By Matthew DeGeorge The atmosphere within Executive Room 12 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center was convivial if deliberative Wednesday afternoon. The tenor of debates circulating through the PIAA Executive Board struck a start contrast to the rhetoric espoused outside the organization’s highest rungs. The board struck an optimistic tone as it… Read More

By Matthew DeGeorge The rough triangle of Pennsylvania highways connecting the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center with the State Capitol and Pittsburgh’s Hill District takes about four hours to cover. But such was the importance of the story that State Rep. Jake Wheatley Jr. wanted to tell Wednesday that he was willing to endure… Read More

    By Matt DeGeorge Dr. Robert Lombardi will from time to time talk with his hands, and in situations like Wednesday, the gesticulations proved extremely illustrative.In the hallway at the Penn Stater, the executive director of the PIAA used the airspace around him to map what had transpired in the last weeks and months with… Read More

   By Matt DeGeorge When John Sarandrea said yes a year ago, he didn’t know how much weight was behind the question. The WPIAL needed a new superintendent’s representative to its board, and Sarandrea, a former basketball coach now heading the New Castle Area School District, thought he was up to the task. Soon into… Read More

   By Matthew DeGeorge Scott Martin was a state championship wrestler at Lancaster Catholic. He was an instant standout on the football field at Millersville on the way to two All-American selections and an NFL training camp stint. But when he returned home from his freshman year of college, none of those accolades prevented him… Read More

  By Ed Palattella Superintendents, other officials to hold statewide meeting to discuss “the possible formation of a separate entity” to oversee high school sports in Pennsylvania. The call for separate playoffs for some high school sports in Pennsylvania has taken on another dimension — the possibility of replacing the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. Superintendents… Read More

By Matthew DeGeorge It was about an hour into a meeting in the bowels of the K. Leroy Irvis Building before the ill-fitting title of the committee meeting was broached. “I’ve yet to hear anyone advocate that,” said State Sen. Scott Martin, R-13 of Lancaster. The title of Monday’s meeting of the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight… Read More

By Matthew DeGeorge The PIAA is taking steps to address the competitive imbalance in district and state tournaments. The plan for evening the playing field, though, isn’t what the title of Monday’s hearing indicated. At the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee’s meeting on, “Public, Private Sports,” the idea of conducting separate championships was not brought to… Read More

By Matt Smith Originally, Jack Coary of Springfield wasn’t on the Hero Bowl Red Team roster. He had to lobby for himself to head coach Rich Gentile.“Coach Gentile then asked me, ‘Do you want to play in the Hero Bowl?’” Coary said. “I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. I said, ‘Absolutely I would… Read More

By Terry Toohey Penn Wood’s Rahiem Bowens is as known for his colorful accessories as he is for his considerable talent on the football field. The All-Delco defensive back likes to wear shoes and matching gloves that stand out in a crowd, and that won’t change in Thursday’s Hero Bowl at Cardinal O’Hara. “I’m going… Read More