Tag: Aliquippa

Scholastic Notebook – 02/26/2016

February 26, 2016

For the Aliquippa boys and Norwin girls, Saturday could be a perfect day to walk hand in hand into WPIAL lore. Both the Aliquippa boys and Norwin girls take undefeated records into WPIAL championship games Saturday at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. If they both win, it will be only the fifth time in WPIAL history that boys and girls teams have won WPIAL titles with perfect records in the same year. The first time it happened was 1983 when Sto-Rox and Mount Alvernia were both undefeated while winning WPIAL titles. The last time it happened was 2012 when Seton-LaSalle and New Castle did it.

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2016 National Letter of Intent Day – MSA Sports Elite Eleven College Destinations

February 3, 2016

Wednesday is National Letter of Intent Day where high school seniors make their verbal commitments official by signing on the dotted line to the school of their choice. What were the final college destinations for the members of the 2015 MSA Sports The Elite 11 football all-star team? Here is a look: PLAYER OF THE YEAR: KAEZON PUGH, ALIQUIPPA RB-LB, 6-2, 217, Sr. PITT ZACH CHANDLER, AVONWORTH QB, 6-4, 235, Sr. ALDERSON-BROADDUS   DAMAR HAMLIN, PITTSBURGH CENTRAL CATHOLIC WR-DB, 6-2, 189, Sr. PITT   HUNTER HAYES, SOUTH FAYETTE RB-DB, 6-1, 195, Sr. PENN  

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Scholastic Notebook – 01/22/2016

January 22, 2016

There seems to be some question as to how good the top teams really are in WPIAL Class AA Section 4 basketball. Brownsville is 13-4, Charleroi 12-3 and Waynesburg 7-7. History makes you wonder about the strength of the teams. Among the three, there are a total of three WPIAL titles and only one in the past 50-plus years. Brownsville won a championship in 2001 while Charleroi won titles in 1940 and 1958. On top of that, no one from the section has done much in the playoffs in recent history. But while many may question the strength of the teams in the section, there is no question that Section 4 is where the scorers reside.

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Scholastic Notebook – 01/17/2016

January 17, 2016

Maybe just call this a saga of Penn-manship. Jim Rocco resigned in the spring as the boys basketball coach at Penn Hills High School in order to become coach at Penn-Trafford. He is enjoying success at his new job. Dan DeRose took over for Rocco at Penn Hills. DeRose came to Penn Hills from South Park, and DeRose is enjoying success at his new job. So it’s two new coaches at two schools with Penn as the first name. This really is a Jim Dan-dy story. At Penn-Trafford, the Warriors are 10-4 under Rocco, who won two WPIAL titles and one PIAA championship in his 19 years at Penn Hills. Penn-Trafford is tied for second place in Class AAAA Section 1.

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MSA Sports Top 25 WPIAL Stories From 2015 Countdown: #10 – #1

January 1, 2016

It has become a tradition like no other...at least during the holiday season here at MSA Sports. Here is a look back at another great high school sports year with the top stories from around the WPIAL in 2015. We conclude our countdown with #10 through #1. #10 - GOLDEN TRIBE

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Scholastic Notebook – 12/21/2015

December 21, 2015

Pittsburgh Central Catholic won the very first PIAA Class AAAA championship in 1988. On Saturday, Central Catholic won the last PIAA Class AAAA title as we know it. And Central Catholic has to be the odds-on favorite to win the first PIAA 6A title. Central Catholic won its latest title Saturday with a 21-18 victory against Parkland at Hersheypark Stadium. Because the PIAA is going to six classes next year, this was, in a sense, the last AAAA title under this system. Although it has only been a day since Central Catholic’s latest title, it’s easy to look ahead and peg the Vikings as the team to beat next year in 6A. The Vikings will play in the largest class under the new system.

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WPIAL Big Game Hunting – State Championships

December 16, 2015

The final Big Game Hunting of the year is here, and I hear those sarcastic “ahhhs” throughout western Pennsylvania! I have names and numbers and email addresses, each of you will be hearing from me personally. District-7 after going .500 in the PIAA quarters improved that number to 1.000 in the semis moving two teams into the final weekend of high school football in the state. The Quips and Vikings look for state championships number 39 and 40 for the WPIAL in football this weekend. That sounds like a great reason to go Big Game Hunting one more time in 2015.

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Scholastic Notebook – 12/11/2015

December 11, 2015

There is a Wildcat strike in WPIAL boys basketball this season. Big things are expected of the Latrobe Wildcats and coach Brad Wetzel’s crew has been impressive in the first week of the season. Latrobe is 3-0, including Tuesday’s victory against Pine-Richland, which was the No. 2-ranked Class AAAA team in the MSA Sports preseason Class AAAA rankings. This could be one of Latrobe’s best teams in a while, at least the best since the 2009 team that went 19-4. Latrobe is the odds-on favorite to win Section 1. If Latrobe wins the section, it would be only their fourth crown in the past 30 years. The others were in 1987, 1990 and 2009.

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WPIAL Big Game Hunting – State Semifinals

December 10, 2015

The quarterfinals sliced the number of District-7 teams in half and, shocked the entire community of high school football in the state of Pennsylvania. Erie Cathedral Prep over Thomas Jefferson was tough, but we had a feeling something like that could happen, District – 7 has typically, especially lately had difficulty in that quarters round. The jaw-dropper was Berlin Brothersvalley knocking off our Clairton Bears. No one saw that coming, I don’t think even Berlin Brothersvalley fans thought that would happen. Five turnovers are tough to overcome, even for the best. So we move to the PIAA semis with AAAA and AA games involving WPIAL teams.

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PIAA Football Quarterfinals Recaps 2015

December 5, 2015

Last year, the WPIAL sent all four of its champions to Hershey to play in the PIAA football finals. In both 2012 and 2013, three of the four District 7 teams made it to Hersheypark Stadium. This year after the Quarterfinals, only two teams are left standing as another WPIAL Triple-A champ is ousted by Erie Cathedral Prep while Clairton is stunned by a team they beat last year by 28 points. Here are recaps from all four PIAA Quarterfinals state football playoff games involving the four WPIAL champions. A special thanks to Sean Meyers, Bob Gregg, Bob Barrickman and Paul Paterra for their help on these recaps.

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