High School category, Page 566
Penn-Trafford ends frustrating football season with playoff loss
High school football season at Penn-Trafford ended earlier than expected with a first-round loss to Pine-Richland in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs Nov. 4. It was an unusual season for the Warriors, the reigning WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A champions. Many felt the Warriors were primed for another run at...
Penn Hills senior takes ‘easy to coach’ attitude to college volleyball ranks
Hard-headed wasn’t the word Amiera Smith was searching for. But there was a time the Penn Hills senior felt she could have had a better attitude about playing volleyball. As she prepares to head to Central State in Wilberforce, Ohio, next season, the Indians senior has seen herself morph into...
Penn Hills runner shows progress with showing at WPIAL cross country meet
Lee Zelkowitz could see that Sawyer Kinney’s performance was climbing in the weeks leading up to the WPIAL Class 3A cross country championships. The Penn Hills junior had made major progress this season and seemed to be figuring things out. “He had a lot of good practices and intervals leading...
Riverview runners finish 5th at PIAA championships
The WPIAL represented itself well in the PIAA Class A boys cross country championship meet in Hershey on Nov. 5. All four qualifying teams, including Riverview, were near the top of the standings. Winchester Thurston was third, followed by Eden Christian, the Raiders in fifth, and Our Lady of the...
After capturing 4 section titles, Plum seniors cap high school careers in PIAA playoffs
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 school scores, summaries and schedule for Nov. 12, 2022
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...
Guido: Weather made these games involving A-K Valley teams memorable
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,...
Westmoreland High School Athletes of the Week: Week ending Nov. 13, 2022
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...
High school roundup for Nov. 12, 2022: Seneca Valley boys soccer earns state finals rematch
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...
Hailey Longwell’s hat trick lifts Moon past Plum, sets up rematch with Mars
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...
Dominant Freeport sweeps Quaker Valley, moves one step closer to state title
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 has long, strange trip to WPIAL football quarterfinals
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...
Maddie Barrick’s game-winner sends Mt. Pleasant girls soccer to PIAA semifinals
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...
Greensburg Central Catholic girls top Springdale, reach PIAA semis for 4th straight year
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,...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Springdale’s Grace Gent, Fox Chapel’s Mason Heininger
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...
WPIAL announces playoff sites for semifinal football games
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...
Franklin Regional notebook: Ex-Panthers make mark in college soccer
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...
Norwin notebook: Defender makes all-WPIAL list
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 notebook: NA volleyball rebounds from finals loss
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...
Back-to-back WPIAL cross country titles put Hampton in elite company
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 football looks ahead following heartbreaking loss
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...
Fox Chapel youth soccer alumni make college choices
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 school scores, summaries and schedules for Nov. 11, 2022
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,...
Ryan Palmieri, Pine-Richland top Woodland Hills to get back to WPIAL championship game
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...
2022 WPIAL statistical leaders for rushing, passing, receiving in Week 11
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,...
