PIAA semifinals set to resume in Saturday’s 3 things watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 23, 2018 | 6:33 PM

Pine-Richland hopes to finalize a return trip to the PIAA boys basketball finals in Hershey when the Rams face District 12 power Roman Catholic at 1 p.m. Saturday at Chambersburg. This game and nine other PIAA semifinals were first postponed from Tuesday to Thursday because of Winter Storm Toby that hit Pennsylvania earlier this week. Then, when state officials decided to push the finals back to early next week, those Thursday semifinals were moved to Saturday.

Greg Shulkosky's banked in a 7-foot shot with 2 seconds left lifted Pine-Richland past Allderdice in the state quarterfinals 52-50. At the same time, the Cahillites were cruising past Central Bucks West, 75-56. Roman Catholic won back-to-back PIAA Class 4A championships in 2015 and ‘16, beating Allderdice for the state title two years ago.

Two neighboring schools on Route 228 are one win away from jumping on the turnpike and heading east to Hershey. But first, Mars and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic are both headed to State College on Saturday.

In Class 5A, Mars will face Archbishop Carroll at 1 p.m. It's the first trip to the PIAA Final Four for the Fightin' Planets in 41 years.

In a Class 4A semifinal game, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic faces Berks Catholic at 2:30 p.m. The Trojans won the PIAA Class A state championship two years ago.

Pennsylvania Cup up for grabs

Less than a week after winning PIHL championships, the three Penguins Cup winners head to suburban Philadelphia to battle the three Flyers Cup champs in this year's Pennsylvania Cup state hockey finals.

After winning the school's first hockey cup, Seneca Valley will face St. Joseph's Prep at the Ice Line Arena in West Chester at 4 p.m. St. Joe's Prep beat a Holy Ghost Prep team that had won two of the last three Class AAA Flyers Cup titles by a score of 4-2 on Tuesday. Both the Hawks and Raiders are looking for their first ever high school hockey state crown.

In the Class AA game at 1:30 p.m., Armstrong faces Downingtown East. In only their fourth year of existence a season since the merger of Kittanning and Ford City in 2015, the River Hawks are in search for their first state title, to go along with their first Penguins Cup. The Cougars are the defending state champions after edging Plum in the Class AA finals last year 3-1.

Both of the Class A title game participants are highly decorated. Bayard Rustin has won four straight Pennsylvania Cup titles and five overall while Bishop McCort has also won five overall, including four straight from 1994-97. It has been 19 years though since the Crimson Crushers last won state gold in 1999.

Play ball

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Western Pennsylvania was hit with nearly eight inches of snow. With most of the WPIAL baseball and softball games not being played in South Carolina or Florida postponed this opening weekend, it's hard to believe there will be baseball played in the district.

A scheduled four-game tournament between four Class 2A and A schools will go on as scheduled at Kelly Automotive Stadium (the old Pullman Park) in Butler.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will face District 9 power Elk County Catholic at 11:30 a.m., followed by Serra Catholic taking on Quigley Catholic. The two losers are scheduled to play the consolation game at 4:30 p.m. while the winners from the first two games play in the title game scheduled for 7 p.m.

A year ago after losing in the Class 2A semifinals to Freedom, Serra Catholic (21-3) beat OLSH (16-6) 2-0 in the district consolation game. Quigley Catholic finished 9-5 in the regular season and lost to Greensburg Central Catholic, 10-2, in the WPIAL Class A first round.

Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: Armstrong, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, Mars, North Catholic, Pine-Richland, Quigley Catholic, Seneca Valley