What to watch for in high school sports for March 14, 2022: PIHL semifinals begin
A busy week of high school hockey semifinals action begins Monday. The PIHL Penguins Cup playoffs have reached the Final Four. The Class 3A semifinals are scheduled for Monday, 2A will be Tuesday, Class A on Wednesday and the Division II semis will be played Thursday. All eight final four...
What to watch for in H.S. sports for March 7, 2022: PIHL Penguins Cup playoffs commence
The puck drops on the 2022 PIHL postseason this week with six quarterfinals games Monday, seven more Tuesday and the final three Thursday. The PIHL Penguins Cup playoffs are made up of eight teams in Class 3A, 2A and A. The winners this week advance to the semifinals set for...
North Allegheny girls win record 14th straight WPIAL swimming championship
The North Allegheny girls made history Friday, winning their 14th straight team title at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships. The Tigers totaled 344 points to pass the Norwin girls volleyball team, which won 13 straight titles from 1973-1985, and claim sole possession of the record for most consecutive championships...
2022 Big School East-West roster includes nearly 2 dozen WPIAL, City League players
State champions from Aliquippa, Mt. Lebanon and Penn-Trafford were among nearly two dozen WPIAL and City League players announced Thursday as all-stars for the Big School East-West Game this spring. Aliquippa teammates Cyair Clark (WR) and Tyrese Jones (OL), Mt. Lebanon’s Joey Peters (OL) and Owen Halter (DE) and Penn-Trafford’s...
PIHL playoffs set to begin Monday
North Allegheny (Class 3A), Thomas Jefferson (2A), Fox Chapel (A) and Bishop Canevin (Division 2) are the top seeds for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Penguin Cup playoffs, set to begin Monday at various league-used rinks. The semifinals will be March 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the finals March...
North Allegheny relies on balance in quest for 3rd straight Penguins Cup championship
As the hockey schedule reached late February, North Allegheny’s Connor Chi pushed his season-long scoring streak to 19 games. The senior recorded at least one goal or assist in every contest, cementing his spot as an elite scorer. But this winter, he’s had help. North Allegheny clinched the top spot...
North Allegheny’s Shi, Schenk sweep WPIAL Class 3A diving titles
Diving in her home pool and winning gold medals has become quite the habit for North Allegheny junior Christina Shi, as she captured her third straight gold medal with a score of 481.45 in the WPIAL Class 3A girls championship Saturday. Unlike the previous two championship meets in which Shi...
Freshman Rylee Kalocay’s late-game heroics take Upper St. Clair back to WPIAL finals
Upper St. Clair freshman Rylee Kalocay didn’t start Saturday’s semifinal, but she certainly finished it. Kalocay scored her team’s final nine points including a tying 3-pointer, a go-ahead runner with 3.2 seconds left and two free throws with seven-tenths on the clock. Combined, that let No. 3 seed Upper St....
No. 1 North Hills celebrates 4th win over rival North Allegheny in WPIAL quarterfinals
As the saying goes, it’s tough to beat a basketball team three times in one season, but what about four? The sold-out crowd that packed into North Hills’ gym was there to find out. Indians sophomore Royce Parham scored 24 points, senior Alex Smith had 21, and No. 1 seed...
Plum’s Daniels wins WPIBL boys singles title; North Allegheny’s Jorden bowls 300 game
North Allegheny’s Jeb Jorden got off to a perfect start at the WPIBL boys singles championships Wednesday at North Versailles Bowling Center. Plum’s Nicholas Daniels won the championship with a near-perfect finish. Jorden rolled a perfect 300 game in the first game of qualifying, but Daniels had six consecutive strikes...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports for Feb. 23, 2022: Basketball quarterfinals begin
One round is in the books, now it’s time to move on to Round 2 on the Path to the Pete. The first of three straight basketball quarterfinals nights shines a spotlight on boys 4A, boys A, girls 6A and girls 3A. In boys 4A, they have met several times,...
Strong 1st quarter leads No. 8 North Allegheny past No. 9 Baldwin in WPIAL playoff opener
Tuesday marked the playoff opener for the North Allegheny boys, but the Tigers felt they’d already had a postseason mindset for a while now. For that, they credit life in Section 1. So, when the postseason officially arrived, senior Matt McDonough made four 3-pointers in the first quarter, the team’s...
