Burrell girls clinch playoff spot with win over rival Freeport
The Burrell girls basketball team was comfortably in contention for a WPIAL playoff spot heading into its Section 1-4A matchup Thursday at Freeport. All the Bucs needed to officially clinch that postseason berth was a win over the Yellowjackets. Mission accomplished. Freshman Chase Coury led Burrell with 19 points, and...
2025 WPIAL All-Conference Football Team: Eastern
Class A Eastern Conference Offense Name, School, Pos., Ht., Wt., Year Jeff Thompson, Clairton, QB, 6-1, 170, sr. Deon Lovelace Pompey, Clairton, RB, 5-11, 190, sr. Donte Wright, Clairton, RB, 5-9, 185, sr. Jordan Mandich, Frazier, FB/H-Back, 6-0, 204, sr. Taris Wooding, Clairton WR, 5-11, 178, sr. Jayce Powell, Jeannette...
Plum’s Stephans hits 1,000 points in defeat of Penn-Trafford girls
Riley Stephans stepped to the top of the arc and accepted a pass from Tamia West. Flashing a quick glance at the hoop, she took the shot. The bank was open as she used a little backboard to complete the milestone field goal. That 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 41 seconds...
Plum hockey team riding high as regular season winds down
Plum is charging into the stretch run of the PIHL regular season on a seven-game winning streak. Coming off a 7-0 rout of South Park on Jan. 19, Plum has six games remaining, starting with a matchup with Wheeling Central Catholic at 8:10 p.m. Thursday at Pittsburgh Ice Arena in...
Devin Murray returns to alma mater to take over boys soccer program at Deer Lakes
Devin Murray was a major contributor to a run of success for the Deer Lakes boys soccer team that produced a WPIAL championship, a WPIAL runner-up finish, three PIAA tournament appearances and two trips to the state championship game in a three-year period. The 2021 Deer Lakes graduate returned to...
Duquesne athletics announces 2026 hall of fame class
Duquesne athletics revealed its 2026 Merle E. Gilliand Hall of Fame class, and three individuals, three teams and a contributing builder of Dukes athletics will be honored. Former swimmers Emma Brinton (2017-21) and Abigail Stauffer (2015-19) and former baseball player Donald Ziegler (1954-58) join builders Joe and Kathy Guyaux for...
Injuries, illness force shorthanded Highlands girls basketball team to forfeit remaining games
The Highlands girls basketball team faced low roster numbers throughout the first month of this season. With just five players available for a majority of the games, thoughts turned to how the remainder of the schedule might play out. Last weekend, in agreement between athletic director Katie Jo Stobert and...
Highlands grad, star college linebacker promoted to head coach at Kiski Area at age 27
Brayden Thimons is preparing for his third season with Kiski Area football. But this season, he is the man in charge. After serving as linebackers coach in 2024 and defensive coordinator this past fall, the 27-year-old Thimons is now the Cavaliers’ head coach. The former standout linebacker at Highlands and...
Kiski Area’s Kunkle enters WCCA swimming championships at top seed in 200 IM
Leah Kunkle is the hunted. The Kiski Area junior is nearly 3 seconds ahead of the field as the top seed in the girls 200-yard individual medley at Saturday’s Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association swimming championships at Derry Area High School. Kunkle, twice a WPIAL individual medalist last year, also is...
7 home games scheduled for West Virginia football in 2026
West Virginia’s 2026 football schedule has been released, and for only the fifth time since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2012, the Mountaineers will play seven home games. WVU will start the season at home against nonconference foes Coastal Carolina (Sept. 5) and UT Martin (Sept. 12). Five of...
5 WPIAL quarterbacks selected as finalists for 2025 Willie Thrower Award
Nolan DiLucia wrapped up his football career at Peters Township as the second-leading passer in WPIAL history with 8,819 career yards. The three-year starter passed for 2,782 yards and 22 touchdowns this past fall in helping the Indians win the WPIAL Class 5A title. The Villanova recruit completed 177 of...
As stretch run approaches, St. Joseph girls show fine form vs. Riverview
Last year, the Riverview girls basketball team got the better of rival St. Joseph, winning the nonsection matchup at Riverview High School to halt an eight-game losing streak in the series. But St. Joseph didn’t let the Raiders make it two in a row Tuesday evening at the Walter Dlubak...
