What to watch for in WPIAL sports on March 13, 2021: Hardwood heavyweights collide

By: Don Rebel
Friday, March 12, 2021 | 11:31 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Championship weekend continues with basketballs, wrestling mats and pompoms here on the TribLive High School Sports Network.

We continue our exclusive coverage of the 2021 WPIAL basketball finals with four more championship games at North Allegheny and Peters Township on Saturday evening.

We also have the PIAA Class AAA wrestling finals and the WPIAL competitive spirit championships.

Here are some championship factoids for the four title games on Saturday.

Boys 5A

New Castle vs. Chartiers Valley at North Allegheny, 8 p.m.

• In his 11th year as head coach at New Castle, Ralph Blundo is taking the Red Hurricane to the finals for the seventh time in his tenure.

• In his third season at Chartiers Valley, Brandon Sensor has the Colts in the district finals for the fifth time in the last 10 years.

• It was an odd pair of regular season meetings between these Section 2-5A foes. New Castle won at Chartiers Valley, 73-45, while the Colts returned the one-sided favor in February by winning on the Red Hurricane floor, 77-59.

• New Castle has won seven straight while Chartiers Valley has won three in a row after losing their regular season finale to Upper St. Clair.

• The two teams that Chartiers Valley and New Castle beat in the semifinals met in last year’s title game thriller as Laurel Highlands ended Mars’ two-year reign as champs, 52-51.

• Both programs have a golden history as New Castle has captured district titles 13 times while Chartiers Valley has six championships.

Boys 2A

Greensburg Central Catholic vs. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at Peters Township, 5 p.m.

• In his second season at Greensburg Central Catholic, Christian Hyland is leading the Centurions to their first basketball title game in 10 years.

• In his 13th year as coach at OLSH, Mike Rodriguez has the Chargers playing for district gold for the fifth consecutive season.

• These schools last met in the 2017 playoffs. The Chargers defeated the Centurions, 54-49, in a WPIAL Class 2A semifinals game.

• GCC lost its regular season finale, so it has won three straight. OLSH has won 36 games in a row since its only loss a year ago, 73-69, at Aliquippa on Jan. 7.

• OLSH is trying to win three straight Class 2A WPIAL championships. The last team to do that was Sto-Rox from 1991-1993.

• Greensburg Central Catholic has never won a WPIAL boys basketball championship. Prior to this title run, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart had never won a district title. They lost in the finals in 1992, ’94 and ’99.

Girls 6A

Upper St. Clair vs. North Allegheny at Peters Township, 8 p.m.

• In his seventh season at Upper St. Clair, Pete Serio has his Panthers in the finals for the first time since 2008.

• In his sixth year as North Allegheny girls coach, Spencer Stefko has the Tigers in the WPIAL finals for the sixth year in a row.

• Thesefoes have been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 by HSSN for the entire season. They squared off Jan. 9 at North Allegheny with the Tigers winning big, 65-41.

• North Allegheny has won six straight since its only loss of the season to Trinity. Upper St. Clair has won three in a row since losing to Chartiers Valley.

• With NA having a chance to win its fourth Class 6A title in five years, the last two dynasties in the girls highest classification were Oakland Catholic with six championships in eight years from 1999-2006 and Penn Hills with seven straight titles from 1986-1992.

• Besides winning the three crowns in the last four years, North Allegheny also won the 1972 WPIAL title. Upper St. Clair is trying to win a seventh district championship after winning gold in 1973, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2003 and 2008.

Girls 3A

Mohawk vs. North Catholic at North Allegheny, 5 p.m.

• Mike O’Lare is in his 15th season as coach at Mohawk and has his Warriors are in the Class 3A finals for the second straight year.

• Molly Rottmann is in her 22nd season at North Catholic and has the Trojans in the title game for the seventh straight year.

• North Catholic beat Section 1-3A foe Mohawk twice this season. The Trojans won at home in January, 54-38, then won at Mohawk in February, 58-49.

• North Catholic has won seven straight while Mohawk has won three in a row after dropping its final two games in the regular season.

• North Catholic is trying to add to its record for most WPIAL girls basketball titles, which sits at 20. Mohawk is in search of its second golden basketball.

All four championship games can be seen Saturday on HSSN.

Competitive spirit

Usually held on the first Saturday of January, the 2021 Competitive Spirit championships are set for Saturday at Hempfield.

The event begins at 10 a.m. with one school in the gym at a time. Once they are done, they are escorted out and return to their school to wait to hear the final results from the WPIAL between 3:30 and 4 p.m.

After Bethel Park, Elizabeth Forward and Chartiers-Houston won back-to-back titles in 2018-2019, last year was a changing of the guard as Baldwin (AAA), South Park (AA) and Laurel (A) took home the district gold.

You can watch the event Saturday on HSSN starting at 10 a.m.

PIAA wrestling

The PIAA Class AAA individual wrestling championships are set for the Giant Center in Hershey on Saturday.

Here is the schedule.

8 a.m. — 106 to 138 pounds quarterfinals and semifinals

12 p.m. — 145 to 285 pounds quarterfinals and semifinals

4 p.m. — 106 to 138 pounds championship and consolation finals

7:30 p.m. — 145 to 285 pounds championship and consolation finals

You can listen to the matches on HSSN.