Scholastic Notebook – 03/16/2012

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 16, 2012 | 4:29 PM

It was Problems at Palumbo for two WPIAL boys basketball champions this week. On consecutive nights, New Castle and Gateway – two WPIAL champions – lost games in the second round of the PIAA playoffs.

Some might have been surprised at the two losses because New Castle was undefeated and Gateway is a talented team. But history says the two teams losses were not unusual at all. In fact, history says the two losses should have been expected.

For years, WPIAL champions have had trouble going on to win state championships. But a look at the past decade of PIAA championship games suggests WPIAL champions have a less than 1 in 3 chance of even making it to the PIAA title game.

From 2001 through 2011, only 13 of 44 WPIAL champions have even made it to the PIAA title game. In that same time period, there has never been more than two WPIAL champions made it to the state title games. In 2001 and 2006, not one WPIAL champion made it to a state title game.

In the past 11 seasons, the only WPIAL champs to win state titles were Sewickley Academy in 2010, Serra and Jeannette in 2008, Beaver Falls in 2005 and Moon in 2004.

What this all says is that Beaver Falls and Lincoln Park have the odds stacked against them in trying to win state championships this year. Those are the two WPIAL champions still left – and both play tonight in the PIAA quarterfinals.

Wilson Will Have Choice

Not only will Montour’s Devin Wilson have to make a college choice someday. He’ll have to decide on a sport, too.

Wilson, a junior, has a few scholarship offers from Division I colleges. But he now has a football scholarship offer from North Carolina State. Wilson is a point guard in basketball and a receiver-defensive back in football.

Wilson has said he hasn’t decided on a sport and is keeping his options open in both sports. But many believe it will be tough for him to turn down football because he very likely could end up with more scholarship offers for football. Some big-time schools are showing interest in him.

Attendance Stuff

There was a tripleheader of games Wednesday night at Duquesne Univiersity’s Palumbo Center. The Blackhawk girls played Hopewell, the Quaker Valley boys played Sto-Rox, and the Gateway boys played Shaler. The crowd for the night wasn’t all that great. Paid attendance was 1,861.

But look at this way: It was still better than the attendance for Pitt’s game up the road in the first round of the CBI tournament. That game drew only 1,449.

From NFL to South Park

The South Park girls team will play in the PIAA Class AAA quarterfinals, and if you look at the team’s bench, you’ll see a rather big fella who was playing in the NFL only this past season.

Reggie Wells Jr. was an offensive lineman this past season for the Carolina Panthers. He played for the Arizona Cardinals from 2003-09 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2010. He is now a free agent.

Wells is helping coach with his father, Reggie Wells Sr.

Other PIAA Basketball Notes

* The Shaler boys are in the PIAA quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

* Shaler’s Geno Thorpe is one of two juniors in the PIAA playoffs who have committed to Penn State. The other is point guard Brandon Austin of Imhotep Charter in Philadelphia. He committed to Penn State only last month and also had scholarship offers from Temple, Syracuse, Georgetown, Villanova, Miami, Tennessee and Rutgers. Austin averages 13 points and 7.5 assists for the Panthers.

* Lower Merion is still alive in the PIAA boys playoffs. Lower Merion is the alma mater of Kobe Bryant, and coach Greg Downer was also Bryant’s coach.

* Steelton-Highspire girls player Malia Tate-DeFreitas is a junior who leads the state in scoring at 33 ppg. She has more than 2,000 career points already. She is shooting 51 percent from the field, 36 percent from 3-point range and already has more than 2,000 career points.

Tags: Gateway, Jeannette, Lincoln Park