TOP HIGH SCHOOL STORIES OF 2016-17
Year’s worth of memorable moments
There were plenty of highs and lows in the 2016-17 high school sports year, from the first tackle in mid-August in football practice to the final out in mid-June in baseball and softball. The Post-Gazette scholastic sports staff takes a look at the top story lines from beginning to end and ranks the more memorable moments from this past year.
1. A ZANEY SEASON
Armstrong senior Zane Dudek has the greatest season — statistically — of any running back in WPIAL history. He rushed for a WPIAL single-season record 2,955 yards, and all but 6 of those were in the regular season. A Yale recruit, Dudek also smashed the WPIAL regular-season scoring record with 42 touchdowns and 254 points.
2. GAME OF THROWS
Two of the greatest field athletes in WPIAL track and field history finish off their careers in grand fashion. Knoch senior Jordan Geist won PIAA shot put and discus titles for the third consecutive year and became only the third WPIAL athlete to win six PIAA gold medals. Connellsville senior javelin thrower Madison Wiltrout became only the fourth girl from the WPIAL to win a PIAA championship in an event four years in a row. A month after the PIAA meet, both Geist and Wiltrout won national high school championships at the New Balance Nationals.
3. MERCY, THEY WERE DOMINANT
The Steel Valley Ironmen put together a football season like no other team ever in Pennsylvania. Steel Valley went 15-0 and forced the mercy rule in every game. Since the rule was instituted in 1998, no team had won every game by the mercy rule. Under the rule, the clock runs continuously when a team gets ahead by 35 points or more in the second half.
4. SPARTAN-LIKE PERFORMANCE
This spring was perfect for the Hempfield softball team. The Spartans become only the third team from the WPIAL to win a PIAA title with a perfect record. Hempfield also became the first team from the WPIAL to win back-to-back PIAA titles, and the Spartans finished the season on a 41-game winning streak, dating back to last year.
5. SHOOTOUT AT KO CORRAL
In a football game for the ages, Beaver defeats Keystone Oaks, 7749, in a regular-season game. The 126 points were the most in a single game in at least 64 years (records go back to 1952) and KO quarterback Alex Smith and Beaver quarterback Darius Wise combined for 1,149 yards, the most by two WPIAL players. Smith set a singlegame yardage record with 653 and Wise had 496, including 403 rushing.
6. ELITE EIGHT
In one of the greatest — and most controversial — WPIAL football championships, West Allegheny beats McKeesport, 38-37, in overtime to make coach Bob Palko the first to win eight WPIAL titles. D.J. Opsatnik kicked a 34-yard field goal on the final play of regulation to send the game into overtime. He missed a 50-yarder on the previous play, but McKeesport was called for roughing-the-kicker.
7. THEY WENT TO JARROD
Jarrod Simmons played basketball at a Massachusetts prep school for his first three years of high school. But he always had lived in Moon’s district and decided to attend his hometown school for his senior year. Simmons, a 6-foot-7 center and Pennsylvania recruit, led Moon to a WPIAL title. The Tigers went to Simmons often in the playoffs and he was scintillating, averaging 24 points and 20 rebounds in the WPIAL tournament. 8. FROM BEAR TO LION
Penn State wins the recruiting battle for Clairton football star Lamont Wade. Eight days after he played his final high school game, the heavily-recruited Wade announced for Penn State. Recruited as a defensive back, Wade enrolled at Penn State for the spring semester. 9. BY GEORGE, HE’S HAD ENOUGH
The only football coach in Woodland Hills High School history, George Novak decides to retire. Novak coached almost a dozen future NFL players at Woodland Hills, won six WPIAL titles and finished as the third-winningest coach in WPIAL history with a record of 306-139-3. He coached Woodland Hills since 1987 and also coached Steel Valley from 1977-86.
10. CLOSE TO PERFECT
Franklin Regional’s Spencer Lee, arguably the greatest wrestler in WPIAL history, loses the final match of his high school career in a PIAA final and finishes with a 1441 record. He would’ve been only the sixth wrestler in Pennsylvania history to go undefeated in a career. Lee wrestled in the PIAA tournament with a torn ACL also battled mononucleosis. 11. WPIAL HISTORY
Two of the greatest football programs in the WPIAL meet for the first time in 84 years. Aliquippa and Clairton, which had 28 WPIAL championships between them, played on a rainy Friday night at Clairton and Lamont Wade rushed for 259 yards as the Bears ran past the Quips, 52-16. 12. DRIVE FOR FIVE
The Riverside baseball team defeats Mount Pleasant, 7-1, to make venerable Dan Oliastro only the third coach in WPIAL history to win five championships. The 73year-old Oliastro was in his 49th season as the Panthers’ coach. 13. NET FINDER
Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer player Bailey Cartwright finishes her career with WPIAL records in goals scored with 230 and assists with 159. As a senior, this Notre Dame recruit had 64 goals and 41 assists, and was named an All-American.
14. TWO FOR 500
Within days of each other, Sewickley Academy boys basketball coach Win Palmer and Neshannock girls coach Luann Grybowski both win their 600th career game. Grybowski is only the third girls coach in WPIAL history to reach 600 wins and Palmer only the 12th boys coach. 15. DOUBLE DUTY
Colin Williams takes on the highly unusual task of being a head coach of two teams in one season. He is the coach of the boys and girls soccer teams at Freedom — and he leads both teams to big seasons. The Freedom girls won a WPIAL championship while the Freedom boys made it all the way to the WPIAL semifinals.
16. BETWEEN THE PIPES
Indiana sophomore Madison Barker makes district hockey history. She is the first female to start as a goalie in a PIHL championship as Indiana plays Franklin Regional in the 1A final. 17. TENNIS HISTORY
The Sewickley Academy boys tennis team wins its 14th consecutive WPIAL team championship, the second-longest streak in WPIAL history in any sport. A month later, Sewickley Academy’s Luke Ross becomes the first WPIAL boys singles player in more than five decades to repeat as PIAA champion. 18. RAM TOUGH
The Pine-Richland Rams defeat Butler, 72-61, to win the WPIAL 6A boys basketball championship. It is only the sixth time since the 1970s that a team has won consecutive titles in the largest classification. 19. ROYAL TREATMENT
Marianne Abdalah, an accomplished distance runner for the Vincentian Royals, wins her fourth consecutive WPIAL cross country championship. Abdalah is only the second female to win four WPIAL titles. 20. UNIQUE THREE-PEAT
As championships go, there has never been a high school girls golfer like Greensburg Central Catholic’s Olivia Zambruno. A senior, Zambruno becomes the first female to win three consecutive PIAA titles.
— By Mike White