Golf, soccer, volleyball on tap in Tuesday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, October 1, 2018 | 9:18 PM

Thirty-six district Class AAA boys golfers will tee off on one of the toughest golf courses in the country Tuesday to determine the WPIAL champion and qualifiers to the PIAA western regionals.

For the second time in three years, the WPIAL AAA boys’ individual golf championships will be held at the prestigious Oakmont Country Club.

The field includes senior Brady Pevarnik of Latrobe, who tied for the title last year with then senior Chris Sabol of Moon. Sabol captured gold in a playoff.

Senior Palmer Jackson of Franklin Regional is also one of the favorites and joins Pevarnik in the final duo of the 18 tandems in the championships. Jackson finished third in the finals a year ago.

Gregor Meyer of Fox Chapel is returning to Oakmont. The senior won the WPIAL championship two years ago at Oakmont Country Club as a sophomore, but finished ninth last year as the defending champion.

The top 14 golfers will qualify for the PIAA Western Regionals at Tom’s Run Golf Course in Blairsville on Oct. 15, provided their score does not exceed 100.

Four-A frays

Norwin has built a 2½-game cushion atop Section 3-4A in boys soccer.

But while the Knights may have taken the suspense out of the chase for the section title, the log jam behind them could make for a very interesting final few weeks.

Four teams are separated by only one-half game in the chase for the remaining three playoff spots, and all four teams go head-to-head on Tuesday.

Plum (6-4) is at Penn-Trafford (6-3-1) while Connellsville (6-3) hosts Latrobe (6-4).

So far, head-to-head (first postseason tiebreaker) between the four has not settled much.

Latrobe is 3-2 against the other three, while Penn-Trafford is 2-3 and both Connellsville and Plum are 2-2.

October volleys begin

The first Tuesday in October features three matches where the top two section girls volleyball teams collide with only three weeks left in the regular season.

A share of first place in Section 2-4A is up for grabs when Baldwin (8-0) visits Oakland Catholic (7-1). The host Highlanders won a five-game thriller over the Eagles on Sept. 6.

There will be no movement atop Section 2-AA no matter the outcome when Neshannock takes on Beaver. The Lancers (7-0) have built a two-game lead over the Bobcats (5-2). Neshannock won the first match between the two 3-1.

Finally, Freeport (6-0) hosts Derry (6-1) with first place in Section 5-AA at stake. The Yellow jackets swept past the Trojans, 3-0, in their first meeting last month.

Don Rebel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Don at drebel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TheDonRebel.

Tags: Baldwin, Beaver, Connellsville, Derry Area, Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional, Freeport, Latrobe, Neshannock, Norwin, Oakland Catholic, Penn-Trafford, Plum