Imagine If Private School WPIAL Athletes Attended Public School

OLSH quarterback, Tyler Bradley, had one heck of a football season in 2018.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are some private schools in the WPIAL that have produced some very athletic student athletes. Have you ever wondered if athletes like Keeno Holmes (Lincoln Park) and Tyler Bradley (OLSH) didn’t attend private schools, which public high school they would have attended? These star student athletes from private schools could have won a WPIAL championship at the public school they could have gone. Also, if these student athletes didn’t attend their chosen private school, they might have not become the star athlete that they are if they attended the public school that they were supposed to go to because of where they live.

Let’s take a look at where these star WPIAL athletes would have gone to school if they did not attend public school.

Jimmy Moon (Serra Catholic)-Boys Basketball: If Jimmy did not attend Serra Catholic, he would probably attend Canon-McMillan High School in Washington County. In his senior season, Moon is one of the highest scorers in the WPIAL and has a chance to lead Serra Catholic to a WPIAL 2A Boys Basketball championship. If Moon attended Canon-Mac, he would be playing along with Tommy Samosky and Ethan Beachy who have helped the Big Macs get into the WPIAL 6A Boys Basketball playoffs. If Moon was on Canon Mac’s team, this year, could they have been favorites in 6A?

Dante Spadafora (OLSH)-Boys Basketball: Spadafora is trying to get OLSH a WPIAL title in Boys Basketball. OLSH has been in the WPIAL 2A Boys Basketball championship in the past 2 years and lost in both of those years. Spadafora is one of the young basketball stars in the WPIAL and he is only a sophomore. If he did not attend OLSH, he would probably attend Chartiers Valley. If Spadafora was on the Colts roster, could they be the favorites in 5A. He would be playing with players such as Jared Goldstrom, Brayden Reynolds and Joe Pipilo. Those three guys have helped contribute most of the points on the team and perhaps if Spadafora was on this team, they would be unstoppable and they would be known as a team with a “Big 4.

Elliott Donald (Central Catholic)-Football: If Aaron Donald’s brother, Elliott, did not transfer out of Penn Hills, would their football team have been even better? Yeah, maybe. Even without Donald, Penn Hills still won a state championship in football. Elliott will be a junior next year. If he was on the Penn Hills football team, next year, would Penn Hills have a better chance at repeating their WPIAL and PIAA titles? Think about it.

Khalil Smith (Serra Catholic)-Football and Boys Basketball: Khalil is a star football player and star basketball player for Serra Catholic High School. If he did not attend Serra Catholic, you would have probably seen that man wearing a Penn Hills football and basketball jersey. Khalil made the decision to attend Serra Catholic High School and he has made the best of it. It was his decision, nobody else’s. This past football season, Smith was the leading rusher for Serra Catholic with 886 yards. If Smith decided to attend public school at Penn Hills, would he have gotten a WPIAL championship ring in basketball and football?

Israel Reed (Imani Christian)-Football: This past football season, Reed was ranked 5th in the WPIAL in passing yards (2,883) and was tied for sixth place in passing touchdowns (31). If Reed did not attend Imani Christian, you would have seen him wearing a Woodland Hills football jersey. Woodland Hills could have had star WPIAL quarterback on their team; but, we will never know if Reed could have had success as a Wolverine. We do know that he succeeded at Imani Christian. Reed could have been teammates with Woody’s star defensive back, Mike Coleman.

Jonathan Opalko (Central Catholic)-Football: Opalko is a field goal kicker for Central Catholic and he is already getting ready for the 2019 WPIAL football season. Opalko will be a senior next year and could be considered as one of the best kickers in the WPIAL. Opalko made 28 extra points, last season. Central Catholic was WPIAL 6A football champions in 2016. On the MaxPreps website, it says that Opalko was on the Central Catholic football roster in 2016, but was not the starter on the team. Even though he might have not started in his freshman year and played a lot, Opalko might be a WPIAL champion. If Opalko was not kicking footballs for Central Catholic, he would be kicking footballs for Springdale. They are in Class A. This past season, Springdale’s football team had a section record of 0-6 and an overall record of 2-8 and did not make playoffs. This past season, Central Catholic’s football team had a section record of 5-3 and an overall record of 7-4. They made the playoffs and lost to Seneca Valley in the first round of the WPIAL Football 6A playoffs by a score of 15-14. We could agree that Opalko is definitely happy to be playing football at Central Catholic.

Alex Griggs (Vincentian Academy)-Boys Basketball: Griggs is only a sophomore and looks like he can become a big star for Vincentian Academy in the next two years. If he was not playing at Vincentian, you would see him wear a Hampton Talbots jersey. Vincentian could repeat as WPIAL 1A champions while Hampton finished the regular season record with a section record of 8-6 and an overall record of 12-9. Vincentian ended the regular season with an overall record of 14-7. If you ask Griggs though, he might say that he definitely made the right choice going to Vincentian instead of Hampton. If Griggs would play at Hampton he could have played with Ben Ringeisen who leads the Talbots in PPG.

Isaiah Warfield (Sewickley Academy)-Boys Basketball: It seems that Isaiah is carrying Sewickley Academy. As of February 9th 2018, Warfield was ranked in the WPIAL in PPG with 25.2. Warfield has had to do a lot of work recently due to Nate Ridgeway leaving the team. If Warfield was not playing at Sewickley, that man would be playing basketball at Aliquippa. Now, Warfield has had a lot of success wearing a Sewickley Academy uniform. Warfield has already won 2 WPIAL basketball championships and 1 PIAA basketball championship. If Warfield was playing at Aliquippa, right now, the Quips would easily be favorites to win the WPIAL in 3A. Yeah, I think if Warfield was on Aliquippa that they would be better than OLSH. Imagine MJ Devonshire, Will Gipson Jr., Zuriah Fisher, Larry Walker and Isaiah Warfield all on the court at the same time. That would be a tough team to stop.

Shamyjha Price (Bishop Canevin)-Girls Basketball: If Price did not win 3 WPIAL championships at Bishop Canevin, she would have to play basketball at Obama Academy which is a city league school. WPIAL > City League. She made the right choice playing basketball at Bishop Canevin. Price committed to University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Jayde Boyd (Oakland Catholic)-Girls Basketball: If Boyd did not play at Oakland Catholic, she would be in the same situation as Shamyjha Price and play basketball at Obama Academy. As I said, WPIAL > City League. Imagine though if Price and Boyd were teammates at Obama Academy. That would be a nice 1-2 punch that the other city schools would have not liked to see. Boyd committed to Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Andre Wilder (Lincoln Park)-Boys Basketball: Junior, Andre Wilder, has had some fun at Lincoln Park as he won a WPIAL basketball championship for the school, last year, and he is trying to win another one, this season. Wilder is known for his rebounding and blocking on the court. If Wilder was not playing for that performing arts school, he would be playing his high school basketball at Beaver Falls. The commute for Wilder is not bad since Beaver Falls is only like 30 minutes away from Lincoln Park. What is funny is that the first team Lincoln Park has to play this WPIAL postseason is Beaver Falls. Wilder is really going to try hard in this game. He will be playing against players on Beaver Falls that he could have been teammates with in high school. Heck, he might even know some of them personally.

Keeno Holmes (Lincoln Park)-Boys Basketball: Every school day Holmes has to travel an hour to get to school because he lives in Peters Township and could have played basketball at Peters Township. If Holmes was playing for Peters, they would be a heck of a lot more dangerous than they are now. Holmes has had fun playing for Lincoln Park. He has played in 3 WPIAL basketball championship games and is a WPIAL champion when his team defeated Seton LaSalle in the WPIAL 3A championship game, last season.

Riley Arrigo (Lincoln Park)-Girls Basketball: Riley is the star player on the Lincoln Park Girls Basketball team. This season, her team did not make it to the postseason as Lincoln Park finished the regular season with a 2-12 section record and an overall record of 7-15. If she did not attend Lincoln Park, she would attend Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls is not that much better as they also did not make the playoffs, this season, as they finished the regular season with a 5-9 section record and an overall record of 7-14. Think about this, if Riley did not attend Lincoln Park and attend Beaver Falls, would she become the good player that she is today?

Skyy Moore (Shady Side Academy)-Football: It seemed that every week Skyy Moore's face would appear in either the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette or in the TRIB LIVE High school sports section because of the way he balled out this season as both the quarterback and a defensive back for Shady Side Academy. This season, Skyy rushed for over 1,000 yards and passed for over 1,000 yards. That is very hard for a WPIAL quarterback to do. If Skyy did not get injured in the first round game of the WPIAL 2A football playoffs, they might have gone to play in the WPIAL 2A championship game at Robert Morris University. Skyy committed to Western Michigan University to play football as a defensive back. If Moore did not play for Shady Side Academy, he would have had to play football for Valley. This season, Valley was in the same section as Shady Side Academy in football and Valley had a section record of 2-4 and an overall record of 3-7. This past season, Shady Side Academy had a section record of 6-0 and an overall record of 10-1. Their only loss was in the playoffs to South Side Beaver. They lost 32-16. This season, Shady Side Academy played Valley and they defeated Valley 43-14. If you ask Skyy, he would probably tell you that he is happy that he decided to attend school at Shady Side Academy. If Skyy did play at Valley, I don't know if he could have carried them to the playoffs. Valley needed help everywhere else on the field.

