High School category, Page 54

Availability is an important part of David Davis’ impact, in more ways than one. It is critical to everyone’s success because if a player is not on the field, he cannot make plays that push the team closer to victory. Davis missed several weeks of the 2023 season after tearing...

Thomas Jefferson’s Maggie Spell had been in talks with different college basketball programs when she went with her Western PA Bruins AAU team to the Under Armour Association Finals from July 18-21. After her performance at the tournament, she received a call from Campbell coach Ronny Fisher telling her that...

Bushy Run’s American Legion baseball team continued its lengthy postseason run Wednesday by winning the state tournament. Jayden Kennedy tossed a two-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory against Stripes & Strikes in Erie. Stripes & Strikes reached the championship game by defeating Bristol, 12-0, at McDowell High School earlier in...

Catch Scoop Smith if you can. Many of the football programs that line up against Woodland Hills would rather pursue other endeavors. Smith enjoys playing on the return team but has become mostly a spectator as his career has progressed. “I don’t get them a lot,” Smith said. “A lot...

Even though the Bushy Run American Legion baseball team suffered its first loss of the Pennsylvania state tournament on Tuesday, the Beavers are still playing for the state title on Wednesday. By winning their first three games of the tournament, the Beavers already had clinched a spot in the championship...

Bishop Canevin football player Brady Wagner remains ineligible for his junior season after the PIAA upheld an earlier WPIAL decision. Wagner, a quarterback who transferred from Mt. Lebanon, had his eligibility appeal heard Tuesday by the PIAA via video conference. The hearing panel sustained the WPIAL finding that Wagner’s transfer...

WPIAL standout Khalil Taylor, a Penn State football recruit ranked among the nation’s best wide receivers, has transferred from Seton LaSalle to Pine-Richland. The high-profile move comes one week before high school football teams start heat acclimation for the upcoming season. Pine-Richland football coach Jon LeDonne said Monday he was...

The Bushy Run American Legion baseball team is headed to a place it has never been before: the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Ridge, Md. Bushy Run ran its record to 3-0 in the Pennsylvania American Legion state tournament Monday at Erie McDowell by defeating North Parkland, 5-4. No matter what happens...

Zane Pacek made what ended up being an easy decision while fishing with his dad July 21. Having gotten interest from a handful of Division II and Division III colleges, Pacek chose the only Division I offer he received and committed to play baseball for Central Michigan. “They were the...

While he didn’t follow in the footsteps of his father and two brothers and continue a family tradition by committing to Brigham Young, Lincoln Hoke can assure you he plays football like his family members. The Pitt recruit knows one way: the Hoke way. “One-hundred percent,” the rising senior lineman...

Carmen Metcalfe was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, and Bushy Run defeated Connellsville, 2-1, in the winners’ bracket at the Pennsylvania American Legion state tournament at Erie McDowell. The victory puts Bushy Run against North Parkland at 6:40 p.m. on Monday....

The Penn-Trafford community is mourning the sudden death of one of its high school football coaches. TJ Detruf, an assistant freshman football coach at Penn-Trafford for three years, died Saturday at his home in Hempfield, Penn-Trafford head football Coach John Ruane said. He was 41. The cause of death and...

Patrick Smith registered more than 2,700 yards from scrimmage and was part of 27 touchdowns as a junior quarterback last season. However, he didn’t get the kind of recognition a player with those kinds of numbers for a Class 6A would usually get because the 2024 campaign was a bit...

Both men are homegrown products. Both also are lifelong West Jefferson Hills School District residents. Scott Breisinger and Tom LaFrankie were among the 17 individuals and/or contributors plus two athletic teams selected for induction into the WJHSD Hall of Fame. The Class of 2025 was lauded April 12 at the...

Quaker Valley’s athletic program hit the daily double with Derek Molitor as one of its competitors. Molitor was an elite two-sport athlete for the Quakers in the late 1990s, excelling in football and track and field. And he is one of this year’s selections for induction into the Quaker Valley...

The Bushy Run American Legion baseball team continues to roll and surprise its coach, Scott Peyman. Led by a group of veterans and youth, Bushy Run advanced to the Pennsylvania American Legion state tournament in Erie — that began July 26 — by winning the District 31 and Region 7...

The West Jefferson Hills School District Hall of Fame was launched in 2019; its first two classes were inducted in March of 2023. The third class consisted of 24 graduates and contributors and two athletic teams. The hall of fame program recognizes and celebrates Thomas Jefferson High School graduates who...

Isabella DeCarlo being asked by Team Gold to throw two innings in June during the Western Pennsylvania Softball All-Star game at Plum High School meant the world to her. The Penn Hills graduate ended a difficult senior season with two solid memories. DeCarlo no-hit Woodland Hills on Senior Night to...

Bushy Run opened the Pennsylvania American Legion state tournament on Saturday with a 4-1 victory against French Creek Valley at Erie McDowell High School. Brandon Roher allowed one run on four hits. He struck out five and walked one. Jon Lovre drove in two runs, scored a run and hit...

Regardless of whether Kristofer Robinson is on the track, in the field or on the ice, the Knoch rising senior is an athlete who wins on a regular basis. In just sled hockey, the two teams Robinson played for during the 2024-25 season combined for multiple championships, and Robinson was...

A familiar name is back on the soccer field at Greensburg Central Catholic. Veteran coach Tom Kennedy will lead the girls program this fall. Kennedy played a key role in forming the girls team when he was at GCC in the early 1990s. He coached the GCC boys team from...

What used to intimidate Michael Makay now makes him stronger. The rising senior at Norwin runs track and cross country with the same purpose and dedication as his teammates, only he has something they do not: autism. Makay said his greatest challenge — perhaps his primary goal — is to...

Chase Eber is a rising junior goalkeeper hoping to raise his game for the Plum boys soccer team. He split varsity duties in net for most of last year with Brady McLaughlin and helped the Mustangs go undefeated in Section 1-4A play, win 18 games overall, reach the WPIAL title...

Sprinting down a track never did much for North Allegheny’s Lindsay Breneman. She preferred the idea of soaring. “When I was little, I watched the Olympics and I always thought pole vault was really cool because they fling themselves in the air,” she said. “I was like, ‘I want to...