High School category, Page 143

The Hempfield Spartan Field House will be the site of six boys basketball games Friday and Saturday for the 20th Hempfield tipoff tournament. On Friday, the opening game will mark the return of longtime coach Paul Sapotichne to Greensburg Salem. The Golden Lions will play Connellsville at 4:45 p.m. Sapotichne...

A cerebral leader behind the plate for Hempfield, Ella Berkebile has softball instincts that allow her to control the cadence of games. The catcher has been battery mates with standout pitchers Riley Miller and Julia Varhola, framing spots for them while also working to get groundouts and flyouts. The junior...

High schools Basketball Boys Wednesday’s results Nonsection Aquinas Academy 79, Leechburg 50 Beaver County Christian 61, Trinity 43 Central Valley 62, Beaver Falls 32 Thomas Jefferson 78, Clairton 71 Freeport 69, Derry 60 Greensburg Central Catholic 71, Berlin-BrothersValley 39 Mohawk 79, Hopewell 53 Riverside 64, West Middlesex 47 Springdale 82,...

Karis Thomas hit for 33 points to lead Shady Side Academy to a 64-53 victory over Baldwin in nonsection girls basketball Wednesday night. Laila Banner added 11 for the Bulldogs (3-0). Thomas now has 1,040 career points after cracking the 1,000 mark in a win over Berlin Brothersvalley on Sunday....

You never know which bout in a wrestling match could be the turning point. In Wednesday’s nonsection match between No. 4 Norwin and No. 10 Canon-McMillan it happened to be the first one. Knights senior Gage Mamie rallied from a 6-2 deficit to defeat Mason Calgaro, 9-6, in overtime. The...

Thursday marks the first of the final three days of the 2024 high school football season. The PIAA football championships kick off at Chapman Field at Cumberland Valley with the Class A and Class 4A title games. Three of the four teams are trying to win their first state football...

Alex Wylly wants his sophomore season with the Riverview wrestling team to reflect his toughness. Wylly has demonstrated he is willing to put the time in managing the burden that comes with playing three varsity sports. Following a solid freshman season on the mat, Wylly wants to prove to the...

Former Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said he found himself missing the players and coaches even more than he’d expected when he took this past football season off. So, he’s coming back. The three-time state champion was reinstated as Aliquippa’s head coach on Wednesday, ending a leave of absence he took...

Only teams that reach the state finals will be affected by the PIAA competitive-balance rule following a change approved Wednesday. The revision comes a year late for the Greensburg Central Catholic girls basketball team, which was forced to move up to Class 3A this winter without reaching the state finals....

There was great excitement in these parts last season when the WPIAL sent five teams and the City League had one reach championship weekend in the 2023 PIAA football playoffs. Following several stunning results on the day after Thanksgiving, the district only has two teams remaining to play for state...

Black Friday may have been great for local consumers, but it turned out to be a bad ending to a golden season for four district champions. The state semifinals were the end of the line for WPIAL winners Pine-Richland in 5A, Thomas Jefferson in 4A, South Park in 2A and...

Here’s a look at senior football players from the WPIAL and City League who signed with Division I programs on the first day of the early-signing period Wednesday: Division I FBS Henry Barbisch, Bishop Canevin, DL, Air Force* Jaiden Brown-Demery, West Mifflin, OL, Akron Dayshaun Burnett, Imani Christian, DL, Penn...

The early signing period arrived earlier than usual. Typically scheduled in late-December since its adoption in 2017, high school football recruits were able to sign with Division I programs this year starting Wednesday. Here’s a look at senior football players from the WPIAL and City League who chose to sign...

Penn-Trafford learned how to play without Torrie DeStefano last season after the then-sophomore guard suffered a season-ending knee injury just six games into the schedule. Now that she is back, coach John Giannikas clearly prefers life with DeStefano in the lineup. “It’s great to have her back,” the veteran coach...

High schools Basketball Boys Tuesday’s results Rettger tournament At Franklin Regional Seneca Valley 72, Avonworth 61 (2OT) Franklin Regional 49, Quaker Valley 48 (OT) Nonsection Albert Gallatin 63, Carrick 54 Armstrong 53, Perry Traditional Academy 36 Beaver 66, Blackhawk 51 Belle Vernon 55, Gateway 54 Butler 72, Kiski Area 67...

Caden Kaiser scored a career-high 17 points to lead Fox Chapel to a 58-50 comeback victory over Shaler in nonsection boys basketball Tuesday. Asher White added 14 points for the Foxes, who trailed 39-32 entering the fourth quarter. Jordan Epps scored 19 points and Deron Nixon had 16 for Shaler...

Two girls teams looking to go places at the end of the season squared off Tuesday in a nonsection game, and they put on a show. Penn-Trafford (3-0) used 3-pointers by Lauren Marton, Torrie DeStefano and Isabella Klobucar midway through the fourth quarter to build a nine-point lead and held...

Wednesday marks the start of the college football early signing period. High school seniors can sign binding letters of intent to their school of choice between Wednesday and Friday. The traditional signing period is Feb. 5 through April 1. The college football transfer portal opens between Dec. 9 and Dec....

It should be an exciting season for wrestling fans from Westmoreland County. All the Class 3A teams have state-quality wrestlers. The top returnee is Norwin sophomore Landon Sidun, who was the county’s lone PIAA champion last season. There are six other PIAA placewinners. They are Latrobe’s Luke Willochell, Leo Joseph...

For the most part, the Trib HSSN football rankings held true on state semifinals weekend. Five of the six top-ranked teams were victorious and will be playing for a PIAA championship this week in Mechanicsburg. The lone exception was in Class A where No. 1 Fort Cherry lost big to...

High schools Basketball Boys Monday’s results Rettger tournament At Franklin Regional Avonworth 89, Aquinas Academy 82 Franklin Regional 43, Seneca Valley 37 Nonsection Beth-Center 62, Bentworth 36 Derry 61, Mt. Pleasant 20 Ellwood City 70, Sto-Rox 37 Hopewell 63, Beaver Falls 56 Neighborhood Academy 79, Eden Christian 28 Propel Montour...

Rowan Carmichael poured in 34 points and freshman Will Shields added 18 as Avonworth ran past Aquinas Academy, 89-82, in the Mike Rettger Memorial Tournament on Monday at Franklin Regional. Eli Gardner added 13 points and Tom Werner had 11 for the Antelopes (1-0). Jake Guillen and Sam Duer scored...

Knoch announced its ninth sports hall of fame class, and it is rich with basketball talent and expertise, which probably means there are Shoops involved. Legendary boys hoops coach Les Shoop headlines the six-person group, which also includes athletes Josh Shoop, Jade Thrower, Brittany Faust, Celina Sanks and Greg Bzorek....

Connor Crossey is the lone starter returning from the 2023-24 Franklin Regional boys basketball team that had a memorable season. The Panthers were PIAA and WPIAL Class 5A runners-up. Franklin Regional opened the 2024-25 season Monday in the annual Mike Rettger Memorial Basketball Tournament, and Crossey played a key role...

For the first time in over two and a half decades, the Mars boys basketball team is set to hit the court without Rob Carmody as head coach. Carmody resigned in August after 26 years leading the Fightin’ Planets. His teams won two WPIAL championships and were PIAA runners-up twice....