High School category, Page 524

For the first time in 17 years, the Plum varsity boys soccer team played in a PIAA tournament game. Mustangs coach Raf Kolankowski said his players gave great effort against District 10 champion Cathedral Prep, but the homestanding Ramblers made enough plays to defeat Plum, 2-0, in the PIAA Class...

High schools Field hockey PIAA playoffs Class 3A Quarterfinals Saturday’s results Conestoga 2, Manheim Township 1 (OT) Wilson 1, Downingtown West 0 Emmaus 7, Honesdale 0 Lower Dauphin 2, Great Valley 1 (OT) Semifinals Tuesday’s schedule Wilson (20-2-1) vs. Emmaus (25-0); Lower Dauphin (20-3-1) vs. Conestoga (21-2) Class 2A Quarterfinals...

Friday’s heavy rainfall was the wettest in WPIAL territory in some time. While all games were played on artificial turf, it was still tough for a teams such as Armstrong that relies on pinpoint passing patterns. Some wanted the WPIAL to delay the games until Saturday, but that wasn’t ideal,...

Morgan Gesinski School: Mt. Pleasant Year: Freshman Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: With her team clinging to a one-goal lead, Gesinski was fouled at the top of the box and calmly sank the penalty kick to give Mt. Pleasant some breathing room on the way to a 2-0 victory over...

Will Bruno scored twice to lead Seneca Valley to a 3-0 victory over Spring-Ford (15-5-4) in the PIAA Class 4A boys soccer quarterfinals Saturday, setting up a rematch of last year’s state championship game. Cole Kamarec tallied the other goal for Seneca Valley (20-1-1), which will face face Conestoga in...

In rainy and chilly conditions at Peters Township, Moon put a damper on Plum’s attempt to unseat the undefeated Tigers in a PIAA Class 3A girls soccer quarterfinal Saturday afternoon. Moon, the WPIAL champion, broke a halftime tie on a trio of goals from senior midfielder Hailey Longwell and closed...

The Freeport girls volleyball team took one step closer to its ultimate goal of winning the program’s second state title with a dominant performance in the quarterfinals. The Yellowjackets built early leads in each set and rolled to a 3-0 sweep over Quaker Valley on Saturday at North Allegheny. Freeport...

Ligonier Valley football players sat quietly in the pitch black of a locker room with no power Friday night at Reeves Field on the campus of Geneva College. “When it’s game time, I take all their cell phones,” Rams coach Roger Beitel said. “So they were sitting in the dark...

Mt. Pleasant girls soccer coach Rich Garland moved sophomore midfielder Maddie Barrick to the outside of the formation last week, hoping to generate more scoring opportunities. Consider the move a success. Barrick’s goal in the 31st minute on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon lifted the Vikings to a 1-0...

An early deficit might dampen a team’s spirits in the state soccer playoffs. It incentivized Greensburg Central Catholic on Saturday against rival Springdale. The Centurions’ play picked up. Scoring opportunities opened. And they chased down their reward: a fourth consecutive trip to the semifinals. Sophomore Riley Kerr scored two goals,...

Grace Gent Class: Senior School: Springdale Sport: Soccer Report card: Gent scored both goals as Springdale’s girls soccer team defeated Mercyhurst Prep, 2-0, in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs Tuesday night. The senior forward entered Saturday’s PIAA quarterfinal contest against Greensburg Central Catholic with 26 goals...

The stadiums of Canon-McMillan and North Allegheny were chosen by the WPIAL to host two of the eight football semifinal matchups scheduled for Friday. Canon-McMillan will host the semifinal between Aliquippa and McKeesport while North Allegheny welcomes Thomas Jefferson and Central Valley from the other side of the Class 4A...

Colleges have a soccer pipeline going to Franklin Regional, and the recruits are producing at the next level. Sophomore Blake Cooper has been one of the top offensive threats in the AMCC for Penn State Behrend. The midfielder had a team-best 10 goals and six assists for 26 points through...

Girls soccer talent is bubbling over in Westmoreland County, as evidenced by postseason playoff runs, career scoring milestones and Division I commitments. The proof also lies in the All-WPIAL list, which was released last week. Norwin senior Reagan Casper was one of 17 defenders to make the list. Mt. Pleasant,...

North Allegheny’s hopes for a WPIAL girls volleyball three-peat were dashed on Nov. 5, when the Tigers lost to Pine-Richland, 3-2, in the Class 4A championship match at Robert Morris. The second-seeded Rams (16-2) outscored North Allegheny, 5-1, down the stretch of the fifth and deciding set to win by...

Hampton’s boys cross country team is working on mini-­dynasty status. The Talbots won the 2022 WPIAL Class 2A boys cross country championship Oct. 27 to become the first team to repeat in its division since Knoch in 2014-15. “It was definitely a team goal,” Hampton coach Dean Longwell said. “The...

Hampton senior Eric Weeks has replayed the final moments of the Talbots’ 34-33 gut-wrenching last-second WPIAL Class 4A playoff loss to Montour over and over again. But the ending never changed. “I’ve watched that play probably 50 times, thinking of anything I could have done better,” the wide receiver/defensive back...

Three graduates of the Fox Chapel Area Soccer program who have become high school standouts signed with their respective colleges. National Letter of Intent Day featured Fox Chapel’s Makayla Mulholland signing with Appalachian State University, Molly McNaughton with Cal (Pa.) and Oakland Catholic’s Gabi Folino with Northern Kentucky. All three...

High schools Football WPIAL playoffs Class 6A Semifinals Friday’s results Central Catholic 28, Mt. Lebanon 7 North Allegheny 7, Canon-McMillan 0 Championship Nov. 19 schedule North Allegheny (10-1) vs. Central Catholic (7-4) at Norwin, 6 p.m. Class 5A Semifinals Friday’s results Pine-Richland 23, Woodland Hills 12 Upper St. Clair 17,...

For a team used to playing for WPIAL football championships, Pine-Richland came away from Friday night’s Class 5A semifinal battle with Woodland Hills like it had never before been to the finals. The second-seeded Rams broke their postseason huddle with a burst of enthusiasm — and relief — knowing they’d...

Top performers for Week 11 of high school football in Western Pennsylvania. Passing 211 - Braylon Thomas, Union (10 of 18) 174 - Cadin Olsen, Armstrong (15 of 36) 135 - Philip McCuen, McGuffey (4 of 8) 129 - Jaren Brickner, Beaver Falls (4 of 8) 115 - Ethan Hellmann,...

Cruce Brookins rushed for 332 yards and six touchdowns as No. 1 Steel Valley earned a 46-13 victory over No. 8 McGuffey (8-4) in the WPIAL Class 2A football quarterfinals Friday night at Campbell Field. Brookins scored on runs of 63, 2, 27, 3, 17 and 44 yards. Donald Barksdale...

When rain is the forecast, old-school football is on the horizon. No. 5 Upper St. Clair certainly brought that to the table in a 17-7 victory over No. 1 Bethel Park in the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals Friday night, but frankly, these two teams might have played just as hard-charging...

Bishop Canevin outlasted Clairton on Friday night at rain-soaked Dormont Stadium. The Crusaders battled the remnants of Hurricane Nicole en route to beating the Bears, 29-6, clinching a spot in the WPIAL Class A semifinals. “I’ve never coached in a game like this,” coach Richard Johnson said. “It was just...

As a scoreless tie dragged on with weather conditions making life difficult on both offenses, North Allegheny running back Andrew Gavlik started to realize that one score might win this WPIAL Class 6A semifinal matchup against Canon-McMillan. With a little more than six minutes left in the game, teammate Logan...