High School category, Page 297
Norwin boys soccer team gets to work in defense of WPIAL championship
Veteran boys soccer coach Scott Schuchert had a message for his Norwin players when they lined up to run sprints during a conditioning workout this week at the Turner Valley Soccer Complex. “Winning isn’t fun.” Say what, coach? At that moment, he could have replaced “winning” with “running” and it...
Seneca Valley looks to rebound from rare last-place finish with experienced team
The Seneca Valley football team was down last fall and out of the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs for the second straight year. However, the Raiders’ stay in the basement might be a short one with higher expectations this fall for a team that finished winless in 6A and 3-7 overall....
Led by QB Tristyn Tavares, Norwin returns to Class 6A
A summer paving project caused some temporary parking inconveniences at Norwin Knights Stadium. For workouts, football players had to park high atop the field at the middle school and walk down the hill. Similarly, Norwin is back in the WPIAL’s highest classification for football. The Knights hope for a transition...
Hempfield set to take on Class 6A schedule again
Year 2 appears to have greeted Nick Keefer with more structure and the feeling of a greater sense of eagerness among his lot of 80-plus football players. “We have great kids here, and they are always ready to go to work,” said Keefer, the coach at Hempfield. “We were together...
North Allegheny chasing historic WPIAL 3-peat
Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 23. Last November, North Allegheny tied Pine-Richland and Central Catholic as the only teams to repeat as WPIAL champions in Class 6A football. “The dedication to everyone...
Central Catholic retools in effort to get back on top in Class 6A
After years as a top assistant coach at Pine-Richland and Seneca Valley, Ryan Lehmeier finally got the chance to be a high school football head coach last year, taking over the storied program at Central Catholic. The former North Hills quarterback led the Vikings to first place and a regular...
Canon-McMillan looks to regroup, not rebuild in Class 6A
The current senior class at Canon-McMillan has an overall football record of 15-18 in the last three seasons. While that doesn’t scream district elite, these seniors have never missed the WPIAL playoffs, which speak volumes over where this program was more than a decade ago when the Big Macs won...
Another new coach looks to return Mt. Lebanon to winning ways
In the 52 years between 1967-2018, Mt. Lebanon had four football head coaches. Now one of the storied programs in WPIAL football will have its third head coach in three years since winning the school’s first PIAA championship in 2021. Bob Palko left the school after four years following the...
Sad day at Allderdice as football team takes practice field without late coach Jerry Haslett
Mark Matson’s morning started with a scavenger hunt of sorts as the Allderdice assistant coach searched through boxes for the football team’s practice jerseys. “’Has’ liked to say, ‘Every day is an adventure,’” Matson said. “Today’s adventure was finding the practice jerseys.” There were many moments Monday when thoughts turned...
Norwin softball standout rolls with changes, commits to Maine
The build-up to the decision was stressful. The reasoning behind it, though, made perfect sense. Recent Norwin graduate Bailey Snowberger had her future plans locked in: Go to Holy Cross, blend in and continue her excellent play as a shortstop at the college level. Kimberly Stiles, the coach at Holy...
Meet the 2024 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team
Over the past month, staff writers at the TribLive High School Sports Network have profiled the 25 players selected to the Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. Now that the high school football season has officially begun with Monday’s start of heat acclimatization week, here’s a look at each player...
Notable changes to WPIAL swimming, diving alignment for 2024-25, 2025-26 seasons
The WPIAL released new section alignments for the next two-year cycle in all sports, and changes will be implemented starting this fall. This summer, the Tribune-Review will break down changes for each of the WPIAL sports. Here is a look at the upcoming WPIAL 2024-25 and 2025-26 swimming and diving...
2024 TribHSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Aliquippa’s Tiqwai Hayes
Four-star Penn State commit Tiqwai “Tikey” Hayes is expecting to ride out as a back-to-back state champion at Aliquippa. Hayes said another state championship is the only thing on his mind for his senior season. “Another state championship is the expectation,” Hayes said. “Win states, or it’s a bust. That’s...
