High School category, Page 61
New coach, same goals for Belle Vernon
There may be a new football coach at Belle Vernon, but the goals remain the same: win and play for titles. Scott Bryer has taken over for Matt Humbert, who resigned in February after 11 seasons when he led the Leopards to WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A titles in 2022...
Scrimmage schedule set for Western Pa. high school football teams
Training camps officially begin Monday for all 127 WPIAL, City League and independent teams. The week then concludes with a scrimmage. The second week of camp concludes with most teams playing a Week Zero game Aug. 22-23. There are still a few schools that prefer a second scrimmage instead of...
2025 HSSN football position-by-position breakdown: Scouting the quarterbacks
Starting today, TribLive HSSN will break down the top players at one position per day until Week Zero. Here is a look at the top quarterbacks for the 2025 season. 1. Matt Sieg Fort Cherry Senior, 6-0, 180 Sieg and Jeannette great Terrelle Pryor are the only players in WPIAL...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Southmoreland getting new turf in time for fall sports
Southmoreland plans to have new turf installed and ready for a girls soccer game Aug. 27 and the home football opener two nights later. Athletic director Brian Pritts said the old turf will be torn out and replaced at Russ Grimm Field beginning Saturday. The project was supposed to start...
Workhorse running back Trey Coury embraces Burrell’s ‘more diverse offense’
In Burrell’s run-heavy offense last year, Trey Coury shined. He was a workhorse for the Bucs, carrying the ball an average of 26.9 times a game. He finished the season with 1,143 yards and seven touchdowns. When the opportunity presented itself for him to catch the football, he did so...
‘Play like an animal every play’: Bobby Smithnosky vies for QB position at Greensburg C.C.
Becoming the starting quarterback at Greensburg Central Catholic motivates sophomore Bobby Smithnosky. Especially with last year’s starter, all-everything senior Samir Crosby, also in the competition. There has been a buzz around GCC that Crosby is going to move to wide receiver, the position he is likely to play in college...
Sewickley Herald notebook: Class of 2025 to enter Sewickley Academy hall of fame
Four individuals and one team will be inducted into the Sewickley Academy Sports Hall of Fame this fall. The Class of 2025 consists of former athletic director/basketball coach Win Palmer, Tom Droney (2010), Tara Utchel (1999), Katarina Lackner (2005) and the 2003 girls state championship soccer team. The Hall of...
Coming off banner year, Quaker Valley tennis has exciting options to fill lineup vacancies
Awards and accolades were dispatched freely throughout the 2024 season for the Quaker Valley girls tennis team. And with good reason. The Quakers finished with a 16-3 overall record and were 6-0 in section play — losing only two individual lines all year. That meant back-to back-section titles for the...
Love of volleyball, focus on academics carries Quaker Valley’s Molly MacDonald to Middlebury College
Quaker Valley grad Molly MacDonald is a tall and talented, highly educated athlete. Yes, she was a top-notch volleyball player for the Quakers for four seasons, but she’s also played a variety of other sports in her accomplished athletic career. “I was happy playing soccer, lacrosse, basketball and tennis and...
Western Pa. volleyball talent on display at 3rd annual Queens of the ‘Burgh event
The Foxes proved to be champions at the third annual Queens of the ‘Burgh girls volleyball tournament. “This was our best year yet,” said Avonworth coach John Skarupa, who founded the event. “We had seven teams, 64 players. There were 37 high schools and 10 clubs represented. It was a...
Mars looking to take next step behind experienced offensive line
Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 22. Due to production schedule conflicts, the McKeesport preview will be published later this month. After back-to-back trips to the semifinals, the Mars Fightin’ Planets are looking...
New West Mifflin coach to focus on physicality, rely on star running back
B.J. Pugh considers being the football coach at West Mifflin his dream job. “I’ve envisioned being a head (football) coach for a long time, particularly at West Mifflin. It’s my alma mater,” said Pugh, who was hired in February to succeed Rod Steele. A 1995 graduate, Pugh quarterbacked West Mifflin...
