High School category, Page 1105
Hard work pays off for Pine-Richland wrestling team
January was a good month for the Pine-Richland wrestling team. It might have been the best month the program has experienced in the past decade. For starters, the Rams captured first place Jan. 18 at the Allegheny County tournament, besting a field of 37 teams for their first win at...
Norwin’s Ethan Tulenko breaks meet record at WCCAs
Norwin senior swimmer Ethan Tulenko went into the Westmoreland County Coaches Association championship Jan. 25 expecting to set a meet record, and he did. Tulenko came in first in the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 41.81 seconds, close to three seconds faster than the pace set by Hempfield’s Zack Rulli...
High school roundup for Jan. 30, 2020: Beaver girls hoops topples Mohawk
It was a battle of No. 1 versus No. 2 in Class 3A as the second-ranked Beaver (16-3, 10-2) girls basketball team put on a strong defensive performance to beat top-ranked Mohawk (16-3, 10-2) for a Section 1-3A victory 54-44. After trailing 13-11 through the first quarter, Beaver outscored the...
High school scores, schedules for Jan. 30, 2020
High Schools Basketball Boys Friday’s schedule WPIAL Class 6A Section 1 Central Catholic at Butler, 7:30 p.m. North Hills at Pine-Richland, 7:30 p.m. Seneca Valley at North Allegheny, 7:30 p.m. Section 2 Baldwin at Canon-McMillan, 6 p.m. Peters Township at Mt. Lebanon, 7:30 p.m. Upper St. Clair at Bethel Park,...
Belle Vernon girls hold on for section win against McKeesport
Two days ago, Belle Vernon girls basketball coach Ronnie Drennen made a statement with the utmost confidence. “We have a big two games coming up, McKeesport and Southmoreland, and we’re going to beat one or both of them,” Drennen said. On Thursday, the Leopards checked one of those off the...
Rochester races to big lead, holds on to clinch section title
Rochester opened the game with an 18-2 run and held off Vincentian Academy down the stretch Thursday night in a 56-49 victory. With the win, the top-ranked Rams clinched the Section 1-A championship and are headed toward a top seed in the WPIAL playoffs. The Rams (19-1, 11-0) capitalized on...
WPIAL clinched: Girls basketball clinchings through Jan. 30, 2020
The WPIAL girls basketball regular season is winding down. There is less than two weeks left in section play. The playoff field is starting to grow. When the regular season ends, at least 68 girls basketball teams will earn a spot in the WPIAL postseason. Trib HSSN will once again...
Christiane Frye leads Central Valley past Blackhawk
Central Valley is right back in the Section 2-4A championship race. Christiane Frye made sure of that. The senior guard tallied a game-high 26 points Thursday night to lead the Warriors to a 58-50 win at Blackhawk in a key Section 2-4A showdown. The victory tied Central Valley (15-2 overall,...
Shaler hockey trying to salvage season
Things were admittedly bleak for Shaler Area senior Blake Kucharski and teammates. Heading into the holiday break, the Titans hockey team didn’t have much to show in the win column. Losing 10 of their first 11 contests had Kucharski, an assistant captain, and Shaler searching for answers. “I think we...
Chartiers Valley boys basketball piles up wins but searches for perfect game
Nobody is perfect. That hasn’t stopped the Chartiers Valley boys basketball team’s pursuit of that elusive ideal. A perfect record would have been nice, but, at this point, all second-year coach Brandon Sensor is looking for is a perfect game. He wants to see a night when the Colts are...
Penn Hills girls basketball team stays in WPIAL playoff hunt
Last season, the Penn Hills girls basketball team was on the doorstep to the WPIAL Class 5A championship game. This year, after all the seniors left, the Indians find themselves fighting for their WPIAL playoff lives down the stretch of the regular season. The Indians (8-11, 6-5), who have only...
Penn Hills’ Grimes to play football at Akron
With National Signing Day approaching, Penn Hills’ Tony Grimes took his turn at announcing where he will play the sport he has loved since he was 6. Grimes announced his verbal commitment to play football at Akron as a preferred walk-on via his personal Twitter account Jan. 27. Grimes will...
