Westmoreland high school notebook: Latrobe becoming hot spot for Division I athletes

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, January 1, 2024 | 3:58 PM

Purchase Photo Options

An assistant football coach from Southern Cal flew across the country recently to meet with coveted Latrobe prospect Alex Tatsch.

The coach covered 4,916 miles round trip, just to meet with the junior four-star linebacker.

“Schools really like him,” Latrobe football coach Ron Prady said. “We have more coming in, too.”

College coaches have become more familiar with Latrobe in recent months. The school suddenly has become a hot spot for Division I recruits.

Tatsch has more than a dozen offers from Power 5 programs, including USC, Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Stanford, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and others.

Junior safety John Wetzel, Tatsch’s teammate, has offers from Boston College and Cincinnati.

Over the weekend, senior basketball player Elle Snyder made a verbal commitment to Evansville, a Division I program in Indiana.

Emma Blair was a senior at Latrobe last year and is now playing D-I basketball at South Carolina Upstate.

The girls soccer team had five D-I recruits on this year’s team: seniors Ella Bulava (Maryland) and Regan Reilly (Bowling Green), and juniors Robin Reilly (West Virginia), Ava Yurko (Youngstown Stare) and Maddy Petruzzi (Valparaiso).

Goalkeeper Sofia DeCerb graduated last year and is playing at James Madison.

Three-time PIAA champion Vinny Kilkeary, another Latrobe product, is a freshman wrestler at Ohio State. He followed the D-I path like several Latrobe alums before him.

Another recent Latrobe alum, Corey Boerio, is wrestling at Kent State.

More Wildcats playing at college’s highest level:

• Softball player Sydney DeGram is a freshman softball player at St. Bonaventure.

• Lily Fenton is a freshman volleyball player at Notre Dame.

• Hannah Polosky is a freshman diver at Pitt.

• Luke Willochell of Latrobe committed to Wyoming for wrestling. Gabe Willochell is a sophomore wrestler at Wyoming.

“We have talented kids that have committed themselves to be the best they can be,” Prady said. “Putting in extra work, and training with places like FSQ, is not the exception for these guys as they have a tremendous desire to win and be successful.

“They feed off one another and push themselves and the rest of the team to be successful.”

1 v. 2

A pair of 1 vs. 2 matchups highlight the local girls basketball schedule this week.

On Tuesday night, No. 1 North Allegheny (6-0) hosts No. 2 Norwin (7-2) in the Section 1-6A opener.

On Thursday, Class 2A No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic (6-2, 2-0) will travel to McKeesport to play No. 2 Serra Catholic (7-1, 2-0) in Section 3.

While it isn’t 1-2, another matchup is intriguing in 4A where the top two teams in Section 1 will square up. No. 4 Greensburg Salem (9-1, 1-0) travels to No. 2 North Catholic (3-4, 2-0) on Thursday night.

On the boys side, games to watch include Franklin Regional (8-1) at Penn-Trafford (6-4) on Tuesday in the Section 3-5A opener and Greensburg Central Catholic (9-2, 2-0) at Jeannette (7-3, 2-0) on Friday night in Section 2-2A.

On Wednesday, Belle Vernon (5-2) hosts Southmoreland (10-0) as Section 3-4A tips off.

Belle Vernon turns around and plays at Uniontown (9-0) on Friday.

Recruiting

Da’sjon Craggette, the big-play running back who played at Southmoreland for his senior season, picked up a scholarship offer from Gannon.

Craggette, who transferred from Greensburg Central Catholic to Geibel, which has a football co-operative with Southmoreland, ran for 1,462 yards and scored 19 touchdowns.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Jeannette, Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford