North Journal notebook: North Allegheny’s Coy wins WPIAL wrestling title

By: Bill Hartlep
Saturday, March 6, 2021 | 10:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

Dylan Coy can now call himself a WPIAL champion.

The North Allegheny junior wrestler defeated one of the WPIAL’s top grapplers in the 120-pound championship match, edging Waynesburg’s Mac Church, 4-3, to claim the Class AAA title Feb. 27, at Canon-McMillan.

He also scored a quarterfinal-round tech fall and a 7-0 win in the semifinals.

A WPIAL third-place finisher last season, Coy is 25-1 this season and also captured a section title. He moved to No. 1 in the Trib HSSN rankings at 120 pounds.

The Tigers also had a pair of third-place WPIAL finishers — Nick Gorman (126) and Collin McCorkle (160).

All three NA wrestlers advanced to the Class AAA Western Super Regional last Saturday. Those who qualify will then compete at the PIAA tournament.

North Allegheny’s Nathan Monteparte (132), Brad Stipetich (138), Max Stedeford (145), Travis Stipetich (172) and Brady Leczo (215) also competed at the WPIAL tournament.

NA boys open with win

Greg Habib scored 12 points and No. 7 North Allegheny (15-6) defeated No. 10 Central Catholic, 45-41, in a WPIAL Class 6A first-round boys basketball game last week.

Anderson Cynkar led Central Catholic (12-9) with 13 points. The Tigers were scheduled to face No. 2 Fox Chapel in Friday’s quarterfinals.

North Hills boys fall short

North Hills dropped a 63-50 decision to Penn-Trafford in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs last week.

After North Hills (4-10) trimmed the Warriors’ lead to 34-23 with 4 minutes, 45 seconds left in the third quarter, Josh Kapcin scored seven straight points as part of a 12-0 run for the Warriors (13-5).

North Hills, which finished last in Section 1 but had quality wins against North Allegheny and Butler, didn’t get its first field goal until Devin Burgess’ bucket with 2:18 left in the opening quarter. It never took the lead.

North Hills’ junior guard Alex Smith was held to nine points, one in the first half. The Indians’ 6-foot-6 freshman, Royce Parham, finished with 14 points, 10 in the second half, and Burgess came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points, 10 coming in the fourth quarter.

North Hills turned the ball over 20 times and was 19 of 43 from the field but only 8 for 26 through three quarters.

North Hills girls ousted

Danielle Rosso scored 13 points, and Brianna Zajicek added 12 as No. 3 Norwin (12-4) earned a 55-12 win over No. 14 North Hills (3-15) in a WPIAL Class 6A first-round girls basketball game last week.

Seniors Abbey McElhaney, Lexie Kotwica and Lea Loirsh led the way for the Indians.

NA gymnasts cap season

The North Allegheny gymnastics team finished the regular season with a 124.450-108.525 loss to Pine-Richland on Feb. 23.

The Tigers, who also lost to Central Valley and Moon in dual meets, finished third in a quad meet with Thomas Jefferson, Baldwin and Fox Chapel on Feb. 21.

Two Tigers — Masha Dudina and Gabbi Stegeman — competed in the Silver Division at the WPIAL gymnastics championships Feb. 27.

Dudina placed 26th in vault, 29th in bars and 31st in beam. Stegeman was 33rd in vault and 21st in bars.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny