Today is the official start of high school basketball practice in Pennsylvania, and Phyllis Jones will be coaching her Westinghouse girls' team after all.

In February, the Pittsburgh City League athletic committee suspended Jones from coaching this season for allegedly recruiting a player from Langley by commenting to her after a game last season.

Langley brought the issue to the athletic committee, and the committee made the suspension ruling after a hearing into the matter. Jones appealed the decision to the PIAA and, this summer, it asked the City League to re-examine it.

Langley eventually dropped the complaint, and the City League dropped the case, clearing the way for the highly successful Jones to coach again.

"The committee heard the request from Langley and approved the request to drop the complaint," said Mike Gavlik, City League athletic director. "Basically, the case is done when that happens."

It makes one wonder why Langley dropped its complaint after Jones' name was dragged through the mud. Langley athletic director Karen Arnold could not be reached for comment.

Jones has been Westinghouse's coach for 18 seasons, has won seven City League championships and compiled a 349-133 record.

Jones declined comment on the situation. But her lawyer, Craig Lee, said, "We believe, that after reviewing the facts, we think it became apparent to the athletic committee that the underlying events and how they were portrayed were somewhat dubious."

Lee also said he believes the City League did not give Jones proper notice of the first hearing in February.

This is the second time Jones has dealt with a recruiting charge.

In early March 2006, the City League suspended her after the league championship game, and Jones was not permitted to coach in the PIAA playoffs.

The league also voted to suspend her for the following season for alleged recruiting.

But Jones maintained her innocence and appealed the suspensions to the PIAA. Three months after the initial ruling, the PIAA overturned the City League's decision, and she coached the 2006-07 season.

The PIAA this week released school enrollment figures that are used to determine classifications for sports. In the WPIAL, enrollment figures for Woodland Hills and Blackhawk stuck out.

Both enrollments dropped drastically since the previous PIAA figures two years ago. At that time, Woodland Hills was the sixth-largest school in WPIAL Class AAAA football. This time, Woodland Hills is 22nd in Class AAAA in enrollment.

The PIAA uses enrollment figures for the current academic year for boys in grades 9-11. Two years ago, Woodland Hills had 740 boys in those grades. Now, there are 565.

Also, it was not all that long ago that Blackhawk was one of the largest Class AAA schools. Now, Blackhawk is the fifth-smallest Class AAA school.

Hopewell sophomore running back Rushel Shell needs 188 yards to reach 4,000 for his career. The only other running back in WPIAL history to have 4,000 yards in two years was Fort Cherry's Mike Vernillo, who had 4,152 as a freshman and sophomore at Fort Cherry in 1996-97.

A quarterback from Brockway High already set a state record earlier this season. Now, he is on the verge of another.

Derek Buganza, a junior at Brockway (near DuBois), has thrown for 3,435 yards this season and needs 250 to break the state single-season record of 3,684, set by Zach Frazer of Mechanicsburg in 2004. Frazer now plays for the University of Connecticut.

Buganza has completed 228 of 364 passes this season and has 33 touchdown passes. Earlier, he set a state single-game record with 594 yards passing.

Brockway (8-3) plays Karns City (9-2) this week for the District 9 Class AA championship. If Brockway wins this game and wins a PIAA playoff game the following week, then the team will play the WPIAL Class AA champion in the PIAA quarterfinals.

Beaver Falls coach Ryan Matsook has been insisting Division I colleges are missing the boat on standout running back Cody Cook, who surpassed 4,000 career rushing yards last week. Cook does not have any Division I scholarship offers, but Matsook believes that might change in the near future.

"Connecticut, Toledo, Akron, just about every MAC school has been in," Matsook said. "I talk to those coaches frequently. What they tell me is they haven't offered running backs yet and they're waiting and evaluating things.

"They really, really like him, but they kind of wait and see where all the commitments are with the bigger schools. Some of the MAC schools clean up what is left.

"I would anticipate him getting an offer in the next month or so. I would be absolutely shocked if he didn't. He can certainly compete at that level."

Two senior boys' volleyball players from the WPIAL have signed with big-time Division I programs.

Daniel Tublin, a 6-foot-7 outside hitter at Fox Chapel, signed with Stanford.

Nick Goodell of Ambridge signed with Penn State. Goodell, who also considered St. Francis, Pa., and Hawaii, helped Ambridge to WPIAL and PIAA Class AA championships last spring.

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