Dalton Rosta wanted a knockout, but the Laurel High School graduate instead had to sweat out the scorecards. Rosta avenged his only professional loss by picking up a split-decision win over Aaron Jeffrey 29-28, 27-30, 29-28 Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Rosta, a Laurel graduate, will have to take on Fabian Edwards in the 2025 PFL middleweight final in August. Edwards (15-4) is the brother of former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards. Edwards challenged for the Bellator middleweight championship twice but lost both times to Johnny Eblen.

Rosta improved to 10-1 in his career by beating Jeffrey, who didn't make life easy on Rosta. Jeffrey was constantly on the forward pressure, forcing Rosta to battle in the clinch. Rosta was much more prepared for the clinch battle than during their first fight in 2023.

"I thought I was going to win 29-28," Rosta said in the post-fight interview with Dan Hardy. "I don't know what round they were going to give him. I know the last two rounds were close. I know I for sure won the first one, but the last two rounds were iffy."

Jeffrey out landed Rosta 112-88 and consistently applied pressure throughout the fight. However, two judges felt Rosta was more effective with his striking.

"Whenever I heard them say 30-27, I was like damn," Rosta said. "So, I didn't know what was going to happen. ... I thought I was going to go out there and get the knockout. I thought he was very hittable, but he definitely improved."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges.

The Penn Hills boys basketball team is seeing some good returns from players competing in the offseason. Hawthorn was recently chosen as the Edward A. Wovchko Award as the Most Valuable Player of the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Summer League. Hawthorn averaged 22 points per game to help Penn Hills finish in first place.

Hawthorn will be honored for his performance during the PBC High School Classic next January.

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

Maintaining a dominant program requires a strong foundation and a little bit of luck. Neshannock's foundation was built on an unshakeable core of seniors who didn't wish to feel the sting of losing. That class wrapped up their careers Thursday with a career record of 100-1 after they beat South Williamsport 8-3 to win the PIAA Class 2A crown.

The Lancers finished the year 26-0, going undefeated for the second straight season. Neshannock scored five runs in the fifth inning to pull away from South Williamsport.

 The North Allegheny boys volleyball team spent two years out off the top stage of PIAA volleyball. But the Tigers showed that their program is once again one everyone in the state needs to be worried about. In a battle between two teams that were ranked in the top five of Class 3A all season, North Allegheny knocked out District 3 runner-up Central York in five sets Tuesday night.

The Tigers won 26-24,16-25, 25-21, 21-25 and 15-12. Brendan Moore led North Allegheny with 17 kills, while Will Robertson had 15.

The Tigers, who won the WPIAL this season, last played in the state championship match in 2022. North Allegheny won its fourth state title in five years back in 2022 when it took out Central Dauphin in four sets.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges.

Gavin Kelly didn't have his best game at West Virginia during the NCAA Clemson Regional Sunday. However, Kelly, a Pittsburgh Central Catholic graduate, delivered with a key hit in the eighth inning to help West Virginia come-from-behind to beat Kentucky and advance to the Super Regionals.

Kelly, who was 0-for-4, stepped up to the plate and laced a single to shallow left-center field, cutting the Mountaineers' deficit to 12-10. West Virginia entered the eighth inning trailing 12-7. The Mountaineers plated six runs in the inning to steal the game.

West Virginia trailed for a majority of the game. Logan Sauve hit a solo home run in the first inning to put West Virginia (44-14) ahead. Kentucky surged out to a 6-1 lead by the top of the fourth inning. The Mountaineers rallied with six runs in the bottom of that inning to go back ahead 7-6 when Sauve grounded out to the pitcher.

This was the second consecutive year West Virginia won a regional crown.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges.