High School category, Page 953
Penn Hills basketball standout Deondre Mitchell earns starting role as 1st-year WR
For the last couple of years, senior Deondre Mitchell has been known for his success on the basketball court for Penn Hills. This fall, Mitchell added football to his resume, lining up at wide receiver for the Indians. With no basketball fall leagues this year because of covid-19, Mitchell was...
Gateway boys soccer deals with schedule crunch in quest for playoff berth
The Gateway boys soccer team found itself in a playoff battle in Section 4-4A as it hoped to qualify for the WPIAL postseason for the first time since 2016. The Gators played a compacted, hectic schedule down the stretch — 10 scheduled games in 16 days — after covid-19 issues...
Shaler cross country looking forward to new venue for WPIAL meet
Shaler cross country coach Justin Eskra believes the WPIAL may have stumbled upon one positive during the uncertainty of the covid-19 pandemic. Instead of heading down to Cal (Pa) for the district’s Class AAA championships, runners will compete at White Oak Park on Oct. 29. In what Eskra anticipates will...
Shaler boys soccer gains experience, measure of revenge
Twenty-seven days made a world of difference for the Shaler Area boys soccer team. TJ Tylenda scored twice in the second half and the Titans regained self-respect during a 2-1 Section 1-4A victory over Pine-Richland on Oct. 6 at home. The Rams beat up Shaler a little less than a...
South Fayette junior golfer stares down Oakmont, takes home silver
With the district golf and girls tennis postseason winding down, no area teams and only one area golfer is moving on to the PIAA state championships. South Fayette junior Caroline McConnell finished as the WPIAL runner-up in the 2020 Class AAA district championships at Oakmont Country Club. McConnell shot a...
First year on job brings growth, surprises to Chartiers Valley athletic director
Oct. 14 marked Michael Gavlik’s one-year anniversary as athletic director at Chartiers Valley. A lot happened during Gavlik’s first 12 months, but there was nothing he couldn’t handle. Gavlik came to Chartiers Valley with an impressive resume, having been manager and director of Pittsburgh City League athletics for 16 years....
Thomas Jefferson girls tennis players look forward to future of program
Thomas Jefferson recently wrapped up a winning 2020 season in girls tennis. Behind a lineup dominated by juniors and seniors, the Jaguars ended up 7-6 while competing in Section 3-3A. “I thought we were very competitive this season and were very close to winning in several matches,” said Chuck Correll,...
Brain power: Baldwin quarterback among WPIAL’s top passers
Baldwin’s starting quarterback is a brainiac, for sure. At 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, Colton Brain is on the smaller-scale of quarterbacks in Western Pennsylvania. His know-how and athletic ability, however, more than make up for his undersized stature. “Colton has been great in so many ways for our football team,” Baldwin...
Quaker Valley boys soccer displaying championship-caliber form
A year ago, the Quaker Valley boys soccer team had a talented senior class that led them to WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A titles. Eight of them, including Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year Dom Reiter and his twin brother Fritz, combined to score 119 of Quaker Valley’s 175 goals....
Penn-Trafford notebook: Warriors golfers come up short in semifinals
Penn-Trafford senior Alex Turowski shot a 1-under par 71 at the WPIAL Class AAA team semifinals, but it wasn’t enough help the team advance to the WPIAL team championship Oct. 15. The Warriors finished fourth, and the top three teams advanced. They had a score of 414 behind Central Catholic...
High school scores and summaries for Oct. 17, 2020
Football Saturday’s results WPIAL Class 6A Seneca Valley 19, Baldwin 16 Class 5A Big East Gateway 21, Woodland Hills 16 Class 4A Parkway Aliquippa 39, Montour 14 Class A Tri-County South California 49, Carmichaels 20 Saturday’s summaries Football WPIAL Class 6A Seneca Valley 19, Baldwin 16 (OT) Baldwin 0 6...
High school roundup for Oct. 17, 2020: Aliquippa drops Montour, clinches conference crown
Led by Vernon Redd on the ground and the combination of Vaughn Morris and Tajier Thornton in the air, No. 2 Aliquippa cruised to a 39-14 victory over Montour on Saturday night, clinching the Class 4A Parkway Conference crown. Redd ran 23 times for 175 yards and a score. Morris...
