High School category, Page 448
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Woodland Hills’ Scoop Smith
Woodland Hills sophomore phenom Scoop Smith has great expectations entering Week Zero. The Wolverines will host Central Catholic on Aug. 25 at the Wolvarena. “The expectation is to win,” Smith said. “We have a new coaching staff, and they have been more disciplined. The team has been focused, and the...
Washington looks to play disciplined football, return to top of WPIAL heap
From the outside, it was hard to explain the ups and downs Washington experienced last season. How did a team that finished the regular season with consecutive losses to Keystone Oaks and rival McGuffey suddenly knock off defending WPIAL champ Serra Catholic in the first round of the playoffs? How...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Anthony Speca
The Harry Truman quote is on his cell phone screen for quick reference. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” Anthony Speca of Central Catholic believes those words can be applied to his football team. “From a team standpoint, we have...
Explosive offense has Southmoreland in position for big year
Attend a Southmoreland football game. Stay for the fireworks. Or, is it the other way around? The Scotties have developed into one of the top passing teams in the WPIAL, slinging the ball around the field with purpose and fearlessness. But don’t pigeon-hole them just yet. There is more than...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Cole Sullivan
Cole Sullivan received several dozen Division I offers during the college recruiting process. In the end, Michigan won out as he verbally committed to the Wolverines in May. “I am really happy with my decision,” Sullivan said. “I did what’s best for me. Now, it’s great to see a bunch...
Moon girls soccer ranked 2nd in United Soccer Coaches’ preseason poll
Moon dropped to Class 3A last season as part of the latest two-year high school sports enrollment cycle. The Tigers’ girls soccer team, though, just keeps rising. After running the table last season and winning WPIAL and PIAA championships with a perfect 24-0 record, the Tigers will start the 2023...
Norwin wrestlers help Team PA to strong showing at junior nationals in Fargo
Like most hopefuls who play the Powerball lottery, Landon Sidun has the right attitude when he goes into a wrestling tournament. A confident, clear-headed attitude. “If you don’t think you can win, why go?” the rising freshman at Norwin said after he hit the jackpot. Sidun became a national champion...
Derry out to break streak, reestablish winning identity
Derry has been living in the shadow of a losing streak that dates to the disruptive covid season of 2020. But second-year coach Mike Arone and the Trojans are committed to stopping it. With a new system now a year old, they are ready to do a little pushing back...
Closure of Alderson Broaddus affects a number of athletes with WPIAL ties
Rumors swirled around campus. The whispers were brooding. But was there any validity to it all? On Monday, student-athletes at Alderson Broaddus found out there indeed was. It was all true. Alderson Broaddus, the private Baptist university in Phillippi, W.Va., is preparing to shut down because of financial difficulties. As...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Pine-Richland’s Ryan Cory
Pine-Richland football coach Jon LeDonne describes Ryan Cory as an old-school type of player. “He would have fit in perfectly back in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s,” LeDonne said. “You don’t see that these days from kids. He’s very physical and gets after it. He has great footwork and is...
Pitt lands Penn Hills quarterback Julian Dugger for class of 2024
Pitt found a quarterback for its class of 2024 on Monday when Penn Hills’ Julian Dugger committed. Dugger, who has thrown for more than 2,400 yards the past two seasons, is ranked the No. 40 overall prospect in Pennsylvania, according to Rivals.com. He led Penn Hills to a Northeast Conference...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Peter Gonzalez
For some programs, coming close is not good enough. There is no such thing as a silver lining. Central Catholic wide receiver Peter Gonzalez believes the Vikings are one of those programs. Gonzalez and his fellow seniors are champing at the championship bit after losses in the WPIAL Class 6A...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: North Catholic’s Brady O’Hara
Being tall isn’t a new experience for North Catholic’s Brady O’Hara. “In my kindergarten class, I remember there was everyone else and then there was me, two heads taller than everyone,” said O’Hara, now a 6-foot-6 junior who plays tight end and defensive end for the Trojans. His size has...
