High School category, Page 381
North Catholic wins top-5 showdown with Greensburg Salem
“North is North,” Greensburg Salem girls basketball coach Rick Klimchock said in a back hallway at North Catholic after his team fell behind early and dropped a 62-35 decision to the host Trojanettes in a matchup of Class 4A top-five girls basketball teams Thursday night on Barth & Graham Court....
Shady Side Academy’s pressure defense too much for Burrell girls
Shady Side Academy girls basketball coach Jonna Burke said her team is at its best when it plays good defense and turns that into offense. With a stout press, that’s exactly what the Bulldogs did Thursday night against a young, up-and-coming Burrell team. The Bulldogs caused nearly a dozen turnovers...
Highlands girls step on gas pedal in win vs. Freeport
The Highlands girls basketball team carried a lot of momentum from a pair of wins at its holiday tournament into a Section 1-4A matchup with Freeport on Thursday at Highlands High School. The Golden Rams’ senior-laden lineup came out strong on both ends of the court and began to overwhelm...
Burrell’s Cooper Hornack to miss WCCA tournament; finals moved up
Burrell senior Cooper Hornack will not get a chance to win a second Westmoreland County Coaches Association wrestling title. That’s because the reigning PIAA Class 2A champion will be sitting out the tournament because of an injury. He was injured during his match Wednesday against Derry freshman Mason Horwat. The...
McGuffey football coach Ed Dalton resigns after 12 years, not ready for retirement
Ed Dalton is stepping down after 12 seasons as McGuffey’s football coach, but don’t mistake his resignation as an early retirement. Dalton wants to keep adding to his 34-year career, but the 64-year-old coach with more than 240 career wins says his next coaching stop is still undecided. “It’s not...
Rivalry matchup between Deer Lakes, Burrell to test Class 3A’s top-ranked teams
Burrell and Deer Lakes are separated by 12 miles. They are even closer in the Trib HSSN boys basketball rankings. The Lancers are ranked first in Class 3A, and the Bucs are second, so an already-intense rivalry has an extra ingredient this year. Each team will have a chance to...
Westmoreland County boys basketball notebook: Penn-Trafford plays at coach’s alma mater
Doug Kelly was feeling nostalgic and sentimental as he was time-warped back to his high school days at Elkins (W.Va.) during a recent visit to his old stomping grounds. Kelly, the boys basketball coach at Penn-Trafford, took his team south to play Elkins, a 2A school that plays in the...
Groundbreaking coach working to build confidence, culture with Mt. Pleasant boys
Because of some injuries, first-year boys basketball coach Annie Malkowiak said her Mt. Pleasant team had to take a next-man-up approach. That is an advisory from the first woman up. Malkowiak is adjusting to life as the first woman to coach a boys varsity basketball team in Westmoreland County and...
PIAA plans to move Aliquippa football to Class 5A under competitive-balance rule
In a move coach Mike Warfield called déjà vu, the PIAA has notified Aliquippa that its football team will be forced up another classification before next season. The Quips won the Class 4A state title this fall and were runners-up in 2022, and the PIAA now plans to move them...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Jan. 3, 2024
High schools Basketball Boys Wednesday’s results Class 6A Section 1 North Allegheny 57, New Castle 45 Class 5A Section 1 Thomas Jefferson 90, Peters Township 74 Section 2 Shaler 71, Plum 55 Armstrong 58, Woodland Hills 49 Section 4 Moon 55, South Fayette 52 Class 4A Section 1 Indiana 65,...
Mt. Pleasant wrestlers score decisive win over short-handed Frazier
Mt. Pleasant secured five straight victories, including four via pin, in a 49-22 win over Frazier in Section 2-2A action inside the DiVirgilio Field House on Wednesday night. Rhyley Kimmel (133), Joseph Longhi (139), Greg Shaulis (145) and Jamison Poklembo (152) each earned pins, while Tristan Wtorkiwicz (127) won via...
High school roundup for Jan. 3, 2024: Shaler stays undefeated with win in section opener
Keegan Smetanka scored 14 points as undefeated Shaler beat Plum, 71-55, to win its Section 2-5A boys basketball opener Wednesday night. Brandon London and Julian Vizzoca each added 11 for Shaler (11-0, 1-0), which jumped out to a 13-5 lead after one quarter. Will Beckner dropped 23 points for Plum...
Quick start sparks Franklin Regional wrestling to win over Ringgold
A quick start was the perfect recipe for the No. 4 Franklin Regional wrestling team in its Section 3-3A first-place showdown against Ringgold on Wednesday. The unbeaten Panthers (12-0, 2-0) got a pin from senior Ty Kapusta at 127 pounds to start the match, which was followed by a win...
Burrell wrestlers overcome early upset, defeat Derry
How good has the Burrell wrestling team been so far? Hmm, the second-ranked Buccaneers were pretty good Wednesday night, remaining unbeaten with a 40-18 victory over No. 8 Derry. “I’m satisfied. It was a good team win,” Burrell coach Josh Shields said. Derry, despite an upset victory early in the...
Belle Vernon boys get off to fast start then hang on to hand Southmoreland its 1st loss
From its worst start of the season to nearly its best finish, Southmoreland had an up and down kind of night. Then again, so did Belle Vernon, which basically experienced the opposite by opening with a flash and then sputtering to the finish line in the Section 3-4A boys basketball...
Riverview girls basketball team rounding into form
The Riverview girls basketball team got a later jump into the season than some others as several players who enjoyed a run to the state soccer finals in mid November didn’t get onto the court until two days after official practices began. Playing catch-up in a number of areas, the...
East Allegheny football coach Dom Pecora resigns after 8 straight playoff appearances
Winning a conference title and reaching the WPIAL semifinals will always be two of the happiest moments of his life, says East Allegheny football coach Dom Pecora, who is stepping down after 11 seasons with the Wildcats. “When we blocked the extra point (to win the conference), there is nothing...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports for Jan. 4, 2024: Serra Catholic to host GCC for Section 3-2A lead
It’s a busy night of WPIAL section girls basketball Thursday. Back in 2003, both the Greensburg Central Catholic and Serra Catholic girls basketball teams were champions. GCC defeated Carlynton, 49-40, to win the WPIAL Class 2A championship while Serra rolled past Monessen, 68-54, to win Class A gold. The Centurions...
Trib 10: Lincoln Park boys, Norwin girls top 2023-24 season’s 1st power rankings
Last year, WPIAL teams brought their ‘A’ game in the PIAA basketball championships. Imani Christian and Union won Class A boys and girls state titles, respectively, joining Lincoln Park’s boys in Class 4A in the winner’s circle in Hershey. District 7 was a combined 3-4 in the PIAA finals as...
Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: Franklin Regional hoping for good injury news
Franklin Regional girls basketball coach Bernie Pucka and his players are being kept in suspense. On Jan. 15, doctors may determine if senior point guard Angelina Brush can come back to the lineup. Brush has yet to play a game this season, and her absence has weighed heavily on a...
Hard-working Hempfield girls buy in on defense, get off to promising start
Girls basketball practice is over — so says the clock — but parents sit idle in their vehicles outside of the Hempfield Spartan Field House, waiting to fill their backseats with tired daughters. Ten minutes go by. Then 15. Then 20. Finally, players begin filing out. “I don’t make them...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Jan. 2, 2024
High schools Basketball Boys Tuesday’s results Class 6A Section 1 Central Catholic 55, Pine-Richland 48 Butler 72, Seneca Valley 60 Section 2 Canon-McMillan 57, Norwin 50 Mt. Lebanon 73, Baldwin 50 Upper St. Clair 57, Hempfield 25 Class 5A Section 1 Bethel Park 70, Ringgold 52 Trinity 64, Connellsville 47...
High school roundup for Jan. 2, 2024: Norwin tops North Allegheny in clash of 6A contenders
Ava Kobus scored 15 points, and Lauren Palangio finished with 13 to lead No. 2 Norwin to a 47-42 victory over No. 1 North Allegheny in a battle of the top two girls basketball teams in Section 1-6A Tuesday night. Norwin (8-2, 1-0) took control of the game with a...
WPIAL wrestling notebook: Dual meet season heating up
Now that we’ve begun a new year, wrestling’s dual meet season will heat up over the next four weeks. There are some key matchups to begin the year Wednesday. In Class 3A, Ringgold (14-1) will visit unbeaten No. 4 Franklin Regional (11-0) in the Section 3 opener. Penn-Trafford grad and...
Megan Marston scores 1,000th career point to lead Plum girls past Woodland Hills
The Plum girls basketball team entered the New Year hoping to get back on the winning track after three straight losses to close out 2023. The Mustangs got what they were looking for as they improved to 3-0 in Section 1-5A on Tuesday with a 53-43 victory at Woodland Hills....
