High School category, Page 134
Penn-Trafford notebook: Warriors qualify for PIAA tournament
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...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Feb. 22, 2025
High schools Basketball WPIAL playoffs Boys Class 6A Semifinals Monday’s schedule Upper. St. Clair (21-2) vs. Central Catholic (14-9) at Peters Township, 7 p.m.; New Castle (20-3) vs. Mt. Lebanon (17-7) at Mt. Lebanon, 8 p.m. Class 5A Semifinals Tuesday’s schedule Montour (23-1) vs. Chartiers Valley (21-3) at Mt. Lebanon,...
North Catholic turns in masterful performance in Class 4A semifinal win over Beaver
In a nearly 30-point win, North Catholic’s Jason Fredericks heard his coach keep urging him and his teammates to master the moment. It’s a phrase North Catholic coach Jim Rocco uses to sum up his team’s basketball philosophy. Nobody ever masters the game, Rocco admits, but he says their drive...
Sharp-shooting Cheswick Christian Academy wins back-to-back SWCAC titles
The Cheswick Christian Academy boys captured their second consecutive Southwestern Christian Athletic Conference basketball title Saturday with a 64-36 victory over Pittsburgh Christian Academy. It was CCA’s third straight trip to the title game and second time in a row playing the River Hawks for the championship. Joseph Rosio and...
High school roundup for Feb. 22, 2025: Karis Thomas hits for 46 points as Shady Side Academy girls reach finals
Karis Thomas went off for 46 points, hiting nine 3-pointers, to lead top-seeded Shady Side Academy to a 69-33 win over No. 12 Ellwood City in the WPIAL Class 3A girls basketball semifinals Saturday at North Allegheny. Leah Buford added 10 points for Shady Side Academy (24-0), which will play...
Top seeds mostly reign at WPIAL Class 2A wrestling
Although there were some surprises peppered in the semifinals of the WPIAL Class 2A wrestling championships Saturday at Chartiers Valley, the finals were another story. Twelve of the 13 finals matches had the No. 1 seed in each weight class as a competitor, and all but one came away with...
North Allegheny sweeps WPIAL Class 3A diving gold
For the second time in four years, North Allegheny divers swept the WPIAL Class 3A championships at their home pool Saturday. Ethan Maravich became the fourth Tigers diver to win the boys title while Maggie Lapina gave North Allegheny its sixth straight girls championship. Maravich (532.30) was one of three...
Belle Vernon overcomes halftime deficit; Davis hits clutch free throw to secure 1-point win over Avonworth
The Belle Vernon boys basketball team faced an eight-point halftime deficit and had several of its starters in foul trouble. Some teams might have cracked under the pressure, but not the Leopards. Led by four players in double figures, Belle Vernon overcame Avonworth as Tommy Davis sank a free throw...
Westmoreland County athletes of the week: Southmoreland’s Zoey Murphy, Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown
The Westmoreland County Athletes of the Week is presented by Smail Kia. Look for the tags and look for the savings at Smail Kia in Greensburg. Zoey Murphy School: Southmoreland Class: Junior Sport: Wrestling Claim to fame: Murphy became her school’s first WPIAL girls wrestling champion, earning a 42-second pin...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, Highlands’ Javeon Chambers
Braylee Ireland School: Knoch Class: Junior Sport: Wrestling Claim to fame: Knoch junior Braylee Ireland became the program’s first WPIAL girls wrestling champion with a 7-3 victory over Mt. Lebanon’s Paige Jox on Feb. 15 at Mt. Lebanon. The 118-pounder is 22-6 this season with 15 points and 55-34 for...
Greensburg Central Catholic girls rely on defense, Avery Jones’ scoring to reach WPIAL final
It looks like Greensburg Central Catholic found its third scoring option. And a defensive edge to go along with it. Sophomore Avery Jones helped carry some of the offensive load by scoring a career-high 14 points, and No. 2 seed GCC clamped down defensively to hold No. 3 Our Lady...
Latrobe’s Luke Willochell among 10 defending champs to reach WPIAL Class 3A finals
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,...
