Penn Hills resident Paul VanDale will be fighting Saturday, June, at Showboat Resort in Atlantic City. Anyone wanting to watch the fight can do so at Vinnie's Watering Hole in Oakmont. 

VanDale is a former WWF wrestler who will be boxing someone 40 years his junior in a heavyweight celebrity boxing match this weekend. The pay-per-view for the fight will be available on the America NU Network.

By Josh Rizzo
Massima Curry's trip to the 2019 Fargo Cadet Nationals provided an enormous amount of perspective. For the 17-year-old incoming North Allegheny senior, Curry received some insight on what she hoped wrestling in Pennsylvania could be.

Competing in an all-girls tournament, Curry went 2-2 in the 112-pound freestyle division. The mutual respect on display -- some opponents embraced after matches --made her feel more comfortable.

"The girls try a lot harder because they are equal in strength," Curry said. "The boys just want to beat up on a girl to prove that they are strong. It's better wrestling girls and having a fair shot at winning." 

Starting with the 2020-21 school year, Curry will have an opportunity to see those types of matches on the local scene. North Allegheny's school board recently approved girls wrestling as an official sport.

"We've developed a committee called the Sanction PA Task Force," said Heckert, who will be the coach the Tigers' coach. "We've been working with Powerade, Mid-Winter Mayhem and a bunch of stuff in the east that will have a girls division. These tournaments will all be open, so even if a school doesn't sponsor the sport a wrestler can compete as an open entrant."

The sport is still not sponsored by the PIAA, so there will be several differences from the boys' teams. The Tigers, who are expected to have between six and eight wrestlers, will not wrestle any dual matches and there won't be a sanctioned state championship. 

Gaining PIAA acceptance, according to a PennLive.com story in March, will require the task force hitting its goal of 100 sponsored teams in a three-year period. The soonest the PIAA would sanction a state championship would be by the 2022-23 school year. North Allegheny will be the fourth team in the state to field a program and the first in Western Pennsylvania.

Because the sport is not currently state sponsored, there won't be any official weight classes. Upon arriving at tournaments which sponsor a girls' division, there will be a "madison system" in place.

All of the competitors will be put in brackets based on the number of entrants. Heckert has been pushing for the PIAA to add the sport.

"We wanted to create opportunities for girls," Heckert said. "They can compete in the Olympics and in college. With Pennsylvania being a hotbed for wrestling, why should we sit back and wait?"

Curry, who has been wrestling since kindergarten, comes from a strong wrestling family. She has been trying to help recruit other athletes to come out and compete for North Allegheny.

"We started practicing in mid-January and there were other girls who were interested and got their friends to come," Curry said. "There were also a few boys who had sisters interested in competing."

Heckert said he is excited for the challenge to help get the team off the ground. He will have a group of wrestlers with all different experience levels for the first team.

"We're going to have to take our time," Heckert said. "We have girls that have never wrestled before. We want to concentrate on the basics. The good thing is this is a young sport. A lot of girls are learning the same aspects. We want them compete. The No. 1 goal is to give these girls the confidence to get better."

Josh Rizzo is a sports writer and owner of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Anyone with story ideas is free to reach out at [email protected] or on Twitter @J_oshRizzo.

By Josh Rizzo
When it comes to the Big 33 Football Classic, there seem to be more barriers popping up every year to challenge one of Pennsylvania high school football's proudest traditions.

Due to concerns with the coronavirus pandemic, a common enemy of anyone who enjoys sports or sanity in general, the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association was forced to cancel this year's version of the game Tuesday.

"Due to the uncertainty of the weeks ahead with the Coronavirus constraints placed upon each individual, our schools, families, and the organizations and businesses that help make this holiday weekend one of the best in the country, we cannot move forward in holding these events or our exciting football games," the group posted on their website Tuesday. "Our top priority is the health, safety and welfare of all of our participants, families, workers, sponsors, and fans."

The Big 33 features a roster of Pennsylvania's best senior football players taking players from Maryland. Since the first game was contested in 1958, Pennsylvania has had a rotating schedule of opponents. In the first contest, Pennsylvania defeated a team made up of the best players from around the country. Maryland has been Pennsylvania's foe since 2013.

Mars football coach Scott Heinauer, who is a member of the PSFCA, was disappointed to see all of the athletes lose their chance to compete.

"I hate to see any all-star game get canceled in any sport any athletes because that is something that is an honor to be selected to this type of a game," Heinauer said. "Especially the Big 33 game in football. It's an honor to get to play with all of the best players in Pa. that see you see play all year long or read about in the newspaper."

Holding the game, which pits the top prep football players in the state against the best from Maryland, has been a difficult task in recent years. The PSFCA previously saved the contest after the Big 33 Foundation went belly up, citing unsustainable debt in January 2017.

What state coaches were hoping to preserve was a unique streak started by Herb Adderley on Jan. 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

By suiting up at defensive back for the Green Bay Packers in the AFL-NFL World Championship game (retroactively known as Super Bowl I), the graduate of Philadelphia's Northeast High School became the Big 33's first participant to suit up on the game's biggest stage.

There has been at least once participant from the game in every Super Bowl since. What has made things difficult to maintain such consistency is how the high school sports landscape has changed.

Competition from other all-star games has also made things more difficult to bring in top players. Mars senior defensive lineman and Notre Dame recruit Michael Carmody skipped this game to participate in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, and the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii.

The Planets have had five players participate in the Big 33 in the school's history. Heinauer, who believes PSFCA president Garry Cathell does a nice job putting together the game, would like to see the game return to a matchup of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Pennsylvania played Ohio from 1972-76 and 1993-2012 and before starting settling on its current setup with Maryland.

"I do think this game has lost its luster simply because it's very difficult to compete on a national level with some of these games nowadays," Heinauer said. "Both (of Carmody's games) were on National TV and all the costs were paid for by the sponsors. I belong to the PSFCA and do support the Big 33 All-Star football game. ... I would like to see PA play Ohio again. I always liked the game more and though interest was generated when PA played Ohio."

The above video was posted to YouTube by Rock Athletics following SRU's victory over Indiana (Pa.) Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019 at Morrow Field House.

"I don't think we needed to beat IUP to know that."
-SRU guard Micah Till on the team's confidence The Rock is one of Division II's best teams.

By Josh Rizzo
Nothing about the Slippery Rock University basketball team’s victory over an Indiana (Pa.) University team ranked third nationally in Division II changed Micah Till’s perspective.

​The 6-foot-7 junior guard always had high aspirations for The Rock. Handing the Crimson Hawks their first loss during a 74-69 decision last Saturday at Morrow Field House further validated those feelings.

“Before the IUP game, I think the team was confident in itself,” said Till, who leads The Rock with averages of 21.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. “I think even before we beat IUP, we had confidence we were one of the best teams in the nation. I don’t think we needed to beat IUP to know that.”

SRU, which has won nine straight following a victory over Clarion Wednesday, has become one of the hottest teams in the nation following a tumultuous preseason. The Rock (11-5, 8-1) is sitting at first place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division.

Unlikely for a team that lost its first five games against Division II opponents and saw long-time coach Kevin Reynolds placed on administrative leave shortly before the season. SRU has declined comment on why Reynolds was placed on administrative leave due to it being a personnel matter. Reynolds filed a civil lawsuit against the school on Nov. 21, 2018.

During Reynolds' tenure, The Rock went from also-ran to contender. Reynolds ranks second on The Rock's all-time win list with 188 victories and made three trips to the NCAA Tournament. 

Reynolds' long-time assistant Ian Grady took over as acting head coach. Grady -- who previously served as head coach when Reynolds was suspended for a game in 2014 -- credits the people around him for settling in.

“I think the players on the team have helped me become more comfortable and ease the transition,” Grady said. “All the assistant coaches, trainers and graduate assistants have stepped up a level and made the transition easier.”

Till estimated they had three to five practices and one scrimmage to get things straightened out. Inevitably, this led to tough times for The Rock. SRU started the season 1-4 and didn’t collect its first win over a Division II opponent until its eighth game of the season, a 78-64 win over West Chester Dec. 8. 

“I think coach has done a good job, especially being put in a tough situation,” Till said. “(Coach Grady) got the coaching job after we hadn’t been to practice in a while and we didn’t have a lot of scrimmage time before our first game. The fact we could play those first couple games so close, we knew we could be good once we got the kinks figured out.”

