Scholastic Notebook – 12/25/2010

By: Bruce Markey
Saturday, December 25, 2010 | 12:00 AM

While Gateway grabbed most of the preseason publicity in WPIAL basketball, the team that has been awfully impressive so far this season is Shaler.

The Titans are 6-0 and one of only three undefeated teams in Class AAAA. The others are Gateway (6-0) and Connellsville (6-0).

This has the potential to be one of Shaler's best teams in a while. It has experience and talent, although the team's leading scorer is a sophomore. Geno Thorpe grew up in Shaler and played on Shaler's middle-school teams, but decided to attend Shady Side Academy as a freshman. After a promising freshman year on Shady Side's varsity, Thorpe left the school and transferred back to Shaler for this school year.

Thorpe is a 6-foot-2 guard and already has high-level Division I colleges monitoring him. Another one of Shaler's top players is 5-foot-9 senior guard J.T. Schwartz, a starter since his sophomore year.

Shaler has played without 6-foot-4 J.P. Holtz, a junior who has been a starter since his freshman year. Holtz is still recovering from a broken ankle suffered in football season. But the Titans haven't seemed to miss Holtz. They own impressive victories at home against North Allegheny (59-47) and blew out a good Butler team on the road (67-49).

Shaler is hoping to enjoy some playoff success. The Titans have never played for a WPIAL championship and made it to the semifinals only twice in school history (1994 and 2001).

Sections Flex Muscles

Before the season, the strength of WPIAL Class AAAA basketball was reputed to be in Sections 3 and 4. After the first few weeks, those two sections have more than lived up to their reputations.

All you have to do to figure out how strong those two sections are is to look at the standings for the entire WPIAL. Heading into the holiday tournaments, six of the seven teams in Section 3 had overall records above .500. No other section in the entire WPIAL had only one team below .500.

And the only Section 3 team below .500 is Butler, which has a 2-3 record, but has faced some stiff competition. The other Section 3 teams are Shaler (6-0), Pittsburgh Central Catholic (4-2), North Allegheny (4-2), Pine-Richland (3-1), Seneca Valley (3-2) and North Hills (4-3).

In Section 4, six of the eight teams have records above .500. Just four other sections in the WPIAL have only two teams with records of .500 or below. The Section 4 teams are Mount Lebanon (4-1), Upper St. Clair (4-1), Moon (4-1), Chartiers Valley (5-2), Bethel Park (3-2), Peters Township (4-3), Baldwin (2-3) and Canon-McMillan (2-4).

A look at the MSA rankings also tells the strength of Sections 3 and 4. Seven of the top 10 teams in Class AAAA are from those two sections. They are No. 2 Shaler, No. 3 North Allegheny, No. 4 Mt. Lebanon, No. 6 Upper St. Clair, No. 7 Butler, No. 8 Central Catholic and No. 9 Chartiers Valley.

Point/Counterpoint

The Norwin boys' team has been impressive offensively so far this season. Heading into the holiday tournaments, Norwin led the WPIAL in scoring with an average of 79.8 points.

Now here is the down side. Nowin is the worst defensive team in the WPIAL in terms of points. The Knights are giving up an average of 76.7.

The only other teams averaging more than 70 points a game are Monessen (71.0), Greensburg Central Catholic (72.8), Lincoln Park (70.5), Vincentian (75.6) and St. Joseph (79.4).

Power at Powerade Tournament

One of the top wrestling tournaments in the country will be Wednesday and Thursday at Canon-McMillan High School.

The annual Powerade tournament is considered one of the best in the country and this year features 44 teams from seven states. There are six returning champions in the event – and four are from the WPIAL. The returning champs are Trinity's Jimmy Gulibon and Travis Shaffer, Franklin Regional's Nico Megaludis, Charleroi's Cody Wiercioch, and Central Dauphin's Tyson Dippery and Kenny Courts.

Starting Early

Maybe football season in Pennsylvania won't end so late, starting in 2012. But that's a big maybe.

For the past two seasons, the state championships have been played a week before Christmas. Only a few other states in the country hold their state championships so late, and those other states are in warm-weather climates.

But at the Dec. 16 PIAA Board of Control meetings, the board passed – on a first-reading basis – a new rule that would move up the start of football season and practices by one week, starting in 2012.

However, the new rule must pass two more votes in January and March, and the March vote must pass by two-thirds majority. The recent vote was 18-13. In March, the rule must have 21 votes to pass.

Many consider it ridiculous that Pennsylvania's state championships are a week before Christmas. But the PIAA Board of Control can't seem to agree on starting the season earlier, and ending earlier. By moving the season up one week in 2012, the state championships will be played Dec. 7-8 instead of Dec. 14-15. Football practices will begin Aug. 6 instead of Aug. 13.

Football Recruiting

North Allegheny lineman Justin Haser has made a verbal commitment to Ohio University of the Mid-American Conference.

Clairton's Desimon Green, who committed to Pitt this summer, opened up his recruitment after Dave Wannstedt was forced to resign and plans to make four college visits in January to Michigan State, Cincinnati, Illinois and Texas Tech. Michigan State and Texas Tech are his leaders.

Green has decided not to play basketball for the first few weeks of January because he wants to get his recruiting in order and he is recovering from a long football season. Clairton won the PIAA Class A title and its final game was December 17th.

Where Are They Now?

* The Edinboro mens' basketball team is off to a 7-3 start and the Scots' team is like a mini WPIAL-City League reunion. Three of the team's top four scorers are from the WPIAL or City League. Byron Knight of Penn Hills averages 12.9 points, Cory Summerville of Perry 12.7 and 6.6 rebounds, and Danny Walsh of Moon 12.4 points. Chris Klimchock, a Greensburg Salem graduate, has also played in all 10 games and is averaging 9.2 points. He leads the team in assists with 30. Speaking of Walsh, his brother, Brian, is sitting out this season at Akron after transferring from Xavier.

* Speaking of Akron, two former WPIAL players have started all 12 games for the Zips, who play Division I basketball in the Mid-American Conference. Sophomore Zeke Marshall, a 7-footer from McKeesport, is averaging 10 points and 4.5 rebounds. He also has 30 blocks in 12 games. Marshall is among the top 30 shot blockers in the country. Also, Akron senior guard Steve McNees, a Shenango graduate, is averaging 7.9 points a game. Akron has a 7-5 record.