High School category, Page 726
Drop to Class 5A could be boost for football teams at Hempfield, Norwin
It was like a release valve was turned for Norwin and Hempfield when enrollment numbers showed the schools would drop to Class 5A for football. That meant leaving the rigors of Class 6A, with a schedule that demands near perfection on a weekly basis just to be able to compete,...
Trib HSSN WPIAL boys basketball rankings for Week of Jan. 2, 2022
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. North Hills, 6-0, 1 2. North Allegheny, 8-0, 2 3. Fox Chapel, 7-1, 3 4. Central Catholic, 5-2, 4 5. Upper St. Clair, 6-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Laurel Highlands, 6-0, 1 2. Penn Hills, 7-0, 2...
TribHSSN WPIAL girls basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 2, 2022
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 6-0, 1 2. Upper St. Clair, 7-0, 2 3. Mt. Lebanon, 8-0, 3 4. Norwin, 5-1, 4 5. Butler, 6-2, 5 Out: none Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Chartiers Valley, 8-1, 1 2. Moon, 8-0, 3 3. Oakland Catholic,...
Westmoreland County athletes of the week: Terek Crosby and Mercedes Majors
Terek Crosby School: Yough Sport: Basketball Year: Sophomore Claim to fame: Crosby scored 19 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter and made 17 of 21 from the foul line as Yough (4-4) won, 77-70, against Ligonier Valley in the Kiski Area Tournament on Dec. 29. He had 18...
George Guido: Cager Classic set to return after 2-year hiatus
Let’s open 2022 with some good news. The Cager Classic at Highlands High School is set to return after a two-year hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The 25th event — we no longer can call it annual — will go with its usual Thursday-Saturday format March 24-26. The...
A-K Valley High School Athletes of the Week: Rylen Campbell and Madilyn Boyer
Rylen Campbell Class: Sophomore School: Plum Sport: Wrestling Report card: Campbell won the 106-pound title at the Southmoreland Holiday Classic on Tuesday. He was the sixth seed but worked his way through the bracket and upset top-seeded Ana Malovich of Butler via a pin in the second period in the...
Westmoreland boys basketball notebook: Football players add toughness to Penn-Trafford
Penn-Trafford added some championship toughness to its boys basketball rotation. Football players Tommy Kalkstein and Conlan Greene are back from football season after helping the Warriors win WPIAL and PIAA championships. A pair of juniors, Kalkstein brings athleticism and ball-handling to an already deep backcourt, and Greene helps fill a...
Trib HSSN Head of the Class: Coach of the year in each of WPIAL football’s 6 classes
The students are expected to execute a good lesson plan, but it takes a top teacher to develop the plan and find ways to get the most from their students. The same could be said on the football field. Yes, teams need good players to be successful, but coming up...
Trib HSSN Top 21 Stories of 2021: Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz ousted
The year 2021 wasn’t one giant leap for mankind, but it was one big step back toward “normalcy” for all of us, especially the high school athletes from around the WPIAL. They were able to do what they love to do, compete on area fields, courts, mats and pools. They...
2021 Trib 25 Football Team: WPIAL, state champions highlight HSSN all-stars
This was a historic football season for the WPIAL, which had four teams celebrate state titles in Hershey. The WPIAL never before had won more than three in a year, but Mt. Lebanon, Penn-Trafford, Aliquippa and Central Valley all made history this fall. Each team had a unique story. The...
Powerade wrestling notebook: Loaded tournament was brutal for WPIAL’s best
It says how tough the 55th annual Powerade Wrestling Tournament was this season when only 26 wrestlers from the WPIAL earned medals and only six reached the finals. The competition was extremely difficult. “All these wrestlers are amazing,” Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe said. “This was the toughest tournament we’ve...
Tweak to defense puts Deer Lakes boys basketball team in the zone
For the majority of his coaching career, Terence Parham has favored a stack 2-3 zone defense, but this summer, he and his assistant Albie Fletcher made a change to their tactics. The Deer Lakes boys basketball team is employing a 1-3-1 zone, and early returns show it has been a...
Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: Youth no problem for Penn-Trafford
Senior night shouldn’t take very long at Penn-Trafford this year. Guard Maura Suman might feel a little lonely when the spotlight shines on her. She is the team’s only senior. The Warriors feature just three juniors, five sophomores and seven freshmen, an inexperienced but hungry rotation that isn’t backing down...
Derry’s Tiana Moracco attracting attention as she nears school scoring record
Derry knows how to apply and play against box-and-one defenses. The hybrid scheme comes naturally now because the Trojans girls basketball team is seeing more “junk” defenses as opponents try to slow down guard Tiana Moracco. That means they practice them routinely, and Moracco finds ways to shake loose from...
Trib HSSN Head of the Class: Player of the year in each of WPIAL football’s 6 classes
Back in the day, when students did well in the classroom, they were moved to the front of the class. With the return to school from virtual classrooms the year before, Trib HSSN is once again moving those prized students to the head of the class. There were plenty of...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Dec. 30, 2021
High schools WPIAL Basketball Boys Thursday’s results Avella Tournament Cornell 58, Avella 56 Fort Cherry 48, Brownsville 43 McGuffey 56, Chartiers-Houston 50 Avonworth 80, Burgettstown 57 Brooke (WV) Tournament Consolation Bloom-Carroll (OH) 68, Cameron (WV) 32 Championship Mt. Lebanon 48, Brooke (WV) 39 Deer Lakes Tournament Consolation Steel Valley 52,...
Trib HSSN Top 21 Stories of 2021: St. Clair Six pulled off state playoff stunner
The year 2021 wasn’t one giant leap for mankind, but it was one big step back toward “normalcy” for all of us, especially the high school athletes from around the WPIAL. They were able to do what they love to do: compete on area fields, courts, mats and pools. They...
High school roundup for Dec. 30, 2021: Avonworth takes Avella Tournament title
Jordan Kolenda scored a game-high 20 points to lead Avonworth to an 80-57 boys basketball victory over Burgettstown in the championship game of the Avella Tournament on Thursday. Tournament MVP Rowan Carmichael added 16 points and Peyton Faulkner had 10 for the Antelopes (7-1). Jackson LaRocka and Austin Nease led...
Chartiers Valley finishes stretch of 4 games in 2 tournaments over 3 days with win at Latrobe
Playing four games in three days didn’t seem to bother the Chartiers Valley girls basketball team. Especially their starters. The Colts used more bus drivers this week than they did reserves in Thursday night’s WPIAL semifinal rematch against Latrobe, playing their starting five for most of the game in a...
3 WPIAL wrestlers emerge from star-studded field to win Powerade gold
Penn-Trafford senior Troy Hohman hadn’t won a big wrestling tournament before Thursday. But he did something that can elevate his career. Hohman escaped with 11 seconds left to defeat Malvern Prep sophomore Jack Consiglio, 4-3, in the 120-pound final at the prestigious 55th Powerade Wrestling Tournament to claim the biggest...
Top 10 A-K Valley sports stories of 2021
As 2021 opened, high school sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and throughout the region and state were on hold because of ongoing covid-19 uncertainties. Games, meets and matches eventually went ahead, and individual and team champions were crowned. The spring sports season returned after it was canceled in 2020 at...
Top 10 Westmoreland County sports stories of 2021
They lined roads and highways to welcome their championship teams home, the night sky glowing red with the flashing lights of fire trucks. Championship teams in football, wrestling, baseball, softball and other sports brought titles home to Westmoreland County. They lined fairways at Oakmont to watch their local boy chase...
Greensburg Salem pays tribute to boys basketball icon ‘Coach Paul’
He was a good basketball player at Springdale High School — enough so to earn a scholarship to Westminster — but Paul Sapotichne soon realized he wasn’t going anywhere with a basketball in his hands. So he decided to become a coach. “I’d always wanted to coach,” he said. Turns...
High school roundup for Dec. 29, 2021: Chartiers Valley girls beat 2 ranked opponents in 1 day
The Chartiers Valley girls basketball team turned in a unique daily double Wednesday, defeating one ranked opponent in a 1 p.m. tip-off, hopping on a bus for a 60-mile trip and defeating another ranked foe in a 6:30 p.m. game. The Colts, ranked No. 1 in Class 5A, began the...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Dec. 29, 2021
High schools WPIAL Basketball Boys Wednesday’s results Apollo-Ridge Tournament Consolation River Valley 60, Apollo-Ridge 40 Championship Leechburg 66, Neighborhood Academy 38 Aquinas Academy Tournament Consolation Geibel 80, Trinity Christian 54 Championship Keystone Oaks 75, Aquinas Academy 74 Avella Tournament Fort Cherry 72, Cornell 28 Brownsville 71, Avella 46 Avonworth 65,...
