Westmoreland high school notebook: Hempfield tackle Brose drawing D-I looks

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, January 19, 2019 | 5:57 PM

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Junior Fintan Brose is the next Division I football prospect to watch at Hempfield.

He isn’t hard to miss.

Brose is 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds and is a two-way tackle for the Spartans.

His ability to stuff the run and open rushing lanes on offense is paramount for Hempfield. He is beginning to catch the eye of college coaches.

“We’re really interested to see what offers he gets and where he ends up,” Hempfield coach Rich Bowen said. “All it takes is that one Power 5 (offer), and more start coming in.”

Brose recently picked up offers from Bowling Green and Vanderbilt. He had 45 tackles and four sacks last season.

Brose is the younger brother of Braden Brose, who graduated from Hempfield last year after a productive career as a tight end and linebacker. The elder Brose (6-3, 250) is a freshman tight end at Delaware.

There is loads of talent in the Brose Bros.

“You’re talking about two physical players,” Bowen said. “It runs in the family. Fin has a mean streak in him.”

Brunson switches places

Chris Brunson was all ready to begin his new softball coaching stint at Albert Gallatin when the Mt. Pleasant job opened and everything changed.

Brunson lives in Mt. Pleasant and his daughter, Haylie, is a sophomore outfielder on the team.

He applied — keeping Albert Gallatin in the loop along the way — and landed the Mt. Pleasant job Monday.

He obviously had to resign from Albert Gallatin.

“I would never pass on an opportunity to coach Haylie and her friends and classmates,” he said. “Those kids at AG are very dedicated and talented; Don’t be surprised if they get over the hump this year.”

Chris Brunson replaces Lauren Armanious, who resigned after five seasons. She guided the perennially strong Vikings to WPIAL and PIAA titles.

Brunson, a former baseball standout who played and coached at Cal (Pa.), has been a travel softball coach in recent years, as well as serving as an assistant at Southmoreland.

“I am a hitting guy at heart, but the game doesn’t work well unless you have a mix of all three: hitting, defense and pitching,” he said. “Every coach has a different style and my style is probably different than some, but the bottom line is you have to reach kids to get them to do their job to help the team win.”

Tough decision

Greensburg Salem senior Malia Anderson committed last week to Georgetown for track and field.

Anderson, one of the top 800-meter runners in the state, also entertained an offer from Penn State.

She toggled between both schools before settling on the Hoyas.

“Honestly, it was such a hard choice. I loved both schools so much,” Anderson said. “But I think it was just the size of Georgetown because I wanted to go to a smaller school.”

Anderson finished second in the WPIAL and fourth in the PIAA in the Class AAA 800 last spring.

Shootout at Seton Hill

The Hoops for a Cure “Shootout at Seton Hill” basketball showcase will be Saturday at Seton Hill.

The five-game schedule features Greensburg Central Catholic vs. Greensburg Salem (girls) at 2 p.m.; Norwin vs. Hempfield (girls) at 3:30 p.m.; Serra Catholic vs. Penn Hills (boys) at 5 p.m.; Greensburg Salem vs. Greensburg Central Catholic (boys) at 6:30 p.m.; and Jeannette vs. Penn-Trafford (boys) at 8 p.m.

WCCA swimming

The Westmoreland County Coaches Association Swimming and Diving Championships will be Friday at Saturday at Derry.

Diving will be Friday, starting with warm-ups at 3:30 p.m. and competition at 5 p.m.

Swimming will be Saturday with warm-ups at 8:30 a.m. and events at 10 a.m.

Returning team champions are the Franklin Regional (AAA) and Mt. Pleasant (AA) girls, and the Penn-Trafford (AAA) and Belle Vernon (AA) boys.

Jeannette tickets

Jeannette is selling tickets for its inaugural Jayhawk Athletic Hall of Fame induction event. The tickets will be sold each school day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the high school.

Cost is $40 each, and the ticket is good for the boys home basketball game Feb. 8 and the Hall of Fame induction dinner Feb. 9 at Ferrante’s Lakeview.

The event is limited to 200 tickets. Checks can be made payable to Jeannette Education Foundation.

Bill Beckner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Albert Gallatin, Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Jeannette, Mt. Pleasant