Penn Hills will be losing one of its top players for next season. Carter Bonner announced on X Wednesday afternoon that he will play next season at powerhouse Saint Frances (Md.) Academy for his senior season. Bonner was limited to four games last season due to an injury.

The Indians struggled to a 3-7 record last season and finished 2-3 in the Northeast Conference. Penn Hills missed out on the playoffs when Plum returned a kick the Indians blocked for a touchdown in the final week of the season. Bonner played his freshman season at Shady Side Academy.

Bonner moved to Penn Hills during his sophomore season.

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.

PENN HILLS - The progress McKeesport wrestling coach Adam Alfer is chasing isn't anything complicated. With a lineup full of inexperienced wrestlers, Alfer wants to see the Tigers learn from their mistakes.

McKeesport picked up its first dual meet win of the season when it beat Penn Hills, 48-24, Monday night on the road. The Tigers (1-10) received seven forfeits. Tigers freshman Jamal Hafiz picked up McKeesport's lone win on the mat when he pinned Jayden Fuqua at 121 pounds.

"We're just trying to build some confidence in all the moves that they're working on in practice and the repetition their taking," Alfer said. "We want the kids to understand the way the moves work when you hit them out here, not just in the wrestling room, we want the kids to advance into some of the moves they've been working on. Hopefully, it carries into the postseason. We're a young team and hopefully the program continues to grow the sport."

Hafiz improved to 6-8 on the season with five of his wins coming via fall. With the win over Fuqua, Hafiz snapped a two-match slide and won after not wrestling for 10 days.

"He's had an up-an-down season," Alfer said. "He understood coming in that he's been building confidence over the past couple matches and has been working hard in the mat room. He finally put it together against a good kid from Penn Hills."

Penn Hills (0-4) has struggled to keep its numbers up with injuries and eligibility issues. The Indians won four of the five contested matches against McKeesport.

Penn Hills senior Daemon Phipps, who improved to 21-5 with a pinfall win over Isaiah Johnson at 121 pounds, improved to 85-36 in his career on the Indians' Senior Night. Indians coach Jeremy Packer said his team has done the most with what they have available.

The most competitive bout of the night was the 133-pound match between Xavier Nicholas and Evan Morgan. Morgan picked up the first takedown before Nicholas rallied to score a pin. Tony Gay-Scott (172 pounds) and Zakariyaa Lahujjiddin (285) also won for the Indians, winning by pin and injury default, respectively.

"It would be nice if we had a deeper lineup and then we could be a senior-led team and then they could be leading us to wins," Packer said. "It is what it is this year. We're just kind of learning and growing in every match and trying to get better."

McKeesport 48, Penn Hills 24
107: No match
114: Brady Helfrich (M) win by forfeit
121: Jamal Hafiz (M) pin Jayden Fuqua
127: Daemon Phipps (P) p. Isaiah Johnson
133: Xavier Nicholas (P) p. Evan Morgan
139: Jayden Cotton (M) wbf
145: Tyler Faulk (M) wbf
152: Tory Anderson-Pearson (M) wbf
172: Tony Gay-Scott (P) p. Evan Leone
189: Naragana Roka (M) wbf
215: Mahiya Brown (M) wbf
285: Zakariyaa Lahujjiddin (P) injury default Alex Winowitch

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.

PENN HILLS - Milani Oliver shot down the idea that scoring 1,000 points was a lifelong goal. The Penn Hills senior was pushed in that direction once she demonstrated she had the ability to reach for the stars. 

"As a freshman, it actually wasn't the goal," Oliver said. "But when I was like a sophomore and junior, (coach) Robert (Cash) was telling me to step it up and I could get it if I work hard enough to do it. He was pushing me the whole time I got it."

Oliver hit that mark early during a 48-12 Section 1-5A contest with Gateway Tuesday night at home. Oliver, who finished with 11 points to push her career total to 1,007 points, was happy to part of the lineage of Penn Hills athletes to reach the mark. Hannah Pugliese, who now plays at Slippery Rock University, was the last Indians' player to reach 1,000 points in 2014.

Before that, Penn Hills assistant coach Desiree Oliver was the last player in the program to take her scoring total that high.

"It feels great," Milani said. "It actually feels great being apart of that."

Putting aside her personal accomplishment, Milani knew that the Indians to pick up an emphatic win against Gateway. Penn Hills has lost five consecutive games entering the matchup and the Gators have wallowed at the bottom of the section all season.

"I feel like this win right here, it sets up for some of the goals we set before the season started," Milani said. "I feel like this sets us up to be good. I think our biggest competition is going to be Fox Chapel and Plum. Winning this game gave us our confidence back."

