It has been said that the number of multisport high school athletes is dwindling. In the age of specialization, more kids seem to pick one sport and concentrate on it at a younger age.

But in the WPIAL and City League, the multisport athlete is alive and well -- at least in football and basketball.

Look at various levels in the WPIAL and you see one kid, two sports and a great deal of success.

This area has been blessed with some standout two-sport athletes in recent years. Maybe this year's crop isn't at the level of former Jeannette two-sport wonder Terrelle Pryor, but there are a number of athletes proving that playing -- and excelling -- at two sports is still possible.

If you look at the top 50 scorers in WPIAL basketball this season, you'll see about a dozen players who also were pretty fair football players. Beaver Falls' Todd Thomas is one of the best two-sport athletes in the league. He has a football scholarship to Pitt and has a chance at reaching 2,000 career points in basketball.

Thomas Jefferson's Brock DeCiccois another Pitt football recruit who is having an impact in basketball, averaging 16 points a game for the Jaguars, who are ranked No. 2 in WPIAL Class AAA.

Keystone Oaks' Corey Bellovich had a nice football season at quarterback and is now the second-leading scorer in WPIAL basketball.

Jeannette's Jordan Hall is headed for Ohio State for football but is averaging more than 20 points a game in basketball.

Serra's T.J. Heatherington had two terrific seasons as Serra's football quarterback and is averaging more than 20 points in basketball and will play basketball next season at Point Park.

Some other athletes who were at least all-conference in football and are scoring at a notable clip in basketball are Yough's Ben Hoffer, Valley's Troy Hill, North Hills' Cody Patton, Allderdice's Will Clarke and Carrick's Bruce Thornton.

But there are a few top basketball scorers who also were talented in another sport besides football. Peters Township's Nate Wilcox was an all-section soccer player. Belle Vernon's Bo Lustig was one of the better golfers in the WPIAL.

They are all proving one can play two.

"I would tell any kid to play more than one sport," DeCicco said. "The main reason I play basketball is because it's fun. I love playing it. It's always been my favorite sport.

"Even the strength coach at Pitt, Buddy Morris, told me to keep lifting weights, but that you're not going to get better if all you do is play one sport and lift weights. He said to play a couple sports. It's OK to concentrate on one sport, but it's good to play more than one."

Over the years, there have been high-profile athletes who have given up one sport when they are a senior, for various reasons.

Hopewell's Paul Posluszny, now in the NFL, quit basketball as a senior. LaVar Arrington, a future first-round NFL draft pick, also gave up basketball as a senior at North Hills. Pine-Richland baseball star Neil Walker gave up basketball his senior year.

"I'll probably play football in college, but I actually like basketball more than football. That's why I keep playing," said Yough's Hoffer, who averages better than 20 points a game in basketball and rushed for close to 3,000 yards the past two seasons in football.

Bellovich plans to play basketball in college, but never thought about giving up football in high school.

"It just makes you a better athlete to play more than one," he said. "If you're more of a basketball player, football gives you toughness and makes you stronger. If you're more of a football player, basketball helps with your speed, agility and lateral movement."

But high school athletes will tell you it isn't easy to play two high-profile sports such as football and basketball these days because of the off-season workouts and conditioning.

Many football teams have weight lifting, agility training and workouts four or five days a week in the summer. At the same time, the basketball team might have summer-league games at night or "open gyms" a few days during the week.

"It's challenging, but I wouldn't say it's difficult," Bellovich said. "As long as you stay organized, you're fine."

And at some schools, a football coach might not like an athlete going to basketball workouts in the offseason, or vice versa. Some football coaches have been known to push a kid toward weight lifting or agility training in the offseason and discourage him from playing another sport.

"It's hard if two head coaches at the high school don't share the same common goals," said Gateway football coach Terry Smith.

Smith was a football-basketball standout at Gateway in the 1980s.

"It's hard because today's athletes are extremely busy," Smith said. "But I'm an advocate of playing multiple sports. You get a kid to prioritize and go to one sport at a young age, you run the risk of burning those kids out in that sport. Kids have personal trainers in a sport when they're 9, 10, 11 and 12 years old. That's too much."

Some college football coaches who recruit this area like it when an athlete also plays another sport and excels. Over the years, Penn State football assistant coach Tom Bradley has used basketball as one of the barometers in scouting a potential recruit.

Pitt football assistant coach Greg Gattuso was a football-basketball standout at Seton-LaSalle before graduating in 1980 and going on to play football at Penn State. He was a wide body in football, but still was an agile basketball player, averaging 22.4 points as a senior at Seton-LaSalle. He scored 35 points in his first basketball game as a senior, one week after his football squad won a WPIAL championship.

"It is different nowadays because sports are played year-round," Gattuso said. "But it's harder to be a multisport athlete only because of short-sighted people in high school sports who want kids to specialize. I don't mean to be rude, but it's a disservice to a kid if any coach or parent encourages him to play only one sport. I think parents do it because they think that's how you get a scholarship.

"I don't think every kid can play multiple sports because maybe they're not good enough. But I think a multisport athlete is mentally better prepared to play at the next level after high school. I'm not saying if you're a football player that you shouldn't train in the offseason, but I always thought one of my biggest strengths as a football player was having been a basketball player."

Gattuso remembers his sophomore year at Seton-LaSalle when he wanted to quit football and concentrate on basketball ("I thought I was the next Larry Bird," he said.). He was 6 feet 2, 245 pounds and didn't go to preseason football camp the first three days.

"But our football coach, Frank Cipriani, was the cafeteria monitor, and he wouldn't let me in the cafeteria to eat because I didn't come to camp," Gattuso said, with a laugh. "He told me not to put all my eggs in one basket because you don't know what your future holds. Finally, on the fourth day of camp, I told him 'I'll play football if you let me eat lunch.'

"Although I played football, I had more fun in my life playing basketball than playing football. If I would've specialized in just football at a younger age, would I have been a better football player? Probably not.

"I'd tell any kid to play more than one sport."