The Hopewell High School Boys basketball season came to an end nearly one week ago.
With enough time to reflect, Vikings Sports Now wanted to not only put a wrap on the season but look ahead to the future of the program.
This morning, VSN had the opportunity to talk with Vikings Boys HC Doug Biega as we touched upon a number of topics ranging from challenges this season, surprises, basketball in Hopewell, coaching his son, upcoming youth camps and more.
VSN wanted to follow up with the Hopewell HS Swim teams results from the WPIAL Swimming Championships.
After Thursday’s Day One, here were the Hopewell highlights from Day Two on Friday, which included a new school record.
*Our Girls 400 Freestyle relay of Lindsey Brown, Ava Yoder, Emma Driscoll, and Hazel McCowin dropped over 10 seconds and placed 12th overall. 3:34.71.
We wanted to give a big congratulations to Hopewell HC Kathi Lopez and all her swimmers. It was a tremendous season that included a ton of individual and team accomplishments.
The formula for their early season success continued for the Pitt Panther baseball team as they pounded out 17 hits in a 14-6 win over UNC-Greensboro at Charles L. Cost Field.
With the win, Pitt improved their overall record to 6-2 and it’s the fifth time this season the Panthers offense have put up double-digit runs in a game. In fact, Pitt has scored 14 or more runs in 4 of their last 6 games.
The star for today was Trey Fenderson who collected a career-high 4 hits, including his first home run of the season. For the season, the Pitt second baseman is now hitting .406 with a 1.053 OPS.
Former Hopewell standout Anthony LaSala got the start at shortstop and had 4 productive at-bats for Pitt as he walked 3 times, including one with the bases loaded, while also laying down a perfect squeeze hit to drive in another run.
The official start of the spring 2026 High School sports season begins on Monday as all teams will conduct their first official practice.
The Hopewell HS Baseball, Softball, JH Baseball, Boys Volleyball and Track and Field teams will all get things started. Anything done prior to this was all voluntary and nothing mandatory.
Speaking of the Hopewell Track and Field team, some former members of HC Jeff Brunton’s program were making headlines yesterday.
On Thursday, the PAC Indoor Championships were held at Youngstown State University, and 6 Hopewell graduates made the podium!
*Washington & Jefferson junior Dom Flitcraft won the 5000m and 3000m, and his medley relay took 2nd place.
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*Westminster freshman Zach Kovell took 2nd place in the 400m, setting a school record time of 48.78. Kovell also took 6th place in the 200m and 3rd in the 4×400 relay.
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*Westminster freshman Aaron Dickhart took 5th place with their distance medley relay.
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*Geneva freshman Zach Lucas was 7th in the 60m hurdles with a big personal best time of 9.03.
*Westminster senior Ryann Essey placed 4th in the 60m hurdles with her personal best 9.79, and 8th in the high jump with 4’11”.
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*Allegheny junior Aubryanna Snyder placed 4th in the 60m dash with her personal best time 8.10, and also was 4th in long jump, and 4th in triple jump.
*Congrats to Dom Flitcraft who shared the Track MVP Award with sprinter Abe Konneh from Geneva.
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In total, HC Kathi Lopez’s program has 9 swimmers scheduled to compete in 22 events over this 2-day event.
Here were the highlights from Thursday’s Day One:
Day Two will take place this morning and throughout the afternoon.
Good Luck Vikings!
To say that they’ll be a big-time atmosphere at Hopewell High School would be an understatement.
Hopewell vs. Central Valley with a lot on the line, enough said.
For the third time this season, these two programs will play, this time the winner advances to the PIAA 4A basketball playoffs.
The first two games during the regular season went down to the wire and I would expect the same thing tonight. Back on January 9th, Hopewell jumped out to a big lead and held on to beat CV, 61-57. Then in the rematch on February 3rd, this was a battle for 4 quarters with each team holding the lead at various points of the game but in the end, Hopewell won 69-66.
The reason these games have been so close is that these programs are led by two outstanding coaches in Doug Biega and Brandon Ambrose. Plus, the rosters have talented players with James Armstrong, Brody Rock, Justin Shegog and others, while Central Valley has a deep talented roster led by sharpshooter Wyatt Clark and Adam Shroads.
Both coaches know the other teams’ personnel very well and what each other are attempting to do to attack them, so it’ll be interesting to see what adjustments if any are made for this third matchup.
The challenge for Coach Biega and his staff might be to get this team back down-to-earth following Monday’s emotional win. Also, the Vikings will have to realize that this CV team will be extremely motivated due to the fact that this is a senior ladened team and they know this has the potential to be the last high school basketball team that they ever play. Needless to say, that’s a huge motivation.
