High School category, Page 1088
Valley girls expect to build foundation for return to winning ways
It’s been a long, dark period for Valley girls basketball, but coach Ernie Sipolino believes there might be light at the end of the tunnel. The Vikings, a program 16 years removed from its last winning season, will face an uphill task ending that run this year, but there’s a...
PIHL high school hockey standings through Dec. 1, 2019
Here are the latest PIHL high school hockey standings through Dec. 1. Exclusive coverage of the 2020 PIHL Penguins Cup hockey playoffs can be heard and viewed only on the TribLive High School Sports Network. In Class AAA, the top 8 teams qualify for the playoffs. In Class AA, the...
PIHL Player of the Week for week ending Dec. 1, 2019
North Catholic is playing varsity hockey for the first time in nearly two decades. The program, because of enrollment at the school and other obstacles, folded in the early 2000’s before returning in 2016 as a JV developmental program, where they played the last three seasons. Entering this season, not...
PIHL Team of the Week: Dec. 1, 2019
Mt. Lebanon played four games in two weeks to start the season, and six in October, which is more than most Class AAA teams. Quite the adversity to start the year, though the schedule has relaxed, especially for a team that is almost completely new after a semifinal appearance last...
WPIAL football player of the week — Week 14
Since expansion to six classes in 2016, WPIAL 3A champs, which all came from the Tri-County West Conference, are 4-0 in the PIAA semifinals. Beaver Falls in 2016. Quaker Valley in ‘17. Aliquippa last season and Central Valley this year picked up state semifinal wins and advanced to Hershey. Central...
Yough boys basketball ready for heavy lifting
Inside a weight room at Yough, music blares while players lift and exercise, some methodically traversing from station to station. Jim Nesser, the gravelly voiced boys basketball coach and a familiar face at Yough as a longtime faculty staff member with a PIAA championship at Jeannette to his credit, stands...
PIAA football championships and the start of winter sports this week on HSSN
The high school football season comes to an end with the state championship games, and there is the start of the winter high school sports season this week on the TribLive High School Sports Network. We conclude our coverage of another high school football season from Hershey with action from...
WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball preseason breakdown
WPIAL girls basketball season will tip off next weekend. Preparing to defend their district championship from a year ago are Peters Township (6A), Chartiers Valley (5A), North Catholic (4A), Neshannock (3A), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (2A) and Rochester (A). North Catholic is looking for a fourth straight district...
WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball preseason breakdown
A new decade of WPIAL boys basketball tips off next weekend. Preparing to defend their district championships from a year ago are Mt. Lebanon (6A), Mars (5A), New Castle (4A), Lincoln Park (3A), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (2A) and Nazareth Prep (A). New Castle is looking for a...
Nowhere to go but up for St. Joseph girls after 1-21 season
Last season was one to forget for the St. Joseph girls’ basketball team. The Spartans won just once in 22 games, for several reasons. For starters, the team was a year removed from losing one of the best senior classes in school history, a class filled with three-sport stars, as...
Yough girls ‘pointing in the right direction’
It might not seem like much, but three victories last season was a big deal for the Yough girls basketball team. The number represented three more successful outings than a winless team in the previous year. The idea now for the Cougars is to take another step forward. “I feel...
Stalwart Sullivan leads new-look St. Joseph boys basketball
Last season was a good time to be part of the St. Joseph boys basketball team. The Spartans won 18 games, including a 78-45 victory over West Greene in the WPIAL Class A playoffs. It was St. Joseph’s first postseason win since 2011. It will be difficult to replicate that...
Loaded Gateway girls roster out to right last season’s wrongs
The Gateway girls basketball team’s 2018-19 season was over in a flash. The Gators, who totaled 19 wins and won their first section title in coach Curtis Williams’ tenure, earning them a first-round bye, had their WPIAL championship-defending journey halted after one playoff game. After they made some early mistakes...
