W2W4 in WPIAL sports for Friday, Jan. 8, 2021

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, January 7, 2021 | 10:19 PM

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends … but was on hiatus for nearly a month.

Four weeks ago, the 2020-2021 winter sports season began on district basketball courts and wrestling mats.

However, when the clock struck midnight on the night of Dec. 11, a mandated shutdown by Gov. Tom Wolf kicked into effect into the new year.

The shutdown ended Monday, and after four mandatory practices as decided by the PIAA, many teams are ready to get back to action.

We plan to promote some of the big games and matches from around the WPIAL every Monday through Saturday in our What to Watch For article, or W2W4 to class it up.

Remember though, the pandemic still exists and schedule changes can be made on an hourly basis, so the information we provide could change without our permission or knowledge. Just sayin’.

Some of the standout basketball games on Opening Night II include:

• Mt. Lebanon is at Baldwin in the debut of Jeff Ackermann as Highlanders boys basketball coach. Ackermann won WPIAL and PIAA titles at Moon and Pine-Richland.

• Lincoln Park visits Upper St. Clair in a Friday afternoon matinee. The Leopards are always a contender even though they had to move up to 4A this season thanks to the PIAA’s competitive balance points earned the last two years. They will battle the top-team in Class 6A in USC.

• Speaking of Lincoln Park, the Leopards girls team also heads south to visit Chartiers Valley. Tim McConnell’s Colts extended their winning streak to 58 in a row on Dec. 11. A 59th straight win would inch them to within three of tying the all-time state record for longest girls basketball win streak.