Penn-Trafford notebook: Hockey team sits atop Class 2A standings

By: Paul Schofield
Saturday, January 4, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Penn-Trafford hockey team ended 2024 with an impressive 8-1 victory against rival Norwin.

The Warriors are currently in first place in the PIHL Class 2A division after a playing three games in December. They have 31 points. Latrobe is second with 27 points and Erie Cathedral Prep is third with 26 points.

Drew Hall had two goals in the win over Norwin while T.J. Ferguson, Roman Catello, Ben Zierski, Cam Kiste, Aiden Drotos and Brock Bienemann each had one goal.

Robert Thatcher had three assists while Kiste, Drotos and Bienemann had two assists.

Penn-Trafford is second in Class 2A with 62 goals, and Latrobe is third with 53. The Warriors have more goals in the third period than any team in the classification with 27.

Bienemann leads the Warriors with 13 goals and 11 assists, and Drotos has 12 goals and 13 assists. Kiste had eight goals and nine assists.

The Warriors were scheduled to return to action Jan. 2 at Baldwin and Jan. 7 at Canon-McMillan. They return home Jan. 14 against Norwin.

4 Warriors named all-stars

Westmoreland County will have a number of representatives in this year’s PIHL All-Star Games.

The five-game schedule and player selections have been announced for the games Jan. 26 at RMU Island Sports Center on Neville Island.

The games are as follows:

• Division 2 Gold vs. Division 2 Blue, noon

• Class A Gold vs. Class A Blue, 1:50 p.m.

• Class A2 Gold vs. Class A2 Blue, 3:40 p.m.

• Class 2A Gold vs. Class 2A Blue, 5:30 p.m.

• Class 3A Gold vs. Class 3A Blue, 7:20 p.m.

Local all-star selections are:

Class 3A — Liam Copeland, Nick Matus and Brandon Yohe of Franklin Regional

Class 2A – Dane Busch, Nick Crupie, Austin Herron and JJ Williams of Hempfield; Don Cerilli, Parker Toth and Cade Zeravica of Norwin; Joey Crimboli, Bryant Dummich, Dylan Morris and Brock Pflugh of Latrobe and Kyler Doran, Aiden Drotos, Tyler Funk and Camden Kiste of Penn-Trafford

Class A – Luke Dieter, Jake Fink and Cooper Outly of Greensburg Salem and Jacob Kraus and Dylan Matenkosky of Kiski Area

Division 2 – Julian Kemp, Luke Mink, Michael Morascyzk and Kooper Price of Burrell

Hoop talk

The unbeaten Penn-Trafford girls basketball team (10-0) was scheduled to open 2025 with a game at McKeesport on Jan. 6. The Warriors will play host to Kiski Area on Jan. 9 and then visit Indiana on Jan. 13.

Before the Christmas break, they defeated North Hills, 50-22.

The Penn-Trafford boys evened their record at 4-4 following a hard-fought win against Elkins, W.Va., 72-68.

The Warriors were set to resume play Jan. 7 at home against Latrobe. The Warriors are 1-2 in Section 1-5A.

Staff writer Bill Beckner Jr. contributed.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford