Carson Heinle and his Kiski Area senior teammates, Colin Keller and Jacob Musselman, went up against Armstrong’s Jacob Szep and Plum’s Will Beckner twice in Section 2-5A battles during the 2024-25 regular season.
The Cavaliers got the better of the River Hawks and the Mustangs twice en route to winning the outright section championship.
Now, with all of the season matchups behind them, Heinle, Musselman and Keller will try to throw rivalries with Szep and Beckner to the side. They will be wearing the same color jerseys Saturday evening as members of the East team in the boys game of the 28th Cager Classic all-star event at Highlands High School.
“It will be interesting,” said Heinle about teaming with former heated rivals and others whom he will meet for the first time at a practice session Thursday. “It is all-around cool that I get to play one more game with Colin and Jacob. I am really looking forward to seeing how it goes.”
Heinle and the others from Kiski, Plum and Armstrong will team up on the East squad with the likes of Valley’s Mikael Allen, Burrell’s Tucker Bitar, Riverview’s Matt Orbin and Apollo-Ridge’s Tyler Bartell and be coached by first-year Valley mentor Brice Flenory.
Heinle is not taking the opportunity to play in the Cager Classic lightly as his older brother, Max, a senior in 2020, was selected. But with covid-19 in the early stages of becoming a pandemic, the games were canceled.
“I saw how disappointed he was because he thought it would be a great way to end his high school career,” Carson Heinle said. “I just want to go all out, play well, and represent my family, friends and my team.”
The boys West team features players from Leechburg, Springdale, Deer Lakes, Mars, Butler, Hampton, St. Joseph, Highlands and Cheswick Christian Academy.
Albie Fletcher, who guided Deer Lakes to an 18-7 record and the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals, will coach the West team.
“I had the privilege of coaching the boys 3A Roundball team last year, and it was very similar in that it is a special feeling to be around so much talent and be able to be around players you coached against and scouted for years,” Fletcher said.
“That is one of the cooler things about it. It is a great opportunity to get to know these kids a little bit better in the brief amount of time we have together and to also see them interact with other guys from different schools.
“Growing up in the area and knowing about this game for years, it is a really cool thing to see them keep this going for so long and bring all of the local talent together.
“It is so much hard work for the event officials to be able to organize everything and have it be as strong as it’s ever been.”
Fletcher said it will be extra meaningful to coach Lancers seniors J.T. McCue and Nathaniel Moore one more time.
“It’s a different environment with a little less stress and a little less demanding than in the season the last four years,” said Fletcher, who coached in the Cager Classic as a Deer Lakes assistant five years ago.
“To coach (McCue and Moore) in the tone of an all-star setting will be really cool, for sure.”
Highlands’ Colton Svitek and Tyarah Woody will be hosts, in a way, for the all-star games as they will play one more high school game on their home court.
Woody, who led the Golden Rams to the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs while averaging 20.2 points a game, is ready to join her West teammates from Springdale, Mars, Deer Lakes, St. Joseph, Butler, Fox Chapel and Cheswick Christian.
The West will be coached by Deer Lakes’ Dana Petruska, who guided the Lancers back to the WPIAL playoffs this season after a two-year hiatus.
Petruska coached against her son, Dave, then the Deer Lakes head coach, in the 2019 Cager Classic when she was the girls head coach at Mars.
“Sometimes, when you’re playing with the same kids throughout the regular season and even throughout your entire high school experience, there comes along that opportunity to play with others who they might have gone up against throughout their career and be able to build that camaraderie,” Petruska said.
“When I’ve talked to a lot of my kids, I remember them saying, ‘I don’t like her. She’s mean,’ and then after the experience, they will come to me and say, ‘Boy, I really misjudged her.’ It’s one of those life moments where kids sometimes have the opportunity to see both sides of somebody. That is their maturing and them growing up.”
The East team, coached by Valley’s Tonya Norman, is a formidable group led by players from Franklin Regional, Armstrong, Kiski Area, Plum, Riverview, Burrell and Valley.
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Section rivals from Plum (Tatum Olczak), Franklin Regional (Madison DeRiggi, Addison Musto, and Toryn Fulton), and Armstrong (Bella Yancy and Marlo Mellish) become teammates, as do those from Burrell (Julianna Fisher) and Valley (Janelle Norman).
Practices for all four teams will be Thursday at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Highlands, which also will host a skills competition Friday at 7 p.m.
The skills competition will comprise a 3-point shooting contest and a hot shot contest, where a participant will have 45 seconds and eight locations on the floor.
