2022 WPIAL Class 2A boys basketball championship breakdown: OLSH vs. Fort Cherry

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, March 5, 2022 | 11:50 AM

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WPIAL Class 2A boys basketball

No. 1 OLSH vs. No. 2 Fort Cherry

1 p.m. Saturday, Petersen Events Center

On the air: Video livestream: TribHSSN.TribLive.com; Radio: 95.3 FM, 1450 AM

WPIAL titles: OLSH 3 (2019, ’20, ‘21), Fort Cherry 1 (1961)

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (22-0)

Coach: Mike Rodriguez

1, Jake DiMichele, 6-3, sr., G

2, Rocco Spadafora, 6-0, jr., G

4, Bryson Kirschner, 6-3, jr., F

5. Dawson Summers, 6-5, sr., C

23, Kevin Wilson, 6-3, sr., F

Notable: OLSH has won three consecutive WPIAL titles and owns a 62-game winning streak that’s the longest in WPIAL history. … DiMichele averages 32.8 points and scored a season-high in a regular-season win over Shady Side Academy. In three playoff games, he’s scored 30, 39 and 28 points. … Summers (12.5) and Spadafora (10.8) also are double-digit scorers. … The Chargers reached the finals by defeating No. 16 Chartiers-Houston, 73-43; No. 9 Sto-Rox, 87-44; and No. 4 Greensburg Central Catholic, 77-42. … OLSH averages 77.9 ppg, which leads the WPIAL regardless of classification. The defense on average allows 43.3 points, which ranks best in WPIAL Class 2A.

Fort Cherry (23-3)

Coach: Eugene Briggs

3, Maddox Truschel, 6-1, sr., G

5, Dylan Rogers, 6-3, sr., G

15, Adam Wolfe, 6-1, jr., F

22, Derek Errett, 5-10, so., G

25, Owen Norman, 5-9, jr., G

Notable: This is Fort Cherry’s second appearance in the WPIAL finals and the first since winning the title in 1961. The Rangers defeated Wampum, 77-56, in the championship game that year. … They reached this year’s finals by defeating No. 15 California, 80-52; No. 7 Winchester Thurston, 80-63; and No. 3 Carlynton, 46-36. … Norman is averaging 24 points per game in the playoffs, including a 40-point effort in the first round. Rogers is averaging 15. … The Rangers have won 14 games in a row. … They average 60.8 ppg on offense and allow 46.2 on defense.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Fort Cherry, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart