Top five moments of 2010

1. Tyler Henry putback seals South Fayette's state championship

South Fayette missed layups throughout its PIAA Class AA championship game against District 12's Strawberry Mansion. Despite the struggles from close range, the Lions clamped down on defense and kept the game close throughout.

With under a minute remaining in regulation in a tied game, Mike Lamberti drove the lane and his layup clanked off the rim.

Tyler Henry, recognizing that his team hadn't hit many layups, raced in from outside the three-point arc and grabbed the offensive rebound. His wide-open putback with 25 seconds remaining lifted South Fayette to a 49-47 victory.

It's the first PIAA team championship in South Fayette's history.

2. Dani Hume rebound lifts PT girls to first state title

The 2010 girls soccer season was one of firsts at Peters Township.

First, the Indians rolled through the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs and won their first district title. The dominating efforts continued in the PIAA tournament as Peters Township advanced to the state title match for the second time in three years.

Peters Township faced District 1 power Archbishop Wood in the final, a team that had won 23 straight matches and was ranked fourth nationally by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

The Indians dominated play but didn't score until Dani Hume collected a rebound from a Veronica Latsko shot and buried it. Peters Township won 1-0 for its first state championship.

3. Conwell simply striking for C-H softball

The postseason journey of Chartiers-Houston was a challenging one. The Bucs nearly lost to Brentwood in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals and played a series of extra-innings games.

The bats of Kayla Briggs and Colby Miller helped carry the Bucs through the postseason despite a loss to Vincentian Academy in the WPIAL championship. Then, in the PIAA semifinals, pitcher Kiersten Conwell took over.

Conwell pitched a shutout in the semifinals. In the championship game against Montgomery, she got over a first-inning run to shut down the opponent's powerful lineup the rest of the way. Chartiers-Houston won, 4-1, for its first PIAA championship in six tries.

4. Jesse Scheirer's OT blast gives PT boys 7th WPIAL title

Peters Township shook off a loss against Canon-McMillan to end the regular season to land in a familiar spot - the WPIAL Class AAA championship. The 2010 championship marked the sixth time in eight years that the Indians played for the title.

Jesse Scheirer, a senior striker, was PT's leading scorer during the regular season but he made a bigger impact in the postseason with a series of clutch goals.

None was bigger than the one he scored in the WPIAL championship against Pittsburgh Central Catholic.

A scoreless match spilled into overtime when Scheirer, involved in a little scruff just moments before, made a dazzling run against the Vikings defense and blasted a low, line drive shot into the net for a 1-0 victory and the seventh WPIAL championship in the relatively short history of Peters Township boys soccer.

5. Brumbaugh turns PIAA semis and quarters into passing practice

South Fayette quarterback Christian Brumbaugh established new standards for WPIAL career passing yards, WPIAL career touchdown passes and WPIAL single-season passing yards but neither record may have been achieved were it not for two brilliant performances in the state playoffs.

After winning its first WPIAL Class AA title (South Fayette's third WPIAL championship overall), Brumbaugh passed for 376 yards (then a PIAA playoff record) with five touchdowns against Brockway. In a driving snow storm, Brumbaugh started the game 13-for-13.

In the semifinals against Forest Hills, he came the WPIAL's career passing leader by throwing for 362 yards and six touchdowns, which is a PIAA playoff record.

Brumbaugh threw for a PIAA single-season record 52 touchdowns on the year.