The Pittsburgh Passion will be heading to the Pro Football Hall of Fame next weekend. The Passion, who are the sixth oldest franchise in the Women's Football Alliance, will be attempting to win their first-ever WFA crown. Pittsburgh last played in the final of the Independent Women's Football League in 2015.

The Passion (7-1) will play the Minnesota Vixen at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Pittsburgh has won three championships during its history, including back-to-back IWFL championships in 2014-15. The Passion also won the National Women's Football Association in 2008.

The Passion have won the National Conference in each of the past three seasons. However, Pittsburgh fell one step short of reaching the championship game, losing in the National Conference final in 2022, 2024 and 2025. The Passion bested their old rivals, the DC Divas, to reach the WFA final.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

Jaquan Brisker announced he will be holding a fourth annual youth football camp July 18 at Gateway High School. Brisker, a Gateway graduate, signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract to join the Steelers this season after spending his first four seasons with the Chicago Bears.

While in Chicago, Brisker started all 52 games that he appeared in. Brisker intercepted four passes and recorded seven sacks during his time with the Bears. Brisker took the junior college path to the NFL.

He started his collegiate career with Lackawanna College and transferred to Penn State after his freshman season. He was named a second-team all-American while playing for the Nittany Lions in 2021. Brisker would end up being drafted in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Bears.

James Armstrong chose to get his college commitment out of the way early. The Hopewell junior chose to announce his commitment to play at Penn State. Armstrong passed for 2,217 yards and 21 touchdowns last season. He also piled up 739 yards on the ground and scored 17 times.

​Hopewell finished 6-4 and returned to the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Daemar Kelly is on the move again.

The former Penn Hills standout will be coming back to Pennsylvania to play at Mercyhurst. The Lakers compete in the Division I Northeast Conference after a long stint as members of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Kelly played last season at Northern Illinois University.

Kelly made 15 starts for the Huskies, contributing 5.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Kelly was a 1,000-point scorer for the Indians and committed to Quinnipiac after high school. He chose to transfer after his freshman season.

Kelly moved on to Saint Francis (Pa.) and helped the Red Flash make a surprising run to the NCAA Tournament. His time with the Red Flash to be the most fruitful in his career thus far. Kelly started all 34 games he appeared in, averaging 8.1 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

Josh Rizzo is editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

The accolades for Shaler graduate Bria Bosiljevac have continued to pile up as he career wound down. Bosiljevac was recently named the Pennsylvania Softball Player of the Year by MaxPreps.

Bosiljevac led Shaler to the WPIAL and PIAA titles by compiling a 19-0 record with a .5 ERA and 243 strikeouts. During Bosiljevac's career, she led the Titans to two WPIAL championships and twice reached the state title game. Shaler beat up Abington Heights 10-0 in the PIAA final this seaoson.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

The beauty of mixed martial arts is athletes are afforded the ability to take losses as they figure things out in their careers. PFL middleweight Dalton Rosta hopes his last two performances will be minor roadblocks in his career. But make no mistake, the Laurel High School graduate will feel the pressure August 7 in Charlotte.

Rosta, who is 11-3, has suffered consecutive knockout losses for the first time in his career. He will attempt to turn things around against UFC veteran Bryan Battle in a middleweight main event. Defeats can't be more emotional than Rosta's last loss.

In front of a sold-out crowd at the UPMC Events Center at the PFL Pittsburgh card, Rosta chose to go for the knockout against former PFL tournament champion Impa Kasanganay. Kasanganay ended up getting the better of the exchange and scored a KO win 3 minutes, 18 seconds into the first round.

Battle, a former UFC fighter who is 12-3 in his career, made his debut in the organization that night, but he lost by submission to another former champion, Johnny Eblen. 

The annual summer battle over athletes transferring schools has commenced. According to an article by Don Rebel of TribLive, a number of athletes were ruled ineligible for next school year. This has drawn the ire of many in the Western Pennsylvania school committee.

Charlie Batch, a former Steel Valley standout who later played in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers, posted on X Wednesday night asking if there is any way he could serve on a board with the WPIAL. He has posted on social media this week that he feels the rules in place are unfair to students.

The transfer rules aren't 100 percent up to the WPIAL. The PIAA has a set of rules that set guidelines in order to try and level the playing field. There have been plenty of accusations in the past that not every district enforces the rules the same way.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be sent to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

McKeesport Superintendent Donald L. MacFann released a statement Saturday that the school board did not terminate any football coaches. A KDKA article published on Friday indicated the coaching staff had been let go. 

"The District is aware of rumors circulating throughout the community indicating that the McKeesport Area School District Board has terminated all football coaches during its regular meeting held on Wednesday, June 10, 2026," MacFann wrote. "This correspondence is being shared to provide accurate information and clarify the actions taken by the Board."

KDKA reported that the entire staff was let go the day following the board meeting. During that meeting, McKeesport School Director Matthew Holtzman called for the resignation of the coaching staff. Holtzman's statement came after an interview given by former McKeesport football standout Brandon Short after the sentencing of Isaac Smith, who killed his daughter, Karli, and her unborn child in 2021.

Short gave a statement to assembled media following sentencing that two members of McKeesport's coaching staff testified as character witnesses for Smith.

"Due to what has recently transpired, and the profound loss of trust that has followed, I am calling for the resignation of the entire coaching staff," Holtzman wrote. "Leadership positions within our athletic programs require sound judgment, integrity and an unwavering commitment to the values we expect out students to embody. As I started in December, I believed changes were needed within our athletic department. Recent events have only reinforced that belief."

MacFann asked for patience from the community as the district works through the process.

"At the June 10 Board Meeting, the School Board did not terminate any football coaches. Rather, the Board voted to table the hiring of football coaches due to personnel-related matters," MacFann wrote. "As these matters involve personnel considerations, the District is unable to disclose additional details. While the hiring of football coaches has been tabled, all football-related activities will continue through the summer as scheduled. The District will make the necessary internal arrangements to ensure that football activities proceed in a normal manner and that student athletes continue to have access to the opportunities and support they expect."

The pressure for McKeesport to act will be immense.  Another former McKeesport standout, Khaleke Hudson, went to a school board meeting after last season and asked to be considered as head coach.

McKeesport lost to Aliquippa, 21-12, in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game last season. The Tigers are expected to have another strong team this upcoming season, led by Georgia commit Kemon Spell, the No. 1 running back in his class, and South Carolina commit Javien Robinson, a standout receiver.

After the Tigers lost to the Quips last fall, the community was upset at the coaching staff following the game. McKeesport hasn't won the WPIAL since 2005 and has lost four times in the district title game since Matt Miller took over in 2016.

"McKeesport has too much talent, too much heart and too much history to be settling for good enough," Hudson said in a speech at the board meeting. "That's not me pointing fingers. That's me saying the truth we all know."

​
​McKeesport figures to be the favorite to break the program's 21-year spell without a title. The Tigers, who stayed in Class 4A for this two-year enrollment cycle, saw two of their biggest rivals, Thomas Jefferson and Aliquippa, get reclassified in Class 5A and 3A, respectively.

"We're losing more than games," Hudson said. "Something I've been seeing in recent years. We're losing games we should be winning. Championships that slip out of our hands, opportunities that should have belonged to our kids. The losses that hurt me the most aren't on the scoreboard. It's the kids who fall through academic cracks, the kids who never get developed, it's the athletes who could be playing D1, but end up unnoticed. It's the players who switch schools because they feel stuck, the one who don't feel don't feel seen, don't feel taught and don't feel prepared."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

The number of college programs support women's wrestling will continue to increase. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference announced via a news release on Friday that it would add the sport as its 24th championship sport starting in the 2026-2027 academic season. There are currently five PSAC schools -- East Stroudburg, Edinboro, Gannon, Lock Haven and Pitt-Johnstown -- that field women's teams.

To help field a schedule, the PSAC chose to admit two other schools D'Youville (N.Y.) and Felican (N.J.) as associate members. The teams will have a round-robin dual meet schedule and the team with the best record will be crowned champions.

“Pennsylvania and wrestling are synonymous together, so adding women's wrestling to our championships menu makes perfect sense,” said Steve Murray, PSAC Commissioner in a news release. “There are 271 high school women's wrestling programs in PA and the number is growing fast at the collegiate ranks as well. Our five members sponsoring women's wrestling will be bolstered by the additions of Felician, D’Youville, and eventually Lackawanna College when they join the PSAC full-time in the near future. We will have a solid foundation as a Division II-only women's wrestling conference. It's a great addition for us.”

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

The Pittsburgh Hardball Academy announced today that one of their players, West Mifflin student Eli Kurta, was chosen to attend the MLB Breakthrough Series in Vero Beach, Fla.

​The MLB Breakthrough Series has produced a long list of notable alumni who have gone on to play professionally.