Chris Harlan stories, Page 97
Woodland Hills’ Peyton Pinkney commits to Eastern Michigan after virtual tourVideo
Woodland Hills junior Peyton Pinkney took a tour of Eastern Michigan’s campus last week and never left her home. That’s the new normal in a pandemic. EMU women’s basketball coach Fred Castro and his staff provided a virtual tour of the Ypsilanti, Mich., campus for Pinkney to watch online. She...
Central Catholic football coaches deliver WPIAL championship rings door to doorVideo
What’s better than one WPIAL ring ceremony? How about 23? The covid-19 outbreak kept Central Catholic’s football coaches from handing out championship rings at school like they’d planned, so they decided to hand-deliver the rings to the 23 seniors on the roster that won the WPIAL Class 6A title. The...
Butler’s Ethan Morton named Player of the Year in Class 6A all-state voting
Butler’s Ethan Morton’s quest for a PIAA basketball title was cut short, but the senior earned statewide recognition Saturday as the state’s Class 6A Player of the Year in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. The Purdue recruit was the first WPIAL athlete to win the award in the PIAA’s...
Hotly recruited Peters Township safety Donovan McMillon names Top 10 listVideo
Peters Township junior Donovan McMillon, who’s quickly become the WPIAL’s hottest football recruit, announced a top 10 list Friday that included Penn State but not Pitt or West Virginia. The Nittany Lions were joined on the list by Arizona State, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas A&M and Virginia...
Bethel Park’s Liv Westphal commits to Duquesne
Three years ago, Bethel Park’s Liv Westphal and her family took an unofficial recruiting visit to Duquesne before her freshman year of high school. The Dukes were the first women’s basketball team to show interest in the future Black Hawks star. “We were in coach Dan Burt’s office for like...
Mars’ Michael Carmody, Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher earn all-state honors in Class 5A boys basketball
Mars’ Michael Carmody and Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher, whose teams clashed in the WPIAL boys basketball finals, were named first-team all-state Friday. They were the only WPIAL players selected to the Class 5A team in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. For Carmody, a Notre Dame football recruit, it was...
‘Size doesn’t matter’ as South Fayette’s Charley Rossi adds first Division I offerVideo
Charley Rossi took a break from helping his dad clean out the garage Monday to return a phone call to a college football coach. He knew how the conversation would go. How’s quarantine going? Is everybody in his family healthy? How’s school? What are his workouts like nowadays? All standard...
WPIAL lands 2 players on Class 4A boys basketball all-state team
Highlands’ Johnny Crise and Central Valley’s Isiah Warfield will play different sports in college, but right now they’re both all-state basketball players. The two WPIAL stars were selected all-state in Class 4A on Thursday in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Warfield was named to the second team and Crise...
North Catholic’s DeGregorios share all-state honors in Class 3A boys basketball
Two months after celebrating a WPIAL basketball title, North Catholic’s Dave and Isaac DeGregorio are sharing some statewide recognition. Isaac DeGregorio, a senior guard, earned second-team all-state honors in Class 3A and his father Dave DeGregorio was named as the classification’s top coach Wednesday in a vote of Pennsylvania sports...
WPIAL approves new basketball sections; won’t reveal them yet
Basketball sections for next season are almost ready, but WPIAL players, coaches and fans must wait a little longer to see them. The WPIAL board approved updated section alignments at its April meeting, said associate executive director Amy Scheuneman, but those included multiple contingencies in case the PIAA competitive-balance rule...
All-state boys basketball: OLSH’s DiMichele, Spadafora, Rodriguez lead Class 2A team
OLSH junior Dante Spadafora and sophomore Jake DiMichele earned first-team all-state honors Tuesday, and the Chargers’ Mike Rodriguez was named the state’s top coach in Class 2A. In all, four WPIAL players were selected in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Sto-Rox’s Malik Smith and California’s Malik Ramsey earned second-team...
PIAA shouldn’t enforce competitive-balance rule, Lincoln Park basketball coach says
If the PIAA competitive-balance rule forces the Lincoln Park boys basketball team into a higher classification next season, coach Mike Bariski thinks that’s unfair. “We’re not averse to going up,” he said. “I just totally disagree with the process.” Two months ago, Bariski would have accepted the promotion without objection....
All-state boys basketball: Cornell’s Kaden DiVito named Player of the Year in Class A
Cornell’s Kaden DiVito, who saw his senior season cut short two wins away from the PIAA finals, earned statewide recognition Monday as the Class A boys basketball player of the year. A 5-foot-11 guard committed to Washington & Jefferson, DiVito averaged 20.8 points for the WPIAL runner-up. In the state...
