Football
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF 2015
August 1, 2015
The countdown to the start of the 2015 high school football season is underway. We have a later start than usual to the high school football season as training camps throughout Western Pennsylvania open up on Monday, August 17th as teams will prepare for a new season starting Friday, September 4th and Saturday, September 5th. As has been the case in the sixteen previous years here at MSA Sports, the ONLY place to turn for original DAILY updates that help prepare fans for all the excitement of the new high school football season in the WPIAL is 'Countdown to Kickoff 2015' ONLY here at www.msasports.net UPDATED COMPLETELY: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014-2015 MSA Sports Male Athlete of the Year
June 27, 2015
Riley Stapleton comes from a family of athletes. Growing up, he and his three brothers used to play every sport imaginable and even invent their own events. “My oldest brother [Kevin] used to come up with competitions like who can race around the block the fastest or who can touch the highest spot on the wall,” said Stapleton. But never mind the brothers. If you could put all of the athletes in the WPIAL on a wall, Stapleton would be at the highest spot. Stapleton, who graduated from Indiana High School earlier this month, is the MSA Sports Male Athlete of the Year. All athletes in the WPIAL are eligible for the award. Stapleton competed in three sports at Indiana High School and had a big impact in every one.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 01/23/2015
June 23, 2015
The first full week of the Summer of '15 brings plenty of pro baseball and pro softball action coming your way this week here on the MSA Sports Network. The diamonds are red hot with pro baseball with the Washington Wild Things and pro fast pitch softball with the Pennsylvania Rebellion along with another high school football all-star game, plus find out the latest news and info from the race tracks during the weekly edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, June 22nd: TALK SHOW - Rappin' on Racin' at 6:00pm on MSAsports.net Tuesday, June 23rd: No Broadcasts Wednesday, June 24th:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 01/14/2015
June 14, 2015
While the high school sports season is over, tell your Dandy Dad that there is plenty of pro baseball and pro softball coming his way this week here on the MSA Sports Network. Instead of another boring tie, point Dad to www.msasports.net for plenty of pro baseball with the Washington Wild Things and pro fast pitch softball with the Pennsylvania Rebellion along with another high school football all-star game, plus he can find out the latest news and info from the race tracks during the weekly edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, June 15th: TALK SHOW - Rappin' on Racin' at 6:00pm on MSAsports.net Tuesday, June 16th:Scholastic Notebook – 06/05/2015
June 5, 2015
Four WPIAL baseball teams have made it to the PIAA semifinals. The main ingredient to their postseason success is simple. Pitching. Of course, pitching always is key in baseball, but you might be scratching your head to come up with a group of WPIAL teams that made it this far and that have such a strong common thread of stellar pitching between them. The four are Shaler (Class AAAA), Knoch (AAA), Neshannock (AA) and Quaker Valley (AA). Of the four, only Neshannock has really made a huge impact offensively, scoring 45 runs in six postseason games. But the pitching of all four teams has been impeccable.
2015 Positive Athlete Awards
May 19, 2015
2015 Positive Athlete Awards On Wednesday, May 13th, 27 Western PA High School students were recognized at the John Heinz History Center by Hines Ward as “Positive Athletes” . These athletes were nominated by coaches, teachers, administrators, parents, and friends for their ability to meet the following criteria in their day-to day lives as athletes, students and members of their communities.Scholastic Notebook – 05/15/2015
May 15, 2015
The name is Aaron, as in Hank. The hitting this baseball season has been Hank Aaron-esque. California senior Aaron Previsky had a regular season for the ages. A year ago, Norwin’s J.J. Matijevic became the first known player to win the WPIAL triple crown (first in batting average, home runs and RBIs). Previsky didn’t do that, but his regular season also was terrific. Previsky finished with a .545 batting average, which was good for 13th in the WPIAL. But he was second in home runs with six and third in runs scored with 35.Scholastic Notebook – 04/25/2015
April 25, 2015
It opened some eyes in October when Bailey Parshall accepted a scholarship from the Penn State softball team. Parshall is a freshman and when she accepted the scholarship, she had yet to pitch an inning in high school. But after a month of the WPIAL softball season, it has become clear why Penn State went after Parshall. Parshall already has established herself as one of the WPIAL’s top pitchers – as a ninth-grader. In the latest WPIAL statistics published by the Post-Gazette, Parshall leads the WPIAL in strikeouts with 115 and she is tied for the WPIAL lead in wins. She has a 10-1 record. Chartiers-Houston’s Kaitlyn Dittrich also is 10-1.Scholastic Notebook – 04/17/2015
April 17, 2015
Life in Section 1 of WPIAL Class AAAA baseball is full of close calls. The WPIAL season is a little less than a month old and it’s remarkable how many close games there are in Section 1. Heading into Friday’s action, there have been 12 games played in the section. Two-thirds were decided by two runs or less and five had been decided by one run. The close games certainly reflect the balance of the section. But they also reflect the strength of the section. This should tell you the strength of Section 1: It includes four teams – Moon, North Allegheny, Pine-Richland and Seneca Valley – that have made 17 WPIAL championship appearances in either Class AAAA or AAA over the past 11 years. The other members of the section are North Hills and Butler.Lamenza Named to Lead Blackhawk Football Program
The Blackhawk Cougars have settled on the coach that will follow Joe Hamilton. Current Mohawk head coach Joe Lamenza, was tabbed to lead the Cougars on Thursday night. Lamenza was 7-29 in four years at Mohawk, he has also served as the head coach at West Mifflin and Slippery Rock and was an assistant at Ellwood City, Riverside and Beaver, along with Robert Morris University. The new coach knows something about competition, Mohawk has played in the Midwestern Conference under Lamenza, he goes now to the Parkway Conference, where Blackhawk has struggled the past few seasons. The Cougars have not won a playoff game since 2008, a winning record since 2011 and missed the playoffs in both 2013 and 2014.Scholastic Notebook – 04/10/2015
April 10, 2015
Beaver Falls High School is trying to make sure the school’s 1975 baseball team won’t be forgotten. At a baseball game in two weeks, the ’75 team that won a WPIAL title will be honored before a Beaver Falls game. No one is quite ready to call this year’s Beaver Falls team championship caliber, but the Tigers are doing a pretty good job of grabbing some attention for themselves. It’s still extremely early in the WPIAL baseball season, but Beaver Falls is 3-0. That might not sound like much, but considering the past few years, it is a gigantic step forward for Beaver Falls.
WPIAL Hall of Fame Class of 2015
April 9, 2015
Four athletes who would later go on to professional careers, several multi-sport athletes, four coaches who won nearly 40 WPIAL championships between them, an old-school baseball player whose son continued his Major League Baseball legacy and a team that won nine WPIAL and PIAA playoff games en route to a state basketball title by an average margin of victory of 25.8. Those are some of the headliners of the WPIAL Hall of Fame class of 2015. The WPIAL held a news conference Thursday morning to announce its ninth annual class. You can watch the video stream archived here on MSA Sports. All inductees will be honored at a banquet June 12 at the Doubletree Hotel in Greentree.Scholastic Notebook – 04/03/2015
April 3, 2015
Look at the list of WPIAL tennis champions over the past decade and you’ll see the name Kissell at various places on the girls side. But Chad Kissell is on the cusp of proving that this championship stuff is not just a girl thing in the Kissell family. Kissell is a senior at Latrobe High School and is the No. 1 seed for the WPIAL Class AAA boys tournament Tuesday and Wednesday. The tournament starts Tuesday at North Allegheny and lasts through the semifinals. The championship matches in Class AAA and AA will be Wednesday at Norwin.Scholastic Notebook – 03/13/2015