Trevor George leaves Riverview, returns to coach Blackhawk football team
Trevor George is returning to the football sidelines at Blackhawk while ending a six-year tenure as head coach at Riverview. It was a busy week for George, who met with the Raiders players last Monday and informed them he would not be returning. He was officially hired to head up...
Excitement builds for installation of permanent lights at Oakmont’s Riverside Park
On Sept. 8, 2006, Sid Facaros rushed for 114 yards and caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jared Soell as the Riverview football team defeated Monessen, 28-20, at Riverside Park. The victory was a solid start to that season for the Raiders, who would go on to finish 7-3 overall...
Knoch reinstates fired girls wrestling coach Logan Downes
Logan Downes is back coaching the Knoch girls wrestling team. A week after being fired from his position by the district after it received a complaint filed in relation to on-mat incidents at a tournament last month, the district decided to reversed its decision. After district official met with Downes...
Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle headlines 2026 WPIAL Hall of Fame class
Kurt Angle was an impact wrestler at many levels for more than 30 years. He was a professional champion and a member of several pro wrestling halls of fame. He won Olympic gold after a standout Division I tenure at Clarion. But before he made his mark in front of...
Plum girls grab section lead with win against Fox Chapel
The Plum girls basketball team is alone in first place in Section 1-5A as the first half of section play concluded Monday evening. Senior Riley Stephans scored a team-best 26 points, and junior Tamia West added 19 points and 14 rebounds as the Mustangs topped Fox Chapel, 65-49, at Plum...
Gateway grad Dino Nadarevic gets college career underway at Duquesne
After a standout high school throwing career, Dino Nadarevic made the transition throughout the summer and fall to new opportunities at the college level at Duquesne. The Gateway graduate got his feet wet in competition at the Youngstown State University Icebreaker on Dec. 5 at the Watson and Tressel Training...
Gateway swimmers working hard to build foundation for rest of season
A busy few weeks in December with five dual meets produced WPIAL cuts for members of the Gateway boys and girls swim teams as they settled into work they hope pays dividends in the new year. Extended workouts over the holidays, Gators head swimming and diving coach Glenn Raymer said,...
Plum’s Alaina Claassen, Saphia Davis stacking wins ahead of postseason tournaments
Alaina Claassen didn’t waste any time in dispatching her three opponents on the way to the 190-pound title at Connellsville’s Lady Falcon Invitational on Jan. 3. She pinned all three in a combined time of 1 minute, 50 seconds. “I felt pretty good in my matches,” said Claassen who improved...
Owen Campbell climbing Plum’s all-time wins list after reaching century mark
Owen Campbell joined an exclusive Plum wrestling list last month. With a 10-4 victory in a match against Mt. Pleasant at the North Hills Duals on Dec. 13, the senior 152-pounder became just the 15th wrestler in program history to record 100 varsity victories. “I was a little nervous going...
Freeport snaps losing streak, tops Highlands boys basketball team
Bryson Paga was 6 years old the last time a Freeport boys basketball team defeated rival Highlands. It was a streak of 16 games that extended back to the 2014-15 season. But that streak came to an end Friday night at Freeport Middle School. Paga, a junior, scored 10 of...
Parents, wrestlers show support for recently fired Knoch girls wrestling head coach
A sizable contingent is expected to attend the Knoch school board meeting Wednesday to show support for Logan Downes, the school’s girls wrestling coach who was fired this week. Downes was dismissed after a complaint was filed with school officials over his on-mat behavior with members of the team during...
Former Riverhounds standout Albert Dikwa returns to club for 2026 season
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds begin preseason training Jan. 26, and a familiar face will be in place for those workouts. Former team member Albert Dikwa has returned to the Riverhounds in a transfer agreement with Rhode Island FC. The forward was the 2023 USL Championship Player of the Year and Golden...
Riverview’s Chaparro scoring at terrific pace
Isabel Chaparro can score the basketball. She had a game-high 34 points Monday, leading three Riverview players in double figures in a 69-25 Section 4-2A victory over Frazier. The Raiders senior tallied 35 points — 24 via eight 3-pointers — in a 51-25 triumph over Apollo-Ridge on Dec. 22. Earlier...
