Best of the decade
Taking a look at the top 20 high school stories from 2010-20
As 2019 comes to a close, the Post-Gazette scholastic sports staff put together a list of the top high school sports stories of the decade. Here are the top 20 stories, from the WPIAL and City League, starting with the winter sports of the 2009-10 school year through the fall sports of 2019.
1. CLAIRTON FOOTBALL: THE STREAK
Clairton had the spirit of 66. In one of the most amazing streaks by a WPIAL team in any sport, Clairton won 66 consecutive games from Sept. 4, 2009 to Sept. 20, 2013. The 66-game streak was the 10th-longest in U.S. high school football history and ended with a 42-24 loss to Monessen. Clairton won four consecutive PIAA titles during the streak and future NFL player Tyler Boyd played during the streak from 2009-12.
2. PIAA: CLASS FOR SIX In a move that drastically changed the landscape of high school sports in Pennsylvania, the PIAA decided to add two classifications in a number of sports, a move that still has critics today. Starting with the 201617 sports year, there were six classifications in football, boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball.
3. STEEL VALLEY FOOTBALL: MERCY TO EVERYONE
In 2016, 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, Steel Valley became the first team to win 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. BRENDAN McKAY: ZERO TOLERANCE STREAK
Over the course of two baseball seasons (2013-14) Blackhawk pitcher Brendan McKay went 72 1/3 innings without giving up a run. It was the second-longest scoreless streak in U.S. high school baseball history and ended in the 2014 WPIAL title game against West Allegheny. McKay now pitches for the Tampa Bay Rays.
5. T.J. McCONNELL: 1,000 IN A SEASON
To say T.J. McConnell had the best season of any player in WPIAL history might not be an overstatement. In the 2009-10 season, McConnell averaged 34.4 points for a WPIAL champ and a PIAA finalist and set a WPIAL record with 1,062 points. The only other WPIAL boys player to score 1,000 points in a season was Wampum’s Don Hennon in the 1950s. Hennon went on to become an All-American at Pitt, and McConnell, who also made 334 career 3-pointers (second-best in WPIAL history), is now in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers.
6. PHIL JURKOVEC: PHIL THE THRILL
Pine-Richland’s Phil Jurkovec proved to be one of the top football-basketball athletes in WPIAL history. One of the WPIAL’s best quarterbacks in decades, he set records in football and led the Rams to WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2017. Then he helped Pine-Richland to the WPIAL Class 6A title game in basketball in 2018 and finished his career with 1,656 points. He was the first quarterback from the WPIAL in 50 years to play in the largest classification and make all-state in both football and basketball.
7. MIKE ZMIJANAC: THEY DIDN’T LIKE MIKE
Despite being one of the most successful coaches of any sport in WPIAL history, Aliquippa football coach Mike Zmijanac was ousted by the Aliquippa school board in a highly controversial move in 2018. Zmijanac won six WPIAL titles, one PIAA title and his record in 21 seasons was 237-36. A few months later, Zmijanac accepted the Ringgold coaching job and is now Seton LaSalle’s coach.
8. JERRY VESHIO: FROM ANNOUNCER TO STATE CHAMP
Jerry Veshio was the PA announcer for Quaker Valley football games. When John Tortorea resigned as Quaker Valley’s coach shortly before the 2017 season, Veshio came out of the announcer’s booth, took over the team and guided the Quakers to WPIAL and PIAA championships. Quaker Valley had never played in a WPIAL final before.
9. NEW CASTLE BASKETBALL: PERFECT STORM
The players on the 2014 New Castle Red Hurricanes boys basketball team became hometown heroes when the Red Hurricanes went 31-0 and won WPIAL and PIAA titles. Coach Ralph Blundo’s team was the first from the WPIAL in 31 years to go undefeated (Sto-Rox did it in 1983). New Castle was led by a future NFL first-round draft pick in Malik Hooker. One year earlier, New Castle became the first boys team ever to win back-to-back WPIAL titles with perfect records.
10. JORDAN GEIST AND MADISON WILTROUT: GAME OF THROWS
When it comes to throwing things, Knoch’s Jordan Geist and Connellsville’s Madison Wiltrout were among the best in U.S. track and field history. They finished off their careers in grand fashion in 2017. 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. Wiltrout, a javelin thrower, 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.
11. MT. LEBANON BASKETBALL: “STATING” THEIR CASE THREE TIMES
The 2011 Mt. Lebanon girls basketball team, led by coach Dori Oldaker, became only the sixth in Pennsylvania history and second in the WPIAL to win three consecutive state championships. Madison Cable was a starter on all three teams and went on to play in three Final Fours at Notre Dame.
12. TOP COACHES RETIRING
In the past decade, five of the six winningest football coaches in WPIAL history retired. They are 1. Upper St. Clair’s Jim Render. 2. Blackhawk’s Joe Hamilton. 3. Woodland Hills’ George Novak. 4. North Hills’ Jack McCurry. 6. Springdale’s Chuck Wagner. Only Thomas Jefferson’s Bill Cherpak, who is fifth, is still coaching.
13. SPENCER LEE: PERFECT UNTIL THE FINAL
Spencer Lee was widely regarded as the best high school wrestler in the country in 2017 and one of the best in WPIAL history. He won three world championships and nearly finished his high school career with a perfect record, but in a gigantic upset, Lee lost in the PIAA championship and finished 144-1. He now wrestles at the University of Iowa and won an NCAA title last year.
14. PETERS TOWNSHIP AND CHARTIERS VALLEY BASKETBALL: SIMPLY PERFECT
Since the PIAA started girls basketball championships in 1973, only two WPIAL teams had made it through state championship games with perfect records. Then it happened twice — on back-to-back nights in March of 2019. Peters Township and Chartiers Valley both finished 30-0 and won PIAA titles.
15. RUSHEL SHELL: RUNNING TO A RECORD
Hopewell’s Rushel Shell finished his career running farther than any player in Pennsylvania history. Shell ran for a state record 9,078 career yards on 1,107 carries and set what was a WPIAL record at the time with 110 career touchdowns. He also set a national record with 39 consecutive 100-yard games.
16. MAKING A SPLASH Over the past decade, individual swimmers and a team made history – both nationally and on the WPIAL level. In March of 2019, Upper St. Clair’s Josh Matheny set a national high school record in the 100-yard breaststroke and went on to set other national and international agegroup records in the summer. … North Allegheny’s relay team of Mason Gonzalez, Andrew Zhang, Rick Mihm and Jack Wright set two national public school records at the Speedo Winter Junior Championships in 2017. … In 2019, the North Allegheny girls team ties a WPIAL record by winning its 11th consecutive team title.
For a complete list of the top 20 stories, please visit www.post-gazette.com.