Winchester Thurston rebuilding
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Winchester Thurston has been a mainstay in the WPIAL playoffs and has qualified for the postseason each of the past six years.
That streak will likely come to an end in a couple of weeks.
“Right now it’s kind of tough because we’re in, like, a rebuilding year with a lot of younger players that we’re trying to get playing time,” Winchester Thurston coach Bill Fitch said. “We’re not where we want to be, but we have a bigger team and we’re trying to get some of the older girls to help out with the younger players.”
In its first year in Class 1A last year, the Bears went into the tournament as the No. 3 seed and lost to rival and eventual champion Ellis School, 3-0, in the semifinals. Despite being a perennial postseason participant, Winchester Thurston has not won a playoff game since the 2013 semifinals when it lost to Shady Side Academy, 2-1, in overtime.
Winchester Thurston has also never won a WPIAL title, but the Bears might be able to get back in competitive form after this rebuilding year adds an influx of young talent. Still, it’s not easy to build a team when you have to play the likes of Ellis School and Shady Side Academy, which are perennial contenders.
“We have a nice core that has been helping them out. Ellis and Shady Side are particularly strong and have been for years,” Fitch said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t had that much success against them in middle school, so getting them past that sticking point has been hard.”
Sewickley Academy
With Winchester Thurston in the midst of a rare off year, Sewickley Academy might be the team that steps into the void and fills out that final Class 1A playoff spot.
“We’re actually doing very well,” Sewickley Academy coach Cheryl Ann Lassen said. “We’re playing better every game and improving and working as a unit and it’s been very positive.”
Sewickley Academy has not won a WPIAL title since taking the Class 2A crown in 2004. The Panthers have also not been to the postseason since 2014 when they dropped a 6-0 decision to Ellis School in the opening round.
This year, however, Sewickley Academy came into the week 5-3 in the classification and was clinging to the fourth and final Class 1A postseason slot.
Part of the reason for the improvement has been the senior leadership from players such as Mikayla Lucci, Leyla Wynnyckyj and Claire Meakem.
“Claire Meakem has really stepped above and beyond,” Lassen said. “The encouragement and getting the girls to focus on playoffs every day, it’s become a common theme and has done really well with that.” fortunes, the other turnaround stories are simply cases of teams getting it right and having a good squad for once. California, West Greene and others are playing mostly teams they always faced. The difference is, they have found a way to win.
QB snapper
When quarterbacks are involved in an extra point or field goal, it’s usually as the holder. But at Upper St. Clair, quarterback Jack Hansberry puts his head down when it’s time to kick. That’s what snappers do.
Hansberry is the long snapper for the Panthers.
From the crazy but true statistics department, or from Highlands stat keeper Mike Choma: During his career at Highlands, senior wide receiver-defensive back Logan Crise has scored on six different plays — and running the football isn’t one of them. If he would score a rushing touchdown by the end of the season, he
In case you didn’t know, the WPIAL has decided to play four championship games (Class 3A through 6A) on Nov. 18 at Heinz Field. The order of the games has not been established yet because of television. AT&T SportsNet will televise the games but only two will be aired live because the station will carry a Penguins game at night.
Although the order of the games has not been set, it’s likely the WPIAL will follow the format of last year when the Class 3A and 6A games were played first.
The Class 2A and 1A championships will be played the following weekend at Robert Morris, but dates for the games have not been determined.