Westmoreland high school notebook: PIAA playoffs beckon for trio of teams

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, October 25, 2020 | 7:20 PM

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A trio of WPIAL championship teams from Westmoreland County will compete this week for state titles.

The Franklin Regional boys and Greensburg Central Catholic girls golf teams, and the Latrobe girls tennis team are in the PIAA postseason.

Franklin Regional, which captured its first WPIAL title last week as it edged past defending state champion Fox Chapel, will compete against other district champions Unionville (District 1), Abington Heights (2), Wilson (3), Cathedral Prep (10) and Liberty (11) on Monday at Heritage Hills Resort in York.

At the WPIAL final, senior Michael Wareham shot 78, senior Chuck Tragesser, junior Zach Abdallah and sophomore Nolan Shilling matched 82s and junior Jeff Anderchak and senior Luke Kimmich each shot 85, with one score not counted.

Tragesser finished second at the PIAA individual tournament at Heritage Hills.

Greensburg Central Catholic will try to defend its PIAA title this week in York.

The Centurions, who have won six consecutive WPIAL Class AA titles and back-to-back PIAA titles, will go against Elk Lake (District 2), Westmont Hilltop (6) and North East (10).

GCC’s lineup will include junior twins Meghan and Ella Zambruno, freshman Izzy Aigner and senior Angelika Dewicki.

The Centurions won last year at Heritage Hills with a score of 248.

Latrobe improved to 14-0 with a 3-2 win over Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL Class 3A final.

Jenna Belle, Addison Kemerer and Carolina Walters all had singles wins as the Wildcats knocked off No. 2 USC (12-3).

They defeated No. 1 seed and defending champion Peters Township, 4-1, in the semifinals.

Latrobe, which has four straight section titles and is 32-0 in section since 2017, will play in the PIAA quarterfinals Wednesday against an opponent to be named later — the champion from District 8, 9 or 10.

The semifinals and finals will be Oct. 31 at Hershey Racquet Club.

Latrobe now has three WPIAL titles, the others coming in 2002 and ‘05.

Coach of the year

Penn-Trafford softball’s Denny Little was named the National Federation of State High School Associations Pennsylvania Coach of the Year for 2019-20. Little guided the Warriors to a PIAA Class 5A championship in 2019.

The announcement came from the PIAA.

Other coaches from the WPIAL to win top coaching awards included Bryan Deal of Fox Chapel (golf), Brian Blackwell of Seneca Valley (swimming), Laura Montecalvo of Chartiers-Houston (basketball), Steve Strelick of Seneca Valley (cross country), Alex Slezak of Fox Chapel (tennis), and Lori Poe of Chartiers Valley (track & field).

Volleyball playoffs

The WPIAL will announce girls volleyball playoff pairings Monday.

Westmoreland teams to clinch spots include Penn-Trafford, Latrobe and Norwin in Class AAAA; Franklin Regional in Class AAA, Ligonier Valley in Class AA; and Greensburg Central Catholic in Class A.

Ligonier Valley qualified in its first WPIAL season.

Norwin likely will not compete because it had to quarantine for 14 days after possible covid-19 exposure. The quarantine will last until Nov. 2, so the Knights will probably be replaced in their first-round match.

The Knights did not play their final four matches.

WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said the league could take the next-place team from Norwin’s section to the playoffs.

The WPIAL soccer committee did that for its playoff brackets.

Hempfield would be next in line, but the Spartans also could be out because of its own covid-19 protocols.

Gateway would then be awarded the postseason spot.

The decision on who gets in, Scheuneman said, will be made Monday when the committee meets.

“As we all know, this is not a perfect science here,” Scheuneman said. “We would need to consider all situations separately.”

Recruiting

Norwin senior Sal Cerilli will continue his golf career at Pitt-Johnstown. He also considered Robert Morris, Penn State Altoona and Washington & Jefferson.

Cerilli helped lead Norwin to its best season — a section co-title and a trip to the WPIAL finals.

• Derry baseball player Josh Ulery will play at Pitt-Johnstown. A middle infielder, Ulery also did some pitching for the Trojans and was one of their more dependable get-on-base players.

• Norwin senior baseball player Dylan Perry announced he will play at Kaskaskia, a junior college in Centralia, Ill.

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

Tags: Derry Area, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Norwin, Penn-Trafford