,...
Top bowlers to compete for WPIBL individual titles
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League crowned its team champions last week as the Central Catholic boys and Greensburg Salem girls took home top honors. Now, individual bowlers are in the spotlight as the WPIBL singles titles will be decided Wednesday and Thursday. The boys tournament is Wednesday at Sims...
George Guido: New Edinboro football coach to headline Armstrong County Sports HOF class
It’s been a pretty busy 2020 so far for Apollo-Ridge graduate Jake Nulph. He was named Edinboro’s football coach Jan. 19. On April 26, he will be inducted into the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame. Nulph quarterbacked Apollo-Ridge to its first undefeated season in 2000, passing for 26 touchdowns...
Trib HSSN Wrestler of the Week: Burrell’s AJ Corrado
Burrell’s AJ Corrado has turned in a dominant junior wrestling season, and he earned his first WPIAL title in the same fashion this weekend. He won the 152-pound weight class with two pins and a 2-1 decision over Quaker Valley’s Conner Redinger, who was going for his third WPIAL championship....
Trib HSSN Wrestling Team of the Week: Burrell
Burrell’s wrestling team turned in quite the weekend at Canon-McMillan on Friday and Saturday. First, the Bucs competed in the Section 3-AA individual tournament Friday. They had four wrestlers win section championships, five were runners-up and two finished in third. Burrell followed up that performance Saturday with a strong effort...
WPIAL approves section alignments for winter sports, basketball must wait
The WPIAL released updated sections for some winter sports, but basketball won’t be ready for awhile. The WPIAL board approved alignments for gymnastics, rifle and wrestling at Monday’s meeting. However, the WPIAL can’t finalize new basketball sections until after the PIAA decides which teams must move up under its competitive-balance...
Decade’s best WPIAL finals: Girls basketball No. 5
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...
Trib HSSN boys basketball player of the week: Week ending Feb. 15, 2020
It was a big week for the Shenango boys basketball team. It began with a stunning win to end the regular season, then concluded with a big victory to open the postseason. Leading the way was Colin McQuiston, as the senior scored 51 points in wins over Mars and California....
WPIAL boys 6A, girls 5A and A headline Day 4 of first-round basketball
Last year, Peters Township knocked off Penn-Trafford in a Class 6A boys basketball first-round playoff game before losing an upset bid to Pine-Richland in heartbreaking fashion at the buzzer, 66-64, in the district quarterfinals. The opening-round win was the first Indians’ postseason victory in seven years. Hempfield is making its...
West Allegheny, last team into WPIAL boys playoff field, shocks McKeesport
The WPIAL playoffs apparently don’t follow a last-in, first-out policy. West Allegheny, which needed help on the final day of the regular season to qualify for the Class 5A tournament, got 30 points from Scott Bilovus to knock off fifth-seeded McKeesport, 65-62, at North Allegheny High School. West Allegheny led...
OLSH new No. 1 in 2A with few other changes in latest HSSN PIAA boys basketball rankings
Only one team dropped from this week’s Trib HSSN boys basketball state rankings as the transition from regular season to postseason is made. Only Camp Hill Trinity was bumped and Bishop McDevitt in Wyncote was added in Class 3A, but there were changes at the top in classes 3A, 2A...
