Chris Minerd, who led California's girls basketball team to unprecedented heights and was a well-respected athletic director at the school, is now out of job.
2019 High School Football Preview
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The WPIAL football season has been pushed back to Sept. 11 and shortened to seven weeks, while the start of all other fall sports have been delayed.
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Though the PIAA plans for falls sports to begin as scheduled, the organization did allow some wiggle room for its districts to use delayed starts and varied scheduling models for seasons.
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Tyler Switalski's bat and fastball impressed Division I coaches enough that he has accepted an offer to play in 2022 at Gardner-Webb University.
The PIAA will, at last, release guidelines for fall sports for teams, coaches and officials in the coming days.
For today’s “When Sports Were Played” we go back to March 9, 1996, when McGuffey’s Jeremy Hunter became the ninth four-time state wrestling champion. This is the final article in the series.
When he’s 64, Tim Wu will still love his wife, Cathy. He’ll adore running, too.
Teams
AvellaBelle VernonBentworthBeth-CenterBethel ParkBishop CanevinBurgettstownCaliforniaCanon-McMillanCarmichaelsCharleroiChartiers-HoustonChartiers ValleyFort CherryJefferson-MorganKeystone OaksMapletownMcGuffeyMonessenMt LebanonPeters TownshipRinggoldSeton-LaSalleSouth FayetteTrinityUpper St ClairWash HighWaynesburgWest Greene
Today’s “When Sports Were Played” takes us back to Oct. 8, 1999, when Fort Cherry’s Mike Vernillo set the WPIAL’s all-time rushing record during a Rangers victory over Cornell.
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Heavily recruited Peters Township defensive back Donovan McMillon had many reasons to choose the University of Florida. Family is just one of them.
CALIFORNIA – Confusion filled Piper McLaughlin’s senses as she slid safely into third base and looked up to see her Chartiers-Houston teammates flying from the dugout toward home plate.
Winning one WPIAL baseball championship is difficult enough. One bad day and your season is over. Peters Township, however, pulled off winning back titles in 2007 and 2008. Today, we go back to the latter, a May 28, 2008 victory over a Plum team that was coached by Waynesburg native Carl Vollmer.
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A 6-2, 195-pound safety who will be entering his senior season, McMillon chose Florida over four other finalists: Texas A&M, Oregon, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech.
McGuffey and Canon-McMillan have been two of the most successful local high school wrestling programs, and on Jan. 10, 2003, their dual meet had one of the most stunning turnarounds and finishes you’ll find.
A good game plan, any coach will tell you, is necessary to achieve success.
Today’s “When Sports Were Played” is from Nov. 21, 1975, when Beth-Center capped an undefeated football season by shutting out and shutting down Kitanning to win the WPIAL Class AA championship.
Chartiers-Houston’s Brianna Liebold capped a stellar track and field career on May 27, 2006, when she won her fourth gold medal at the PIAA Track & Field Championships, dominating the competition in the Class AA triple jump.
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The PIAA took a step to curb forfeits in wrestling but is making no changes to its fall sports calendar.
Today we go back to Nov. 10, 2006, when Jefferson-Morgan defeated Duquesne in a wild WPIAL Class A football quarterfinal game. It turned out to be final game in Duquesne’s storied history as the school closed after the 2006-07 school year.
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Major “Tuffy” Corley, who won one state and three WPIAL championships as the girls basketball coach at Monessen, died Monday at the age of 73.
Today’s “When Sports Were Played” goes back to May 29, 1986, when Fort Cherry’s baseball team, which had pulled out a close win in the semifinals, won the WPIAL Class AA championship in rather easy fashion over Ford City.
Did you know that one of the nation’s most heavily recruited prep basketball players this year attended school in Washington last winter?
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After 10 seasons at Chartiers-Houston, Eugene Briggs is returning to Fort Cherry as the Rangers' boys basketball coach.
Ringgold dedicated Joe Montana Stadium on Sept. 1, 2006, with a 13-10 loss to Indiana, but the game didn’t put a damper on what was a festive day for the Rams.
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Carmichaels averaged double-digit runs in each playoff game as its won the WPIAL Class A baseball championship.
Washington High School’s football team won the state title in 2001, but first the Little Prexies had to win the WPIAL championship, which they did against a talented Beaver Falls team.
