Early standouts from early season
In case the 60-plus-degree temperatures had you fooled, it is officially winter, which means basketball and wrestling have taken center stage when it comes to the high school sports landscape. After less than a full month of competition, the Greene County athletic scene has a very different look in recent years.
When it comes to basketball, the biggest local stars are no longer at traditional playoff programs like Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan. Instead, Waynesburg Central and West Greene have stolen the spotlight.
There’s no question that the top local boys player is the Raiders’ Darton McIntire. The sophomore transfer from Trinity Christian in Morgantown immediately showed an ability to put the team on his back as it opened up the year by winning two of its first three games.
The nephew of former WCHS star Tammy McIntire-Mandich, who is also a member of the California University of Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, truly introduced himself to the WPIAL on Dec. 11, when he nearly led the Raiders to a monumental upset of Brownsville. McIntire poured in a game-high 47 points, which was rumored by some of the staff working the game to be a team record. His biggest points came with less than 10 seconds left in regulation, when he knocked down the game-tying basket that sent the eventual 95-92 Waynesburg loss into overtime.
As of Dec. 22, the McIntire-led Raiders boasted the second-best offense in Section 4-AA (67 points per game).
Just as WCHS’s big new addition has powered it early in the year, a pair of freshman twins has West Greene thinking big in the girls ranks. With McKenna and Madison Lampe leading the way, the Pioneers are 6-1 overall and came five points shy of downing powerful California on Monday. The sisters scored 23 and 14 points, respectively, against a Trojan squad that boasts two of the top returning guards in the section.
While mostly known for its smothering trap defense, West Greene can also fill up the hoop on a nightly basis. The Blue and Gold’s 64.9 points per game average is the best in Section 3-A.
With all of these rookies stealing the spotlight, senior-laden Jefferson-Morgan, which brought back nearly every major contributor from last year’s WPIAL playoff game-winning squad, has quietly gone about its business at the top of 3-A. The Rocket girls are 7-1 overall and 4-0 in their section. The team’s only setback this season was an eight-point road defeat to 6-2 Washington, which competes in the AA ranks.
Moving from the hardwood to the wrestling mats, two things have become abundantly clear. First, Waynesburg Central is by far the top team in the county this season. Secondly, graduation has turned Jefferson-Morgan’s season into the Billy Bowlen and Gavin Teasdale show.
Despite the graduation of A.C. Headlee, the Raiders still boast the best lineup, top-to-bottom, in the county. Led by experienced winners like Caleb Morris, Shaun Wilson, Cole Rush, Logan Henderson, Colin McCracken and others, Waynesburg not only has plenty of talent, but it is spread through the majority of its lineup, allowing the Red and Black to win at different points in a match, rather than just at the lower, middle or upper weights.
Moving over to Rocket territory, if you thought Teasdale looked good last year, prepare to be blown away by what the world class state champion looks like this winter. Without the burden of sucking weight to get down to 106, the 120-pound phenom looks well on his way to a second-straight PIAA crown and much more.
Bowlen, meanwhile, picked up one of the biggest wins of his high school career when he downed two-time defending WPIAL AAA champion Tyler Worthing of Kiski in the finals of the Eastern Invitational on Dec. 5. The 182-pound standout has already committed to wrestle for Seton Hill next year.