Tag: Brentwood

Scholastic Notebook – 04/29/2016

April 29, 2016

It’s unlikely that the Pittsburgh Central Catholic baseball team will make the WPIAL playoffs this season. That’s highly unusual. Central Catholic’s string of six consecutive playoff appearances would be broken. But that’s not what makes the Vikings’ situation unusual. What makes Central Catholic’s case so unusual is that Central Catholic is the defending WPIAL Class AAAA champion. Since 2000, the WPIAL champion in the largest classification has missed the playoffs the following year only twice. Mt. Lebanon won in 2006 and missed the playoffs in 2007. Hopewell won in 2000 and missed the playoffs in 2001.

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Scholastic Notebook – 04/15/2016

April 15, 2016

This is the second year that North Hills has scheduled almost all of its home baseball games in the evening. But this is the year the stars are shining brightest for North Hills.  North Hills has been one of the surprise teams of WPIAL baseball. Look at the always loaded Northern area section of Class AAAA (Section 1) and you’ll see North Hills alone at the top of the standings. Wow. Look at the MSA Class AAAA rankings and you’ll see North Hills near the top at No. 3. Gasp. The reason for the surprise is North Hills has never been associated much over the past decade or so with winning baseball. The last time the Indians finished above .500 in the section was 2003. Their last section championship was 2002.

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Hometown Girls Volleyball Recap – Brentwood Spartans – 10/15/2015

October 15, 2015

Both Brentwood and Carlynton were on the outside looking in as far as playoff spots from Class A Section 2 were concerned coming into their match Wednesday night. But that didn't stop both teams from putting on a thriller at Brentwood High School as the host Spartans prevailed 3-2 over the Cougars. The Spartans got off to a fast start in Game 1 with a 5-0 run thanks to the service game of junior Molly Huffman.  Brentwood continued to dominate the first game, leading by as many as 11 points.  Even near the end of that first game, however, the momentum started to shift toward Carlynton.  Despite being outscored, 9-3, the Spartans still won Game 1, 25-20. 

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WPIAL Big Game Hunting – Week Four – 09/23/2015

September 23, 2015

One third of the regular season is in the books and there are still a lot of questions to be answered. There were some big games in week three that seemed to indicate that 2015 might be wide open with regards to the teams with a chance to reach Heinz Field. That’s what makes this job so much fun. You see, you research, and you get a feel for history, and coaches, and programs but the bottom-line is you cannot really know what will happen when those kids go out there and take the field every Friday night. We do know it will be fun, and we also know MSA Sports will be the ultimate place for you to find out what happened, and how and, why it happened. More unbeaten teams will fall this weekend, it’s time to go Big Game Hunting!

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Hometown Girls Volleyball Recap – Brentwood Spartans – 09/18/2015

September 18, 2015

The Brentwood Girls Volleyball team hosted undefeated Bishop Canevin in Section 2 A action Thursday night.  Canevin prevailed in straight sets but had to work hard to secure the victory against the Lady Spartans.  The score of the first set, a 25-15 Canevin win, did not reflect just how closely contested the match was.  Brentwood actually led 13-8 and looked to be in good shape when a side out led to Canevin’s serve and Julia Menosky would serve winners on the next 13 points in a row to break open the set giving Canevin a 22-13 lead.  The second set was tied at 24 when the Lady Crusaders were able to convert a pair of points into a 26-24 victory. 

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WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Two 2015

September 12, 2015

While Mother Nature held off on the fancy sky light shows and the rain that plagued many games on opening night, the second Friday of the season was an historic one in two ways. First, a tip of the cap 700 times to the Jeannette Jayhawks for becoming only the second district school and sixth school in Pennsylvania to mass that many wins. And one win has eluded Thomas Jefferson in the first two weeks of a season for the first time in the 21-year golden career of head coach Bill Cherpek. It was also a memorable Friday for these young men: Phil Jurkovec - Pine-Richland

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CTK 2015 – Class A Black Hills Conference Preview

August 28, 2015

The Hills have been alive the past two years. In 2014 and 2013, the a team from the current Black Hills Conference has made it at least to the WPIAL championship game. It was Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic in 2013 (then in Class A's Eastern Conference) and Avonworth last year. North Catholic won the title in 2013 and also the PIAA title, while Avonworth lost to Clairton in last year’s WPIAL final. Will the championship-caliber play continue this year? Possibly. Clairton is everyone’s team to beat in Class A, but North Catholic and Avonworth are considered two of the best teams again. Brentwood also looks like it has the makings of a team that could challenge for the top of the conference. Here is a look at the Black Hills Conference:

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WPIAL Hall of Fame Class of 2015

April 9, 2015

Four athletes who would later go on to professional careers, several multi-sport athletes, four coaches who won nearly 40 WPIAL championships between them, an old-school baseball player whose son continued his Major League Baseball legacy and a team that won nine WPIAL and PIAA playoff games en route to a state basketball title by an average margin of victory of 25.8. Those are some of the headliners of the WPIAL Hall of Fame class of 2015. The WPIAL held a news conference Thursday morning to announce its ninth annual class. You can watch the video stream archived here on MSA Sports. All inductees will be honored at a banquet June 12 at the Doubletree Hotel in Greentree.

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Hometown Volleyball Match Recap – Brentwood Spartans – 10/10/2014

October 10, 2014

Carlynton (7-3) got a massive fight from underdog Brentwood (3-7), but prevailed 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-15) in a WPIAL Class A Section 2 volleyball showdown on Thursday night at Brentwood High School. With the win the Cougars clinched a WPIAL playoff birth and eliminated Vincentian Academy from a possible postseason appearance. Brentwood was hurt early by a number of unforced errors. The Spartans committed 15 unforced errors in the opening set, but were still able to grab a 13-12 lead thanks to five kills from Sophomore Hannah Livingston. But the Cougars answered with a 7-0 run and were able to claim the first set 25-19.

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Hometown Volleyball Match Recap – Brentwood Spartans – 09/18/2014

September 18, 2014

In a pivotal early season matchup between two teams struggling to find consistency, the Vincentian Academy Royals staged a huge rally in defeating the Brentwood Spartans on their home court by a score of 3-2.  While Vincentian Academy started strong in the first two games of the match by grabbing early leads, the Spartans would eventually battle back and win both by scores of 25-23 and 25-22.  Brentwood was paced early on by the attacking of their outside hitters, Kaitlyn McNamara, Hannah Livingston and Alexis Wagner and by getting some excellent blocks for key points by middle Allison Mrkonja.  Mrkonja would finish with a total of five blocks in the match.

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