Chris Harlan stories, Page 44

In an ultra-competitive Class 5A, Bethel Park, Hempfield and Upper St. Clair are the only WPIAL teams that haven’t lost to a 5A opponent yet this season — a list that keeps getting shorter. The other 15 teams have all lost at least once. If that parity keeps up over...

East Allegheny junior Amir Rollins, a transfer from Penn Hills, is allowed to play football in the regular season, but he remains ineligible for the playoffs, the WPIAL ruled Tuesday. Penn Hills administrators had flagged his transfer as potentially motivated by athletics, but the WPIAL board didn’t find evidence to...

The last time Mapletown started a season 5-0, longtime Maples coach George Messich was in middle school and the team’s quarterback was an older boy who lived next door. That was 1968. “They had some really good football players on that team,” said Messich, a 1973 graduate. “The running back...

WPIAL football rankings Class 6A TeamRecPrv 1. North Allegheny, 5-0, 1 2. Canon-McMillan, 2-3, 4 3. Seneca Valley, 3-2, 5 4. Mt. Lebanon, 2-3, 2 5. Central Catholic, 2-3, 3 Class 5A TeamRecPrv 1. Upper St. Clair, 5-0, 3 2. Bethel Park, 4-1, 4 3. Hempfield, 5-0, NR 4. Gateway,...

At this time of year, North Allegheny’s cross country team doesn’t talk much about winning championships, even if the boys and girls are both defending state champs. The two teams combined have swept all eight WPIAL big-school titles in the past four years and celebrated seven PIAA titles in that...

It wasn’t too long ago that West Allegheny was the team to beat in the Parkway Conference, back before the Indians made the jump to 5A. Remember, they went 29-3 in that conference during their last four seasons there (ending in 2015), reached the WPIAL finals three times in that...

Keyshawn Morsillo threw three touchdowns Thursday night and helped Westinghouse solidified itself as the team to beat in the City League with a 38-7 victory over Allderdice at Cupples Stadium. The game was a rematch of last year’s city championship game, won by Allderdice. Westinghouse’s performance wasn’t always dynamic —...

After watching the first few weeks, Central Catholic coach Terry Totten suggests a new plan for finding the best team in 6A. “Put us all in a bag and pull two out,” Totten said. “Whoever plays well that night is the winner.” Yes, the WPIAL’s big-school classification is the league’s...

The WPIAL sold more than $2 million in tickets last school year, a jump from recent pre-pandemic days that has the league in solid financial shape. WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer says the increase in ticket sales could be a sign that fans found a renewed appreciation for high school...

WPIAL football rankings Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 4-0, 2 2. Mt. Lebanon, 2-2, 4 3. Central Catholic, 2-2, 1 4. Canon-McMillan, 1-3, 3 5. Seneca Valley, 2-2, 5 Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Penn-Trafford, 3-1, 3 2. Penn Hills, 3-1, 2 3. Upper...

Pick a word: Unpredictable? Competitive? Chaotic? They all describe WPIAL Class 6A football this season, where top-ranked Central Catholic surprisingly lost its conference opener Friday night. Mt. Lebanon prefers the word “fun.” “It’s fun because there are five teams and we’re all very even,” said Mt. Lebanon senior Mike Beiersdorf,...

The North Allegheny girls soccer team had six starting spots open this season, more than half of the lineup, but what the Tigers also had was depth. So, they have options. “It’s competitive from the seniors down to the freshmen,” said NA coach Chuck Kelley, who’s in his eighth season....

Peters Township freshman Reston Lehman scored his first two career touchdowns a minute apart Friday night, one to tie and one to take the lead as the Indians defeated South Fayette, 42-28, in an Allegheny Six opener filled with unpredictable moments. Maybe most unpredictable was that South Fayette’s defense intercepted...

T.J. Plack handed the key for Peters Township’s offense to a first-year starting quarterback and told him to drive. “You don’t need to buy any rims or anything like that, just make the correct turns, use your turn signal and get the ball to our guys,” Plack said with a...

Ready or not, it’s conference time. Most WPIAL teams had a few exhibition games to prepare, but this week the WPIAL starts conference play in earnest with a nearly full slate. By the end of the day Saturday, 94 of 117 teams will have played at least one conference game....

A groundbreaking Name, Image and Likeness policy proposed by the PIAA must pass three separate votes to take effect, but that second vote won’t happen this week as initially thought. The PIAA board meets online Wednesday, but the new NIL policy wasn’t included on this month’s agenda. PIAA executive director...

Team captains Aaron Hobel and Brighton Mariacher are fourth-year players on Ellwood City’s football team, yet their senior class never had celebrated a win. That changed Friday night. Ellwood City snapped the WPIAL’s longest active losing streak with a 46-6 nonconference win over Carlynton, the team’s first since Oct. 26,...

WPIAL football rankings Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Central Catholic, 2-1, 1 2. North Allegheny, 3-0, 2 3. Canon-McMillan, 1-2, 5 4. Mt. Lebanon, 1-2, 4 5. Seneca Valley, 1-2, 3 Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Gateway, 3-0, 1 2. Penn Hills, 2-1, 2 3. Penn-Trafford,...

As a soccer coach who’d reached the college ranks, Manuel Montero wasn’t interested in coaching high school soccer again, but North Allegheny’s unofficial nickname intrigued him. “The University of NA,” he said. “That’s what attracted me.” Montero had coached high school, club and college soccer on the West Coast before...

Jon LeDonne spent five seasons building Penn Hills into a big-play dynamo and saw that explosive energy work against his new team Friday night. With LeDonne now on the opposite sideline, running back Amir Key rushed for 216 yards and three touchdowns as No. 2-ranked Penn Hills defeated No. 3...

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart quarterback Nehemiah Azeem has already thrown for almost 700 yards and ranks as the top passer in the WPIAL, but his coach knows what skeptics are probably saying. Prove it again, this time against Clairton. “I think we already kind of showed we are...

Yuhas-McGinley Stadium holds fond memories for Jon LeDonne, but what kind of welcome will he receive there Friday night when he’s wearing green instead of the home team’s red and gold? LeDonne spent five good years as Penn Hills’ football coach and won a state title in 2018, but this...

Hampton transfer Peter Kramer, a standout shooting guard who won a WPIAL basketball title at Shady Side Academy, is ineligible for the playoffs this winter. The 6-foot-4 junior had an eligibility hearing Tuesday with the WPIAL, which didn’t find enough evidence to grant him a postseason waiver, WPIAL executive director...

This was the most competitive Week 1 in recent WPIAL history, but that probably wasn’t a coincidence. The WPIAL made a major change in recent years to the way it schedules nonconference games, an adjustment that seemed evident in the final scores Friday night. In all, there were five overtime...