1st-year coach building depth at Knoch
Knoch limped to the finish line of the 2024 season. Quite literally. Injuries ravaged the team, leaving fewer than 30 healthy players for the stretch run. That contributed to the Knights (3-6, 2-3 Greater Allegheny) losing three of their final four games, each of the losses in blowout fashion. So...
Indiana banking on familiar coach to get program turned around
Hey, Indiana, an old acquaintance is back in town. Four years after setting out for Arizona, where he spent time as an adjunct professor at Grand Canyon University, former longtime coach Mark Zilinskas will be back on the Indians’ sideline. He’s hoping to jump-start a program that hasn’t enjoyed a...
Hampton seeking ‘little bit of toughness’ after down season
Hampton coach Steve Sciullo had no problem putting his finger on what went wrong during last year’s 3-7 season. “We didn’t tackle well, and we didn’t block well,” Sciullo said. “Those two things take courage. We’re hoping that we have a little bit more courage this year to go and...
Apollo-Ridge QBs commiserate in return from injuries
Two years ago, Alex Clawson suffered a serious ankle injury during an early-season game for the Apollo-Ridge football team and was lost for the rest of his sophomore campaign. Last year as a sophomore, Chris Dailey suffered the same fate as an ankle injury in the second game of the...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Yough baseball coach Palm steps away
Calling it more of a retirement than a resignation, Dan Palm is leaving the Yough baseball program. He was with the Cougars for 10 years, including the last three as head coach. Palm was Craig Spisak’s assistant for seven seasons and took over when Spisak left to coach at Norwin....
Moore develops into quiet leader for Franklin Regional football team
If you attend a Franklin Regional football practice this fall, you will not see senior Matt Moore running around and getting into his teammates’ faces to encourage or fire them up. You will see a football player being a leader by acting as another coach and demonstrating the proper way...
Shady Side Academy girls basketball star Karis Thomas makes Division I college choice
Karis Thomas wanted to play college basketball somewhere she could be comfortable. When looking at schools, the Shady Side Academy girls basketball senior guard was searching for a place where they took care of each other. Thomas found what she was looking for when she recently committed to Division I...
Norwin coach spends summer racking up air miles, helping wrestlers to new heights
When he finally walked in the door to his house in late July, Kyle Martin realized he’d only been home for 10 days since the end of May. Norwin’s wrestling coach took a rock band-like road trip to coach and train youth wrestlers. It is what he does. What he...
Love of the game helps Franklin Regional volleyball standout make instant impact
He gets asked the same question all the time. “Do you play basketball?” But Jason Buczynski, at a towering 6-foot-7, lets down inquisitors gently. Not anymore. The rising junior at Franklin Regional played from age 6-13 but set aside the sport for another with nets. “I did not have passion...
Armed with lessons learned last season, West Allegheny ready for Parkway Conference grind
The way the 2024 season played out for West Allegheny’s football team was a bit strange, but also a bit encouraging. The Indians had their first two last year games suspended due to dangerous weather conditions that hit while West Allegheny led on the scoreboard. Both games were given no-contest...
New Castle determined to keep resurgence going strong
Last season, coach Fred Mozzocio came into New Castle, where he played in the 1980s, and wanted to deliver awesome football to the community. The Red Hurricanes were 1-9 two seasons ago, but “Coach Mo” got New Castle sailing in the right direction with a 5-4 season last year. The...
Experienced Montour aims to contend for Parkway Conference crown
The 2024 football season at Montour was a tale of two seasons. A thrilling Week 8 victory over Aliquippa put the Spartans alone in first place in the Class 4A Parkway Conference with one week left in the regular season. With a chance to win the conference title outright, Montour...
Blackhawk seeking improvement entering coach’s 2nd season
Jake Wickline is relieved that all of the newness has finally worn off. A year ago, Wickline was tasked with taking over a Blackhawk football program that had gone through some turmoil over the previous season with the sudden departure of the program’s head coach, Zack Hayward, just two weeks...
