George Guido: Highlands-Hampton boys basketball showdown early highlight for 2023

By: George Guido
Sunday, January 1, 2023 | 5:37 PM

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Happy New Year to all our readers. The new year looks particularly interesting for what might be coming on the high school sports scene.

It won’t take long for the biggest event of the young calendar year to take place. Highlands will host Hampton in a boys basketball game Tuesday night in the Section 1-4A opener. Highlands (7-1) has just a 1-point loss to Penn Hills, and Hampton has defeated both Class 6A finalists from last season: Fox Chapel, 58-55, and North Hills, 55-48.

Though it’s still early in section play, Leechburg will welcome Greensburg Central Catholic to Lewis Hicks Gym on Tuesday night, and resurgent Riverview will take on Springdale.

That old 32nd minute

The Freeport girls basketball team (4-6, 1-1) is looking for a way to reduce the games to 31 minutes. Four of its six losses have been by one point. Fortunately for the Yellowjackets, Section 1-4A play has barely begun.

The 300 club

Burrell football will be vying for its 300th win in football history in Week Zero when the Bucs take on Jeannette next fall. What adds extra significance to the game is that Aliquippa is set to surpass Jeannette as the winningest program in WPIAL history.

Cugini watch

Aquinas Academy’s Vinnie Cugini starts 2023 just 368 points behind Valley’s Tom Pipkins as the WPIAL’s all-time leading boys basketball scorer.

Cugini, who is headed to Pitt-Johnstown next fall, is fifth on the all-time WPIAL list with 2,470 points.

Plum milestone

Plum will play its 800th football game to start the season Aug. 25 at Kiski Area. The school opened in 1939 and began sponsoring football a year later.

Nada, nada, nada

Also, 2023 will mark the 80th anniversary of Aspinwall’s 1943 football team that won the WPIAL title. The Cavaliers were undefeated, untied and unscored upon, the last WPIAL team to pull off that feat.

Willie Thrower Award

Voting is wrapping up for the third annual Willie Thrower Award, which goes to the top quarterback among WPIAL and City League schools.

The top five vote-getters will be invited to a luncheon at the Knead Community Cafe on March 25 in New Kensington. The winner will receive a 29-pound replica of the Willie Thrower statue that sits inside Valley High Memorial Stadium. The other four finalists will get a keepsake, glass memento.

The snap

This also will be a big year for Thrower, who died in 2002.

The Willie Thrower Award Foundation will celebrate the 70th anniversary of “The Snap.”

On Oct. 18, 1953, Thrower became the first Black quarterback to take a snap in an NFL game while playing for the Chicago Bears against the San Francisco 49ers.

Thrower’s accomplishment will be observed with a number of events.

Leechburg streak

In softball, Leechburg will try to add to its amazing streak of 35 consecutive WPIAL playoff appearances.

The Blue Devils will try to do it with a new coach as Larry Troutman was named head coach recently after Debbie Young stepped down.

Back home again

After playing just one home game in 2022, Knoch football will be returning home to play its first games on artificial turf in 2023.

Tags: Aquinas Academy, Burrell, Freeport, Highlands, Kiski Area, Leechburg, Plum, Riverview, Springdale