High School category, Page 375
North Allegheny notebook: Pitt’s Sarah Schupansky earns All-ACC first-team honors
Sarah Schupansky made history last week, becoming the first member of the Pitt women’s soccer team to earn first-team All-ACC honors. Schupansky, a 2021 North Allegheny graduate, has a team-high 10 goals, 10 assists and 30 points this season. The forward was the ACC Offensive Player of the Week earlier...
North Allegheny trying to make most of calm before the playoff storm
The North Allegheny football team didn’t have a game in the first week of the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean the Tigers took a week off. “We were going to do everything we could to make the most of the extra time,” NA coach Art Walker said. “We wanted to...
Hampton girls soccer looks to bright future after playoff ouster
Every player who scored a goal this season for the Hampton girls soccer team has one thing in common — she’ll be back. The Talbots will return all 10 starting field players and a bunch of key reserves from this season’s 14-5 WPIAL playoff qualifier. “I would like to think...
‘Challenging’ season ends with Hampton football on wrong side of playoff tiebreaker
The Hampton football season began with an injury and ended with an insult. The Talbots lost their starting quarterback to a season-ending knee injury in training camp and then narrowly missed the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs on a tiebreaker. “It was definitely challenging,” second-year coach Steve Sciullo said. “We can’t...
Fox Chapel cross country team, top runner Rowan Gwin dialed in at WPIAL meet
Fox Chapel senior Rowan Gwin looked forward to mentoring junior teammate Drew Black at the PIAA Class 4A cross country championships in Hershey. If anyone had the requisite experience for helping a first-time runner out, it was Gwin, who was making his third trip and had a wide range of...
Fox Chapel girls soccer uses speed to go on long postseason run
Fox Chapel’s underdog run through the WPIAL Class 4A postseason wasn’t just the result of an October victory. The Foxes blazing a path to the championship game at Highmark Stadium started by challenging one another during training camp in August. Those battles continued through routine practices in September or any...
After 4th straight playoff appearance, Gateway boys soccer says goodbye to senior class
A fourth straight trip to the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs was in the preseason plans for the Gateway boys soccer team. A streak-breaking victory in their first-round matchup at No. 5 Montour also was what the Gators wanted. They got the former but were denied the latter, as the Spartans...
Quaker Valley cross country teams accomplishing goals in postseason
It’s been a sweet season for the Quaker Valley boys cross country team. The Quakers qualified as a team for the PIAA Class 2A race, which was set for Nov. 4 in Hershey. “We know there are many strong teams in the 2A race of the PIAA championships, especially those...
Quaker Valley greats gather for 2023 hall of fame induction weekend
The celebratory Sports Hall of Fame weekend returned to Quaker Valley this fall after a three-year pause due to the covid pandemic. Six individuals and two teams were inducted on the weekend of Oct. 13-14, increasing the number of HOF individuals at Quaker Valley to 103 and HOF teams to...
After quarterfinal loss, Penn-Trafford volleyball hopes to reload for future
Penn-Trafford girls volleyball coach Jim Schall would have rather been coaching a semifinal-round match than being at home watching the World Series. That’s because team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to No. 3 Canon-McMillan on Oct. 26 in the WPIAL quarterfinals. It was a match that could have gone the...
Penn-Trafford notebook: Warriors hockey team of to 1-3 start
Penn-Trafford’s ice hockey team opened the season by defeating Norwin. Since then, the Warriors have dropped three games while they look for stronger goaltending. “It’s been frustrating; until we fix our goaltending problem we’re going to struggle,” Penn-Trafford coach Chris Cerutti said. “I have four guys I’m working with.” The...
Penn Hills senior finishes cross country career with fond memories
Sawyer Kinney has been drawn to activities throughout his life that made him feel like he was joining a brotherhood. When the Penn Hills senior thought about what he would like post-college life to be like, he was drawn to a military career the same way he was drawn to...
Penn Hills wins conference title, rivalry trophy to head into playoffs with momentum
The Penn Hills football team was crowned “King of the Hills’ by beating Woodland Hills to end the regular season. The winner of the game being awarded a trophy caught Indians coach Charles Morris off guard. It wasn’t the trophy Penn Hills was ultimately after, but the Indians were happy...
