High School category, Page 450
Pitt lands Penn Hills quarterback Julian Dugger for class of 2024
Pitt found a quarterback for its class of 2024 on Monday when Penn Hills’ Julian Dugger committed. Dugger, who has thrown for more than 2,400 yards the past two seasons, is ranked the No. 40 overall prospect in Pennsylvania, according to Rivals.com. He led Penn Hills to a Northeast Conference...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Peter Gonzalez
For some programs, coming close is not good enough. There is no such thing as a silver lining. Central Catholic wide receiver Peter Gonzalez believes the Vikings are one of those programs. Gonzalez and his fellow seniors are champing at the championship bit after losses in the WPIAL Class 6A...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: North Catholic’s Brady O’Hara
Being tall isn’t a new experience for North Catholic’s Brady O’Hara. “In my kindergarten class, I remember there was everyone else and then there was me, two heads taller than everyone,” said O’Hara, now a 6-foot-6 junior who plays tight end and defensive end for the Trojans. His size has...
Luke Ball shows heart during North Catholic boys volleyball team’s championship run
Winning a WPIAL championship in any sport is difficult. Injuries, fatigue, a challenging schedule or other extenuating circumstances can stand in the way of hoisting a trophy at the end of the season. While talent is always needed on a successful team it is nothing without the strength to push...
Westmoreland County softball players offer knowledge, experience to youths during clinics, lessons
As Courtney Poulich leans in to give a wide-eyed softball player some hitting advice, she can’t help but get nostalgic. “Giving lessons teaches us to appreciate the sport even more, and we are constantly mastering our skills by teaching others,” said Poulich, a Mt. Pleasant graduate and a rising junior...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Aliquippa’s Cameron Lindsey
Cameron Lindsey is looking to make another championship run in his final season at Aliquippa. “I’m looking at my second state championship and celebrating all-state honors,” Lindsey said. The four-star linebacker prospect is ranked 12th in the state, according to Rivals.com. He gave a verbal commitment to Pitt on June...
High school notebook: Belle Vernon’s Martin among those up for vote as best player in the nation
Quinton Martin is talented, but will he be the best high school football player in the country this season? It’s a matter of opinion, for now. SBLive (Scorebooklive.com) recently asked that question and gave a list of 20 players, including Martin, who will be up for a fan vote that...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Norwin’s Jackson Pons
When his team was flagged for a hold last week during the championship of the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Larry Sellitto Memorial 7-on-7 Passing Tournament at Latrobe, Norwin’s Jackson Pons showed his frustration. He threw up his hands and walked away from the play. First-year coach Mike Brown reeled in...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg
To say Matt Sieg broke out in his first varsity football season would be an understatement. The Fort Cherry rising sophomore quarterback threw for more than 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and 33 scores. He added 36 tackles on defense. “I was really happy...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Keystone Oaks’ Clinton Robinson
Editor’s note: This is the 15th in a series of 25 profiles of the members of the Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team. When Clinton Robinson plays football for Syracuse in fall 2024, he will be used in the defensive backfield. This fall, however, Keystone Oaks coach Steve McCormick plans...
Monessen powderpuff game to benefit families of Altomore, Madzey
Monessen’s senior class is looking to give back while remembering a friend and helping another. The seniors will play a powderpuff football game at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Memorial Stadium. Organizers hope the fundraiser will allow seniors to purchase a memorial bench for Amari Altomore, who was killed in a...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: West Mifflin’s Rico Steele
Rico Steele earned all-conference honors a year ago as a big-bodied brawler, but the West Mifflin lineman spent the offseason reinventing himself. He’s still big (6-foot-4, 305 pounds) and willing to brawl, but the rising senior sees himself as a different player nowadays, one who’s a little more nimble. He...
