High School category, Page 449
As football season begins with heat week, Central Catholic starts to lay foundation
Central Catholic’s new football coach, Ryan Lehmeier, and his predecessor, Terry Totten, were both on the practice field Monday when the Vikings started heat acclimation. But there was no coaching controversy brewing. “I have a really good relationship with Terry,” Lehmeier said. “He’s probably the best resource I possibly could...
After being left out last season, Seneca Valley aims to return to Class 6A playoffs
Editor’s note: Starting today, Trib HSSN will preview one WPIAL conference per day until the start of high school football season Aug. 25. Last fall, Seneca Valley was sitting at 1-1 in Class 6A and 6-2 overall heading into Week 8. Two wins and the Raiders would earn at least...
Defending champion North Allegheny has experience to repeat in Class 6A
Editor’s note: Starting today, Trib HSSN will preview one WPIAL conference per day until the start of high school football season Aug. 25. It had been a decade of close calls for the North Allegheny football program since the Tigers hoisted WPIAL gold. That 10-year drought ended last fall when...
New coach, players looking to keep winning tradition going at Mt. Lebanon
Editor’s note: Starting today, Trib HSSN will preview one WPIAL conference per day until the start of high school football season Aug. 25. Two years ago, the Mt. Lebanon football team was on top of the golden mountain. The Blue Devils had just completed a perfect 15-0 season with the...
New coach Ryan Lehmeier hopes to make Central Catholic champions again
Editor’s note: Starting today, Trib HSSN will preview one WPIAL conference per day until the start of high school football season Aug. 25. Do you remember the old children’s story about Old Mother Hubbard? When she went to give her old dog a bone, the cupboard was sadly bare. Ryan...
Canon-McMillan leaning on seniors for breakout season in Class 6A
Editor’s note: Starting today, Trib HSSN will preview one WPIAL conference per day until the start of high school football season Aug. 25. Canon-McMillan is nearing the end of the Evans era. Not the head coach, the quarterback. In the two years since taking over as Big Macs quarterback, Michael...
Blackhawk preparing to change football coaches days before camp starts
Add one more name to the list of schools with new head football coaches. Zack Hayward is expected to be hired Tuesday night as athletic director at Chartiers Valley, bringing an end to his five-year tenure as football coach at Blackhawk. The WPIAL and City League already counted 25 coaching...
Former Valley player Carlisle will coach Vikings boys soccer team, which returns this fall
Ben Carlisle is no stranger to the experience of representing the Valley boys soccer team. He enjoyed a standout career with the Vikings before graduating in 2015. For the past several seasons as a coach with the Valley junior high co-ed program, he has shared the frustration of not having...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Westinghouse’s Kyshawn Robinson
Westinghouse reached the state finals last fall with a senior-heavy lineup, so the Bulldogs are destined for a down year, right? Not so fast. “That’s what a lot of people think, but we have a lot of underclassmen,” said sophomore Kyshawn Robinson, who started at cornerback as a freshman. “We...
Quaker Valley sophomore softball standout shows skills at All American Games
Gemma Wiegand recently experienced a once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity. For the second consecutive year. Wiegand, 15, was scheduled to participate in the USSSA Softball All American Games during the week of July 31 in Viera Beach, Fla. Wiegand also competed in the All American Games following her freshman season at...
Late coach Gene Klein’s long list of accomplishments won’t soon be forgotten at Quaker Valley
It was a no-brainer when former boys soccer coach Gene Klein was inducted into the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. Not only did Klein, who died July 24 from brain cancer at age 71, eclipse 500 wins in his remarkable QV coaching career, he was one of...
After productive summer, Franklin Regional itching to put on pads
Third-year Franklin Regional football coach Lance Getsy was in a walking boot at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Larry Sellitto Memorial Passing Tournament at Latrobe. He suffered a fractured left foot while demonstrating a play during a summer workout. “Scout-team quarterback. I rolled left and felt it,” Getsy said, shaking...
Hampton volleyball star Emmy Schrom staying close to home at Duquesne
When Hampton two-time all-state volleyball player Emmy Schrom began looking at colleges, proximity was a priority. “I just didn’t want to go that far away,” she said. “I feel like I owe it to my parents, and everyone else that has helped me, to be able to come and watch...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Football practice about to heat up
Starting Monday, high school football teams will take part in “heat week,” the customary lead-up to training camp. Yes, football is here again. The required five-day period of heat acclimatization was instituted in 2013 by the PIAA. The idea is for players, who are not permitted to have full contact...
Plum grad excited to take over alma mater’s hockey program
Jon Gratton’s first foray into ice hockey coaching came three seasons ago when the 2009 Plum graduate accepted a varsity assistant coaching position on college teammate Cam Raidna’s staff at Fox Chapel. “I can’t say right off the bat that coaching was a goal of mine,” said Gratton, a four-year...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Woodland Hills’ Scoop Smith
Woodland Hills sophomore phenom Scoop Smith has great expectations entering Week Zero. The Wolverines will host Central Catholic on Aug. 25 at the Wolvarena. “The expectation is to win,” Smith said. “We have a new coaching staff, and they have been more disciplined. The team has been focused, and the...
Washington looks to play disciplined football, return to top of WPIAL heap
From the outside, it was hard to explain the ups and downs Washington experienced last season. How did a team that finished the regular season with consecutive losses to Keystone Oaks and rival McGuffey suddenly knock off defending WPIAL champ Serra Catholic in the first round of the playoffs? How...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Anthony Speca
The Harry Truman quote is on his cell phone screen for quick reference. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” Anthony Speca of Central Catholic believes those words can be applied to his football team. “From a team standpoint, we have...
Explosive offense has Southmoreland in position for big year
Attend a Southmoreland football game. Stay for the fireworks. Or, is it the other way around? The Scotties have developed into one of the top passing teams in the WPIAL, slinging the ball around the field with purpose and fearlessness. But don’t pigeon-hole them just yet. There is more than...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Cole Sullivan
Cole Sullivan received several dozen Division I offers during the college recruiting process. In the end, Michigan won out as he verbally committed to the Wolverines in May. “I am really happy with my decision,” Sullivan said. “I did what’s best for me. Now, it’s great to see a bunch...
Moon girls soccer ranked 2nd in United Soccer Coaches’ preseason poll
Moon dropped to Class 3A last season as part of the latest two-year high school sports enrollment cycle. The Tigers’ girls soccer team, though, just keeps rising. After running the table last season and winning WPIAL and PIAA championships with a perfect 24-0 record, the Tigers will start the 2023...
Norwin wrestlers help Team PA to strong showing at junior nationals in Fargo
Like most hopefuls who play the Powerball lottery, Landon Sidun has the right attitude when he goes into a wrestling tournament. A confident, clear-headed attitude. “If you don’t think you can win, why go?” the rising freshman at Norwin said after he hit the jackpot. Sidun became a national champion...
Derry out to break streak, reestablish winning identity
Derry has been living in the shadow of a losing streak that dates to the disruptive covid season of 2020. But second-year coach Mike Arone and the Trojans are committed to stopping it. With a new system now a year old, they are ready to do a little pushing back...
Closure of Alderson Broaddus affects a number of athletes with WPIAL ties
Rumors swirled around campus. The whispers were brooding. But was there any validity to it all? On Monday, student-athletes at Alderson Broaddus found out there indeed was. It was all true. Alderson Broaddus, the private Baptist university in Phillippi, W.Va., is preparing to shut down because of financial difficulties. As...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Pine-Richland’s Ryan Cory
Pine-Richland football coach Jon LeDonne describes Ryan Cory as an old-school type of player. “He would have fit in perfectly back in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s,” LeDonne said. “You don’t see that these days from kids. He’s very physical and gets after it. He has great footwork and is...
