Banner fall season for Pine-Richland athletics

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, December 18, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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There will be quite a few updates to the banners in the Pine-Richland gym.

Pine-Richland’s win in the state football championship game Dec. 2 closed the book on a fall sports season for the ages for the school.

Four teams won WPIAL titles, to go along with the Rams’ football team’s state championship.

The Rams football team won 12 games in a row, including the WPIAL Class 5A championship over Upper St. Clair, 34-3, and the PIAA title 28-14 over Imhotep Charter.

Field hockey

The Rams’ field hockey team secured a fourth consecutive WPIAL title with a 3-0 win over North Allegheny in the Class 3A final. Emma Westerhoff, Jessica Albertson and Georgia Rottinghaus scored in the championship game. The seniors — Westerhoff, Danielle Deer, Kayla Karmanos, Madison Lennon, Mary Wymard and Rylee Branscum — finished their careers undefeated against WPIAL opponents.

Girls volleyball

Pine-Richland girls vollebyall upset rival and two-time defending champion North Allegheny, 3-2, in the WPIAL Class 4A final, securing its first title since 2010.

The Rams did so in Angela Seman’s second year as head coach. Kaili Doctor, a North Carolina A&T recruit, led the Rams with 26 kills, and Katie Yanni had 16 kills. They met North Allegheny again in the state semifinals, and the Tigers ended up winning 3-1 to move onto the state championship.

All three of Pine-Richland’s losses this season were to North Allegheny.

Boys soccer

Like the girls volleyball team, Pine-Richland boys soccer took down a two-time defending champion that is also a section rival. The Rams beat Seneca Valley, 1-0, in the Class 4A championship in one of the bigger upsets in WPIAL soccer history.

Ben Rishel scored the game-winner off a free kick in the second half, and the Rams kept Seneca Valley at bay from there to win the school’s first district boys soccer title.

The Rams had lost to the Raiders twice in the regular season.

Pine-Richland hadn’t qualified for the playoffs in each of the last three seasons prior to their WPIAL title run this fall.

Cross country

Pine-Richland also had a state cross country champion in Natalie McLean.

McLean, a Georgetown recruit, finished second to Mt. Lebanon’s Logan St. John Kletter at WPIALs, but she found gold at states. She finished with a time of 18 minutes, 46.1 seconds.

Former Rams in the transfer portal

A couple of weeks ago, former Pine-Richland quarterback Phil Jurkovec announced he was transferring from Boston College to Pitt for his final year of eligibility, but he isn’t the only former Rams football standout that’s found a new home.

Tyler King committed to Richmond on Dec. 14 after transferring from Stony Brook. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Duquesne, Robert Morris, McNeese State, Eastern Kentucky, Norfolk State, Eastern Illinois, Tennessee-Martin, Albany, Campbell, North Carolina A&T and Bryant also offered King.

King had an outstanding season in 2021 as a redshirt freshman, leading the Wolves with 95 tackles. He was named an FCS Freshman All-American and a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award for the top freshman player in FCS.

This season, he appeared in only five games before being sidelined due to injury. He still finished eighth on the team in tackles with 34 despite missing seven games.

Another pair of former Pine-Richland standouts, Luke Miller and Levi Wentz, have also decided to transfer from their respective colleges.

Miller, a linebacker, is transferring from Kent State with four years of eligibility remaining. He did not appear in any games for the Golden Flashes this season.

Wentz, a wide receiver, is transferring from Old Dominion with three years of eligibility remaining.

He appeared in three games, recording one reception for 42 yards.

Wentz announced via social media he’s received offers from Stony Brook and Albany as of Dec. 13.

All four aforementioned players won a state championship while at Pine-Richland.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland