High School category, Page 714

WINGATE — Before Friday’s PIAA Class 5A semifinal, Exeter Township football players took the field during pregame warm-up yelling and screaming. At the other end, Penn-Trafford was quietly getting ready. “We certainly had a business-type demeanor before the game,” Penn-Trafford coach John Ruane said. “That’s our kids. They were focused...

High schools Football PIAA playoffs Class 6A Semifinals Saturday’s schedule Garnet Valley (14-0) vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (10-2) at Ridley, 7 p.m.; State College (8-5) vs. Mt. Lebanon (13-0) at Altoona’s Mansion Park, 1 p.m. Class 5A Semifinals Friday’s results Imhotep Charter 36, Strath Haven 0 Penn-Trafford 49, Exeter Township...

Norwin has four starters back, but those players rarely formed the same lineup last season because injuries would not allow it. Junior Savannah Schneck and senior Alyssa Laukus missed a combined nine games last season, which gave junior Lauren Palangio a chance to make her name known in the post....

When Phil McGivney took the reins of the Riverview boys basketball program over the summer, he saw strong potential in a group of players hungry for a turnaround. The Raiders were 3-12 overall in a truncated 2020-21 season and finished 1-9 in Section 1-2A. “I came in with a clean...

Maddie Deem is on an island, so to speak. She is the lone senior on the Riverview girls basketball team. But rather than wallow in the fact she isn’t able to share her final high school season with any classmates, Deem is energized by the youth and talent that dot...

Lance Maha feels like he has been at Norwin for ages, but it has been only about three months since he took the boys basketball coaching job in North Huntingdon. His transition has been smooth, and he feels right at home. “The kids have been great,” Maha said. “We’ve had...

Could the WPIAL send five or six teams to Hershey? The brackets say it’s possible, but that’s never happened before. Since football expanded to six classifications in 2016, the WPIAL hasn’t qualified more than four teams for the state championships in one season. The WPIAL had four qualify in 2020,...

When he’s avoiding tacklers and scoring touchdowns at a place like Heinz Field, it’s easy to forget Tiqwai Hayes is only 14 years old. The Aliquippa running back is just a freshman, yet he’s already making folks wonder whether he’ll become the next great football player from Aliquippa, a school...

High schools Football PIAA playoffs Semifinals Class 6A Saturday’s schedule Garnet Valley (14-0) vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (10-2) at Ridley, 7 p.m.; State College (8-5) vs. Mt. Lebanon (13-0) at Altoona’s Mansion Park, 1 p.m. Class 5A Friday’s schedule Imhotep Charter (10-1) vs. Strath Haven (13-1) at Ridley, 7 p.m.;...

Zachary Love scored in the first three minutes of the game and Liam McCullough made 36 saves to make the lead stand up, leading Moon (5-3) to a 1-0 victory over Westmont Hilltop (5-3) in PIHL Class A hockey Thursday night. Bishop Canevin 3, Connellsville 2 – PJ Forster and...

Central Catholic senior Donovan Hinish had just eaten dinner with a Notre Dame assistant shortly before he heard Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly was leaving for LSU. Hinish was stunned, to say the least, but remains committed to the Irish. “I was lost for a second,” said Hinish, a 6-foot-2,...

When the final buzzer sounded to conclude Plum’s WPIAL Class 5A first-round loss to New Castle last March, Plum coach Mark Marino was able to take stock of what his veteran team was able to accomplish during a season filled with so many covid-related uncertainties In the days following, he...

Basketball season tips off a week from Friday, and Penn-Trafford already has been dealt a devastating blow to the lineup. Big Ben is done for the season. Senior 6-foot-6 forward Ben Myers tore his ACL and will need six to nine months to recover. The injury occurred during an open...

When Penn-Trafford is on offense, opponents just can’t key on senior running back Cade Yacamelli. That’s because senior quarterback Carter Green can’t be ignored. He and Yacamelli give Penn-Trafford a rock-solid 1-2 running punch. “I can’t say enough about this kid,” Penn-Trafford coach John Ruane said. “You look at him,...

Mt. Pleasant led WPIAL Class 4A in scoring defense last season. The Vikings allowed a paltry 47.6 points per game. Among the district’s three largest classifications, only two teams posted a better defensive scoring average. Now, imagine how low the total might have been if Mt. Pleasant avoided a 2-6...

The Mt. Pleasant girls basketball team won seven of its final nine games last season. Among the victories was a first-round defeat of Freeport in the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. The win catapulted the Vikings into the quarterfinals for the first time in seven years, but the postseason stay was...

When Rich Mull took over the reigns of the Plum girls basketball program in August, he was anxious to get going full speed ahead with a youthful group of players he knew had the potential to do great things. From workouts and games in the fall to now being fully...

Central Valley earned 13 first-team spots on the Northwestern Six all-conference team with Sean FitzSimmons, Jack Bible and Jayvin Thompson honored on both sides of the football. The Warriors, who won the WPIAL Class 3A title with an undefeated record, also swept the conference’s individual player awards. Running back Landon...

North Catholic’s Kyle Tipinski, Tyler Primrose and Andrew Stephens, who led the Trojans to the WPIAL finals, all earned individual player awards in all-conference voting for the Allegheny Seven. North Catholic’s Pat O’Shea was voted the conference’s top coach. The Trojans (12-1) went undefeated in the regular season with six...

Elizabeth Forward’s defense allowed only 28 points combined in six conference games, a dominance that led Interstate coaches to name senior DaVontay Brownfield as the conference’s top defensive player. In all, 10 Elizabeth Forward players earned first-team all-conference honors. The Warriors finished 6-0 in the WPIAL Class 3A conference. Southmoreland...

High schools Football PIAA playoffs Semifinals Class 6A Saturday’s schedule Garnet Valley (14-0) vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (10-2) at Ridley, 7 p.m.; State College (8-5) vs. Mt. Lebanon (13-0) at Altoona’s Mansion Park, 1 p.m. Class 5A Friday’s schedule Imhotep Charter (10-1) vs. Strath Haven (13-1) at Ridley, 7 p.m.;...

Penn-Trafford football historian Rush Pedder wrote a book about the past 50 years of the program. Now, he has some interesting new chapters to start another. After winning the school’s first WPIAL football title in the 50th year of the school, the Warriors enter uncharted waters when they face Exeter...

The WPIAL playoffs are in the books with five new champions crowned. The results ended several lengthy title droughts among the 2021 champions. Mt. Lebanon in Class 6A ended a 21-year drought, Serra Catholic in 2A went 14 years between crowns, and Bishop Canevin won gold for the first time...

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Board of Appeals listened Wednesday to the case of Bishop McCort on penalties levied by District 6 on its athletic programs. The group decided after about a half-hour of deliberation to sustain those penalties with amendments. The PIAA announced a postseason ban for Bishop McCort wrestlers for...

Last week: 1-1 (50%) Season: 98-38 (72.1%) After a wild weekend at Heinz Field that saw the Birdie get splashed with Gatorade, get buried under a Penn-Trafford dog pile and get escorted out by security for trying to make a snow angel on the lightly coated sod, the Westmoreland pigskin...