Bill Hartlep stories, Page 14

Sports Editor

A-K Valley high school football matchups for 2023 Week Zero

Nonconference Apollo-Ridge at Leechburg 7 p.m. Friday, Veterans Stadium, Leechburg Last year’s meeting: Apollo-Ridge 34, Leechburg 28 Apollo-Ridge gained bragging rights last season when the rivalry renewed after a two-year hiatus. Can the Vikings collect 530 yards of offense this time around? … Apollo-Ridge has a young roster, but senior...
Summit Academy eyes improvement in Big 7 Conference

Summit Academy’s football team took its share of lumps last season, but there were plenty of learning moments for the players and coaches. The group is hoping to use that experience from a year ago to find more success this fall, with an all new team. “The goal is to...
2023 WPIAL Class A football breakdown: Strength of Big 7 Conference on displayVideo

It’s popular coachspeak to say that a meat-grinder conference schedule prepares teams for the postseason. Last season, that appeared to be absolutely accurate in the WPIAL Class A Big 7 Conference. Laurel won the conference with a 6-0 record and earned the No. 2 seed for the Class A playoffs...
New coach hopes to guide Freedom to success

It was mid-March when Ron Balog took the reins of the Freedom football team. It’s been full-speed ahead since. The former Quaker Valley head coach who spent last season as an offensive coordinator at North Catholic wanted to make sure his team was prepared despite the late start to the...
Ellwood City ready to take next step in program turnaround

Ellwood City got rid of a losing stigma last season, and now the Wolverines are aiming to take the next step in the program’s turnaround. They snapped a 27-game losing streak in Week 2 last season with a 46-6 victory at Carlynton. It was the longest skid among WPIAL teams,...
Highlands’ Aaran Randolph likely to grab more headlines this fall

Aaran Randolph had quite an introduction to A-K Valley football fans. When they opened their newspaper Saturday morning Oct. 1, 2022, the Game of the Week headline read: “RUNNING RAM: Randolph’s 5 scores lead Highlands past Mars.” What the Golden Rams faithful already knew, many across Western Pennsylvania then discovered...
Freeport linemen hoping to pave the way toward Allegheny 6 title defense

It’s unlikely Isaac “Ickey” Woods will score a touchdown this season. The Freeport lineman doesn’t get carries in the backfield, won’t catch any passes and isn’t going to take snaps at quarterback. He doesn’t return punts or kicks and probably isn’t going to be deep enough in the secondary to...
Young Freeport looks to outslug opponents in defense of conference title

Freeport doesn’t have the largest linemen in Class 3A. The Yellowjackets don’t have a bevy of skill players committed to Power 5 programs. With 39 players, they also don’t have the biggest roster in the Allegheny 6 Conference. None of that matters to veteran coach John Gaillot as long as...
Highlands hunting playoff success

Luke Bombalski had a simple response when asked about goals for the Highlands football team this season. “Win that first playoff game,” he said. There was no mention of rushing yards, a number of touchdowns or how many tackles or interceptions the senior running back/linebacker wants to accumulate. Nothing about...
Pirates’ No. 1 draft pick Paul Skenes makes minor league debut

Paul Skenes made his professional baseball debut Thursday afternoon, and it was a quick one. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ No. 1 overall pick out of LSU, Skenes started for the FCL Pirates in their game against the FCL Twins at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. He tossed a 1-2-3 inning with...
Experienced Peters Township ready to challenge for Allegheny Six title

There’s one giant benefit when a high school football team has a small senior class — experience for the underclassmen. Peters Township’s youngsters got plenty of it last season, and the Indians’ coaching staff is hoping those reps pay dividends this season. “We’re a lot more experienced than we were...
Robert Morris picked last in Big South-OVC Football Association preseason poll

The Robert Morris football team is looking to bounce back from a winless 2022 season, and the Colonials will face several new opponents in their quest for improvement. The new-look Big South-OVC Football Association released its inaugural preseason poll for the 2023 season Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn. The league’s head...
2023 USFL Championship at a glance: Pittsburgh Maulers vs. Birmingham Stallions

The Pittsburgh Maulers will try to complete their quest to go from worst to first when they meet the the Birmingham Stallions at 8 p.m. Saturday in the 2023 USFL Championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The game will be broadcast on NBC. Here’s...
Pittsburgh Maulers top Michigan in overtime to reach USFL championship gameVideo

It took two overtime “innings” in a “shootout” format to decide a winner, but the Pittsburgh Maulers find themselves in the USFL championship game for the first time after a thrilling 31-27 victory over the Michigan Panthers in the USFL semifinals Saturday night at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio....
Pittsburgh Maulers’ lead slips away late in loss to Houston Gamblers

The Pittsburgh Maulers’ stingy defense held its own for much of Saturday’s USFL contest against the Houston Gamblers. But one of the league’s top running backs proved too much to deny. Mark Thompson scored on a 33-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 51 seconds to play to give the Gamblers...
2023 WPIAL Class 2A softball championship preview: Neshannock vs. Laurel

WPIAL Class 2A softball championship 1-Neshannock (19-0) vs. 2-Laurel (16-2) 4:45 p.m. Thursday at Lilley Field, PennWest University, California On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Neshannock had a first-round bye and then defeated No. 8 Burgettstown, 10-0, in the quarterfinals and No. 5 Greensburg Central Catholic,...

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