While the early losses weren't ideal, they weren't as bad as Till thought they could be. SRU's first two losses were in one-possession contests to Notre Dame College (77-75) and Fairmont State University (82-79) at the Joe Retton Classic.

The experience was a big help for Grady.

“From early in the season, I have been going back and re-watching the games and going through hypotheticals, what I could have done here or there,” Grady said.

Those issues seem to have been resolved. SRU is shooting 45.6 percent from the field and has a trio of strong scorers. In addition to Till, Jared Armstrong has averaged 16.3 points per game off the bench, while John Warren II has scored 11.3 points per game.
​
“I think we’re playing well as a team,” Grady said. “We’re sharing the ball, moving the ball and playing well out there. Getting some hustle plays and it’s been a fun group to coach. It could be anybody's day. There’s a commitment to detail, putting scouting reports into the game. We’re doing a great job of that, putting time in practice and film.”

SRU will need to continue to do so to challenge for its fourth bid in the NCAA Tournament since the 2010-11 season. The losses at the beginning of the season eliminated some margin for error.

What Till believes this group has proven throughout this season is their ability to stay together. What happened against IUP is an indicator of that, even if it didn’t prove anything else to Till.

“We stay together as a team, that’s the main thing,” Till said. “We knew they were going to make a run and how good of a team we are. As long as we kept playing hard as a team and on defense, we just had to make sure we didn’t fall apart mentally and internally.”

Author's note: I am a 2010 graduate of Slippery Rock University and a current MBA candidate at the university. This story and others planned for this series highlighting interesting sports stories in Western Pennsylvania are part of a  master's project. To submit other story ideas or for other information, please contact me at [email protected].

The trouble with Division II football is who will be selected for the NCAA playoffs is not an exact science.

Slippery Rock, which was routed 33-10 by No. 9 West Chester Saturday in the PSAC Championship game, had dim hopes heading into the selection show today. So, naturally, The Rock grabbed the No. 7 seed and will travel to play second-seeded LIU Post on the road next Saturday.

Notre Dame (Ohio) was selected as the region's top team. The other matchups will feature No. 4 Kutztown vs. No. 5 Hillsdale and No. 3 West Chester vs. No. 6 New Haven.

Funny how the PIAA Class 1A football tournament played out an entire bracket to have two schools meet which are only separated by 35 miles.

In the history of Pennsylvania state championships, which in its current form features six classes but had four from 1988 to 2015, only four times have schools met that were less than 100 miles apart (see below). 

Based on reputation, few are surprised Jeannette, which last won the Class AA title in 2007 and was runner-up in 2006, made it this far. 

Homer-Center's trip wasn't just a first for the school, but for the entire county as Carly Krouse reports. It should be a fun matchup at Hershey Park at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Without much ado, here are picks for the winners:

6A: St. Joseph Prep over Pine-Richland
5A: Archbishop Wood over Gateway
4A: Cathedral Prep over Imhotep Charter
3A: Quaker Valley over Middletown
2A: Southern Columbia over Wilmington
1A: Jeannette over Homer-Center

North Allegheny girls basketball team says it is still figuring out its identity. The media selected the defending WPIAL Class 6A champions and WPIAL runner-up as the top team in the state.

http://triblive.com/sports/hssports/basketball/13004740-85/north-allegheny-girls-set-to-begin-wpial-title-defense

Shaler wrestling is working hard to claim the section crown. The Titans return five wrestlers who won 30 matches or more last season.

http://triblive.com/sports/hssports/wrestling/13004799-85/shaler-wrestling-keeps-chugging-eyes-section-title

Shaler hockey player Cam Wycich prefers to speak with his play on the ice.

http://triblive.com/sports/hssports/hockey/13004801-85/wycich-leads-shaler-hockey-during-hot-streak

Washington & Jefferson sophomore outside hitter Julia Bernesser battles chronic knee pain while playing volleyball for the Presidents.

The Shaler graduate has never had a major knee injury and struggled with the pain in college. Check out the full story on the Tribune Review's website.

Paige Gillespie is the second Shaler golfer to catch on with a first-year program in the past few seasons. She's still battling to crack the lineup at York College.