High School category, Page 627
McGuffey looks to get swagger back after up-and-down year
Ed Dalton hasn’t lost his swagger. Or, so it seems. The veteran McGuffey coach appears as enthusiastic as ever as he enters his 34th season as a high school football coach. But, coming off his first losing season in 10 years at McGuffey, Dalton minces no words. “We are embarassed...
After smooth coaching transition, resilient Keystone Oaks ready for another run
After eight successful seasons in which he went 45-34, Greg Perry left as Keystone Oaks football coach in the offseason, in part because of a cut in pay for his assistant coaches. However, one of Perry’s assistant coaches, Steve McCormick, has taken over the program and is set for a...
Back in Century Conference, Brentwood looks to return to playoffs
Welcome back, Brentwood. The Spartans are returning to the Class 2A Century Conference for at least the next two seasons, reverting back to the early years of last decade. Brentwood has been a nomad of sorts over the years when it comes to football conferences. The Spartans competed in the...
2022 HSSN football position-by-position breakdown: Scouting the defensive line
The athletes who play defensive line are maybe the most varied of any group in high school football. Teams have hard-to-move tackles and speedy edge rushers who all call themselves defensive linemen, each with a different job description to accomplish. Comparing one to another isn’t simple, but what everyone in...
WPIAL Class 5A football breakdown: Gateway among teams trying to squeeze into tight playoff field
Earning a WPIAL playoff spot in Class 5A was never easy, but the task becomes a little harder this year. That’s because the WPIAL has shrunk the bracket from 12 teams to eight, meaning a team with as few as two losses might miss the playoffs. Only the top two...
WPIAL Class 4A football breakdown: Aliquippa ready for another heavyweight fight
In winter 2020, Aliquippa challenged the PIAA assertion, under the competitive-balance rule, that it should move up from Class 3A to Class 4A. Despite their best efforts, including the fact they were already voluntarily playing up in Class 3A, the Quips were bumped up one class and into a grouping...
Acrisure enough, the Birdie’s back for another season of A-K Valley football picks
When The Birdie heard that Acrisure was spending $150 million to put its name on the big football field on the North Shore, a thought popped into his bird brain. “The Birdie writes the most-read weekly high school football prediction column in the A-K Valley,” he boasted. “What company wouldn’t...
Devil in the details: Pitt-bound Braylan Lovelace leading Leechburg to success on the field and off
Braylan Lovelace earned 13 Division I football offers throughout the college recruiting process, and three of them came from the Ivy League. Brown, Columbia and Penn recognized the 6-foot-2, 205-pound athlete’s ability on the field and in the classroom. Education is a high priority for the Leechburg senior, who carries...
Armed with championship lessons, Penn-Trafford captains ready for next chapter
It was quite a way for the 2021 Penn-Trafford football team to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary: winning its first WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A championships. The Warriors capped a memorable season with a thrilling, 17-14 overtime victory over Imhotep Charter at Hersheypark Stadium on Dec. 10, 2021. And while...
Matt Episcopo steps into new role leading Brentwood girls volleyball
The Brentwood girls volleyball team will be facing some tall orders this season. And Brentwood fans definitely will notice Brentwood’s first-year head coach Matt Episcopo at the team’s matches. Episcopo stands 6-foot-3 and is a former outside/middle hitter who competed in Junior Olympic volleyball for the Pittsburgh Golden Triangles in...
Sewickley Academy golfers look to start another WPIAL championship streak
Sewickley Academy won eight consecutive WPIAL 2A titles in boys golf from 2013-2020. The Panthers, coached by Win Palmer, are looking to start a new streak and regain that lofty status after missing out on a championship last season. North Catholic posted a 405 score to earn a four-shot victory...
Top runners on Penn Hills cross country team set for competitive season
Austin Stuchul and Sawyer Kinney went east to make improvements for the Penn Hills cross country team this fall. Attending a cross country camp at Shippensburg University provided both runners with a tremendous amount of perspective. When the team practices started for the fall, Indians coach Lee Zelkowitz saw the...
Experienced lineup returns for Pine-Richland girls golf
Two years ago the Pine-Richland girls golf team had only six players and Jared Slimm was worried about the program’s future. In a short time however, participation has picked up and the program is the healthiest it’s been in Slimm’s time as the Rams coach. A total of 14 girls...
Hampton’s Ryan Apaliski commits to James Madison after strong audition at summer camp
Hampton senior left-hander Ryan Apaliski needed only two innings to help secure a home for the next four years. Apaliski caught the eye of the James Madison coaching staff at a baseball camp in late June at the Harrisonburg, Va., school and showed enough during a brief two-inning audition in...
Chartiers Valley soccer teams determined to get back on playoff path
Five years ago, the Chartiers Valley soccer teams were in contender mode. The boys team finished 16-5 and reached the WPIAL semifinals. The girls squad was 12-6-1, tied for second in its section. But last time the girls team qualified for the WPIAL playoffs was 2017, and the boys have...
Bethel Park girls volleyball sets sights on section title
Bethel Park’s girls volleyball team plans to “hit the ground running” this season. With seven starters back from last year’s playoff squad, coach Brooke Muraco is bullish on the Black Hawks’ chances. “Almost all the returning players played competitively with a club in the offseason,” Muraco said, “and we did...
George Guido: A-K Valley teams aim for return to WPIAL glory
The 124th season of local high school football is upon us, as all 13 area teams will have Week Zero games. Four of those 13 teams have new coaches – Matt Bonislawski at Highlands, Dave Heavner at Valley, Ryan Tempalski at Springdale and Tim Burchett at Knoch. Will any team...
Eryck Moore eyes rushing record for confident Plum football team
Eryck Moore has lived in a few places in his life, including overseas in Spain, but he’s certainly found a home in the backfield for Plum. And after consecutive 1,000-yard seasons he has his sights set on breaking the school rushing record. He’s done the math, so he knows his...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Derry golfers off to fast start with narrow wins
It’s still early in an early starting high school golf season, but Derry is in mid-season form. The Trojans have shown a knack for winning close matches. On consecutive days last week, Derry won sudden-death playoffs over a pair of Section 2-2A opponents. The Trojans went to extras with Greensburg...
Monessen players invested in finding success
When the clock struck zeroes in the fourth quarter of his team’s WPIAL Class A playoff loss to Cornell, Monessen coach Wade Brown noticed something surprising: Several of his players were crying. An outpouring of emotion isn’t unusual in the wake of a crucial loss. Brown, however, wasn’t sure his...
QB Xander LeFebvre, Western Beaver out to earn respect
Xander LeFebvre has a cool name. Sounds like an action movie star or maybe a linemate of Mario Lemieux during his junior hockey days. But how many local high school football fans are familiar with that name, even though he’s a four-year starter who threw for 1,000 yards for a...
Coach bets on data-driven approach to get Riverside back on track
Second-year coach Fran Ramsden has a tool he plans to use to liberally to help his Riverside team turn things around after a 1-8 season. Data. Ramsden is a believer in the idea that certain parts of the game correlate most directly with winning: explosive plays of 20 yards or...
New coach brings best of Beaver County football to New Brighton
New Brighton’s Tony Caltury speaks highly of Beaver County football, and there are a few really good reasons for that. First, he is the county’s newest head coach, taking the reins from Joe Greco, the program’s all-time wins leader who stepped down after last season. Second, he has previously been...
Football team looks to get in on championship act at Neshannock
Rumor has it a major repaving project has been planned for Mitchell Road in Neshannock this fall. Over the last year or so, there have been so many championship parades in front of the high school that the traffic pattern has worn grooves in the pavement. OK, no such rumors...
Strong, veteran line could keep Mohawk in playoff picture
After a successful season that included a third-place finish in the Midwestern Athletic Conference and a first-round WPIAL playoff victory, Mohawk comes into this year with a strong, veteran line and some inexperience at the skill positions. Coach Tim McCutcheon isn’t complaining. No, really. He isn’t. Like, at all. He’d...