Springdale boys must replace Zolnierczyk’s production, leadership
Replacing a stellar, multi-sport athlete is tough for any school, let alone a small one. But with the graduation of Valley News Dispatch 2018-19 Athlete of the Year Michael Zolnierczyk, Springdale soccer found a capable replacement in goalkeeper Andrew Haus. Now, the basketball team hopes to have its man to...
Numbers, optimism up for Springdale girls basketball
There is a welcome sight at Springdale girls basketball preseason practices. Players. A bunch of them. After going through an interminably-difficult 2018-19 season with six players, the Dynamos have more than doubled their turnout for this season. There are 14 players for now — 15 when an injured player returns...
WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball preseason breakdown
A new decade of WPIAL boys basketball tips off next weekend. Preparing to defend their district championships from a year ago are Mt. Lebanon (6A), Mars (5A), New Castle (4A), Lincoln Park (3A), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (2A) and Nazareth Prep (A). New Castle is looking for a...
WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball preseason breakdown
WPIAL girls basketball season will tip off next weekend. Preparing to defend their district championship from a year ago are Peters Township (6A), Chartiers Valley (5A), North Catholic (4A), Neshannock (3A), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (2A) and Rochester (A). North Catholic is looking for a fourth straight district...
Experienced Southmoreland girls basketball team turns to defense
It’s not that Brian Pritts undervalues offense. The girls basketball coach at Southmoreland appreciates high-percentage shots and sound ball movement. He wants his players to look to score. But Pritts’ clear focus heading into a new season is defense. He gets a gleam in his eye when he mentions that...
PIAA football championships set as the Road to Hershey concludes
This is the fourth year the PIAA has held six football championships, and the WPIAL will be represented by three of its champions in Hershey. Thomas Jefferson will play in the PIAA Class 4A final Thursday evening, Avonworth plays for state gold Friday afternoon and Central Valley will battle in...
Yough’s Justine Appolonia chosen Tribune-Review Westmoreland Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Player of the Year Justine Appolonia Sr., MF, Yough When Yough needed a goal, it knew where the ball should go. Of course, opponents knew who was getting the ball, too. But stopping Justine Appolonia was the challenge, and very few teams managed to even contain the Cougars’ all-time leading...
GCC’s Nate Ward named Tribune-Review Westmoreland Boys Soccer Player of the Year
Player of the Year Nate Ward Sr., MF, Greensburg Central Catholic Nate Ward will, in all likelihood, be remembered as a star soccer player at Greensburg Central Catholic. Rightly so. He’s an all-timer to wear maroon and black. But think about all of the things he did over the course...
Burrell’s Allie Vescio named Valley News Dispatch Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Valley News Dispatch Girls Soccer Player of the Year Allie Vescio Burrell, senior, forward Versatility is a calling card for Allie Vescio. The Burrell senior entered 2019 preseason practices as a defender with a mind for creating offensive opportunities. A change in the team’s on-field structure during the preseason moved...
Central Catholic loses in overtime to nationally ranked St. Joseph’s PrepVideo
ALTOONA — Nationally ranked St. Joseph’s Prep needed overtime Saturday to defeat Central Catholic, 31-24, but the WPIAL champion didn’t leave Mansion Park Stadium satisfied with just coming close. The Vikings knew they could have won — maybe even should have won — and they couldn’t hide their hurt. “We...
Southmoreland boys basketball hopes depth translates to wins
Depth on paper and depth on the court are different things. Southmoreland has the roster makeup of a team that will keep the substitutes moving in and out of games with rapidity. Expect to hear the buzzer a lot when the Scotties play if the depth comes to pass. Several...
Westmoreland notebook: Pitt softball feels ‘like home’ for Mt. Pleasant’s Brunson
Mt. Pleasant junior softball player Haylie Brunson announced last week she made a verbal commitment to play at Pitt. Brunson opened her recruitment during the spring after she initially committed to Louisiana-Lafayette as a freshman. Pitt offered a week ago. “I absolutely love the coaches,” Brunson said. “They really made...