2024 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Bishop Canevin’s Daiveon Taylor
Three-star linebacker and West Virginia commit Daiveon Taylor is a problem any offense will have trouble blocking. Committing early to the Mountaineers was a no-brainer for Taylor, a junior at Bishop Canevin. “They made everything feel like home,” Taylor said. “Every time I go up there, it feels like I’m...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Football season begins with ‘heat week’
A PIAA custom since its inception in 2013, “heat week” is the unofficial start to high school football training camp, and it opens Monday around the state. Players, who will don helmets and shoulder pads but can’t hit, are required to attend five consecutive days of heat acclimatization before the...
McKeesport sophomore Kemon Spell gives Penn State 1st commitment from 2027 class
McKeesport sophomore Kemon Spell can’t sign with for two more years, but the highly recruited running back and defensive back has already picked his college. Spell committed Friday to Penn State, making him the school’s first commitment in the 2027 class. The 5-foot-9, 195-pounder had a growing list of Division...
PIAA drops appeals court fight vs. Aliquippa football; school’s lawsuit continues
The PIAA has ended its appeals-court efforts to move Aliquippa football into a higher classification this fall. The PIAA on Friday notified Commonwealth Court that it no longer wanted to appeal the injunction issued by a Beaver County judge that kept Aliquippa in 4A for the upcoming season. The decision...
2024 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: West Mifflin’s Jaiden Brown-Demery
Jaiden Brown-Demery is taking nothing for granted as he enters his senior season at West Mifflin. The 6-foot-4, 315-pound lineman missed his entire sophomore season after suffering an ACL injury. He didn’t return until the fourth game of last season against Ringgold, but the feeling of getting back on the...
New coach set to lead Sewickley Academy boys golf team
Sewickley Academy’s Severin Harmon is the reigning WPIAL Class 2A champion in boys tennis. He’d like to add another prestigious title to his resume this fall, joining Sewickley grads Jason Li (2015), J.F. Aber (2019) and Tim Fitzgerald (2020) as WPIAL individual golf champions. “Personally, my goal is to improve...
Baseball standout Dale Mollenhauer set to join Pine-Richland Athletic Hall of Fame
Dale Mollenhauer lived a childhood dream by playing professional baseball for five years, but before that he helped build the foundation at Pine-Richland. Mollenhauer was a senior and key contributor to the Rams’ first WPIAL baseball championship team in 2005. Now he has a place in the Pine-Richland Athletic Hall...
Runners ready for inaugural Talbot Shuffle fundraiser
The inaugural Talbot Shuffle fundraiser hopes to hit the ground running. The Aug. 10 event, which benefits the Hampton cross country program, is the first of its kind in the school district. “We were talking, the boosters and the coaches, and we wanted to do something to fundraise for Hampton...
2024 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Elijah Faulkner
Elijah Faulkner won a WPIAL title last spring as the league’s long jump champion, but the Central Catholic senior wants gold in football, too. As one of the more explosive athletes on the football team, the running back has spent his summer working toward that goal. “I just want to...
2024 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: North Catholic’s Brady O’Hara
North Catholic football coach Chris Rizzo had nothing but praise for senior tight end/defensive end Brady O’Hara. “He’ll do anything you ask to help the team,” Rizzo said. “He’ll play anywhere, and he’s a leader. He wants to be good.” O’Hara has started at defensive end for the Trojans since...
WPIAL schedules eligibility hearing for record-setting QB after transfer to Central Catholic
The WPIAL will require an eligibility hearing for record-setting quarterback Jaivin Peel. The sophomore set a WPIAL freshman passing record last season at Western Beaver and transferred this summer to Central Catholic. He was a student at Lincoln Park and played football at Western Beaver through a co-op. The WPIAL...
New Franklin Regional boys soccer coach focuses on building rapport, fitness
When Nick White was an assistant boys soccer coach at Fox Chapel, the Foxes took late-summer trips to team camps. It became part of their voluntary training schedule. The week-long bonding events were a build-up to the start of the WPIAL season. “Getting to know the boys on a deeper...