Saturday’s girls all-star game will tip-off at 5:30 p.m. with the boys game to start at 7:30.
Each team will have an MVP, and the winner will receive a $500 scholarship.
Tickets are $4 for students and $7 for adults.
Both East teams were winners in 2024.
Armstrong’s Emma Paul scored 18 points, River Hawks teammate Sarai Weaver added 16, Kiski Area’s Abigail Johns tallied 15, and Plum’s Megan Marston scored 10 to lead the East to a 95-78 win in the girls game.
St. Joseph’s Julie Spinelli (20 points), Knoch’s Adah Fuller (13), and Highlands’ Kate Myers (8) and Jocelyn Bielak (8) fronted the West team.
Johns and Spinelli earned MVP honors for their teams.
On the boys’ side, Franklin Regional’s Cooper Rankin and Burrell’s Macky Bennis led the East team with 19 points apiece in a 101-98 victory. Franklin Regional’s Cam Rowell, Butler’s Braylon Littlejohn and Kiski Area’s Isaiah Gonzalez each scored 15.
Cameron Reigard of Highlands led all scorers with 27 points, Highlands’ Bradyn Foster had 14, and Billy Schaeffer of Deer Lakes finished with 12 for the West.
MVPs were Littlejohn for the East and Reigard for the West.
28th Cager Classic
When: Saturday, 5:30 p.m. girls; 7:30 p.m. boys
Where: Highlands High School
Girls
East
1, Madison DeRiggi, Franklin Regional, 5-5
2, Marlo Mellish, Armstrong, 5-6
4, Madeline Joyce, Kiski Area, 5-5
11, Tatum Olczak, Plum, 5-9
12, Katerina Tsambis, Riverview, 5-3
13, Addison Musto, Franklin Regional, 5-9
15, Bella Horcicik, Kiski Area, 5-6
20, Julianna Fisher, Burrell, 5-10
21, Bella Yancy, Armstrong, 5-2
22, Janelle Norman, Valley, 6-2
23, Toryn Fulton, Franklin Regional, 6-0
25, Lily Bauer, Riverview, 6-0
Head coach: Tonya Norman (Valley). Assistant: Jonah Norman
West
2, Tyarah Woody, Highlands, 5-9
3, Ashlyn Ferderbar, Springdale, 5-2
4, Vita Vargo, Mars, 5-5
13, Olivia Ryan, Deer Lakes, 5-8
14, Gia Richter, St. Joseph, 5-5
15, Sydney Patterson, Butler, 5-8
21, Anna Clark, Deer Lakes, 5-9
22, Bella Urso, Fox Chapel, 5-5
30, Avery Maier, Butler, 5-9
31, Abby Louis, Cheswick Christian, 5-7
32, Amelia McMichael, Butler, 5-11
35, Carmella McDole, Mars, 5-8
Head coach: Dana Petruska (Deer Lakes). Assistant: Heather Davis
Boys
East
0, Jacob Musselman, Kiski Area, 6-0
1, Mikael Allen, Valley, 6-5
2, Matt Orbin, Riverview, 6-3
4, Tucker Bitar, Burrell, 6-0
5, Jacob Szep, Armstrong, 6-4
10, Connor Crossey, Franklin Regional, 6-1
12, Braydon Rodgers, West Shamokin, 6-3
13, Wil Beckner, Plum, 5-8
14, Carson Heinle, Kiski Area, 6-1
23, Jonah Johnston, Franklin Regional, 6-3
24, Colin Keller, Kiski Area, 6-1
32, Tyler Bartell, Apollo-Ridge, 6-4
Head coach: Brice Flenory (Valley). Assistant: Eric Kostick
West
1, Brady Rollinger, Leechburg, 6-0
2, J.T. McCue, Deer Lakes, 6-1
3, John Duku, Springdale, 6-0
4, Drew Navaetta, Mars, 6-0
5, Ayden Andrews, Butler, 6-1
10, Will Wilson, Mars, 6-3
12, Tayt Lucas, Butler, 6-2
14, Griff Jarrell, Hampton, 5-7
15, Ben Bartolovich, St. Joseph, 6-2
21, Colton Svitek, Highlands, 6-0
22, Nathaniel Moore, Deer Lakes, 6-5
23, Keith Booth, Cheswick Christian, 6-2
33, Austin Campbell, Mars, 6-1
Head coach: Albie Fletcher (Deer Lakes). Assistants: Todd Rodgers and Brandon Farster