Paul Schofield stories, Page 54

The Kiski Area track and field team didn’t have any first-place finishers Friday at the annual Lady Spartan/Wildcat Invitational, but the Cavaliers did have numerous athletes earn medals. The Kiski Area girls 3,200-meter relay team of Julia Snider, Lily Murphy, Ellie Hecker and Eliza Miller placed second to Hempfield with...

When the PIAA meets May 18, a major change in wrestling will need to be approved. The PIAA wrestling steering committee reconvened Tuesday and, after hours of discussions, approved a format that will decide which area gets more qualifiers for the PIAA individual championships. Regions will receive additional qualifiers based...

Some of the top teams in the WPIAL will be competing in the annual Lady Spartan/Wildcat Invitational on Friday at Latrobe’s Memorial Stadium. Competition begins at 1:30 p.m. with field events. Running preliminaries start at 2:15 p.m. and running finals at 4:30. The top teams include Hempfield, Norwin, Greensburg Central...

It’s fair to assume most high school athletes don’t always put in a 100% effort at practice. Most athletes aren’t like Hempfield junior Liz Tapper. There are times her coaches have to tell her to take it easy. On Monday, Tapper worked first with throwing coach Dave Murray, and after...

Here’s a lesson everyone has heard: Don’t always believe what you read on social media. After the PIAA Wrestling Steering committee met March 30, reports surfaced that the committee was considering going to four classifications. WPIAL committee member Frank Vulcano Jr. said that wasn’t even discussed, and a lot of...

Penn-Trafford’s Troy Hohman didn’t reach his goal of being a PIAA Class 3A champion, but the senior did end his high school career on a high note. In winning the seventh-place match at the PIAA championship March 13 at Giant Center in Hershey, Hohman earned his 100th career victory. He...

Calio Zanella Burrell, fr., 113 pounds 2021-22 record: 29-15 Overall record: 29-15 Helped the Bucs reach the WPIAL Class 2A team finals. He placed fifth in the WPIAL tournament and qualified for the PIAA Southwest Regional, where he went 1-2. He was one of the better freshmen in the A-K...

Ty Kapusta Franklin Regional, so., 106 pounds 2021-22 record: 32-9 Career record: 43-15 The Panthers sophomore finished third in the WPIAL and fourth in the PIAA in Class 3A. He reached the state semifinals before falling to Bethlehem Catholic’s Nathan Desmond. His biggest win in the state tournament was a...

Mt. Pleasant senior Dayton Pitzer finished off quite a wrestling career by becoming a three-time WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A champion. The Pitt commit did it in impressive fashion, pinning his way to the title with 12 consecutive falls. He made into the second period during the run just once...

“Heartbreaking” is the best word to describe the feelings of the Franklin Regional hockey team. The Panthers were 17 minutes away from their third Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Class 2A Penguins Cup title. They were leading No. 1 seed Thomas Jefferson by four goals after playing two dominating periods. But...

A coach with a roster filled with sophomore and freshmen should be full of uncertainty. Not Yough softball coach Art “Dutch” Harvey. He is excited about the upcoming season. Harvey has only one senior and one junior on his 13-player roster. “The goal is to contend of the WPIAL (Class...

When Yough opens the baseball season Friday against Jeannette, the biggest thing Cougars coach Craig Spisak will be looking at is who will compose his pitching staff. Yough graduated its top two pitchers — Vinny Martin and Sean Royer — so Spisak is searching for who will compile the most...

Three future Pitt wrestlers were among the 13 selected for Team Pennsylvania at the annual Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic slated for Friday at Peters Township. Four WPIAL wrestlers, three winning PIAA titles, are featured on the team that will take on Team USA at 8 p.m. Three-time WPIAL and PIAA champion...

Gio Valentine went end-to-end and scored a power play goal with 9 minutes, 23 seconds left and Neshannock defeated Bishop Canevin, 2-1, in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Division 2 championship Tuesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry It was the second consecutive title for Neshannock (15-4-2), while...

Scotty Allan picked a great time to score his first goal of the playoffs. Allan scored 46 seconds into overtime, and Thomas Jefferson rallied for the second time in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League playoffs to defeat Franklin Regional 6-5, in the Class 2A Penguins Cup championship game Tuesday at...

If the Penn-Trafford softball team’s first scrimmage was any indication, the power lost by graduation will be minimal. The Warriors pounded out seven home runs against Plum, which surprised coach Denny Little. Penn-Trafford isn’t rebuilding. It’s just reloading. “We still have girls who have power,” Little said. “We have some...

Most baseball coaches would be concerned after the bulk of their pitching staff graduated. But not Penn-Trafford coach Dan Miller. He is excited to see what players are ready to step up and fill the holes left by the six graduates: Riley Bellan, Trevor Wilson, Tyler Hoover, Zach Hoffman, Tommy...

The Franklin Regional hockey team learned a valuable lesson when it played South Fayette in the PIHL Class 2A semifinals March 15: don’t underestimate your opponent. Despite routing the Lions, 7-2, during the regular season, the Panthers (18-2) faced a different foe and needed some late-game heroics to pull out...

The Mt. Pleasant baseball team missed the WPIAL Class 3A baseball playoffs last season by one game. The Vikings look to change that this season. Mt. Pleasant coach Chris Firmstone said he’s optimistic about his team. The Vikings were 6-7 overall and 3-7 in Section 3-3A a year ago. Ligonier...

Mt. Pleasant softball coach Chris Brunson said he’d be doing his team a disservice if he didn’t expect big things from them. So the goals for the Vikings are simple: win the section, qualify for the WPIAL playoffs, win another WPIAL title and then a second consecutive PIAA title. Mt....

Ligonier Valley’s first season in the WPIAL was a memorable one for the softball team. The Rams (22-3) won their section, reached the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals and made it to their first PIAA championship, losing to Line Mountain, 1-0, in nine innings. “Us being new to the WPIAL and...

Ligonier Valley has a new man coaching the baseball team, and he brings a lot of experience. Jason Bush, who is the coach of the Latrobe American Legion team and was an assistant at Chatham, takes over after Brett Marabito resigned to become an assistant principal at Ligonier Valley. Bush...

Thomas Jefferson scored four second-period goals, including a hat trick by Colby Bilski, and skated past Penn-Trafford, 6-2, in the PIHL Cup Class 2A semifinals Tuesday at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center. . The victory puts the Jaguars in the Penguins Cup championship game against Franklin Regional on...

If there was one thing that stood out about the 2021 Hempfield baseball team, it was solid pitching. With the WPIAL’s new pitching rules, playing section games on back-to-back days, the Spartans had the luxury of being deep on the mound. Hempfield finished 16-9 overall and tied with Norwin with...

While there will be a new captain running the Hempfield softball ship this season, first-year coach Tina Madison said the expectations of the program will remain the same. Madison replaces legendary coach Bob Kalp, who retired after the 2021 season after coaching the Spartans for the past 25 seasons and...