Westmoreland high school notebook: Norwin’s Harrigan invited to all-star game

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 14, 2017 | 7:33 PM

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Norwin soccer standout Emily Harrigan is the reigning Tribune-Review player of the year. But she also is considered one of the best players in the country.

Harrigan, a senior forward, was selected for the High School All-American Game on Dec. 2 in Orlando, Fla.

The game features 40 of the nation's top fall-season players, most of them Division I recruits. The speedy and skilled Harrigan is a Rutgers commit.

She was a USA Today All-USA preseason selection.

Harrigan has 85 career goals and 58 assists for her career — 18 and 12, respectively, this season.

Former Greensburg Central Catholic standout Bailey Cartwright (Notre Dame) played in the same all-star game last year when it was played in Raleigh, N.C.

Pitt offers Stone

Former Southmoreland basketball star Brandon Stone received a scholarship offer from a school a little closer to his hometown Friday. Pitt presented the 6-foot-11 swing-forward with an offer during Stone's unofficial visit to Oakland.

Stone, a reclassified junior at The Christ School in Arden, N.C., has 13 Division I offers, including Penn State, Houston and St. Joseph.

He made an unofficial visit to West Virginia on Saturday. He once called WVU his “dream school.”

Stone averaged 25.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks last season for Southmoreland before transferring.

New golf rule

Players and coaches will deal with a new rule for the first time at the PIAA girls golf championships Oct. 25 at Heritage Hills Resort in York.

Only three players' scores will count toward the team score, one less than in the past when teams played five girls and counted four scores. Teams still can play five girls.

The WPIAL continues to use the five-count-four format with one “throw-out” score in matches. The tightening of scoring is meant to make the tournament more competitive.

“It will be interesting to see how it goes,” said GCC coach George Janik, whose team won its third straight WPIAL Class AA title on Thursday at Cedarbrook. “We thought we were going to have to chop someone, but we won't because we can play five.”

North Allegheny's girls fired an impressive 315 score to win their third consecutive WPIAL Class AAA title. Their top four scores were 73, 76, 82 and 84.

“It won't matter much to us if we play like we can,” coach Mike Hambrick said. “It might actually be better for a team like us.”

Regional golf

The PIAA Western Regional golf tournaments will be Monday at Tom's Run Golf Course in Blairsville. The event is a qualifier for the PIAA finals, set for Oct. 23-24 in York.

Westmoreland players in the field include Greensburg Salem junior Jack Oberdorf, Franklin Regional junior Palmer Jackson, Latrobe junior Brady Pevarnik, and Greensburg Central Catholic junior Abby Zambruno and senior Kaylene Chavez.

The top 12 boys in Class AAA and AA and the top 11 girls (AAA and AA) advance. Players from five other districts also will compete for spots.

Last year, 37 of the 52 WPIAL players in the field qualified for states. Pevarnik won the Class AAA event with a 2-under-par 70. Jackson tied for fourth. Zambruno was fourth in the Class AA girls tournament.

Soccer playoffs

The WPIAL soccer committee will draw up playoff brackets Wednesday, and opening-round games are scheduled to begin Saturday.

Local boys teams headed for the postseason include: Franklin Regional, Penn-Trafford and Norwin in Class AAAA; Belle Vernon in AAA; Mt. Pleasant in AA; and Greensburg Central Catholic in A.

Girls qualifiers are Penn-Trafford and Norwin in AAAA; Franklin Regional, Belle Vernon and Mt. Pleasant in AAA; Yough in AA and Greensburg CC in A.

Big crowd

The Penn-Trafford at Norwin girls soccer game last week in North Huntingdon had a playoff-like atmosphere, but it also had the buzz of a Friday night football crowd.

Norwin officials estimated attendance at around 700.

The teams tied 0-0 in one of the area's most exciting rivalry games.

Recruiting

Penn-Trafford baseball player Ben Mongelluzzo gave a verbal commitment to Clarion. He is a righthanded pitcher and outfielder for the Warriors.

• Mt. Pleasant senior Chris Butz will continue his pole-vaulting career at Westminster. He finished 13th at the WPIAL Class AA championships last spring.

• Latrobe senior basketball player Markus Dudzenski is headed to Division III York. Dudzinski, a 6-6, 190-pound forward, averaged seven points and six rebounds a game for the Wildcats.

Cramer gets invite

Not all all-star games are for seniors these days. Jeannette sophomore linebacker Justin Cramer, who is nursing a leg injury but was the Jayhawks' leading tackler before he was sidelined, was invited to the 12th annual Offense-Defense All-American Bowl on Dec. 30 in New Orleans.

The OD Bowl has games for underclassmen prospects and seniors.

Jeannette senior quarterback Robert Kennedy also was invited to the event, in the all-senior all-star game.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Jeannette, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford