High School category, Page 72
Coaching inspiration, experience spark Canon-McMillan in 2025
One of the big WPIAL football stories this offseason involved the coaching situation at Canon-McMillan. Ten-year veteran Big Macs coach Mike Evans is battling cancer for a second time. While he remains optimistic for his long term health following surgery to remove his tumor in July, he realized he would...
North Allegheny has questions to answer in quest to return to top of Class 6A
Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 22. North Allegheny was trying to make history last year and become only the second team to win three straight outright WPIAL championship games in the highest...
A-K Valley legend Joe Stone, who helped Kiski Area, Pitt to championships, dies at age 70
When it comes to telling the story of the 1976 Pitt Panthers national championship football team, the tales usually begin and end with the kid from Hopewell Township, Tony Dorsett. The story that doesn’t get told is that a lanky, talented offensive lineman from the Alle-Kiski Valley named Joe Stone...
WPIAL denies eligibility to 2 Central Catholic football transfers, approves 4 others
The WPIAL denied eligibility to two Central Catholic football players, leaving Xavier Harding and Ma’Noah Wright sidelined for the upcoming season. The sophomore transfers had eligibility hearings Monday. WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer said the board found both transfers were motivated, at least partially, by athletics. The decision came on...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: West Mifflin’s Armand Hill
Armand Hill broke out in a big way for West Mifflin as a freshman two years ago. Already a starter at defensive back, Hill got his shot at running back as an injury replacement, and he shined as the Titans finished runner-up in their conference and earned a spot in...
Dorian Goosby-Dean set to take place among Quaker Valley athletics greats
Dorian Goosby-Dean is considered one of the greatest athletes ever to compete at Quaker Valley. It’s quite a tribute. And thanks to his athletic achievements in a record-breaking career, Goosby-Dean has been selected for the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2025. He...
Quaker Valley prepares to defend WPIAL girls volleyball title
The WPIAL season ended for the 2024 Quaker Valley girls volleyball team with a police-escorted parade with firetrucks traveling through the town of Sewickley on the way back to the high school. The Quakers were celebrating their first appearance in the WPIAL finals and winning their first district title in...
Summer turnout benefits Gateway soccer teams ahead of 2025 season
The Gateway boys soccer team has qualified for the WPIAL playoffs five years in a row. Gators coach Mike Rugh said with the returning talent and a crop of newcomers, this year’s group can make it six straight. He is encouraged by the work the team has put in over...
Jeannette announces 6th Hall of Fame class
The sixth Jeannette Jayhawk Athletic Hall of Fame class was announced Saturday, presented by the Jeannette Educational Foundation. The 2025 class includes nine athletes, one team and one coach. Inductees are: Athletes • Julian Batts, Class of 2015, basketball • A.J. Graves, Class of 2005, wrestling • Ciara Gregory, Class...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Heat is on as WPIAL football players prepare for camp
The heat is on for WPIAL football players. The customary heat acclimatization week begins Monday around the league, with the start of full-contact training camp fast on its tail the following Monday. Players will wear helmets and shoulder pads this week but can’t have contact with teammates. They must attend...
Riverview soccer teams use summer months to maintain momentum from playoff seasons
When Jessica Garland was hired as the new Riverview girls soccer head coach in mid April, she had one eye on the immediate tasks of getting her footing with the school and the Raiders athletic department. The other eye was focused on getting to know the mix of returning and...
Former Norwin standouts Gianni Rizzo, Luke Levendosky bring youth, energy to Knights coaching staff
As players, Gianni Rizzo and Luke Levendosky left different marks on the Norwin football program. Rizzo was a run-smothering linebacker and fleet-footed wide receiver, while Levendosky powered the offense as a pinpoint quarterback. As coaches, they could have a lot to offer their alma mater. Both were added to Mike...
Behind 2 medalists, North Allegheny wrestling well-represented at Junior Nationals
North Allegheny wrestlers Evan Schomburg and Joey Synan traveled 1,100 miles to North Dakota last month, and there was one stop sign in front of them. The Tigers tandem placed in the top eight of their respective divisions at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals on July 10-19 in Fargo,...
