High School category, Page 1094
Burgettstown, McGuffey start strong as WPIAL wrestling tournaments begin
Burgettstown and McGuffey got off to a quick start on the road to Hershey on Friday night. Both schools crowned five champs apiece as the WPIAL Class AA section tournaments were wrestled at Canon-McMillan. Shane Ilgenfritz (106), Hunter Guiddy (126), Shane Kemper (152), Turner Lehman (182) and Riley Kemper (285)...
Carlynton overcomes foul trouble, beats Charleroi in overtime
Carlynton coach Mike Kozy wrote the word “team” on the board prior to Friday’s WPIAL Class AAA first-round game against Charleroi. He knew it was going to take a team effort if his Cougars wanted to advance. With two of his top players in foul trouble, the rest of the...
High school roundup for Feb. 14, 2020: Neshannock tops Washington in OT thriller
Preston Turk made a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left in overtime to lead Neshannock past Washington, 55-54, in a wild WPIAL Class 3A boys basketball first-round matchup Friday night. Ian Bredniak scored 15 points and Marlon Norris added 13 for eighth-seeded Washington (15-7), which jumped out to...
No. 1 Lincoln Park boys shake off sluggish start, cruise past Deer Lakes
WPIAL Class 3A No. 1 seed Lincoln Park is the defending PIAA champion for a reason, and Friday night in the first round of the district playoffs, the Leopards showed why. The Leopards (19-4) came out slowly, and No. 16 seed Deer Lakes took advantage in the first quarter. By...
Relentless North Catholic boys finish off Shady Side Academy
Shady Side Academy’s 17th consecutive WPIAL playoff trip was a short one in more ways than one. The Indians traveled just 1½ miles to Fox Chapel High School and fell behind quickly, ultimately dropping an 86-36 decision to No. 2-seeded North Catholic, 86-36. The Trojans’ defense was unrelenting, holding the...
Beaver Falls powers past Southmoreland in boys opening-round matchup
Momentum is an interesting aspect of sports. It’s hard to acquire, and it can be lost in a split second. Or in the case of Southmoreland on Friday night, it can be lost in a painful eight minutes of basketball. The Scotties had won nine of their final 10 games...
Riverview girls rally past Burgettstown, end playoff losing streak
Despite a 10-point deficit at the end of the third quarter, the Riverview girls basketball team would not be denied its first WPIAL playoff victory since 2016. The No. 10 Raiders ended a three-game WPIAL playoff losing skid and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 32-28 victory over No. 7...
Whiteside leads hopeful Gateway contingent into section wrestling tourney
Led by senior Evan Whiteside, seven Gateway wrestlers enter the Section 1-AAA tournament Feb. 22 at Kiski Area with medal-winning aspirations. The 120-pound Whiteside will be joined by Floyd McKenna (152), Oscar Portis (145), Siv Asuresh (126), David Clark (170), Chris Horton (285) and Racari El (182) at sectionals, where...
Gateway bowlers make strides to qualify for WPIBL singles championship
Gateway bowling’s regular season wrapped up Feb. 5, and the Gators failed to qualify for last week’s WPIBL team championship, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Four boys — Cody Beckwith, Liam Brown, Nathan Clark and Mason Servallo — qualified to represent Gateway in the boys singles championship...
Brentwood’s Ziegler reaches scoring milestone
C.J. Ziegler recently enlisted in an exclusive club at Brentwood. Prior to this season, only 10 boys basketball players had attained 1,000 career points. Ziegler joined that posh group. The 5-foot-11 senior guard logged his 1,000th career point Jan. 24 in a 67-52 section win at Carmichaels. He finished with...
Senior captains drive Seton LaSalle girls to successful season
Seton LaSalle’s girls basketball team has been driven by the force of three seniors in its lineup this season. The leading scorers for the playoff-bound Rebels consist of seniors Chloe Lestitian (11.9), Sarah Merlina (11.4) and Vanessa Hudson (11.1), who average close to 35 points per game between them. Lestitian...
Sole senior Jenna Lutz energizes Baldwin girls basketball program
It has been a frustrating yet gratifying senior season for Baldwin hoopster Jenna Lutz. She is a three-year letterwinner in the girls basketball program at Baldwin and plans to continue her career at Allegheny College as an environmental science major. A 6-foot forward, Lutz has spent most of the 2019-20...
