Michael Love stories, Page 27

Senior Anayla Jordan had an optimistic tone when asked about the prospects for this year’s Gateway girls basketball team. The lone starter back from a team that fought through challenges last year and finished with a 4-18 overall mark and an 0-12 record in Section 1-5A, Jordan said the players...

Members of the Gateway boys basketball team were outdoors on the football stadium track last week for a series of conditioning runs just a couple of days before the start of official preseason practices. Gators coach Alvis Rogers said endurance in games will be key for his players as they...

For many high school seniors throughout the WPIAL, Nov. 8 was the culmination of years or hard work, dedication and determination. It also was a celebration as those athletes were able to finalize their decisions to continue on in their chosen path to the next level. National letter of intent...

Something had to give when Charleroi and District 1’s Delco Christian met to decide the PIAA Class A boys soccer championship Saturday afternoon at Cumberland Valley’s Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg. Both the Knights and the Cougars came in seeking their first state title. The teams also reached the...

MECHANICSBURG — The Riverview girls soccer team’s history-making postseason run ended one win short of PIAA gold. District 1 champion Dock Mennonite (21-1-2) scored twice in the in the first half and three more times over the final 40 minutes to finish off a 5-1 victory in the Class A...

Of the 140 PIAA schools to sponsor girls soccer at the Class A level, only two are left standing. Riverview is one of those two, and the Raiders are one win away from adding the final golden chapter to an already history-making story. Playing in its first state championship game,...

Chiara Brun spent last season taking classes and playing club soccer in Belgium. She would keep tabs on her Riverview soccer teammates, following their path through the section games to the WPIAL Class A playoffs. When she came back to Riverview for her junior year and her second season with...

Albie Fletcher was no stranger to coaching Deer Lakes boys basketball when he took over as coach last year. He knew the pieces were in place for the Lancers to make a deep run in the playoffs. They proved him so very right. Deer Lakes captured WPIAL Class 3A gold...

Despite winning just five games last year, Deer Lakes was in contention for a WPIAL playoff spot in Section 3-3A down to the final day of the section schedule. A sweep of Ligonier Valley and an upset of playoff qualifier Mt. Pleasant put the Lancers in a winner-take-all game at...

After a successful inaugural We Serve First Foundation all-star girls volleyball event last year, many involved in the sport locally are gearing up for this year’s festivities Dec. 2 at Kiski Area High School. Seniors from throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley and other schools in the region have been selected to...

The Riverview girls soccer team’s second trip to the Johnstown area in a week’s time was just as successful as the first. Senior Lola Abraham tallied all four goals for the Raiders in a 4-1 victory over District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle on Tuesday in a PIAA Class A semifinal...

The Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team hoped to be in the Section 3-3A mix last year, but injuries before and during the season quickly scuttled those plans. The injury bug bit the team a couple of months before the season as then-junior Karter Schrock, who started for the Vikings as a...

The Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team won 19 games last year, finished runner-up to Shady Side Academy in Section 3-3A and hosted the first home playoff game by a Vikings basketball program, boys or girls. There were a lot of things to be pleased about following the season, and the returning...

Last fall, Juliette Brun was watching Riverview girls soccer games, including the WPIAL Class A first-round matchup with Chartiers-Houston, from the stands, knowing that she along with others in her then-eighth grade class soon would get their chance to contribute. Brun, a defender on a Raiders unit that has allowed...

Four years separated the opportunities for the Gateway athletics family to honor its own. More than 150 people gathered together Nov. 4 at Edgewood Country Club to again celebrate memorable sports accomplishments with the enshrinement of the Gateway Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023. Celebrated this year were Shayla...

Two years ago as a sophomore, Gateway’s Kefimba Cisse placed 67th in the Class 3A boys race at the WPIAL cross country championships at Cal (Pa.). He wasn’t able to reach the state meet in Hershey, but Gators coach Tom LaBuff said the then first-year high school runner was making...

An award-winning season for the Riverview boys cross country team ended with silver medals and a runner-up trophy at the PIAA Class A championships Nov. 4 on Hershey’s Parkview course. It was the second podium finish for the Raiders in five years. The 2019 squad, led by Mason Ochs, Gideon...

Plum’s ice hockey season started well enough with a pair of victories and a combined 14 goals. With both games at home at Pittsburgh Ice Arena in New Kensington, the Mustangs skated past Hampton, 8-2, and then beat Wheeling Park, 6-4. The youthful Plum skaters — there are just four...

Central Catholic is back in position to go after another WPIAL football championship. The Vikings, the No. 1 seed in Class 6A, held a two-touchdown lead at halftime of Friday’s semifinal matchup with No. 4 Mt. Lebanon at Fox Chapel. They added on over the final 24 minutes, fronted by...

The Springdale and Riverview girls soccer teams both had to make long trips to earn victories Tuesday in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs. The WPIAL runner-up Raiders traveled 84 miles east toward Johnstown and came away with a 5-3 victory in a back-and-forth game against District...

The Pennsylvania Karate Championships are golden in 2023. They also have expanded to two days. The 50th championships, a keystone event in the region since the early 1970s, will be Friday and Saturday in the grand ballroom of the Quality Inn in New Kensington. It is where the event began...

Deer Lakes made history and made a statement Friday with its 30-point home victory over Southmoreland in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game. It was the No. 8 Lancers’ first playoff victory in only their second postseason game at home. Now, Deer Lakes hopes to make a bigger statement...

More than 400 student-athletes from schools throughout Western Pennsylvania gathered Wednesday morning to discuss and learn about what they can do to create a stronger leadership environment through sportsmanship on and off the field of competition. The 14th annual WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit at the Sen. John Heinz History Center in...

DAVIDSVILLE — Lola Abraham was struck in the face by a kicked ball four minutes into the second half of a PIAA Class A first-round game Tuesday at District 5 champion Conemaugh Township. It took several minutes for her to clear the cobwebs. “It caught her off guard,” Raiders coach...

The Riverview and Springdale girls soccer teams could meet for a third time this season Saturday afternoon, provided they take care of business against district-champion opponents in their PIAA Class A first-round matches Tuesday. Raiders coach Sean Abraham and Dynamos coach Marc Bentley said their teams are not looking ahead...