March 13, 2015
This is the time of year in basketball where coaches often look to their seniors or experienced players for leadership and to make key plays in playoff games. But for a few teams in the WPIAL, “fresh” faces can be seen on the court. The New Castle and Mars boys, and also the Chartiers-Houston girls have made it to the PIAA quarterfinals and freshmen have fueled their runs. * For New Castle, 6-foot freshman forward Marcus Hooker is averaging 10 points and seven rebounds a game for a team that will play Archbishop Carroll tonight in the Class AAA elite eight. Hooker is the younger brother of Malik Hooker, a former New Castle star who is now a freshman football player at Ohio State. Marcus also plays football.Scholastic Notebook – 03/06/2015
March 6, 2015
Chassidy Omogrosso is Blackhawk’s Energizer bunny. The senior guard on the Blackhawk girls basketball team seemingly never stops on the court. Her motor is stuck on overdrive. While Comcast has bundle deals for cable television, Blackhawk has a bundle full of energy in Omogrosso. Omogrosso’s “run” through the recent WPIAL tournament was one to behold. She was close to unstoppable in the Class AAA playoffs, leading the Cougars to a second consecutive WPIAL title last Saturday at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. No one has records for what is the greatest playoff run – scoring wise – for WPIAL girls basketball. But Omogrosso has to be somewhere near the top.Scholastic Notebook – 02/20/2015
February 20, 2015
Highlands and Bishop Canevin are in the WPIAL boys basketball quarterfinals. Who would’ve thought you’d read that sentence this year? Highlands and Bishop Canevin are two of the biggest turnaround stories in the league over the past few years. Highlands (13-11) will play Indiana in the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals tonight. Two years ago, Highlands finished 1-21 under first-year coach Tyler Stoczynski. Highlands started to show signs of improvement last year, but still finished 9-13 and out of the playoffs.Scholastic Notebook – 02/06/2015
February 6, 2015
Penn State football coach James Franklin lost out on the top player in the WPIAL class of 2015 when Central Valley’s Jordan Whitehead signed with Pitt. Other than Whitehead, Penn State had plenty of success in the WPIAL. At least more than the Nittany Lions have had in recent history. Penn State signed four players from the WPIAL this season. That might not seem like a lot, but it is more than the past four classes combined. In fact, only twice in the past 10 years has Penn State landed four or more players from the WPIAL. In 2010, Penn State signed five WPIAL players and four in 2007. Two of the past four years, Penn State did not sign one WPIAL player.2015 National Letter of Intent Day – MSA Sports Elite Eleven College Destinations
February 4, 2015
Wednesday was National Letter of Intent Day where high school seniors make their verbal commitments official by signing on the dotted line to the school of their choice. What were the final college destinations for the members of the 2014 MSA Sports The Elite 11 football all-star team? Here is a look: CO-PLAYER OF THE YEAR - BRETT BRUMBAUGH, SOUTH FAYETTE QB, 6-4, 195, SR. DUQUESNE CO-PLAYER OF THE YEAR - BEN DiNUCCI, PINE-RICHLAND QB, 6-2, 195, SR. PITT JORDAN WHITEHEAD, CENTRAL VALLEY RB-DB, 6-0, 185, SR. PITT2015 National Letter of Intent Day – Division I-A Football Players from WPIAL
Here are the seniors from the WPIAL or Pittsburgh City League who have signed to make their verbal commitments to Division I-A colleges. High school seniors could not sign a binding letter of intent until Wednesday, February 4th. PITT Ben DiNucci, Pine-Richland (QB, 6-3, 192) Dane Jackson, Quaker Valley (QB-DB, 6-1, 180) Alex Paulina, Canon-McMillan (OL-DL, 6-3, 280) Tony Pilato, Hempfield (OT-DL, 6-7, 290) Tre Tipton, Apollo-Ridge (WR-DL, 6-1, 175) Jordan Whitehead, Central Valley (RB-DB, 6-0, 195)Scholastic Notebook – 01/30/2015
January 30, 2015
With a little more than a week left in the regular season, Aliquippa and Sewickley Academy are the only two undefeated teams in WPIAL boys basketball at 18-0. For both, it is a return to glory this season. Aliquippa has a rich basketball tradition, but the Quips hit a rough patch from 2010-13, compiling a record below .500 for three consecutive seasons under coach Bobby Williams. Things started to return to normal last year under first-year coach Nick Lackovich when the Quips finished 20-7. Now, things are terrific at Aliquippa and this could be a team for the ages at the Beaver County school. It’s not known when the last time was Aliquippa finished the regular season with a perfect record. It has been at least four decades.
