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Mike White's high school sports chat: 11.11.25
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Mike White
10:57
For WPIAL football, is there a weekend better than this? Eight semifinal games Friday night. Semifinal games are tremendous. Then two championships Saturday.
10:58
Some pretty big news also came out last week with some notable changes in classes for football teams next year. And hoops just around the corner. So let's get talking.
Old Quad North
10:58
Jim Rankin, Jack McCurry, Jim Render, Don Yanessa, and George Novak are all playing Texas Hold em……who walks away the big winner?
Mike White
10:58
What?
demosthenes98
10:58
As far as you know, is the tush push legal in Pennsylvania high school football?
Mike White
10:59
Good question. I'm not real sure of answer. But I think it might be. You just can't pull someone. But to be honest, not totally sure. Maybe there is official out there who can answer on this chat. But I have seen guys run into back of teammate with ball, just to get him few more yards.
Mr Ed
11:00
Getting back to your player of the year question last week I think Luca Neal of Avonworth should be a finalist for it. I know he’s not a D1 player and his stats don’t standout, mainly because of blowout wins and other standout players on the team, but he’s a heckuva high school player. Impacts at receiver, running out of wildcat and returning interceptions for TDs.
Mike White
11:01
Luca really good. He doesn't have biggest stats because Avonworth doesn't feature him. They've always kind of been balanced on offense. But he's really good on both sides of ball. They did feature him more in one game this year and he ran for more than 200 yards. I don't know if he is a prime candidate for overall Player of the Year. But most certainly for 3A POY.
Dan
11:01
Simple question. Do the Quips have any chance against McKeesport?
Mike White
11:04
None. No chance. They shouldn't even show up. WPIAL should just drive the trophy over to McKeesport today and hand over the trophy. C'mon, man. Of course, they have a chance. While their offense isn't exactly a juggernaut, the defender has been pretty good lately. But they have played no one like KeMAN Spell. I think Aliquippa will have to score at least four TDs to win and I don't know if they can do that -- and hold down Spell.
SHills
11:04
Mike- If you were a betting man......will wpial go with 4 classes or 6 classes?
Mike White
11:04
Six
Ryan
11:04
who wins the pine Richland game on Friday go Pine Richland beat moon
Mike White
11:04
Pine. Nice season for Moon. But Pine-Richland just has too much.
40StripesRetired
11:04
Really good football season for the NC Red Hurricanes.  Losing 14 seniors, but plenty of talent returning.  Coach Fred Mozzoccio and his staff did an excellent job. On to hoops now as the Canes will make plenty of noise in 6A under coach Ralph Blundo.
Mike White
11:07
Great season for New Castle. First conference title since 2008. They do have some talent back - namely Kai Cox and Marino Graham. Should be pretty good again next year. And yes, hoops is starting up. Ralph Blundo can finally have some workouts. He hasn't had any fall because he didn't have any basketball players who didn't play football. I'd say New Castle ranked No. 1 heading into hoops season.
hooper
11:07
Are the 6A teams better than last year for basketball?  I saw a few fall games with SV, FC, NH and NA.  NH and SV looked better than the other two I've seen but none of them looked great.
Mike White
11:11
Looks like you saw all teams in North and none of those would be in top 5-6. My take on top 6A teams heading into season would be New Castle, Upper St. Clair, maybe Woodland Hills (if Scoop Smith doesn't go to college early), Mt. Lebanon, Butler. Other top fives could be Central, Pine. And who knows what Imani has. I think overall 6A will be pretty deep, as far as decent teams. I'm not saying any 6A team is going to win states. But lot of decent teams this year.
hooper
11:11
Speaking of fall games I watched NH play LP.  How did LP go from winning a few games to a fall league championship?  The portal is working for LP I suppose.
Mike White
11:12
Getting Pratt brothers from Aliquippa makes big difference. And a good freshman from Connellsville (it's a short drive from Connellsville to Lincoln Park, right?). Plus, I think they started four freshmen last year who obviously got better.
Down Beat
11:12
Who you got tonight in state soccer semis? Conrad Weiser or THE DICE!!
Mike White
11:14
Those Weiser kids are pretty wise. It's a gamble to go with Dice. But I think Conrad Weiser is named after legendary NFL offensive lineman Conrad Dobler in the 1970s, who was known to do some not-so-great things on the field. So I'll go with Conrad.
TJ fAN
11:14
congrats to Cherp for being NO. 1 WPIAL coach since 2000. It is more than wins & losses. Earlier this season with TJ up substantially over CV, TJ intercepted a pass with 3 minutes left and had the ball at the CV 25,  Cherp took 4 knees and gave the ball back to CV with 1 minute left.  Coach Lyons also took knees to end the game.  What a teaching moment, game was over, no one got injured, a wonderful display of sportsmanship by 2 great coaches. IT IS MORE THAN WINS AND LOSSES.
Mike White
11:15
Not surprised at that at all. Bill Cherpak has things in perspective. Mark Lyons good guy, too. Hopefully both stick around for few more years, too, which I think will happen. Few more years definitely for Cherp. Maybe three.
hooper
11:19
I look at schools like Imani and Central who already play 6A and recruit rather well.  Since they cannot get bumped up a classification for having transfers and success points why is there no separate penalty for teams in 6A who would otherwise qualify for getting bumped up?  Maybe they should automatically have to play a pig tail game if they make the playoffs, get the lowest seed, or automatically lose all playoff tiebreakers.  Thoughts?
Mike White
11:22
Do you have proof that Central is recruiting? Central would not have enough success points to get bumped anywhere. Imani has no success points after last year. So they wouldn't get bumped anywhere, either. I'm not saying system is right for 6A teams. You're right, nothing can happen to them if they have bunch of transfers and success points. One of the flaws in system. It's been said for years. Could solve a lot of these complaints by separating public and private/parochial/charter schools. But it's not going to happen.
40StripesRetired
11:23
Shameless plug here, Mike.  We hosted Jerry Micco on our podcast last week.  He is a fabulous guest - very professional and shared some great stories about his career and experiences.  This week, we are hosting four retired basketball coaches - John Sarandrea, Mark Jula, George Abraham and Nick Canone.  "The Glorious Tradition Podcast" airs Wednesday evenings at 6:00 pm on Facebook Live.  Mike, we'd love to have you join us at some point.
Mike White
11:23
And who are you?
Mr Ed
11:25
I don’t see teams from the east or central PA but could this potentially be a very successful year at states for WPIAL? Look strong in 1A, 3A, 5A, and Central didn’t get blown out against LaSalle and if KeMAN stays healthy who knows?
Mike White
11:27
Well let me tell you. LaSalle is really good in 6A and Harrisburg is really good. Won't be easy for WPIAL. Roman Catholic is really, really good in 5A. But I think 5A has a shot. Either Quips or McKeesport in 4A. I wouldn't say either is favorite. But if it's McKeesport, would be tough to bet against Spell. I think 3A has excellent chance to win it all. 2A not so much, although Seton has come on. 1A has good chance. But let's be honest. Eastern Pa. football is as good as West, if not better. The most championships from WPIAL, I'd say, would be three.
40StripesRetired
11:27
John Yerage - New Castle
Mike White
11:28
Oh Ok. Wow. You've got all those old coaches together. Good.
Change it
11:28
Now that a committee is choosing football playoff teams, WPIAL should stop scheduling non-league games. A couple of teams might've gotten a seeding boost by beating a team from a higher classification. A couple might have been overlooked because of a less challenging schedule. It would also allow lesser programs to play suitable competition of their choice.
Mike White
11:30
Let's be clear. WPIAL is not selecting all playoff teams. Just the wild cards. However, I do agree with you that some teams might have been thought of hihger by the committee because they played a tough schedule, even though they might not have won those "tough" games. I'll be honest. I think it should be considered to go to a full computer system, like Ohio does, where teams know where they stand week by week. On the other hand, look at NCAA hoops tournmanet. Opinions come into those selections. So you can look at it both ways.
TM
11:30
What game you going to this Friday? What is your prediction for the USC and PT game?
Mike White
11:31
I'm going to Avonworth and North Catholic. And I'll take Peters Township.
Down Beat
11:31
Which teaam do you see as an absolute lock to win a title next wek at Acrisure?
Mike White
11:32
I have no locks.
Transfer U
11:32
At what point do schools like Montour and Sewickley Academy get investigated for bringing all of these international players in? SA has 6 international kids (all above 6’5), but not even the slightest peep from the WPIAL, we don’t even hear about it… but little Johnny transfers from Connelsville to Geibel Catholic and he gets ruled ineligible. Make it make sense!
Mike White
11:34
Don't even compare Montour with Sewickley. What's going on at Sewickley is, let's just say, really unbelievable. I'll be honest. Even some Sewickley players are unhappy with what's gone on. But school is allowing it and I don't know if WPIAL has done anything. I know they haven't had a hearing with Sewickley or anything like that. Do you know if Sewickley has more new players this year?????
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