High School category, Page 9
Seniors provide spark as South Fayette repeats as PIAA Class 5A champions
HERSHEY – Ever since the 2020 PIAA basketball championships were canceled by the pandemic, most of the story of Class 5A girls basketball has been written by two teams: South Fayette and Archbishop Wood. The Lions entered Saturday afternoon’s championship contest against the Vikings looking to be the primary authors...
Westmoreland high school athletes of the week: Hempfield’s Amelia Droste, Penn-Trafford’s Jake Lenart
Amelia Droste School: Hempfield Class: Senior Sport: Bowling Claim to fame: Droste helped lead Hempfield to back-to-back state championships. Last month, she won her second straight WPIBL girls singles championship with a 669 series (224, 225, 220). Droste reached the quarterfinals of the regional tournament and lost to teammate Ashley...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Carly Venanzi, Valley’s Dom Dunkel
Carly Venanzi School: Plum Class: Senior Sport: Lacrosse Claim to fame: Venanzi put together a productive week for the Mustangs. On March 13, she scored a pair of goals and had three assists as Plum (3-1) defeated North Allegheny, 13-10. On Monday, she scored another two goals and had an...
Neumann-Goretti pulls away from Oakland Catholic in PIAA Class 4A championship game
HERSHEY — Oakland Catholic coach Henry Schechter knew he had to get Saturday’s PIAA Class 4A title tilt against Neumann-Goretti at a pace his team could control. What he didn’t know was he’d have to try to do it without his star Josie Fontana. Fontana was forced to sit for...
Led by double gold from Jackson Edwards, Bethel Park boys shine at WPIAL swim meet
Jackson Edwards is a powerhouse in the pool. Edwards, a junior, won both the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships Feb. 26-27 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Edwards posted 48.97 and 48.88 times in winning the two events. “My goals prior to this season were...
New wave of players out to uphold Bethel Park baseball tradition
Bethel Park baseball teams have compiled a 97-28-1 record since 2021, finishing as WPIAL runner-up in 2021, 2023 and 2024 and in third place in the district in 2022 and 2025. The Black Hawks won the state championship in 2021 and 2022 and advanced to the PIAA final eight the...
Former Norwin standout Carter Breen, 25, takes over boys soccer program
Carter Breen got an up-close-and-personal look at being a head coach in 2023 when Norwin penalty-kicked its way to its first WPIAL boys soccer championship. Breen, Norwin’s all-time leading goal scorer with 68 tallies, was an assistant coach that year and stepped in as interim head coach when Scott Schuchert...
Norwin softball ready to challenge Hempfield again
A fully embraced underdog, Norwin softball has become a regular contender in WPIAL 6A. The team made the WPIAL final two years ago and the semifinals last year. With seven seasoned returning starters coming back, the softball Knights are aiming for another postseason run. Norwin will try to push top-ranked...
Norwin notebook: Baseball grad steals show at Seton Hill
Some say Jack Whalen was a recruiting steal for the Seton Hill baseball program. The Norwin alum has a record to prove it. Whalen, a senior outfielder, is now the all-time leader in stolen bases in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, with 118. Through 13 games this season, he had...
Franklin Regional notebook: Wrestling team celebrates big season
It was quite year for the Franklin Regional wrestling program. The Panthers (22-0) won their second consecutive WPIAL 3A team title, fourth overall, and claimed their third PIAA championship. They defeated rival Norwin in both the WPIAL and PIAA finals. The season concluded in Hershey at the individual championship and...
Special 2-year run for Shady Side Academy girls ends in state semifinals
Shady Side Academy girls basketball coach Jonna Burke didn’t think the pressure was on the Bulldogs during the PIAA Class 4A semifinals. Shady Side Academy had already proven three times it could beat Greensburg Central Catholic. She didn’t think winning a fourth time would be easy, but didn’t feel the...
Fox Chapel Herald notebook: WPIAL football realignment doesn’t favor Foxes
The changes to how the WPIAL handles football scheduling didn’t move in the direction Fox Chapel hoped it might. When new conferences were announced last week, things were still set up strictly by classification. The Foxes had proposed a system that would shake things up for teams and move things...
Talented Fox Chapel baseball lineup looking for new leaders to emerge
The Fox Chapel baseball team has the pieces to be competitive in the WPIAL’s Class 5A classification. What the Foxes will have to figure out is how to replace some of the leadership that led them to the postseason last year. Fox Chapel coach James Hastings said the group that...
Bethel Park girls ‘swam their hearts out’ at successful WPIAL meet
The Bethel Park girls team dove headfirst into the 2025-26 swim season. “I am very proud of the girls team,” coach Kathy Strock said. “We had a small team, but they showed up at every dual meet. Starting off with diving, we had 10 girl divers this season, and eight...
Norwin’s Landon Sidun leads 2026 TribLive Westmoreland County boys wrestling all-stars
Wrestler of the Year Landon Sidun Norwin, jr., 121 pounds 2025-26 record: 51-1. Career record: 124-3. When Norwin junior Landon Sidun lost in the finals of the PIAA Class 3A West Regional, he did not pout. He addressed the media and talked about what he needed to do the next...
Kiski Area’s Mario Hutcherson headlines 2026 Valley News Dispatch boys wrestling all-stars
Wrestler of the year Mario Hutcherson Kiski Area, so., 189 pounds 2025-26 record: 48-1. Career record: 91-8. It didn’t take too long for sophomore Mario Hutcherson to be named the Valley News Dispatch’s wrestler of the year. Given his track record, his rise to stardom at the high school level...
High school roundup for March 20, 2026: 9th-inning homer lifts Valley past Serra Catholic
Dom Dunkel hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth to lead Valley to a 3-2 victory over Serra Catholic in nonsection baseball Friday. Nikolas Heakins threw four scoreless innings to earn the win and Brady Moore and Jaron Minford singled and doubled for the Vikings (2-0)....
Legendary Hempfield softball coach Bob Kalp dies at age 80
“Let’s go to work.” Bob Kalp would say those words when an inning turned over, and his Hempfield softball teams took the field to play defense. No matter the opponent, score or situation, he would clap his hands, set his fielders and nestle into the coaching box at third base...
Greensburg Central Catholic girls revel in state championship victory after tough WPIAL final loss
HERSHEY — Asked how long it would take her to eat the 1-pound chocolate bar that was tucked under her arm like a math textbook, Jayla Peterson pulled back. “I don’t even like chocolate,” the senior guard from Greensburg Central Catholic said. “They can all have it.” But what about...
Valley High School grad Callahan lived football dream of suiting up for Pitt, Steelers
From Pitt’s Dan Marino to the Steelers’ Mike Webster, Bill Callahan shared a locker room with some of Pittsburgh’s legendary football players. But it was the time Callahan spent with his high school teammates that created the most enduring memories for the former Valley Vikings star. “I’ve played on some...
2026 PIAA Class 5A girls basketball championship breakdown: South Fayette vs. Archbishop Wood
PIAA Class 5A girls basketball final South Fayette vs. Archbishop Wood 6 p.m. Saturday, Giant Center, Hershey On the air: PCN; NFHS Network PIAA titles: South Fayette 1 (2025); Archbishop Wood 9 (2024, ’23, ’22, ’21, ’17, ’16, ’12, ’11, ’10) South Fayette (29-1) Coach: Bryan Bennett Projected starting lineup...
Sewickley Academy cruises past Old Forge to secure 4th PIAA championship
HERSHEY — Sewickley Academy won the fourth state title in program history with a 52-36 victory over Old Forge in the PIAA Class 2A boys basketball final at Giant Center on Friday afternoon. The Panthers (30-1) had 11-0 runs in both the first and third quarters to build a comfortable...
2026 PIAA Class 4A girls basketball championship breakdown: Oakland Catholic vs. Neumann-Goretti
PIAA Class 4A girls basketball final Oakland Catholic vs. Neumann-Goretti Noon Saturday, Giant Center, Hershey On the air: PCN; NFHS Network PIAA titles: Oakland Catholic 4 (1993, 2001, ‘03, ‘05); Neumann-Goretti 6 (2015, ‘16, ‘17, ‘18, ‘22, ‘25) Oakland Catholic (25-2) Coach: Henry Schechter Projected starting lineup No., Name, Ht.,...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for March 19, 2026
High schools Baseball Thursday’s results Nonsection Avella at Western Beaver, ppd. Baldwin 5, West Mifflin 4 Beaver Falls at Northgate, (n) Blackhawk 3, West Allegheny 0 Burrell 11, Knoch 1 California 5, Carmichaels 3 Canon-McMillan 5, Ringgold 0 Cary Christian 2, North Hills 1 Chartiers-Houston 2, Geibel Catholic 1 Derry...
High school roundup for March 19, 2026: 4 Plum pitchers combine on no-hitter
Braden Kemmerer, Greg Huff, Dom Lauletta and Brennan Ryan combined on a no-hitter as Plum blanked Seneca Valley, 6-0, in nonsection baseball Thursday. Kemmerer started and went two innings, Huff pitched the third and Lauletta and Ryan followed with two innings each, striking out three apiece. Enzo Mele, Max Vollmer...
