Feb 2, 2017 3 min read

A number of local scholastic hockey players competed in the PIHL all-star games that took place last Sunday at Alpha Ice Complex in Pittsburgh.

Canon-McMillan’s Jack Clendaniel scored a goal and Peters Township’s Wesley Kaylor stopped eight of nine shots he faced in goal for the Class AAA Black team, which played the Class AAA Gold team to a 2-2 tie.

Canon-McMillan’s Vinnie Lavorgna had an assist for the Gold, which also included the Big Macs’ Jake McClelland and Peters Township’s Matthew Michalowski and Will Barnes.

In the Class A game, South Fayette was represented by three players.

Defenseman Jake Stack played for the Gold team, which defeated the Black, 6-2.

Brandon Poage played for the Black team, while Kyle Sharp saw time in net, stopping 11 of 15 shots.

The area also was well represented in the Division 2 game.

Trinity’s John Popielarcheck had a solid game in goal for the Gold team, which dropped a 6-5 decision to the Black, stopping 10 of the 11 shots he faced.

He was joined on the Gold team by teammate Tyler Piatt and Ringgold’s Nathan Todd.

Ringgold’s Devin Brown and Trinity’s Jesse Kagle both played for the winning Black team.

With just a few weeks remaining in the PIHL season, some area players are performing well in the individual scoring races.

Clendaniel is fifth in scoring in Class AAA with 16 goals and 10 assists in 15 games. Lavorgna is ninth with 15 goals and nine assists in 15 games.

In Division 2, Trinity’s Nathan Hilzendeger is second in goal scoring with 30 in 13 games. He’s sixth in overall points with 41.

Jonathan Christopher of Carmichaels High School has signed a letter of intent to play football at Alderson Broaddus University.

Christopher, a quarterback and defensive back for the Mikes, will likely move to wide receiver for the Battlers.

Baldwin High School, which competes in the Allegheny Nine Conference in Class 5-A, accepted the resignation of head football coach Pete Wagner and immediately opened all of its assistant coaching positions.

Wagner has been at Baldwin since 2013. Baldwin went 2-8 in 2016.

More interesting was the vote the board then held.

According to reports, at the end of the district’s school board meeting at which Wagner’s resignation was accepted, a motion was made to eliminate the schools football program. Reasons for the motion included concerns over concussions and other injuries, the cost to operate the program, the band not wanting to play at games and low attendance.

The motion was defeated by a 5-1 vote.

McGuffey and Waynesburg high schools claimed the top two spots in Section 1 for the WPIAL Team Rifle Tournament, which will be held Tuesday at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club indoor range.

McGuffey defeated Waynesburg, 797-61X-794-57X, to move a match ahead of the Raiders for first place in the section.

Waynesburg clinched a spot in the WPIAL tournament Thursday night with a 798-53X-790-43X win over Washington.

Trinity also clinched a spot in the tournament in Section 2.