Football
CTK 2015 – Class AAAA Foothills Conference Preview
August 19, 2015
The Foothills Conference hasn’t had a repeat champion since Gateway in 2008-09. The trend may end this season. The Foothills is alive with Warriors. The Penn-Trafford Warriors. Coach John Ruane’s team made it to the WPIAL semifinals last year and many are pointing to the Warriors as the favorite to win their second consecutive conference title. Penn-Trafford has experience, skill and some size. McKeesport looks like Penn-Trafford’s top competitor. Plum’s program could continue to move upward under fourth-year coach Matt Morgan. The Mustangs have some key players back from last year’s team that finished 6-5 and won a playoff game. After Penn-Trafford, McKeesport and Plum, things look pretty open in the Foothills. Here’s a look at the teams in the conference:
CTK 2015 – Class AAAA Southeastern Conference Preview
August 18, 2015
After what happened in 2014, maybe there should be some consideration given to changing the WPIAL Class AAAA eight-team conference known as the Southeastern Conference with six schools south of the city of Pittsburgh and two in the eastern suburbs to the Eastsouthern Conference. The two east schools were beast a year ago after Penn Hills Week 9 upset of highly ranked rival Woodland Hills left the Indians and Wolverines as conference co-champs with 6-1 section records. While the same named SEC in the college ranks has been called the strongest in the nation, the same can not be said about the District 7 version. While teams from the Southeastern Conference won three WPIAL championships in a four year span from 2005 to 2008, it has hit a postseason drought since.
CTK 2015 – Class AAAA Northern Eight Conference Preview
August 17, 2015
A team from the Northern Eight Conference has won the WPIAL Class AAAA championship five consecutive seasons, and last year’s title game was a matchup of two Northern Eight teams – Pine-Richland and Central Catholic. The conference should be formidable again this season. Many are pegging the Northern Eight to have three of the top six or seven teams in Class AAAA – Pittsburgh Central Catholic, North Allegheny and Pine-Richland.
CTK 2015 – New WPIAL Football Coaches
August 16, 2015
New Faces - New Places - New Hopes - New Dreams. While there were two fewer coaching change this off-season then before the 2014 campaign, there were some big names that either hung up the whistle or changed sidelines for this upcoming season. Some of the changes include former championship winning coaches in Tom Loughran and Dave Vestal moving elsewhere while the legendary Joe Hamilton is out at Blackhawk. There are a lot of rookie head coaches getting their first crack, and some coaches who are just changing hats and addresses. Whatever the case, there are 19 coaching changes coming into this 2015 season. Here are the new football coaches that will be running the sidelines in the WPIAL this fall. CLASS AAAA:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 08/16/2015
Our annual August ritual known as Countdown to Kickoff continues as we inch closer to the 2015 high school football season this week here on the MSA Sports Network. Every day in August, we have something new on our website to prepare you for a new season kicking off on 9/4/15. We also have Frontier League baseball with the Washington Wild Things hosting the Windy City Thunderbolts and the Gateway Grizzlies in six games at CONSOL Energy Field, plus find out the latest news and info from the race tracks during the weekly edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, August 17th:
CTK 2015 – MSA Sports Preseason ELITE ELEVEN
The Pittsburgh Central Catholic football team is being touted as one of the top 25 teams in the country in some national polls. The strength of the Vikings can be seen on this year’s MSA Sports Elite 11 team. Central Catholic has two players on this year’s preseason Elite 11 – Damar Hamlin and David Adams. Central Catholic is the only team with two players on the Elite 11. The team is made up of the top 11 players in the WPIAL, regardless of position, and is picked by the MSA Sports staff. Hamlin, a senior, and Adams, a junior, are both being recruited heavily by major colleges. But Central Catholic has a handful of other players with scholarship offers from Division I-A colleges.
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Quad-A Players to Watch
August 14, 2015
Countdown to Kickoff 2015 continues with a four-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2015 campaign in Class AAAA. OFFENSE: Quarterback: Brett Laffoon- Penn-Trafford Billy Kisner – Penn Hills Levi Metheny - Bethel Park Daniel Walters - Hempfield Eddie Jenkins - Mount Lebanon
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Triple-A Players to Watch
August 13, 2015
Countdown to Kickoff 2015 continues with a four-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2015 campaign in Class AAA. OFFENSE: Quarterback: Jimmy Pierce – Laurel Highlands Jacob Zilinskas – Indiana Running Back: Matt Rech – Hampton Terence Stephens – West Allegheny
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Double-A Players to Watch
August 12, 2015
Countdown to Kickoff 2015 continues with a four-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2015 campaign in Class AA. OFFENSE: Quarterback: Deion Liddell - Sto-Rox Duane Brown - Apollo-Ridge Deon Smith - East Allegheny Amos Luptak - Quaker Valley Noah Wolf - Freedom
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Single-A Players to Watch
August 11, 2015
Countdown to Kickoff 2015 continues with a four-day look at some of the top high school football talent in the WPIAL for this upcoming season. As always, this list just scratches the surface. We ask for your help in building a complete rundown of candidates. You can nominate a top player by clicking on NOMINATE TOP PLAYERS and submitting their name. Here is a look at some of the players to watch this 2015 campaign in Class A. OFFENSE: Quarterback: Lamont Wade - Clairton Jason Dambach - Riverside Frank Antuono - Neshannock Tommy Pellis - Greensburg Central Catholic
CTK 2015 – High School Football Rules Changes
August 10, 2015
The 2015 season will be here before you know it and of course there are always changes to the playing rules. These changes were adopted by the National Federation of High School Sports and will be in effect for this year. As has been seen in past years, player safety is a number one priority. Two of the major changes do just that. First, the definition of spearing has been clarified. Spearing is an act by any player who initiates contact against an opponent at or below the shoulders with the crown of the helmet. The crown has been defined as the top portion of the helmet.
