Tag: Altoona

MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Three

September 17, 2016

Every Friday night, there are hard decisions to make to whittle down many of the great performances from around the WPIAL into our Top Ten HighLights package. But this Friday night was probably the toughest since it was the busiest night game wise of the entire 2016 season. Of the possible 61 WPIAL football games, 60 were played on 9/16, thus the difficult becomes even more so. Here's what we came up with on a pleasant evening weather wise for the Week Three HighLights. Jordan Crawford - Pine-Richland

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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.

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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 Franco

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WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Eight 2015

October 24, 2015

What a night for high school football in District 7. The skies were clear and the temps above average for late October, some teams clinched conference titles while others earned home field advantage in Round One and others still earned the right to participate in the upcoming postseason. Plus it turned out to be a record setting night for one junior running back. All this and the real fireworks don't begin for another two weeks. Here are some of the top standouts from the eighth Friday of the WPIAL football season. Duane Brown - Apollo-Ridge

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CTK 2015 – Class AAAA Foothills Conference Preview

August 19, 2015

The Foothills Conference hasn’t had a repeat champion since Gateway in 2008-09. The trend may end this season. The Foothills is alive with Warriors. The Penn-Trafford Warriors. Coach John Ruane’s team made it to the WPIAL semifinals last year and many are pointing to the Warriors as the favorite to win their second consecutive conference title. Penn-Trafford has experience, skill and some size. McKeesport looks like Penn-Trafford’s top competitor. Plum’s program could continue to move upward under fourth-year coach Matt Morgan. The Mustangs have some key players back from last year’s team that finished 6-5 and won a playoff game. After Penn-Trafford, McKeesport and Plum, things look pretty open in the Foothills. Here’s a look at the teams in the conference:

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Scholastic Notebook – 02/06/2015

February 6, 2015

Penn State football coach James Franklin lost out on the top player in the WPIAL class of 2015 when Central Valley’s Jordan Whitehead signed with Pitt. Other than Whitehead, Penn State had plenty of success in the WPIAL. At least more than the Nittany Lions have had in recent history. Penn State signed four players from the WPIAL this season. That might not seem like a lot, but it is more than the past four classes combined. In fact, only twice in the past 10 years has Penn State landed four or more players from the WPIAL. In 2010, Penn State signed five WPIAL players and four in 2007. Two of the past four years, Penn State did not sign one WPIAL player.

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2015 National Letter of Intent Day – Division I-A Football Players from WPIAL

February 4, 2015

Here are the seniors from the WPIAL or Pittsburgh City League who have signed to make their verbal commitments to Division I-A colleges. High school seniors could not sign a binding letter of intent until Wednesday, February 4th. PITT Ben DiNucci, Pine-Richland (QB, 6-3, 192) Dane Jackson, Quaker Valley (QB-DB, 6-1, 180) Alex Paulina, Canon-McMillan (OL-DL, 6-3, 280) Tony Pilato, Hempfield (OT-DL, 6-7, 290) Tre Tipton, Apollo-Ridge (WR-DL, 6-1, 175) Jordan Whitehead, Central Valley (RB-DB, 6-0, 195)

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Scholastic Notebook – 11/07/2014

November 7, 2014

If the first round of the WPIAL playoffs proved anything, it was that the Foothills are alive. Since coming back to being a WPIAL conference in 2006, the Foothills was always thought to be the weaker sister to all of the other Class AAAA conferences. Sure, it might have had a strong team like a Gateway, Penn-Trafford or even Central Catholic. But as far as strength from top to bottom, the Foothills didn’t measure up. This year, though, the Foothills flexed some muscle like never before. Four Foothills teams won first-round games – Penn-Trafford, McKeesport, Altoona and Plum. It was the first time since 2006 that the top four teams in the Foothills won first-round games. The two that lost were fifth-place Norwin and sixth-place Connellsville.

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WPIAL Friday Night HighLights for 10/31

November 1, 2014

You remember some of the homemade costumes from back in the day, don't you? While all the neighborhood kids had fancy costumes, you had a while cloth diaper on your head with a while coat and were supposed to be a doctor. Or you had a big box on your torso and a little one on your head and each box was covered with aluminum foil and you were a robot. Or grab the bed sheet, cut out some eyes and a ghost was born. Those Halloween costumes pail to what these young men wore on Friday night as they collected a pillow case full of tasty big plays dressed up in various super hero costumes in leading their teammates past all of the tricks and on to the treat of playing in the WPIAL Quarterfinals. Ben DiNucci - Pine-Richland

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Scholastic Notebook – 10/31/2014

October 31, 2014

The Southmoreland football team failed to make the WPIAL football postseason again. The Scotties haven’t been to the playoffs since 1979, the longest current drought in the WPIAL. But there are some other playoff droughts that are notable as the WPIAL playoffs get under way Friday with 32 games around the area. Three teams in the postseason have never won a WPIAL playoff game. Never, ever, ever. They are Laurel Highlands, Mapletown and Altoona. Altoona is a little deceiving. The school re-joined the WPIAL for football only a few years ago. But the school played in the WPIAL a long time ago. Altoona has played in only two previous WPIAL playoff games. The last was in 2012. The first was in 1969 when Altoona lost to Gateway in the WPIAL final.

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