Scholastic Notebook – 03/07/2014

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 7, 2014 | 10:36 AM

Another postseason tournament starts this weekend for the New Castle boys basketball team and the Red Hurricanes. While New Castle has achieved a number of historical feats the past few seasons, the start of the PIAA playoffs means New Castle will take another shot at joining a most special group.

But to become a member, New Castle will have to look just perfect.

For the third year in a row, New Castle will take a perfect record into the PIAA tournament after winning a WPIAL title with an undefeated record.

They have been staging PIAA championships since 1920 and since then, only 11 teams from the WPIAL have finished an entire season, including the PIAA playoffs, with an undefeated record. The first one was McKeesport in 1921. The last one was Sto-Rox in 1983.

New Castle took an undefeated record into the PIAA playoffs the past two years, but lost to Montour in the Class AAA second round in 2012, and to Lower Merion in the 2013 Class AAAA semifinals.

Since 1964, only 10 boys teams besides New Castle have won WPIAL titles with undefeated records. Only five of the 10 went on to win PIAA titles.

New Castle starts the PIAA tournament tomorrow (Saturday) against Bethel Park. This is the same team that New Castle beat in the WPIAL quarterfinals. A win could set up a second-round matchup against North Allegheny, which plays Altoona in a first-round game.

If New Castle is able to make it to the semifinals, it will have to play a team from Eastern Pennsylvania. It could be Pennsbury, which lost to Chester in the District 1 championship. Pennsbury has some size with 6-8 Derrick Woods and a few juniors who are considered Division I prospects.

What If?

New Castle and Hampton moved up from Class AAA to AAAA the past two years. Both will go back to Class AAA next year. If New Castle and Hampton never moved up, would North Allegheny have two WPIAL titles?

North Allegheny has lost only nine games the past two seasons. Every one of the losses is to New Castle and Hampton. New Castle has defeated North Allegheny five times the past two seasons and Hampton has defeated North Allegheny four times. In each of the past two seasons, Hampton beat North Allegheny in the WPIAL semifinals.

Best Chances

With the PIAA basketball playoffs starting, a natural question is what WPIAL teams have the best chances at winning PIAA titles? It looks like Class A teams in both boys and girls.

In the Pennlive.com/Harrisburg Patriot News rankings, the Lincoln Park boys are ranked No. 1 in Class A, and the Vincentian Academy girls are No. 1 in Class A. They are the only WPIAL teams ranked No. 1.

History says the odds are stacked against Vincentian. Since Class A was started in 1978, only three WPIAL teams have won PIAA titles – Mount Alvernia in 1983, Monessen in 2004 and Serra in 2005.

Working Overtime

Since the WPIAL started having boys basketball championship games in 1913, there have been only seven overtime games in the AAA classification. Chartiers Valley has been in three of them.

Chartiers Valley lost to Central Valley, 70-69, in double overtime in last week’s final. In 2007, Chartiers Valley lost to West Allegheny, 62-58, in double overtime. In 1998, Chartiers Valley beat South Park, 57-48 in overtime in the AAA final.

Kennedy Catholic Out of State Hoops Playoffs

The Kennedy Catholic boys team earned a PIAA playoff berth as the No. 3 team from District 10 by beating Eisenhower in the district consolation game last week. But Eisenhower, and not Kennedy Catholic, will participate in the playoffs.

Kennedy Catholic, located in Hermitage near Sharon, had to forfeit the victory against Eisenhower because Kennedy Catholic used an ineligible player. The player was academically ineligible. When Kennedy Catholic became aware of the situation Monday, it turned itself in to the PIAA.

Under PIAA rules, a team automatically forfeits a game where an ineligible player is used.

Nolf for Three

The PIAA wrestling invidual wrestling championships started Thursday in Hershey and will run through Saturday. One of the top storylines is Kittanning’s Jason Nolf.

Nolf, a senior, took an incredible 172-1 record into the tournament. He is seeking to become only the 37^th wrestler to win three state championships. The other two came during his freshman and junior years.

What’s interesting is that Nolf comes from a school that has had only one other state champion. Kittanning’s only other champ was Chamie Hooks in 1995.

Coaching News

* Last week, Clairton named Wayne Wade as its new football coach. Wade takes over for Tom Nola, who left to become Gateway’s coach. Wade is certainly familiar with Clairton football. He was a quarterback-defensive back on the 1989 Clairton team that won the WPIAL Class A title. He threw for 1,402 yards and ran for 327 as a senior and went on to play at Akron and also played Arena Football. Wade also has been Clairton’s defensive coordinator since 2009 and was very successful in that position.

* On the same night that Wade was hired, Clairton also hired Jonathan Marshall as the new girls basketball coach. Marshall is one of Clairton’s favorite sons. He is a legend of sorts in that town for his basketball talent and his large hands. He played at Robert Morris when it was a junior college and then two years at Penn State. He is still among the top rebounders in Penn State history. He graduated from Clairton in 1970.

* Pat Cuba resigned as Laurel’s football coach after only one season.

Tags: Chartiers Valley, Clairton, Hampton, Kennedy Catholic, Kittanning, Lincoln Park, Vincentian Academy