Paul Schofield stories, Page 17

Belle Vernon football coach Matt Humbert said he preached to his players not to look ahead. That will change this week. That’s because the Leopards have reached the final game of the season for the second consecutive year by running over Hickory, 42-16, on Friday at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium....

PIAA Class 3A WEST REGIONAL (10-1) HICKORY Hornets (11-2) v. (7-1) BELLE VERNON AREA Leopards (10-1) 7 P.M. FRIDAY North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium, Wexford The Boy Scouts of America’s motto is “Be prepared.” That’s the concept Belle Vernon football coach Matt Humbert is following in advance of the PIAA Western...

Mt. Pleasant senior Jamison Poklembo has succeeded at almost every level of wrestling. He was a WPIAL champion at 132 pounds as a freshman, finished second at 133 as a junior and third at 138 as a sophomore. He’s qualified for the PIAA individual championships three consecutive years, but he’s...

Section 1 Reigning WPIAL champion Burgettstown (17-2) looks for back-to-back titles by returning nine starters. Heading the list of returnees are three PIAA qualifiers: senior Parker Sentipal (47-7), senior Gaven Suica (43-13) and senior heavyweight Joe Baronick (41-15). … McGuffey (11-3) looks to challenge for the section title. The Highlanders...

Class 2A Wrestlers to Watch Rune Lawrence Frazier, Sr., (112-7 career, 45-3 2022-23) • 2023 WPIAL 189 champion, 2022 WPIAL 172 champion, 2021 WPIAL 172 champion; 2023 PIAA 189 champion, 2022 PIAA 172 champion, PIAA 2021 172 champion. Committed to West Virginia. Cooper Hornack Burrell, Sr., (116-19 career, 43-6 2022-23)...

Preseason Top 10 Class 2A Team (Last year’s record), Last year’s ranking 1. Burgettstown (17-2), 1 2. Burrell (12-6), 2 3. Quaker Valley (15-6), 3 4. Frazier (12-9), 4 5. McGuffey (11-3), 8 6. Highlands (9-2), 6 7. Mt. Pleasant (11-6), 5 8. Freedom (10-11), NR 9. Jefferson-Morgan (8-3), NR...

Hempfield wrestler Eli Carr had quite a junior season. He wouldn’t mind a repeat and an even better performance as a senior. Not only did Carr play a key role in helping the Spartans finish third in the WPIAL team tournament and qualify for the PIAA tournament with stunning wins...

Section 1 Last year’s section champion, Plum (15-3), returns 10 starters who won 21 or more matches during the season. Heading the list was the 172-pound section champion senior Antonio Walker (22-3). … It was a rare season that Kiski Area (8-9) didn’t win the section crown. The Cavaliers will...

Preseason Top 10 Class 3A Team (Last year’s record), Last year’s rankings 1. Canon-McMillan (17-4), 1 2. Trinity (11-3), 10 3. Connellsville (15-6), 4 4. Waynesburg (16-5), 1 5. Franklin Regional (7-2), NR 6. Plum (15-3), 9 7. North Allegheny (10-5), NR 8. Norwin (15-4), 5 9. Latrobe (11-3), 8...

Class 3A Wrestlers to Watch Shawn Taylor West Allegheny, Sr. (95-16 career, 40-3 2022-23) • 2023 WPIAL 160-pound champion; 2023 PIAA 160 second, 2022 PIAA 160 fourth. Committed to West Virginia. Vaughn Spencer Pine-Richland, Jr., (28-2 career, 28-2 2022-23) • 2023 WPIAL 189 champion; PIAA qualifier who went 1-2. Luke...

The Penn-Trafford girls basketball team made a run in the 2023 WPIAL and PIAA postseason. That run has veteran coach John Giannikas looking forward to the season. The Warriors placed seventh in the WPIAL and advanced to the PIAA quarterfinals following an exciting first-round win at PIAA District 3 champion...

A late-season surge, which included close wins against McKeesport and Latrobe, has Penn-Trafford boys basketball coach Doug Kelly excited about the upcoming season. The Warriors won four of their five Section 3-5A games to end last season and were able to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs. Penn-Trafford played well in...

Belle Vernon got tired of all the negative talk this season, especially from Avonworth. The No. 1-ranked Leopards wanted a shutout more than anything Friday in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game at Acrisure Stadium. The defense posted its third shutout of the season, blanking Avonworth, 26-0, for Belle Vernon’s...

The magic playoff run continued for Beaver Falls. The 10th-seeded Tigers upset No. 1 Steel Valley, 14-12, in the WPIAL Class 2A championship game Friday at Acrisure Stadium. Senior running back Da’talian Beauford atoned for a costly fumble early in the fourth quarter by scoring on a 4-yard run with...

Latrobe didn’t make the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs for the second consecutive season in 2022-23. That’s unusual for a program that has been a consistent postseason participant. The Wildcats’ goal is to right the ship and get back into the playoffs. “It’s difficult to swallow,” Latrobe boys coach Brad Wetzel...

When Mackenzie Livingston was hired as a physical education teacher at Latrobe, she was excited to learn the district was looking for a new girls basketball coach. It will be the 2013 Blairsville graduate’s first head coaching job. She played college basketball at IUP and Lock Haven. She spent the...

There is a change at the top of the Penn-Trafford wrestling program, but it’s only temporary. Larry Hohman has taken over as head coach for the upcoming season while Travis McKillop adjusts to his new job. McKillop is expected to return to the head coaching position for the 2024-25 season....

The Penn-Trafford football team didn’t win the Big East Conference, but the Warriors did dominate the first team all-conference team with eight players selected by conference coaches. Selected to the first-team offense were junior center Ethan Septak, senior guard Riley McCaw, senior tight end Mark Jollie, junior running back Tasso...

Peters Township would not be denied this time. After falling in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game to Gateway in 2019 and Pine-Richland in 2020, the top-seeded Indians put together a dominating performance Saturday and rolled over Pine-Richland, 43-17, at Norwin Knights Stadium. It was the program’s first WPIAL football...

CLARION – Westinghouse continued its march in the PIAA Class 2A playoffs by outscoring high-scoring Central Clarion, 46-30, Friday at PennWest-Clarion. The Bulldogs (11-0) overcame a sluggish first half and numerous penalties to reach the next round against the winner of Saturday’s District 10 championship game between Farrell and Mercyhurst...

When the Greensburg Salem girls basketball team takes the floor this season, it will present veteran coach Rick Klimchock some options. Will he send out a big lineup and try to outmuscle teams, or will he go with a smaller, quicker lineup? Whatever he selects, opponents will be spending extra...

It’s been a while since the Greensburg Salem boys basketball team has had a winning season. But second-year coach Cam Auld sees a change on the horizon — a brighter future for a program that has floundered since the 2011-12 season. The Golden Lions finished 5-17 overall and 1-9 in...

The last time East Allegheny reached the WPIAL semifinals was in 1992, when the Wildcats were Class 2A champions. Coincidentally, the quarterback of that team was Dave Loya, who is now East Allegheny’s athletic director. Loya and some of his teammates attended last week’s 28-21 victory over South Park in...

Gene Brisbane has been on the bench for 49 seasons, and his passion for coaching high school girls and boys never has wavered. As he begins his fifth season as Derry girls basketball coach, he hopes the program has turned a corner. During his first season in 2019-20, he helped...

Derry boys basketball coach Tom Esposito isn’t making any brash predictions about the upcoming season, but after watching section opponent Deer Lakes make a stellar run last year, he often thinks, “Why not us?” Deer Lakes finished as co-champion with Shady Side Academy in Section 3-3A during the 2022-23 season...