New coach, young Imani Christian roster ready for ‘interesting season’
One thing is for sure about the Imani Christian Academy football program: They’re in good hands with veteran coach Cliff Simon taking over. The school’s athletic director took over March 13 after previous coach Ron Heard became an assistant principal at Woodland Hills. Simon’s job won’t be easy. He’s inheriting...
Road to Hershey opens up as state basketball playoffs tip off Friday
Last year, the western side of the PIAA Class A boys basketball bracket became a WPIAL block party. The six District 7 teams that qualified for the 2019 Class A state basketball playoffs were a combined 4-2 in the first round and a perfect 4-0 in the second round. That...
Balanced attack helps GCC boys take down Imani in 1st-place showdownVideo
Greensburg Central Catholic clinched at least a tie for the WPIAL Section 3-A title Tuesday, but first-year coach Christian Hyland wants more. “I’m greedy,” Hyland joked after his team defeated Imani Christian Academy, 67-48, in a first-place showdown. “I don’t like ties. We want to win the section outright at...
Fights for first place highlight a busy Friday of WPIAL basketball
Two big battles for first place highlight a busy Friday of district boys basketball. The top two teams in Section 2-2A square off when Brentwood visits Serra Catholic. Serra Catholic (4-0, 6-5) cruised to the section title a year ago, winning by four games. The Eagles crushed the Spartans twice...
2010s TribLive HSSN All-Decade Football Team: Defense
When the NFL playoffs arrive this weekend, three WPIAL defensive stars from the past decade will be in uniform, a testament to the football talent Western Pennsylvania produces. But that’s not what earned them their recognition here. As high school players, Thomas Jefferson’s Chase Winovich, Woodland Hills’ Quinton Jefferson and...
Clairton’s Brendan Parsons, Jeannette’s Justin Cramer lead Eastern all-conference team
Clairton and Jeannette, the top two teams in the Eastern, had 19 players combined earn first-team all-conference honors in a vote of coaches. The two Class A rivals also swept the individual awards with Clairton’s Brendan Parsons winning offensive MVP and Jeannette’s Justin Cramer named as the conference’s top defensive...
WPIAL Class A roundup: West Greene’s Ben Jackson sets touchdown record
Ben Jackson rushed for 367 yards and eight touchdowns to lead Class A No. 3 West Greene to a 59-26 nonconference win at Union (3-7) on Friday night. Jackson set the WPIAL regular-season record for touchdowns, surpassing the previous mark of Armstrong’s Zane Dudek (42) set in 2016. Jackson has...
WPIAL Class 2A roundup: Avonworth tops McGuffey in battle of title contenders
Jax Miller rushed for 242 yards and three touchdowns to lead Class 2A No. 4 Avonworth to a 34-20 victory over Class 2A No. 3 McGuffey (8-1) in a nonconference matchup Friday night. Miller has rushed for 1,199 yards this season for the Lopes (9-0). Tyler Smith and Nathan Yagle...
Leechburg ends three-season losing skid against Imani Christian
Prior to Friday night’s game at Veterans Memorial Stadium, there wasn’t a player on the Leechburg football team who had experienced a victory against Imani Christian. Now, every Blue Devil knows how it feels. Leechburg (3-6, 2-3) settled its 3-year-old score with the Saints (0-8, 0-6) after toppling its WPIAL...
Muddled Big East playoff picture has The Birdie’s feathers ruffled
Overall record: 54-21 (72%) Last week: 6-5 (55%) The WPIAL Class 3A Big East Conference playoff picture is getting confusing as several teams are vying for the fourth and final playoff spot. The craziness isn’t just affecting the teams either. It’s carrying over into the Valley News Dispatch office. When...
A-K Valley don’t-miss football matchups for Week 7
Class 5A Big East Plum (3-4, 1-4) at Latrobe (2-5, 1-4) 7 p.m. Friday at Latrobe Memorial Stadium On the air: TribHSSN.triblive.com; 97.3 FM, 1480 AM Last week: Plum 30, Weir, W.Va. 27; Penn-Trafford 39, Latrobe 7 Coaches: Matt Morgan, Plum; Jason Marucco, Latrobe Players to watch: Reed Martin, Plum...
WPIAL Class A roundup: Wilson helps Sto-Rox blank Rochester
Eric Wilson threw for 292 yards and ran for a touchdown as No. 3 Sto-Rox shut out winless Rochester, 21-0, in the Class A Big 7 Conference on Friday night. Wilson moved into 10th all-time in WPIAL career passing yards and also is second in school history behind Adam DiMichele....
