High School category, Page 625
Trib HSSN Final 2022 State Baseball Rankings
Five new champions and one repeat winner are celebrating 2022 PIAA baseball championships after last week’s finals at Penn State. Bethel Park was the only repeat state champion from 2021. The Black Hawks shut out Selinsgrove in 5A to win the program’s third PIAA title (1988, 2021) and become the...
Latrobe clay target team produces 2 state champions
Latrobe’s clay target club team has been in existence for three seasons and this year had two state champions. Camden Flynn took home the novice division title at the USA Clay Target League state tournament, while Ty Connor, who also shoots for Kiski Area but competes for Latrobe in the...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Beaver Falls’ Jaren Brickner
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Jaren Brickner accomplished a major feat in his career last season. He...
Fox Chapel’s Izzy Zober to compete on inaugural U12 Israeli national softball team
Fox Chapel’s Izzy Zober and Franklin Regional’s Grace Stark are making softball history. The Israel Softball Association is fielding its first 12U national team to compete in the European Massimo Romero Youth Tournament in August in Italy, and Zober, 11, and Stark, 10, are on the squad. The ISA is...
Breaking down changes to the 2022-23 WPIAL girls soccer alignment
The WPIAL released new section alignments for the next two-year cycle in all sports, and changes will be implemented starting this fall. This summer, the Tribune-Review will break down changes for each of the WPIAL sports. Here’s a look at the upcoming WPIAL girls soccer season: 2021 WPIAL championship Class...
Trib HSSN Softball Team of the Week for the week ending June 20, 2022
Perfection is hard to achieve. Yet, three high school teams from Pennsylvania had the talent, combined it with a strong work ethic and got some bounces here and there to win district and state championships with an undefeated record: Martinsburg Central baseball, Pittston Area softball and Neshannock softball. The Lancers...
Trib HSSN Softball Player of the Week: Week ending June 19, 2022
The deer may be home, home on the range, but the Antelopes are celebrating in that rare golden field, where only district and state champions go to play. The Avonworth softball team added to its title collection this spring with a PIAA 3A crown after beating Lewisburg, 7-2, to capture...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Gateway’s Brad Birch
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Brad Birch led the WPIAL in passing in 2021, throwing for 2,623...
Westmoreland H.S. notebook: Penn-Trafford, Greensburg Salem among biggest moves in basketball realignment
Summer is just starting, but the WPIAL has its new basketball sections in place for the next winter season. The biggest movers in Westmoreland County are Penn-Trafford and Greensburg Salem, which are dropping from Class 6A. Penn-Trafford will be in 5A in boys and girls hoops. The Greensburg Salem boys...
Breaking down changes to the 2022-23 WPIAL boys soccer alignment
The WPIAL has released or will soon release new section alignments for the next two-year cycle in all sports, and changes will be implemented starting this fall. This summer, the Tribune-Review will break down changes for each of the WPIAL sports. Here’s a look at the upcoming WPIAL boys soccer...
Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Hempfield’s Sydney Mitchell
Sydney Mitchell, the speedy center fielder for Hempfield’s softball team, always figured she’d wear Pitt colors someday. She will do that in the fall, but the route she took had some twists and turns in it. As Thanksgiving of her senior year approached, Mitchell hadn’t received a scholarship offer and...
A-K Valley senior spotlight: Plum’s Nick Killinger
Nick Killinger spent four years of high school balancing soccer, basketball and volleyball. The 6-foot-5 senior right-side hitter made an immediate impact in his first year of volleyball this spring and was named third-team All-WPIAL and first-team all-section in Section 2-2A, alongside junior teammate Seth Favero (libero). His teammates also...
Trib HSSN Baseball Player of the Week: Week ending June 19, 2022
When it comes to bright lights on the big stage, Bethel Park junior Evan Holewinski doesn’t crave the spotlight, he just wants his toe on the rubber in the big game. While the right-handed pitcher has been strong when he heads to the mound, he was especially sharp the past...
Trib HSSN Baseball Team of the Week for the week ending June 19, 2022
Perhaps the Montour baseball team should celebrate the programs first PIAA championship at Kennywood Park, because it was an emotional roller coaster of a season for the Spartans. The team won 15 straight after an opening loss, then dropped four straight at the end of the regular season. In the...
Still-growing Leechburg senior Braylan Lovelace commits to Pitt
Randy Walters saw the flash plays on defense, the long runs on offense. And that athleticism — it was a sight to behold. But a little more than two years ago, Leechburg’s football coach noticed something else about Braylan Lovelace, who made a verbal commitment Saturday to enroll at Pitt...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: McKeesport’s Bobbie Boyd Jr.
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Bobbie Boyd Jr. entered the 2021 football season with seven varsity carries....
‘Hockey is awesome:’ Inaugural PIHL girls season gets rave reviews
After the inaugural PIHL girls hockey championship concluded, a young girl with a homemade sign and a pen waited patiently just down the hall from the locker rooms. As the players started to file out, she asked for their autographs. One by one, each player, whether they won or lost,...
Gateway’s Zeisloft adds Positive Athlete Award to resume
Dietrich Zeisloft was a leader on the field for several seasons for the Gateway boys soccer team with his ability to put the ball in the back of the net, help control possession and facilitate his teammates on the attack from his midfield position. But the Gators senior also was...
Quaker Valley boys tennis team takes pride in state semifinal berth
Quaker Valley’s boys tennis team ended its banner 2022 season on a high note coated with a bit of disappointment. QV finished 16-1 overall, winning section and WPIAL Class 2A titles and advancing to the PIAA semifinal round. The Quakers were the only WPIAL team in either Class 2A or...
Quaker Valley tennis seniors leave lasting legacy
There wasn’t a single “unsung hero” on the 2022 Quaker Valley boys championship tennis team. Instead, it was a group of players that carried the Quakers to their second consecutive WPIAL Class 2A title and an appearance in the PIAA semifinal round. “In my mind, this year’s whole senior varsity...
Penn Hills grad Jordan Sullivan looks to hit books, baseballs at CCAC Boyce
During his freshman and sophomore years at Penn Hills, Jordan Sullivan wasn’t dedicated to academics and his grades suffered. He spent most of his junior and senior years digging out of the hole. “I obviously wasn’t putting the effort in,” said Sullivan, who graduated from Penn Hills this spring. “I...
Pine-Richland notebook: Sections overhauled for Rams basketball teams
A new opponent with a rich history will be joining Pine-Richland boys basketball for the next two seasons. New Castle, a 13-time WPIAL champion and last year’s Class 5A state runner-up, is moving up to Class 6A and will be in Section 1 with the Rams. The Red Hurricane were...
Local basketball coach Mark Marino set to lead U.S. team in Greece
Mark Marino is no stranger to coaching basketball teams from the United States in overseas competition. Marino, who coached the Plum varsity boys basketball team the past three seasons, will make his fourth trip to Europe this week as he helps coach a team of Division I, II and III...
WPIAL recognizes Norwin grad Sydney Willig for courage in cystic fibrosis fight
It takes courage to do what Sydney Willig does every day. To wear a vibrating vest each morning. To use multiple nebulizers before classes. To constantly ingest medication. When you have cystic fibrosis, it takes courage to do what is necessary to stay alive. Willig wears the illness’ symbolic purple...
Norwin notebook: Lacrosse player honored as positive athlete
Norwin senior Nickolas Harris was one of 32 winners at this year’s Western Pennsylvania Positive Athlete Awards presentation, done virtually via social media. Harris won the award in boys lacrosse. Athletes are honored for overcoming obstacles, giving back to their schools and communities or having positive attitudes that better those...
