Chris Harlan stories, Page 56

The WPIAL is guaranteed to have at least two teams in the state baseball finals and could have as many as five. The PIAA Class 4A and 2A brackets each will have an all-WPIAL semifinal matchup Monday at Neshannock. New Castle and Montour will play at 4 p.m. in the...

The PIAA softball semifinals will feature a pair of WPIAL championship rematches Monday at Mars. In Class 4A, Beaver plays Highlands at 2 p.m., and the 5A semifinal between Armstrong and North Hills follows at 4 p.m. The all-WPIAL matchups guarantee that at least two WPIAL teams will reach the...

Will Pennsylvania high school basketball have a shot clock in 2022? The PIAA will address that question in the coming months, executive director Bob Lombardi said Wednesday, but it hasn’t begun to explore the issue in depth since the National Federation of State High School Associations made that an option...

Penn State will allow full capacity at its baseball and softball stadiums for the upcoming PIAA championships, alleviating worries the softball finals might need to be moved. The games are June 17-18. “We’re very pleased with the dialog that we’ve had with them and the assistance that they’ve given us,”...

Mauro Monz’s status as Seton LaSalle coach remains in doubt, but the WPIAL ruled his son eligible to play football for the Rebels this fall. The WPIAL held hearings Monday for three transfers from South Fayette to Seton LaSalle — Dominic Monz, Alex Boyce and Matt Boyce — and ruled...

Norwin will host an all-WPIAL doubleheader Thursday in the state softball quarterfinals. The PIAA revealed sits and times for its quarterfinal games. Among them, Class 4A teams Beaver and Elizabeth Forward will play at noon at Norwin, followed by Mt. Pleasant and Avonworth at 2 p.m. All games are Thursday....

PIAA baseball quarterfinalists learned Tuesday where they’re playing next. The North Allegheny and Hempfield baseball teams are both traveling east to the same place for a PIAA quarterfinal doubleheader Thursday in Wingate. All quarterfinals are Thursday. The PIAA also scheduled doubleheaders involving WPIAL teams at Latrobe and Slippery Rock. WPIAL...

Serra Catholic is naming its basketball court after longtime girls coach Bill Cleary, the school announced Friday. “William J. Cleary Court” will be dedicated officially in December, said an announcement from associate principal Robert Childs. Cleary is retiring this summer after more than four decades working at the school as...

Notre Dame bought billboard space around Pittsburgh this spring, touting the many Western Pennsylvania football players who’ve joined the Fighting Irish in recent years. Make room for one more. Central Catholic’s Donovan Hinish announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Friday, choosing the same school that recruited his brother, Kurt,...

The six WPIAL softball champions will start their state tournament runs at Norwin, Peterswood Park or North Allegheny next week. The PIAA scheduled doubleheaders at all three venues. All first-round games are Monday. PIAA softball playoffs Class 6A 1-1 Spring-Ford vs. 11-2 Whitehall at Boyertown, 11 a.m. 2-1 Hazleton vs....

The PIAA on Friday released sites and times for next week’s first-round games in the state baseball playoffs. All games are Monday. Among the opening round games is an all-WPIAL matchup in Class 5A that pairs champion Franklin Regional against fourth-place finisher West Allegheny. They’ll meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday...

There were some sleepless nights this week for Steve Campos as Pine-Richland was about to make him the school’s new football coach. But after meeting with the players for the first time Thursday afternoon, Campos predicted he’d sleep soundly later that night. “I told my wife when I came home,...

Woodland Hills athletic director Ron Coursey has always wanted to chat with the PIAA leadership about its transfer rule. He’ll soon be working almost in their backyard, once he becomes athletic director at Chambersburg, so maybe he’ll knock on their door. “I would love to have that conversation, if they’ll...

The PIAA overturned one WPIAL decision and told the WPIAL board to reconsider another. Gateway freshman Brad Birch, a football standout who transferred from Jeannette, was ruled eligible Wednesday following an appeal hearing with the PIAA, reversing a WPIAL decision that would’ve made Birch ineligible for one year. Separately, the...

Hempfield got an early look at right-hander Kyle Demi a few weekends ago, but that sneak peek at the North Allegheny ace didn’t help much Tuesday night. Once again, Demi was dominant. The hard-throwing senior struck out 11 in six shutout innings as top-seeded North Allegheny defeated No. 3 Hempfield,...

Steve Campos, an assistant football coach at Seneca Valley, is expected to be the recommended candidate to fill the vacant head coach job at Pine-Richland, according to a source. The school board has called a special meeting for Wednesday to replace ousted coach Eric Kasperowicz. According to the source, when...

SHIPPENSBURG — When Amy Allen qualified for states as a sophomore, she ran one event and went home. “I didn’t even medal,” said the South Fayette senior, thinking back to 2019. “I was ninth and I was like, ‘So close.’ I just put in the work my junior year since...

SHIPPENSBURG — Plum thrower Logan Parker returned Saturday to Seth Grove Stadium and felt right at home. Soon, it will be his home. A Shippensburg recruit, Parker placed fifth in the boys shot put at the PIAA Class AAA track and field championships. “I got there, and I was walking...

SHIPPENSBURG — While his competitors endured the cold rain and wind inside Seth Grove Stadium, West Mifflin hurdler Dontae Lewis found a way to escape. “I kind of sat in my coach’s car all day with the heat all the way up,” Lewis said with a laugh, “and wasted a...

SHIPPENSBURG — Nora Johns ran the 300 hurdles for the first time this spring, and the Quaker Valley sophomore can remember the thoughts running through her head at the time. “I was like, I just hope to make it to the finish line,” Johns said with a laugh. Two months...

Batting cleanup comes with added responsibility in any baseball lineup, but there’s a little extra burden for North Allegheny’s No. 4 hitter. He’s got to make teams pay a price for avoiding No. 3 batter Cole Young, a Duke recruit and one of the WPIAL’s top juniors. Tigers senior Danny...

SHIPPENSBURG — Trevor Paschall’s state championship meet wasn’t going quite how he’d imagined. The North Catholic sprinter saw his relay team disqualified for a missed handoff, and then he was edged at the line in the 400 meters, finishing second by six-hundredths of a second. But along came the 200,...