Chris Harlan stories, Page 42
PIAA adds 500 officials, but shortage remains ‘major issue’ for many sports
Statewide efforts to recruit and retain high school game officials are seeing some positive results, said a PIAA administrator who oversees the men and women in stripes. “From Sept. 1 until today, we’re up 500 officials in Pennsylvania,” said PIAA assistant executive director Patrick Gebhart, who spoke Wednesday at the...
WPIAL announces 20 winners of James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award
The WPIAL saw an increased number of applicants for the James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award this year, and Wednesday announced 20 winners from the 162 nominees. The selection committee chose 10 boys and 10 girls. Each receives a $1,000 scholarship. The boys winners were Trinity’s Ty Banco, Waynesburg’s Michael Church, Aquinas...
WPIAL Baseball rankings: Week ending April 16, 2023
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Seneca Valley, 9-0, 1 2. North Allegheny 5-2, 2 3. Pine-Richland, 9-3, 4 4. Hempfield, 7-3, NR 5. Butler, 5-5, 3 Out: Central Catholic (3-5, 5) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 9-1, 1 2. Bethel Park, 6-3, 5 3. North...
Trib HSSN WPIAL softball rankings: Week ending April 16, 2023
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Hempfield, 9-1 3 2. Seneca Valley, 7-1, 1 3. Norwin, 8-2, 4 4. North Allegheny, 8-3, 2 5. Canon-McMillan, 3-5, NR Out: Pine-Richland (2-8, 5) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 9-0, 1 2. Armstrong, 8-1, 2 3. Trinity, 8-1, 3...
500-game winner Dana Petruska retires as Mars basketball coach, cites ‘some parent situations’
Mars girls basketball coach Dana Petruska is retiring after 37 years and more than 500 wins, in part because there were too many wannabe coaches in the stands. Petruska said this was a frustrating winter for various reasons, some being nobody’s fault. The team lost a top player to a...
Deep North Allegheny girls track and field team takes aim at defending WPIAL title
Recent history says the North Allegheny girls have a good chance to repeat as WPIAL team track champions later this spring. Consider, in the past 30 years, no Class 3A girls champion has won the title only once. Teams tend to win it again and again. For instance, the Butler...
South Park promotes longtime assistant to football coach
South Park’s new football coach is already very familiar with the program. Longtime assistant Brian Abbey, who won a state championship with the Eagles as a player, was promoted to head coach, the school announced Friday. A 2001 graduate, Abbey returned to his alma mater as an assistant in 2004...
Moon finds replacement for retiring athletic director Ron Ledbetter
Moon has hired a new athletic director to replace Ron Ledbetter, who is retiring this summer after a 33-year career as an educator. The school on Thursday announced the hire of current Beaver athletic director Alan Alcalde. Alcalde, who spent four years at Beaver, starts June 1. “Moon has a...
Butler basketball standout Braylon Littlejohn commits to Miami (Ohio) — for football
When Butler’s Braylon Littlejohn committed to Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday, folks weren’t asking him about his choice of schools, but rather his choice of sports. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound junior will play defensive back for the RedHawks football team. “Everyone was texting me, ‘You committed for football?’” Littlejohn said. “I don’t...
WPIAL softball rankings: Week ending April 9, 2023
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Seneca Valley, 5-0, 1 2. North Allegheny, 7-2, 2 3. Hempfield, 6-1, 3 4. Norwin, 6-2, 5 5. Pine-Richland, 2-5, NR Out: Mt. Lebanon (2-3, 4) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 7-0, 2 2. Armstrong, 5-1, 3 3. Trinity, 6-1,...
WPIAL baseball rankings: Week ending April 9, 2023
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Seneca Valley, 7-0, 3 2. North Allegheny, 3-1, 4 3. Butler, 4-3, 5 4. Pine-Richland, 6-3, 2 5. Central Catholic, 3-4, 1 Out: none Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 7-1, 4 2. South Fayette, 7-1, 1 3. Franklin Regional, 7-1,...
Behind family atmosphere, North Allegheny softball team aims to return to WPIAL final
The North Allegheny softball players were individually asked by their coaches to pick one word to describe the program. It wasn’t a serious task, just a light-hearted word-association game. When a majority chose “family,” that certainly made coach Morgan Vescovi smile. “That’s so important for how much time these girls...
Belle Vernon star Quinton Martin picks Penn State
Penn State landed its first WPIAL running back recruit since Miles Sanders when Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin committed to the Nittany Lions. Martin, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior, announced his decision Friday on Twitter. He chose Penn State from a list of college offers that included both Pitt and West Virginia,...
2023 TribLive HSSN Boys Basketball All-Stars
Scoring 1,000 points in a high school career remains an impressive feat in WPIAL basketball, but remarkably, the league saw its first 3,000-point scorer this winter. Combined, the 10 members of the TribLive Terrific 10 accounted for nearly 15,000 career points and they’re not done yet. The list includes five...
Lincoln Park’s Meleek Thomas named 2023 TribLive HSSN Boys Basketball Player of the Year
2023 Boys Basketball Player of the Year Meleek Thomas Lincoln Park 6-4, sophomore, guard When Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari visited a Lincoln Park practice this winter, he stressed the importance of having a good floater. “He said to shoot a right-hand floater and a left-hand floater,” sophomore Meleek Thomas...
2023 TribLive HSSN Girls Basketball All-Stars
South Fayette won a second consecutive WPIAL girls basketball title this winter, North Allegheny won its third in four years and North Catholic won its sixth since 2017. Those powerhouse teams and more are represented here in the TribLive HSSN girls basketball all-stars for 2023. Terrific 10 Maddie Webber South...
Blackhawk basketball coach Steve Lodovico took job ‘for a year,’ resigns 18 seasons later after building WPIAL powerhouse
Eighteen years ago, Steve Lodovico applied to be Blackhawk’s boys basketball coach, hoping to replace his legendary mentor John Miller, who was retiring. Instead, the school offered Lodovico the girls program. “I really wanted the boys job at that point, so I turned it down,” he said. “I didn’t want...
Trib HSSN WPIAL softball rankings: Week ending April 2, 2023
Class 6A 1. Seneca Valley, 1-0, 1 2. North Allegheny, 5-1, 5 3. Hempfield, 4-1, 3 4. Mt. Lebanon, 0-1, 2 5. Norwin, 4-1, NR Out: Pine-Richland (2-3, 4) Class 5A 1. North Hills, 5-0, 4 2. Shaler, 5-0, NR 3 Armstrong, 3-1, 1 4. Trinity, 4-1, 3 5. Latrobe,...
WPIAL baseball rankings: Week ending April 2, 2023
Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Central Catholic, 1-1, 1 2. Pine-Richland, 5-1, 2 3. Seneca Valley, 4-0, NR 4. North Allegheny, 1-0, 4 5. Butler, 2-2, 5 Out: Mt. Lebanon (0-4, 3) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. South Fayette, 2-0, 1 2. West Allegheny, 3-0, 3...
‘Nobody has a perfect system:’ PIAA, critics remain at odds over public-private school debate
The Philadelphia Catholic League opponent Deer Lakes faced in the state basketball finals played tremendous defense, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone, the Lancers’ coach said. “I could put together one hell of a defensive team right now if I could make some phone calls for next year,” coach Albie Fletcher...
North Allegheny boys volleyball embarks on season of change
The senior-heavy lineup that won a state championship has graduated. The head coach who led the program for two decades has retired. Yes, this is a season of change for the North Allegheny boys volleyball team. The defending WPIAL and PIAA champions have only two seniors on the roster. Fortunately,...
Despite strong start, Deer Lakes comes up short to West Catholic in PIAA Class 3A final
HERSHEY — “Let’s go Lancers.” With the fourth-quarter clock running out, the Deer Lakes student section ignored the lopsided situation on the Giant Center scoreboard and chanted one last time. The Lancers were down 30 points and headed for an 83-55 loss to Philadelphia’s West Catholic in the PIAA Class...
Aliquippa again finishes as PIAA runner-up after loss to Lancaster Mennonite
HERSHEY — Trips to the so-called “Sweetest Place on Earth” have become bittersweet for Aliquippa. The Quips lost in the state basketball finals for the second year in a row Friday, this time doomed by a poor shooting night in a 60-44 loss to Lancaster Mennonite in a PIAA Class...
Lincoln Park beats perennial PIAA power Neumann-Goretti in state finals classic
HERSHEY — With 11 seconds on the clock, Lincoln Park’s Meleek Thomas knew it was time to “boogie.” That’s his word to describe the late-game heroics he can do with the basketball in his hands. The 6-foot-4 sophomore star split two defenders and broke a tie with a high-arcing floater,...
With tiny enrollment but tons of talent, Imani Christian claims PIAA Class A basketball crown
HERSHEY — One of the smallest high schools in the state won the biggest basketball trophy in Pennsylvania, yet few will call this an underdog story. Imani Christian has a tiny enrollment, but the East Hills private school is big in basketball talent. This was evident when 6-foot-11 sophomore Alier...
