One day after it was announced that Highmark and West Penn Allegheny Health System have merged, the WPIAL and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds announced an agreement that gives the WPIAL soccer championships a home at Highmark.

All six of the WPIAL soccer championships - boys and girls - will be at the new Highmark Stadium, a 3,500-seat stadium next to Station Square on the South Side. The stadium's primary tenant is the Pittsburgh Riverhounds pro soccer team.

Under the plan this year, two soccer championships will be played Friday, Nov. 1 and four on Saturday, Nov. 2. (Pictured is a shot of Highmark Stadium during a Pittsburgh Passion football game).

"With the incomparable views of Pittsburgh's skyline as a backdrop, Highmark Stadium will set the stage and create and unforgettable moment with each youth participant," Melissa Lazar, president and CEO of Highmark Stadium, said in a release. 

Highmark Stadium also hopes to play host to one WPIAL boys and one girls soccer game per week. Highmark hopes to attract some of the WPIAL's top teams to the games. Would schools be willing to move one of their top section games to the stadium?

More on Highmark Stadium: Central Catholic is close to finalizing a deal to have its home football games at Highmark. Stay tuned on that one.

You wonder if the WPIAL would ever have maybe a Class A or AA playoff game at Highmark? It does seat only 3,500 but that would be perfect size for some of those playoff games. It seemingly isn't big enough for a big AAA or AAAA playoff game. A big question, though, is parking.

Check this out

***Baldwin has a 6-9, 280-pound sophomore lineman named Sterling Jenkins. He apparently opened some eyes at the Rivals Camp Series (sort of like a combine) Sunday at Montour. 

*** The Peters Township baseball team missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2002. The Indians are in danger of missing again. They are 4-4 in Class AAAA Section 4. Bethel Park is 6-2, Canon-McMillan 5-2 and Mt. Lebanon 5-2. Only three teams make the playoffs and teams in Section 4 play only 10 section games.

*** You want to see a possible basketball star of the future? Take a look at this YouTube video of Seventh Woods (yes, that's his real name). He is only 14 and a freshman and his highlight tape has people buzzing. IT HAS OVER 6 MILLION HITS ON YOUTUBE. He averaged 19 points a game this past season for Hammond High School in Columbia, S.C. Yeah, he reminds me of myself when I was 14. (ha ha)

Seriously the kid is amazing.

Some items that fell off my laptop ...

First off, did you know Montour star athlete Devin Wilson has a twin brother in the NBA?

That's right. His name is Klay Thompson, a sharpshooting guard for the NBA's Golden State Warriors. You can't convince me that Wilson and Thompson weren't separated at birth - like Chris Paul and Cliff Paul.

Check it out:

By the way, Thompson and Stephen Curry are worth watching in these NBA playoffs. When they both have the shooting stroke? Wow. Especially Curry.

Maybe Devin can get some shooting tips from his twin brother, Klay.

OK, onto some other items.

How they rated in high school

It's always interesting to look at the top picks in the NFL draft and look back to how they were ranked in high school.

Looking at the top five picks in this draft and old rankings by Rivals.com, the No. 1 pick was a two-star player in high school, the No. 2 and 3 were four-stars, the No. 4 was not rated at all and was 100 pounds lighter and the No. 5 pick lived in Ghana and did not play high school football.

Here's the scoop. No. 1 pick Eric Fisher of Rochester Hills, Mich. was rated with two stars (five is the highest). He was an offensive lineman who played college foootball at Central Michigan and is a great example of how it is tough to predict offensive linemen's futures. It is so hard to predict how they will progress, will they add much more weight and muscle, etc.

No. 2 pick Luke Joeckel was a four-star offensive lineman out of Arlingon, Texas.

No. 3 pick Dion Jordan was a four-star tight end from Chandler, Ariz. He was drafted as a defensive end.

No. 4 pick Lane Johnson was not rated by Rivals.com. He was a quarterback at Groveton, Texas. Have you heard of kids putting on the freshman 15? How about the freshman 25, sophomore 25, junior 25 and senior 25? Johnson was 6-6, 202 pounds in high school. Now he's a 6-6, 303-pound offensive tackle.

No. 5 pick Ziggy Ansah lived in Ghana.

What also is interesting is a check at how the top-ranked players from previous classes are doing. The No. 1 player in 2009 was Bryce Brown, who signed with Tenessee out of high school, eventually transferred to Kansas State, but didn't have much of a college career. He was drafted in the seventh round last year and made the Phiadelphia Eagles for the 2012 season.

Rivals' No. 1 player in 2008 was Jeannette quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

But it is only fair to point out that there are many cases where players are ranked highly and DO live up to the ranking. For example, in 2009, the No. 2 player in the country was receiver Reuben Randle, who went to LSU and was drafted in the second round last year by the New York Giants.

The No. 3 player in 2009 was offensive lineman D.J. Fluker, who was the No. 11 pick in this year's draft out of Alabama.

The No. 4 player was Sheldon Richardson, who was the No. 13 pick in this year's draft out of Missouri.

The No. 5 player in 2009 was quarterback Matt Barkley, who went to USC and slipped to a fourth-round pick this year.

Spencer for hire?

Spencer Stefko resigned as Chartiers Valley's girls basketball coach a few weeks ago. Stefko enjoyed success at Chartiers Valley, but he might not be without a job for long. He is one of the candidates for the Seton-LaSalle girls job. It might be a few weeks before Seton-LaSalle makes a hire.

