High School category, Page 805
Bethel Park football to feature deep group of receivers, linemen
A quick dose of Bethel Park football, by the numbers: • There are three quarterbacks listed on this year’s 70-player team roster — senior Max Blanc, a Youngstown State recruit, junior John Barr and freshman Jack Bruckner. “Max will be our leader on offense. We expect great things from him,”...
Led by defense, McGuffey feels ‘championship-level good’
On Oct. 23 last season, McGuffey beat Beth-Center to clinch an undefeated Class 2A Century Conference title. After earning the No. 2 seed in district playoffs, the Highlanders’ season ended in the first postseason game with a heartbreaking 20-13 loss to Serra Catholic. A successful season came to a sudden,...
Ligonier Valley continues to adjust in 2nd year in WPIAL
Ligonier Valley’s return to the WPIAL was a learning experience for football coach Roger Beitel in 2020. Not only did the Rams discover what type of styles and athleticism opponents had, they also got a geography lesson. Ligonier Valley played in six counties — Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Fayette, Greene and...
Apollo-Ridge excited to build on strong season
Apollo-Ridge was an experienced team in 2020. That experience helped the Vikings navigate the covid landscape and truncated season to a 6-1 overall record and a rout of perennial Class 2A contender Washington in the WPIAL playoffs. Graduation took away many of those main players — names such as Jake...
Players make new coach feel at home at Waynesburg
Making the transition to coach Waynesburg’s football team wasn’t something Aaron Giorgi was apprehensive about for long. The players Giorgi inherited took any lingering apprehension away shortly after camp started. “The kids have been working hard and made the transition easier for me personally,” said Giorgi, who was the head...
Washington regroups after difficult season
Pretty much everyone is glad 2020 is over. Nowhere is that truer than inside the Washington football program. Trying to replace one of the most successful senior classes in school history, the Prexies came into last season needing a little bit of time to reload. Instead, offseason workouts and preseason...
Chartiers-Houston returns experienced group to challenge in Century Conference
Chartiers-Houston has quite a luxury this season. The Bucs have experience returning at all the skill positions, on both sides of the line and each level of the defense. The key for 17th-year coach Terry Fetsko will be turning that experience into victories in the Class 2A Century Conference. “As...
Beth-Center turns back the clock as Tony Ruscitto returns to lead Bulldogs
It was late May when Joe Kuhns resigned after five years as head coach of the Beth-Center football team. The program that had a 17-year playoff run from 2003-18 had fallen on hard times, winning only one game in each of the last two seasons. So the school district decided...
Familiar coach guides Summit Academy’s return from 1-year hiatus
What’s old is new again at Summit Academy. After a two-year retirement, John McCloud is back at Summit as the head football coach. The 1972 Valley High School graduate was an assistant football coach, wrestling coach and athletic director for nearly 20 years and has dedicated his life to serving...
Steel Valley finding its way back to top
Just three years removed from its latest WPIAL football championship, Steel Valley is trying to find a way back to the top. “They’re getting it, slowly but surely,” said coach Ray Braszo, who returned to the Ironmen’s helm in 2019, a year after the school won its second WPIAL Class...
Shady Side Academy has new look, from mascot on down
The nickname might have been changed, but the goal is still the same. Shady Side Academy, with Bulldogs now as its moniker instead of Indians, is anxious to get back into WPIAL playoff contention. The school compiled a 1-3 conference record and was 2-4 overall in the truncated 2020 season....
WPIAL girls tennis preview: Knoch, Latrobe loaded to defend titles
Knoch girls tennis players pulled off a rare WPIAL trifecta last year. Laura Greb captured her fourth WPIAL singles title, sisters Brooke and Ally Bauer brought home doubles gold and the Knights snapped Sewickley Academy’s three-year reign for their first team title after three straight runner-up finishes to the Panthers....
Building trust key to rebuilding Monessen football
It was a fair question, albeit a brutally honest one. When coach Wade Davis met with what was left of the Monessen football team for the first time in mid-January, this was the first question he fielded: “Coach, are you going to be here for one year and leave?” After...