North Allegheny girls proving to be quick learners
The North Allegheny girls basketball team showed it can play fast and slow in a 60-42 victory against section rival Norwin on Tuesday night. The Tigers (15-3, 10-1) have won four straight and are tied atop Section 1-6A partly because of their flexibility, something that coach Spencer Stefko said comes...
North Allegheny’s Mihm listed among nation’s top swimmers
North Allegheny senior Rick Mihm was recently named to a list of the country’s top 18-and-under male swimmers by USA Swimming. Mihm ranks 72nd on the 2019 18 & Under World 100. His time of 2 minutes, 3.02 seconds in the 200-meter individual medley is 31st in the world. The...
Lincoln Park boys basketball seeking consistency
Lincoln Park’s boys basketball team has chased consistency all season. The Leopards (16-2) know they’ll have to find it before the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs approach. “We’ve had some ups and downs like every team has. We’ve been playing some great basketball one week and, the next week, we play...
Ligonier Valley boys basketball rebounds from poor start
If you witnessed Ligonier Valley’s boys basketball game against Nazareth Prep, you probably walked away thinking it was going to be a long season for the Rams. Ligonier Valley coach John Berger might have agreed after the 37-point loss to the returning WPIAL Class A champions. But first impressions can...
Several storylines heading into a busy Friday of section boys basketball
Thing are heating up in Section 2-5A in WPIAL boys basketball with three section games remaining. Chartiers Valley (10-1) has clinched a section title and appears on its way to an outright section crown. Thomas Jefferson (8-3) is second and can clinch a playoff spot with a win Friday. Then...
Westmoreland boys basketball notebook: Derry boys return to playoffs
It’s been 61 years since Derry made back-to-back WPIAL playoff appearances in boys basketball. But the Trojans (7-11, 4-4) ended that miserable drought. They will make a return trip to the postseason after clinching a Class 4A berth with a 50-37 Section 1 win Tuesday over Yough. Other local teams...
Realignment marks significant change in fortune for Hampton football
Less than six years ago, Hampton was a good football program. In 2014, the team went 9-2 and won its conference. The next year, it qualified for playoffs again and made a WPIAL quarterfinals appearance. Then expansion and realignment happened, along with some really bad times for the program. “I...
Central Michigan offers Jeannette sophomore Brett Birch
Jeannette’s Brett Birch is just a sophomore, but his coaches have noted he can do things that are ahead of his years. The way he runs routes. The way he makes catches in traffic and covers ground on defense. The way he leads by example. “One-hundred percent,” Jayhawks coach Roy...
Penn-Trafford’s versatile Ethan Carr pulls in four Division I offers
Let the Ethan Carr sweepstakes begin. Carr, the on-the-rise football standout at Penn-Trafford, is starting to see the recruiting process unfold months before he begins his senior season. A versatile prospect who played wide receiver, quarterback, running back, safety and outside linebacker for the Warriors last season, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound...
WPIAL releases football schedules for 2020 season
The loudest complaints from WPIAL football teams were about travel and blowouts. So the WPIAL released schedules Thursday for the 2020 and ‘21 seasons tailored specifically to address those concerns, WPIAL associate executive director Amy Scheuneman said. The schedules differ from years past because the WPIAL handpicked most nonconference opponents...
Franklin Regional swimming, diving get mixed bag at WCCAs
The Franklin Regional swimming and diving teams had mixed outcomes at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association championships Jan. 24-25 at Derry. The boys won their first Class AAA title since 2008, and the girls saw their four-year reign end. The boys dominated with 393.50 points in a 15-team field. Senior...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Jan. 29, 2020
Basketball Boys Wednesday’s results WPIAL Nonsection Armstrong 59, United 37 Carmichaels 51, West Greene 49 Ellwood City 63, Wilmington 48 Gateway 78, West Mifflin 44 Laurel Highlands 62, Uniontown 54 Norwin 67, Elizabeth Forward 60 Shady Side Academy 62, Freeport 45 South Allegheny 81, Serra Catholic 54 Winchester Thurston 81,...
Moon girls basketball trying to keep pace in rugged Section 1-5A
The Moon girls basketball team lost twice in December, and twice in January. The Tigers are hoping to keep that record intact Thursday in a key section test at home against Trinity. Just as the Moon girls avenged an early season loss to Thomas Jefferson with a 55-52 victory Jan....