Late gamble pays off as Riverview edges Imani Christian for 1st win
Riverview, on the doorstep of its first victory this season, crossed the threshold Saturday. After Zach Hanlon’s 9-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 5 seconds left brought the Raiders within one point, Riverview coach Todd Massack decided to go for the win against Imani Christian. The gamble paid off, as...
A-K Valley don’t-miss football games for Week 5
Class 5A Big East Plum (2-3, 1-3) at No. 1 Penn-Trafford (4-1, 3-0) 7:30 p.m. Friday at Warrior Stadium Last week: McKeesport 62, Plum 40; Massillon, Ohio 42, Penn-Trafford 21 Coaches: Matt Morgan, Plum; John Ruane, Penn-Trafford Players to watch: Jacob Miller, Plum (So., 6-0, 175, QB); Gabe Dunlap, Penn-Trafford...
Birdie fired up for Burrell-Deer Lakes air show
Overall Record: 40-14 Last week’s record: 9-3 Before heading into the office on Monday, the Birdie was playing catch with a stringer in the parking lot. After several drops, the stringer gave up on the big yellow bird. “As good as you are with picking games, you sure can’t catch...
WPIAL Class 2A roundup: Apollo-Ridge takes down East Allegheny
Behind 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns by Logan Harmon, Apollo-Ridge improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2014 with a 27-14 win at East Allegheny (2-2, 1-1) in a Class 2A Allegheny Conference football game Friday night. Harmon scored on a 1-yard runs in the first and second...
The Birdie goes online to help make A-K Valley football picks
A day doesn’t go by where the Birdie isn’t thinking about high school football. He walked into the office Monday with Saturday’s edition of the Valley News Dispatch in hand and was thumbing through it rapidly. When he finished, he looked distressed. He hadn’t found what he was looking for,...
Jeannette football remains undefeated; shooting mars night
Top-ranked Class A Jeannette stayed unbeaten Friday night, but the result paled when the game with Imani Christian Academy was halted in the fourth quarter after shots were fired outside McKee Stadium. “It happened outside the stadium,” Jeannette coach Roy Hall said, “but it’s still a black eye on Jeannette...
The Birdie sets sights on web stardom in Westmoreland County
Last week: 12-3 (80 percent) Season: 18-5 (78.3 percent) The Birdie is old school and set in many of his ways. He still uses a pencil and paper to keep game stats and likes to get ink on his fingers after reading the print edition of the newspaper. “People still...
Westmoreland County don’t-miss high school football matchups for Week 2
Class 6A Hempfield (1-1, 0-1) at Norwin (0-2, 0-1) 7 p.m. Friday at Norwin Knights Stadium, North Huntingdon On the air: TribHSSN.triblive.com, 107.1 FM Last week: Pine-Richland 42, Hempfield 14; North Allegheny 42, Norwin 0 Coaches: Rich Bowen, Hempfield; Dave Brozeski, Norwin Players to watch: Blake Remaley, Hempfield (Sr., 6-2,...
A-K Valley football notebook: Springdale beats Imani Christian for 1st time
As if their last-minute Week Zero win over Deer Lakes wasn’t enough, the Springdale Dynamos took it to another level Friday and took down Class 1A Eastern Conference opponent Imani Christian for the first time. “It was just like the Deer Lakes game,” Springdale coach Seth Napierkowski said after the...
WPIAL Class A roundup: Jackson scores 5 times in West Greene’s blowout win
Ben Jackson ran for 150 yards and scored five times as West Greene scored an 82-14 win over Bentworth (0-2, 0-1) in a Class A Tri-County South game Friday night. Jackson has 11 touchdowns this season through two games for the Pioneers (2-0, 1-0). Cornell 32, Union 6 — Zaire...
The Birdie puts his faith in A-K Valley teams
When the Birdie came into the office Monday he was as mad as a fantasy football team owner who had just drafted Andrew Luck with his first-round pick five minutes before he made his retirement announcement. He walked through the office, sat down at his desk and started typing furiously....
George Guido: Hard works comes to fruition for Knoch, new head coach
It was a successful head coaching debut for Knoch’s Brandon Mowry as the Knights blanked Hampton last Friday, 24-0. But even for someone who has been around football all his life, a head coaching debut can be daunting as we’ve found over the years. “In the lead up to the...
National Christian Academy rolls past Imani Christian
In just its sixth year of football, National Christian Academy has designs on becoming a national powerhouse. The Eagles could be well on their way to that status with a resounding, 70-6 victory Saturday in the Western PA vs. Everyone Showcase at Turtle Creek’s Wolvarena. After a fumble in its...
