Scholastic Notebook – 01/05/2014

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, January 5, 2014 | 4:07 AM

Ever since George Yokitis became Vincentian’s boys basketball coach in the 2008-09 season, he has tried to have his teams play an up-tempo, full-court style. The Royals press, trap all over the court and try to keep the tempo at a fast pace on offense.

But the style has never created scoring like this year.

Vincentian Academy is undefeated and scoring at a pace that is rarely seen around the WPIAL. The Royals are averaging 92.1 points a game and have scored 90 points or more seven times.

You can say that it’s easier to play this way in Class A. And yes, Vincentian plays on a small court, which makes it easier to score more and trap more defensively. But still, the Royals haven’t scored like this in the past.

In Yokitis’ five previous seasons, the Royals averaged 83.7 points, 74.2, 67.9, 64.1 and 71.0. That’s for an entire season. You could see Vincentian’s scoring average drop once the playoffs come around. But still, Vincentian is still averaging 10 points a game more at this point this season than last year.

After 10 games last year, Vincentian was averaging 82 points a game.

Talbots Go Offensive

The Hampton boys are another one of the top scoring teams in the WPIAL, averaging 82 points a game. The Talbots were good last year, making it to the WPIAL Class AAAA final before losing to New Castle. But they have taken their offensive game to another level this year.

Hampton is 11-0. After 11 games last year, Hampton was averaging only 61 points a game. That’s a 21-point increase over last year.

Bradley Winning Again

It doesn’t seem to matter the sport or the school, Dan Bradley figures out a way to win.

Bradley has been the Sto-Rox football coach the past two seasons. Each year, the Vikings have made it to the WPIAL Class A championship game.

But he also is Avonworth’s boys basketball head coach – and he has the Antelopes also winning. After knocking off previously undefeated Quaker Valley last night, Avonworth is in first place in WPIAL Class AA Section 6 with a 4-0 record. Avonworth is 7-3 overall.

Perry to Keystone Oaks

Keystone Oaks has been looking for a new football coach since Matt Taylor resigned after the season. It turned out that Keystone Oaks didn’t have to look far to find a new coach. The school just had to look across the street.

Keystone Oaks announced Friday that it has hired Greg Perry as its new football coach. Perry was Seton-LaSalle’s coach for nine seasons before resigning last month. Keystone Oaks and Seton-LaSalle are located across the street from each other.

Perry was 73-24 during his time at Seton-LaSalle and led the Rebels to eight playoff appearances. Perry is no stranger to Keystone Oaks football, though, and not just because Seton-LaSalle and Keystone Oaks played in the same conference. Perry is a 1979 Keystone Oaks graduate and played for the Eagles under coach John Durham. Perry also had two daughters who attended Keystone Oaks.

“I’ve always had a lot of pride in where I went to school, and I consider it a great honor and responsibility to have the opportunity to help some of the young men currently at Keystone Oaks to have as wonderful a high school football experience as I had when I played there,” Perry said.

Perry is known for developing quarterbacks and a strong passing game.

“We’re going to try to take advantage of our athletes and do whatever we can to get the ball in their hands in space,” he said.

Seton-LaSalle Hires Rosol

A few days before Keystone Oaks hired Perry, Seton-LaSalle hired Damon Rosol as its new coach. Rosol spent the past nine years as a Montour assistant, but he is certainly familiar with Seton-LaSalle football. He is a 1993 graduate of Seton-LaSalle and a former lineman for the Rebels.  Before going to Montour, he was an assistant at Seton-LaSalle under Lou Cerro for eight years. When Cerro left for Montour, Rosol went with him.

Rosol was a finalist for a couple WPIAL jobs in past years, including Canon-McMillan.

“The last few years, I’ve applied for some jobs and the criteria I’ve always looked at was I wanted to apply in a district where they are still building houses,” Rosol said. “Seton-LaSalle is the only place I applied where they’re not building houses.

“I think a [private] school like Seton-LaSalle, you have to have someone who is very familiar with the school. I think it just made sense to me to go back there and one of the appealing things is they have a great nucleus of kids coming back.”

This and That

* One of the top girls basketball matchups so far this season was postponed Thursday because of the snow. Mount Lebanon, the No. 2-ranked team in the MSA Sports rankings, was to play host to No. 3 Bethel Park. It was rescheduled to Feb. 1, which means the two teams will play twice in four days. They also will play Jan. 27 at Bethel Park.

* There are six undefeated teams left in WPIAL boys basketball – Hampton, North Allegheny, New Castle, Seton-LaSalle, Vincentian Academy and Carmichaels.

* There are also six undefeated teams left in WPIAL girls basketball – Shaler, Bethel Park, Blackhawk, Burrell, Neshannock and Brentwood.

Tags: Avonworth, Bethel Park, Blackhawk, Brentwood, Burrell, Carmichaels, Hampton, Keystone Oaks, Vincentian Academy