High School category, Page 401

Kieran Shannon and Abigail Stager found the net to lead North Allegheny to a 2-0 victory over Seneca Valley (8-1, 6-1) in a battle of undefeated teams in Section 1-4A girls soccer Wednesday night. Natalie Rak recorded the shutout for the Tigers (10-0, 7-0). Avonworth 3, Quaker Valley 0 –...

Mt. Pleasant could have made a fuss when the coaches’ state girls soccer rankings came out this week, and there was no mention of the Lady Vikings. None. Not even an “others receiving votes.” But, rather than complain, they decided to keep building their case for next week’s double-A top...

Penn-Trafford sophomore Mia Williams is in position to claim her second WPIAL girls tennis championship after winning three matches in the Class 3A tournament Wednesday at Bethel Park. Williams, the top seed, defeated Seneca Valley’s Kylie Staudt, 10-0, Bethel Park’s Lily Sierka, 10-3, and North Allegheny’s Laeticia Tici-Wessel, North Allegheny,...

Michael Braun was the seventh-fastest underclassmen and the third fastest sophomore at last year’s WPIAL Class 2A cross country championships at Cal U (Pa.). The Freeport junior placed 11th overall, an improvement of 20 places from his WPIAL debut in 2021. He also ran at the PIAA championships in Hershey...

We still have two high school football weekends left in September, but Week 4 will have a November football feel to it. No, the weather will be just fine, but the quality of football should be playoff-like with big matchups here and there across all six classifications. The best example...

Citing concerns over safety and fairness, one WPIAL school district has adopted a gender policy that limits girls sports to biological females. The school board at Laurel unanimously approved the new policy, which bases gender on a student’s chromosomes. The rule applies to any sports contest hosted at Laurel’s facilities,...

Player of the week Derek Burk Deer Lakes, Sr., QB Deer Lakes won its third in a row with a 48-14 nonconference win over Greensburg Salem last Friday, and Lancers senior Derek Burk’s influence was all over the victory. Burk completed 11 of 12 passes for 251 yards and five...

Leechburg returns home Friday hoping to add a second Eastern Conference victory. The Blue Devils, 3-1 overall after last week’s 48-25 victory at Springdale, also hope to add a first-ever win over a team that has been a dominant force in the conference. Clairton has won 28 of the 29...

Class 5A Big East Conference Gateway (1-3, 1-0) at Plum (2-2, 0-1) 7 p.m. Friday, Mustangs Stadium, Plum Borough Last week: Gateway 44, Franklin Regional 24; Norwin 30, Plum 23 Last year’s result: Gateway 28, Plum 26 These neighborhood rivals are looking for a boost in the Big East standings,...

Last week: 7-5 (58.3%) Overall: 30-14 (68.2%) The Birdie walked into the office Monday morning and plopped two big blue Giant Eagle bags down on the sports desk. This wasn’t unusual. He usually calls an order of that size “lunch.” But this time, he had a point to make, which...

Thursday City League Allderdice at Westinghouse, 7 p.m. Friday WPIAL Class 6A Central Catholic at North Allegheny, 7:30 p.m. Mt. Lebanon at Seneca Valley, 7 p.m. Class 5A Allegheny Six Baldwin at Bethel Park, 7 p.m. Upper St. Clair at Peters Township, 7 p.m. Big East Gateway at Plum, 7...

Player of the week Payton Molter Jeannette, Sr., QB/LB The 6-foot, 180-pound senior had quite a game against Frazier in the WPIAL Class A Eastern Conference opener Friday. Molter was 9-for-9 passing for 158 yards and three touchdowns, including two scores to Jeremiah Williamson. He also returned a fumble 43...

Don’t think for one moment that Friday’s nonconference game between Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon is meaningless. Far from it. These teams, a mere 12 miles apart, have met annually, except for 1990 and 1991, since 1965. Thomas Jefferson leads the series 37-23, with Belle Vernon winning the past three...

Class 5A Big East Conference Hempfield (1-3, 0-0) at Penn-Trafford (1-3, 0-0) 7:30 p.m. Friday, Warrior Stadium, Harrison City Last week: Shaler 33, Hempfield 17; Belle Vernon 21, Penn-Trafford 0 Last year’s result: Hempfield 28, Penn-Trafford 17 Both teams open conference play looking for a good start. Hempfield started 5-0...

Last week: 9-4 (69.2%) Season: 32-15 (68.1 %) The Birdie was almost late for a game last week because he had to wait in traffic on Route 30. “Bumper-to-bumper from the 119 exit to Westmoreland Mall,” he said. “Never saw it like that. It tested my patience. “I asked a...

Norwin has been one of the hotter teams in the WPIAL of late. After a 5-1 loss to top-ranked Seneca Valley, the Knights have been on a roll, winning six of seven by a combined score of 22-3. A 2-1 win over Mt. Lebanon showed the No. 3-ranked Knights can...

When he was about 5 years old, Trevor Kovatch wandered into his neighbor’s backyard and, bang, there it was. “They had a soccer net,” Kovatch said. “I kicked a ball in, and I knew then that I was going to love the game.” Even before grade school, the junior at...

It will be an all-Greensburg pairing at the Pure Insurance Championship this week at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Izzy Aigner, a senior at Greensburg Central Catholic, will play with Hempfield graduate and fan favorite Rocco Mediate in the 54-hole PGA Tour Champions event that features a side pro-junior competition for...

He plays for the highest-scoring boys soccer team in the WPIAL and is one of the highest-scoring players in the country. That made Jordan Taylor an easy choice for a national honor. Taylor, a senior standout at Jeannette, was named the United Soccer Coaches/MaxPreps High School State Player of the...

High schools WPIAL Cross country Tuesday’s results Class 3A Section 5 Boys Beaver 22, Blackhawk 35 Blackhawk 15, Central Valley 50 Girls Beaver 16, Blackhawk 40 Blackhawk 19, Central Valley 40 Class 2A Section 3 Boys McGuffey 18, Keystone Oaks 42 McGuffey 19, Waynesburg 38 McGuffey 17, Washington 43 Waynesburg...

North Allegheny and Seneca Valley came into Tuesday night’s Section 1 showdown as the only undefeated teams in WPIAL Class 4A boys soccer. They left the same way. Arnav Patel scored for North Allegheny and Tyler Prex buried the equalizer for Seneca Valley as the teams played to a 1-1...

Latrobe likes to rely on an overcrowded midfield to control the tempo and produce occasional run-outs for scoring chances. It’s the boys soccer team’s bread and butter. The game plan worked as the tone-setter in Tuesday night’s surprising Section 4-3A victory against Franklin Regional. The Wildcats pushed ahead on a...

The Springdale girls soccer team is the hunted this season coming off of what it did last year as a WPIAL Class A finalist and a PIAA quarterfinalist. The Dynamos, the No. 1 team this week in the TribLive HSSN Class A rankings, also is a team with a target...

Youth was served last fall when Penn-Trafford freshman Amelia Williams won the 2022 WPIAL Class 3A singles tennis championship. Williams is back to defend her crown and is joined by numerous underclassmen as the field is set for the 2023 district girls tennis singles championships Wednesday. Half of the Class...

On Tuesday, there was a boys soccer battle between Seneca Valley and North Allegheny. On Wednesday, it will be a Class 4A girls soccer first-place showdown with the Raiders and Tigers. In the last 10 years, these two programs have dominated the highest classification. Seneca Valley won district gold in...