Michael Love stories, Page 17
Gateway’s Bailey Steele, Hayden Price make college decisions
Bailey Steele has her sights set on qualifying for the PIAA Class 3A diving championships in her final varsity season. The Gateway senior was 13th at the Class 2A meet last year and missed out on a trip to states. With the Gators moving up as part of the latest...
Leechburg’s Jayden Floyd selected 2024 Valley News Dispatch offensive player of the year
Offensive player of the year Jayden Floyd Leechburg, QB/OLB, sr. Jayden Floyd joined some exclusive WPIAL company last year as only the 17th quarterback in WPIAL history to throw for 1,000 yards and run for 1,000 yards in the same season. The Leechburg senior now is part of an even...
2024 Valley News Dispatch high school football all-stars
Nick Anderson Kiski Area, OL/DL, Fr. No prior varsity experience? No problem for freshman lineman Nick Anderson, who jumped right into the starting lineup and produced for a Cavaliers offense that averaged 289.5 yards. He stood out in a Big East Conference full of experienced offensive linemen and was selected...
Returning group aims to lead Plum girls wrestling toward success
Plum girls wrestling coach Dave Miller could easily see the excitement level of his returning and new competitors long before the start of official preseason practices Nov. 15. “They wanted to get started with work real early this year,” said Miller, who will help guide the Mustangs through their dual...
Burrell girls wrestling team rides pins to win vs. Plum
The Burrell and Plum girls wrestling teams opened the dual-match portion of their schedules Wednesday evening at Plum, and on the strength of three pins and three forfeit victories, the Bucs came away with a 36-24 victory. Burrell entered Wednesday’s match a few days removed from competition at the season-opening...
Joe Naunchik remembered fondly as athlete, football coach after 40 years on area sidelines
Bill Rometo was 5 when he first met Joe Naunchik, then a three-sport star at Plum High School. “He was probably the best athlete to ever come out of Plum,” Rometo said of Naunchik, who was a football standout under Rometo’s father, Bill Rometo Sr. “At that time, my dad...
Kiski Area hires Edinboro football coach Jake Nulph as new athletic director
Jake Nulph made his mark in the collegiate football coaching ranks the past two decades after playing careers at Apollo-Ridge and Robert Morris. Now, the Alle-Kiski Valley native, who served as the football coach at Edinboro since 2020, is coming home. The Kiski Area School Board unanimously approved at a...
Gateway grad Emily Mannion earns PSAC postseason honors at IUP
Emily Mannion hoped to make the most of a new opportunity this fall on the IUP women’s soccer team. The Gateway graduate and Crimson Hawks sophomore midfielder, who transferred from Clarion after one season, got her chance to shine, and she took full advantage. She scored four goals, one in...
Fox Chapel’s Milo Chiu tabbed A-K Valley Boys Soccer Player of the Year
Boys Player of the Year: Milo Chiu, Fox Chapel, Sr., midfielder Milo Chiu remembered an early 2-1 loss to Deer Lakes as a spark for the Fox Chapel boys soccer team. “We didn’t expect to lose that game, and it showed us just how much we had to prepare for...
Springdale’s Briana Ross named 2024 A-K Valley Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Girls Soccer Player of the Year: Briana Ross, Sr., F, Springdale Briana Ross blended speed, technique and skill into another standout season for the Springdale girls soccer team. The senior striker was dangerous from anywhere on the field as she scored 42 goals and added 30 assists for a Dynamos...
Starting 5s: Previewing high school girls basketball season in the A-K Valley
Starting 5s A preview of the high school girls basketball season in the A-K Valley: 5 storylines to follow • Dana Petruska (Deer Lakes), Jason Kerr (Freeport), Dan LaGamba (Highlands), Chuck Langston (Leechburg) and Tonya Norman (Valley) are new faces at the top. Petruska, who has amassed more than 500...
Starting 5s: Previewing high school boys basketball season in the A-K Valley
Starting 5s A preview of the high school boys basketball season in the A-K Valley: 5 storylines to follow • Nearly half of the boys teams in the A-K Valley begin the season under new management: Bill Flow at Highlands, Dave Pucka at Plum, Dre Corbin at Riverview, Scott Ruppert...
Rosters announced for 3rd annual We Serve First All-Star Classic
The players for the third annual We Serve First All-Star Classic, sponsored by the We Serve First Foundation, have been released. The event, set for Dec. 7 at Kiski Area High School, will celebrate and recognize the skills of 40 of the top senior girls volleyball players from 20 schools...
Despite roster turnover, St. Joseph girls aim to contend again in revamped Class A
The St. Joseph girls basketball team made a run to the WPIAL Class A title game last year. It was a continuation of success for the program that has collected trophies and banners that are on display at Walter Dlubak Athletic Center. Change swept through in the offseason with the...
St. Joseph boys seek turnaround under 1st-year coach
Matt DeHart is quite familiar with the St. Joseph boys basketball team and many of its players. The new Spartans coach served as an assistant last year under Logan Acri. When Acri left the program over the summer, DeHart ascended to the helm and continued to help build the team...
Veterans, newcomers hope for strong start for Gateway wrestling
Gateway wrestling coach Ryan Sula said a mix of veteran leadership, returning youthful talent and others coming into the varsity and JV practice room is making for a competitive environment in the lead-up to the start of the season. “It’s always nice to have a high return rate and to...
Gateway swimmers to be tested in early season meets
A dozen swimmers and divers represented Gateway at last year’s WPIAL championships. Coach Glenn Raymer hopes that many, or more, will punch their tickets to the district’s grandest stages at the end of February and the beginning of March. With the work put in during offseason training sessions and club...
Thomas Jefferson rolls past Clearfield, advances to PIAA semifinals
ALTOONA — There was no hangover for WPIAL champion Thomas Jefferson on Saturday against District 9 champion Clearfield in a PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal at Altoona’s Mansion Park. The Jaguars forced three turnovers in the first half, took control with four touchdowns before the break and finished off a 35-0...
Plum welcomes new class of inductees to sports hall of fame
It was an evening seven years in the making. For the first time since 2017, the Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame celebrated its own with the induction of some of the greatest to ever represent Mustang athletics. Enshrined at a banquet ceremony Nov. 14 at Edgewood Country Club...
Small roster doesn’t dampen hopes of Riverview girls
Riverview girls basketball coach Jill Catanzaro doesn’t need a lot of time to take roll call before a practice session. With a roster of eight players, creativity in practice is the rule of the day. But Catanzaro said the small roster, which also is youthful with just two seniors in...
New coach sees drive in Riverview boys to get back to playoffs
Riverview boys basketball coach Dre Corbin joined the program in May and quickly got a feel for what kind of team could take shape for the 2024-25 season. The former assistant for five years at Aquinas Academy, who took over after Phil McGivney stepped down after three seasons with the...
Rosters set for 2024 Western Pa. Soccer Coaches Association boys all-star games
The Western Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association boys all-star games will be Nov. 30 at Pine-Richland. The first game features Class A vs Class 2A all-stars at 11 a.m., followed by Class 3A vs. 4A at 1 p.m. Coaches for the teams are Nick Malarbi from Bentworth (Class A), Jon Cantwell...
Deer Lakes grad Jake McCaskey signs with Washington Wild Things
Former Deer Lakes baseball standout Jake McCaskey has signed a contract with the Washington Wild Things in the Frontier League. The right-handed pitcher, who played four seasons at PennWest Cal (Pa.) and one more at Division I Gardner-Webb, will play for his second pro team in as many seasons after...
Kiski Area girls basketball team putting in work to improve
Kiski Area girls basketball coach Dave Williamson saw the potential of this year’s team in the work put in during the offseason. “We didn’t have the greatest offseason as a unit going into last season,” said Williamson, who saw last year’s Cavaliers team go 6-16 overall and finish 2-10 in...
Kiski Area boys basketball team returns on a mission
The Kiski Area boys basketball team last season fell one win short of a berth in the PIAA Class 5A playoffs. The Cavaliers suffered a two-point loss to Gateway in a seventh-place game with a spot in the state tournament on the line. “That was the third time we played...
