Football News

The North Allegheny Athletic Department is proud to announce its Athletes of the Year for the 2023-2024 school year. The Male Athlete of the Year is senior football player Logan Kushner and the Female Athlete of the Year is senior girls’ wrestling standout Leyna Rumpler. Below are capsules on each individual and their accomplishments.

Logan Kushner
Over the last two seasons, the North Allegheny football team has reigned supreme in the WPIAL’s largest classification with back-to-back 6A titles and has done so on the strength of quarterback Logan Kushner.

Taking over as the team’s starting quarterback as a sophomore, Kushner has been a fixture in the North Allegheny passing game and rushing attack. Displaying excellence on the field and in the classroom, Kushner was a recipient of the 2024 WPIAL/James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award and was a recipient of the Scholar-Athlete Award by the Big 56 Conference.

The Duquesne University commit garnered All-State and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fab 22 honors as a senior, three All-Conference nods, and won the KDKA Radio Super 7 Award. Kushner was also tabbed the WPIAL Class 6A Player of the Year by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Trib Live High School Sports Network. He was named a finalist for the Willie Thrower Award and was selected to play in the PSFCA East-West All-Star Game, earning Most Valuable Player honors for the West Team.

For the 2023 season, Kushner rushed for a team-best 1,439 yards and 24 touchdowns, to go along with 1,821 passing yards and 24 touchdowns and just five interceptions. A three-year starter, Kushner is the first quarterback during the Art Walker era to throw for three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. His rushing yardage and touchdown total are the most in a single season at North Allegheny since Alex Papson rushed for 2,482 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2010. Papson was inducted into the NA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.

Kushner not only put up gaudy numbers, but he came through with his best performances in the biggest games. In the 2022 WPIAL championship game, a 35-21 win over Central Catholic, Kushner rushed for a then-career-high 195 yards and accounted for three total touchdowns. In the 2023 WPIAL title tilt, Kushner once again put a stake in the heart of the Vikings in a 44-41 win by rushing for a new career-best 240 yards and accounted for six total touchdowns. His 76-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes left in the game proved to be the winning touchdown.

Kushner finishes his North Allegheny career with 4,812 passing yards and 40 touchdowns. On the ground, he completes his high school career with 1,850 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns.

Leyna Rumpler
Since the birth of the Girls Wrestling program at North Allegheny in 2020-2021, a cornerstone for the Lady Tigers has been Leyna Rumpler. With a bevy of new records and “firsts” for this brand-new sport, Rumpler has been a trailblazer for girls’ wrestling at North Allegheny as well as the entire state of Pennsylvania.

A three-year captain, Rumpler is the first in program history to be a four-year letter winner and was the first Tiger to win a state championship in 2023 as a junior. During her senior campaign, the Baldwin Wallace commit totaled a record of 35-2 with 28 wins by fall and became the first NA girls’ wrestler to win a WPIAL championship. She was the first Lady Tiger to win a PIAA Western Regional championship, the first PIAA qualifier, the first PIAA medalist and the first PIAA finalist in program history.

This past season, Rumpler finished the year ranked No. 24 in the country by USA Wrestling and won a PIAA silver medal, becoming the first in program history to be nationally ranked and win a state medal. She was selected to represent Team Pennsylvania at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic, the first NA girl to do so and only the 13th NA wrestler overall to represent Team PA at the classic.

Because of her dominance on the mat this season, Rumpler was selected to represent Team PA at the 2024 Air Force Special Warfare Junior Nationals on June 19-22 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She’ll also qualify for the 2024 U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Junior Nationals on July 13-14 in Fargo, North Dakota. Rumpler is the first in program history to win the 2024 USA Wrestling Phil Portugese Northeast Regional Champion and the first to receive the 2024 Wrestlers In Business Network Pittsburgh Chapter Scholarship.

For her career, Rumpler was a four-time state qualifier, a three-time state finalist, a three-time Western Regional Champion, a two-time Western PA Girls Champion***, one-time WPIAL Champion, and a three-time Pennsylvania Wrestling Association All-Academic Team member, among other accolades.

In her four years at North Allegheny, Rumpler became the first Lady Tiger to eclipse the 100-win plateau with an astonishing career record of 102-20.

(***The Western PA Girls Championship was the unofficial WPIAL championship until this year when girls wrestling became sanctioned).