Fox Chapel’s Elias George sharpens skills with Swedish 18U baseball team
Elias George enjoyed making an annual summer trip with his family to visit his mom, Eva’s native Sweden. But when he turned 10, Elias started to ask a few practical questions. The now-Fox Chapel junior wanted to make sure his baseball skills stayed sharp. He wasn’t sure Sweden had baseball...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Pine-Richland’s Khalil TaylorVideo
It’s a change of scenery this year for four-star prospect Khalil Taylor, who last week transferred from Seton LaSalle to Pine-Richland. The Penn State commit is looking forward to making an immediate impact for the Class 5A power after two impressive seasons for the Rebels, pending an eligibility ruling by...
Norwin’s Landon Sidun ready to bounce back from injury
When Landon Sidun takes the mat for his next large-scale wrestling competition — likely at the Super 32 Tournament in October in North Carolina — he will let his instincts take the wheel. The gifted 121-pounder cannot wait to pin somebody again. It has been a while. “I have been...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Imani Christian’s David Davis
Availability is an important part of David Davis’ impact. Davis missed several weeks of the 2023 season after tearing muscles in his elbow and fracturing his radius, but that did not deter him in 2024 and is certainly behind him heading in 2025. “(Last year) was good, especially because I...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Imani Christian’s David Davis
Availability is an important part of David Davis’ impact, in more ways than one. It is critical to everyone’s success because if a player is not on the field, he cannot make plays that push the team closer to victory. Davis missed several weeks of the 2023 season after tearing...
Thomas Jefferson’s Maggie Spell commits to Campbell
Thomas Jefferson’s Maggie Spell had been in talks with different college basketball programs when she went with her Western PA Bruins AAU team to the Under Armour Association Finals from July 18-21. After her performance at the tournament, she received a call from Campbell coach Ronny Fisher telling her that...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: McKeesport’s Javien RobinsonVideo
Most high school football teams don’t have a four-star recruit who will grace the field this season. McKeesport, however, will feature four-star teammates Javien Robinson and Kemon Spell, two of the nation’s top juniors who will play alongside one other. Spell was profiled earlier this month as a member of...
Bushy Run American Legion team wins state title
Bushy Run’s American Legion baseball team continued its lengthy postseason run Wednesday by winning the state tournament. Jayden Kennedy tossed a two-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory against Stripes & Strikes in Erie. Stripes & Strikes reached the championship game by defeating Bristol, 12-0, at McDowell High School earlier in...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Woodland Hills’ Scoop Smith
Catch Scoop Smith if you can. Many of the football programs that line up against Woodland Hills would rather pursue other endeavors. Smith enjoys playing on the return team but has become mostly a spectator as his career has progressed. “I don’t get them a lot,” Smith said. “A lot...
Bristol defeats Bushy Run in American Legion tournament
Even though the Bushy Run American Legion baseball team suffered its first loss of the Pennsylvania state tournament on Tuesday, the Beavers are still playing for the state title on Wednesday. By winning their first three games of the tournament, the Beavers already had clinched a spot in the championship...
PIAA upholds WPIAL decision to make Bishop Canevin quarterback ineligible
Bishop Canevin football player Brady Wagner remains ineligible for his junior season after the PIAA upheld an earlier WPIAL decision. Wagner, a quarterback who transferred from Mt. Lebanon, had his eligibility appeal heard Tuesday by the PIAA via video conference. The hearing panel sustained the WPIAL finding that Wagner’s transfer...
Penn State-bound wideout Khalil Taylor transfers from Seton LaSalle to Pine-Richland
WPIAL standout Khalil Taylor, a Penn State football recruit ranked among the nation’s best wide receivers, has transferred from Seton LaSalle to Pine-Richland. The high-profile move comes one week before high school football teams start heat acclimation for the upcoming season. Pine-Richland football coach Jon LeDonne said Monday he was...
