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Mike White: About Fort Cherry's memorable season — and the WPIAL basketball playoffs

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mike White: About Fort Cherry's memorable season — and the WPIAL basketball playoffs

About the WPIAL basketball playoffs … I’m just sayin’.

The most surprising seeding for the WPIAL basketball playoffs was the Fort Cherry boys getting the No. 2 seed in Class 2A.

It’s not that Fort Cherry isn’t deserving. The Rangers, after all, are 20-2. It’s just that history suggests Fort Cherry getting a No. 2 seed is astonishing.

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It has been a plum of a season for Fort Cherry, winning a section championship for the first time in 24 years. But Fort Cherry has won only six WPIAL playoff games in school history and two of those came last year when the WPIAL had an open tournament and all teams were invited to participate in the playoffs. The Rangers made it to the quarterfinals. That lack of a winning history makes what coach Eugene Briggs’ team is doing this season all the more special.

Bethel Park’s Emma Dziezgowski ranks among the WPIAL scoring leaders with 20 points per game.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
WPIAL/City League basketball scoring leaders (through Feb. 13, 2022)

But what are Fort Cherry’s chances in the playoffs? Well, in Class 2A, there is Our Lady of the Sacred Heart — and then the rest. That means there is reason to believe Fort Cherry is good enough to make it to the WPIAL championship game for the first time in 61 years. In 1961, Fort Cherry won three WPIAL playoff games and also three PIAA playoff games on the way to winning WPIAL and state championships. That is the only time Fort Cherry got past the quarterfinals.

The 1961 team’s starting center was Marty Schottenheimer, who went on to be a highly successful coach in the NFL. Schottenheimer scored 11 points in the WPIAL final that year as Fort Cherry defeated Wampum, 77-56, at the Pitt Field House.

And coincidentally, this year’s title games are at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center, a stone’s throw away from the old Field House. Maybe Fort Cherry gets there.

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• The Our Lady of the Sacred Heart boys take a 59-game winning streak into the WPIAL playoffs. The Chargers have already broken the WPIAL record for longest winning streak and are a good bet to break the PIAA record of 61 consecutive wins. They simply need to get to the title game. Chester, near Philadelphia, set the PIAA record from 2010-12.

The state record for longest winning streak is 68 by West Philadelphia from 1976-78, but West Philadelphia was not in the PIAA at the time.

• This is the 30th anniversary of the last championship during the greatest title run of any boys or girls team in WPIAL basketball history. The Penn Hills girls won seven championships in a row from 1986-92 under coach Bill Lind.

Three teams are going for their fourth consecutive championship this year — and I say all will get it. OLSH is trying to become only the second boys team to win four consecutive championships. Midland won five from 1973-77. Meanwhile, Rochester and Chartiers Valley are trying to become only the sixth and seventh girls team to win four consecutive titles. The others were the aforementioned Penn Hills, Vincentian (five from 2012-16), Aliquippa (four from 1987-90), Geibel (four from 1993-96) and North Catholic (four from 2017-20).

• From the coaching record factoid department: Belle Vernon boys coach Joe Salvino has tied legendary former Farrell coach Ed McCluskey for third place on the WPIAL all-time wins list. McCluskey, who won a record 11 WPIAL titles, had a record of 698-185 at four different schools, but spent most of his career at Farrell. Salvino’s record is 698-284. He coached at Monessen from 1984-2018 before coming to Belle Vernon.

• Washington boys coach Ron Faust needs one win to tie former Central Catholic coach Chuck Crummie for ninth on the all-time list. Faust has a record of 652-239.

• Aquinas Academy junior Vinnie Cugini was the WPIAL’s leading boys scorer for the third consecutive season. The WPIAL, nor any media outlet, didn’t keep leading scorers for the entire league until the Post-Gazette started in 1979-80. Since then, no player has ever won the scoring title three consecutive years.

And considering that Cugini is only a junior, he might lead the WPIAL in scoring for four years. You can’t say for sure because there are no statistics to prove it, but I would venture to guess that no player has ever led the league in scoring four consecutive years. Simply because it was practically unheard of for a freshman to start on the varsity before the mid 1970s. It used to be big when a sophomore started on the varsity.

The only player since 1980 to lead the WPIAL in scoring two consecutive years was Highlands’ Micah Mason in 2011-12.

• Speaking of players with rare scoring ability, Quaker Valley seniors Adou Thiero and Markus Frank also made history by making points. Frank finished the regular season averaging 27.1 points and Thiero 25.1. They are the first WPIAL duo to both average more than 24 points since at least the 1979-80 season.

• The WPIAL is letting the higher-seeded teams play at home through the quarterfinals of the playoffs, provided their gym is big enough to play host to a game. It’s a nice idea, but I can see a problem because some gyms still aren’t big enough to host a game.

For example, if Butler beats Norwin in a first-round game in Class 6A boys, Butler will play at Central Catholic in the quarterfinals. Central Catholic was turning people away for last Friday’s section finale against Fox Chapel. The same could happen if the Vikings play Butler.

The WPIAL has said Class 5A and 6A schools must have a gym that seats at least 1,000 in order to have a home game. I don’t know what Central Catholic’s capacity is exactly, but I have a hard time believing you can put 1,000 people in the place without people sitting in the laps of others.

• There won’t be much time to rest for WPIAL champions this year. That’s because the PIAA is starting first-round games earlier. All PIAA first-round games will be Tuesday and Wednesday March 8-9. Five WPIAL champions won’t be crowned until Saturday, March 5.

The PIAA has decided to give teams more time off this year between the semifinals and championships. All of the semifinals will be finished by Saturday, March 19. The PIAA title games will take place in Hershey March 24-26.

Correction: Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino has a record of 698-284. His win total was incorrect in earlier versions of this story.

Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh

First Published: February 17, 2022, 11:15 a.m.
Updated: February 17, 2022, 11:27 a.m.

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