Division title within reach for Quaker Valley hockey
The race for PIHL Penguins Cup Class AA playoff spots is finishing in a frenzy. Quaker Valley is just happy to have some control in what could become an ultra-tight Northwest Division. Only two teams from each division earn playoff spots. The Quakers (7-7-3, 17 points) lead the division with...
Penn-Trafford swimmer Paszek eyes school record, PIAAs
Penn-Trafford senior swimmer Corina Paszek, who committed to compete for Clarion next season, will have a couple of incentives at the WPIAL Class AAA championship meet Feb. 27-28 at Pitt. “One of my goals is to break the 200 (individual medley) school record again and qualify for a spot at...
Q&A with Plum’s Connor Moss
Plum’s Connor Moss eclipsed 1,000 career points Feb. 5 after scoring 25 in a 52-51 nonconference win over Baldwin. Moss joins another junior, the girls team’s Kennedie Montue, in hitting the milestone. Moss scored more than 20 points 13 times this season and had more than 30 points four times....
Norwin wrestlers set big goals for postseason tournaments
Norwin’s wrestling team wants to keep establishing program records this year. The Knights picked up a program-best 18 dual meet wins and advanced to the WPIAL Class AAA team tournament. Norwin beat West Mifflin, 51-18, in a preliminary match, but fell to Canon-McMillan, 55-17, in the first round. Though team...
Iron sharpens iron for Franklin Regional state title hopefuls Dibert, Solomon
At every practice in the Franklin Regional wrestling room, Finn Solomon and Carter Dibert are paired. When they wrestle, it typically becomes a spectacle. “When we go, everyone is watching us, because they want to see what happens,” Solomon said. “It’s so intense. It almost feels like the state finals...
Franklin Regional’s Jenkins looks forward to next chapter of bowling life
Alaina Jenkins’ favorite moment of her bowling career was also the one in which she felt the most pressure. Franklin Regional’s girls program had endured more than a decade of consecutive losing seasons and was one turn away in Week 8 from securing at least a share of its first...
The Herald Spotlight Athlete: Alex Wecht, Fox Chapel
When wrestling season ends, Alex Wecht, a senior for Fox Chapel, will see his scholastic sports career come to a close. He also was a two-way player on the football team and made first team all-conference as an outside linebacker. He was chosen as a 2019 High School Scholar All-American...
Fox Chapel indoor track team hoping to peak for big meets
The Tri-State Track Coaches Association indoor season is coming to a close, and Fox Chapel coach Tom Moul is confident his team will finish the season strong. “The season is going pretty well,” he said. “We still have a couple of weeks left. The TSTCA championship meet is Feb 22...
Plum swimmers ‘can’t wait’ for WPIAL championships
With the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool fast approaching, Plum coach Shawn Haupt has double vision. He looks back over the past two months of the season and sees numerous impressive swims, including WPIAL-qualifying performances from 11 individuals and all six relays. The veteran Mustangs coach...
Allderdice boys set sights on seventh straight City League basketball title
Taking over for a six-time champion usually isn’t an easy task. But Allderdice’s Devin Crummie relished the chance to take over the Dragons’ successful program after former coach Buddy Valinksy moved on to Norwin. “It’s been a great first year here at Allderdice,” Crummie said. “It’s a great place, and...
Westmoreland boys basketball playoff capsules: Games for Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020
WPIAL boys basketball playoff preview capsules Class A First round No. 4 Greensburg Central Catholic (16-6) vs. No. 13 Eden Christian (13-9) 1 p.m. Saturday at Fox Chapel Winner plays: No. 5 Nazareth Prep (15-7) or No. 12 Clairton (13-9) on Thursday in quarterfinals Coaches: Christian Hyland, Greensburg CC; Todd...
Trib HSSN girls swimmer of the week: Brooke Welling, Freeport
Brooke Welling ranks among the top swimmers in the girls 100-yard freestyle in WPIAL Class AA. The Freeport junior recorded her season-best time in the event – 54.37 seconds – last weekend at the Mark Hess Memorial Invitational at Indiana High School. The time earned Wellling a gold medal as...
Trib HSSN boys swimmer of the week: John Guilinger, Central Catholic
John Guilinger began his final varsity swim season at Central Catholic with both peace of mind and added energy after finalizing his decision to attend Penn State during the signing period in November. Now, three months later, the senior standout, after posting several top swims in numerous individual events and...
