High School category, Page 950
New coach brings structured approach to Shaler hockey team
Creating structure for the Shaler hockey program was important for first-year coach Cory Sakolsky. It’s something Sakolsky had in mind while assembling his coaching staff. Sakolsky, who previously coached at Butler, brought in two former head coaches to help him out with the Titans. Matt Ranallo, who coached at Shaler...
Learning from losses leads Sewickley Academy to 8th straight WPIAL boys golf title
Throughout the 2020 golf season, the Sewickley Academy boys golf team went through adversity. For the first time in a long time, the Panthers were beaten twice in section play during the season, with both losses coming to Quaker Valley. The Quakers won the section, which was the first time...
Quaker Valley cross country builds strong program with youth, experience
First-year Quaker Valley Cross Country coach Ryan Kelly had the opportunity to see his runners make improvements from afar in recent years. Now, Kelly gets to see it first-hand. After spending time as the middle school cross country coach, Kelly took over the program, and it has fared well behind...
Penn-Trafford notebook: Denny Little named PIAA softball coach of the year
The PIAA announced Oct. 21 the National Federation of High Schools 2019-20 state coaches of the year. There were seven coaches from the WPIAL honored, including Penn-Trafford softball coach Denny Little. While there was no season in 2020, Little did coach Penn-Trafford to a PIAA Class 5A title in 2019....
Pine-Richland volleyball shows promise, character in playoff season
Pine-Richland’s volleyball season has been a series of glimpses into the team’s potential. Two wins over No. 7 Seneca Valley and taking one set each from North Allegheny and Shaler, the top-ranked teams in WPIAL, showed early in the season the Rams were at least a good team. To be...
Plum girls volleyball claims 16th section title in program history
The Plum girls volleyball team returned to the top last week as they clinched the program’s first section championship since 2011. The Mustangs’ 3-1 victory at Kiski Area on Oct. 20 wrapped up their 16th section crown overall. “That was really exciting for the girls, especially the (eight) seniors,” Plum...
Plum football writes championship chapter in program’s history books
With its 35-7 victory over Knoch on Oct. 16, the Plum football team achieved something the program hadn’t experienced in nearly four decades. The Mustangs captured their first conference championship since 1983, the year of their only WPIAL title. “It feels amazing to represent Plum as a whole team,” senior...
Norwin notebook: Krevokuch earns walk-on offer from Pitt
Norwin senior tight end and defensive end Tanner Krevokuch has been in contact with Pitt coach Tim Salem of late and the conversation sparked greater interest. After sending some highlights, Krevokuch (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) received a preferred walk-on opportunity with the Panthers. Central Michigan had offered him last year, but...
Norwin golfers relish 1st trip to WPIAL championship
As Sal Cerilli walked up the 18th fairway on the Gold course at Cedarbrook, he felt a sense of finality kick in. The Norwin senior, while enjoying the sights and sounds of the Knights’ maiden trip to the WPIAL Class AAA boys golf championship, knew this was the end of...
North Journal notebook: North Allegheny water polo teams look to reach states
It’s the best time of the year for members of the North Allegheny water polo teams. After battling through the regular season, the Tigers are competing this week at the Western Conference Round Robin Tournament at the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie with hopes of advancing to the state...
Team effort helped Franklin Regional secure 1st WPIAL golf title
A statistics teacher who doubles as the boys golf coach at Franklin Regional, Jeff Traphagen often looks at life through numbers. At the WPIAL Class AAA team golf championship, he threw around the term “standard deviation” a lot. “We were between 78 and 85; Our standard deviation was better than...
Franklin Regional golfer Brooke Horvath finished senior season on high note
The Franklin Regional girls golf team won its first section title in 13 seasons and senior Brooke Horvath was one of the reasons the team went 10-1 and played in the WPIAL Class AAA team championship. Horvath is a solid all-around player, according to her coach Kane Daignault. She and...
Pair of birdies highlight Oakmont experience for Hampton’s Arianna Erka
There was a time when back-to-back triple bogeys at the WPIAL golf championships would have ruined Arianna Erka. But when the once-temperamental Hampton senior carded consecutive 7s on Nos. 2 and 3 at historic Oakmont Country Club, she instead settled down and finished in style what was likely her final...
