A quieter signing day part of 3 things to watch Wednesday in WPIAL athletics

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 7, 2018 | 4:24 AM

It's signing day.

This, the first Wednesday in February, is traditionally the date high school football recruits sign their letters of intent and fax them to college coaches across the country.

However, this year will feel different.

Almost all of the WPIAL's Division 1 FBS recruits and many of the FCS recruits signed in December, quieting the buzz that usually surrounds this week. The NCAA offered an early signing period for football for the first time and a large number of seniors took advantage.

However, there are some who waited. Plus, the early period didn't include NCAA Division 2 schools, so PSAC and Mountain East Conference teams will sign their scholarship recruits now.

Monessen returns to the court

The Monessen boys basketball team has a section game with West Greene scheduled for 7 p.m. at home.

That wouldn't be terribly noteworthy since West Green lost by 41 last month, except Monessen was involved in a benches-clearing brawl Tuesday night at Clairton. How that fight will affect the Greyhounds moving forward is unclear.

Monessen, the top-ranked team in WPIAL Class A, could face discipline.

The section game at Clairton was halted with 4 minutes, 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Monessen ahead 54-45.

A top-five matchup in 6A

No. 4 Norwin visits No. 3 Bethel Park for a nonsection matchup between ranked teams in Class 6A girls basketball.

Tipoff is 7:30 p.m.

Both teams will be hoping to improve their seeding next week when the WPIAL basketball committee draws up playoff brackets. Norwin (10-8) leads Section 2. Bethel Park (15-4) is second in Section 3.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Bethel Park, Monessen, Norwin