High School category, Page 34
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Norwin’s Annie Czajkowski, Hempfield’s Jonathan Stetchock
Annie Czajkowski School: Norwin Class: Senior Sport: Cross country Claim to fame: Czajkowski, a Division I prospect, has emerged as a WPIAL and PIAA 3A title contender and is one of the top runners for championship favorite Norwin. She won the PIAA Foundation Class 3A race in Hershey with a...
Leechburg workhorse RB Andrasy enjoying stellar season
Timmy Andrasy knew coming into his senior season that he would be a major focal point of the Leechburg football offense. After the graduation of Blue Devil heavyweights Jake Cummings and Jayden Floyd, Andrasy expected his impact in the running game to increase. He accepted that role and has run...
Alle-Kiski Valley athletes of the week: Deer Lakes’ Bryanna Simonetti, Highlands’ Ryan Maloney
Bryanna Simonetti School: Deer Lakes Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Simonetti scored a pair of goals in a Deer Lakes (10-1, 5-1) shutout win over Yough on Wednesday. The Lancers sit in second place in Section 4-2A and have won five games in a row for the second...
Westmoreland high school football notebook: Southmoreland off to historically good start
Dustin Shoaf, Southmoreland’s 24-year-old first year football coach, said he didn’t think many people expected the Scotties to win their first six games. He’d heard the faint praise. But here are the Scotties, unblemished and the talk of Westmoreland County football. Despite 13 penalties — Shoaf vowed to correct the...
Plum girls golf continues improvement during 2nd WPIAL season
The Plum girls golf team’s seven seniors — Kailey Burton, Ava Miller, Addy Pfeiffer, Alex Fulmer, Hayden Tihey, Brooke Price and Aine Collins — were celebrated Sept. 15 before a Section 4-3A home match with Latrobe at 3 Lakes Golf Course in Penn Hills. The contest was the final one...
North Allegheny wrestling dynasty pins down another Hall of Fame spot
Jeff Alexander was always the smallest guy in a North Allegheny wrestling room packed with state champions and bad intentions. The 1990 graduate, who arrived on varsity as a 4-foot-10, 98-pound freshman, became a key part of one of the most dominating wrestling dynasties in WPIAL history. “I got nervous...
Behind 8 new starters, North Allegheny defense wraps up solid 1st half
North Allegheny’s defense had nearly as many shutouts in the first half of the season as it had returning starters. The Tigers’ new-look defensive unit answered a bunch of offseason questions by allowing a Class 6A-low average of 11.2 points through five weeks while blanking Gateway and Penn Hills in...
New coach looks to rebuild hockey program, culture at Franklin Regional
Franklin Regional hockey has a new coach this season, the program’s third in three seasons. Nathan Connelly, who coached previously at Trinity, Shaler and West Virginia, was hired to replace Brian Bearly, who resigned after the 2024-25 season. Bearly, a Franklin Regional grad, plans to coach an 18U team. Connelly...
Grateful for chance to compete, Shady Side Academy freshman wins big race in Hershey
Josephine Lenart appreciates every opportunity to compete for the Shady Side Academy girls cross country team. While Lenart, a freshman, is short on experience, she is long on perspective. Lenart won for the first time at one of the premier regular-season invitationals, the 19th PIAA Foundation Meet, which is held...
Shady Side Academy girls tennis locked in on WPIAL championship goal
Shady Side Academy sophomore Brooke Henderson can tell the Bulldogs are locked in on winning the WPIAL Class 3A girls team tennis title. The program was already set to have a competitive lineup this season. Once Cassie Lapina, who won a section title at Pine-Richland last season, transferred in, the...
Fox Chapel Herald notebook: Golfers start WPIAL tournament strong
The Fox Chapel boys golf team got off to a strong start during the first round of the WPIAL Class 3A boys individual golf championships at Willowbrook Country Club. Defending PIAA champion Carson Kittsley shot a 6-under par 66 to put himself in first place. Sophomore Baron Bitar shot a...
Fox Chapel girls soccer meeting challenge of new faces in new places in lineup
Caylie Wilkinson, a junior defender for the Fox Chapel girls soccer team, felt like this year’s team was significantly different from the previous two iterations. Wilkinson is the only returning starting defender from the Foxes team that reached the WPIAL Class 3A final last season. With six new starters in...
High school football roundup for Sept. 26, 2025: New Castle beats No. 1 Aliquippa for 1st time since 1987
It had been nearly 40 years since New Castle celebrated a victory over Aliquippa. That changed Friday night. Freshman Marino Graham threw for 179 yards and one touchdown and ran for 105 yards and two TDs as New Castle upset top-ranked Aliquippa, 18-12, in a Class 4A Parkway Conference football...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Sept. 26, 2025
High school Football Friday’s results WPIAL Class 6A Central Catholic 21, North Allegheny 6 Hempfield 38, Canon-McMillan 27 Mt. Lebanon 41, Seneca Valley 20 Class 5A Allegheny Six Moon 23, Bethel Park 20 Peters Township 24, Upper St. Clair 20 South Fayette 49, Baldwin 13 Big East Armstrong 29, Gateway...
Trib HSSN’s 2025 Week 5 top performers for passing, rushing, receiving
Top performers for Week 5 of high school football in Western Pennsylvania. Passing 350 - Dominic Detruf, Hempfield (26 of 34) 308 - Ethan Hellmann, Upper St. Clair (24 of 37) 277 - Nolan DiLucia, Peters Township (15 of 22) 260 - Cedric Mack, East Allegheny (14 of 25) 252...
No. 2 Peters Township’s last-minute defensive stand seals victory over No. 3 Upper St. Clair
The offenses gained momentum after halftime with three lead changes, but nobody was too surprised that Peters Township vs. Upper St. Clair eventually came down to the defenses. Each side delivered a late defensive stop. Ultimately, a last-minute stand 12 yards from its own end zone let Peters Township escape...
Moon edges Bethel Park in Allegheny Six Conference opener
The hype has been plentiful around the Class 5A Allegheny Six Conference, and Friday night’s clash between Moon and Bethel Park showed why. At Tigers Stadium at Moon Area High School, Moon bounced back from a tough nonconference loss to Seneca Valley last week with a strong start and a...
Elizabeth Forward pulls away for rout of Greensburg Salem
The opening Class 3A Interstate Conference game between Elizabeth Forward and Greensburg Salem was a one-score contest through a quarter and a half. The Warriors (5-1, 1-0) proved to be bigger and faster, pulling away for a 49-7 victory over the Golden Lions (2-4, 0-1) at Offutt Field in Greensburg....
No. 2 Imani Christian overcomes mistakes to knock off No. 3 North Catholic
When a team commits 18 penalties, throws two interceptions, and has five snaps sail over the quarterback’s head, it usually does not overcome those mistakes. But to No. 2 Imani Christian’s credit, it shrugged off the slow start and got the finish it wanted, putting up 36 unanswered points to...
Central Catholic defense clamps down on North Allegheny in Class 6A heavyweight fight
For the first time in the all-time series between Class 6A powers, North Allegheny didn’t reach the end zone against Central Catholic on Friday night. Western Michigan commit Angelo Pugliano led the Central Catholic defense, tallying two sacks, as the Vikings tamed the Tigers, 21-6. UNC commit Ashton Blatt and...
Thomas Jefferson pulls out victory over Belle Vernon in game of missed opportunities
It doesn’t always have to be pretty in the game of football. Sometimes you just have to find a way to win. That’s exactly what Thomas Jefferson did on The Beach at James Weir Stadium. The Jaguars’ Zach Villa recovered a fumble by Belle Vernon quarterback Curty Wade with just...
Southmoreland stays perfect, holds off Derry in penalty-filled game
The Southmoreland and Derry football teams did not wait for mid-June to celebrate flag day. The teams combined for 27 penalties (Derry 14 and Southmoreland 13) during their WPIAL Class 3A Interstate Conference battle Friday. But it was two Southmoreland touchdowns in the first quarter and a solid defense that...
Clairton routs Jeannette, brings to mind dominant Bears teams of past
“Bout Dat” might be making a comeback at Clairton. Maybe it never left. The saying made famous by the great Bears teams of the 2010s still shows up on fans’ orange-and-black T-shirts. They still remember that epic 66-game winning streak. “You look at what we have, this is one of...
Coury, Perkins help Burrell edge East Allegheny; Purdue makes game-saving interception
With East Allegheny driving down the field, Burrell’s Liam Perdue made a bobbling, game-saving interception to seal the Bucs’ 29-28 win in Section 2-3A victory Friday. “I think we all did great as a team,” Perdue said. “We fought in the end, and we battled together. I just got lucky...
Freeport scores early, often to defeat Valley, run record to 6-0
A pair of WPIAL Class 3A football teams continued to streak in opposite directions Friday night as Freeport stayed unbeaten, and Valley remained without a victory. The Yellowjackets settled matters early, scoring all their points in the first quarter of a 42-7 victory to ensure a running clock in the...