That being said, don’t think this Hopewell program doesn’t realize what’s on the line. This team full of sophomores would love to have the experience of playing in a PIAA playoff basketball game. They’re not ready to end the season.
“Looking forward to the opportunity that a game like tonight offered in the continued rebuild of our program,” Coach Biega tells VSN. “To even be playing basketball in late February here is awesome for these kids.”
“It should be a good atmosphere based on opponent proximity and a chance at competing in a state tournament is always fun.”
Just a warning, if you plan on going to the game, this will be a standing-room only crowd and parking will be an issue. Get there early and you are permitted to park in the lower student parking lot.
It will be a big next couple of days for members of the Hopewell High School Swim team.
Starting on Thursday and continuing to Friday, the WPIAL Swimming Championships will be held at the University of Pittsburgh Tree Pools.
Throughout the regular season, swimmers across the WPIAL attempted to reach certain times in their events, which qualified them to compete in the WPIAL Championships.
It’s exciting to see that a large numbers of swimmers from Coach Kathi Lopez’s program were able to do that.
Vikings Sports Now would like to wish the following Hopewell swimmers the best of luck tomorrow and hopefully at the end of the event, they’ll be on the podium receiving a medal.
HOPEWELL SWIMMERS THAT QUALIFIED FOR WPIAL SWIM CHAMPIONSHIPS
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP– Following tonight’s season-saving 84-79 WPIAL playoff win over Belle Vernon, Vikings Sports Now caught up with HC Doug Biega and sophomore James Armstrong, who willed Hopewell to a come from behind win.
Armstrong scored a career-high 47 points, including 28 in the second half.
With the win, the Vikings will host Central Valley on Wednesday night from Hopewell High School with the winner advancing to the PIAA playoffs.
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP– James Armstrong is an athlete that we’ve written plenty about throughout his junior high and high school career.
In the past, multiple coaches referred to him as a generational athlete. Tonight, Armstrong put on a performance, to quote the late great Mike Lange, “that you had to be there to believe.”
Personally, it was one of the best individual performances that I’ve ever witnessed by a high school athlete.
In a game that Hopewell trailed for nearly the entire game, Armstrong a career-high 47 points (28 in the 2nd half) and 17 rebounds to lead Hopewell to a come from behind 84-79 win over Belle Vernon in a 4A consolation playoff game.
The win means that on Wednesday, the Vikings will host Central Valley at Hopewell High School. The winner of that game qualifies for the PIAA 4A playoffs.
The atmosphere inside the gym, especially in the 4th quarter was incredible as Hopewell just kept fighting to hang in the game, much of the time trailing between 4 and 6 points.
However, with 1:35 left, the Vikings finally took the lead on a basket by Justin Shegog. After Belle Vernon retook the lead, Armstrong took over.
With 1:07 left, Armstrong muscled his way for 2 to give Hopewell a 76-75 lead. With :53 seconds left, Armstrong stole a Belle Vernon pass, raced to the other end to convert a layup and was fouled, Hopewell led 78-75.
With :27 seconds left and Hopewell leading 78-77, Belle Vernon missed a shot, Armstrong powered up for the rebound and was fouled. Hopewell was in the bonus, so he shot free throws and converted both of them to give Hopewell an 80-77 lead.
Boo was done. Hopewell was at the line shooting 2 free throws and missed both, but Armstrong grabbed the offensive rebound and converted a layup to increase the lead to 82-77.
