High School category, Page 434
Strong showing at AAU national tournament gives Shaler volleyball players a boost
Logan Peterson felt fortunate that the AAU boys volleyball national championships rolled around in early July. The Shaler senior right-side hitter, who plays for the 17U North United club team, was itching to get back on the court. The Titans lived up to heavy expectations by winning the WPIAL for...
Younger brother is best friend, inspiration to Chartiers Valley assistant baseball coach
Brett Willner is a young assistant baseball coach at Chartiers Valley after an impressive playing career at South Fayette. Having connections to both southern rivals is appropriate because he possesses both the smoothness of a galloping colt and the heart of a lion. Willner recently concluded his third year as...
AD Mike Gavlik bids farewell to Chartiers Valley after 4-year stay
Mike Gavlik just completed his 20th year as an athletic director in the area when an opportunity arose that would bring him closer to home, so he is headed north. The now-former AD at Chartiers Valley has been hired as the new athletic director at Hampton. “I wasn’t necessarily looking...
Multi-sport athletes takes home top honors for 2022-23 school year at Brentwood
The announcement of the Mark Reider award and Booster Athlete award winners is eagerly anticipated at the end of every school year at Brentwood. The awards are sponsored by the Brentwood High Athletic Boosters and are presented to the top male and female senior athletes in a school year. This...
As girls wrestling grows, Quaker Valley looks to build program
The date May 17 is historic and highly significant in the state of Pennsylvania, as well as the WPIAL. The PIAA board of directors voted unanimously on that date to sponsor girls wrestling as a sport, starting in 2023-24. “I think it’s great and long overdue to have the PIAA...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Imani Christian’s Dayshaun Burnett
Imani Christian’s Dayshaun Burnett continues to show why he is the No. 1 ranked rising junior linebacker in state, according to Rivals.com. Burnett attended the 210ths Top 150 Camp on July 9 at Shady Side Academy, and he didn’t disappoint. He secured linebacker MVP recognition with a dominant performance. “It...
Recruiting by H.S. coaches under microscope after Shady Side basketball coach’s suspension
A one-year suspension is the punishment for any PIAA coach caught recruiting, but is that rule taken seriously in every case and in all corners of the state? Cardinal O’Hara, a member of the Philadelphia Catholic League, recently hired a new boys basketball coach, and some of his candid comments...
Confidence at an all-time high for Norwin grad Jack Salopek at Western Michigan
Quarterback Jack Salopek has never been a rah-rah screamer — in the huddle, at practice or otherwise. You might say he is like a vault emotionally with the way he carries himself and how he plays football. The Norwin alum has always let his game do the talking, and he...
Penn Hills notebook: Senior wrestler showing potential
Jeremy Packer couldn’t be happier to have five wrestlers with him at summer workouts. During his tenure at Penn Hills, the Indians coach has hoped to see the program continue to grow. Senior wrestler Julian Lavender has shown some of the spirit Packer has hoped to see. Lavender, who picked...
North Hills lineman works to end program’s playoff drought
Jake Messina knows a thing or two about building. A senior offensive and defensive lineman at North Hills, Messina has been around house fabrication his entire life via his family’s construction company. As he enters his final season of high school football, he hopes that the bricks he has stacked...
Fox Chapel wrestler tests himself with offseason competition
Landon Funk isn’t opposed to any way to keep himself connected with wrestling. What the Fox Chapel junior found this offseason was a unique dual meet competition to be involved with. Funk, along with teammates Alex Kaufman and Michael Worsen, competed in the Dark Horse Classic, a dual-style match at...
Bethel Park girls volleyball building foundation for upcoming season
Excuse the members of the Bethel Park girls volleyball team if they occasionally sneak a peek at HGTV. “We have an inexperienced varsity roster, but we have been dedicated to improving and building a solid foundation for the team in the gym this summer,” coach Brooke Muraco said. “The plan...
