High School Football category
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: West Mifflin’s Armand Hill
Armand Hill enters the 2026 season at the head of a strong list of WPIAL running backs. The West Mifflin senior leads the crop of active rushers with 4,589 career yards, 250 more than Thomas Jefferson senior Tyler Eber (second, 4,232 yards). Hill also has rushed for 46 touchdowns over...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: McKeesport’s Kemon Spell
Running back Kemon Spell is more than one of the best football players in Pennsylvania. According to McKeesport athletic director Adam Shaffer, Spell is a tremendous leader and person. Despite the coaching turmoil at McKeesport in the past few months, Spell has taken charge of the team. “The summer has...
Late start to season creates camp scheduling challenges for high school football teams
High school football season begins a week later this year, which means some teams will have training camp and classes on the same days. Last year, Hempfield started school during Week Zero, the opening week for games in Pennsylvania. But Hempfield will be in the classroom Aug. 20 this year....
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Avonworth’s Jaden Jones
Avonworth is coming off a perfect season: 15 wins, zero losses and WPIAL and PIAA championships — the last team standing in Class 3A. Trophies are on display and rings are on fingers, but Jaden Jones wants more. A super sophomore who is ready for a curtain call as one...
Coach Mike Evans happy to be back on Canon-McMillan sidelines after battling cancer
Mike Evans had just left Canon-McMillan High School and was heading into a local Walmart on Friday afternoon when his phone buzzed with a message. Evans, the demonstrative Canon-McMillan football coach, was on the go — What else is new? — but he took time to return the message with...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Thomas Jefferson’s Tyler Eber
Thomas Jefferson won the 2024 WPIAL Class 4A championship and came up a step short last season, losing in the semifinals. Both years they were led by another in a long line of outstanding high school running backs in Tyler Eber. Eber led the WPIAL in rushing as a sophomore...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: McKeesport’s Javien Robinson
Memo to Javien Robinson: “You’re being watched.” The speedy wide receiver and South Carolina commit is reminded daily about the importance of watching his P’s and Q’s. Especially in the school district’s increasingly tense environment following a controversial coaching change in June. Through it all, Robinson, who joins five-star senior...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Chrys Black Jr.
Chrys Black Jr.’s 2025 football season was abbreviated because of an injury, but he came back just in time to help his team during a playoff run. Now in his junior year, the Central Catholic running back is hoping to make up for lost time as he looks to help...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Pine-Richland’s Elijah Hill
Elijah Hill doesn’t carry the weight of academic worry around with him. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Pine-Richland junior defensive back always knew what the expectation was when it came to the classroom. Hill’s dad always let his son know he expected strong performance with his studies. Being encouraged to have that...
2026 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Jon Sassic
Central Catholic’s Jon Sassic has been going through a couple of major changes in his football career. First, and most importantly for this season, the senior has been learning to play center. “That’s huge because I played guard, left guard, for two years in a row. This is a change...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Propel Braddock Hills’ Gabe Jenkins
Gabe Jenkins understands his role on both sides of the ball for the Propel Braddock Hills football team. The co-op between the school and Imani Christian again will do battle in Class 3A, and Jenkins, a four-star recruit who verbally committed to Colorado in May, knows what his part will...
Norwin football, soccer teams get ready for season on road
Norwin’s football and soccer teams are taking their show on the road this fall. With an ongoing construction project to giving Norwin Knights Stadium a $25 million facelift, the teams will have to play home games — and some practices — off campus. “It is what it is,” Knights football...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Montour’s Brandon Bennett
Sophomores normally do not fill leadership roles on a football team. Those duties usually go to upperclassmen, especially seniors. That was not the case at Montour in 2025. Quarterback Brandon Bennett, now a rising junior, stepped up and took control of the team. He did it with his play and...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Seton LaSalle’s Kia Jones Jr.
When he first took the field as a naive and curious 4-year-old — yes, he was 4, and yes, it was tackle football — Kia Jones Jr. knew football was for him. Getting knocked around and being uncomfortable didn’t scare him away; it intrigued him. “I was the youngest kid...
Ligonier Valley gets $1 million grant from state to upgrade football field
There are five Westmoreland County high school football teams that still play on natural grass fields. They are Ligonier Valley, Latrobe, Monessen, Derry and Greensburg Central Catholic. The number might be decreasing by one. Ligonier Valley could be the next local school with artificial turf as the school district is...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Clairton’s Brandon Murphy Jr.
There’s more to Brandon Murphy Jr. than just football. So much more. But hold that thought. For real, football stands out with Murphy, and the rising Clairton junior truly is a standout on the gridiron. His immense contributions as a hybrid quarterback/running back/mostly wide receiver on offense, strong safety on...
WPIAL rules Moon pair ineligible for football
The WPIAL has ruled on several eligibility cases after holding hearings Tuesday, deeming a pair of potential Moon football players ineligible. The board of directors ruled the transfers of Tyrone Claytor and Jance Henry were at least partially for athletic intent. Claytor transferred to Moon from South Allegheny. The 6-foot-3,...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Westinghouse’s DaeJour Pinckney
On DaeJour Pinckney’s social media pages, there are plenty of pictures and videos of him hard at work perfecting his craft. From position-specific drills to normal agility training, Pinckney wants the world to see he has put in the hard work and is on track to improve in his junior...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Pine-Richland’s Aaron ‘Oobi’ Strader Jr.
Aaron “Oobi” Strader Jr. expected the recruiting process to be a trying one. What made the Pine-Richland senior quarterback stand out to potential suitors wasn’t going to be measured by his height. Strader grew up in a competitive family, so he was always looking for ways to get an edge....
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Upper St. Clair’s Ryan Robbins
Ryan Robbins has won three championships at Upper St. Clair while playing his second favorite sport. Before he graduates and moves on to the next level, he has one more shot at being in the winner’s circle while raising gold in his favorite sport. Robbins has his college commitment behind...
Thomas Jefferson ready for new challenge in Class 5A football
The Thomas Jefferson football team will be playing on foreign soil in 2026. For the first time in school history, the Jaguars will compete in Class 5A following the WPIAL’s realignment process. “I knew it was going to happen since I saw the numbers at the beginning of the year,...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Roman Thompson
Central Catholic two-way player Roman Thompson is a natural talent. Along with excelling on the football field, the linebacker and running back was one of the top wrestlers in the state. Thompson placed third in the PIAA Class 3A tournament at 215 pounds and ended his sophomore season with a...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Kiski Area’s Nick Anderson
With 13 Division I offers under his belt and two more seasons as a leader in the trenches for the Kiski Area football team, Nick Anderson has a lot on his plate in the present and down the road. The junior offensive and defensive lineman, who has received scholarship offers...
Chartiers Valley’s Julius Best closes high school career with another piece of hardware
All during the 2025-26 football season, Chartiers Valley coach Steve Spence and wide receiver/defensive back Julius Best debated if Michael Jordan or LeBron James is the better basketball player. “It all started when coach named a play Kobe and I suggested we call it LeBron,” Best said. “Coach said, ‘Then...
2026 Trib 25 Preseason Football All-Star Team: Montour’s Archie Collins
Archie Collins does not have any star ratings yet. But that should be coming soon. What the Montour rising sophomore wide receiver does have is 17 NCAA Division I offers after an eye-opening freshman season. “I was trying to bring him along slowly,” Montour coach Lou Cerro said. “He balled...
