High School category, Page 354
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Dec. 9, 2023
High schools Basketball Boys Saturday’s results Jack Twyman Tournament At Central Catholic Penn Hills 54, Moon 53 Gateway 49, Central Catholic 44 The Clash at New Castle Central Valley 53, Union 51 Knoch 62, Grove City 49 Beaver Falls at New Castle, (n) Mike Rettger Memorial Tournament Consolation West Mifflin...
High school roundup for Dec. 9, 2023: Penn Hills, Gateway win at Central Catholic tournament
Khalil Wall scored 16 points to lead Penn Hills to a 55-53 boys basketball win over Moon at the Jack Twyman Tournament at Central Catholic on Saturday. Robert Thomas added 14 points and Lamire Redman had 10 for Penn Hills (1-1). Elijah Guillory had a game-high 23 for Moon (1-2)...
North Allegheny loses to defending champ St. Joseph’s Prep in mercy rule state final
MECHANICSBURG — In the 11 years since North Allegheny last reached the PIAA finals, the landscape in the state’s largest classification has shifted to the east. More often than not, the state title has belonged to Philadelphia Catholic League power St. Joseph’s Prep, and not even the largest school in...
Norwin boys take the measure of Latrobe at WCCA Showcase
He rears back for a corner 3-pointer, stretching his arms high and behind his head, the basketball slightly tilted to the right. He lets it go and grins slightly to greet the swish. “Yes, it’s unorthodox and jenky,” Norwin senior guard Dylan McCullough said of his shooting motion. “I didn’t...
Butler’s Drew Griffith tops Ringgold’s Ryan Pajak to win cross country national championship
Drew Griffith is a multi-time WPIAL and state champion and the Pennsylvania cross country record holder for fastest time, but even with all of those accolades, he still has times when he doubts himself. Going into the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championship this weekend, he wanted all negative thoughts...
Kiski Area beats host Hempfield at WCCA Showcase
Corey Smith stepped out of the locker room, took a deep breath and came to the realization his team was fortunate to leave Hempfield with a victory. Fortunate to escape, even. A collective swipe across the brow was in line for Kiski Area after this one. “We went 1-0 today,”...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Yough’s Autumn Matthews, Southmoreland’s Ty Keffer
Autumn Matthews School: Yough Class: Senior Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Matthews helped lead Yough (3-1) to a fast start, which included a pair of wins and a championship at the Deer Lakes tip-off tournament. She had 13 points in a 53-13 win over Valley, and chipped in eight in...
A-K Valley high school athletes of the week: Plum’s Megan Marston and Kiski Area’s Isaiah Gonzalez
Megan Marston Class: Senior School: Plum Sport: Basketball Report card: Marston had a hot hand for the Mustangs as they jumped out to a 3-0 start. She kicked off the season with 22 points in a 67-43 victory over Freeport at the Freeport Tip-Off. About 12 hours later, she poured...
Fast start leads Belle Vernon to 2nd straight state championship
MECHANISBURG — There was no suspense in this year’s PIAA Class 3A championship. Belle Vernon made sure of that with another dominating performance starting with the opening kickoff. Anthony Crews scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, and the Leopards (13-1) won their second consecutive state title with a convincing...
Franklin Regional notebook: Boys basketball team sprints out of gates
The ball went up in the jump circle and Franklin Regional took off. Showing a fast-paced style, the Panthers ran to a 2-0 start to open boys basketball season with a pair of wins at the 19th Hempfield Tip-off Tournament. “We’re trying (to run),” coach Jesse Reed said. “That is...
Pine-Richland grad catches on as receiver at Albany
Levi Wentz has found his home in more ways than one. A raw prospect who played just one year of high school football at Pine-Richland, Wentz signed with Old Dominion to play defensive back. But three years later, he’s a wide receiver at Albany and the change of school and...
Led by NAHL-bound Max Rutkowski, Franklin Regional hockey turns things around
After beginning the season 1-4, the Franklin Regional hockey team has turned things around. The Panthers have won three consecutive games and are playing their best hockey of the season, according to coach John Winebrenner. “We made a bunch of lineup adjustments, and the team is playing with confidence,” he...
Aquinas Academy girls hungry to take next step
Playing at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center each of the past two seasons was a dream come true for the Aquinas Academy girls basketball team. Now they just want the dream to have a better ending. The Crusaders return their top four scorers from last season’s team, which lost at the...
Aquinas Academy boys basketball braces for ‘life without Vinnie’
The Aquinas Academy boys basketball team spent more time this offseason in the weight room than ever before. They were getting ready for some heavy lifting. Vinnie Cugini, who scored 3,189 career points to shatter a 30-year-old WPIAL mark, has graduated, leaving behind a nearly 44-point-per-game hole in the Crusaders’...
Shady Side Academy boys look to overcome injuries to key players
The Shady Side Academy boys basketball program will do a lot of on-the-job training this season. Two setbacks to the Bulldogs’ lineup have Shady Side Academy running low on big men. Senior Nate Mallory had knee surgery and will be out for the year. Junior Ben Michaels has a hip...
Defending WPIAL champ highlights talented lineup for Pine-Richland wrestling
Vaughn Spencer went undefeated through the first 28 matches of his varsity career until an injury derailed his shot at his first state title last year. Spencer, a junior, still won a WPIAL title and leads a formidable group of Pine-Richland wrestlers. Bouncing back from injury is nothing new for...
After strong WPIAL performance, expectations remain high for Plum girls swimmers
Last year’s WPIAL Class 3A championship meet was one to remember for the Plum girls swim team. The Mustangs earned five medals — two in individual events and in all three relays — and placed 10th in a deep team standings. While seven seniors were lost to graduation from the...
Megan Marston’s hot hand helps Plum girls start 3-0
Megan Marston got off to a hot start for the Plum girls basketball team. The senior guard had a pair of 22-point efforts in wins over Freeport and Highlands at the Freeport tip-off tournament the weekend of Dec. 1. Marston then hit for 31 in helping the Mustangs (3-0) roll...
With good roster numbers, new girls team, Norwin wrestlers ready to put in work
Life rewards hard. It’s a refrain Norwin wrestling coach Kyle Martin refers to often. The labor intensive nature of the sport comes with its benefits. “Wrestling is hard,” Martin said. “Every parent should want their child to wrestle.” At Norwin, a lot of them do. The Knights are in a...
Norwin notebook: Girls basketball team starts on right foot
The Norwin girls basketball team opened the season with a victory, which could be one of many for the Lady Knights. Bella Furno had 15 points, Ava Christopher added 12, and Lauren Palangio and Kendall Berger chipped in 10 apiece in a 66-27 win over Cameron (W.Va.) at the Wheeling...
North Allegheny notebook: Tigers cross country takes 5th at nationals
North Allegheny’s girls cross country team capped off its season with a fifth-place finish at the Nike Cross Nationals on Dec. 2, in Portland, Ore. Wren Kucler led the way for the state champion Tigers, placing 38th with a time of 18 minutes, 29.7 seconds. Robin Kucler (18:40) and Eva...
North Allegheny embraces ‘who we are’ entering state championship clash with St. Joseph’s Prep
The team North Allegheny thought most about this week, the roster of players the Tigers maybe focused on more than any other, was North Allegheny. Yes, they studied film and game planned extensively to face St. Joseph’s Prep in the state finals Saturday in Mechanicsburg. But North Allegheny coach Art...
First official season for girls wrestling in Pennsylvania getting started
The date May 17, 2023, will not soon be forgotten by those who follow and have an affinity for girls wrestling locally and throughout Pennsylvania. That day, the PIAA officially sanctioned the sport, making good on its promise that if schools in the state came through and 100 or more...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Dec. 8, 2023
High schools Basketball Boys Friday’s results Jack Twyman Tournament At Central Catholic Gateway 57, Penn Hills 51 Moon 56, Central Catholic 41 Mike Rettger Memorial Tournament At Franklin Regional Seneca Valley 62, Laurel Highlands 54 Franklin Regional 71, West Mifflin 44 Nonsection Ambridge 95, Ellwood City 82 Avella 57, Bentworth...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports on Dec. 9, 2023: Boys basketball showcases to tip off
Saturday is a big day for boys high school basketball fans in the Westmoreland County area with the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Showcase. The event is so big, games will be taking place at two sites. The schedule for games at Hempfield: • Yough (3-0) vs. Monessen (1-0) at noon...
