Football
CTK ’16: 4-A Northwest Nine Conference Preview
August 21, 2016
With the coming of six classifications, some conferences were merged into others. Gone is the Parkway Conference, one of the toughest in the nation. Also gone is the Greater Allegheny, known for some REALLY long bus trips over a 5 county area. Now we have the Northwest Nine, a combination of the two above mentioned with a little Century Conference thrown in. Let’s preview the new conference, which is sure to be exciting for fans over the next 2 years. AMBRIDGE BRIDGERS The Bridgers finished 5-5 last season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2005 out of the Parkway Conference. Ambridge won their last 3 conference games to make the Highway to Heinz. That was the good news.
CTK ’16: 5-A Big East Conference Preview
August 19, 2016
The 5A Big East Conference bares a strong resemblance for the former Quad-A Foothills Conference, as Connellsville, Greater Latrobe, Kiski Area, McKeesport, Penn-Trafford and Plum all remain intact. The other three spots, though, are comprised of teams previously in the AAA Greater Allegheny Conference, Franklin Regional, Gateway and Armstrong. Six of the nine squads qualified for the postseason last year, with Penn-Trafford reaching Heinz Field for the Quad-A title game and McKeesport also ranking among Quad-A's best. If the Warriors and Tigers take even a slight step back this year, though, the conference could be wide open.
CTK ’16: 5-A Allegheny Nine Conference Preview
August 18, 2016
One of the best aspects of the football realignment is the potential to build new and exciting rivalries. The Allegheny Nine Conference certainly provides some captivating possibilities, as former Quad-A Powerhouses Woodland Hills and Upper St. Clair are now joined by an elite team from AAA, West Allegheny. Six of the nine teams qualified for the postseason in 2015, with North Hills, Hampton and Chartiers Valley joining the aforementioned three. Meanwhile, two teams that finished at the bottom of their respective Quad-A conferences, Baldwin and Fox Chapel, join former AAA squad Moon to round out the newly-formed 5A section.
CTK ’16: 6-A Southeastern Conference Preview
August 17, 2016
A conference in the WPIAL’s largest classification that is made up of southern suburban teams … and doesn’t include Upper St. Clair? That might seem strange, but that is how things shake down this year under the new six classification system that the PIAA put in place. The Class 6A Southeastern Conference has seven teams, including Mt. Lebanon and Bethel Park. But not Upper St. Clair. Under the new system, determined by school enrollments, Upper St. Clair will play Class 5A. The rivalry games between Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon, and Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park, are no more. The new 6A Southeastern Conference has southern and eastern teams.
CTK ’16: 6-A Northern Seven Conference Preview
When the WPIAL made conferences for the new 6A classification, a big questions was where to put Pittsburgh Central Catholic? Competitive balance apparently wasn’t an issue for the WPIAL. The WPIAL bosses put Central Catholic in the Northern Seven Conference – and essentially made the Northern Seven much stronger than the other 6A Conference (Southeastern). Central Catholic has played in the northern suburban conference before, but the WPIAL also put Penn Hills – an east suburban school – into the Northern Seven. There were many who thought Central Catholic would be placed in the Southeastern to balance the competitiveness. With Central Catholic in the Northern Seven, that conference now appears to be much stronger - top to bottom - than the Southeastern.
CTK ’16: MSA SPORTS PRESEASON ELITE ELEVEN
August 16, 2016
Pittsburgh Central Catholic is ranked in the top 20 in some national preseason polls. To MSA Sports, the Vikings have three players who rank among the top 11 in the WPIAL. Three Central Catholic players have been selected to the MSA Sports Elite 11 preseason team. The squad is made up of the top 11 players in the WPIAL and is picked by the MSA Sports staff. The three Central Catholic players named to the Elite 11 are lineman C.J. Thorpe, lineman Kurt Hinish and linebacker David Adams. All three seniors already are commited to Division I colleges. Thorpe will attend Penn State while Adams and Hinish have made verbal commitments to Notre Dame. While Central Catholic has three players on the Elite 11, Steel Valley has two – Paris Ford and Dewayne Murray.
