By Chris Rossetti, www.d9sports.com
MaxPreps.com
PITTSBURGH – The Associated Press Pennsylvania Girls Basketball Class AA Player of the Year, Darche’ Jackson, will have a new home next year according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Jackson, who led the WPIAL – the district encompassing the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area – in scoring last year with 33.8 points per game, has transferred from Wilkinsburg to Penn Hills.
“We (my mother and I) moved to a new house in Penn Hills,” Jackson told the Post-Gazette. “That was the reason I transferred.”
The Post-Gazette reports that Jackson, a 5-foot-7 guard who twice scored 54 points in a game last season, has already participated in some offseason workouts with Penn Hills.
Jackson led Wilkinsburg to a 12-10 overall record last year including a 1-1 mark in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs.
Penn Hills, a one-time WPIAL Class AAAA powerhouse in girls basketball, is coming off one of its worst seasons in recent memory. The Lady Indians were 3-21 last year and failed to reach the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2005. Penn Hills has won eight WPIAL titles, including seven in a row from 1986-1992, with the last one coming in 1995. The Lady Indians also made three straight trips to the PIAA Class AAAA title game from 1990 to 1992 winning the 1990 PIAA championship.
WPIAL Football: Woodland Hills, McKeesport Headed to Herbstreit Football Series
Two WPIAL football teams are excited about their chance to play in the Burger King Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series Aug. 30.
Woodland Hills will take on Justin-Northwest (Texas) at 6 p.m. at Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys in Irving, Texas, while McKeesport will face Cincinnati Colerain at 5 p.m. at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
“The kids are so excited,” Woodland Hills coach George Novak told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “They’ve picked it up a notch at (summer conditioning workouts). They know only 60 guys are going. It’s going to make them all work a little harder for us.”
Woodland Hills is coming off one of its worst season in school history at 3-7 last year. Justin-Northwest was also 3-7.
Meanwhile, McKeesport was 10-2 a year ago advancing to the WPIAL semifinals. Colerain, a perennial powerhouse, was 13-1. While the game marks McKeesport’s season opener, Colerain will play St. Xavier the week before in its opener.
Both Woodland Hills and McKeesport will get an all-expense paid trip for 60 players and 15 staff members to the game.
“It’s a nice deal, a great experience for the kids,” Novak told the Post-Gazette.
According to the web site for the Kirk Herbstreit Football Series - http://www.herbstreitfootballseries.com – the series is “the premier event for the nation’s top football team to compete in front of a nationally televised audience.”
More WPIAL Football: WPIAL/FSN Announces 2008 McDonald’s High School Football Schedule
The WPIAL and FSN Pittsburgh have announced the 2008 McDonald’s High School Football Game of the Week Schedule.
The games, which during the regular-season will be at 7 p.m. Thursday nights, will be televised live on FSN Pittsburgh.
Some of the top games include the Sept. 11 Beaver Falls at Aliquippa contest, the Oct. 9 North Allegheny at Pine-Richland game and the Oct. 23 McKeesport at Gateway fray. Eight WPIAL playoff games including all four WPIAL title games Nov. 22 will also be broadcast.
The complete schedule is as follows:
Sept. 4 Erie McDowell at Seneca Valley
Sept. 11 Beaver Falls at Aliquippa
Sept. 18 Plum at Franklin Regional
Sept. 25 Highlands at Mars
Oct. 2 Penn Hills vs. Pittsburgh Central Catholic at CMU
Oct. 9 North Alleghany at Pine-Richland
Oct. 16 Montour at Hopewell
Oct. 23 McKeesport at Gateway
Oct. 31 WPIAL Playoffs First Round
Nov. 7 WPIAL Playoffs Second Round
Nov. 14 WPIAL Playoffs Semifinals
Nov. 22 WPIAL Class A Championship Game 10:30 a.m.
Nov. 22 WPIAL Class AA Championship Game 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 22 WPIAL Class AAA Championship Game 4:30 p.m.
Nov. 22 WPIAL Class AAAA Championship Game 7:30 p.m.
District 9 Girls Basketball: Paulina Resigns After One Year at DuBois
After just one year at the school, Jeff Paulina abruptly resigned as the girls basketball coach at DuBois High School July 10.
Paulina, who came to DuBois after serving as an assistant coach at nearby Punxsutawney, led the Lady Beavers to a 4-20 mark in 2008.
His resignation came shortly after an alleged incident at a DuBois YMCA Summer League game where he got into an alleged shouting match with Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo. It was not immediately clear if that incident had anything to do with his resignation.
Paulina announced his resignation in an e-mail sent to the sports department at the DuBois Courier-Express.
The e-mail said “To everyone at the paper I have met this year, I just wanted to say thank you for your hard work and coverage. As of July 10, 2008, I have resigned my position as head girls’ basketball coach at DuBois. Thank you. Jeff Paulina.”
Paulina’s resignation means DuBois will have its fourth new coach since the 2002 season.
DuBois is 8-40 over the last two seasons and hasn’t had a winning record in at least 13 years.
District 9 Boys Basketball: Creighton Takes Over at DuBois
Scott Creighton, who guided the Cranberry girls basketball team to the PIAA Class AA title in 1994, is the new boys basketball coach at DuBois.
Creighton comes to DuBois from Oregon State where he was an assistant coach last year for the women’s basketball team. Prior to his one year at Oregon State, Creighton served as the assistant women’s basketball coach at Clarion University from 1999-2007. While at Clarion, he helped the Golden Eagles to the NCAA Division II national tournament in 2005.
Creighton was girls head coach at Cranberry in 1994 and 1995 leading the Lady Berries to a 61-2 record in two seasons with two District 10 Class AA titles and the 1995 PIAA state title. He was named the PIAA Coach of the Year in 1994.
Moving on to Titusville, Creighton spent three years at the head girls coach from 1996-98 before taking the assistant position at Clarion University under the school’s all-time winningest coach Margaret “Gie” Parsons.
Creighton, who is a 1984 graduate of Cranberry and a 1988 graduate of Edinboro University, was also the assistant coach at Cranberry for five years before becoming head coach helping the Lady Berries to PIAA titles in 1992 and 1993.
Creighton will also teach physical education at DuBois.
“I really wanted to get back into high school coaching,” Creighton said. “Before last season, I had a great opportunity to go out to Oregon State, and while I enjoyed my time there, I really wanted to come back closer to home. When the opportunity to get back into teaching and coaching at DuBois came up, I couldn’t turn it down.”