Scholastic Notebook – 11/06/2015

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, November 6, 2015 | 2:33 PM

The WPIAL football playoffs start Friday night. Does that mean the Tri-County South Conference turns into the Tri-County Sour bunch once again?

The Tri-County South in Class A hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2010 season. Since then, Tri-County South teams are 0-16 in the postseason.

But maybe there is hope to end the postseason drought this year. Frazier finished the regular season with a 9-0 record and the Commodores were given the No. 4 seed. Frazier led the entire WPIAL in fewest points allowed this season and it plays host to South Side Beaver in a first-round game.

Frazier seemingly has the best shot of any Tri-County South team winning. But Beth-Center is the No. 8 seed and plays host to Avonworth. Beth-Center was undefeated last year and given the No. 4 seed for the playoffs, but the Bulldogs lost in the first round to Riverside, 21-20.

The two other Tri-County South teams in the playoffs Friday night are Carmichaels and Bentworth. It could get ugly for Carmichaels, the No. 16 seed that plays at No. 1 Clairton. Bentworth plays at Neshannock.

As bad as the Tri-County South has been in the postseason lately, the conference still has a ways to go to catch the old Keystone Conference in terms of futility. The Keystone Conference went eight years without winning a playoff game. The Keystone was 0-32 from 2001 through 2008. In 2009, Uniontown defeated Belle Vernon, 21-20, in a Class AAA first-round game. The Keystone Conference no longer exists because the WPIAL has only three Class AAA conferences instead of four.

Nola Resigns at Gateway

Less than a week after the season ended, Tom Nola resigned as football coach at Gateway High School. Nola handed in his letter of resignation Wednesday. It was a noteworthy move because Nola’s tenure lasted only two years, and because of what he accomplished at Clairton before he came to Gateway.

Nola coached Clairton for 12 seasons. When he made the move, he said coaching at a larger classification was something he felt he needed to try. In two years, Nola lost about half as many games as he did in 12 years at Gateway.

Nola’s record at Gateway was 9-10. His record at Clairton was 136-22. He won six WPIAL titles and four PIAA championships at Clairton. Gateway was 4-6 in Nola’s first season at Gateway and 5-4 this season, but did not make the playoffs.

Nola also had two coaching stints at Serra and his all-time record is 160-64.

Gateway athletic director Randy Rovesti made it clear that Nola resigned on his own and was not asked to leave. Rovesti spoke highly of Nola and said the team improved this season.

“We didn’t get in the playoffs, but we were better than last year,” said Rovesti. “We beat a real good Franklin Regional team the last game of the season. We thought we were coming around. Had we gotten in the playoffs, Gateway was a team you didn’t want to play.”

Baseball Coaching Move

In a noteworthy WPIAL baseball coaching change, Todd Goble has left Quaker Valley and been hired at Moon.

Goble was successful in three seasons at Quaker Valley, leading the Quakers to the WPIAL Class AA championship game twice. Quaker Valley lost in the title game both times, but the Quakers hadn’t been to a final since 1984.

Dudek for 4,000?

Armstrong’s Zane Dudek led the WPIAL in regular season rushing this year with 2,109 yards. He became only the sixth player in WPIAL history to rush for 2,000 yards in the regular season.

But Dudek is about to join another elite club. He has 3,982 yards career rushing and needs only 18 tonight against Thomas Jefferson to reach 4,000 for his career. Dudek would be the fourth WPIAL player this year to reach 4,000. The others are Woodland Hills’ Miles Sanders, Beth-Center’s Anthony Welsh and Clairton’s Lamont Wade.

Dudek is only a junior. That means he has a chance to become only the fifth running back in WPIAL history to reach 6,000 career yards.

Getting Their Kicks

Who was the top field-goal kicker in the WPIAL this season? It was a four-way tie. Mount Lebanon’s Garrett Montilla, Mars’ Caleb Brake, Hollidaysburg’s Vlad Hilling and Gateway’s Jordan Washington all kicked seven field goals this season.

Due for a Repeat?

The PIAA girls tennis singles and doubles championships are this weekend in Hershey, and Shady Side Academy’s Ananya Due is trying to do something only two other WPIAL girls have done – repeat as champion.

Due is the defending PIAA Class AAA champ. The only other WPIAL girls to repeat as state champions were Michaela Kissell of Latrobe (three consecutive from 2003-05) and Mt. Lebanon’s Kelly Kolankiewicz (1982-83). Kolankiewicz, by the way, is the daughter-in-law of Joe Paterno.

Due won the WPIAL title a few weeks ago.

Planets Rise

The WPIAL soccer championships are Friday night and Saturday at Highmark Stadium on the South Side of Pittsburgh. Mars is having a boy-girl party at the place.

Both the Mars girls and boys teams have made it to the WPIAL Class AA title games. The girls play South Park at 2 and the boys play South Fayette at 4.

This is another example of how Mars has become a veritable boy-girl powerhouse in soccer. This is the fifth championship appearance for the girls in the past six years. This is the fifth championship appearance for the boys in the past eight years.

Tags: Armstrong, Bentworth, Beth-Center, Carmichaels, Frazier, Gateway