High School category, Page 869
PIAA Class 2A girls basketball championship breakdown: Neshannock vs. Mount Carmel
PIAA Class 2A girls basketball championship No. 1 Neshannock vs. No. 2 Mount Carmel Noon Thursday at Giant Center, Hershey On the air: PCN (video); TribHSSN.TribLive.com/WKST-AM 1200 (audio) How they got here: District 4 champion Neshannock defeated District 5 champion Windber, 51-48, in the quarterfinals and District 6 champ Penns...
PIAA favors full playoff brackets for spring sports ‘if possible’
If the PIAA gets its wish, spring sports will have full state playoff brackets this season rather than the smaller champions-only format used in the fall and winter. “That’s our intention,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said Wednesday, two days before spring teams can start regular-season competition. But the bigger...
With ace injured, 5-time defending WPIAL champion Hempfield faces obstacles
Veteran Hempfield softball coach Bob Kalp is facing a daunting task this season. The coronavirus continues to put up numerous obstacles in front of his teams, and an injury to his star pitcher, senior Callie Sowers, has him scrambling. “We have 30 players on the roster, and I only know...
Hempfield baseball ready to tackle new challenges
There is a new challenge facing the Hempfield baseball team in 2021: a new section with four new opponents. Class 6A in the WPIAL went from 18 teams to 12 teams for the next two seasons. Section 1 stayed intact with Allderdice, Butler, Central Catholic, North Allegheny, Pine-Richland and Seneca...
2021 WPIAL Class 6A softball preseason breakdown
After a year away from the diamond, softball players from across Western Pennsylvania are itching to get back on the field of play. With the 2021 season moving forward as planned, WPIAL teams will get the chance to do just that. Several perennial powers will look to regain their place...
2021 WPIAL Class 6A baseball preseason breakdown
WPIAL baseball players have been waiting nearly two seasons to get back on the field of play after the coronavirus pandemic forced officials to cancel the entire 2020 campaign. With the 2021 season moving forward, district players are eager to showcase their skills and lead their teams to the postseason....
High school scores, summaries and schedules for March 23, 2021
High schools Basketball Boys PIAA playoffs Class 6A Semifinals Tuesday’s results Archbishop Wood 72, Lower Merion 68 Reading 68, Upper St. Clair 46 Finals Saturday’s schedule Archbishop Wood (19-0) vs. Reading (25-2) at Giant Center, 7:30 p.m. Class 5A Finals Friday’s schedule Archbishop Ryan (12-5) vs. Cathedral Prep (17-7) at...
Trib HSSN Girls Basketball State Rankings for March 23, 2021
The end is almost here. Three days and 12 games remain in the crazy 2021 high school basketball season. Now that we’re down to the final few, you would think there would be few changes in the Trib HSSN girls basketball state rankings. That would be accurate for the top...
Jake DiMichele carries OLSH past Portage into state championship game
Jake DiMichele can still remember the exact day OLSH was eliminated the last time they made the state semifinals. “It was March 19, 2019,” he said. “I remember seeing everyone in the locker room after the game and seeing my brother (Daren). It was his last high school game, and...
Rochester rally comes up short in semifinal loss to Bishop Guilfoyle
Early hot shooting enabled Bishop Guilfoyle to build a solid lead over three quarters. The Marauders needed that cushion as Bishop Guilfoyle turned back a furious Rochester rally to defeat the Rams, 55-50, in a PIAA Class A semifinal Tuesday night. Senior Teresa Haigh scored 28 points, including six 3-pointers...
Short-handed Upper St. Clair falls in state semifinals to ReadingVideo
ALTOONA — There was no short-handed win for Upper St. Clair this time, no sequel to the team’s six-man celebration from a few days ago. But there was no quit either. Upper St. Clair used seven players Tuesday night — one more than last game — and welcomed back coach...
Chartiers Valley sinks Spring Grove, earns chance to defend state title
WINGATE – Sometimes, losing can be a good thing. After going two years without tasting defeat, the Chartiers Valley girls’ basketball team dropped — gasp — three games this season. It might have made the Colts better, though. “I think you take things for granted sometimes,” Colts junior forward Perri...
After massive turnover of senior-laden roster, Freeport baseball entering ‘strange year’
Heading into last season, the Freeport Yellowjackets were set to return one of the most experienced and talented rosters in the WPIAL. Coach Ed Carr was set to have 11 seniors return from a team that went 15-7, earned a No. 1 seed in the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs and...
Greensburg Salem baseball team sets sights on another playoff run
In the first week of practice, Greensburg Salem baseball coach Bill Wisniewski told his players to unwind, be kids and have fun in a return to normalcy after last season was wiped out because of the covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, he has asked them to work toward their...
With experienced roster, Freeport softball may be outlier
The Freeport softball team may be an outlier in 2021. After going 10-4 two years ago and coming up just short of winning the Section 1-3A title, the Yellowjackets will return a majority of their starting lineup after longtime coach Sam Ross utilized a talented group of freshmen and sophomores....
Greensburg Salem softball has rare commodity in this unique season — experience
Alyssa Bates has waited nearly 16 months to fill out her first lineup card as the head coach of the Greensburg Salem softball team, so she’s more than ready to get the season going. Bates took over the program in September of 2019, but the cancellation of the 2020 spring...
WPIAL to investigate recruiting allegations against Seton LaSalle football
The WPIAL has scheduled a hearing to address recruiting allegations raised by other schools against Seton LaSalle’s football coaching staff. The hearing is scheduled for March 30. The WPIAL board has discussed the specifics of the allegations only in executive session. Seton LaSalle hired Mauro Monz as football coach in...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for March 22, 2021
High schools Basketball Boys PIAA playoffs Class 6A Semifinals Tuesday’s schedule Archbishop Wood (18-0) at Lower Merion (11-4), 7 p.m.; Upper St. Clair (21-1) vs. Reading (24-2) at Altoona, 6 p.m. Class 5A Semifinals Monday’s results Archbishop Ryan 85, Chester 63 Cathedral Prep 54, Lower Dauphin 46 Finals Friday’s schedule...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports on March 23, 2021: 4 more teams try to reach Hershey
With three WPIAL basketball teams punching their ticket to Hershey on Monday, four more district teams have a chance to join them later in the week in Chocolate Town. Semifinals on Tuesday feature WPIAL champions from boys 6A, boys 2A, girls 5A and girls A playing for a spot in...
Belle Vernon hires boys soccer coach
Al Yeschenko had a good couple of days. He guided a Beadling Club ‘07 boys soccer team to a tournament championship Sunday in Delaware. On Monday, he was hired as the boys head soccer coach at Belle Vernon. Yeschenko was an assistant last year with the man he is replacing,...
Trib HSSN Boys Basketball Player of the Week for March 22, 2021: Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings
Nelly Cummings had a great career at Lincoln Park. The 2017 graduate averaged 22 points and 6 assists per game for his career, averaging 30 points per game his senior year. He was named all-state three times. He just ended his junior season at Colgate in the NCAA tournament. Those...
Trib HSSN Boys Basketball Team of the Week for March 22, 2021: The St. Clair Six
There were so many great stories from quarterfinals weekend in the state playoffs involving WPIAL basketball champions. We had blowout victories, comfortable wins, nail-biting triumphs, heartbreaking losses and a team eliminated before it took the court because of two dreaded words: positive test. While Bishop Canevin had to forfeit its...
Mohawk girls mow down another undefeated opponent, earn trip to Hershey
The good news for Mohawk girls basketball is that the team is going to Hershey to play for the PIAA Class 3A championship. The bad news is that its opponent on Thursday, West Catholic, has already tasted defeat this year. The WPIAL champion Warriors knocked off their second straight undefeated...
Foul trouble dooms Lincoln Park in PIAA semifinal loss to Hickory
Twenty-eight times Lincoln Park was whistled for a foul Monday night, yet it wasn’t so much how they fouled but rather who. Hickory senior Peyton Mele went 12 for 13 from the line in the second half and scored a game-high 38 points as the District 10 champion defeated host...
Neshannock girls crank up defensive pressure, stop Penns Manor in state semifinals
After trailing by double digits much of the night, Neshannock went to a trapping defense. The result of the defensive effort is a trip to Hershey. The Lancers held Penns Manor scoreless for the final 8 minutes, 12 seconds of the game and emerged with a 39-36 overtime victory in...