CTK 2015 – WPIAL 7:00pm Kickoffs
August 9, 2015
There are 123 schools in the WPIAL that field a high school football team and 118 of them play a majority of their home games on Friday nights. The kick off times of those Friday games however has almost become a big school, small school split. 16 of the 25 Quad-A schools start their games at the Western Pennsylvania 'traditional' time of 7:30pm while in Triple-A, it is nearly halved with 13 schools kicking off at 7:30pm and 15 teams starting 30 minutes earlier. But in the smaller classifications, 32 of the 35 Double-A and 26 of the 30 Single-A schools kick off at the top of the hour at 7:00pm. Five years ago, only a handful of teams kicked off at 7:00pm in the WPIAL, now that number has reached 82 schools.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 08/09/2015
Our annual August ritual known as Countdown to Kickoff continues as we prepare you for the 2015 high school football season this week here on the MSA Sports Network. Every day in August, we have something new on our website to prepare you for n new season kicking off on 9/4/15. We also have Frontier League baseball with the Washington Wild Things hosting the Frontier Greys before hitting the road this weekend against the Normal Cornbelters while the Pennsylvania Rebellion conclude their 2015 Pro Fast Pitch season against Akron, plus find out the latest news and info from the race tracks during the weekly edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Saturday Football Schedule
Then there were five. While there is little doubt that high school football is king on Friday nights in Western Pennsylvania, Saturday high school football in District 7 is becoming a dying breed with only five schools (Summit Academy, Western Beaver, Riverview, Wilkinsburg & Bishop Canevin) that play a majority of their home games on Saturday afternoons or evenings. Here is a complete rundown of the Saturday schedule of high school football action in the WPIAL this 2015 football season. WEEK ONE, SEPTEMBER 5th: Class A Eastern Conference: Jeannette Jayhawks AT Riverview Raiders at 12:00pm Class A Big 7 Conference: South Side Rams AT Neshannock Lancers at 7:00pm
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Single-A 2014 Football Flashback
August 7, 2015
All seemed right with the world again with Clairton ruling the roost in District 7 Class A football. The Bears roared through the regular season and district playoffs before knocking off Avonworth to earn an 11th school football crown and the sixth championship in the last seven years. 2014 WPIAL Single-A Highlights:
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Double-A 2014 Football Flashback
The Green Machine was twice as nice in 2014. While Aliquippa continued their 'annual' march to Heinz Field for a seventh straight year last fall, it was South Fayette that was perfect...again. The Lions beat the Quips for the third time in five years for the WPIAL Class AA crown, then three weeks later, SF completed a second straight 16-0 season by adding another PIAA gold to their treasure chest. 2014 WPIAL Double-A Highlights:
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Triple-A 2014 Football Flashback
August 4, 2015
When all was said and done through district play in WPIAL Class AAA in 2014, it was a Parkway Conference team standing as the king of the hill...rinse, wash, repeat. The calendar year may have changed last season, but it was once again not one, but two Parkway Conference teams left standing to battle at Heinz Field. In fact, it was the same two teams as the year before but with a different outcome as Central Valley beat West Allegheny. 2014 WPIAL Triple-A Highlights:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 08/04/2015
Our annual August ritual known as Countdown to Kickoff is in full force as we prepare you for the 2015 high school football season this week here on the MSA Sports Network. Every day in August, we have something new to prepare you for 9/4/15, including our annual back-to-back shows coming Wednesday from Kennywood Park. We also have Frontier League baseball with the Washington Wild Things on the road against Traverse City and Schaumburg while the Pennsylvania Rebellion host Akron at CONSOL Energy Field, plus find out the latest news and info from the race tracks during the weekly edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, August 3rd:
CTK 2015 – WPIAL Quad-A 2014 Football Flashback
August 3, 2015
The northern lights continue to be golden lights in the WPIAL's highest classification. For a fifth straight season, a team from the Northern Eight Conference won the WPIAL Quad-A football championship. After North Allegheny won three straight ('10, '11, '12) and Pittsburgh Central Catholic won the 2013 title out of the 'north' section. The Vikings went from gold to silver in 2014 however as Pine-Richland enjoyed a season for the ages with the schools first district title run in over a decade with a 15-1 finish. Much like the 2003 championship team, the Rams lone loss came in the state championship game. 2014 WPIAL Quad-A Highlights:
CTK 2015 – The River Hawks Have Landed
August 2, 2015
You could say this is one large step for a new high school, a couple of not-so-giant changes for the WPIAL football alignment. While the second year of a two year enrollment cycle rarely offers any changes to alignment, the merger of Kittanning and Ford City High Schools into Armstrong High School has caused the district to shuffle some things affecting three conferences in Class AAA and Class AA. In their first season, the Armstrong River Hawks will play in the Class AAA Greater Allegheny Conference against new rivals Franklin Regional, Gateway, Greensburg-Salem, Hampton, Hollidaysburg, Indiana, Knoch and Mars.
