High School category, Page 651

High schools Basketball Boys PIAA playoffs First round All games 7 p.m. unless noted Class 6A Wednesday’s schedule Chambersburg (18-7) at Lower Merion (24-3), 6 p.m.; Abington (16-11) at Pocono Mountain West (21-6); West Chester East (18-7) at Scranton (21-2); Garnet Valley (17-10) vs. Abrham Lincoln (18-8) at West Philadelphia...

Alex Erlain’s second goal of the game was the overtime winner to lead Pine-Richland to a 2-1 victory over Central Catholic in a PIHL Class 3A Penguins Cup playoff game Monday night. Esai Morse assisted on the game winner and Daniel Mooney made 18 saves for second-seeded Pine-Richland, which will...

Six minutes into its postseason opener Monday night, Thomas Jefferson faced the challenge of an early three-goal deficit. Twenty seconds into overtime, the top-seeded Jaguars were the ones celebrating a grueling comeback victory as Nick Stock completed the hat trick to secure a 7-6 win over eighth-seeded Hempfield in the...

The Road to Hershey opens up Tuesday, a lot sooner this year than in past years. In the past, the PIAA basketball playoffs began the Friday and Saturday after the WPIAL championships. However, this year, the PIAA made the change to move the first round up to Tuesday and Wednesday...

In each of its five previous WPIAL girls basketball championship runs since 2013, Bishop Canevin had high expectations, with teams that were always seeded in the top four. That was not the case this season, as few people outside of the Crusaders locker room thought a sixth district crown in...

No two gold strikes are alike. Two years ago, Laurel Highlands stunned many, coming out of nowhere to dethrone Mars in the Class 5A championship game to win the school’s first WPIAL boys basketball crown in over 50 years. There were no eyebrows raised Friday when the Mustangs remained undefeated...

Tuesday’s games Boys basketball Class 5A First round 8-1 Brashear (8-10) at 7-3 Highlands (18-7) 7 p.m. Winner plays: Winner of 7-1 Laurel Highlands (25-0)/3-9 Elizabethtown (16-10) on Friday in the second round (site and time TBD) Layup lines: Brashear’s postseason run began with an upset victory over Obama in...

Tuesday’s game Boys Class 4A First round 7-4 Belle Vernon (19-4) at 8-1 Obama Academy (12-8) 7 p.m. Winner plays: Winner of Hickory (16-8)/Quaker Valley (23-0) on Friday in second round Layup lines: Belle Vernon returns to the court after a 64-53 loss to Montour in the WPIAL semifinals. Montour...

As Ray Bartha prepares his Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team for Tuesday’s PIAA Class 2A first-round playoff game at District 10 champion West Middlesex, he also is moving forward with his plans to transition away from the school’s athletic director position after 14 years. The Apollo-Ridge School Board accepted and approved...

Tuesday’s games Class 2A Quarterfinals 5-Meadville (12-7) vs. 4-Penn-Trafford (15-4) 8:30 p.m. at Palmer Imaging, Delmont Winner plays: Winner of 8-Hempfield/1-Thomas Jefferson in semifinals, 7 p.m. March 15 at Robert Morris University Island Sports Center, Neville Township Ice chips: Meadville finished third in the West Division behind Thomas Jefferson and...

For the Kiski Area girls basketball team, all the pieces are in place. The only thing to do now is to continue to work, train and wait until next season. “Overall, I was happy with how hard the girls competed,” said Kiski Area coach Nick Dizon, who just finished his...

The exasperation in Fred Soilis’s voice is palpable. Following his seventh season leading the Freeport girls basketball team, Soilis is left with a number of questions about what exactly went wrong. “I think it was the most difficult, challenging season of my seven seasons in coaching,” he said. “After dealing...

After losing in a playoff game, especially the championship game, most teams take time to reflect and decompress before starting to think about the future. This was not the case for Franklin Regional’s hockey team after their loss in the Penguins Cup Final last year. “On that bus ride home,...

Cole Clark feels a responsibility to carry on the tradition of Burrell wrestling. One of the state’s most consistent programs, Burrell has built a tradition of success rivaled by very few teams in the Commonwealth. “You carry that standard with you when you wrestle, whether for team wrestling or individual,”...

Should handshake lines disappear from the WPIAL? No, says the league’s top administrator, even though one of the WPIAL’s best basketball players will miss the first round of the PIAA playoffs after a postgame confrontation. WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said eliminating handshakes would essentially absolve players and coaches of...

High schools Basketball Boys PIAA playoffs First round All games 7 p.m. unless noted Class 6A Wednesday’s schedule Chambersburg (18-7) at Lower Merion (24-3), 6 p.m.; Abington (16-11) at Pocono Mountain West (21-6); West Chester East (18-7) at Scranton (21-2); Garnet Valley (17-10) vs. Abrham Lincoln (18-8) at West Philadelphia...

The February Frenzy truly becomes the Madness of March with the start of the PIAA basketball and PIHL hockey playoffs this week on the TribLive High School Sports Network. We have coverage of the first and second rounds of the 2022 PIAA basketball playoffs, along with audio action of the...

After back-to-back sub-500 seasons, the Shady Side Academy boys basketball team turned the corner last season with a young roster. The Bulldogs finished on top in Section 3-3A with an overall record of 14-3 before falling in the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals. However, that may have set the stage for...

South Fayette was the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball tournament, but few gave them or anyone else a chance as top-seeded Chartiers Valley was shooting for a fourth straight district title. “We never talked about it,” South Fayette coach Bryan Bennett. “Our goal for the...

The puck drops on the 2022 PIHL postseason this week with six quarterfinals games Monday, seven more Tuesday and the final three Thursday. The PIHL Penguins Cup playoffs are made up of eight teams in Class 3A, 2A and A. The winners this week advance to the semifinals set for...

Here are the final PIHL high school hockey standings through the end of the regular season. *- indicates clinched a playoff spot x- indicates eliminated from playoff chase #-Indicated ineligible for Penguins Cup Playoffs Team – Wins – Losses – Overtime/Shootout Loss = Total Points Class 3A *-North Allegheny, 17-2-1...

Usually, a high school team coming into a large venue such as Petersen Events Center or the old Civic Arena had trouble adjusting to the surroundings with no wall behind the baskets and other factors. Knoch, however, was the opposite Saturday. The Knights played well for nearly three quarters until...

Some say luck is when preparation crosses paths with opportunity. For many WPIAL basketball teams, luck had a lot to do with their state playoff fate. It was, after all, in the hands of other teams. With the league’s follow-the-winner format to determine PIAA qualifiers and their seedings back in...

Class A Quarterfinals 8-North Hills (12-8-0-0) vs. 1-Fox Chapel (19-0-0-1) 7:20 p.m. Monday, Alpha Ice Complex Winner plays: Winner of 4-Norwin/5-Westmont Hilltop in semifinals, 6:45 p.m. March 16 at Robert Morris Island Sports Center, Moon Ice chips: The Foxes led PIHL Class A in points (39), goals (128) and goals...

Class 2A Quarterfinals 8-Hempfield (9-9) vs. 1-Thomas Jefferson (17-1) 7 p.m. Monday at Ice Castle Arena, Castle Shannon Winner plays: Winner of 5-Meadville/4-Penn-Trafford in semifinals, 7 p.m. March 15 at Robert Morris Island Sports Center, Moon Ice chips: Hempfield finished fourth in the East Division with 19 points despite allowing...