With :05 seconds left and Hopewell leading 82-79, Hopewell had the ball underneath their own hoop and were looking to just inbounds the ball. They did exactly that as Brody Rock threw a deep pass to Armstrong, who caught it up half-court and took it in from slam dunk to end the game.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 84 BELLE VERNON 79
1ST QUARTER SCORING:
-Rock cross paint pass to Armstrong, 2 plus the foul (off the glass), Hopewell 3-2
-Rock drives the lane, dumps off to Armstrong, who knocks down a jumper from the lane, Hopewell 5-4
-Rock drives again but this time keeps it and converts the up and under, BV 8-7
-Jeremey Benninghoff with a shot off the glass from the right wing, Hopewell 9-8
-Shegog with the steal and takes it in for the layup, Hopewell 13-12
-Shegog with the drive and a nice touch pass to Armstrong in the paint, who converts, Hopewell 15-14
-:54, Rock with great hustle to track down a ball before it goes out of bounds, throws it to Armstrong who misses but Tre Cameron gets the offensive rebound and layup, Hopewell 17-15
END OF 1ST QUARTER: BELLE VERNON 20 HOPEWELL 18
2ND QUARTER SCORING:
-Jack Biega with a nice entry pass to Armstrong down low for 2 more, 20-20
-Armstrong with a strong drive for 2 off the glass, 22-22
-Armstrong grabs the offensive rebound and is fouled shooting, makes both free throws, 24-24
-Cameron with another strong take, BV 28-26
-Nice inbounds play, Biega finds Armstrong for 2, Hopewell 28-28
-Biega with a strong drive, misses the shot but gets his own rebound and puts it back in, BV 31-30
-Armstrong 2 more in the paint, BV 33-32
-Biega slashes down the middle of the lane, Belle Vernon 37-34
-Rock with the drive, finds Armstrong in the opposite block for 2, BV 39-36
-2:08 left, Rock drives the baseline for a reverse layup, BV 41-38
-:04 seconds, Rock with a steal and is fouled shooting, makes both free throws, BV 43-40
HALFTIME: BELLE VERNON 43 HOPEWELL 40
3RD QUARTER SCORING:
-Armstrong muscles his way for 2, BV 46-42
-Following a long offensive rebound, Shegog nails a deep jumper, BV 46-44
-Hopewell breaks the press, Rock to Shegog for a layup, BV 49-46
-Armstrong with a defensive rebound, throws a length of the court pass to Shegog for a layup, BV 51-48
-3:30 left, Armstrong with another defensive rebound and another long pass to the other end to Rock for a layup, BV 55-50
-Hopewell breaks the press, Armstrong hits a jumper from the foul line, BV 56-52
-Armstrong 2 more in the lane, BV 58-54
-Rock penetrates the paint and drops off to Boo for 2, BV 60-56
-1:11 left, Armstrong with a spin in the lane and off the glass, BV 62-58
-Rock with a strong drive and converts off the glass, BV 64-60
END OF 3RD QUARTER: BELLE VERNON 64 HOPEWELL 60
4TH QUARTER SCORING:
-Boo with 2 in the lane, BV 66-62
-Armstrong fights for a loose ball, grabs it, goes up for 2 more, BV 68-64
-4:02 left, Benninghoff drains a long 3, NV 72-68
-2:49 left, Armstrong 2 plus the foul, BV 73-70
-1:57 left, Armstrong 2 more and is fouled again, BV 73-72
-1:35 left, Shegog gives Hopewell the lead with a floater, Hopewell 74-73
-1:07 left, Armstrong muscles his way inside for 2, Hopewell 76-75
-:53 seconds, Armstrong with a steal at midcourt, converts the layup and is fouled, Hopewell 78-75
-:27 seconds, After grabbing a defensive rebound, Armstrong is fouled, and makes both free throws, Hopewell leads 80-77
-Hopewell misses 2 at the line but Armstrong grabs offensive rebound and makes layup, Hopewell 82-77
-:05 seconds left, Armstrong catches a deep pass from Rock and takes it in for the dunk, Hopewell 84-79
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 84 BELLE VERNON 79
HOPEWELL SCORING (UNOFFICIAL)
JAMES ARMSTRONG: 47 POINTS
JUSTIN SHEGOG: 11 POINTS
BRODY ROCK: 10 POINTS
JEREMY BENNINGHOFF: 5 POINTS
JACK BIEGA: 4 POINTS
TRE CAMERON: 4 POINTS
While Vikings Sports Now didn’t have another week of record traffic, we did have another very solid week of traffic.
For the week, VSN generated over 3,000 page views from the 15 stories that we produced on subjects such as boys’ and girls’ basketball, Hopewell HS football, martial arts, wrestling, Hopewell youth baseball, track and field along with stories on former Hopewell athletes.
Here’s a look at the five stories from last week on VSN that received the most views.
1. Hopewell Football Likely Section Opponents with Aliquippa Next 2 Seasons.
Hopewell Football Likely Section Opponents with Aliquippa Next 2 Seasons
2. Hopewell Can’t Complete Comeback, Loses to Deer Lakes in Quarterfinals.
Hopewell Can’t Complete Comeback, Loses to Deer Lakes in Quarterfinals
3. Former Hopewell Standout Anthony LaSala Helps Pitt Baseball to 14-0 Win.
Former Hopewell Standout Anthony LaSala Helps Pitt Baseball to 14-0 Win
4. 4 Hopewell Wrestlers Begin Their Quest for WPIAL Championships Tomorrow
4 Hopewell Wrestlers Begin Their Quest for WPIAL Championships Tomorrow
5. Update on the 2026 Hopewell Youth Baseball Season