Sierra DeAngelo (Oakland Catholic)-Girls Basketball: The Senior has been known by college recruiters for the way she can score and the way she can make other teammates around her better by passing the ball. Sierra will be attending the same college as her teammate, Jayde Boyd. Yep, Fairleigh Dickinson is going to have a nice 1-2 punch. If Sierra was not balling out at Oakland Catholic, Montour would be the school that she would have to play at. Let's just say that this season, Montour's Girls Basketball team was at the bottom of their section with a 1-13 section record and a 4-18 overall record. Oakland Catholic is once again in the playoffs, this season, so you can bet that DeAngelo is having fun playing at Oakland Catholic and would not want to play for Montour.

Tess Myers (North Catholic)-Girls Basketball: Junior, Tess Myers, is famous because she shot the game winning basket for North Catholic in the WPIAL 4A Girls Basketball championship game against Beaver (50-49) at Petersen Events Center, last season. Myers is once again trying to win another WPIAL championship for North Catholic. If Myers did not attend North Catholic, she would have to attend Burrell. This season, Burrell's Girls Basketball team had an overall record of 6-15 and did not make it to the playoffs. Yeah, Myers has to be happy playing at North Catholic. Oh yeah, congratulations to Burrell's Girls Bowling team in winning the WPIAL championship last Thursday.

Austin Wigley (OLSH)-Boys Basketball and Football: Wigley is one of the players at OLSH that has helped the team win games. He is a type of player that can make very smart plays when you at least expect it. OLSH is expected to try and win a WPIAL title, this season. If Wigley was not playing at OLSH, he would be playing at Quaker Valley. Quaker Valley is a good team that is trying to win a WPIAL boys Basketball championship in 4A. If Wigley was on Quaker Valley, there is no doubt that he would have an impact on the team. Now, can Quaker Valley win a WPIAL championship, this season, without Wigley? I think Quaker Valley can. Wigley was also a running back on OLSH that is a WPIAL champion and rushed for 837 yards, this past season.

Tyler Bradley (OLSH)-Football: If Bradley was not playing for OLSH, he would have played football at Avonworth. Bradley actually was on Avonworth's football roster in his freshman year in 2015. The following year Bradley transferred to OLSH to be coached under his father. It all worked out that Bradley transferred schools. We saw that Bradley could win a WPIAL championship; so, we know he had the potential. Think about this though, imagine if Bradley stayed at Avonworth during all of his high school career. He would have had to compete against Avonworth senior, Derek Johncour, for the starting quarterback position. If Johncour started over Bradley at Avonworth, nobody would know the talent Bradley had if he stayed at Avonworth. If Bradley started over Johncour at Avonworth, nobody would know the talent that Johncour had. Let me tell you that Johncour can ball out. This past season, Johncour passed for 2,964 yards (7th in the WPIAL) and threw 24 touchdowns as the starting quarterback for Avonworth. So, let's just say it was for the best that Bradley transferred schools so we could see the talent both Johncour and Bradley have.

Ricco Tate (OLSH)-Football and Boys Basketball: The senior has been catching passes from Tyler Bradley in football and has been scoring points in basketball. Tate is a good multi-sport athlete that use his 6'4'' as an advantage to do well in sports. If Tate was not playing at OLSH, you would see that man wearing a Sto-Rox jersey. I'll tell you right now that Sto-Rox quarterback, Eric Wilson, would have been happy if he could have been throwing passes to Tate. Tate is a WPIAL football champion at OLSH. I would say that if Tate was at Sto-Rox that there would have been a somewhat of a chance that they could have a WPIAL title, this season. Not a big chance; but, a slim chance.

Richard Banks (OLSH)-Football and Boys Basketball: Banks is just another athlete at OLSH that plays both basketball and football. This past football season, Banks led OLSH in receptions (59) and receiving yards (859). If Banks was not winning WPIAL championships at OLSH, he would have played at Aliquippa. Now imagine this, Aliquippa's football team is good without Banks; but, imagine if Aliquippa's football team also had Banks. They would be good. Think about this, Aliquippa's Boys Basketball team is good without Banks; but, imagine if they also had Banks and Sewickley Academy player, Isaiah Warfield. Jeez, Louise.

Kylee Lewandowski (North Catholic)-Girls Basketball: Lewandowksi is known as a scorer at North Catholic as she is a WPIAL champion. If Lewandowski was not playing for North Catholic jersey, you would definitely see wear a Butler uniform. This season, Butler's Girls Basketball team had an overall record of 8-14 and do not make it to the postseason. Meanwhile, this season North Catholic is trying to repeat as WPIAL champions. Yeah, Lewandowski made the right choice going to North Catholic.