High school notebook: Peters Township tennis starts fast despite misfortunes

Juggling wasn’t listed in the job description for Peters Township High School boys tennis coach Brandt Bowman.
However, he has been forced to do plenty of it with his lineup at the start of this season.
After not having No. 2 singles player Ethan Muza, who is playing at an academy in Florida, Bowman still expected to be competitive with Fox Chapel, the other tennis powerhouse in the WPIAL. But when former WPIAL champion Connor Bruce, a Dayton recruit, broke his ankle at the Peters Township Recreation Center in what Bowman called a “freak accident,” those expectations might have taken a hit.
“Oh, crap,” Bowman remembered thinking. “When he got hurt I wasn’t sure. Everybody had to move up and we had to reconfigure the lineup.”
The juggling of the group has been nothing short of perfection thus far.
With a 5-0 win over Bethel Park Monday afternoon, Peters Township (4-0, 7-0) is undefeated in Class 3A Section 4 and hasn’t lost a match all season.
“Connor got hurt after our first match, basically the second week of the season,” Bowman said. “He stepped off a curb and it was a pretty clean break but didn’t need surgery. It was days before a match against Mt. Lebanon.”
Bowman moved sophomore Elian Ascencio up to No. 1 singles, placed junior Ryan Salus and freshman Matt Veydt in the remaining singles spots and bumped Ethan Farmer to the first doubles group.
The reworked Indians defeated a pair of rivals, first Mt. Lebanon and then Upper St. Clair, with their newly configured lineup. They have since gone on to dominating wins over Moon and Bethel Park to stay undefeated.
“The guys came out and played well,” Bowman said. “Those two wins just gave us confidence. They were saying, ‘Hey, we can do this.'”
Bruce just exchanged a walking boot for a brace with the hopes of returning in three weeks for the section doubles championships and team playoffs. After winning the WPIAL Class 3A individual title as a freshman, he finished as the runner-up last season to Fox Chapel’s Robby Shymansky. Bruce would have to compete in the section singles tournament, which is scheduled for April 8-9, to qualify for WPIAL singles. It could have set up the third consecutive meeting between him and Shymansky in the finals.
Peters Township will put its undefeated record on the line three times this week with matches against Allderdice, North Allegheny and Erie Cathedral Prep.
Friday night lights
For a fifth consecutive year, Channel 22 The Point (WPNT) will air live high school football games for the 2019 season.
Peters Township is the lone local team scheduled to play in one of the nine games selected, there is one game selected each week starting in Week 1.
The Indians’ non-conference game at home against North Hills Sept 20 will be televised. Opening kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Here is the rest of the schedule:
- Aug. 30: Pine-Richland at Hempfield
- Sept. 6: Baldwin at Upper St. Clair
- ept. 13: Seneca Valley at Mt. Lebanon
- ept. 27: North Allegheny at Seneca Valley
- Oct. 4: Central Catholic at Norwin
- Oct. 11: New Castle at Knoch
- Oct. 18: Aliquippa at Keystone Oaks
- Oct. 25: North Allegheny at Pine-Richland
A pair of local teams will be featured in a statewide televised game on PCN-TV.
The local rivalry that was reignited last season between Washington and McGuffey will be shown live this upcoming season. The game, which will be played at McGuffey, is scheduled for 7 p.m., Oct. 25.
In recruiting
After finishing her freshman season with several clutch playoff performances, Peters Township’s CeCe Scott orally committed to Michigan State.
Scott, who was one of several underclassmen to step up following an injury to standout Regan LaVigna, scored the game-winning goal against McDowell in the first round of the PIAA playoffs. She also scored in a win over Cumberland Valley in the second round of states.
- South Fayette senior infielder Christian Gabriel signed to play at Indiana University. As a junior, Gabriel batted .286 with 16 RBI and scored 14 runs.
Through five games this season, he has six hits, including a pair of doubles a triple and two RBI.
- Carmichaels senior golfer Ethan Greene will play at Penn State Fayette. Greene was a part of the Mikes’ team that qualified for the program’s first appearance in the WPIAL Class AA finals.
- One day after Peters Township girls basketball player Journey Thompson scored 16 points to help the Indians win the PIAA Class 6A championship,
- she received an offer from Pitt and also Kent State.
Thompson averaged 12.8 points and 7.7 rebounds as a freshman.
- Offers continue to roll in for Peters Township wide receiver Josh Casilli. The soon-to-be senior added five in March from Lehigh, Massachusetts, William & Mary, Youngstown State and Air Force.