The “When Sports Were Played” for today takes us back to May 24, 2002, when Waynesburg’s Jocelyn Lindsay, who was the first PIAA girls pole vault champion in 1999, ended her high school days with another gold medal.
Today we go back to June 2, 1983, and the WPIAL Class AA baseball championship game between California and Leechburg, which had a future major leaguer in its lineup.
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Phil Pergola, the only coach to guide a boys basketball team from Washington County to a PIAA championship in the state’s largest classification, might have coached the final game in his illustrious 55-year career.
Mary Dunn’s phone rang. It was her coach, John Barnes.
Waynesburg became the first team from Greene County to win a WPIAL football championship in 25 years when the Raiders controlled the second half and defeated conference rival Washington for the Class AA title on Nov. 27, 1999.
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Dave Derrico, who guided Canon-McMillan High School to the girls soccer state championship in 2016, resigned Thursday night as the Big Macs’ head coach.
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Mark Saghy manages the Steel City Wildcats to another successful summer
After a string of misses in the state finals, Chartiers-Houston won its first PIAA softball title on June 18, 2010, against Montgomery.
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Today’s “When Sports Were Played” is from Feb. 9, 2013, when Canon-McMillan’s wrestling team won the final winner-take-all bout of the tournament to repeat as the state Class AAA team champion.
After winning the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament and finishing second in the state event this past season, Waynesburg’s wrestling team appears well-stocked for another successful postseason next winter.
editor's pick
Belle Vernon has turned to one of its own in attempt to get the Leopards past the first round of the WPIAL girls basketball playoffs.
Today’s “When Sports Were Played” is from March 21, 2017, when Trinity used a big second half to defeat South Fayette and become the first girls basketball team from Washington County to make the state finals.
We close the book on the 2019-20 school year with this “Best of Sports” edition, a joint venture of the Observer-Reporter and The Almanac sports staffs. This is our third year for “Best of Sports,” which honors the top athletes and teams from the two publications’ coverage areas.
A decorated gymnast, Taylor Weyrich transformed into a champion diver.
For the second year in a row, Patrick Anderson set the pace locally, regionally and nationally in cross country.
While the coronavirus pandemic dashed his dreams of competing in the Olympics this summer, Josh Matheny continued to dominate the local swimming scene.
Todd Flynn will miss Nathan Piatt when he leaves for the University of Tampa this summer. For he was the golf coach’s right-hand man. In fact, Piatt filled in one of the top six slots in the Upper St. Clair lineup for four years.
What’s the most important ingredient in winning a cross country team title? The running shoes or the teammates racing alongside you?
One of the things you have to like about Joey Fonagy – and there are many things to like about the way the Canon-McMillan junior plays soccer – is his sense of timing.
Gerrit Nijenhuis polished off a perfect season by winning his second straight PIAA Class AAA wrestling title at the Giant Center in Hershey in March.
Numbers seem to be a good way to evaluate Benjamin Jackson, the outstanding running back and three-sport athlete at West Greene. Jackson rushed for 7,102 career yards, the third-most in WPIAL history. As a senior last fall, Jackson became the first WPIAL running back to rush for more than 3,…
Abby Duncan mimics the mail carrier. Snow, sleet or rain doesn’t stop her either.
Remmey Lohr of Carmichaels had a groundbreaking and impactful junior season, so much so that the rules were changed after her accomplishment.
Megan McConnell sees things on a basketball court most players do not. That vision signaled success for Chartiers Valley.
Patrick Anderson could have been the best miler in Mt. Lebanon High School track history. The senior, however, will settle for best cross country runner ever.
During a basketball season shortened by the coronavirus pandemic, Jake Hoffman finally had something to celebrate.
Trinity High School girls basketball player Courtney Dahlquist recently received another Division I offer, from Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
editor's pick
A second reading of the weight-class reduction proposal was unanimously approved by the PIAA, and it will need to pass a third reading in July to become the standard in Pennsylvania next wrestling season.
For today’s “When Sports Were Played” we go back nearly 12 years, to June 13, 2008, when Canon-McMillan turned the state baseball championship game into batting practice and routed Spring-Ford.
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State releases its COVID-19 guidelines for restarting high school, college, pro sports.
This installment of “When Sports Weree Played” takes us back exactly 22 years, to June 11, 1998, when Carmichaels softball became the first program from Greene County to win a state team title in any sport.
Work is underway on a major renovation project at McGuffey High School’s football stadium.
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