Pine-Richland notebook: Dominant run continues for field hockey team
Led by a pair of goals by Jessica Albertson, Pine-Richland field hockey advanced to another Class 3A field hockey championship with a 3-0 win over North Allegheny in the Class 3A semifinals Oct. 28. The Rams were seeking their fifth consecutive WPIAL championship when they faced No. 2 Peters Township...
Plum girls soccer team reflects on accomplishments after strong season
The Plum girls soccer team sought a return trip to the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals for the fifth year in a row when it faced Montour in a quarterfinal rematch of a regular-season tie game. It was the only blemish in 17 games for the No. 2 Mustangs through a...
After quarterfinal loss, Plum boys soccer looks ahead toward productive offseason
The Plum and South Fayette boys soccer programs were no strangers to each other before meeting Oct. 25 in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal at Plum High School. In the 2020 first round, the No. 13 Lions rose up and stunned the No. 4 Mustangs, 2-1, in overtime. Last year,...
Young coaches get their football fix on Norwin staff
Anthony Giansante and Jackson Pruitt were supposed to be playing college football this fall. Giansante should be a redshirt sophomore and Western Carolina, Pruitt a redshirt junior at Youngstown State. But instead, the former high school standouts found football fulfillment on the coaching staff at Norwin. “You don’t get the...
Westmoreland high school athletes of the week: Greensburg Central Catholic’s Eva Denis, Greensburg Central Catholic’s Nick Szekely
Eva Denis School: Greensburg Central Catholic Class: Junior Sport: Volleyball Claim to fame: Denis, who contributes in several ways to the Centurions’ rotation, helped the team reach the WPIAL Class A semifinals. In a 3-2 loss to Serra Catholic, she had 17 kills and five blocks. GCC finished fourth in...
5 things we learned in high school football Week 10: Wildcat formation works for WPIAL teams
The wildcat formation is almost as old as WPIAL football itself, but the run-oriented offense is proving hard to stop. What makes it work? “It’s the mentality of our line and our team in general,” said Moon running back Josh Bladel, who’s becoming a wildcat expert. “We want to play...
Norwin claims 1st WPIAL soccer championship with PK shootout win over North Allegheny
When Norwin started a group chat in the preseason, they called it “Road to Highmark.” When they rattled off back-to-back playoff upsets, they changed the name to, “Highmark.” Maybe now the Knights will label the ongoing text chain, “WPIAL champs.” George Bunovich scored the clinching penalty kick in a shootout...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Nov. 4, 2023
High schools Cross country PIAA championships Boys Saturday’s results Class 3A Individual: 1. Drew Griffith, Butler, 15:23; 2. Nicholas Mazzeo, Lower Merion, 15:44; 3. Jack Bertram, North Allegheny, 15:50; 4. Aidan Maue, Souderton, 16:04; 5. Giovanni Mastromona, Nazareth, 16:05; 6. Cole Casedei, La Salle College, 16:06; 7. Richard Planck, Downingtown...
WPIAL shines at PIAA cross country event with 4 champions
Cross Country is alive and well in the WPIAL. It was a golden day as four of the six PIAA individual champions and two teams brought back titles from Hershey on Saturday. The individual champions were: Butler senior Drew Griffith (3A boys), Ringgold senior Ryan Pajak (2A boys), Mohawk junior...
North Allegheny reclaims its place atop WPIAL Class 4A girls volleyball
After avenging its loss to Pine-Richland in last year’s WPIAL Class 4A championship earlier this week, the North Allegheny girls volleyball team reclaimed its throne with the program’s fifth district title in the last seven years. Top-seeded North Allegheny (16-1) defeated No. 3 Canon-McMillan (15-4) in four sets, 25-21, 13-25,...
Class 2A doubles teams turn in WPIAL’s best showings at PIAA tennis championships
District 1 champions Hannah and Rebecca Kideckel of Lower Moreland won the PIAA Class 2A doubles championship Saturday in Hershey, but they had to go through the WPIAL’s best to get to the top of podium. In the finals, Kideckel defeated WPIAL third-place finishers Katie Hardy and Brea Kelly of...
Pine-Richland finally solves Peters Township in OT to win 5th straight WPIAL field hockey crown
If anyone was looking for an evenly matched contest with a marvelous display of skill, the WPIAL Class 3A field hockey final was the game to watch. Goals? That would be a luxury the crowd at Cameron Stadium at Washington and Jefferson College would have to wait for. The match...
