Westinghouse eager to reclaim City League football crown

Wherever Donta Green goes, his players follow without hesitation.

The revered Westinghouse football coach commands his troops with the intensity of a seasoned drill sergeant, but there is no cursing around these parts. Anybody who violates that rule owes 25 push-ups on the spot, and repeat offenders will be sent home for the day.

After finishing a preseason workout in the weight room, players line up to receive their instructions from Green, then march quietly through the halls to make their way down to the practice field — known affectionately as “The Graveyard.” The team practices until 8 p.m. or later Monday through Thursday, and with less than a month to go before their season-opening scrimmage against Erie on Aug. 22, the Bulldogs are leaving no stone unturned in their preparations.

“I think the guys are preparing well,” Green said. “I think they’re seeing the value in the journey, which is always good and a great indicator of a good team. I think the leadership has been steady and consistent, which is slightly different than in recent years. Instead of one player, now it’s a group of guys who are carrying the burden on the team. But overall, we’re excited about what this team could be.”

Before Green returned home in 2019 to take the reins as the head coach at his alma mater, Westinghouse had gone more than two decades without winning a City League championship.

It didn’t take long for Green to transform the culture — both on and off the field.

Under Green’s watchful eye, the Bulldogs claimed back-to-back City League titles in each of his first two seasons, ending a 23-year championship drought. They have now reached the City League championship game in all seven seasons since he took over, capturing five titles during that span.

Even more notably, they advanced to back-to-back PIAA Class 2A championship games in 2022-23, coming up just short of securing their first state title after enduring a pair of heart-wrenching losses against the mighty Southern Columbia dynasty.

The 38-year-old Green, who serves as the executive director of the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh at his “real job,” was selected as the Pittsburgh Union Progress Coach of the Year in 2022 as well as the Pennsylvania Football Writers’ Coach of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. But for all his team has accomplished in the past seven years, Green’s impact on the program at Westinghouse stretches far beyond the wins and losses.

“Not a lot of us have a father figure where we come from,” said star senior Dai’Saun Blanchard, a Bowling Green recruit. “Anything we need, he’ll make sure we get it. Any emotion that we’re feeling, he’ll help you get through it. He’s more than a football coach. We think of him as a life coach.”

But while Green has become a pillar of the same community where he grew up, it wasn’t long ago that he very nearly said goodbye to the place he calls home.

In January 2023, Green was strongly considering a lucrative offer to become the new football coach at Woodland Hills, a high-profile school known for producing some of the most talented players to ever come out of the WPIAL. He would have received a considerable pay raise, access to the school’s top-tier facilities and the opportunity to coach inside the legendary Wolvarena.

But Green couldn’t bring himself to abandon the home he had built and relationships he had formed at the inner-city school in Homewood, one of Pittsburgh’s most poverty-stricken neighborhoods, where kids look to him as a beacon of hope and a reason to believe.

“A shiny object isn’t always where you’re supposed to be,” said Green, who admitted he has turned down several other schools that have tried to lure him away in recent years. “On paper, it was a way better opportunity. Amenities are way better. But there’s a peace to knowing you’re right where God wants you to be. And it didn’t even take a long time for God to show me.”

Just a week or two after making up his mind to stay with the Bulldogs, Dick’s Sporting Goods made Westinghouse the first recipient of its 75for75 program, which came with a $75,000 grant to improve the program’s facilities. The result? A brand-new, state-of-the-art weight room and recovery lab featuring custom artwork of some of the team’s most prominent players in recent years, including Dayon Hayes, Keyshawn Morsillo and Taymir O’Neal.

The rest of the funds help provide meals for players after practices and games, with former player Roderick Jeter’s mother, Phylicia Tarpley, cooking two meals per week and local restaurant Shuman’s Homewood providing the rest.

“I remember standing in the tunnel [prior to a PIAA quarterfinal game against Farrell in 2021], and our kids came out to warm up. Shortly after, their kids came out to warm up,” Green said. “Their kids were all thick. You could tell they had been in the weight room. You could tell they had been eating. I knew we had to figure out a way to feed our kids. So we started giving them a full meal every day after practice, and you could see the way their bodies have transformed.

“We hadn’t seen that in a long time. I think that was probably the biggest shift in the culture of the program.”

Looking ahead to the 2026 season, the Bulldogs find themselves in an unfamiliar position with no City League crown to defend. Rival foe University Prep spoiled Westinghouse’s bid for a fourth consecutive championship with an emphatic 26-0 victory in last year’s title game, and the Bulldogs finished the season with a record of 7-5, losing to Bishop Guilfoyle in the PIAA Class 1A quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.

This time around, Westinghouse finds itself back in Class 2A for the 2026-27 cycle but with a bit of a twist. When the PIAA playoffs begin, the Bulldogs will be competing on the eastern side of the bracket in their quest to make their way back to the state championship game.

“It’s part of the journey,” Green said. “I think everything happens for a reason. We didn’t finish how we were supposed to finish, and we didn’t prepare how we were supposed to prepare. That was the reason why we fell short the last two years. But this year’s team has just a different swagger to them, and they’re approaching the game a little bit differently.

“It makes us really excited about this year.”

As always, the defense will lay the foundation for Westinghouse. The Bulldogs will feature one of the top pass-rushing tandems in the state, with Blanchard (6-1, 210) and junior DaeJour Pinckney (6-3, 230) teaming up to wreak havoc in opposing backfields.

“Everybody knows that I’m going to be coming, so it won’t be a surprise,” Blanchard said. “We’ve got a goal to win states. Being a key player, I’ve got to help us reach that goal.”

Blanchard is a speed rusher who runs a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash and an 11.1 in the 100 meters, while Pinckney is a three-star prospect and rare physical specimen who holds scholarship offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Wisconsin and others.

“[Coach Green] humbled me and built me up into something I never thought I could be,” Pinckney said. “I came in here [weighing] 180, thinking I was a receiver. He showed me I know how to chase the ball. I have good reactions. He told me to eat, told me what I could be, and I just believed in him.

“He changed me into what the world sees now.”

Offensively, junior Zahir “Zaza” Ismaeli is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the area, now entering his second season as Westinghouse’s starting signal caller after playing as a freshman at West Mifflin. Ismaeli can run with anybody, but his arm talent continues to improve along with his grasp of the Bulldogs’ offense.

His top target will be speedy senior K’shawn Hawkins, a four-year starter and one of the team’s only remaining players from its most recent state championship appearance in 2023.

“I feel like that [2023 PIAA championship game] has been on my mind every day that I step on the field,” Hawkins said. “I’ve been there before, so I’m trying to get there again. And I know what it takes, so I’m going to push my guys to get there.”

As for the team’s most versatile weapon, look no further than Omar Pack.

An all-city middle linebacker and trusted senior leader, Pack is the team’s Swiss Army knife, capable of excelling at multiple positions on offense, defense and special teams. Along with his role as captain of the defense, he will be a focal point on offense and special teams, slated to line up at fullback, running back and kicker.

“You’ve just got to be a dog,” Pack said. “There’s no getting tired around here. … I’ll play wherever they need me to play. Tackle, guard, anything.”

Whether these pieces are enough to return Westinghouse to the top of the City League and beyond remains to be seen. But for Green, the most important thing isn’t bringing home a city or state title — it’s the life lessons that his players will carry with them long after they graduate.

“I just want to be seen as someone the kids can feel safe to be around and a voice they can trust,” Green said. “All the other stuff, I really don’t care for. It’s the image in which our kids see me that makes me excited and more proud of the work we get to do. … I didn’t envision having this much success and this much success this fast, but I’m enjoying it a little bit.

“It’s those relationships that I can build, with not only the kids but the families as a whole, that I really cherish.”

This story originally published on July 27, 2026, at 8 a.m. EDT.