High School category, Page 726

Don’t let Pine-Richland’s record fool you. The reigning PIAA and WPIAL Class 5A champions are a talented football team despite the twists and turns of the past 11 months. Now they find themselves back in the WPIAL semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday against No. 2 Penn-Trafford (9-2) at Pete Antimarino...

Belle Vernon players wear practice jerseys with three words emblazoned on the back of them. The words are big and bold, deliberate and gold — like the turf at James Weir Stadium. “Do Your Job.” There is more to the job of the team’s wide receivers than meets the eye....

Last week: 3-0 (100%) Season: 95-37 (71.9%) ^ Like some of the teams he follows regularly and predicts outcomes for, the Birdie doesn’t consider a season a success unless he makes it to Heinz Field. The Westmoreland County pigskin pro has every intention of taking a trip to the North...

More than 400 student-athletes from schools throughout Western Pennsylvania gathered Wednesday morning to discuss their roles in creating a stronger leadership environment through sportsmanship both on and off the field. The 12th annual WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit at the Sen. John Heinz History Center in Downtown Pittsburgh gave students the opportunity...

The Kiski Area hockey team lost several key players, including Michael Rayburg and Jonathan Ayres, from a team that made back-to-back PIHL Class A semifinals appearances. If they needed any evidence that they can still play with the top teams in the league, last Thursday’s game against Fox Chapel was...

Athletes from dozens of Western Pennsylvania high schools will gather Wednesday morning at the Heinz History Center for the annual WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit, which will be streamed live on TribLive HSSN. This is the 12th year for the event, scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until noon. Former Steelers defensive lineman Brett...

Lincoln Park basketball standout LA Pratt will play his college ball close to home. The 6-foot-5 point guard announced his verbal commitment to Duquesne via his social media accounts Tuesday afternoon. Pratt averaged 13 points per game for Lincoln Park last season, helping the Leopards to a 19-6 record, a...

North Allegheny will try for No. 5. Already a four-time defending state champion, the NA girls earned a trip to the volleyball state finals for the fifth year in a row after defeating rival Shaler, 3-1, in a PIAA Class 4A semifinal Tuesday night at Fox Chapel. The Tigers rallied...

When Zach Panza’s attempt hit the crossbar and put Hampton on the brink of elimination in round four of penalty kicks, Talbots goalkeeper Thomas Bradfield admitted he thought his high school career was over. It was an understandable thought because the odds of making consecutive saves in penalty kicks aren’t...

Jane Huss School: Derry Sport: Cross country Class: Freshman Claim to fame: Huss finished 68th out of 264 girls in 21 minutes, 13 seconds, improving her time of 21:31 from the WPIAL meet, at the PIAA Class 2A cross country championships Nov. 6 on the Parkview Course in Hershey. Huss...

Ava Weleski Class: Sophomore School: Plum Sport: Soccer Report card: Weleski scored the winning goal for Plum in a 2-1 victory over Mechanicsburg in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals Saturday. She also has three multi-goal games in the postseason and a total of seven goals. This season is the first...

As the Road to Hershey officially opens up this weekend, there were plenty of changes in the Trib HSSN weekly state rankings as the district playoffs wind down. Seven teams are gone for good in 2021 from the state rankings as district playoffs morph into the state postseason in Week...

High schools Field hockey PIAA playoffs Class 3A Semifinals Tuesday’s results Emmaus 3, Conestoga 1 Lower Dauphin 3, Central York 2 Championship Saturday’s schedule Emmaus vs. Lower Dauphin at Whitehall, 3 p.m. Class 2A Semifinals Tuesday’s results Twin Valley 1, Southern Lehigh 0 Gwynedd Mercy 2, Mechanicsburg 1 Championship Saturday’s...

Max Marcotte scored the winning goal with less than seven minutes left in regulation as defending state champion Seneca Valley earned a return trip to Hershey with a 2-1 win over Peters Township in the PIAA Class 4A semifinals Tuesday night. Beaux Lizewski assisted on the winning goal. Nathan Prex...

It’s back to Hershey for Greensburg Central Catholic. But it didn’t look promising for a while Tuesday night when standout junior Sara Felder left in the first half with a knee injury during a PIAA girls soccer semifinal against Steel Valley. Felder returned after halftime and needed some time to...

Two sets away from a trip to the state volleyball finals, perhaps the Freeport girls showed their age for the first time all season. Hampton showed its poise. With two freshman starters on the court, Freeport won Game 1 in Tuesday’s PIAA Class 3A semifinal, but the WPIAL champion Yellow...

The Mars girls soccer team is headed back to Hershey for a shot at its third straight PIAA championship. Sophomore Ainsley Ray headed home a corner kick from fellow sophomore Addi Girdwood with 10 minutes, 36 seconds left in the second half to lift the Planets past Plum, 1-0, in...

Brandon Mowry will not be back as Knoch’s football coach. The South Butler School District released a statement Tuesday announcing the move. “At this time, we have made the decision to move in a new direction with our football program,” the statement read.“We feel it is in the best interest...

Highlands has its basketball coaches. Corey Dotchin and Jason Kerr, junior varsity coaches and varsity assistants for the Golden Rams boys and girls teams, respectively, have been elevated to head coaching positions. They were hired at Monday’s school board meeting. “It is definitely a relief,” Highlands athletic director Drew Karpen...

Owen Tutich School: Greensburg Salem Sport: Hockey Year: Junior Claim to fame: Tutich had two goals and two assists to lead Greensburg Salem (2-4) to a 9-4 win over Moon in Class A action on Nov. 11. Tutich has 17 points, which is third in Class A, with eight goals...

Joe Scolaro Class: Senior School: Highlands/Burrell Sport: Hockey Report card: Scolaro scored twice and had an assist to help Burrell’s hockey team top Wilmington, 7-1, last Monday. It was his second two-goal game of the season. He had a team-leading six goals and 11 points entering Monday’s game against Ringgold....

High schools Field hockey PIAA playoffs Semifinals Tuesday’s schedule Class 3A Conestoga vs. Emmaus at Central Bucks West, 6 p.m.; Central York vs. Lower Dauphin at Landis Field, 6 p.m. Class 2A Twin Valley vs. Southern Lehigh at Exeter Township, 5:30 p.m.; Gwynedd Mercy vs. Mechanicsburg at Exeter Township, 7:30...

The WPIAL is investigating accusations of “racial bigotry and unsportsmanlike play” levied against the South Side football team. The allegations involve actions and derogatory comments made during last week’s WPIAL playoff loss to Steel Valley, which brought the concerns to the WPIAL’s attention. “Steel Valley and South Side played a...

The Plum girls soccer team had to endure a pair of 170-mile round trips — two excursions to Hollidaysburg’s Tiger Stadium, near Altoona — for the first two rounds of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs. Those trips, long as they were, did yield winning results: a first-round 3-1 victory over...

A fourth fray in the final four of 4A. The PIAA volleyball playoffs move into the semifinals round with two rivals ready to square off for a berth in the state title match at stake. Defending PIAA and current WPIAL champion North Allegheny faces a familiar foe Tuesday when it...