Senior class leaves unprecedented mark on Bethel Park baseball program
It was a tremendous three-year run for the Bethel Park baseball program, particularly for the seniors on the 2023 club. There were 14 upperclassmen — count ‘em, 14 — on the 2023 team, including seven or eight who usually were penciled into the starting lineup. Over the past three seasons,...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Yough welcomes new girls soccer coach
Yough’s girls soccer team will have its third coach in three years with the hiring of Robert Broadwater, a Pennsylvania state trooper and former Yough middle school coach. Broadwater also served as an assistant with Mike Veychek, who resigned after one season coaching the Cougars. Broadwater was a varsity assistant...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Payton Wehner
Lying in a hospital bed about three years ago, Payton Wehner took inventory of his world. “That was a point in life where, honestly, if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing,” said Wehner, Central Catholic’s senior quarterback. Not the wildcat play that resulted in a season-ending injury?...
Yough, Hempfield girls basketball coaches resign
Hempfield and Yough are looking for girls head basketball coaches. Tom Brush resigned at Hempfield, a place where he has coached since 2018. Mike Gerdich, meanwhile, stepped down at Yough following the team’s first playoff trip in 10 years. Brush said his decision is work-related. Since his schedule changed, he...
South Fayette returns to top spot of Trib Cup standings with Class 5A win
For the fourth time, the South Fayette Lions are the kings of the 5A jungles. The white and green machine used steady success and a couple of winter sports championship runs to win the Trib Cup in Class 5A by a comfortable margin. The Trib Cup is a yearlong competition...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Penn Hills’ Julian Dugger
As a sophomore, Julian Dugger helped Penn Hills win the Northeast Conference Class 5A title and make it to the WPIAL semifinals. The dual-threat quarterback threw for more than 1,300 yards that season. But 2022 was a tough year for the entire Penn Hills program as the team missed the...
Latrobe wins WCCA 7-on-7 tourney for 2nd time in row
As John Wetzel walked off the field Thursday, he made it clear to his teammates he was far from tired. His arm wasn’t sore. His legs were fine. He was charged up. “I’m ready to play another one,” the Latrobe quarterback said with a smile. Transfixed on validating last year’s...
WPIAL suspends Shady Side Academy girls basketball coach Jonna Burke for recruiting violation
When the parents of a basketball player from another school followed her on Twitter, Shady Side Academy coach Jonna Burke checked their profiles and sent them a direct message. “I am really impressed with (your daughter),” Burke wrote. “I’ve seen the highlights she posted and love her athleticism! If you...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Laurel Highlands’ Antwan Black Jr.
Editor’s note: This is the ninth in a series of 25 profiles of the members of the Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team. With elite players Rodney Gallagher and Keondre DeShields as teammates, it’s easy to be overlooked on a football field. Laurel Highlands’ Antwan Black Jr. wasn’t bothered by...
Rule change would allow high school catchers to receive signs from bench via device
Fox Chapel catcher Mitchell Epstein hopes to hear voices during his senior season on the diamond. The National Federation of State High School Associations approved a rule revision during its June 4-6 meeting in Indianapolis that would allow for the use of a one-way communication device between a coach in...
Yough’s Kendalyn Umbel commits to play soccer at YSU, won’t play high school season
Like a penalty kick in a shootout, Kendalyn Umbel has lined up her Division I college soccer future — with two years left in her high school career. Umbel, a rising junior at Yough who does not plan to play for the high school team this season, announced a verbal...
Faith Remich hits ground running as Burrell’s new cross country coach
Faith Remich has come full circle. The running standout got her start as a freshman at Burrell and was member of the Bucs cross country team when the program was started in the fall of 2015. Remich, who enjoyed a stellar career in both cross country and track and field...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Aliquippa’s Tiqwai Hayes
Aliquippa four-star running back Tiqwai “Tikey” Hayes is no longer an underclassman to watch whose commitment day is years down the road. Hayes will soon get to choose from a slew of Division I offers, including Ohio State, Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Louisville, Michigan, Maryland, Syracuse,...