Moon sophomore Reilly Sunday adds 5 Division I offers since late MarchVideo
Social distancing hasn’t kept basketball scholarship offers away from Moon’s Reilly Sunday. Gyms are closed, but the all-state sophomore added five more Division I offers in recent weeks. Her most recent came Saturday from Kent State. Since March 26, she’s also added offers from American, Penn, Princeton and George Washington....
Quaker Valley’s Corinne Washington adds Duquesne scholarship offerVideo
Quaker Valley’s Corinne Washington, one of the WPIAL’s top juniors, added a scholarship offer Saturday from Duquesne women’s basketball coach Dan Burt. It’s the second offer this month for the 5-foot-11 guard, who added Boston University on April 20. The 18-point scorer earned all-section honors this season and was named...
Jeannette to pay sports officials despite cancellation of spring sports season
The PIAA canceled spring sports across the state, but Jeannette School District still will pay the officials scheduled to work its games. It is a gesture of appreciation, said Paul Sroka, the district’s business manager. Officials will receive $37.50 for each Jeannette game on their schedule, half of the typical...
WPIAL football has NFL draft streak that’s more than 2 decades long
The WPIAL has had at least one former player picked each year in the NFL draft since 1994, a remarkable streak that could be extended again this week. New Castle’s Geno Stone (Iowa), Cornell’s Dane Jackson (Pitt), Imani Christian’s Kenny Robinson (West Virginia) and McKeesport’s Khaleke Hudson (Michigan) are the...
Upper St. Clair football coach Jim Render among 12 selected for Pa. Sports Hall of Fame
Former Upper St. Clair football coach Jim Render, who retired last summer with the most wins in WPIAL history, was among 12 individuals chosen for induction into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame this fall. The 2020 class also includes professional hockey player R.J. Umberger of Plum, Steelers assistant coach...
All-state girls basketball: Ellis’ Natalie Jasper, Canevin’s Diajha Allen receive Class 2A honors
Ellis School junior Natalie Jasper and Bishop Canevin senior Diajha Allen, who led their teams deep into the playoffs, earned all-state honors Wednesday in Class 2A girls basketball. Jasper was named to the second team and Allen made third team in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Bishop Canevin went...
All-state girls basketball: Rochester teammates share statewide honors in Class A
Rochester teammates Alexis Robison and Corynne Hauser, who repeated as WPIAL girls basketball champions, drew statewide recognition Wednesday by earning all-state honors in Class A. Robison, a junior, made the first team and Hauser, a sophomore, made second team in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Rochester went 26-1 and...
All-state girls basketball: Mohawk’s Karly McCutcheon, Carlynton’s Jada Lee honored in Class 3A
Mohawk’s Karly McCutcheon and Carlynton’s Jada Lee, whose girls basketball teams met twice in the playoffs this winter, each earned all-state honors Tuesday in Class 3A. They were the only WPIAL players selected in 3A in a statewide vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Both earned third-team honors. Lee is headed...
All-state girls basketball: North Catholic’s Tess Myers, Kylee Lewandowski among 6 WPIAL players selected in 4A
North Catholic teammates Tess Myers and Kylee Lewandowski, who extended their team’s WPIAL title streak to four, shared first-team all-state girls basketball honors Tuesday in Class 4A. Blackhawk senior Mackenzie Amalia also earned first-team honors, giving the WPIAL three of the top six roster spots. Myers is a Duquesne recruit,...
Beaver Falls RB/LB Josh Hough commits to SyracuseVideo
Beaver Falls junior Josh Hough, who saw his recruiting stock rise quickly in recent months, committed Monday to Syracuse. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound running back and linebacker announced his decision on Twitter. Hough drew nearly 20 Division I offers and received them all since Jan. 10. Syracuse offered him a scholarship...
Horse or no horse, Penn Hills football schedules scrimmage at Aliquippa
Jon LeDonne is taking his Penn Hills football team to Aliquippa to scrimmage at his alma mater’s stadium this fall. With one condition. “I told them to make sure they’ve still got the horse and the flaming spear,” said LeDonne, a 2001 Aliquippa graduate who witnessed the Quips’ pregame tradition...
Peters Township hires new coaches for boys, girls basketball teams
Peters Township filled two vacant coaching jobs Monday night by hiring Joe Urmann to lead the boys basketball team and Bob Miles to lead the girls. Urmann coached the Baldwin boys for seven seasons from 2011-18 and was previously an assistant at Mt. Lebanon for four. His Baldwin teams went...
