Jerin Steele stories, Page 33

The Pine-Richland boys and girls track teams are looking to go the distance this spring. The finish line many of the Rams hope to cross is at the state championship. That includes the endurance runners, who are part of a deep and talented group of athletes on both the boys...

A glance at the PIHL Class AAA standings shows the field is wide open with the top five teams separated by four points. A closer look at Pine-Richland’s season really highlights the parity. The Rams, who were third in the final standings, split with the other top-five teams: Peters Township,...

On paper, the Pine-Richland boys lacrosse team is still the defending WPIAL Class AAA champion, but there’s been plenty of change in the two-year span since they last took the field. “We have two combined starts. Not starters, but starts on the team from that 2019 unit,” Pine-Richland coach Kevin...

Every year Pine-Richland girls lacrosse coach Brittany Adams asks the team’s seniors to come up with a motto for the season. For 2021, they chose “bounce back.” Those two words are fitting on a couple of levels. They signal a return to play after the 2020 season was canceled because...

Latrobe softball coach Bob Kovalcin has seven seniors on his roster, and during the preseason, he told each of them they had first crack at their position. Whether they keep it will be performance-based. “I told the seniors it’s their job to lose, but there’s somebody right there behind them...

A big part of Latrobe coach Matt Basciano’s message every year is playing team baseball. Doing the little things like hitting behind a runner to move them up a base or hitting a cutoff man to prevent a single from becoming a double are essential for success all the time,...

Jake DiMichele can still remember the exact day OLSH was eliminated the last time they made the state semifinals. “It was March 19, 2019,” he said. “I remember seeing everyone in the locker room after the game and seeing my brother (Daren). It was his last high school game, and...

In the first week of practice, Greensburg Salem baseball coach Bill Wisniewski told his players to unwind, be kids and have fun in a return to normalcy after last season was wiped out because of the covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, he has asked them to work toward their...

Alyssa Bates has waited nearly 16 months to fill out her first lineup card as the head coach of the Greensburg Salem softball team, so she’s more than ready to get the season going. Bates took over the program in September of 2019, but the cancellation of the 2020 spring...

Pine-Richland softball coach Gary Shepard feels he has the right mix of returning players and newcomers to field a competitive team this spring. And he will have some time to see how the lineup will shake out. Because of a smaller-than-usual section of only six teams, the Rams will have...

When Pine-Richland takes the field this spring, it will be without a few key players at the start, but that isn’t slowing the Rams’ hunger to defend their WPIAL Class 6A title. Standout pitchers Tommy Beam, a West Virginia recruit, and West Virginia Wesleyan recruit Gabe Mustovic, along with infielder...

Jace Miner stole the ball on an inbounds play and scored on a layup with 10 seconds remaining, and in the blink of an eye Ellwood City’s magical run came to an end. Miner’s steal and score proved to be the game-winner as District 9 champion Brookville edged the Wolverines,...

Moments after coming out of the locker room after Friday night’s game, Neshannock girls basketball coach Luann Grybowski breathed a sigh of relief. “We got lucky to get this one,” she said. After watching a 14-point lead slowly evaporate, led by Addi Watts and Aaralyn Nogay the Lancers made enough...

Joe Roth described his feelings succinctly. “It’s awesome to make history for Ellwood City,” he said. Not only did he and his Wolverines teammates win the first WPIAL boys basketball championship in school history Monday, but how they did it will be talked about for a long time in their...

A trio of young Pine-Richland swimmers traveled to Upper St. Clair on March 7 to test themselves against the best in the WPIAL and came home with some solid results to cap off a year in which six new school records were set. Sophomore Delaney Allen placed fourth in the...

During Pine-Richland’s boys basketball playoff run, multiple players saw their name with a large point total beside it on the stat sheet. That’s by design. Rams coach Bob Petcash preaches sharing the ball and moving around to find the open shot. It’s his expectation for everyone that puts on a...

From the opening tip, Ellwood City coach Steve Antuono Sr. paced the sidelines watching the game with intensity, while wearing his emotions on his sleeve. As the time ticked off in the fourth quarter, he and his Wolverines let that emotion spill out onto the floor. The weight of 35...

All season, Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare has talked to his team about creating a new story to be remembered to go along with winning the school’s first WPIAL girls basketball title a year ago. The sequel has had some different variables in it, but the Warriors are one win away...

In the middle of the second period of the WPIAL Class AAA 160-pound wrestling final, Cole Spencer took an accidental shot from Norwin’s Chase Kranitz and realized one of his teeth was broken. “I got a little chip on it, and I asked the ref, ‘Where do I put this?’...

Five distance runners from Pine-Richland traveled to Virginia last month to test themselves against some of the best high school competition in the country and came home with solid results. Meredith Price, Audrey DeKunder, Elizabeth Hunkele, Angelina Hunkele and Natalie McLean competed at the 2021 Adidas Indoor Nationals on Feb....

In a double overtime thriller, No. 6 Leechburg upset No. 3 Eden Christian 45-40 in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals Friday night at Sewickley Academy. The Blue Devils (9-4) advanced to the semifinals and will play top-seeded Rochester at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Owen McDermott, Eli Rich and Marcus Cleveland scored...

Sewickley Academy made 19 of 28 free throws and eventually pulled away for a 38-21 victory over Greensburg Central Catholic in the WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball quarterfinals Friday night. No. 4 Sewickley Academy advanced to play No. 1 Neshannock in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Monday. The 12th-seeded Centurions...

The 2021 WPIAL Class AAA diving championships were full of repeats. For the second consecutive year, Fox Chapel senior David Manelis put forth a dominant performance to win the boys title, and the North Allegheny trio of Christina Shi, Maya Ennis and Zoey Ky finished 1-2-3 in the girls meet....

With the volatility that comes with playing during a pandemic, Pine-Richland hockey coach Jordan Yoklic told his players to embrace each opportunity and not take it for granted. After all, the Rams were gearing up for a Class AAA semifinal with North Allegheny last year when the pandemic first hit...

The last time the WPIAL had an open basketball tournament in 1984 Bob Petcash was a senior at Ambridge and played for a Bridgers team that made the Class 4A final, where it lost to Farrell. Now, 37 years later, Petcash will enter his first WPIAL tournament as a coach...