Neshannock High School baseball coach Mike Kirkwood sometimes marvels at Joe Fontana, and it has nothing to do with the .462 batting average of his junior center fielder.

"After seeing what happened to him and actaully wondering at one point whether he would even live, it really is something to see him just playing," Kirkwood said.

If the WPIAL gave a comeback player of the year, Fontana would be a prime candidate.

Two months ago, Fontana suffered serious head injuries when he dove for a fly ball and his head ran into a steel fence during a scrimmage at Flaherty Field in New Castle.

Fontana lost consciousness and was flown to Allegheny General Hospital.

"We ran to him in the outfield and his full body was in a seizure," Kirkwood said of the March 18 incident. "He was gurgling and gasping for breath. We didn't know if he was going to die right there. It was pretty scary."

Fontana only remembers diving for the ball and nothing else -- until he awoke in the hospital later that night. He sustained a concussion and also two cuts on his head that required stitches. He stayed in the hospital for four days and his baseball season was in question. He had been a starter at Neshannock since his freshman year.

"One doctor said I'd be out a month, and a couple others said it would be a lot longer," Fontana said. "I didn't really kow."

But Fontana eventually got cleared to play, and his first game back was mid-April. He hit a game-winning home run against Union May 4.

"That was just a special moment for a great kid because we didn't even know if he'd be able to play this year," Kirkwood said. "I don't think there was a dry eye in the place the day he hit that home run."

Fontana has 12 hits in 26 at-bats and has helped Neshannock to the WPIAL Class A semifinals Tuesday against defending champion Carmichaels.

"I'm 100 percent back, but my swing is a little rusty," Fontana said. "Not playing for a month, it's hard to come back. But other than my swing, I'm alright."

Three of the four teams in the WPIAL Class AAAA baseball semifinals are from the Northern suburbs and play in Section 1. They are North Allegheny, Pine-Richland and Butler.

The fourth team in Wednesday's semifinals is Kiski Area, which also played in Section 1 last year. Kiski Area was 0-12 in Section 1 a year ago.

Isaiah Epps is a highly-touted Pitt basketball recruit for the class of 2010 who attends Plainfield High in New Jersey. But there is a decent chance he will play his senior season at a prep school in Western Pennsylvania.

Epps will be 19 in August and too old to play his senior year in New Jersey. He is seriously considering attending Kiski School, a prep school in Saltsburg near Indiana.

Anthony Cheatham, recently hired as Kiski School's new basketball coach, said "there is a strong chance" Epps will enroll at Kiski. Cheatham said Epps is expected to visit the school tomorrow, along with Shaquille Thomas, a standout 6-6 junior forward at Mountain State Academy in Beckley, W.Va. Both Epps and Thomas are ranked among the top 100 players in the country for 2010.

Epps' and Thomas' possible enrollment at Kiski is a sign of how the school is trying to upgrade its basketball program to attract standout players from everywhere -- Western Pennsylvania and abroad. A 7-2 player from Serbia has worked out this spring at Kiski. A few promising non-seniors from the WPIAL, including Central Catholic freshman Ben Mickens, also are considering going to Kiski.

"Kiski's issue is we want to be excellent at everything," said Bill Ellis, Kiski's associated head master for enrollment. "Basketball is not something that is going to run the school. But just like everything esle, we want to be the best."

Kiski is not part of the WPIAL or PIAA, and is allowed to recruit players. The school has strengthened its schedule considerably for next season, playing against some top prep schools out of state, and also hoping to play in some highly-competitive tournaments. Although Kiski accepts postgraduates, Cheatham said postgraduates most likely won't be on the basketball team.

"The hard part is the tournaments want to know what players you have, and the players want to know what tournaments you have," Cheatham said.

In WPIAL circles, basketball coaches aren't exactly happy about the prospect of some players leaving school to go to Kiski. Room and board at Kiski is $36,300 for next year. The school does not give athletic scholarships, but does give financial aid based on need.

Shaler has removed the "interim" tag from Paul Holzshu as boys' basketball coach.

Holzshu, the school's athletic director, took over the team in early December when Coach Howie Ruppert died. The position was opened at the end of the season, but a selection committee settled on Holzshu, 59, who was hired this week. He will retire as coach and AD after two seasons.

"The longer the process went, the more this solution became the most viable solution, for a number of reasons," Holzshu said.

It has been reported the past few weeks that replay can be used in basketball championship games next season when a game is decided by a last-second shot.

But it needs to be pointed out replay can be used only in "state" championship games, and only on a shot at the end of the fourth quarter or overtime. So you won't see replay being used on last-second shots at WPIAL championships, or other district championships.