Chris Harlan stories, Page 82
New Castle backs up No. 1 ranking with victory over No. 2 Chartiers Valley
New Castle joined a larger classification this winter but the results seem much the same. The top-ranked Red Hurricanes cooled down one of the WPIAL’s hottest scorers Tuesday night and ran away with a lopsided win over No. 2 Chartiers Valley, 73-45, solidifying their spot as the top team in...
Moon basketball’s Reilly Sunday commits to Duquesne
Moon point guard Reilly Sunday, who’s sidelined this basketball season with a knee injury, committed Tuesday to Duquesne. She announced her decision on Twitter. The 5-foot-10 guard would’ve been one of the WPIAL’s top juniors this season. Sunday was a 21-point scorer last season as a sophomore when Moon reached...
63! Chartiers Valley girls break state basketball win streak recordVideo
Silver balloons hung in Chartiers Valley’s locker room after Monday’s girls basketball game, with some spelling out “yay!” and others “63.” Those balloons were the only hint the team had just made history. Chartiers Valley extended its unmatched winning streak to 63 games with a 91-39 victory over Gateway, breaking...
WPIAL boys basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 16, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Upper St. Clair, 4-0, 1 2. Mt. Lebanon, 2-0, 3 3. North Allegheny, 3-1, 5 4. Hempfield, 2-1, NR 5. Butler, 2-1, 2 Out: Central Catholic (2-2, 4) Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. New Castle, 3-0, 2 2. Chartiers Valley, 6-0,...
WPIAL girls basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 16, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 4-0, 1 2. Upper St. Clair, 3-1, 2 3. Mt. Lebanon, 4-0, 3 4. Norwin, 3-0, 4 5. Bethel Park, 1-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Chartiers Valley, 5-0, 1 2. Trinity, 4-0, 2 3. Thomas...
Now healthy, Habib steps into new role for North Allegheny
Greg Habib’s junior season ended early last winter when a player fell into his leg at Seneca Valley’s gym, forced his knee inward and injured his medial collateral ligament. A lot can change in 12 months. Almost one year to the day, the North Allegheny senior returned to Seneca’s gym...
Chartiers Valley girls quietly tie longest winning streak in state basketball history
There were a couple of high fives when the clock reached zeroes Friday night but nothing more than usual as Chartiers Valley wrapped up a 53-point section win over Moon. There was no indication the Colts had just tied a state record. No idea they’d just won their 62nd consecutive...
Facing 1-game suspension, Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic resigns
Facing a one-game suspension handed down by his school district, Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic resigned instead. Furjanic submitted his resignation letter Friday morning, hours before he was expected to serve his suspension. A longtime college coach, Furjanic cited a poor working relationship with the school’s administration as...
Norwin investigates on-court incident between basketball coach, opposing player
The WPIAL won’t seek to discipline Norwin’s boys basketball coach for an on-court incident with a player since the school district has already addressed the issue. “We let schools take responsibility for what goes on,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said Thursday. In last week’s loss at Central Catholic, two...
Woodland Hills suspends boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic 1 game for social media post
Woodland Hills suspended boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic for one game in response to a social media post last week that criticized game officials. Furjanic confirmed the suspension Thursday after his appeal was denied by the school’s administration. He’ll sit out Friday’s home game against Berlin Brothersvalley. The WPIAL board...
WPIAL ‘publicly censures’ Woodland Hills basketball coach Matt Furjanic for tweet
Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic tweets mostly about presidential politics to his 436 Twitter followers, but the WPIAL found one of his other posts more controversial. The WPIAL board decided Wednesday that Furjanic should be publicly admonished for using social media to question a technical foul called against...
Blistering 32-point quarter carries new-look North Allegheny past Seneca Valley
North Allegheny’s boys basketball team hasn’t reached triple digits in the past five seasons, which isn’t all that surprising since scoring 100 points is rare in the WPIAL. But this year’s team has a chance. “We’re trying to put up as many as we can,” NA senior Greg Habib said....
Pittsburgh City League winter sports will start Jan. 25
City League sports teams can begin their winter seasons Jan. 25, two days before Pittsburgh Public Schools students are expected to resume in-person classes. PPS superintendent Anthony Hamlet announced the updated timeline Monday. The district’s administration had previously said winter sports would be delayed until at least Feb. 1. “As...
Damned if you do: Woodland Hills coach, WPIAL board to chat about Tweet
Woodland Hills boys basketball coach Matt Furjanic has a no cursing policy and violators run sprints at practice. Now, Furjanic might be the one running, although he disputes whether the word he uttered should count. Furjanic said he was assessed a technical foul Friday for yelling: “Dammit. That’s steps.” After...
WPIAL boys basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 10, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Upper St. Clair, 2-0, 1 2. Butler, 2-0, 2 3. Mt. Lebanon, 1-0, 5 4. Central Catholic, 1-1, 4 5. North Allegheny, 1-1, 3 Out: none Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Mars, 2-0, 2 2. New Castle, 2-0, 4 3. Chartiers...
WPIAL girls basketball rankings: Week ending Jan. 10, 2021
Class 6A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 2-0, 1 2. Upper St. Clair, 1-1, 2 3. Mt. Lebanon, 1-0, 3 4. Norwin, 1-0, 4 5. Bethel Park, 0-0, 5 Out: none Class 5A Rk., Team, W-L, Last 1. Chartiers Valley, 2-0, 1 2. Trinity, 2-0, 2 3. Woodland...
Deep roster to play key role for North Hills boys basketball
North Hills boys basketball coach Buzz Gabos has plans for the 10th, 11th and maybe even 12th player on the team’s bench. They won’t all just sit there. After enduring a 31-day layoff, this season will require a group effort, especially in the early weeks, said Gabos, who intends to...
Mt. Lebanon’s strong 3rd quarter spoils Jeff Ackermann’s Baldwin debut
After practicing just four times since late November, Mt. Lebanon coach Joe David could only wonder what his basketball team might look like this season. There were out-of-sync plays in Friday’s opener and moments that felt sluggish, but the third quarter was vintage Blue Devils: 3-pointers, defense. It was all...
Return policy: Answering the big questions as WPIAL teams get back on the court
Worried? Skeptical? Angry? Choose your emotion, but WPIAL athletes and coaches were understandably nervous in the middle of December when Gov. Tom Wolf paused interscholastic sports for three weeks. Nobody was certain winter sports would resume any time soon. However, Friday is finally game day, so expect a collective cheer...
Uniontown leaving WPIAL football for independent schedule
Uniontown is leaving WPIAL football for an independent schedule, a decision school administrators hope can spark a struggling program. The football team has lost 34 consecutive games, a losing streak that started in 2016. “This decision will allow the football program to have a restart,” said Daniel Bosnic, assistant to...
Gov. Wolf: Shutdown of high school sports will end Monday
After a three-week pause of interscholastic sports, it’s time to push “play.” Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday his administration’s ban on extra-curricular activities won’t be extended, allowing high school teams statewide to resume their seasons next week. His covid-19 order expires at 8 a.m. Monday. The order kept sports teams...
PIAA, WPIAL delay team wrestling championships
The PIAA remains committed to crowning team wrestling champions this winter, but for now it doesn’t know when or where. The PIAA board voted Tuesday to postpone its team tournament until a date to be determined. The team tournament was delayed until after individual state champions are crowned March 12-13,...
PIAA relaxes preseason practice rule, anticipates restarting sports Jan. 4
Help has arrived for high school teams that fell behind schedule on their preseason practices. PIAA rules require 15 preseason workouts before starting competition, but the board Tuesday cut that number to 10 for teams this winter. As a result, many athletes will begin their winter seasons days sooner than...
5 Central Valley teammates voted all-state; Ameer Dudley named top player in 3A
Undefeated Central Valley was unmatched this season, a dominance that was rewarded in all-state voting Tuesday. Warriors quarterback Ameer Dudley was named the state’s Player of the Year in Class 3A, four teammates earned all-state honors and Mark Lyons was named Coach of the Year in a vote of Pennsylvania...
Beaver Falls trio leads 7 WPIAL players on Class 2A all-state football team
A month after winning a WPIAL football title, Beaver Falls teammates Josh Hough, Mitchell Myers and Tyler Jones have reason to celebrate again. The three seniors were among seven WPIAL players and one City League athlete who earned Class 2A all-state honors Tuesday in a vote of Pennsylvania football writers....
