High School category, Page 925
St. Joseph boys basketball eyes return to postseason after down year
Andrew Sullivan remembers the feeling two years ago when the St. Joseph boys basketball team won 18 games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 1A playoffs. Eight seniors graduated from that team, and a younger and less experienced Spartans squad slipped to six wins last season. With...
Westmoreland H.S. notebook: Local football players dot all-star teams
The Big 5/6 Conference, which recognizes the accomplishments of teams and athletes in the WPIAL’s largest classifications, announced all-star teams for football. A number of local players made the lists, including in Class 6A where Hempfield senior center Sean Knight and the Norwin trio of senior lineman Anthony Giansante, senior...
Baldwin basketball teams take fresh approach
Location, location, location. Veteran coach Jeff Ackermann has returned to his South Hills roots. A Brentwood native who has won five WPIAL titles and one PIAA championship at various schools, Ackermann was hired in May to oversee the boys basketball program at Baldwin. “We have a fairly young team with...
Gateway swimmers have medal ambitions, wait patiently to dive into competition
The last time Gateway swimmers competed in a high school meet, coronavirus impacted the proceedings. In the initial stages of what would become a pandemic, PIAA officials shortened the second day of March’s Class AAA state championship event at Bucknell University. Several Gators competitors were affected. Covid concerns have again...
Loaded Sewickley Academy girls roster includes 5 returning starters and then some
The excitement in coach Mark Gaither’s voice was through the roof. Just one year after achieving an overall record of 14-12 and earning a berth into the WPIAL Class A semifinals, the Sewickley Academy girls basketball team is returning all five of its starters and then some. “We have a...
Quaker Valley girls basketball, a program on the rise, sets championship goals
The Quaker Valley girls basketball team got a nice taste of success last season, and now it’s ready for more. After recording an overall record of 17-7 and earning a blowout first-round victory over No. 9 West Mifflin, the Quakers got a shot at No. 1 seed North Catholic. While...
Pair of WPIAL qualifiers return to lead Penn Hills wrestling
In a normal year, turnout for Penn Hills wrestling is low. This season is no different, but the pandemic has caused a couple of more wrestlers to sit out the year. The Indians return only two lettermen from last year, and they couldn’t be more important for a young and...
Penn Hills swimmers alter training for unique season
The Penn Hills swim team returns one WPIAL qualifier this season, and a couple of others are seeing an opportunity to qualify. Senior Michael Lintelman is looking to improve on a top-10 finish in the 200-yard individual medley at the WPIAL Class 3A championships last season. At WPIALs, Lintelman finished...
Gateway boys look to build off WPIAL playoff berth
The Gateway boys basketball team made strides last season, going from just three wins in section and five victories overall the year before to 10 wins and a return berth in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. The Gators, junior Will Kromka said, now are ready to take the next step....
Senior class helps Thomas Jefferson football add to overflowing trophy case
Two PIAA championships, three WPIAL titles, three conference crowns. In a nutshell, that describes the four-year varsity careers of the seniors in the Thomas Jefferson football program. The Jaguars topped previously undefeated and District 4 winner Jersey Shore, 21-14, in the PIAA Class 4A finals Nov. 28 at Hersheypark Stadium....
Thomas Jefferson football A to Z: Another special season for Jaguars
An anatomy of a state champion, or it takes a village to build a successful football program. Thomas Jefferson (10-1) won its 10th WPIAL title in school history and fifth state crown in 2020. The Jaguars held off previously undefeated and District 4 winner Jersey Shore (10-1), 21-14, Nov. 28...
Trib HSSN 2020-21 WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball preseason breakdown
Getting to the WPIAL girls basketball finals will take even more dedication and focus than ever this season. Teams will have to navigate an invisible opponent in covid-19 that could test them more than a section rival. But a reward of a WPIAL championship will drive girls basketball teams across...
Trib HSSN 2020-21 WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball preseason breakdown
This will surely be a boys basketball season like no other. WPIAL teams are set to tip off Friday and embark on a masked journey through a schedule likely to change many times as the year progresses. Teams all have hopes of hoisting a WPIAL championship trophy in March, much...
New coaches bring excitement, confidence to Springdale girls basketball
There’s a new-found energy surrounding the Springdale girls basketball program. Jerry Clark and assistant coach Meredith Cooper are in their first year running things after spending time at the junior high level, and they are ready to erase the stigma that has surrounded the program for so many years. “We’re...
With newfound focus and depth, Springdale boys ready to make deep playoff run
The Springdale boys basketball team came out of nowhere last season. Led by junior guard Demitri Fritch, who scored 24.7 points per game, the Dynamos cruised to a 20-4 record, scoring 63.6 points per game, and were on the verge of making their first WPIAL semifinal appearance since 1991. It...
Pine-Richland’s Cole Spencer earns Trib HSSN Football Player of the Year honors
Following in the footsteps of one of the best quarterbacks the WPIAL has produced, Cole Spencer didn’t blink. Spencer passed Phil Jurkovec for most wins at Pine-Richland and now has matched the current Boston College signal caller in leading the Rams to WPIAL and PIAA football championships. “Cole Spencer is...
Pine-Richland’s Miguel Jackson named 2020 Bill Fralic Memorial Award winner
Pine-Richland teammates gave Miguel Jackson the nickname, “Smoke,” when he was a sophomore because they often caught him saying, “They don’t want no smoke.” It became his catchphrase, a warning of sorts that meant opponents would do better not to mess with him on the football field. They used to...
Hampton athletes earn postseason honors after historic fall season
The most challenging, unusual sports season in WPIAL history included something else that has never been seen before. This fall marked the first time that Hampton’s football, boys soccer, girls soccer and girls volleyball teams all reached the WPIAL playoffs in the same season. “With everything that went on (with...
Pine-Richland hockey has unfinished business after shortened playoff run
If Pine-Richland could rewrite history, it would be competing for a three-peat this season for the Penguins Cup and state championship. The Rams, led by 14 seniors, instead feel an emptiness they can’t quite shake. Captain Dominic Desjardins and alternates Sam Perry and Griffin Roth are still upset about last...
Shady Side Academy girls basketball returns full roster from last season
Not many WPIAL teams can boast about returning their entire roster. The Shady Side Academy girls basketball team can, and coach Caroline Fitzgerald is excited to see what they can do this season. With a young lineup last season, the girls took their bumps and bruises and limped to a...
Norwin notebook: Recruitment heating back up for Knights lineman
Anthony Giansante isn’t ready to give up on playing Division I college football. In fact, he may be more enthusiastic now than before he started getting scholarship offers. Giansante, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound lineman from Norwin, is back on the recruiting trail, proactively reaching out to schools that had already recruited...
North Allegheny looking to again contend for PIHL Penguins Cup title
The PIHL shut down its playoffs before reaching the finals last season, so North Allegheny coach Mike Bagnato told his players to consider themselves the reigning champions. Why not? They were the most recent team to win the Class AAA title. “I started off the season saying, ‘Hey, look, we’re...
Led by state qualifiers, Hampton wrestling looks strong in upper weights
If Hampton senior Justin Hart ever says “uncle” in the wrestling room, it will have nothing to do with giving up. Hart, the nephew of Talbots wrestling coach Chris Hart, is one of the top 189-pounders in the WPIAL Class 3A and joins fellow state qualifier Dawson Dietz in another...
Behind mixture of youth, experience, Shady Side Academy boys ready to compete
The Shady Side Academy boys basketball team lost eight seniors to graduation, but coach David Vadnais is excited about what his young players bring to the program. “For everybody, it’s going to be a weird year, but it’s going to be an interesting year for us because those seniors that...
Penn-Trafford girls basketball ready for challenge in move to Class 6A
There will be a new set of challenges for the Penn-Trafford girls basketball team this season, and it has nothing to do with the coronavirus. Penn-Trafford has jumped from Class 5A to Class 6A, and veteran coach John Giannikas knows the competition will be a lot tougher. The Warriors are...