North Allegheny notebook: Wrestling caps team season with split
North Allegheny’s boys wrestling team split its final dual meet matches of the season Feb. 15. The Tigers defeated Penn-Trafford, 40-28, and lost to Connellsville, 54-9. Against the Falcons, Dylan Coy picked up a decision at 126 pounds, and Casey Walker won by forfeit at 106. In the win over...
North Allegheny grad Ayden Owens lands at Arkansas with record-setting splash
Ayden Owens felt the sunshine of Southern California and the cold of Ann Arbor, Mich., in his first three years of college. Nowadays, you’ll find the former North Allegheny star breaking track and field records down south in Fayetteville, Ark. He knows that may surprise some. “I’ve taken a crazy...
North Allegheny’s Cole Young projected as 1st-round pick in MLB Draft
Cole Young has a Twitter account, so the North Allegheny senior usually notices whenever someone publishes a new MLB mock draft or an updated list of high school baseball prospects. His name gets mentioned often nowadays. “It’s always fun reading it to see what some people say,” said Young, a...
WPIAL asks Greensburg Central Catholic to explain possible recruiting violations
The WPIAL is looking into possible recruiting violations by Greensburg Central Catholic. The WPIAL board on Wednesday ruled three transfers eligible after hearings, including eighth-grader Samir Crosby, who switched schools from Jeannette to Greensburg Central Catholic. However, the WPIAL has asked GCC administrators to respond in writing to “potential recruiting...
North Allegheny wrestling coach Sunny Abe resigns prior to postseason tournaments
North Allegheny wrestling coach Sanshiro “Sunny” Abe, a former NCAA champion and Olympic wrestler, resigned with one meet left in the regular season and the individual tournaments still ahead. Athletic director Bob Bozzuto said Abe resigned Wednesday for “personal reasons,” but Bozzuto didn’t elaborate. Abe was in his seventh season...
With longtime coach out of retirement, North Allegheny swim teams out to achieve more excellence
Longtime North Allegheny swimming coach Corky Semler didn’t hesitate when athletic director Bob Bozzuto asked if he was interested in coming out of retirement this winter. “I told him absolutely not,” said Semler, with a laugh. “I’m retired.” But the swim program Semler helped build into a WPIAL powerhouse needed...
North Allegheny notebook: Tigers wrestlers fall in WPIAL quarterfinals
The North Allegheny wrestling team suffered its first loss last week. Dylan Coy (126), Nathan Monteparte (132) and Jayson Flener (138) won bouts for North Allegheny (7-1) in a 43-24 loss to Canon-McMillan in the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals Feb. 2. Canon-McMillan’s Tyler Soule (145) and Ashten Slavick (152) had...
North Allegheny notebook: Jacob Porter commits to Yale
North Allegheny senior defensive end Jacob Porter made a verbal commitment to Yale last week. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound standout is a two-time all-conference selection. He chose Yale over other offers from Temple, Bucknell, Akron, Colorado State and Old Dominion. This season, Porter made 37 tackles, including 21 solo, in seven...
Norwin girls easily drop No. 1 North Allegheny
Norwin had a “purple out” Thursday night as part of a fundraiser. The girls basketball team was seeing red from the opening tip. Fourth-ranked Norwin started fast and never loosened its grip, leaving a trail of nine 3-pointers in its wake on the way to beating the No. 1 out...
North Allegheny AD Bozzuto sees future Class 6A football alignment with larger field
North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto has a forward-thinking mindset when it comes to football conference realignment. The ink barely has dried on WPIAL plans for the next two seasons, but he’s ready to start thinking about 2024 and ’25. “We need to think outside of the box,” Bozzuto said....
WPIAL announces section wrestling tournament pairings
The WPIAL announced pairings Thursday for wrestling section tournaments as part of the team championship. The section tournaments will be held Wednesday at the sites of the first-place team in the B subsections. There was a three-way tie for second place in Section 1-A. Fort Cherry was awarded the spot...
3 options WPIAL could take with Class 6A football realignment
Tuesday should be a big day for WPIAL football players, coaches and fans. The WPIAL board is expected to approve realigned conferences for the 2022 and ’23 seasons, giving everyone a first look at the football landscape for the next two years. Arguably, the biggest question involves the WPIAL’s five...
North Allegheny’s Mia Tuman named Pa. Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year
Whenever the North Allegheny girls volleyball team wins a title, the Tigers have a knack for winning it again and again. That includes individual awards. NA junior Mia Tuman became the fourth Tigers volleyball player in eight seasons to earn the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year honor and the...