High School category, Page 1085
Confidence running high for Quaker Valley girls after strong finish to last season
The maturation process sped up for Quaker Valley’s girls basketball team toward the end of last season. The young Quakers, who did not have a senior on their roster, used a strong surge to qualify for the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. They made it to the WPIAL quarterfinals and earned...
Quaker Valley’s Besterman returns to swim team
Thinking about her future, Quaker Valley senior Sophie Besterman returned to the girls swimming team after playing basketball last season. Besterman earned gold and silver medals on the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams at the 2017 WPIAL Class AA championship meet. Both qualified for the PIAA championship. The Quakers...
Penn-Trafford wrestlers hope to restore program’s prestige
A.J. Brentzel knows what the Penn-Trafford wrestling team can be. During his high school career, he was a standout wrestler with the Warriors. As a junior, he helped the team win the WPIAL Class AAA title. The team finished in second place the following year. Entering his first season as...
Deep roster should help keep Fox Chapel swimmers in contention
Last season, the Fox Chapel boys and girls swim teams each posted 9-2 overall and 5-1 Section 3-AAA records, finishing second to Franklin Regional. The girls finished sixth at WPIALs and 15th at PIAAs with the girls 200 medley team taking fourth at WPIALs and 10th at PIAAs. Leia Ross...
Plum swim teams adopt different approaches at start of season
The Plum swimming teams go into the season Dec. 9 at home against Penn-Trafford from opposite directions. The boys field one of their smallest squads, and the girls enjoyed a boost in numbers, Mustangs coach Shawn Haupt said. Among the losses on the boys side was Justin Decheck, who placed...
Norwin swim team welcomes back PIAA qualifier Ethan Tulenko
After sitting out last season to compete for his USA Swimming club, Norwin senior Ethan Tulenko has returned to the Knights. Tulenko, 17, placed sixth in the 50-yard freestyle (21.53 seconds) in the 2018 WPIAL Class AAA championship meet. He qualified for the PIAA meet. Norwin coach Doug Watson said...
Phipps, Norwin wrestling ready to take next step
Kurtis Phipps showed his toughness by battling through a foot injury in last year’s PIAA Class AAA championship match. He suffered the injury a day earlier in his semifinal win. Phipps lost a 9-5 decision to Nazareth’s Sean Pierson in the championship match, but he experienced the atmosphere of a...
Franklin Regional wrestlers look to add to program’s Hershey history
Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe had to stop for a moment and count back through the years to figure out how many seasons in a row the Panthers have had a representative in the PIAA wrestling finals. The number he landed on was 11, and the reminiscing allowed for a...
Franklin Regional swim teams eye section championships
The Franklin Regional boys and girls swimming teams expect to be in the hunt for Section 3-AAA titles. “I have high expectations for both teams,” Panthers coach Vic Santoro said. “The guys are returning many strong swimmers, and the girls have a lot of good young (ones).” The boys lost...
Fox Chapel’s Zoe Skirboll swims at U.S. national team camp
Fox Chapel sophomore Zoe Skirboll was one of 48 swimmers from across the country invited to participate in USA Swimming’s Girls National Select Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. During the four-day event, campers experienced the day-to-day routine of a national team athlete and swam in the U.S....
Fox Chapel wrestling team must overcome inexperience
The Fox Chapel wrestling team finished 8-9 overall and 2 -3 in Section 3B-AAA last season. Coach Ron Frank will have to replace graduated seniors Avery Bursick, Jordana Matamoros, James Patterson, Sean Mahon and Stephen Cano. Bursick was section runner-up last season and had 84 career wins, and Matamoros finished...
High school scores, schedules for Dec. 6, 2019
High schools Basketball Boys Friday’s results WPIAL Aquinas Academy tournament Aquinas Academy 79, First Baptist Christian 50 Neighborhood Academy 38, Cornerstone Prep 36 Baldwin/Peters Township tournament At Baldwin Thomas Jefferson 53, Baldwin 35 At Peters Township Central Catholic 58, Peters Township 38 Seton LaSalle 57, Plum 51 Brentwood tournament Brentwood...
