Westmoreland County high school notebook: WCCA all-star game returning to Ligonier Valley

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, October 15, 2023 | 5:22 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

After a successful debut last year, the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Volleyball All-Star Game will return next month.

The event will be 6 p.m. Nov. 21 at Ligonier Valley.

Last year, 16 local teams were represented in the East vs. West matchup that includes top senior players selected by coaches.

Rosters will be announced a few weeks before the event.

Leopards on bubble

A local soccer team is on the “bubble” entering the final week of the WPIAL regular season.

The Belle Vernon girls (7-8-1, 6-6-1) can clinch a spot in Section 2-3A with a win Monday over Elizabeth Forward (11-3, 10-2) and a Laurel Highlands (8-7, 7-6) loss or tie against Connellsville (10-7, 9-4).

Playoff pairings will be announced Wednesday.

Local boys qualifiers are: 4A, Norwin; 3A, Latrobe and Franklin Regional; 2A, Belle Vernon, Mt. Pleasant, Jeannette and Yough; and A, Greensburg Central Catholic and Burrell.

Girls qualifiers from the area include: 3A, Latrobe, Franklin Regional, Penn-Trafford and Kiski Area; 2A, Mt. Pleasant, Southmoreland, Yough and Burrell; A, Greensburg Central Catholic.

Fall guys

Across the board, Belle Vernon is having quite a fall season in boys sports.

The top-ranked football team is lining up a conference title and has more titles on its mind, the boys soccer team is a section champion again, the boys golf team won the WPIAL 2A championship and a section title and the boys cross country team won a third straight section championship.

Southmoreland rolls on

The Southmoreland volleyball team just keeps on rolling.

The Scotties moved to 17-0 overall and 15-0 in section and will be a team to keep an eye on in the 2A playoffs.

A team with power and size up front, the Scotties secured their first section championship since 2003. It was a runaway, too, as they clinched with a 4.5-game lead over Waynesburg and Yough.

The final section date for teams is Thursday.

The WPIAL will announce playoff pairings Friday, and the playoffs are scheduled to begin Oct. 23.

Local teams that have clinched a playoff spot are: Penn-Trafford and Hempfield in 4A; Latrobe in 3A; Southmoreland, Burrell and Derry in 2A; and Greensburg Central Catholic in A.

PIAA golf

The PIAA golf championships will be Monday through Wednesday at Penn State.

The 36-hole individual tournaments will be Monday and Tuesday, with Class 3A on the Blue Course and Class 2A on the White Course.

The team finals will be Wednesday, with 3A on the Blue and 2A on the White.

Local boys in the field include senior Nick Turowski of Penn-Trafford and Latrobe sophomore Jack Sacriponte in 3A. Sophomore Jordan Mocello (Belle Vernon), senior Rogan Maloney (Belle Vernon) and junior Braden Riley (GCC) are in 2A.

Sophomore Alayna Stawovy of GCC is the only local individual girl at states.

Past boys state champions from Westmoreland include: Arnold Palmer of Latrobe (1946, ’47), Pat Shinners of Hempfield (1972), and Palmer Jackson of Franklin Regional (2018).

Past girls winners from the county are: Staci Aber of GCC (1989, ’91), Katie Miller of Hempfield (1999, 2000, ’02) and Olivia Zambruno of GCC (2014, ’15, ’16).

The Greensburg Central Catholic girls, fresh off their ninth straight WPIAL title, will try for a 2A state championship. The same goes for the Belle Vernon boys, who won their first championship, in 2A.

PIAA team champions from Westmoreland County are the GCC girls (2018, ’19) and the Latrobe boys (2009).

GCC’s girls finished second five times, and the Penn-Trafford girls were runners-up in 2012 and ’13.

Volleyball honors

A pair of local players were lauded by the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association.

Senior right-side hitter Ella Dindak of Penn-Trafford and senior outside hitter Ashley Hosni of Hempfield were selected as Class 4A players of the week.

As far as the latest WPVCA rankings go, Penn-Trafford remained at No. 4 in 4A, and Latrobe stayed at No. 9 in 3A.

In 2A, Southmoreland dropped from No. 6 to 7, Burrell went from unranked to No. 8 and Derry dropped from 10 to 8.

Greensburg Central Catholic dropped one spot to No. 5 in Class A.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Ligonier Valley