Paul Schofield stories, Page 3

Penn-Trafford junior Dylan Barrett (38-7, 106-32) earned a seventh-place medal at the PIAA 3A wrestling tournament March 8 at the Giant Center in Hershey. Barrett, competing at 114 pounds, finished second to Hempfield junior Nico Kapusta at the WPIAL tournament and was third at the PIAA West Regional. He opened...

Franklin Regional swimming coach Dan Taylor talked before the season about a bright future. His girls squad did not disappoint, and the boys are on track to return to power. The girls placed seventh at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championship on March 12-15 at Bucknell University in Class 2A...

The 28th annual Cager Classic, featuring senior basketball players from Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland counties, will be held at Highlands High School. Practice is April 3, the skills competition April 4 and the games — 5:30 p.m. for the girls and 7:30 p.m. for the boys — April 5....

Franklin Regional has won three WPIAL baseball titles, the last coming in 2021 when it defeated Bethel Park, 2-1, in the championship game. Is this the year the Panthers add a fourth title? Veteran coach Bob Saddler said he’s excited about this year’s squad, which returns five starters from a...

Thomas Jefferson senior Maddox Shaw is the only wrestler selected to represent the WPIAL on the Pennsylvania squad in the 51st Pittsburgh Wresting Classic on March 29 at the AHN Arena at Peters Township High School. The Pennsylvania squad will face a powerful United States squad at p.m. Before the...

JOHNSTOWN — Jeannette coach Adrian Batts felt his basketball team did not put out great effort in its first two PIAA playoff games. If the Jayhawks have hopes of winning their second PIAA title, things must change. It took Jeannette (25-3) more than a quarter to find a groove Wednesday...

Sometimes all you need is a bounce. Fox Chapel got that midway through the third period Tuesday to earn a trip to the PIHL Class 2A Penguins Cup final. Hayden Ferra happened to be at the right spot at the right time. After teammate Lian Wiseman dumped the puck behind...

It was quite a weekend for the Pitt wrestling team. The Panthers finished second at the ACC Tournament at Duke, had three champions and qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championships set for March 20-22, in Philadelphia. The winning trio were graduate student Reece Heller (184 pounds), Mt. Lebanon grad...

The Penn-Trafford hockey team sure surprised a lot of teams during the PIHL playoffs in 2024. The Warriors entered the Penguins Cup tournament in Class 2A and proceeded to defeat No. 1 Thomas Jefferson and No. 4 Norwin. This year, the Warriors were seeded fourth in the tournament, and they...

HERSHEY — Penn-Trafford sophomore Luke DeSantis and junior Dylan Barrett earned their way to the biggest stage in high school wrestling this season — the PIAA Class 3A tournament in Hershey. It was a split decision for the Penn-Trafford pair on Day 1 of the tournament March 6 at the...

HERSHEY — Belle Vernon’s wrestling program finally has a state champion. On the school’s sixth try, junior Elijah Brown achieved what five others previously had attempted. Brown defeated Westmoreland County rival Cooper Roscosky of Kiski Area, 4-3, in the Class 3A 215-pound final Saturday at Giant Center. Roscosky scored a...

HERSHEY — It is never a good sight to see an athlete taken from an event on a stretcher. That’s what happened Friday during the early sessions of the PIAA Class 2A boys and PIAA girls wrestling tournaments when two athletes, Derry sophomore Brady Brown and Northeast Bradford junior Anaiah...

HERSHEY – The 215-pound weight class from the WPIAL lived up to its reputation Friday afternoon as all four quarterfinalists were winners. That guarantees the WPIAL a champion Saturday at the Giant Center. The four wrestlers from the WPIAL were No. 1 through No. 4 in PaPowerWrestling rankings. Belle Vernon...

In fewer than 100 days, many of the top golfers in the world will be at historic Oakmont Country Club teeing it up for the U.S. Open. It will be a record 10th time the tournament will be held at the famous venue, and each time a different story has...

A year ago, the PIAA held its first girls wrestling tournament. Norwin sophomores Karsyn Champion and Octavia Walker enjoyed the experience, but neither was able to earn a medal. Now the Norwin duo hopes getting the experience of competing on the big stage carries them to bigger things this weekend....

Carlee Valenta, a 2024 Penn-Trafford graduate qualified for the NCAA Division I rifle championship, set for March 14-15, at Kentucky. The freshman at the University of Texas-El Paso set two school records. She is the first Miner since 2012 to compete in the championship. Valenta has had an outstanding season,...

So far, so good for Hempfield junior Nico Kapusta. Even though he missed most of the regular season with a left elbow injury he suffered during a preseason tournament, which made him doubtful to compete, Kapusta healed faster than expected. Now he has his eye on winning a PIAA Class...

Sometimes in life, it is the luck of the draw. Penn-Trafford sophomore Luke DeSantis came into the PIAA Class 3A West Region on Friday unseeded. But he made a name for himself by advancing to Saturday’s semifinals with a pair of wins. Any wrestler to reach the semifinals needs only...

The Kiski School announced Tuesday that Aaron Smetanka is the school’s new football coach. Smetanka previously coached at Saint Vincent College and Greensburg Central Catholic. Kiski School is a Westmoreland County private school located in Saltsburg. Smetanka took over as coach at Saint Vincent on Dec. 5, 2018. His six-year...

If wrestlers from the WPIAL in Class 3A want to compete in the PIAA championships in Hershey this year, they have an extra tournament to compete in. The PIAA consolidated the Southwest and Northwest Regions to form the West Region for the next two years. The WPIAL wrestlers must compete...

Boys Class 3A West Region Where: Canon-McMillan High School When: Friday and Saturday Times: Friday — preliminary round, quarterfinals and first consolation round, 5 p.m. Saturday — second consolation round, 9 a.m.; semifinals and third consolation round, 10:30 a.m.; fourth consolation round, 12:30 p.m.; finals and third- and fifth-place matches,...

Penn-Trafford’s ice hockey team did not end the regular season exactly how it wanted, but first-year coach Brian Zagorac was proud of his team’s effort. The Warriors were hoping to cap the regular season with wins against Latrobe and first-place Fox Chapel. They got a 3-1 win against Latrobe but...

No matter what happens during the final week of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs, the Penn-Trafford boys and girls basketball teams have already punched their tickets to the PIAA tournament, which begins March 7-8. The boys qualified by upsetting No.2 Baldwin, 60-45, in the first round Feb. 18. The Warriors...

The finals are set for the WPIAL Class 3A individual wrestling championships after a couple of battles in Saturday’s semifinals at Canon-McMillan. The finals and placement matches begin at 3:30 p.m. The best semifinal came at 189 pounds where Central Catholic junior Nez Green outscored Latrobe sophomore Hunter Snyder, 16-15,...

Even though he hadn’t beaten Norwin freshman Coleton Klipa in five tries this season, Franklin Regional sophomore Titus Colangelo did not consider the victory over his section rival in the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals Friday an upset. Colangelo has wrestled against Klipa enough times over the years to know what...