High School category, Page 722

Veteran Apollo-Ridge girls basketball coach Ray Bartha said he is cautiously optimistic about what direction his Vikings team can take this winter. “We’ve been working and practicing pretty hard,” said Bartha, who enters the second year of his second stint as coach. “Some things look pretty good some days, and...

PIAA football playoffs Quarterfinals Class 6A District 1 final: Coatesville at Garnett Valley, 7 p.m. Friday 12-1 St. Joseph’s Prep vs. 11-1 Freedom at Bishop O’Hara, 6 p.m. Friday 6-1 State College at 3-1 Harrisburg, 1 p.m. Saturday 10-1 McDowell at 7-1 Mt. Lebanon, 7 p.m. Friday Class 5A 10-1...

Welcome to Heinz Field. When Bishop Canevin and Moon last reached the WPIAL finals, Three Rivers Stadium still was standing on the North Short, but those teams’ will end their decades-long waits next weekend. Moon is returning to the WPIAL finals for the first time in 23 years, and Bishop...

High schools Football WPIAL playoffs Class 5A Finals Saturday’s schedule Moon (12-0) vs. Penn-Trafford (10-2) at Heinz Field, 6 p.m. Class 4A Finals Saturday’s schedule Aliquippa (10-1) vs. Belle Vernon (10-0) at Heinz Field, 3 p.m. Class 3A Finals Saturday’s schedule Central Valley (12-0) vs. North Catholic (12-0) at Heinz...

Aliquippa continued to build on its astonishing WPIAL football record Friday when it beat McKeesport in double overtime to reach the district championship game for a 14th consecutive year. This time, the Quips were led in part by a fabulous freshman. Tiqwai Hayes carried the ball 44 times and gained...

Forcing the Aliquippa football team to play schools two, three or four times its size isn’t safe or fair, regardless of whether the Quips are winning those games, says the school district’s top administrator. Superintendent Phillip Woods wants the PIAA competitive-balance rule to be rewritten. Aliquippa will compete next weekend...

Greensburg Salem senior Billy McChesney is a standout football player and heavyweight wrestler. So was the great Bill Fralic. Which makes McChesney a perfect fit as a candidate for the 3rd annual Bill Fralic Award, which recognizes the top senior interior lineman in the WPIAL. McChesney is the Class 4A...

The WPIAL football playoffs conclude with a two-day holiday feast at Heinz Field this week on the TribLive High School Sports Network. Trib HSSN has exclusive video coverage of the Class A and 2A championships Friday, along with audio coverage of the 3A, 4A and 5A finals Saturday. Plus, we...

Here are the latest PIHL high school hockey standings through Sunday: Team, Wins – Losses – Overtime/Shootout Loss = Total Points Class 3A North Allegheny, 8-1-0 = 16 Peters Township, 6-3-0 = 12 Baldwin, 4-1-2 = 10 Mt. Lebanon, 4-4-1 = 9 Pine-Richland, 4-2-0 = 8 Seneca Valley, 4-2-0 =...

Kelsey Salopek led Steel Valley to its first WPIAL girls soccer championship this season. The Ironmen midfielder was one of the league’s top goal scorers. Now, the senior has distinguished herself even more as one of the premier players in District 7 and the PIAA. Salopek on Sunday was named...

The Riverview boys cross country team was situated high in the PIAA Class A state rankings through the entirety of the fall season. The Raiders were ready to prove themselves in that capacity at the state championships in Hershey on Nov. 6. Riverview and Winchester Thurston battled again, and they...

Tyler Paszkowski and his Shaler cross country teammates started the season slow by design. As the year wore on, the Titans wanted to utilize a strong taper to build toward sending as many athletes to the PIAA Class 3A championships as possible. Shaler’s strategy paid dividends for seniors Samantha Hennen,...

The Plum girls soccer team accomplished many things in 2021 and finished with 21 victories through the regular season, WPIAL playoffs and PIAA tournament. Coach Jamie Stewart said the girls created an air of excitement among many in the Plum High School community with their play throughout the fall. But...

Signing day once again was good to Norwin. Or was it the other way around? Prospective student-athletes for all college sports except football could make their commitments official Nov. 10, and Norwin had 19 signees. Baseball had the most with seven, while girls soccer was next with five. The baseball players...

The Norwin hockey team rebounded nicely from its first loss of the 2021-22 season. After a 5-4 setback against North Hills, the Knights scored a 6-3 win over Westmont Hilltop to move to 4-1 on the season. Joey Vecchio scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and Jake Meier...

Alec Feigel is always looking for a good shot. That holds true if there’s a hockey stick in his hands, a lacrosse stick, or a camera. Feigel, a junior for the North Hills hockey team, is off to a strong start in the 2021-22 season. Through the Indians’ game against...

The North Hills football team was able to welcome back full capacity crowds at Martorelli Stadium this fall. And they definitely gave the red-and-white-clad faithful their money’s worth. The Indians finished the year with a 7-4 record, going 4-1 in Class 5A’s Northeast Conference and splitting the conference title with...

Bethel Park’s football team won five games this season and qualified for the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs after experiencing a rare winless campaign in 2020. “Yes, we expected to win more often,” coach Brian DeLallo said. “You have to believe you can win to make it happen. We raised our...

Paul Stadelman wasn’t sure if the message he was trying to sell might end up in the bargain bin. Five matches into his stint as the Shaler girls volleyball coach, the Titans had zero victories. The funk didn’t even last half a season. Something snapped into place. The Titans dug...

He is one of the esteemed deans among WPIAL soccer coaches. Michael Kulish, affectionately known as “Doc,” has enjoyed a legendary coaching career at Thomas Jefferson. At age 74, Kulish is one of the oldest soccer coaches in Western Pennylsvania, and he recently completed his 29th season in style, attaining...

Quaker Valley strung together a winning record in the second half of the girls soccer season. The QV girls blanked Ambridge and Riverside at the end of September en route to a 5-4-1 mark that included five shutouts down the season’s home stretch. The Quakers achieved their season-long goal of...

They are two of a kind. As 17-year-old athletes, both hail from long-standing soccer families, and both are super talented on the pitch. Quaker Valley cousins Rowan and Chase Kriebel displayed their senior leadership skills admirably throughout the fall soccer season. Rowan Kriebel, a 6-foot forward and captain on the...

You probably didn’t know a student/athlete can earn a scholarship for acrobatics and tumbling. You aren’t alone. Penn-Trafford senior Carleigh Bruno learned about it kind of by accident while working out at Legend Athletics in North Huntingdon. She was there trying to improve her moves for cheerleading competition. That’s where...

Penn Hills swimming coach Nick Page is hoping the team can avoid losing a month of practice time like it did last year. The Indians — like all local programs — were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic for the first month of last season. But Penn Hills is...

All the time the Penn Hills football team’s coaching staff dedicated to knowing their players paid off Nov. 12 at Gateway. Indians coach Jon LeDonne knew what Julian Dugger was capable of while battling cramps during a 23-20 win over the Gators in the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals on the...