Some changes are in store for West Hills high school athletic teams come next winter – and for two of them, it will mean an even tougher grind.
The WPIAL released its sectional alignments for boys and girls basketball and swimming and boys wrestling, and several local schools will be changing classifications and finding new section homes as well for the next two academic years.
In boys basketball, three teams are changing classifications. Bishop Canevin and Sto-Rox both are dropping from Class 3A to Class 2A and will be playing in Section 2 along with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which played in Section 4 the past two years.
Propel Montour also will play in the same section.
No other West Hills schools will change classifications but Montour and Moon will see some new opponents in Class 5A Section 4. Blackhawk and Lincoln Park both will exit and New Castle and South Fayette will join Section 4.
New Castle is dropping down from Class 6A, where the Red Hurricanes reached the WPIAL championship game the past two seasons, losing to Upper St. Clair both times.
Both Montour coach Bill Minear and Moon coach Gino Palmosina acknowledged they’ll have their hands full with New Castle and coach Ralph Blundo joining the fold.
“It’s going to be the hardest section in the WPIAL, in my opinion,” Palmosina said Friday.
Palmosina said New Castle has one of the most talented player groups returning, and he characterized Blundo as “the greatest coach of all time in the WPIAL.” He also called South Fayette coach Dave Mislan the most underrated coach in the WPIAL and pointed to his team’s hard-nosed style.
“That’s not to mention West Allegheny and Mars, which are both young and will be better from last year, Montour, which brings back all their guard play, and Chartiers Valley has won back-to-back WPIAL championships.”
Minear said nearly every year he’s been at Montour, the WPIAL champ has come from the section that the Spartans have played in.
“Am I glad we’ll have a challenge every night during the season? Yes,” Minear said. “Ralph (Blundo) is a great coach, Chartiers Valley will be there, Gino (Palmosina) is there at Moon and Mislan at South Fayette – every game is going to be a dogfight.
“There are no gimme games. Whoever does get into the playoffs (from Section 4) will be battle tested and hopefully that helps.”
Although Montour hasn’t yet won a WPIAL title during Minear’s recent eight-year run, he said he’s proud of what the program has accomplished and is looking forward to another run next year. He might have some additional size, as he said 6-foot-9 Moses Ksenda, a native of the Congo, recently transferred into Montour and hopes to become eligible to play in 2026-27.
Minear has had plenty of success not only with his team’s on-court performances, but a number of his players have gone on to perform next level. Included on that list are Jaden Nelson, who earned a scholarship to Seton Hill; James Eubanks, who played at LaRoche; Vason Stevenson, a preferred walk-on who earned a scholarship at Pitt; Diaun Pinkett, who played four years at Chatham; and Ama Sow, who earned a full ride to University of Tennessee-Martin before transferring to Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
“Besides being very competitive, we’ve prepared our players very well,” Minear said. “We’ve made some strides in the eight years I’ve been there.”
In girls basketball, three West Hills girls basketball teams will change classifications. Carlynton moves up from Class 2A to Class 3A and will compete in Section 4. OLSH and Sto-Rox both will drop from Class 3A to Class 2A, with OLSH competing in Section 1 and Sto-Rox in Section 2.
Montour and Moon remain in Class 5A but will move from Section 3 to Section 4. Also changing sections will be Bishop Canevin, which goes from Class 1A Section 2 to Section 1. Propel Montour also will play in Section 1.
In boys and girls swimming, both Montour and Moon will compete in Class 3A Section 5 after being in separate sections the last two years.
In wrestling, some terminology has changed. The previous two years, Moon and Montour competed in Class 3A Section 1, but now they will compete in Class 3A Section 1 Group 1. Carlynton will move from Class 2A Section 6 to Section 1 Group 2.
WPIAL BASEBALL
Montour and Thomas Jefferson will square off at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the battle for third place in Class 5A. The game will be played at Ross Memorial Park on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College.
Regardless of the outcome, both teams already have qualified for the PIAA tournament, which gets under way Monday, June 1. The outcome of Wednesday’s third-place game will determine seeding in the state playoffs.
Montour lost a 13-10 heartbreaker to Upper St. Clair in a semifinal game Thursday after coming back from a 10-1 deficit with a nine-run seventh-inning rally. Thomas Jefferson lost 4-3 to South Fayette; those two teams will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at EQT Park for the WPIAL title.
GIRLS RUGBY
Three players from Moon Area were named first-team Division I all-state by Rugby PA. A total of 16 players were chosen to the team, including forward Maya Miller and backs Maria Depner and Ellie Nurss of Moon.
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