Hopewell HS Boys Basketball

Last season, Doug Biega came out of retirement to take over as head coach of the Hopewell Vikings Boys’ basketball program.

Thru plenty of hard work, a huge reset in the expectations and practice demands on the players, the entire culture and appearance of Hopewell HS Boys basketball has changed.

Hopewell went 16-10 last season and won their first WPIAL playoff game since 2010.

Because the core of that roster (James Armstrong, Jack Biega, Brody Rock, Jeremy Benninghoff, Justin Shegog, Tre Cameron and Avery Bokor) are all returning, the expectations and outlook are high for this season.

That group won’t be around forever but the good news is that reinforcements are on the way and in the system.

As Vikings Sports Now has been reporting on, a young wave of talent has literally been working since the end of last season and the early reports are extremely encouraging.

Players such as Zack Sampson, Enzo Leopardi, Nico Yannessa, Ryder Kostrick, Kaleb Gonzalez, Christian Fisher, Roman Crisci, Aaden Gonzalez and Jackson Yurcina have been in the gym during open gym sessions and working on their own to improve their games and getting ready for when it’s their turn.

Hopewell’s Enzo Leopardi

Hopewell’s Nico Yannessa

Vikings Sports Now attended a recent open gym session and caught up with Leopardi, Yannessa and Fisher.

It’s the end of May but we have some high school basketball news to let you know about.

Every two years, the WPIAL goes through enrollment numbers in order to determine which classification every WPIAL sports team is placed in.

This weekend, the WPIAL announced the WPIAL Boys’ Basketball Section Alignment for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons. All of this is determined by the number of boys that are enrolled in high school.

In terms of the Hopewell HS Boys basketball team, initially, it appeared they were getting some bad news as it was originally thought that Sewickley Academy would be a member of Section 2. However, due to an unbalanced number of teams in another section, Sewickley Academy now will play in Section 4.

The reason I said it was it was bad news for Hopewell to be paired with Sewickley Academy is because of the way their roster is constructed and the ways and lengths they’re going to acquire talent. That was a huge topic of conversation last basketball season. That was one of the reasons Sewickley Academy voluntarily moved up from Class 2A to Class 4A so that they could possibly be challenged.

Anyways, back to the purpose of this story. Here’s a look at the section games that the Hopewell HS Boys basketball team will be playing over the next 2 seasons.

CLASS 4A/SECTION 2
Hopewell
Beaver
Blackhawk
Central Valley
Ellwood City
Lincoln Park

Section 1
Burrell
Derry
Freeport
Highlands
Knoch
Valley

SECTION 3
Belle Vernon
Elizabeth Forward
Greensburg Salem
Mt. Pleasant
Ringgold
Youth

SECTION 4
Avonworth
Deer Lakes
Hampton
North Catholic
Sewickley Academy
West Mifflin

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.

Tomorrow night, the Hopewell HS boys’ basketball team will look to take another step towards what they hope ends in a championship.

The Vikings will take on Deer Lakes Wednesday night in a Class 4A quarterfinals matchup. The game will be played at North Allegheny High School and will tipoff at 6 PM.

In order to support this team, a student bus is being taken to the game.

Because of the time of the game and your work schedule, if your child is interested in riding the bus to North Allegheny HS, have them go down to the main office at the high school and sign up.

There is a yellow signup sheet, and you have until Noon tomorrow to sign up.

Having school support, especially from the students, is always important in big games such as the playoffs, so let’s get this bus packed with Hopewell students!