Gateway shakes off rust, holds off Woodland Hills
After not playing for 28 days, the Gateway Gators returned to action Saturday night and had to hold off a late effort by neighboring Woodland Hills. The No. 2-rated Gators saw their lead reduced to five points with 1 minute, 54 seconds left to play and virtually ran out the...
5 things we learned in Week 6: WPIAL linemen can score touchdowns too
Could there be a quarterback controversy brewing at Pine-Richland? With a laugh, Miguel Jackson says yes. The 6-foot-2, 265-pound senior lived every lineman’s dream Friday night when he rushed for a touchdown and threw for another as undefeated Pine-Richland maintained its No. 1 ranking in WPIAL Class 5A with a...
Seneca Valley gets big Class 6A win in overtime against Baldwin
Nolan Dworek scored his second touchdown of the game on the first play from scrimmage for Seneca Valley in overtime to lead the host Raiders past Baldwin, 19-16, in a key Class 6A game Saturday afternoon. The win improves Seneca Valley to 4-1 and leaves the Raiders alone in second...
More uncertainty than usual surrounds WPIAL football playoff picture
There is a week left in the high school football season, and there is a lot of uncertainty about the playoffs. Usually, there would be a clear picture of the playoff scenarios. Not this year, thanks to the coronavirus. The WPIAL and the football committee met this week to determine...
WPIAL football rankings for Week 6
Class 6A 1. North Allegheny, 5-0, 1 2. Mt. Lebanon, 3-2, 2 3. Central Catholic, 3-2, 3 4. Seneca Valley, 4-1, 4 5. Canon-McMillan, 2-3, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Pine-Richland, 5-0, 1 2. Gateway, 3-0, 2 3. Peters Township, 5-0, 3 4. Penn-Trafford, 4-1, 4 5. South Fayette,...
Westmoreland H.S. football notebook: Hempfield copes with sudden end to season
Hempfield players had no clue they were playing their final football game of the season two Friday nights ago at Baldwin. The seniors had no idea it would be their last high school game, period. Hempfield had some recent covid-19 cases in school and initially planned to pause athletics for...
Leechburg earns 400th win and could record first winning season since 1991
Friday night was an important night for Leechburg football. Thirty-seven years after the program earned its 300th win, the Blue Devils earned No. 400 and did so in a big way. Sophomore running back Braylan Lovelace ran for 397 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries as the Blue Devils...
A-K Valley high school football notebook: Apollo-Ridge could be at mercy of playoff selection committee
The WPIAL on Wednesday laid out a plan to fill playoff brackets for the six football classifications as covid-19 has canceled games and created unprecedented issues for the organization. Apollo-Ridge had a keen interest in what the WPIAL had to say. The WPIAL’s plan for Class 2A has only the...
Jump in classification doesn’t slow Shady Side Academy girls soccer
In the past four years, the Shady Side Academy girls soccer team has solidified itself as one of the best teams in Class A. They won two WPIAL titles and one PIAA title, made three PIAA finals appearances and won 70 games. They turned in their best season last year...
Shady Side Academy’s Sam Farner provides winning presence for boys soccer team
Shady Side Academy’s Sam Farner is just a junior, but coach Ed Ellsworth says it seems like the talented midfielder has been around the program forever. It’s probably because he has been around longer than most. Between his seventh and eighth grade years, Farner got accustomed to the program by...
North Journal notebook: North Allegheny field hockey rebounds
The North Allegheny field hockey team hit the midseason portion of its schedule with a record of 3-3. The Tigers then rebounded from 1-0 loss to Pine-Richland on Sept. 30 with 3-0-1 stretch, including wins over Mt. Lebanon, Allderdice and Fox Chapel and a scoreless tie with Peters Township. “The...
Pine-Richland’s Meredith Price builds lasting legacy with cross country program
Meredith Price will focus on every hard workout, sprint and time trial it has taken to get to the WPIAL championship race to motivate herself to finish strong. On the rare occasion she looks to either side of her, she’ll spot teammates like Angelina Hunkele, Natalie McLean, Elizabeth Hunkele and...
Pine-Richland girls soccer team puts faith in senior goalkeeper
Katharine Kelly might not look the part, but there was a time when she played left guard in youth football. Had she played receiver, she might have found her calling under Friday night lights. A little less than 10 years later, Kelly’s niche is goalkeeper for Pine-Richland’s soccer team. “I’d...