CTK ’16: New WPIAL Football Coaches
August 15, 2016
New Faces - New Places - New Hopes - New Dreams. While there were two fewer coaching changes this off-season then before the 2015 campaign, there were a couple of big names that hung up the whistle after last fall. Legendary McKeesport coach George Smith retired for a second time while record setting coach Tom Nola exited at Gateway. There are a lot of rookie head coaches getting their first crack, and some coaches who are just changing hats and addresses. Whatever the case, there are 17 coaching changes coming into this 2016 season. Here are the new football coaches that will be running the sidelines in the WPIAL this fall. CLASS 6-A: ALTOONA - Nick Felus replaces John FrancoThis Week on the MSA Sports Network – 08/15/2016
High school football camps are now open around the WPIAL in preparation for the 2016 season as Countdown to Kickoff 2016 and Frontier League baseball continue this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We continue to prepare you every day for the upcoming high school football season with CTK '16. The Network is also the only place to turn for audio and video coverage of the Washington Wild Things, as they visit Traverse City for three games before returning home to CONSOL Energy Park to face Schaumburg this weekend, plus we have another great edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, August 15th:
CTK ’16: WPIAL Saturday Football Schedule
August 14, 2016
While there is little doubt that high school football is king on Friday nights in Western Pennsylvania, Saturday high school football in the WPIAL is sadly becoming a dying breed with only five schools that play a majority of their home games on Saturday afternoons or evenings. But just when we thought the list would shrink with the absence of Wilkinsburg, along comes Imani Christian to join Summit Academy, Western Beaver, Riverview and Bishop Canevin in the Saturday fun. Here is a complete rundown of the Saturday schedule of high school football action in the WPIAL this 2016 football season. WEEK ZERO, AUGUST 27th:
CTK ’16: WPIAL 6-A Players to Watch
August 13, 2016
Countdown to Kickoff 2016 continues with a now six-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2016 campaign in 6-A. OFFENSE: Quarterbacks: Phil Jurkovec - Pine-Richland Troy Fisher - Pittsburgh Central Catholic Cameron Tarrant - Penn Hills Jack Cook - Seneca Valley Ethan Maenza - North Allegheny
CTK ’16: WPIAL 5-A Players to Watch
Countdown to Kickoff 2016 continues with a now six-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2016 campaign in 5-A. OFFENSE: Quarterbacks: Ross Anderson - Hampton Running Backs: Zane Dudek - Armstrong Thomas Vissman - Upper St. Clair
CTK ’16: WPIAL 4-A Players to Watch
August 11, 2016
Countdown to Kickoff 2016 continues with a now six-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2016 campaign in 4-A. OFFENSE: Quarterbacks: Drew Saxton - South Fayette George Martin - Ringgold Mikey Fine - Belle Vernon Running Backs: Quinton Hill - Thomas Jefferson
CTK ’16: WPIAL 3-A Players to Watch
August 10, 2016
Countdown to Kickoff 2016 continues with a now six-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2016 campaign in 2-A. OFFENSE: Quarterbacks: Alex Smith - Keystone Oaks Darius Wise - Beaver John Yester - Mount Pleasant Marcus Czulewicz - McGuffey Ryan Everly - Yough
CTK ’16: WPIAL 2-A Players to Watch
August 9, 2016
Countdown to Kickoff 2016 continues with a now six-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2016 campaign in 2-A. OFFENSE: Quarterbacks: Frank Antuono - Neshannock Josh Hughes - Bentworth Brad McLaughlin - Burgettstown Geno Pellegrini - Charleroi Michael Trent - Brentwood
CTK ’16: WPIAL 1-A Players to Watch
August 8, 2016
Countdown to Kickoff 2016 continues with a now six-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2016 campaign in 1-A. OFFENSE: Quarterbacks: Gio Vonne Sanders - Jeannette Austin Scott - Bishop Canevin Sammy Carey - Springdale Ian Kouba - Rochester Running Backs:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 08/08/2016
Countdown to Kickoff 2016 and Frontier League baseball continue during heat acclamation week here on the MSA Sports Network. We continue to prepare you every day for the upcoming high school football season with CTK '16. The Network is also the only place to turn for audio and video coverage of the Washington Wild Things, as they host Lake Erie for three games before hitting the road to Windy City this weekend, plus we have another great edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, August 8th: TALK SHOW - Rappin' on Racin' at 6:00pm on MSAsports.net
CTK ’16: New High School Football Rules in 2016
August 7, 2016
It’s time once again to check in on the guys in the striped shirts with a look at the rule changes in the WPIAL and PIAA play for the upcoming season. Just one major change was passed by the National Federation of High Schools rules committee entering the 2016 campaign. The committee eliminated clipping from the game. Clipping was still allowed in the free blocking zone, which is four yards laterally from the spot of the snap and three yards behind the line of scrimmage, with certain conditions. Now all blocks below the waist and from behind are now illegal and will result in a 15-yard penalty from the spot of the foul. It is still legal to clip a runner from behind or a player pretending to be a runner.
CTK ’16: WPIAL A 2015 Football Flashback
The good news for Clairton was they added another WPIAL title notch to their championship belt. The bad news is though that after winning four straight PIAA crowns from 2009 through 2012, the state gold drought expanded to four years last fall. The Bears roared through the regular season and district playoffs before crushing Jeannette to earn a 12th school football crown and the seventh championship in the last eight years. Here is a look back at the WPIAL Single-A in 2015. 2015 WPIAL SINGLE-A HEADLINES:
CTK ’16: WPIAL AA 2015 Football Flashback
August 6, 2016
Playing in the teams record eighth WPIAL Class AA championship game in a row, obviously Powerhouse Aliquippa was no stranger to Heinz Field. What was strange was to see a team have the Quips number. Aliquippa was facing South Fayette for a third straight year and for the fourth time in six years, however the Lions were a perfect 3-0 in head-to-head battles for gold on the North Shore. The fourth title game between the green and the red was another instant classic, but this time Aliquippa prevailed for their sixth district crown in the first 16 years of this century. Here is a look back at the WPIAL Double-A in 2015. 2015 WPIAL DOUBLE-A HEADLINES:
