Scholastic Notebook – 01/14/2012

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, January 14, 2012 | 2:47 PM

Things have been relatively easy for the Montour boys basketball team so far. The Spartans are 6-0 and have outscored opponents, 73-44.

But things are about to get a lot tougher for Montour, as the Spartans are about to embark on a week-long schedule that is probably tougher than any other team’s in the WPIAL.

The tough part starts Tuesday when Montour plays at South Fayette in a battle for first place in Class AAA Section 5. South Fayette is 9-2 overall and both teams are undefeated in section play.

That is followed by games on back-to-back days against highly-ranked teams.

On Saturday, Jan. 21, Montour plays New Castle at 8 p.m. in the “Coaches Vs. Cancer Clash of the Titans Classic” at Geneva College’s Metheny Field House. New Castle is the No. 3-ranked Class AAA team in the MSA Sports rankings. Montour is No. 1. However, New Castle is No. 1 in some other rankings.

The next day (Jan. 22), Montour takes on a No. 1 team. The Spartans play Chartiers Valley at 5 p.m. in the Pittsburgh Basketball Classic at Robert Morris. The event is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Basketball Club. Chartiers Valley is No. 1 in the MSA Sports Class AAAA rankings.

Regardless of what happens in the three-game stretch, Montour will still be one of the top teams in Class AAA. But these games should give a clue as to exactly how good the Spartans are.

Basketball Events

Next weekend is a big weekend for basketball events in the Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.

The “Coaches vs. Cancer Clash of the Titans Classic” is a six-game event at Geneva, with boys and girls games. It begins at noon with a girls game between Quigley and Beaver Falls. The 2 p.m. features two top girls teams when North Catholic plays Riverside.

The North Catholic boys play East Liverpool at 3:30, the Lincoln Park boys play Sewickley Academy at 5, and the Farrell boys play Beaver Falls in a top boys game at 6:30.

The Pittsburgh Basketball Classic at Robert Morris Jan. 22 is a six-game event that starts at 11 a.m. Besides the Montour vs. Chartiers Valley game, another top contest in the event is Sto-Rox vs. South Fayette at 3:30 p.m.

One other event next weekend features some of the top teams in the country and a slew of future Division I college players. The Planet Athlete National Showcase will be next Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 21-22) at Shaler. St. Benedict’s of Newark, N.J., and Arlington Country Day of Jacksonville, Fla., are both in the event and will play each other Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Arlington Country Day is ranked No. 12 in the country by ESPN and St. Benedict No. 28. St. Benedict’s only loss this season was by one point to another perennial power, St. Anthony’s of New Jersey. St. Benedict will play Central Catholic Saturday night at 7.

Other WPIAL teams in the event are Shaler, Mount Lebanon and Woodland Hills.

Girls’ Hoops Showdowns

Two top girls games will be played this week, and one of them has been moved to a college gym to accommodate the crowd.

North Catholic will play Vincentian in a WPIAL Class A game Wednesday at 8 p.m. at LaRoche College. North Catholic (9-3) is No. 1 in the MSA Class A rankings and Vincentian (12-0). The game was originally scheduled to be played at Vincentian, but Vincentian’s gym is tiny and might hold 200 people at the most. LaRoche’s Kerr Fitness Center holds around 1,000.

On Monday, Bishop Canevin (9-2) plays at Seton-LaSalle (11-0) in a big Class AA game. Bishop Canevin is No. 3 in the Class AA rankings and Seton-LaSalle No. 1. Some outstanding talent will be on the court in Bishop Canevin’s Erin Waskowiak and Seton-LaSalle’s Naje Gibson and Angela Heintz.

Some feel Seton-LaSalle might be the best team in the WPIAL, regardless of class. You can understand the point. The Rebels have defeated some Class AAA and AAAA teams, including Class AAAA power Mount Lebanon.

More on Neil Gordon

Neil Gordon hopes to be coaching again this fall.

Gordon resigned Friday as coach at Shaler after four seasons. Previously, he was Penn Hills’ coach for 21 seasons.

Gordon said he simply thought it was time to move on from Shaler. He lives in Wilkins Township near Penn Hills and said the drive to Shaler for practices every day and offseason workouts was getting “old.”

Gordon is hopeful he can coach again this season somewhere else, but he was adamant in saying he did not resign from Shaler just because of some job openings around the WPIAL. Mount Lebanon, Hempfield and Kiski Area are all looking for new head coaches as well as East Allegheny.

“None of the openings out there had anything to do with me leaving Shaler,” Gordon said. “I just decided this in the last couple of days.”

Shaler athletic director Paul Holzshu said, “In my opinion, Shaler football the last four years has been high profile, it has been successful, it has been playoff-oriented and it has caused a stir in the community. Neil and the people he brought in did a remarkable job to make Shaler football a talked-about thing at the kitchen table. I’m saddened by the fact our program loses someone the caliber of Neil. But I understand his decision and the factors weighing on that decision.”

Football Recruiting

McKeesport linebacker T.J. Neal is visiting Illinois this weekend and the Illini seem to have an excellent chance at landing Neal.

There is a chance Woodland Hills linebacker Mike Caprara could end up a Pitt Panther. Caprara wasn’t getting much interest from Division I schools, but Pitt got into the game when Paul Chryst became coach. The Panthers started showing interest and Caprara is on an official visit to Pitt this weekend. There is a chance the Panthers might offer a scholarship.

Big 33 Selections

The Pennsylvania team for this summer’s Big 33 all-star game has been announced, and about one-third of the team is made up of WPIAL players.

Eleven WPIAL players were selected to the June 16 game, which matches Pennsylvania against Ohio at Hersheypark Stadium. In recent years, some of the top players in Pennsylvania have chosen not to participate in the Big 33 for various reasons, but this year’s roster includes the big names in the state, including Hopewell star running back Rushel Shell.

Woodland Hills and Penn Hills both have two players on the Pennsylvania team. The other 10 players from the WPIAL who were selected are Montour RB Julian Durden, McDowell RB Greg Garmon, Shaler TE-LB J.P. Holtz, Upper St. Clair OL Ian Park, Woodland Hills WR Shakim Alonzo, Penn Hills WR Cory Jones, Central Catholic DB Anthony Nixon, Penn Hills DL Treyvon Hester, McKeesport DL Terrell Williams and Woodland Hills LB Mike Caprara. Tyrique Jarrett, a DL from City League member Allderdice, also was selected.

Seneca Valley coach Don Holl will be an assistant coach for the Pennsylvania team.

Tags: Allderdice, Beaver Falls, Bishop Canevin, Chartiers Valley, Hopewell, Lincoln Park, McKeesport, Upper St. Clair, Vincentian Academy, Woodland Hills