Jerin Steele stories, Page 19

A few weeks ago Natalie McLean realized a dream that was four years in the making and made Pine-Richland history. McLean became the first Rams runner to win a PIAA cross country championship Nov. 5 in Hershey. “Ever since I went to states my freshman year, I told myself that...

Freeport girls basketball coach Fred Soilis has had a front row seat for the Yellowjackets’ volleyball team’s run to the PIAA championship game while watching his daughter Ava play libero. One of the biggest impressions the volleyball team made on him was their teamwork. It’s a trait he wants his...

The Freeport boys basketball team has plenty to build on after getting a playoff win and achieving a winning record for the first time in three years. And they have an experienced roster to lean on. The Yellowjackets have 10 seniors and four juniors, making for competitive practices for starting...

It’s a run that the Union Scotties faithful will remember forever. Midway through the fourth quarter, Braylon Thomas went up the middle on a quarterback draw, the seas parted, and he ran 58 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. With it came a trip to a WPIAL championship...

Two weeks ago, North Allegheny left the WPIAL girls volleyball championships disappointed, but one positive that came from the loss to Pine-Richland was a lesson about where the Tigers needed to improve. They applied that lessons Tuesday night and got some revenge, earning a 3-1 win over the Rams in...

Melissa Schaeffer had to wait a year to be officially inducted into Carnegie Mellon’s sports Hall of Fame, but it was well worth it. A four-time All-American in track and field at CMU, Schaeffer, a Kiski Area grad and the current cross country coach at Freeport, was part of the...

The Freeport girls volleyball team took one step closer to its ultimate goal of winning the program’s second state title with a dominant performance in the quarterfinals. The Yellowjackets built early leads in each set and rolled to a 3-0 sweep over Quaker Valley on Saturday at North Allegheny. Freeport...

It was wet at Freedom Friday night, but there wasn’t any rust on Aliquippa following a bye week. The top-seeded Quips came out and scored 20 points in the first quarter rolled from there on their way to a 41-7 victory over No. 8 Montour (7-5) in the WPIAL Class...

Harbor Creek came into a matchup with Deer Lakes with a plan to sit back and counter. The Huskies were content to let the Lancers have the ball and grind it out defensively, even if it went all the way to penalties. The plan worked, and when it got to...

Pine-Richland grad Meghan Klingenberg added another accomplishment to her resume recently by becoming a two-time National Women’s Soccer League Champion. Klingenberg started at left back for the Portland Thorns, who defeated Kansas City, 2-0, in the NWSL championship, Oct. 29. The match was broadcast live on CBS and set a...

In preparation for the WPIAL Class 4A boys soccer final, Pine-Richland coach Jordan Weigand kept telling his players, “Somebody has to beat them,” referring to two-time defending champion Seneca Valley. In the process, he was instilling belief in his group that they could be the ones to do it. And...

Apollo-Ridge did its best to keep the ball away from Keystone Oaks’ standout junior receiver Clinton Robinson. The Vikings kicked the ball out of bounds on kicks and punts to make sure he couldn’t return it, and they tried to blanket him in coverage. But in the fourth quarter, Robinson...

More often than not in the last 15 years, the Freeport girls volleyball team has had plans the first Saturday in November. That’ll be the case again this year when they go for their seventh WPIAL title. The top-seeded Yellowjackets play No. 2 Shenango in the Class 2A championship at...

Members of the Deer Lakes boys soccer team have described the culture in the program to be a family-like atmosphere. Two of the youngest members of that family combined to get the Lancers WPIAL gold. It was a freshman-to-freshman connection as Peyton Kushon passed to Jacob Orseno, who scored the...

Quaker Valley pushed Freeport as hard as a Class 2A team has this season in the second set of Tuesday’s WPIAL semifinal match, and the Yellowjackets responded like a team with championship pedigree. The top-seeded Yellowjackets trailed for the majority of the set but rallied to secure a 25-23 win...

JJ Simms saw the ball floating high in the air right in front of the goal and just had to be patient. “It came off the bar, and it felt like it was an eternity before it came down,” Simms said. When it did fall back to Earth, he was...

Katie Rishel gained confidence in herself through hard work in the offseason, but she had to prove her progress to a new women’s soccer coaching staff at Case Western Reserve University. The coaches showed belief by making her a starter, and she’s repaid them by flourishing in her sophomore season...

Max Heckert spent the last few years studying future NCAA Division I linebackers Jeremiah Hasley and Luke Miller while playing alongside them at Pine-Richland. Now he’s taking what he learned and applying it as the leader of the defense. Heckert had a team-leading 96 tackles entering the regular season finale...

The Pine-Richland field hockey team finished off its four-peat in style. The Rams capped another dominant WPIAL season with a 3-0 win over rival North Allegheny in the Class 3A championship game Saturday at Washington & Jefferson College. Pine-Richland earned its fourth consecutive WPIAL crown and did so with its...

Mars needed a victory Friday against North Catholic, and it also needed to secure the proper amount of Gardner points. The magic number was seven, and it hit it precisely. The Fightin’ Planets earned a 21-14 victory, secured the fourth and final playoff berth in the Class 4A Greater Allegheny...

At one point in his career, Nate Litrun wasn’t interested in scoring goals. He wanted to focus more on his center back position, but he stands 6-foot-5, so Deer Lakes coach Aaron Smith wanted to use his size in the box on corner kicks. It took some convincing, but eventually...

In Springdale’s first-round win over Sewickley Academy, the game got a little too close for comfort after the Dynamos yielded a couple of late goals. They were determined not to let that happen again Tuesday. This time, the second-seeded Dynamos were dominant from start to finish and ended up with...

Springdale coach Paul Palo credits a good portion of his team’s attack to the instincts and natural talent among an experienced group of midfielders and forwards. Led by junior Billy Lawrence, that talent was on full display in their WPIAL Class A playoff opener Tuesday night. Lawrence had a hat...

The last time Pine-Richland played for a WPIAL girls volleyball championship, Angela Seman was on the other side playing defensive specialist/libero for Seneca Valley. That was 11 years ago, and Seneca Valley ended up winning a thrilling five-set match, 3-2. Now Seman is in her second season as the Rams...

Pine-Richland field hockey coach Donna Stephenson doesn’t have to say much as her team gets ready to try to win a fourth consecutive WPIAL championship. The message comes within the team from the senior leaders that set the standard. “As coaches, we do our best to set them up for...