After falling just short of playoff berth, Riverview boys look toward future
The Riverview boys basketball team finished with a 4-3 record in games played on its home court at Riverview High School. The Raiders played there just three times through Jan. 17. The final home game, a senior-night contest against Section 1-2A foe California on Feb. 7, marked the final opportunity...
Plum girls wrestling trio advances to PIAA regional tournament
Alaina Claassen knew Valley’s Arianna Bernard well by the time they met for the 190-pound championship at the WPIAL girls wrestling championships Feb. 15 at North Allegheny High School. Claasen, a Plum junior and last year’s WPIAL champion in the 235-pound weight class, beat Bernard twice during the regular season,...
Norwin notebook: Knights earn all-section basketball honors
The Big 5/6 Conference, which recognizes accomplishments of the two largest classifications in the WPIAL, announced its all-section basketball teams. Seniors Kendall Berger and Averi Brozeski of Norwin were selected to the first team in Section 2-6A, while their coach, Brian Brozeski, was tabbed coach of the year. Norwin senior...
North Allegheny girls wrestling program takes solid steps forward
In the second year of PIAA-sanctioned girls wrestling, North Allegheny found itself in a similar position as the first. In 2024, Dan Heckert was named the inaugural WPIAL girls wrestling coach of the year. In the same season, senior Leyna Rumpler was crowned the 155-pound champion. Fast forward to 2025,...
North Allegheny’s Grant Regule looks to add another gold medal to collection
North Allegheny’s Grant Regule already owns one state championship in the pool as a senior, and now he’s searching for more gold in the water. A member of NA’s 2024 state champion water polo team, Regule is poised to defend his WPIAL Class 3A title in the 50 freestyle and...
Franklin Regional returns to PIAA competitive spirit championships
The Franklin Regional cheer team returned to the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships for the first time in five years. The Panthers did not receive a single deduction and advanced to the semifinals, where they again “hit zero” miscues and narrowly missed the finals at Santander Arena in Reading. Franklin Regional,...
Shady Side Academy swimmers eye success at WPIAL championships
Shady Side Academy swim coach Erika Cooper was very pleased with how her swimmers performed during the regular season. The boys team went undefeated with a 10-0 overall record and were 6-0 to finish as Section 3-2A champions. The girls team went 3-6 overall and finished fifth in the seven-team...
Herald notebook: Fox Chapel to be well-represented at WPIAL swim championships
A large contingent of Fox Chapel swimmers will be competing at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships Thursday and Friday (Feb. 27-28) at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Here’s a look at the Foxes who earned top 8 seeds: • Senior Sarah Pasquella is seeded first in the girls 200-yard freestyle (1:49.93)...
Postseason grind tests mettle of Fox Chapel wrestlers
The path to qualifying for the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships has an extra step to the process this season. For the first time in the larger classification, wrestlers must qualify for a regional instead of going straight from the WPIAL tournament to states. Fox Chapel wrestling coach Michael Frank...
Fox Chapel girls set new standards during playoff season
The Fox Chapel girls basketball team made its return to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs after a three-year absence. The Foxes weren’t able to upend potential title hopeful Peters Township, but Fox Chapel coach Marty Matvey was happy with the progress. The Foxes lost 66-58 and hope they have the...
Balanced Bethel Park lineup filled with 20-win wrestlers
Eight athletes assumed leading roles in the Bethel Park wrestling program this season. Seniors Ethan Higgins, Aden Stout, Michael Gibson, Seth Miller and Hunter Goelz and sophomores Pierce Reinhart, Ian Bucheli and Colton Fisher all attained 20 or more victories by mid-February. “Each of these wrestlers have had great seasons...
100th win highlights season for Bethel Park wrestler Ethan Higgins
Career win No. 100 arrived as expected for Bethel Park’s talented senior wrestler Ethan Higgins. “It’s an incredible feeling. Honestly, I’ve worked so hard to get to this point, and when it finally happened, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment,” Higgins said. “It’s a testament to all the hours...
Hard-working Bethel Park girls rewarded with playoff success
Bethel Park’s girls basketball team prepped for a possible playoff run in 2024-25 by playing an onerous regular-season schedule. To that end, the Black Hawks recovered from a midseason malaise to finish 11-11 with a spot in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A tournament against Franklin Regional. “An...
