Dec 14, 2018 3 min read

It was early January and the new, fast-paced style coach Tim Murray brought to the Burgettstown High School boys basketball team was working, just as he had hoped.

More than two months later, after the Blue Devils solidified their first winning record since the 2009-10 season, they were preparing for what would be their first state playoff game in 11 years.

Murray knew throughout his entire first season that the level of competition was above what he coached against in West Virginia, so he made sure to scout and prepare for every game because “every place that we travel to, it will be the first time I’ve been there. I have to do my homework because I don’t have any preconceived notions or information.”

His second year at Burgettstown, because of WPIAL realignment, means a lot more homework for Murray because the Blue Devils are in one of the most difficult sections in any classification of the entire district.

Dropping down to Class 2A, Burgettstown will share Section 3 with defending WPIAL champion Sewickley Academy and runner-up Our Lady of Sacred Heart. It also has Shenango and South Side Beaver, each a playoff team last year, Mohawk, which is also moving down from Class 3A, and Laurel.

“It is definitely a bittersweet experience to drop from 3A to 2A and also be dealt the task of having two teams that made the state final four in our section,” Murray said. “All we can do is focus on our team and take it one game at a time.”

The only holdover in the Blue Devils’ section from Murray’s first season is South Side Beaver.

“Our guys have been working hard and have embraced our new identity,” Murray said. “We feel like we can be competitive every night and have our sights set on making another run at the playoffs.”

For some teams, like McGuffey, a change of scenery will help.

The past two seasons, the Highlanders were in a section with South Fayette, Belle Vernon, Uniontown, South Park and others in Class 4A. A promising start to last year’s season – McGuffey began 9-1 – ended with nine losses in 13 games and no postseason.

“It was a perfect storm,” said McGuffey coach Mike Fatigante. “All of our games were close and coming down to the last couple of possessions. Early on, we were on the right side. The second half, we were on the wrong end of them. You can’t control where your enrollment says you are supposed to play. Compared to those other schools, we were smaller. We did what we could to compete, but this year we feel like we are playing schools much closer in size.”

The Highlanders’ new section in Class 3A includes Washington, Charleroi, Beth-Center, Brownsville, Frazier and Southmoreland.

Moving down in classification was also beneficial because of the turnover McGuffey suffered from graduation. Four starters from last year’s team, including a trio of three-year starters, are gone. The top returners are C.J. Cole and Nate Witkowsky.

“We are excited for the new section,” said Fatigante, who began section play last night against Brownsville. “We are excited for the challenge. Early in this season we’ve struggled in the fourth quarter, and I attribute that to inexperience. We are focusing on learning from every little thing that we do. Hopefully we can compete this year.”