High school roundup for Dec. 6, 2019: Butler opens with decisive win
Devin Carney scored 23 points and Mattix Clement added 20 as Butler scored 32 points in the first quarter and rolled to a 73-33 victory over Woodland Hills at the Butler tournament on the opening night of high school basketball Friday. Raeshon Robertson led Woodland Hills with 17. Albert Gallatin...
Leechburg rallies past Apollo-Ridge in season-opener
It was a successful return to the coaching ranks for Leechburg’s Damian Davies, helped by Blue Devils point guard Dylan Cook’s foul shooting. Cook hit 10 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter as Leechburg erased an eight-point deficit to defeat Apollo-Ridge, 47-42, in the Blue Devils tip-off tournament...
Going up? PIAA could force Southern Columbia, others into higher football classification
Southern Columbia has no equal in Class 2A football, a lesson Avonworth learned Friday. The small-school power celebrated its fourth PIAA title in five years at Hersheypark Stadium, but the record-setting state champion and a few other top football teams might be forced into a higher classification next season. Archbishop...
Nazareth Prep boys roll over Ligonier Valley with strong second half
This wasn’t how Ligonier Valley boys basketball coach John Berger envisioned the season-opener. The Rams opened Friday at Derry’s Chuck Smith Tip-Off Classic and got drilled by reigning WPIAL Class A champion Nazareth Prep, 89-52. Nazareth Prep, which got 35 points from senior Will Taylor, outscored Ligonier Valley, 57-23, in...
Whitlock’s big second half leads Belle Vernon boys over JeannetteVideo
With Thomas Hepple visible in the corner of his eye, Devin Whitlock caught ball on the break under the basket and saw the play of the game develop seconds before it happened. Whitlock, the sophomore guard from Belle Vernon, playing his first game since transferring from Monessen, nonchalantly underhanded an...
Deer Lakes takes down Summit Academy to open up 2019-2020 seasonVideo
It’s always nice to start the season off with a win and for the first time of Terence Parham’s tenure at Deer Lakes the Lancers gifted their coach with one in the first game of the season. Led by a 22-point performance from freshman guard Bryce Robson and a 11-point...
Latrobe’s Lane Ruffner signs with Wichita of North American Hockey League
Latrobe senior Lane Ruffner is ready to take the next step in his hockey career. Ruffner signed a contract with the Wichita Warriors of the North American Hockey League. The defenseman is in his second season with the U18 Esmark Stars AAA Hockey Club. “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity...
Southern Columbia routs Avonworth in record-setting PIAA championshipVideo
HERSHEY — Avonworth’s Park Penrod and Trevor Faulkner connected for an electric 43-yard touchdown pass on the opening possession Friday, and for more than 4 minutes, the Antelopes led the state championship. Maybe this wasn’t the mismatch many expected? That question didn’t linger long. District 4 champion Southern Columbia answered...
Shaler Area sports notebook: Swim team must overcome small roster
Keith Simmons knows winning dual meets will be a tough task for the Shaler Area swim program this season. The Titans don’t have a deep roster. “Success will have to come from a collective group because the size of our team has gone from 35 swimmers to 22,” Simmons said....
Shaler girls basketball will lean on trio of seniors
Shaler Area girls basketball coach Cornelious Nesbit doesn’t mince words with seniors Emily Cavacini, Meghan Lacey and Claire Grunden. If the Titans are going to navigate through Section 1-6A and return to the WPIAL playoffs, those three can’t have nights off. None of them will shy away from her responsibility....
North Hills girls ready to tackle difficult challenges
When Jim Dudas accepted the head coaching job for the North Hills girls basketball team, he knew it was going to be a challenge. He didn’t know the challenge to implement his system and culture would be impacted by the injury bug. Dudas, who was named the Indians head coach...
North Allegheny girls finding their way with revamped roster
Every year is a new situation and new challenge for North Allegheny girls basketball coach Spencer Stefko. For the Tigers to adjust this year, they’ll need to bring along many new faces. North Allegheny lost seven seniors from a team that reached the WPIAL finals and PIAA quarterfinals before finishing...
Hampton’s Gillian Mulcahy finds perfect fit with Wanyesburg volleyball
Sometimes everything comes together perfectly. That’s what happened when Hampton senior libero Gillian Mulcahy, who intends to pursue a career in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, wanted a volleyball program headed in the right direction. That led her to Waynesburg. Although the Yellow Jackets endured a tough season under first-year...