Milani said this Penn Hills has a strong support system in place alongside her. She is hoping to try and lead the Indians back to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs during her senior season. She isn't sure what will be next for her after high school.

"For college, it's still undecided," Milani said. "I was getting a lot of emails and getting a lot of looks, but I don't know yet."

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

The opener at The Challenge at Allderdice required overtime to find a winner. Penn Hills did just enough in overtime to pull out a 58-57 win over the defending PIAA and WPIAL Class 1A champions.

I wrote a story for SBLive, which the link will be posted here. The Bulldogs were without a few key players, but showed plenty of fight.

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

Penn Hills' Milani Oliver is inching closer to the 1,000-point plateau for her career. Oliver scored six points against McKeesport Friday night during a 48-32 loss. She now has 996 points in her career.

Oliver would be the third Penn Hills player since 2016 to hit 1,000 points. Hannah Pugliese, who now plays at Slippery Rock University, hit the mark in 2024. Desiree Oliver, who has served as an assistant coach for the Indians, also topped 1,000 points back in 2016. Desiree went on to play for UMass.

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

PLUM - Chris Giles' biggest supporters were sound asleep when he made his cameo appearance on Sunday Night Football But the Penn Hills boys basketball coach found plenty of people were able to see him coach during the broadcast of the Steelers and Ravens game last Sunday.

The Sunday Night Football crew had stopped by to shoot footage of the Central Catholic-Penn Hills game on Jan. 2 at Penn Hills High School. 

"It was great," Giles said. "I wish my kids would've seen it, but they were in bed. It was great, my mom was able to see it and so were some relatives and family members. The best part about it is that when I went to work and some of my students said 'Mr. Giles, I saw you on TV.' So that's exciting."

The Vikings won the non-conference game 42-31. Typically Sunday Night Football will go to a high school game every week, but since the PIAA football season was over, they made the trip to Penn Hills again.

The Indians, who beat Plum 67-39 Tuesday night on the road, have won six of their past seven games. Penn Hills is 6-5 overall and 4-1 in Section 1-5A play.

"Kudos to those guys for coming out and supporting," Giles said. "Central's a really good team and it was two really good historical programs in basketball and football competing."

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 Plum girls basketball team earned an important win at home on Monday. Read my story about it in the Tribune Review and Valley News Dispatch.

The Mustangs were able to gain an important win to try and emerge from the pack in Section 1-5A.

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 Plum Mustangs aren't guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. But the Mustangs made a good case for their inclusion following their first win over Penn Hills since 2014. 

Mustangs kicker Austin Kolankowski recovered his own kick after Penn Hills blocked his 24-yard attempt in the waning seconds. Plum, which suffered a four-game losing streak in the middle of its schedule, bounced back with an impressive 20-14 win over the Indians. The Indians (3-7, 2-3) have had a difficult system weighted down by injuries and inconsistency.

Watch the entire broadcast on the Penn Hills Football Network's YouTube page.

Strangely, this is the second time in the past five years Penn Hills has lost on a kick they blocked at the end of a game. The Indians lost in similar fashion to Central Catholic in 2022.

North Hills took a devastating loss to Shaler last week that seemed to have the Indians on the outside looking in on the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. But North Hills didn't pack up its tents and head home.

Instead the Indians were able to trip up Penn Hills 17-6 to set up a chaotic final week for the Northeast Conference. The top three teams in the conference automatically qualify for the WPIAL playoffs, while any other playoff hopefuls would need to secure a wild card.

Pine-Richland (8-1, 4-0) has already qualified for the playoffs. The Rams, theoretically, could not win the conference title outright if it lost to the Titans next week, but that is highly unlikely. Shaler (3-6, 3-1) did its job by beating Fox Chapel 35-14 Friday night, but could risk falling into a three-way tie for third should Penn Hills (3-6, 2-2) beat Plum.

The Wild Card picture is murky for all of these teams, as the Northeast Conference is weaker than the other two 5A Conferences, the Allegheny Six and Big East. All of the teams will be eager to grab the third-place spot and avoid the Wild Card.

Trinity clinches first conference title since 1986
The Hillers built a 34-0 lead by halftime en route to a 48-0 win over Laurel Highlands. Trinity (5-4, 4-0) has flexed its muscles in Big Six Conference play. Owen Gardner opened up the scoring with a 49-yard touchdown run.

Jonah Williamson then threw two touchdown passes to stretch the lead to 21-0.

Moon trips up Upper St. Clair
The Panthers weren't able to maintain their spot in second place in the Allegheny Six Conference, losing 20-13 to Moon in double overtime. Andrew Cross gave the Tigers a lead by scoring on a 2-yard run in overtime.

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