High School category, Page 550

Several head-to-head matchups between Trib 10 teams in Week 4 has led to sweeping changes as we hit the midway point of the WPIAL football regular season. Four teams lost last week and have dropped out of the power rankings, opening the door for four new teams to join the...

Carlo Buzzato Riverview, jr., RB/LB Buzzato was a big part of last week’s victory. He carried the ball 12 times for 62 yards and scored what turned out to be the winning points with a 6-yard TD run in the first quarter. Buzzato added two catches for 43 yards, and...

Two first-year coaches have Highlands and Mars back in conference contention. Highlands graduate Matt Bonislawski, who quarterbacked the Golden Rams to the 2001 WPIAL Class 3A semifinals, has piloted the Highlands to a 5-0 overall mark, 2-0 in Greater Allegheny Conference play. Eric Kasperowicz, after a year in the collegiate...

Last week: 12-1 Season: 49-8 (86.0%) When high school football fans make their way to their local stadium Friday night, they might be experiencing their first real cold weather game of the season. Lows could be approaching the upper 30s. This does not please The Birdie, of course. He would...

Thursday City League Allderdice at Brashear, 7 p.m. Friday WPIAL Class 6A Central Catholic at Canon-McMillan, 7 p.m. (HSSN*) Class 5A Allegheny Six Baldwin at Peters Township, 7 p.m. Moon at South Fayette, 7 p.m. Big East Gateway at Hempfield, 7 p.m. (HSSN*) Norwin at Penn-Trafford, 7:30 p.m. (HSSN, 107.1...

Here are Westmoreland County’s high school football players to watch for Week 5. Tommy Kalkstein Penn-Trafford, Sr., QB/WR/LB The 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown against Hempfield last Friday. He also has 13 catches for 137 yards. On defense, he has 20 tackles and an interception....

Hempfield football coach Mike Brown said the goal for the 2022 Spartans was to play meaningful games at the end of the season. That goal already has been achieved. After defeating then-No. 1 Penn-Trafford, 28-17, in a WPIAL Class 5A Big East Conference showdown last week, the No. 3-ranked Spartans...

Class 5A Big East Norwin (1-4, 0-1) at 5-Penn-Trafford (3-2, 0-1) 7:30 p.m. Friday, Warrior Stadium, Harrison City Norwin has dropped its past two games, both at home, to Plum, 42-13, and Woodland Hills, 35-0. Penn-Trafford is coming off a 28-17 loss to Hempfield. Penn-Trafford won the 2021 meeting, 35-14....

Last week: 8-6 (57.1%) Season: 45-14 (76.3%) The Birdie has been covering high school football for a long time and has lent an ear to a lot of postgame interviews. Local coaches have been dive-bombing him with cliches like he used to dive-bomb car windshields when he was a young...

Call it conditioned experience. That is what five Norwin senior soccer players are getting — and honing — with each game they play this season. The players’ fast growth from JV a year ago to key varsity contributors has the Knights on a hot streak, back in the thick of...

Greensburg Central Catholic boys soccer coach Rob Fabean said before the season he was going to let his players score as many goals as they wanted. Green light all around. Last year, he called off the dogs when a player hit three goals. But the Centurions are letting it rip...

Class 5A Big East Plum (3-2, 1-1) at Franklin Regional (2-2, 1-0) 7 p.m. Friday, Panther Stadium, Murrysville Plum came back last week in the second half against No. 5 Gateway but fell 28-26. The Mustangs trailed 28-7 at halftime. Eryck Moore-Watkins ran 26 times for 148 yards and scored...

High schools Cross country Tuesday’s results Boys Division I Section 1 Hempfield 28, Norwin 28 Section 3 North Hills 15, Shaler 48 Section 5 Blackhawk 19, New Castle 39 Blackhawk 19, Hopewell 42 New Castle 23, Hopewell 42 Section 6 Upper St. Clair 17, Baldwin 41 Division II Section 4...

Miles Jackson scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime, to lead Bethel Park (8-3, 7-2) to a 2-1 victory over Trinity (7-4, 5-4) in a matchup of top boys soccer teams in Section 3-3A Tuesday night. Faiden Hodgson scored for the Hillers. Ambridge 5, West Allegheny 4 – Anthony Powell...

It was quite an exciting day for Mars senior Blake Bertolo at Champion Lakes Golf Course near Bolivar on Tuesday. Not only did he qualify for the final round of the WPIAL Class 3A Championship on Oct. 6 at Allegheny Country Club by shooting a 5-over-par 76, but his round...

The Franklin Regional boys are playing their best soccer of the season. Just ask Plum. The fifth-ranked Panthers went on the road Tuesday night and upset the top-ranked Mustangs, 1-0, avenging an earlier Section 3-3A loss while extending their winning streak to seven and ending Plum’s 26-game unbeaten streak in...

East Allegheny junior Amir Rollins, a transfer from Penn Hills, is allowed to play football in the regular season, but he remains ineligible for the playoffs, the WPIAL ruled Tuesday. Penn Hills administrators had flagged his transfer as potentially motivated by athletics, but the WPIAL board didn’t find evidence to...

It has become crowded at the top of Section 2-4A in WPIAL girls soccer. Five teams in that section are separated by only two and a half games heading into a busy Wednesday that includes 43 district section soccer matches. Four of the top five teams will go head-to-head in...

Once again, there were few changes in the weekly Trib HSSN state football rankings as we have reached the midway point of the 2022 regular season. There were two head-to-head showdowns in Week 4 with one losing team dropping from No. 1 to No. 5 while the other fell completely...

Diane Metzger played for Norwin, so the second-year coach knows about the school’s rich tradition in girls soccer. Since the program began in the mid-1980s, the team has never missed the WPIAL playoffs. But Norwin is 2-8-2 overall and sits sixth out of eight teams in Section 1-4A at 2-6...

A 3-5-2 formation is somewhat rare in high school girls soccer. It takes a strong midfield presence, versatile wing-backs and a blend of speed and patience to execute the shape in its intended sense. But Mt. Pleasant coach Rich Garland knew he had all of those riches in a young,...

Piper Coffield had two goals and Gwen Howell and Reese Dunaway also scored to lead first-place Mars to a 4-0 win over second-place Hampton (8-2, 5-2) in Section 1-3A girls soccer Monday night. Kate McEnroe and Lily Goodworth combined on the shutout for Mars (8-0, 7-0). Bentworth 4, Charleroi 1...

High schools Golf Boys WPIAL Individual Championships Class 2A First round Hannastown G.C., Par 70 Hunter Jurica, Derry, 74 Daniel Sethman, Brownsville, 74 JP Tusai, South Park, 75 Logan Voytish, Uniontown, 75 Rogan Maloney, Belle Vernon, 76 Ryan Karfelt, Mt. Pleasant, 77 Josh Harbert, Ligonier Valley, 77 Wade Boyle, Greensburg...

Derry senior Hunter Jurica likes the new way the WPIAL will determine the golf champion. Instead of a one-day event, the WPIAL is holding a two-day competition for the boys and girls. The Class 2A boys and both girls classifications held their first round Monday. Jurica and Brownsville junior Daniel...

The Leechburg girls volleyball team entered the season a younger group than the one that tied for last year’s Section 4-A title with Greensburg Central Catholic and made it all the way to the WPIAL semifinals. Several key seniors moved on, including All-WPIAL first-team selection Kalli Grine and all-section first-team...