MSA Sports Top 25 WPIAL Stories of 2012 Countdown – #15 through #11

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, December 30, 2012 | 9:15 PM

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It has become a tradition like no other…at least during the holidays here at The Network. It's time to look back at another high school sports year with the top stories from around the WPIAL in 2012. We continue our countdown with the five stories that ended up #15 through #11.

#15 – PLAYING FOR GOLD THEN MOVIN ON UP

Last year’s boys Class AAA WPIAL basketball championship game was a battle of young teams that could meet again in the 2013 finals…the Quad A championship game that is.

Back in March, a packed house at the AJ Palumbo Center as fans filled the stands to catch a glimpse of the highly touted New Castle Red Hurricane, as they battled the Hampton Talbots for WPIAL Class AAA gold.  The Talbots kept pace with the Red Hurricane throughout the first quarter, trailing New Castle 14-10 at the end of the period. 

New Castle began to flex its muscles in the second quarter, however, extending the lead to 26-14 with 3:15 to go.  The Red Hurricane stepped up their full court pressure defense, causing the Talbots continued struggles offensively.  Ryan Luther hit a three pointer with 1:20 to go, ending a two minute scoring drought for the Talbots.  New Castle spent the remaining minute of the quarter taking seconds off the clock, until Shawn Anderson converted a layup with five seconds to go.

The Red Hurricane took a 30-17 lead into the locker room.  Anderson led New Castle in the first half with 12 points.  Mark Pilarski had six points for the Talbots heading to the break.

The third quarter showed much of the same for New Castle, as it continued its stifling 2-3 zone defense.  Hampton worked it inside for PIlarski, who was fouled after the basket.  Pilarski missed the free throw, but pulled his team to an 11 point deficit, 39-28 with 3:30 to go in the third quarter.  New Castle answered with a quick three-pointer by Brandon Domenick—his second three-pointer of the quarter.  Pilarski hit the double digit mark with 1:45 to go, making the score 42-30 in favor of the Red Hurricane.

The speed and athleticism of New Castle overcame Hampton in the fourth quarter, as the Talbots tried to keep up in a man-to-man defense.  The Red Hurricane offense took nearly two minutes off the clock before Pilarski came up with a big block, and converted for two at the other end, closing the gap to 44-34 with 5:45 to go.  New Castle attempted to run the clock with each possession, which further frustrated Hampton.  The Talbots called a timeout with 4:22 to go, trying to regroup, but turned the ball over on the inbounds.

New Castle and Hampton exchanged baskets the rest of the way, but the differential was too much for the Talbots to overcome.  The Red Hurricane wrapped up their seventh WPIAL title with a 57-44 victory.  Shawn Anderson led all scorers with 24 points.  Corey Eggleston chipped in 13 for the champs.   Ryan Luther led Hampton with 14 points.  Mark Pilarski and Collin Luther also hit double digits for the Talbots, with 12 and 10 points, respectively. 

Currently this season, New Castle is #1 in Class AAAA while Hampton is #3.

#14 – COACH RESIGNS AFTER GEIBEL FORFEITS FIRST TWO GAMES

The Geibel football team was hit with two losses before they played a game this season. Geibel had to forfeit its first two games against Frazier and Beth-Center because it didn’t have enough players.

Then, a few days before their first game in Week Three, Geibel lost its coach.

After Sean Benjamin resigned, Bob Petrella, the former assistant head coach and offensive line coach, took over for the rest of the season.

Geibel had only 15 players out for the team at the start of preseason practice. Due to injuries, the team didn’t have enough players to play its first two games. So the Gators forfeited.

At the time, athletic director Shawn Holup said “If we stay healthy, we have the intention of trying to finish the season.”

The Gators did finish the season , going 0-7, with each loss being one-sided. They lost to first-year program Vincentian Academy 62-8, Mapletown 34-6, Avella 59-6, Carmichaels 48-15, Bentworth 50-12, West Greene 70-14 and Jefferson-Morgan 70-0.

#13 – SHATORI SHINES BRIGHT AGAIN

The Hopewell Vikings got 35 points and 11 rebounds from junior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough as the Vikings notched their third WPIAL Class AAA girls championship, defeating the South Park Eagles 50-34 at the A.J. Palumbo Center in March. 

Hopewell outscored South Park 20-5 in the final quarter to claim the win, the Vikings were 15 of 17 in the period at the free throw line and forced six turnovers in that stanza. Hopewell only had 10 field goals in the game, eight of those coming from Walker-Kimbrough.

The first quarter was Walker-Kimbrough versus Ashley Mikelonis of South Park, as both of those players had all of their teams points in the stanza, Hopewell with a 9-7 advantage. The Vikings pulled away in the second, as Walker-Kimbrough continued to score, going 8 of 8 from the line in the quarter, she was 16 of 16 from the stripe in the game. But three pointers from Amanda Quinn and Mikelonis tied the game at 19 late, but Walker-Kimbrough hit a jumper from the right elbow to give the Vikings a 2 point advantage at the break. 

South Park had three chances to tie or take the lead late in the third and into the opening minute of the fourth, but turned the ball over twice and Mikelonis missed a three pointer that started the downward side for the Eagles. 

Walker-Kimbrough's line was 8 of 17 from the field including 3 three pointers, 16 of 16 from the line, 11 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and 3 steals. Coach Jeff Homziak said that her work ethic has improved so much going into this season, that she has the desire to put the team on her back and not to lose. 

Hopewell went 27 of 30 from the foul line in the game, Homziak said his team's confidence started to build after a play-in round win last year over Lewistown in the PIAA, then followed by an overtime loss to Mercyhurst Prep in the first round. The Vikings shot 10 of 33 including 3 of 6 behind the arc and only committed six turnovers. 

South Park was led by Mikelonis with 15 points, including four three pointers. The Eagles were 11 of 47 from the field, 6 of 20 from behind the arc, they committed 14 turnovers.

With Hopewell's championship, it is the fourth consecutive season that a team from Section 2 has claimed gold, New Castle in 2009-10 and Blackhawk last season. Homziak said it is a testament to the coaches and talented players to have so much success.

#12 – WILKINSBURG GIRLS FORFEITS BASKETBALL PLAYOFF BERTH

Back in February, the WPIAL girls basketball playing field shrunk by one team before the brackets were even been announced. District officials say the use of an ineligible player forced the Wilkinsburg Tigers girls basketball team to forfeit two section victories, costing them their playoff spot.

Wilkinsburg finished tied for fourth place with a 6-6 record in Class AA Section 3 behind Jeannette, Greensburg Central Catholic and Shady Side Academy. The Tigers tied Springdale for the final playoff spot but both teams split in their head-to-head games, thus both teams had qualified for the upcoming WPIAL postseason.

However it was discovered Wilkinsburg used an ineligible player in two section victories, forcing them to forfeit those games and dropping their section record to 4-8. 

Thus, instead of 26 Class AA teams in the WPIAL Girls Basketball Playoffs, there will now only be 25 teams.

#11 – WPIAL FOOTBALL RE-ALIGNMENT SHAKE-UP

Major changes took place to the look of the WPIAL football conference alignment for the next two years, which was officially set with the approval of the WPIAL Board of Control back in January. The biggest change comes in Class AAAA and Class AAA where both classifications have shrunk from the standard four conferences to three conferences. Both Class AA and Class A will remain with four conferences.                      
   
While the playoff picture in AA and A remains the same with the top four teams in each classification qualifying for the playoffs, the wild card is back in AAAA and AAA where the top FIVE teams in each conference make the playoffs along with one of the sixth place teams entering as the wild card team. Head-to-head, Gardner points and WPIAL tiebreaker points will help determine playoff positioning in all four classifications as well as the wild card spots in AAAA and AAA.         
           
AAAA will have two nine-team and one eight team conference, while AAA will have three nine-team conferences. In Class AA, there will be three nine-team conferences and one eight-team conference while in Class A, there will be three nine-team conferences and one ten-team conference.      

Two other big changes come with the fact that non-conference games could factor into the wild card determination and teams from the same conference could end up playing each other in the First Round of the WPIAL playoffs, which did not occur this past fall.

For the record, the first two AAAA and AAA wild card teams were Altoona and Belle Vernon.   
    
Schedules were also affected with conference games in Week One in all four classifications.  

Tags: Altoona, Belle Vernon, Geibel, Hampton, Hopewell, Wilkinsburg