Chris Harlan stories, Page 82

The UPMC Events Center at Robert Morris will host a WPIAL basketball playoff doubleheader Wednesday. The WPIAL will take both Class 6A boys semifinals to RMU’s new arena. Central Catholic plays Mt. Lebanon at 6:30 p.m., and Butler faces Upper St. Clair at 8 p.m. Semifinal sites and times were...

Mt. Lebanon senior Patrick Anderson ran one of the fastest 3,000-meter times in the nation this season at the TSTCA Indoor Championship Saturday at Edinboro. The North Carolina recruit finished in 8 minutes, 39.15 seconds, which ranked him ninth-best nationally this winter and first in Pennsylvania, according to Milesplit.com statistics....

Maybe it is the team’s gritty style. Maybe it is coaching adjustments, or maybe it is just the names on the roster. Whatever the reason, Upper St. Clair often is better after halftime than before, a trait that let the fourth-seeded Panthers regroup and defeat No. 5 Pine-Richland, 62-59, on...

West Allegheny looked to its past to find its future head football coach. The school board Wednesday hired Dave Schoppe, a 1988 West Allegheny graduate who’s coached 27 years as an assistant as various schools, said athletic director Dave McBain. Schoppe, 49, was a volunteer assistant at West A last...

Two WPIAL quarterbacks, Seneca Valley’s Gabe Lawson and Baldwin’s Mason Stahl, were chosen to lead the West all-stars in the PSFCA East-West Game on Memorial Day weekend. They were among 22 WPIAL players selected for the annual all-star event run by the state coaches association. Rosters were announced Wednesday. The...

The WPIAL released updated sections for some winter sports, but basketball won’t be ready for awhile. The WPIAL board approved alignments for gymnastics, rifle and wrestling at Monday’s meeting. However, the WPIAL can’t finalize new basketball sections until after the PIAA decides which teams must move up under its competitive-balance...

The WPIAL cross country championships will return to Cal (Pa.) next fall with an overhaul to the race schedule. The WPIAL board approved using the university site Monday with the caveat that the event will alternate girls and boys races with medals awarded after each classification, said WPIAL associate executive...

The WPIAL board approved new wrestling sections Monday based more on geography and less on competitive balance. As a result, Class AAA will have a much different alignment next season, said Canon-McMillan athletic director Frank Vulcano, chairman of the wrestling committee. Nineteen of the 45 teams are moving to a...

North Allegheny’s Casey Burton ranks first in the state in girls long jump after winning the TSTCA indoor meet Saturday in Edinboro. Her jump of 19 feet, 4½ inches was the best in Pennsylvania this winter, according to Milesplit.com statistics, and ranks ninth-best nationally. Central Dauphin’s Gabriella Recce ranks second...

Chartiers Valley sophomore Aislin Malcolm, who hasn’t lost a game in two seasons, announced a college basketball offer Sunday from Princeton. The Tigers join Pitt, Duquesne, West Virginia, Western Michigan and Kent State as Division I programs recruiting the 5-foot-10 shooting guard. Malcolm is an 18-point scorer for a Chartiers...

As a high school basketball official in his early 20s, Joe Strednak wasn’t much older than the athletes on the court. Occasionally, someone would test his poise as the youngest ref on his crew. To him, that came with the job. The 25-year-old from North Braddock is now finishing his...

Aliquippa had a strategy for facing the WPIAL’s second-leading scorer: Trap Steel Valley’s Camden Polak whenever he touched the ball, keep it out of his hands if possible and make him work for every shot. There was one final mission. “Take a lot of charges,” Quips coach Dwight Hines said....

Thomas Jefferson teammates Logan Danielson and Mac Duda were among 10 WPIAL players selected Wednesday for the Big 33 Football Classic. Also chosen for the all-star event were Peters Township’s Josh Casilli, Penn Hills’ Aakeem Snell, Hempfield’s Cole Graham, Blackhawk’s Marques Watson-Trent, Gateway’s Tui Brown, Central Catholic’s Gus Sunseri, Baldwin’s...

Here is a breakdown of the 2020 WPIAL boys basketball playoffs: Class 6A Favorite: Butler hasn’t won a WPIAL title since 1991, but Purdue recruit Ethan Morton might have the Golden Tornado in position to finally win one. Morton has come close twice, losing in the WPIAL finals in both...

Loran Cooley wants to become a full-time football coach once he retires as a Pennsylvania state trooper, a transition that’s not too far in the future. So, when a college coach offered him a job, he couldn’t say no. Cooley, 41, resigned as Baldwin’s football coach after three seasons to...

It’s that time of year, WPIAL bracketology 2020. As a public service, Don Rebel and Chris Harlan share their thoughts on what the basketball steering committee should do when putting this year’s postseason tournaments together. Sometimes it’s a struggle to choose between what the committee should do and what it...

Twice, Pine-Richland’s football team used Week Zero to play out-of-state opponents from Ohio, and once the team faced a school from Florida. This year, the Rams are headed east. Pine-Richland will open its 2020 football season in New Jersey, the team announced Saturday on Twitter. The Rams will play at...