High School category, Page 864
Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame banquet canceled again
For the second consecutive year, the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame banquet was canceled because of the pandemic. Hall of fame chairman Larry Lutz said all eight inductees have been contacted and will be coming to the next induction banquet May 21, 2022. The students honorees, however, from the...
Waynesburg routs Central Dauphin to capture 1st PIAA wrestling title
MECHANICSBURG — A year ago, Waynesburg made a run to the PIAA Class 3A team wrestling championships and came up just short of capturing the first PIAA title in any sport in Waynesburg history. Although it was a devastating loss for the Raiders, 172-pound senior Luca Augustine also called it...
Leechburg baseball team’s expectations remain high with new coach
Bill Stoops knows what it’s like to help lead a high school baseball team to the WPIAL playoffs and pick up postseason victories. He did it with Deer Lakes as the coach from 1999-2007, as an assistant at North Allegheny from 2008-15 and with Gateway from 2016-18. After a short...
2021 Valley News Dispatch wrestling all-stars
Cooper Hornack Burrell, fr., 106 pounds 2020-21 record: 29-3 In his first season of varsity wrestling, Hornack captured a WPIAL title and also took second at states. He had 14 pins and two of his three losses came via decision. Antonino Walker Plum, fr., 106 pounds 2020-21 record: 22-4 In...
Leechburg softball puts playoff streak on line
No softball team in the WPIAL has built a streak quite like Leechburg’s. The program’s penchant for consistency has equated to 33 straight WPIAL playoff seasons. That is a run, coach Debbie Young said, this year’s team will fight fiercely to maintain. But the goals and expectations, she added, are...
New league, new team for Ligonier Valley baseball
Ligonier Valley’s return to the WPIAL in baseball began on a triumphant note Friday in the program’s first game back in District 7, a 6-4 decision over Greensburg Salem. The outcome provided hope for the retooled Rams, who were forced to replace their entire starting lineup from the 2019 season...
Chartiers Valley held to 27 points in PIAA championship loss to Cardinal O’HaraVideo
HERSHEY — On film, Cardinal O’Hara looked big, strong and physical to Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell, so his Colts weren’t surprised by what they ran into at Giant Center. Yet, nobody could’ve foreseen this. Chartiers Valley — which once scored 100 points in a game this season — tied...
Valley News Dispatch wrestler of the year: Burrell’s AJ Corrado
When Burrell senior AJ Corrado first started wrestling in fifth grade, he used to be mesmerized by the state wrestling brackets, often wondering if he’d ever have a chance to stand on top of the PIAA podium one day in Hershey. “I would always look at brackets and stuff like...
Burrell takes 3rd at PIAA team tournament for first time since 2014
Since his seniors were younger, Burrell wrestling coach Josh Shields knew he would have a special team when 2021 came around. Adding a talented freshman in Cooper Hornack and a few other pieces who fit the Burrell mold provided a big boost, too. On Saturday afternoon at Cumberland Valley High...
Ligonier Valley softball wants status quo: Success
Every year, it seems, Ligonier Valley coach Mark Zimmerman appears optimistic about his softball team’s chances for a successful season. Most years, the Rams have succeeded. In fact, since 2006, not counting last season’s canceled schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ligonier Valley advanced to the District 6 playoffs all...
2021 Tribune-Review Westmoreland County wrestling all-stars
Vinny Kilkeary Latrobe, so., 113 pounds 2020-21 record: 26-3 Career record: 56-10 Kilkeary won the 2019 PIAA title with a pin in the finals against Erie Cathedral Prep’s Jake Van Dee. This year he placed third, losing in the semifinals. He was the Section 2 and WPIAL 113-pound champion. All...
Tribune-Review Westmoreland Wrestler of the Year: Mt. Pleasant’s Pitzer wastes no time
Mt. Pleasant junior Dayton Pitzer didn’t pin every opponent he faced. It just seemed that way. Pitzer finished his junior season with a state-high 31 pins and his second PIAA Class AA wrestling title. It was a great bounce-back year after a knee injury took away his sophomore season and...
2021 Trib HSSN wrestling all-stars
Mac Church Waynesburg, so., 120 pounds 2020-21 record: 29-2 Career record: 76-8 Church was upset in the WPIAL Class AAA 120-pound final, but undaunted, he came back to win a PIAA title. He defeated Chambersburg junior Karl Shindledecker in overtime. He was the WPIAL champion at 106 in 2020. Church...
Trib HSSN Wrestler of the Year: Seneca Valley’s Herrera-Rondon dominates like no other
Early on in Alejandro Herrera-Rondon’s wrestling career at Seneca Valley, he was content to win low-scoring matches. Many of them ended up 1-0 or 2-1 victories. Herrera-Rondon frustrated opponents with his dominance in the top position. If opponents didn’t get off the bottom, they didn’t win. But as the Oklahoma...
Scrappy Plum softball eager to repeat 2019 success
Melanie Mienke was set to take over as the workhorse of Plum’s pitching staff last spring. Losing a year because of the pandemic means Mienke, now a senior, steps into a much different situation. The Mustangs will have three new starters in the infield. This is a Plum squad that...
Norwin notebook: Former Knights provide boost to Seton Hill baseball, softball
Through eight games, sophomore shortstop and Norwin alum Owen Sabol was hitting .346 with 10 runs and five RBIs for the nationally ranked Seton Hill baseball team. The Griffins (7-0) remained perfect with a come-from-behind 8-7 win at Ashland as Sabol hit his first home run of the season. Seton...
Silver lining, record finish for Hampton swimmer Donato
The Hampton 100-yard breaststroke record stood for 25 years until senior Richie Donato broke it March 6. It lasted about two weeks. Donato topped his own record in the event on the way to a second-place finish at the PIAA Class AA swimming championships March 19 at Cumberland Valley High...
Hampton softball has ‘a lot of games to win’ after coach’s covid scare
They were simple get-well cards. Some were store-bought, some caringly drawn by hand. But when Hampton softball coach Ron Fedell returned home in mid-January after a frightening two-week hospital stay with complications from covid-19, the stack of well-wishes meant the world to him. “Some of these kids sent me cards,”...
Hampton baseball deals with numbers crunch
Turns out the pandemic isn’t finished with the Hampton baseball team. A year after covid-19 canceled all spring sports, the Talbots had only 27 players try out this spring, by far the lowest number in third-year coach Kellen Wheeler’s 12 seasons associated with the Hampton baseball program. “I usually have...
Penn Hills senior shortstop excited for return to diamond
Improvement is a key word in the Penn Hills softball program. After missing last season because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Indians are hoping to improve from their sixth-place finish in Section 2-5A in 2019. The Indians are led by senior shortstop Irlynn Richardson. “She’s a good kid,” coach Rich...
Penn Hills baseball works toward ultimate goal of return to playoffs
The Penn Hills baseball coaches promote a family atmosphere in their program. “We have really been focusing on proper conditioning, proper weight training and the many different situations that arise during a baseball game,” said Dale Banks, assistant head coach to Rodney Stubbs. “We preach family first, but we also...
Young Pine-Richland roster ready to contend during chaotic WPIAL lacrosse season
On paper, the Pine-Richland boys lacrosse team is still the defending WPIAL Class AAA champion, but there’s been plenty of change in the two-year span since they last took the field. “We have two combined starts. Not starters, but starts on the team from that 2019 unit,” Pine-Richland coach Kevin...
Pine-Richland girls lacrosse looking to ‘bounce back’ in ’21
Every year Pine-Richland girls lacrosse coach Brittany Adams asks the team’s seniors to come up with a motto for the season. For 2021, they chose “bounce back.” Those two words are fitting on a couple of levels. They signal a return to play after the 2020 season was canceled because...
Riverview softball laying groundwork with inexperienced roster
Jim Ashbaugh isn’t sure what to expect from the Riverview softball team this season. He’s not alone in that concern among WPIAL softball coaches. Having an inkling of what could occur is difficult to ascertain because of the effects from the coronavirus pandemic. Missing a season guaranteed there will be...
Plum swimmers perform well at PIAA meet
One moved up, and one moved down. Both were good things when talking about senior Logan Minick and junior Sam Schohn’s swims representing Plum at the PIAA Class AA championships March 19 at Cumberland Valley High School. Minick, seeded 13th in the 500-yard freestyle, moved up two spots to 11th...
