Chris Harlan stories, Page 14

The PIAA has ended its appeals-court efforts to move Aliquippa football into a higher classification this fall. The PIAA on Friday notified Commonwealth Court that it no longer wanted to appeal the injunction issued by a Beaver County judge that kept Aliquippa in 4A for the upcoming season. The decision...

The WPIAL will require an eligibility hearing for record-setting quarterback Jaivin Peel. The sophomore set a WPIAL freshman passing record last season at Western Beaver and transferred this summer to Central Catholic. He was a student at Lincoln Park and played football at Western Beaver through a co-op. The WPIAL...

Greensburg Central Catholic transfer Anthony “A.J.” Tarpley is fully eligible to play basketball for the Centurions this winter. The sophomore guard who transferred from Greensburg Salem had an eligibility hearing Monday at the WPIAL office in Scott. His transfer paperwork hadn’t received a sign off from Greensburg Salem administrators, but...

Christopher Climes works out with a professional soccer trainer, which wouldn’t seem unusual if the senior were a midfielder on Elizabeth Forward’s soccer team. But he’s not. The 6-foot-2, 305-pounder is one of the top defensive linemen in the WPIAL, yet he credits a soccer background for some of his...

Eight months before the world’s top golfers converge on Oakmont Country Club for the U.S. Open, some of the WPIAL’s best players will try to tame the historic course. The WPIAL will hold its Class 3A boys individual golf tournament there Oct. 1, part of a fall championship schedule announced...

Longtime City League coach Jerry Haslett, who hailed from a football family, died Wednesday. He was 59. A hall of fame athlete at Clarion, Haslett was football coach at Allderdice since 2009. He won three City League titles with the Dragons and had them in the finals nine times in...

Mt. Lebanon’s David Shields is turning pro. The left-handed pitcher has signed with the Kansas City Royals, who drafted him in the second round of the MLB Draft, forgoing a scholarship to play baseball at Miami (Fla.). Shields posted a photo on social media showing him signing his contract with...

As an all-conference lineman committed to an Ivy League school, Nate Stohl’s coaches could talk at length about the senior’s football skills. Yet, Upper St. Clair coach Mike Junko’s favorite story about the 6-foot-3, 270-pounder comes from a school assembly a couple of years ago, where Stohl serenaded his classmates....

The injunction keeping Aliquippa in Class 4A football remains in place after a Commonwealth Court judge denied a PIAA request for a stay. Appellate Judge Patricia McCullough issued her decision Thursday, upholding a lower court’s decision and blocking the PIAA from using its competitive-balance rule to move Aliquippa into a...

The WPIAL released basketball schedules for the upcoming season Thursday and revealed an updated section alignment for girls that moved Greensburg Central Catholic to Class 3A. Greensburg Central Catholic was moved up a classification by the PIAA competitive-balance rule, which wasn’t reflected in the alignment released last month by the...

The PIAA board overturned a WPIAL decision and granted postseason eligibility to Knoch junior Colt Sprankle, a football-playing transfer from Armstrong. Sprankle, his parents Ryan and Brandi, and Knoch administrators attended an appeal hearing Wednesday in State College where they testified that the family’s move into the district was a...

STATE COLLEGE — The PIAA wants to increase girls volleyball to six classifications, but a request to expand track and field to three was rejected by the board. Girls volleyball has four classifications currently, but the board voted Wednesday to tentatively add two more. The proposal must pass two more...

STATE COLLEGE — The PIAA board wants to remove some much-maligned words from its competitive-balance rule: those that have prohibited health and safety as grounds for an appeal. The Competition Formula currently says: “… a change in classification would not be cause for a health and safety concern. A claim...

A Commonwealth Court judge must decide whether there was a proper basis for a lower court’s ruling that kept the Aliquippa football team in Class 4A. Appellate Judge Patricia McCullough heard opposing arguments Tuesday from attorneys representing Aliquippa School District and the PIAA, which wants the preliminary injunction put on...

Mike Warfield says football fans will see him at Aliquippa’s stadium this fall, but adds with a laugh that his new job on Friday nights might be selling 50/50 tickets. Surprisingly, the three-time state champion coach won’t be coaching the Quips. Warfield went 74-6 in six years as head coach...

The WPIAL doesn’t favor a potential PIAA rule that forces two-time defending state champions into a higher classification. The proposed change to the competitive-balance rule was discussed and disliked by the WPIAL board Monday because it could unjustly punish successful programs that didn’t use transfers to reload, said WPIAL president...

Kansas City Royals scouts came to Mt. Lebanon in April to watch David Shields pitch and stayed around to talk after he struck out 13 batters in a complete-game win. Their visit that day convinced Blue Devils coach Patt McCloskey that the Royals were thinking seriously about drafting Shields. “It...

Some might call it the Southern Columbia rule. Any PIAA team that wins two consecutive state championships would be forced into a higher classification regardless of whether it added any transfers under a proposed change to the competitive-balance rule that the PIAA board will consider next week. The suggested change...

Jack Yatchenko was on the sideline for the play that pretty much clinched a WPIAL title for North Allegheny. No, he didn’t start the play there, but that was how far the lineman traveled while blocking on that snap. He found an unblocked defensive back and drove him into the...

Peters Township rising senior Natalie Wetzel, one of the WPIAL’s top girls basketball recruits, had college offers that stretched from New England to the Southwest. Ultimately, the 6-foot-3 forward has decided to head south to the Sunshine State. Wetzel committed to Miami (Fla.) on Tuesday, choosing the Hurricanes over offers...

Two WPIAL softball players, Seneca Valley’s Lexie Hames and Neshannock’s Addy Frye, were named Pennsylvania’s top pitcher and player when all-state teams were announced Friday. Hames was voted the state’s overall player of the year and Frye was pitcher of the year as chosen by the Pennsylvania High School Softball...

With football season only weeks away, the PIAA has asked the Commonwealth Court for an expedited hearing that could force Aliquippa into a higher classification. The PIAA wants to promote the Quips from Class 4A to 5A under its competitive-balance rule, but that move was blocked in May by a...

More than 40 WPIAL and City League baseball players earned all-state recognition Monday as chosen by the Pennsylvania State Baseball Coaches Association. Twenty-two of those players earned first-team honors, including three from recent WPIAL champions: Bishop Canevin’s Tyler Maddix (Class A), North Catholic’s Blake Primrose (4A) and Seton LaSalle’s Gio...