Luke Ball shows heart during North Catholic boys volleyball team’s championship run
Winning a WPIAL championship in any sport is difficult. Injuries, fatigue, a challenging schedule or other extenuating circumstances can stand in the way of hoisting a trophy at the end of the season. While talent is always needed on a successful team it is nothing without the strength to push...
Westmoreland County softball players offer knowledge, experience to youths during clinics, lessons
As Courtney Poulich leans in to give a wide-eyed softball player some hitting advice, she can’t help but get nostalgic. “Giving lessons teaches us to appreciate the sport even more, and we are constantly mastering our skills by teaching others,” said Poulich, a Mt. Pleasant graduate and a rising junior...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Aliquippa’s Cameron Lindsey
Cameron Lindsey is looking to make another championship run in his final season at Aliquippa. “I’m looking at my second state championship and celebrating all-state honors,” Lindsey said. The four-star linebacker prospect is ranked 12th in the state, according to Rivals.com. He gave a verbal commitment to Pitt on June...
High school notebook: Belle Vernon’s Martin among those up for vote as best player in the nation
Quinton Martin is talented, but will he be the best high school football player in the country this season? It’s a matter of opinion, for now. SBLive (Scorebooklive.com) recently asked that question and gave a list of 20 players, including Martin, who will be up for a fan vote that...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Norwin’s Jackson Pons
When his team was flagged for a hold last week during the championship of the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Larry Sellitto Memorial 7-on-7 Passing Tournament at Latrobe, Norwin’s Jackson Pons showed his frustration. He threw up his hands and walked away from the play. First-year coach Mike Brown reeled in...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg
To say Matt Sieg broke out in his first varsity football season would be an understatement. The Fort Cherry rising sophomore quarterback threw for more than 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and 33 scores. He added 36 tackles on defense. “I was really happy...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Keystone Oaks’ Clinton Robinson
Editor’s note: This is the 15th in a series of 25 profiles of the members of the Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team. When Clinton Robinson plays football for Syracuse in fall 2024, he will be used in the defensive backfield. This fall, however, Keystone Oaks coach Steve McCormick plans...
Monessen powderpuff game to benefit families of Altomore, Madzey
Monessen’s senior class is looking to give back while remembering a friend and helping another. The seniors will play a powderpuff football game at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Memorial Stadium. Organizers hope the fundraiser will allow seniors to purchase a memorial bench for Amari Altomore, who was killed in a...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: West Mifflin’s Rico Steele
Rico Steele earned all-conference honors a year ago as a big-bodied brawler, but the West Mifflin lineman spent the offseason reinventing himself. He’s still big (6-foot-4, 305 pounds) and willing to brawl, but the rising senior sees himself as a different player nowadays, one who’s a little more nimble. He...
Longtime Riverhounds, Quaker Valley soccer coach Gene Klein dies after battle with brain cancer
Gene Klein did not have just an iconic, hall-of-fame coaching career. He lived an exemplary, hall-of-fame life, according to those who knew him best. The former Quaker Valley soccer coach, who was inducted into the WPIAL, Quaker Valley and Pittsburgh Riverhounds halls of fame, died Monday at age 71 after...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: North Allegheny’s Khiryn Boyd
For all of his individual and team achievements as a junior last fall, Khiryn Boyd has stayed humble. The North Allegheny senior was asked about his 2022 season, in which he was a member of the Trib HSSN Terrific 25 all-star team and was named the WPIAL Class 6A Player...
Strong showing at AAU national tournament gives Shaler volleyball players a boost
Logan Peterson felt fortunate that the AAU boys volleyball national championships rolled around in early July. The Shaler senior right-side hitter, who plays for the 17U North United club team, was itching to get back on the court. The Titans lived up to heavy expectations by winning the WPIAL for...
