Chris Harlan stories, Page 19

When Shaler hired Rob Niederberger as boys basketball coach nine years ago, he took over a team mired in last place. He resigned Thursday knowing the next coach will inherit a program that’s in a much better position. The Titans are coming off a 25-win season and a sixth straight...

Oakland Catholic girls basketball coach Eddie Benton, who led the Eagles to consecutive section titles, is leaving for a job at Robert Morris. The university announced Tuesday that Benton was joining the Colonials women’s basketball team as an assistant under recently hired head coach Chander McCabe. Benton, a veteran college...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Hempfield, 3-0, 1 2. Seneca Valley, 6-0, 2 3. Pine-Richland, 2-3, 3 4. Norwin, 2-3, 4 5. North Allegheny, 0-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Shaler, 4-0, 1 2. West Allegheny, 6-1, 3 3. Trinity, 4-1, 4 4. South Fayette, 3-0, 5...

While watching private and charter schools again flourish in the state basketball finals, the PIAA’s top administrator said there is a problem, but it’s not what public school advocates might think. “We have a ‘school’ problem,” said PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi, insisting that while some individual schools are likely...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 3-0, 1 2. Hempfield, 7-0, 4 3. Mt. Lebanon, 5-2, 3 4. Seneca Valley, 5-1, 2 5. Pine-Richland, 4-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Shaler, 4-1, 1 2. West Allegheny, 3-1, 2 3. Bethel Park, 3-2, 3 4. North Hills,...

Opponents may have a dozen or so players in uniform for varsity matches, but North Allegheny boys volleyball coach Dan Long plans to use twice that many. In fact, he counted 26 different players he used in a season-opening tournament the Tigers hosted March 23. It’s not that Long was...

Athletic directors are not surprised when rain or snow wreaks havoc on spring sports schedules. But there’s another act of nature — one far more infrequent — that has WPIAL schools rescheduling games slated for Monday. It’s the solar eclipse. The much-anticipated astronomical event will arrive in Western Pennsylvania between...

Terrific 10 London Creach Oakland Catholic 5-8, junior, G Oakland Catholic was a perfect 24-0 with Creach in the lineup. A late-season injury in the WPIAL quarterfinals dimmed the Eagles’ championship hopes, showing just how valuable she was for the Eagles. She averaged 13.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.3 assist and...

Terrific 10 Nate Brazil Imani Christian 6-0, senior, G PIAA transfer rules forced Brazil to sit out the postseason a year ago, but this time, he played a leading role in Imani Christian winning back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA Class A titles. Brazil averaged a team-best 19.8 points for the Saints,...

There was a time when a basketball gym was the last place Alayna Rocco wanted to be. As a coach’s daughter, she went anyway. “When I was younger, my dad would drag me all the time to go to my brother’s practices,” Rocco said. “I’d be like, ‘Do I really...

Brandin Cummings and Meleek Thomas form a dynamic duo for Lincoln Park’s boys basketball team, but they aren’t quite Batman and Robin. “We’re both Batman,” Cummings said. “I don’t think there’s one over the other. We both do a lot of things really well.” That skill set includes winning championships....

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Hempfield, 3-0, 1 2. Seneca Valley, 5-0, 2 3. Pine-Richland, 2-3, 4 4. Norwin, 2-2, 3 5. North Allegheny, 0-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Shaler, 3-0, 1 2. Armstrong, 2-0, 2 3. West Allegheny, 6-1, 3 4. Trinity, 4-1, 4 5....

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 3-0, 1 2. Mt. Lebanon, 3-0, 3 3. Seneca Valley, 2-1, 2 4. Hempfield, 4-0, 4 5. Pine-Richland, 4-1, 5 Out: none Class 5A 1. Shaler, 2-0, 1 2. West Allegheny, 2-0, 2 3. Bethel Park, 1-2, 3 4. North Hills,...

North Allegheny has a roster full of “softball sisters,” even though most of the girls aren’t actually related. It’s an informal mentorship program coach Morgan Vescovi adopted a year ago, pairing an upperclassman with a younger teammate from the varsity or junior varsity. The players are able to bond while...

The school with the most wins in WPIAL football history is hoping its next big victory comes in a courtroom. Aliquippa has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the PIAA from moving its football team to a higher classification where opponents would have much larger enrollments. The lawsuit, which is...

HERSHEY — Greg Huston wasn’t on the bench last March when Blackhawk lost in the state finals, but he understood the team’s heartache as well as anybody. He was here a dad watching his daughter from the Giant Center seats. “I felt the pain in the stands,” he said, “because...

HERSHEY – Aliquippa finished off a rare PIAA double-double Friday by winning state football and basketball titles in the same school year. But on a roster full of two-sport athletes, this latest celebration was thanks in large part to a sophomore who has focused on only one. Josh Pratt scored...

PIAA Class 4A girls basketball championship Blackhawk vs. Scranton Prep Noon Saturday at Giant Center, Hershey PIAA titles: Blackhawk 4 (1999, 2000, ’14, ’15), Scranton Prep 0 Blackhawk (26-3) Coach: Greg Huston Probable starting lineup No., Player, Ht., Yr., Pos. 5, Andrea Kinger, 5-6, jr., G 11, Alena Fusetti, 5-10,...

HERSHEY — Brandin Cummings patiently held for the last shot of the first half, but the Lincoln Park senior didn’t wait around to see if his 3-pointer was good. He’d already turned his back on the shot and was headed toward the Giant Center locker room. It went in, of...

PIAA Class 2A boys basketball championship Aliquippa vs. Holy Cross 2 p.m. Friday at Giant Center, Hershey PIAA titles: Aliquippa 5 (1949, ’98, ’94, ’97, 2016), Holy Cross 0 Aliquippa (25-5) Coach: Nick Lackovich Probable starting lineup No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos. 0, Qalil Goode, 6-1, so., G 1, Brandon...

The four WPIAL football finals played at Acrisure Stadium likely will change this fall. Class 5A could be in, while 4A is out. Updated PIAA brackets released Thursday have the WPIAL champions in Class 5A, 3A, 2A and A joining the state playoffs in the semifinal round. That makes it...

HERSHEY — Imani Christian won a state title a year ago with a towering center in the middle, but this time, a couple of much smaller guards led the way. They proved to be an even tougher matchup. Imani Christian scored 19 straight points in one stretch Thursday afternoon thanks...

Lincoln Park is making a return trip to Hershey, where the team hopes to celebrate a second straight state title behind the talented tandem of Brandin Cummings and Meleek Thomas. Waiting for the Leopards is an opponent from Philadelphia, but that shouldn’t surprise them. They’ve now drawn a District 12...

Franklin Regional built a big lead Monday night only to see Moon erase it entirely, which was reminiscent of how the Panthers lost in the WPIAL final a few weeks ago. This time, there was at least one difference. “We had two more quarters. That was the big thing,” said...

SHARON — Time was dwindling away and the deficit was large, but Deer Lakes decided to ramp up its pressure one more time in Saturday’s state playoff loss. The Lancers defense forced a half-dozen turnovers in the closing minutes of a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal, but the climb was too...