Tag: Freeport
CTK 2015 – Class AA Allegheny Conference Preview
August 26, 2015
You could say variety has been a big part of the Allegheny Conference in recent years. Since 2010, five different teams have either won the conference title or tied for first place. During that time, the only team to win the conference outright or tie for first in more than one year is Freeport, which tied for first in 2011 and 2012. The other teams to win or tie were Ford City (2010), Shady Side Academy (2011), Burrell (2012), Kittanning (2013) and Highlands (2014). Who will win the conference this year? There are some differing opinions as to who is the team to beat, although Highlands probably gets the nod. But this is for sure: The conference has a different look this season.
CTK 2015 – MSA Sports Preseason ELITE ELEVEN
August 16, 2015
The Pittsburgh Central Catholic football team is being touted as one of the top 25 teams in the country in some national polls. The strength of the Vikings can be seen on this year’s MSA Sports Elite 11 team. Central Catholic has two players on this year’s preseason Elite 11 – Damar Hamlin and David Adams. Central Catholic is the only team with two players on the Elite 11. The team is made up of the top 11 players in the WPIAL, regardless of position, and is picked by the MSA Sports staff. Hamlin, a senior, and Adams, a junior, are both being recruited heavily by major colleges. But Central Catholic has a handful of other players with scholarship offers from Division I-A colleges.Scholastic Notebook – 06/05/2015
June 5, 2015
Four WPIAL baseball teams have made it to the PIAA semifinals. The main ingredient to their postseason success is simple. Pitching. Of course, pitching always is key in baseball, but you might be scratching your head to come up with a group of WPIAL teams that made it this far and that have such a strong common thread of stellar pitching between them. The four are Shaler (Class AAAA), Knoch (AAA), Neshannock (AA) and Quaker Valley (AA). Of the four, only Neshannock has really made a huge impact offensively, scoring 45 runs in six postseason games. But the pitching of all four teams has been impeccable.
2015 WPIAL Scholar Athletes
May 22, 2015
The Class of 2015 On Monday, May 18th, twenty (20) student athletes were recognized by the WPIAL for their extraordinary achievements - both academically and athletically - throughout their high school careers. This years scholarship recipients are listed below, including brief bios on each (as provided by the WPIAL).Scholastic Notebook – 05/15/2015
May 15, 2015
The name is Aaron, as in Hank. The hitting this baseball season has been Hank Aaron-esque. California senior Aaron Previsky had a regular season for the ages. A year ago, Norwin’s J.J. Matijevic became the first known player to win the WPIAL triple crown (first in batting average, home runs and RBIs). Previsky didn’t do that, but his regular season also was terrific. Previsky finished with a .545 batting average, which was good for 13th in the WPIAL. But he was second in home runs with six and third in runs scored with 35.
WPIAL Hall of Fame Class of 2015
April 9, 2015
Four athletes who would later go on to professional careers, several multi-sport athletes, four coaches who won nearly 40 WPIAL championships between them, an old-school baseball player whose son continued his Major League Baseball legacy and a team that won nine WPIAL and PIAA playoff games en route to a state basketball title by an average margin of victory of 25.8. Those are some of the headliners of the WPIAL Hall of Fame class of 2015. The WPIAL held a news conference Thursday morning to announce its ninth annual class. You can watch the video stream archived here on MSA Sports. All inductees will be honored at a banquet June 12 at the Doubletree Hotel in Greentree.Scholastic Notebook – 03/28/2015
March 28, 2015
The best distance runner in WPIAL history might not compete in track this season because of an illness and injuries. That leaves the door open for someone. Madeleine Davison has her foot in the door. Davison is a junior at North Allegheny. While Shaler’s Brianna Schwartz was running her way to records last year, Davison was often close behind, sometimes just a second or two away. Now, Davison could gain a reputation as one of the best distance runners in the WPIAL in recent history.Scholastic Notebook – 10/31/2014
October 31, 2014
The Southmoreland football team failed to make the WPIAL football postseason again. The Scotties haven’t been to the playoffs since 1979, the longest current drought in the WPIAL. But there are some other playoff droughts that are notable as the WPIAL playoffs get under way Friday with 32 games around the area. Three teams in the postseason have never won a WPIAL playoff game. Never, ever, ever. They are Laurel Highlands, Mapletown and Altoona. Altoona is a little deceiving. The school re-joined the WPIAL for football only a few years ago. But the school played in the WPIAL a long time ago. Altoona has played in only two previous WPIAL playoff games. The last was in 2012. The first was in 1969 when Altoona lost to Gateway in the WPIAL final.PIHL Notebook – 2014-2015 Class A Preview
October 20, 2014
Welcome to another edition of “PIHL Notebook” as we continue our comprehensive preview of the 2014-15 high school hockey season. Today we take a look at the teams vying for the Class A championship. Class A has the most complex breakdown of the new alignment, split into two tiers with two conferences in each. Tier 1 is, fittingly, the more stacked of the two. Three of last year’s final four will compete in the Western Conference, including defending champion Quaker Valley, while McDowell and Montour join from the Open Division and Class AA respectively. The Eastern Conference includes Chiefs Cup finalist Hempfield, the “other” member of last year’s Class A final four in Freeport, and another Open transplant in Gateway.WPIAL Friday Night HighLights for 10/17
October 18, 2014
Some coaches will tell you that a win is a win is a win. But if you look closely at some of the victories on the eighth Friday of the WPIAL football season, you would see that is not true. Some triumphs kept undefeated seasons alive, some kept conference championships alive, some were key playoff positioning wins while others just kept playoff hopes alive while others were accomplished with a group of young men just playing for school pride. No matter how you label it, these players performed at the top of their games Friday while enjoying the sweet taste of victory after. Ben DiNucci - Pine-Richland