WPIAL football committee’s choices leave ‘sour taste’ for some coaches
After Avonworth’s regular-season finale was canceled because of coronavirus concerns, football coach Duke Johncour told his players to start preparing for any number of playoff scenarios. “This was obviously worst case,” Johncour said Saturday night, when the WPIAL released its playoff pairings and the Antelopes weren’t included in the Class...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Oct. 24, 2020
Field hockey WPIAL playoffs Class 3A Semifinals Wednesday’s schedule Mt. Lebanon at Pine-Richland, 6:30 p.m.; North Allegheny at Peters Township, 6:30 p.m. Class 2A Semifinals Tuesday’s schedule Upper St. Clair at Penn-Trafford, 6:30 p.m.; Latrobe at Fox Chapel, 6:30 p.m. Class A Semifinals Wednesday’s schedule Winchester Thurston at Shady Side...
5 things we learned in Week 7: Two leading QBs questionable for WPIAL playoff openers
Two of the WPIAL’s top quarterbacks are questionable to play as their teams approach the playoffs. North Catholic’s Joey Prentice and Keystone Oaks’ Logan Shrubb, both standout dual-threat quarterbacks, left their Week 7 games with injuries. KO coach Greg Perry said he expects Shrubb to play this Friday, but North...
High school football roundup for Oct. 24, 2020: Bradford brothers boost Western Beaver
Daquan Bradford made two big plays on special teams – a 55-yard blocked field goal return for a touchdown and a sack of the punter in the end zone for a safety – to lead playoff-bound Western Beaver (6-1, 4-1) to a 43-0 win over Carlynton (2-5, 1-4) in a...
Coach Mike Zmijanac retires after 2 seasons at Seton LaSalle
Mike Zmijanac, six times a WPIAL champion as Aliquippa’s coach, has retired after two seasons at the helm of Seton LaSalle’s program. The school made the announcement moments after Seton LaSalle lost its season finale to South Side on Saturday night, 28-21, to fall to 1-6, 1-4 in the Class...
Mt. Pleasant pleased, not surprised to be in WPIAL football playoffs
When Mt. Pleasant football coach Jason Fazekas left South Park on Friday, the Vikings’ loss to the Eagles didn’t sit well with him. But when the WPIAL released the pairings for the 2020 tournament, Fazekas was pleased to see his Vikings get another chance to right the ship. Mt. Pleasant...
Alle-Kiski Valley high school football notebook: Plum eases to unbeaten year
Plum came into Friday’s regular-season finale against Armstrong averaging 34.7 points. The Mustangs blew past that in the first half of a 63-13 triumph that gave them an undefeated regular season (7-0) for the first time since 1977 (8-0-2). Plum scored 18 seconds into the game on a 63-yard touchdown...
Breaking down the 2020 WPIAL football playoffs
Here’s a class-by-class breakdown of the WPIAL football playoff brackets: Class 6A Favorite: North Allegheny was the only undefeated team in WPIAL Class 6A this season, but the Tigers did miss three conference matchups because of covid-19 shutdowns by opponents. That included a Week 1 matchup with Seneca Valley that...
Penn-Trafford, Belle Vernon get home games for WPIAL football playoffs
When the WPIAL announced higher-seeded teams will get to play at home through the semifinals of the football playoffs, a number of coaches had reason to smile. Penn-Trafford was one of them. The WPIAL announced playoff pairings Saturday night, and Penn-Trafford (5-1, 4-0) got a home game after finishing first...
WPIAL reveals 2020 football playoff brackets
The WPIAL promised its football teams weeks ago that if they canceled games for covid-19, those decisions wouldn’t hurt their qualifying chances come playoff time. The WPIAL kept it word. In playoff brackets released Saturday night, the WPIAL included a couple of teams that played only four regular-season games as...
High school roundup for Oct. 24, 2020: South Fayette opens soccer playoffs with OT stunner
Chad Eldridge scored the game-winning goal in the third minute of overtime as No. 13 South Fayette (10-4-1) secured a 2-1 upset win over No. 4 Plum (13-2) in a Class 3A boys soccer first-round playoff match Saturday. Sammy Orecchio scored early in the second half to give South Fayette...
WPIAL football rankings for Week 7
Class 6A 1. North Allegheny, 5-0, 1 2. Mt. Lebanon, 4-2, 2 3. Central Catholic, 4-2, 3 4. Seneca Valley, 4-2, 4 5. Canon-McMillan, 3-3, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Pine-Richland, 6-0, 1 2. Gateway, 4-0, 2 3. Peters Township, 6-0, 3 4. Penn-Trafford, 5-1, 4 5. Upper St....
