High school notebook: Colleges give Latrobe lineman a ‘Holler’

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, May 12, 2018 | 11:00 PM

“Big Snack” is hungry for more scholarship offers.

Latrobe junior lineman Trent Holler is beginning to see how the college recruiting process works: fast and furious one week, quiet the next. It's the nature of “live” periods when coaches can contact prospects.

Holler has seen more of the former and less of the latter lately as he has picked up four Division I-FCS offers since the end of March.

Holler is loving every second of the back-and-forth with schools, the unofficial visits and one-one-one workouts for coaches.

“I'm liking it with all of the great colleges coming to see me and think I have the potential to play at all their schools,” said Holler, who is 6-foot-3 and 285 pounds. “I'm just waiting for the right school.”

Holler is listed as a center and defensive end for Latrobe. He said most of the schools showing interest like him as a center.

“Except for Lehigh and Albany, they both like me on the defensive side,” Holler said. He has offers from Youngstown State, Duquesne, Robert Morris and Albany.

Holler said he plans to meet with coaches from Michigan State and Cincinnati and attend camps at both schools.

“I'm not surprised to see recruiting pick up for Trent,” Latrobe coach Jason Marucco said. “Between his junior (year) film, gains physically in the weight room and athleticism playing basketball, throwing shot put for track with the opportunity to qualify for the state meet next week.

“Not only does his athleticism for his size show up on film, but he plays with an edge that coaches at the next level really like.”

An every-down player for the Wildcats, Holler has started every game at center and defensive end for three seasons.

He plans to visit Robert Morris, Albany and Duquesne over the summer, “to get to know the coaches more and build relationships.”

Derry overcomes adversity

Derry's softball team was dealt a crushing blow when senior all-state shortstop Chelsea Bisi went down with a season-ending knee injury in April. But that didn't stop the Trojans from making the WPIAL playoffs.

Derry is 5-9 and finished 2-8 in Section 1-4A — in a fourth-place tie with Highlands (3-9, 2-8) and Uniontown (3-11, 2-8). All three qualified because they split against one another. Actually, all six of the section's teams are in the playoffs.

Bisi, a Penn State recruit, hit over .700 last season and was batting .462 through five games this year with a home run.

“Some of the close games and even those games against the teams that are powerhouses in our section would have been a little better had we had (Bisi) in there,” Derry coach Patrick Meloy said. “She's a player you can't replace, whether it's her bat … just her presence and game knowledge out there is a tough to lose.

“When that happened you could feel the wind slip through the sails a bit, with such a young team … but some of our other girls stepped it up.”

Such as sophomores Kam Kelly (.333, 11 RBIs) and Hannah Wedow (.318), who also went down with an injury. Freshman Gianna Copelli has scored 13 runs.

“We look at our record and we aren't happy with it, but I keep preaching to the girls that they have a chance now,” Meloy said. “They have a chance to get some much-needed experience in postseason play.

“I am happy for the girls that they get to experience the opportunity to play in a playoff game, and it's something that they seem to finally have found a bit of excitement from. I'm hoping this taste of playoffs pushes these young girls over their next few years.”

Fairman steps down

Belle Vernon girls basketball coach Lisa Fairman resigned to take the girls head coach position at Thomas Jefferson.

She lives in the TJ school district. Fairman went 100-64 and led the Leopards to the WPIAL playoffs fives times in seven seasons.

Recruiting

Former Southmoreland basketball standout Brandon Stone added another Division I offer, from Auburn. It's his second offer from an SEC school, joining South Carolina.

Stone is a reclassified junior at The Christ School (N.C.).

• Jeannette junior football players Marcus Barnes and Anthony Johnson each picked up an offer from Morgan State. They have identical offers from four colleges. The others are Holy Cross, Robert Morris and Howard.

• Three-time PIAA Southwest Regional qualifier Doug Bittner of Mt. Pleasant will continue his wrestling career at Penn State Fayette. A 126-pounder, Bittner was 110-70 in his prep career. He made the PIAA tournament in 2015-16.

Tags: Derry Area, Jeannette