Jonathan Bombulie stories, Page 8
Freshman basketball star Rodney Gallagher gets football offer from Penn State
It’s not surprising that Rodney Gallagher received a scholarship offer from Penn State on Wednesday. Colleges from all over the country are sure to be lining up to secure the services of the Laurel Highlands freshman in the coming months. What might be a little surprising is the Nittany Lions...
Kris Letang delivers message of peace as another Penguins-Flyers series looms
In these trying times, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang delivered a message of hope this week. If he harbors no ill will toward Scott Hartnell, we all can show more charity toward our fellow man, right? In the waning seconds of an Oct. 8, 2009, game between intrastate rivals, Letang flew...
WPIAL wrestling champ Ryan Michaels of Elizabeth Forward headed to Pitt
Coach Keith Gavin, now wrapping up his third season at the helm, has made solid progress in improving the standing of the Pitt wrestling program on the national scene. Over the past two seasons, the Panthers have gone 23-7 in dual meets, crowned five ACC champs and qualified 11 wrestlers...
Senior spotlight: Doubles partner pushed Quaker Valley tennis ace to new heights
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight a WPIAL spring athlete whose senior year has been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Playing in as many postseason tennis matches as John Watters did during his time at Quaker Valley is a good way to build up rivalries. But the...
Pine-Richland lineman Harrison Hayes chooses Liberty
Pine-Richland junior Harrison Hayes, one of the top linemen in the WPIAL, announced his commitment to Liberty University on Tuesday night. A 6-foot-4, 270-pound offensive tackle, Hayes had nearly two dozen scholarship offers, including a variety of schools from the MAC (Toledo, Akron, Buffalo, Kent State and Bowling Green) and...
South Fayette wrestler Eli Brinsky commits to Clarion
South Fayette wrestler Eli Brinsky has committed to Clarion. Brinsky, who had a 125-49 career record in high school, had a big senior season. He went 38-7, won a section title, finished third at WPIALs and took sixth in the state in Class AAA at 170 pounds. Brinsky recorded his...
Roundball Classic called off
The Roundball Classic, an annual high school basketball all-star game scheduled for the end of April, was canceled Tuesday, the latest domino to fall after the PIAA called off its winter sports championships and spring sports last week. A series of seven games featuring seniors from the WPIAL, City League...
Derry lineman Gavin Adams sticks with recruiting process, earns walk-on spot at Miami
While he wraps up his senior year at Derry, Gavin Adams still is working his after-school job at Lowe’s. Hardware stores remain open, so Adams is considered essential personnel. The University of Miami thinks so, too. Adams, a 6-foot-3, 275-pound offensive lineman, committed to joining the Hurricanes as a preferred...
Senior spotlight: WPIAL pitchers missed chance to whiff all-state Seneca Valley outfielder
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight a WPIAL spring athlete whose senior year has been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Over the last two seasons, few hitters in WPIAL softball have been a tougher out than Seneca Valley outfielder Kearson Wagner. Last season, for instance, she hit...
Shady Side Academy basketball standout Nyla Rozier picks St. Francis
Shady Side Academy junior Nyla Rozier made her college choice Monday, committing to St. Francis. A 5-foot-11 guard, Rozier averaged 19.8 points per game for the Indians this season. As a sophomore, she averaged 14 points per game and helped Shady Side Academy to a 17-3 record, a Section 3-3A...
Local fighter Khama Worthy disappointed by UFC cancellation
UFC president Dana White received a great deal of criticism for being the last major professional sports figure to resist canceling events because of the coronavirus pandemic. He didn’t call off UFC 249, which was scheduled for Saturday, until last Thursday. None of that criticism came from local fighter Khama...
Senior spotlight: Keystone Oaks ace headed to Akron after giving WPIAL hitters fits
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight a WPIAL spring athlete whose senior year has been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. For left-handed batters in Section 3-3A, there was a silver lining in last week’s announcement that the PIAA had canceled spring sports. They won’t have to try...
Latrobe’s Luke Pletcher presses forward after NCAA title dreams evaporate
Luke Pletcher is a two-time All-American wrestler at Ohio State and a legitimate Olympic hopeful. He has to wrap up only two more online classes before he graduates, and he has a coaching job — a volunteer assistant position at Pitt — lined up once he does. Yet at the...
PIAA cancellation hits Mt. Pleasant WPIAL champion swimmer hard
The sight of a team full of high school swimmers huddled together in the lobby of Kinney Natatorium at Bucknell, tears streaming down their faces, that’s not something Mt. Pleasant’s Heather Gardner will forget any time soon. Frankly, the way her senior year is ending will probably be seared into...
Senior spotlight: Bethel Park’s McGowan has college ball at James Madison to look forward to
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight a WPIAL spring athlete whose senior year has been put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic. All-section outfielder Sean McGowan and this year’s crop of seniors on the Bethel Park baseball team emerged on the scene as a group of feisty sophomores...
Former Penn Hills basketball standout Daivon Stephens headed to Coastal Carolina
Daivon Stephens’ college basketball career has carried him to the sunny shores of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Stephens, a former Penn Hill star, committed Thursday to Coastal Carolina University. A 6-foot-7 forward, Stephens led Penn Hills to the 2018 WPIAL Class 6A championship, averaging 17.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists...
High school athletes struggle with PIAA’s decision to cancel winter, spring sports
Liv Kelly figured this news was coming. It didn’t make it any easier to take. On Thursday afternoon, Gov. Tom Wolf announced all Pennsylvania schools would be shut down for the rest of the academic year. A few hours later, the PIAA canceled its suspended winter sports championships and the...
Successful football coach Tim Sweeney leaves Derry for Baldwin
Tim Sweeney had a big job ahead of him when he took over as football coach at Derry in 2013. Consider it a job well done. After bringing his alma mater from the brink of extinction to the WPIAL championship game at Heinz Field, Sweeney was named coach at Baldwin...
Ranking the Penguins’ most memorable playoff openers
If the coronavirus pandemic hadn’t shut down the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins probably would have played their playoff opener Wednesday night. Here’s a look at the 10 most memorable playoff openers in franchise history. 1. April 13, 2016: Penguins 5, Rangers 2 — With Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury out...
Playoff intensity could be lost if season resumes for Penguins, NHL
Conditioned by a fistful of championship runs over the past three decades, Penguins fans know the deal by now. Yeah, hockey season starts in October, but really, the games that matter start at the beginning of April. If it hadn’t been for the coronavirus pandemic suspending play, the Penguins would...
Senior spotlight: Before college football starts, Seton LaSalle’s Shaughnessy savors memories on court
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight a WPIAL spring athlete whose senior year has been put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic. Early in the recruiting process, Seton LaSalle senior Alex Shaughnessy realized the idea of playing two sports in college might be a little too much. A...
Impact players from powerhouse teams headline Trib 10 girls basketball all-stars
It might not have been as obvious as last season, when Peters Township and Chartiers Valley went undefeated on their way to state titles, but WPIAL girls basketball was dominated by a select group of super teams this season. Chartiers Valley went undefeated again while North Catholic and Rochester each...
Senior spotlight: Highlands’ speedy Sarah Sawhook selects Seton Hill
Editor’s note: Each day, the Tribune-Review will spotlight a WPIAL spring athlete whose senior year has been put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic. For more athletes’ stories, visit TribHSSN.triblive.com. At a time like this, with their lives stuck in an awkward sort of limbo, high school seniors could use...
Latrobe grad Jake Biss wins Shippensburg athlete of the year honors
Latrobe graduate Jake Biss has been named Shippensburg’s male student-athlete of the year. A junior point guard, Biss led the Raiders with 15.9 points per game and was fourth in the PSAC with 4.4 assists per game. He shot 40.3% from 3-point range and 89.9% from the free-throw line. Shippensburg...
Chartiers Valley’s Aislin Malcolm named Trib HSSN Girls Basketball Player of the Year
Some athletes are motivated by the desire to win. Others are driven by the fear of losing. Chartiers Valley sophomore guard Aislin Malcolm would be happy to talk about which group she belongs to, but there’s a small problem with that. She doesn’t really know what losing is like, not...
