High School category, Page 6

Borrowing a phrase from one of Sly & the Family Stone’s big hits, it appears the 2025 season was a “family affair” for the Quaker Valley girls tennis team. “The season was all we hoped it would be and more,” said Christi Hays, QV’s hall-of-fame coach. “It was a truly...

The Quaker Valley boys soccer team strung together a 17-game unbeaten streak against WPIAL competition this season. QV advanced to the PIAA tournament after finishing 16-1-1 against WPIAL opponents. The Quakers were the Section 2-2A champions thanks to a 14-1-1 record. Avonworth finished as the section runner-up at 13-2-1 and...

Piper Munyon made history in her debut run at the PIAA Class 3A cross country championships Nov. 1 on the Parkview Course in Hershey. The Gateway sophomore took seventh overall in a time of 18 minutes, 56 seconds. It was the best-ever PIAA finish by a Gators girls cross country...

The Gateway football team edged Latrobe, 27-24, in its Big East Conference finale Oct. 17. The Gators finished in a three-way tie for third place with Armstrong and Kiski Area at 3-3. A 42-35 loss to Class 6A Hempfield in what ended up being the team’s final game of the...

Quaker Valley football finished 4-6 record in coach Tom Eshenbaugh’s first year. The Quakers competed in a meat-grinder of a conference as five Western Hills teams — No. 1 seed Avonworth, No. 3 Central Valley, No. 5 North Catholic, No. 9 Beaver and No. 10 Hopewell — all qualified for...

Aliquippa will compete in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game for the fifth time in six years, an accomplishment that Quips coach Mike Warfield says should always come with a footnote. His note would be a reminder that Aliquippa is still a small school playing against much larger opponents. “Everybody...

High schools Field hockey PIAA playoffs Class 3A Quarterfinals Saturday’s results Emmaus 4, Avon Grove 1 Central Bucs West 4, Lower Dauphin 3 (OT) Penn Manor 3, Parkland 0 Villa Maria 6, Mechanicsburg 1 Semifinals Tuesday’s schedule Villa Maria (22-2) vs. Emmaus (26-1); Penn Manor (21-4-1) vs. Central Bucs West...

Windber — The Burrell Bucs scored a pair of goals less than three minutes apart in the second half to rally from an early deficit and advance to the PIAA Class 2A girls soccer semifinals with a 2-1 victory over Bedford at Windber Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The District 7...

Adele Walters-Vrabel School: Springdale Class: Freshman Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Walters-Vrabel propelled the Dynamos (14-2-1) to the quarterfinal round of the PIAA Class A playoffs with a header in overtime to defeat Windber 2-1. What was it like joining a team that won the WPIAL last year in Class...

Rosalia Varlotta converted the game-winning penalty kick in overtime to lead WPIAL champ North Allegheny to a 2-1 victory over Downingtown West (18-3-3) in the PIAA Class 4A girls soccer quarterfinals Saturday. Kieran Shannon scored the tying goal for the Tigers (19-3-2), who will face Central Bucks East in the...

The WPIAL has announced sites for its eight semifinals next Friday night. Semifinals will be contested Friday in Class 5A, 3A, 2A and A with the championship games to follow Saturday, Nov. 22 at Acrisure Stadium. In Class 6A and 4A, the finals will be played next Saturday at Pine-Richland....

ALTOONA — Saturday night’s PIAA Class 3A boys soccer quarterfinal between Franklin Regional and Conrad Weiser was a matter of creating opportunities. The bulk of them, though, belonged to the Scouts as they controlled play for much of the night and blanked the Panthers, 2-0, at Altoona’s Mansion Park. Panthers...

Moon’s football stadium welcomed a “Prime Time” visitor, or as Deion Sanders is better known nowadays, “Coach Prime.” The high-profile Colorado football coach and his team held a walkthrough practice Friday at the high school stadium in advance of their Big 12 Conference game Saturday against West Virginia in Morgantown....

Eleven days had passed between Springdale and Sewickley Academy’s WPIAL Class A girls soccer semifinal Oct. 28 and their PIAA quarterfinal contest at North Allegheny. The possibility of a rematch of the tight Panthers’ victory was there with some speculating on what would transpire in the rematch. Postulation turned into...

ALTOONA — During Tuesday night’s first-round win over Fort LeBoeuf, Freeport junior Camryn Woods suffered a foot injury. “I couldn’t walk the next morning,” she said. “I didn’t really care. I was going to go either way. If I couldn’t walk, I was going to push through.” It’s safe to...

WPIAL field hockey champions Pine-Richland, Fox Chapel and Shady Side Academy were well represented when the league’s coaches announced all-stars. The three title-winning teams had eight individuals apiece recognized Friday by the WPIAL Field Hockey Coaches Association. Four players from both Pine-Richland and Fox Chapel also were selected for All-WPIAL...

The most challenging sports for teams coming out of the WPIAL to compete with teams out east may be field hockey. All three WPIAL champions — Pine-Richland, Fox Chapel and Shady Side Academy — were all shut out in the first round of states. The Foxes lost to Hershey, 2-0....

Fabrizzio Costa School: Franklin Regional Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Costa scored the decisive goal goal in a 1-0 Panthers victory over Bethel Park in the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals Oct. 28 when he finished off a pass from Michael Hillebrand. He also scored a goal in the...

Daequan Hardy walked into the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room Nov. 5 and saw some familiar faces. At Penn State, he played with Joey Porter Jr. and Pat Freiermuth. This summer with the Buffalo Bills, one of his teammates was safety Daryl Porter Jr. The person that Hardy had the longest...

The Fox Chapel girls soccer team hasn’t had to worry about battling through another version of the WPIAL tournament through the first few rounds of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs. That’s exactly how Foxes coach Carlo Prati prefers things to shake out. Fox Chapel knocked off District 10 champion Harbor...

The Fox Chapel football program has many markers it would like to hit on its way back to respectability. Foxes coach Dave Leasure was happy to cap the season, where Fox Chapel finished 3-7 overall and 0-5 in the Northeast Conference, with Harran Zureikat and Max Melocchi earning all-conference honors....

Kevin Truman wanted to find a way to help the Penn Hills boys soccer program find a way back to the WPIAL playoffs. While the Indians’ coach felt like they had made tremendous progress, they couldn’t find enough punch on offense to emerge from Section 1-4A. What Penn Hills hopes...

Ashton Saunders enjoyed the view from the medal stand at last year’s PIAA Class A cross country championships in Hershey. The goal in his return Nov. 1 was to not only get back to that position but also stand a little closer to the top. Both were achieved as the...

After a 14-13 Northeast Conference loss to North Hills in Week 6, the Plum football team stood at 2-5 overall and 0-3 in conference play. Some thought the Mustangs were dead in the water. But Plum coach Matt Morgan, his coaching staff, and his players carried on, taking one game...

Shady Side Academy girls cross country coach Jeff Perlis talked to Charlotte Barker and Josephine Lenart the night before the PIAA Class A championship race to discuss strategy. Both girls were among the favorites to cross the finish line first. Lenart and Barker had traded wins at meets back and...