Scholastic Notebook – 01/03/2011

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, January 3, 2011 | 12:00 AM

Highlands High School basketball player Micah Mason has been making a lot of noise lately with his scoring ability. But Tuesday night, Mason will go against a player who is almost his equal in scoring.

Highlands plays at Kittanning in a key WPIAL Class AAA game. Mason, a junior guard, leads the WPIAL in scoring at 33.8 points a game and he has averaged 41.3 in the past four games.

But Kittanning senior guard Nathan Stolitza is averaging 31.1 points a game. Stolitza can’t boast of a 51-point game like Mason had last week, but Stolitza has scored 43, 42 and 41 points in three different games.

Both players are guards, so it will be interesting to see if they are matched against each other. But the game has more importance than simply two scorers going against each other. Both Kittanning and Highlands are 2-0 in Class AAA Section 1.

Quad-A Showdown

One of the top games of the early season will be Tuesday night, although it will be a non-section contest. North Allegheny plays at Gateway in a WPIAL Class AAAA game. Gateway is ranked No. 1 in the MSA Sports Class AAAA top 10 while North Allegheny is No. 3. The two met in the WPIAL Semifinals last year and also the PIAA Quarterfinals.

Top Player Showdown

Mount Lebanon’s Madison Cable and Baldwin’s Belma Nurkic are widely regarded as the top two girls’ players in the WPIAL and they will go head to head tonight when Baldwin plays at Mount Lebanon in a Class AAAA Section 4 contest.

So far this season, Nurkic is averaging 22 points and Cable 19. Cable has signed with Notre Dame and Nurkic with Duquesne.

Zero Wins This Year

Talk about a slump. The Mapletown sports teams are 0 for the 2010-11 season.

As hard as it is to believe, Mapletown has yet to win a game this school year – in any sport!

The boys’ basketball team has an 0-8 record. The girls’ basketball team also has an 0-8 record. The football team was 0-9 in the fall, and the girls’ volleyball team didn’t win a game either, finishing 0-12.

Football Awards

The all-state football teams came out a few weeks ago by way of the Associated Press. But the Pennsylvania Football news recently released its all-state teams and players of the year. A few WPIAL players landed player of the year honors.

North Allegheny lineman Justin Haser was selected the Pennsylvania Class AAAA defensive player of the year. Quarterback Christian Brumbaugh of South Fayette was selected the Class AA co-offensive player of the year along with Brockway’s Derek Buganza.

Clairton’s Desimon Green was picked the Class A defensive player of the year. He is a quarterback-defensive back.

Simmons an All-American

The U.S. Army All-American Bowl is the most prestigious football all-star game in the country

Tags: Baldwin, Clairton, Gateway, Highlands, McKeesport