Seton-LaSalle is expected to be strong again next year with the return of Naje Gibson and Cassidy Walsh. The Rebels will also have Yacine Diop, who figures to be one of the top players in the state. Diop was ruled ineligible to play this season by the WPIAL and PIAA after transferring from Oak Hill Academy with alleged "athletic intent."

How good is Diop? Well she is a 5-10 guard who is ranked the No. 47 player in the country by Hoopgurlz.com and the No. 7 guard.

Seton-LaSalle has played in the WPIAL Class AA championship five years in a row.

New Duquesne coach has WPIAL ties

Duquesne's previous womens basketball coach had strong ties to Western Pennsylvania. Suzie McConnell-
Serio was a veritable legend to the Pittsburgh area womens basketball community.

But Duquesne's new coach also is from Western Pa. OK, he can't come close to matching McConnell-Serio's reputation in the area, but Dan Burt played basketball at Trinity High School in Washington.

Memorable race

Jim Faiella is the unofficial WPIAL girls track and field historian. He knows "EVERYTHING" and has been compiling the WPIAL girls track honor roll for decades. He points out a rather unusual 1,600-meter race last week in the Shaler-North Hills meet last week.

Shaler's Brianna Schwartz, North Hills' Mary Malone and her sister, Shannon, all broke five minutes in the 1,600. Faiella believes it probably is the first time in WPIAL history that three girls have broken five minutes in a dual meet. Schwartz won with a 4:55.2, Mary Malone was second at 4:55.8 and Shannon third at 4:57.2.

Consider this: Only 20 girls are known to have broken five minutes in the history of the WPIAL - and there were three in this dual meet. Schwartz is No. 6 on the all-time list at 4:54.15, Mary Malone tied for eighth with the 4:55.8 and Shannon Malone 10th at 4:56.17.

It should be interesting when all three run in the Baldwin Invitational this Friday and again in the WPIAL championships in a few weeks.

Gateway's search for a football coach is over. Donnie Militzer was hired tonight by a 7-2 vote of the Gateway school board.

Militzer was an assistant coach at Carlynton the past two seasons. He also has been an assistant at Bishop Canevin, Peters Township, Carnegie Mellon University and Washington & Jefferson College.

He takes over for Terry Smith, who resigned in January to become an assistant at Temple University. Gateway took three months to hire a coach. Sources have said Gateway had some trouble getting a qualified candidate to take the job.

Militzer said he got involved after Gateway re-posted the job a second time.

"My whole family is excited," Militzer said. "When we found out [about getting the job], there was a big celebration."

Militzer will continue with his full-time job as vice-principal at St. Thomas More, a Catholic grade school in Bethel Park.

The new football coach at Canon-McMillan High School has NFL playing experience and was drafted by the Steelers.

The school hired Ron Coder as the new coach this afternoon. Coder, an offensive lineman, played at Penn State and was a third-round draft pick of the Steelers in 1976. He played with Seattle from 1976-79 and St. Louis iin 1980. He missed the 1978 season with a back injury.

Canon-McMillan athletic director Guy Montecalvo has known Coder for decades. The two played together at Penn State.

Coder takes over a program that has won only five games in the past four years. Two years ago, Canon-McMillan was winless. But Coder knows what it takes to win a championship. So what if it was in womens football. Coder coached the Pittsburgh Passion womens team to the 2007 league championship.

Rowan gets honor

Maverick Rowan is one of the best freshman basketball players in the country - at least according to MaxPreps.com.

MaxPreps recently released its freshman All-American team and Rowan, a ninth-grader at Lincoln Park in Beaver County, was named honorable mention. Only 26 players around the country were named to the teams - first, second, third and honorable mention.

Rowan, a 6-foot-6 guard and an excellent shooter, averaged 22.6 points a game this season. He was the third-leading scorer in the WPIAL during the regular season.

Rowan is pictured with his sister, Madi, who was a senior guard at Central Valley and earned a Division I scholarship to New Hampshirte. 

Rowan is considered a Division I prospect for the future. It's a nice achievement for him to make the MaxPreps All-American team. Rowan, though, isn't your average high school freshman in age. He already is 16 and will turn 17 in July. As a senior, he will be eligible to play, but by only a few days. Under PIAA rules, a student-athlete is ineligible as a senior if he or she turns 19 before July 1.

Central and South Park rate

The Prep Baseball Report came out yesterday with its state rankings and two WPIAL teams are ranked No. 2 in their respective rankings. 

Central Catholic is No. 2 in Class AAAA while South Park is No. 2 in Class AAA.

Philadelphia and the NBA

An interesting piece by Kevin Askeland of MaxPreps.com on what cities produce the best current NBA talent. They are subjective rankings, but Philadelphia ranks fourth behind Los Angeles, Indianapolis and Chicago.

Askeland's top five current NBA players from Philadelphia are Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Kyle Lowry, Tyreke Evans and Markieff Morris.

Bryant (pictured) played at Lower Merion and led Lower Merion to a state championship as a senior. Lower Merion defeated Erie Cathedral Prep in the title game.

I remember watching that game and Erie Prep double-teamed Bryant. If he got the ball and dribbled, they would send another defender at him. 

He finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists.