Times' high school notebook: Cummings officially signs with Pitt; Thomas scheduling visits
With the start of high school basketball just around the corner, here’s an update on two of the WPIAL’s most talented players.
They’re both seniors from Lincoln Park.
Brandin Cummings, a 6-foot-3 combo guard, has officially completed his recruitment. This past Wednesday, he signed his national letter of intent that binds his scholarship from Pitt.
Meleek Thomas, a 6-4 shooting guard who’s one of the top prospects in the country, will soon start scheduling official visits to many of the top major-college programs in the country.
With those two in the lineup, no wonder Lincoln Park has popped up as the 20th-best high school team in the country according to MaxPreps.
To celebrate Cummings’ signing with Pitt, Lincoln Park athletic director and basketball coach Mike Bariski staged a press conference at the performing arts charter school in Midland. Among those attending were Cummings’ mother and father; his brother Nelly, who finished his college career with one season at Pitt; and members of the Leopards’ boys and girls basketball teams.
“It’s a dream come true,” Brandin Cummings said. “I (committed) back in January, but now I finally got to sign. I’ve been looking forward to this (day) for a few months now. I’m just happy to finally put that pen to paper.”
Right after Brandin signed his letter of intent, Nelly yelled out “H.2.P.”
H2P, of course, stands for Hail to Pitt, a traditional slogan of Pitt athletics and the name of Pitt’s most traditional fight song.
“Me and my brother grew up playing with a Nerf ball that had Pitt on it,” Brandin said. “It’s great that I’ll be able to follow my brother’s footsteps and walk on a path of my own.”
“Brandin is a dynamic guard who can really put the ball in the basket,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said in a statement.
“We have been able to develop a great relationship with him and his family and look forward to watching him continue to develop here at Pitt. He has been a part of an outstanding high school program and will bring a winning pedigree with him. Brandin’s style of play is a little different than his brother Nelly’s, but they are both extremely skilled with great intangibles and a tireless work ethic.”
Nelly Cummings, by the way, is no longer playing pro basketball overseas. In October, he played in four games with AEL Limassol, a professional team located in Limassol, Cyprus, that is a part of the Cyprus Basketball Federation.
Meanwhile, Thomas isn’t sure where his path to college basketball will take him. Recruits are now allowed to take as many as 10 official visits and Thomas plans on taking most of them.
According to Rivals.com, Thomas has 19 scholarship offers: Auburn, Connecticut, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Pitt, Tennessee, Villanova, Bryant, Georgia, Missouri, Penn State, Rutgers, Temple and Xavier.
He’s already scheduled visits to Auburn and Kentucky and also plans to visit Duke, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State and maybe Miami (Fla.).
At this time, Thomas has no intentions of playing at Pitt.
WPIAL FOOTBALL NEWS AND NOTES
· While the WPIAL football steering committee often gets criticized for the way it seeds its playoff brackets, that 12-person group pretty much nailed it this year.
While there was some criticism that the top four teams in the Class 4A Parkway Conference got to host first-round games – typically only the top two teams in each conference get a first-round home game -- consider that the playoffs have pretty much played out just the way the seeding suggested they would.
In Class 4A, the four seeds are still alive: Aliquippa, McKeesport, Montour and Mars.
In 3A, the four seeds are still alive: Belle Vernon, Avonworth, Elizabeth Forward and East Allegheny.
In 1A, the top four seeds are still alive: South Side, Fort Cherry, Bishop Canevin and Clairton.
In 6A, the top two seeds -- Central Catholic and North Allegheny – play Saturday for the title.
In 5A, top seed Peters Township will play No. 3 seed Pine Richland for the championship on Saturday.
The only bracket buster in the playoffs has No. 10 seed Beaver Falls, which has upset No. 7 seed Keystone Oaks and No. 2 seed Neshannock.
The other three teams left in 2A are top-seeded No. 1 Steel Valley, No. 3 Washington and No. 5 Mohawk.
• Union’s reign as WPIAL Class 1A champs ended this past weekend with a loss to Clairton in the Class 1A quarterfinals, But Scotties’ quarterback Braylon Thomas became just the fifth QB in WPIAL history to throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in a season. Thomas, a senior, finished with 2,077 yards passing and 1,203 rushing.
One of the other four QBs to achieve that milestone was Quaker Valley’s Ricky Russ in 2017.
Guss was the Beaver County Times’ Football Player of the Year in 2017 and the BCT’s 2017-2018 Athlete of the Year for his accomplishments in football and basketball.
In 2017 while leading QV to WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A championships, Guss passed for 2,246 yards and rushed for 1,241.
He set Quaker Valley single-season records for most passing yards (2,246), most touchdown passes (30), most rushing yards by a quarterback (1,241) and most points scored (184). He also tied for the QV record for most rushing touchdowns in a season (29).
Beside Thomas and Guss, the other WPIAL QBs to pass for over 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a season were Pine-Richland’s Phil Jurkovec, who did it twice in 2015 and 2017; Keystone Oaks’ Alex Smith in 2016; and Sto-Rox’s Lenny Williams in 2012.
WPIAL FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Three teams from the Beaver County Times coverage area are still alive in the WPIAL football playoffs: Aliquippa in 4A, Beaver Falls in 2A and South Side in 1A.
They will play semifinal games on Friday. All WPIAL semifinals start at 7 p.m.
Following is the entire WPIAL schedule for this weekend:
FRIDAY, CLASS 4A SEMIFINALS
Mars vs. Aliquippa at North Allegheny
Montour vs. McKeesport at West Mifflin
FRIDAY, CLASS 3A SEMIFINALS
Elizabeth Forward vs. Avonworth at Gateway
East Allegheny vs. Belle Vernon at Norwin
FRIDAY, 2A SEMIFINALS
Beaver Falls vs. Washington at Dormont Stadium
Mohawk vs. Steel Valley at West Allegheny
FRIDAY 1A SEMIFINALS
Clairton vs. South Side at Peters Township
Bishop Canevin vs. Fort Cherry at South Fayette
SATURDAY 6A CHAMPIONSHIP
North Allegheny vs. Central Catholic at Norwin, 6 p.m.
SATURDAY 5A CHAMPIONSHIP
Pine-Richland vs. Peters Township at Norwin, noon
BEAVER GIRLS ADVANCE TO PIAA VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS
When the Beaver girls volleyball team dethroned Freeport as WPIAL Class 2A champs on Nov. 4, coaches and players from both teams thought they might meet again in the PIAA tournament.
After all, that happened in 2017 when the Bobcats beat the Yellowjackets in the WPIAL final. Two weeks later, they met again in the state semifinals with Freeport winning, 3-1. A few days later, Freeport won the PIAA title.
Well, there won’t be a Beaver vs. Freeport rematch this year.
Beaver (22-0) has taken care of business so far with first-round and quarterfinal wins over District 10 runner-up Corry and Quaker Valley, the WPIAL’s third-place team. The Bobcats won both of those matches by scores of 3-1.
Freeport, however, lost its quarterfinal match Philipsburg-Osceola, the District 6 champ.
So, on Tuesday in the semifinals, with a trip to the state championship match on the line, it will be Beaver vs. Philipsburg-Osceola (24-0). That match will take place at Keystone High School which is located in the Clarion County community of Knox.
PRACTICES FOR WPIAL WINTER SPORTS TEAMS START FRIDAY
The winter sports season for WPIAL teams is just three weeks away.
In fact, practices for winter sports start Friday.
And the first play date is Friday, Dec. 1.
The WPIAL’s winter sports include boys and girls basketball; boys and girls swimming and diving; boys and girls wrestling; boys rifle; and girls gymnastics.
Speaking of wrestling, Lincoln Park will field its inaugural boys team this year. It will be a co-op with Western Beaver, as is the case for several other sports.
As many as five girls might wrestle for Lincoln Park.
WPIAL BOYS SOCCER ALL-SECTION TEAMS
The WPIAL Soccer Coaches Association recently announced its boys all-section teams for the 2023 season.
Thirty-two players from the BCT coverage area were selected.
CLASS 3A SECTION 2
Cam DiVincentis, Central Valley, jr., F
Sean Kennelly, Central Valley, sr., D
Mike Walenchok, Moon, sr., MF
Fin Dengel, Moon, jr., MF
Evan Thomas, Moon, jr., D
Davi Jansson, Moon, sr., F
Cooper Nickles, Moon, sr., D
Colton Yonker, West Allegheny, so., D
CLASS 2A SECTION 4
Kyle Carlsen, Beaver, sr., MF/F
Evan, Baker, Beaver, sr., D
Chris Colonna, Hopewell, sr., MF/F
Landen Kramer, Hopewell, sr., D
Porter Oberg, Hopewell, sr., D
Nick Allan, Quaker Valley, sr., MF/D
Matteo Castellini, Quaker Valley, sr., MF/F
Cameron Diggins, Quaker Valley, sr., MF/F
Bennett Haas, Quaker Valley, sr., F
Kiril Grin, Quaker Valley, sr., F
Johnathan Nelson, Riverside, sr., MF/F
Igor Stachowiak, Riverside, sr., D
CLASS 1A SECTION 2
Robert McMahan, Beaver County Christian, jr., M
Jordan Delon, Freedom, jr., F
Jay Mohrbacher, Freedom, so., M
Danny Bourgeois, OLSH, sr., F
Mark Russel, OLSH, sr., D
Greg Mineard, OLSH, sr., D
Cooper Wentz, Sewickley Academy, sr., GK
Chase D'Antonio, Sewickley Academy, so., F
Finn Wentz, Sewickley Academy, soph., M
Jackson Quigley, Sewickley Academy, sr., F
Blake Wilmot, Sewickley Academy, soph., D
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Times' high school notebook: Cummings officially signs with Pitt; Thomas scheduling visits
