Top 19 of ’19: Trib HSSN breaks down the top stories of the year — No. 6

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, December 26, 2019 | 4:01 PM

The 2019 high school sports season is nearly in the books.

While we anxiously look ahead to 2020, let’s reflect on the district high school sports scene over the last 12 months.

Here is a look back at the top 19 stories from around the WPIAL in 2019.

HSSN Top 19 in ’19: No. 6 — Golden run ends

One of the longest WPIAL team championship runs ended quietly early in the 2019 WPIAL Class AAA boys team tennis playoffs.

Sewickley Academy decided to challenge its outstanding boys tennis program by moving up from Class AA to AAA before the 2019 season.

The move into Section 2-AAA saw the perennial section champion Panthers finish second to North Allegheny in the regular season.

Then, in the first round of the district playoffs, Sewickley Academy fell to Upper St. Clair.

The loss ended the second-longest team championship streak at 15 in a row. Only the Bethel Park boys swimming team won more with 20 consecutive WPIAL championships from 1981 to 2000.

Here’s a look at the rest of the top stories of the year:

No. 19 — Big Ben strikes often

No. 18 — Near perfect on the pitch

No. 17 — Five golden rings

No. 16 — Bucs title run is now a teenager

No. 15 — Worldly results lead to district and state gold

No. 14 — Black out

No. 13 — Big time ballers

No. 12 — Four decade wait is over

No. 11 — Fight for survival

No. 10 — A Crummie ending

No. 9 — Swimmer breaks national mark

No. 8 — PIAA to the rescue

No. 7 — Coaching king hangs up his whistle

Tags: Sewickley Academy