Multi-talented Fraser hopes to have healthy season, be key player for Knoch
Keegan Fraser is on multiple missions entering football season. The Knoch senior running back, H-back and free safety hopes to be a major factor on both sides of the ball to help the Knights rebound from a winless 2020. To do that, a personal crusade Fraser is hoping to accomplish...
George Guido: Football’s back, but will the fans be?
The stage is set for the start of the Alle-Kiski Valley’s 123rd football season Friday as all 13 local schools will see Week Zero action. That’s a far cry from last season when the start was delayed two weeks because of the covid-19 pandemic. The season was reduced to seven...
2021 HSSN football position-by-position breakdown: Scouting the offensive line
TribLive HSSN will break down the top players at one position per day until Week Zero. Here’s a look at the top offensive linemen for the 2021 season. 1. Nick Bryan Thomas Jefferson Senior, 6-3, 255 The Kent State recruit was a two-way starter when the Jaguars won WPIAL and...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Locals make soccer award watch list
The Moe Rosensteel Player of the Year Award recognizes the best WPIAL girls soccer player “whose play, leadership and passion for the game emulates that of the award’s namesake.” Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel was a soccer standout at Ringgold who was about to begin a college career at West Virginia Wesleyan...
Defense, passing game to lead Brentwood
There’s a significant number of new faces in the Brentwood lineup this season. But first, returning starters include seniors Jase Keib (QB/DB), Lamarr Williams (WR/LB), Mitchell Fox (WR/DB), Jack Wisenauer (OL/LB), Alec Troy (OL/LB), Tate Jones (RB/NG) and junior Jason Redlinger (FB/DL). “As always, we expect to make the the...
New coach expects excellence at Riverside
Fran Ramsden hadn’t really thought about being a head football coach. He spent the past nine years as an assistant coach with stops at his alma mater, North Catholic, as well as Allderdice and the past four seasons at Riverside. Last summer, Riverside coach Ron Sciarro informed Ramsden, his offensive...
New Brighton driven by playoff near miss
Few teams in the history of WPIAL football, if any, have come as close to making the playoffs without getting in as New Brighton did last year. New Brighton and Laurel tied for second place in the Midwestern Athletic Conference at 5-2. The Spartans got in thanks to a victory...
Explosive running game sets tone for Neshannock
Neshannock senior Cam’Ron Owens has become one of the most dangerous running backs in the WPIAL. The route he took to that distinction had plenty of zigs and zags. At the start of preseason camp last year, the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder was competing for the Lancers’ starting quarterback job. Community spread...
Mohawk aims to pass less, win more
There was hope going into the 2020 season that Mohawk would be able to capitalize on the modest, two-game winning streak that ended the 2019 campaign. But that hope soon came unraveled as the covid pandemic struck and injury problems, especially on the line, emerged. “Last year was brutal as...
Hard-hitting linebacker leads Laurel
With coach Brian Cooper planning to add heavy doses of spread offense to his usual Wing-T attack, opposing defenses won’t know exactly what they’ll be getting from Laurel this season. Opposing ballcarriers know precisely what to expect, however. Pain. Courtesy of senior linebacker Luke McCoy. “He’s a special player,” Cooper...
Freedom ready to move forward, focus on fun
There’s one particular stat coach John Rosa would like to see Freedom lead the WPIAL in this season. Touchdowns? Yards? Turnovers? Sacks? Well, yeah, sure. What coach wouldn’t want that? But what Rosa really wants his team to lead the district in is smiles. “This game is about these kids...
Ellwood City building program, looking to get into win column
Ellwood City is getting tired of the goose eggs. The football program suffered its third consecutive winless season in 2020. The Wolverines have dropped 27 consecutive games and have not posted a victory since defeating Brentwood on Oct. 26, 2018. Third-year coach Joe Lamenza, however, feels two of the problems...
