High School category, Page 170

Latrobe christened its new gymnasium floor Friday night with first-round games of the Greater Latrobe Tipoff Classic, the first time in years that the school district has held the season-opening boys basketball event. The high school gym in September received an unplanned update to the floor after the wood surface...

It took the Avonworth offense a little time to find its groove Friday at snowy Norwin, but once it did, it took control of the game. The Neal brothers – junior Luca and senior Nico – combined to rush for 300 yards, and the Antelopes defense limited high-scoring Penn Cambria...

Aiden Bliss ran for five touchdowns and amassed more than 300 yards as District 9 champion Port Allegany defeated WPIAL champion Fort Cherry, 46-8, in the PIAA Class A football semifinals Friday at Penn West Clarion. Bliss scored on runs of 13, 1, 7, 44 and 35 yards and surpassed...

Apollo-Ridge forward Zane Beatty believes the Vikings boys basketball team learned an essential lesson during its season opener Friday night at the Leechburg Tournament. When the Vikings build double-digit leads, they want to stay on top of their opponents. Apollo-Ridge survived a late comeback from the host Blue Devils to...

ALTOONA — A dominant second quarter by Thomas Jefferson meant a trip to the state finals was just 24 minutes away. That made Friday’s loss tougher to take. Two failed fourth-down tries, a near-miss on a sure touchdown pass, a couple of lapses on defense, penalties and some other forgettable...

An SEC-bound quarterback with a record-setting arm and rock-solid game awaits Pine-Richland in the state semifinals. Bishop McDevitt senior Stone Saunders is a Kentucky recruit with a state-record 199 career touchdown passes. While preparing for Friday’s matchup with the District 3 champion, Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne talked with some coaches...

High schools Basketball Boys Friday’s schedule Armstrong tournament Highlands at Armstrong, 7:30 p.m. Ellwood City tournament Blackhawk vs. Rochester, 6 p.m. Union at Ellwood City, 7:30 p.m. Geneva College/Lincoln Park tournament At Geneva College Beaver Falls vs. Ambridge, 6 p.m. Moon vs. Imani Christian, 7:30 p.m. East Liverpool (Ohio) vs....

Realignment really did a job on the district’s smallest classification in boys basketball. This class isn’t just small, it’s minuscule. Two-time defending district and state champion Imani Christian went all the way up to Class 6A over the next two- year cycle, and Carlynton went from Class A to 3A....

Six girls basketball teams will again compete in the City League for the 2024-25 season — Allderdice, Brashear, Carrick, Obama Academy, Perry Traditional Academy and Westinghouse. Allderdice and Obama Academy shared the league title in the regular season at 9-1 last season, followed by Westinghouse (6-4), Brashear (4-6) and Carrick...

Allderdice will again enter the 2024-25 City League boys basketball season as the favorite as the Dragons seek a fifth straight City championship. The Dragons were hit hard by graduation but have a talented lineup returning that will try to hold off Obama Academy, Brashear, Carrick, Perry Traditional Academy and...

WPIAL Class A girls basketball has a little bit of everything this season. There are three teams that played in WPIAL championship games last winter. There’s a returning player who averaged more than 40 points per game. There are new coaches stepping in for longtime bench bosses. And, to top...

Starting 5s A preview of the high school girls basketball season in the A-K Valley: 5 storylines to follow • Dana Petruska (Deer Lakes), Jason Kerr (Freeport), Dan LaGamba (Highlands), Chuck Langston (Leechburg) and Tonya Norman (Valley) are new faces at the top. Petruska, who has amassed more than 500...

Starting 5s A preview of the high school boys basketball season in the A-K Valley: 5 storylines to follow • Nearly half of the boys teams in the A-K Valley begin the season under new management: Bill Flow at Highlands, Dave Pucka at Plum, Dre Corbin at Riverview, Scott Ruppert...

Starting 5s A preview of girls high school basketball season in Westmoreland County: 5 storylines to follow: • The sugar high has worn off, for now, but the returning players remember how sweet it was, those glorious championship moments at “The Pete,” Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. Norwin and Greensburg Central...

Starting 5s A preview of boys high school basketball season in Westmoreland County: Boys 5 storylines to follow: • Postseason basketball can provide surprises and a little magic, as evidenced by Franklin Regional’s thrill ride last year to the WPIAL and PIAA finals. Recreating that scenery won’t be easy, but...

Thomas Jefferson tends to have a longer football season than most, so while most schools are preparing to kick off the basketball season Friday, the Jaguars are keeping it on the gridiron in Altoona for a state semifinal matchup against District 3 champions Lampeter-Strasburg. The Jaguars (13-0) and the Pioneers...

High schools Basketball Boys Friday’s schedule Armstrong tournament Highlands at Armstrong, 7:30 p.m. Ellwood City tournament Blackhawk vs. Rochester, 6 p.m. Union at Ellwood City, 7:30 p.m. Geneva College/Lincoln Park tournament At Geneva College Beaver Falls vs. Ambridge, 6 p.m. Moon vs. Imani Christian, 7:30 p.m. East Liverpool (Ohio) vs....

Whenever Thomas Jefferson holds a Thanksgiving Day practice, coach Bill Cherpak never knows who might show up. One year it was Barry Sanders. OK, so it wasn’t really the NFL legend. But instead, the Jaguars players have a favorite holiday tradition of wearing a jersey representing a favorite college team...

The six WPIAL champions from the 2024 season are all headed to the state semifinals two wins shy of more gold drip. This marks the second year in a row and the third time this decade that all six WPIAL champions will be playing in the PIAA final four. The...

On both a team and individual basis, the spotlight has been vacated in WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball. Greensburg Central Catholic defeated Serra Catholic in last year’s WPIAL finals, but the Centurions moved up to Class 3A thanks to the PIAA’s competitive balance formula and the Eagles dropped down to...

Here’s some big news. Class 2A is the biggest classification in WPIAL boys basketball. This two-year cycle, 2A boys hoops has 31 teams. It also will have the largest playoff field as at least 19 teams will be participating in the postseason. Here is a rundown of players to watch,...

Welcome to the PIAA final four with 11 games scheduled for Friday and one for Saturday. With 24 teams set to collide post-Thanksgiving for the opportunity to play in a state championship game, let’s provide a breakdown of which districts remain in the hunt for PIAA gold. For the second...

Forty-nine senior girls from the WPIAL will converge on the AHN Sports Complex at Cool Springs in Bethel Park Saturday for the Western Pennsylvania High School Girls Soccer Coaches Association all-star games. There will be three teams that will play three games in a round-robin format. The opening game begins...

Former Serra Catholic assistant coach Akeeme Robinson was hired as head coach, the school announced Wednesday. Robinson replaces Jose Regus, who resigned after eight seasons and won a WPIAL title in 2021. Robinson, a Serra Catholic assistant from 2017-22, was defensive coordinator when the Eagles won the Class 2A title....

A look at the 2024-25 WPIAL Class 2A wrestling season: The Favorite Burrell has a new head coach, Steve Ansani, but the goals haven’t changed. The Bucs are out to win a section title and WPIAL Class 2A title and finish top four in the state. Ansani was hired to...