Longtime Riverhounds, Quaker Valley soccer coach Gene Klein dies after battle with brain cancer
Gene Klein did not have just an iconic, hall-of-fame coaching career. He lived an exemplary, hall-of-fame life, according to those who knew him best. The former Quaker Valley soccer coach, who was inducted into the WPIAL, Quaker Valley and Pittsburgh Riverhounds halls of fame, died Monday at age 71 after...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: North Allegheny’s Khiryn Boyd
For all of his individual and team achievements as a junior last fall, Khiryn Boyd has stayed humble. The North Allegheny senior was asked about his 2022 season, in which he was a member of the Trib HSSN Terrific 25 all-star team and was named the WPIAL Class 6A Player...
Strong showing at AAU national tournament gives Shaler volleyball players a boost
Logan Peterson felt fortunate that the AAU boys volleyball national championships rolled around in early July. The Shaler senior right-side hitter, who plays for the 17U North United club team, was itching to get back on the court. The Titans lived up to heavy expectations by winning the WPIAL for...
Younger brother is best friend, inspiration to Chartiers Valley assistant baseball coach
Brett Willner is a young assistant baseball coach at Chartiers Valley after an impressive playing career at South Fayette. Having connections to both southern rivals is appropriate because he possesses both the smoothness of a galloping colt and the heart of a lion. Willner recently concluded his third year as...
AD Mike Gavlik bids farewell to Chartiers Valley after 4-year stay
Mike Gavlik just completed his 20th year as an athletic director in the area when an opportunity arose that would bring him closer to home, so he is headed north. The now-former AD at Chartiers Valley has been hired as the new athletic director at Hampton. “I wasn’t necessarily looking...
Multi-sport athletes takes home top honors for 2022-23 school year at Brentwood
The announcement of the Mark Reider award and Booster Athlete award winners is eagerly anticipated at the end of every school year at Brentwood. The awards are sponsored by the Brentwood High Athletic Boosters and are presented to the top male and female senior athletes in a school year. This...
As girls wrestling grows, Quaker Valley looks to build program
The date May 17 is historic and highly significant in the state of Pennsylvania, as well as the WPIAL. The PIAA board of directors voted unanimously on that date to sponsor girls wrestling as a sport, starting in 2023-24. “I think it’s great and long overdue to have the PIAA...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Imani Christian’s Dayshaun Burnett
Imani Christian’s Dayshaun Burnett continues to show why he is the No. 1 ranked rising junior linebacker in state, according to Rivals.com. Burnett attended the 210ths Top 150 Camp on July 9 at Shady Side Academy, and he didn’t disappoint. He secured linebacker MVP recognition with a dominant performance. “It...
Recruiting by H.S. coaches under microscope after Shady Side basketball coach’s suspension
A one-year suspension is the punishment for any PIAA coach caught recruiting, but is that rule taken seriously in every case and in all corners of the state? Cardinal O’Hara, a member of the Philadelphia Catholic League, recently hired a new boys basketball coach, and some of his candid comments...
Confidence at an all-time high for Norwin grad Jack Salopek at Western Michigan
Quarterback Jack Salopek has never been a rah-rah screamer — in the huddle, at practice or otherwise. You might say he is like a vault emotionally with the way he carries himself and how he plays football. The Norwin alum has always let his game do the talking, and he...
Penn Hills notebook: Senior wrestler showing potential
Jeremy Packer couldn’t be happier to have five wrestlers with him at summer workouts. During his tenure at Penn Hills, the Indians coach has hoped to see the program continue to grow. Senior wrestler Julian Lavender has shown some of the spirit Packer has hoped to see. Lavender, who picked...
North Hills lineman works to end program’s playoff drought
Jake Messina knows a thing or two about building. A senior offensive and defensive lineman at North Hills, Messina has been around house fabrication his entire life via his family’s construction company. As he enters his final season of high school football, he hopes that the bricks he has stacked...
Fox Chapel wrestler tests himself with offseason competition
Landon Funk isn’t opposed to any way to keep himself connected with wrestling. What the Fox Chapel junior found this offseason was a unique dual meet competition to be involved with. Funk, along with teammates Alex Kaufman and Michael Worsen, competed in the Dark Horse Classic, a dual-style match at...
