Michael Love stories, Page 40
No. 4 Knoch, No. 5 East Allegheny to clash for Allegheny 6 championship
The last time Knoch won a football conference title was in 2011, when the Knights went 6-0 and captured the Class AAA Greater Allegheny Conference crown. They advanced to the WPIAL title game before falling to Montour at Heinz Field and ended the season 12-1 overall. East Allegheny has had...
Deer Lakes plots course to defend WPIAL boys soccer championship
The Deer Lakes boys soccer team lost just once in Section 2-2A play and finished the regular season 14-2. That means the Lancers have put themselves in prime position to defend their WPIAL championship and go after a third title in four years. The WPIAL soccer selection committee released its...
Lola Abraham scores all 3 goals as Riverview girls soccer makes history with section title
The Riverview girls soccer team clinched a share of the Section 1-A championship when Springdale lost to Greensburg Central Catholic on Saturday. But the Raiders were not willing to share the title with anyone, let alone the section rival Dynamos. Lola Abraham tallied a hat trick, and Riverview held off...
Highlands’ Bradyn Foster verbally commits to Penn
Bradyn Foster is looking forward to the final few weeks of preparation for the upcoming Highlands boys basketball season. But the 6-foot-8 senior forward also can look to his future after he graduates from Highlands in May. Foster verbally committed to the Penn men’s basketball team in the Division I...
Bishop Canevin regains top spot in final volleyball coaches association WPIAL Class A girls poll
North Allegheny, Hampton, Freeport and Bishop Canevin finish at the top of their respective rankings in the final Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association WPIAL girls top-10 polls released Monday morning. Bishop Canevin debuted at the top of the Class A poll in Week 1, but recently had slipped to No....
PIAA names Freeport’s Phillips Girls Volleyball Coach of the Year for 2022
The Freeport girls volleyball team continued the storied tradition of the program in 2022, winning its 18th straight section title, its seventh WPIAL title since 2010, and the second state championship (2017) in school history. Yellowjackets head coach Tom Phillips said many people had a hand in making last season...
Gateway’s Kefimba Cisse sets sights on returning to PIAA championships
Kefimba Cisse likes to run at White Oak Park. The Gateway senior won the Class 3A boys division at the 45-team Bald Eagle Invitational there Oct. 7 with a time of 16 minutes, 14.11 seconds. He was fourth overall with three boys from Class 2A and Class A schools as...
Gateway hockey off to strong start, hopes to make jump to varsity next season
Justin Evans is no stranger to the Gateway hockey program. He started coaching with the developmental team (ages 8-10) a half-decade ago and then served as the middle school coach for two years before moving up the JV team as an assistant through last year under former head coach Shawn...
Kiski Area football adds Guardian Caps for extra level of safety during practice
Kiski Area football players, coaches and fans witnessed a Laurel Highlands football player being carted off the field to an area medical facility after a collision late in a Sept. 8 nonconference game with the Cavaliers at Richard Dilts Stadium. Player safety remained on the minds of several of those...
Riverview runners ready to contend for WPIAL medals, PIAA berth
PA Milesplit, a website which tracks and reports on cross country teams throughout the state, lists five teams as the primary contenders for the four PIAA qualifying spots from WPIAL boys Class A. Riverview is in that top grouping, and coach Palma Ostrowski said the team is looking strong as...
Plum runners prepare for WPIAL cross country championships
Gabriel Powell has the PIAA cross country championships on his mind as the days become fewer and fewer before the WPIAL’s top races of the year take center stage Oct. 26 at White Oak Park. The Plum senior finished 32nd at last year’s WPIAL Class 3A meet at Cal (Pa.),...
Knoch shuts out rival Freeport, improves to 7-1
After a lopsided shutout loss to rival Freeport last season, Knoch wanted to return the favor Friday at Knights Stadium in the latest installment of the battle for the Traveling Pike Trophy. The Knights held a one-score lead at the break, but two touchdowns in the first minute of the...
Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League down to final weekend of regular season
The final weekend of the regular season for the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League is here, and it comes down to the final few games to determine the regular-season champ. West Allegheny owns a 10-2 record and takes on Baldwin (1-9) in a doubleheader Sunday. North Allegheny is nipping at...
Penalty kick sends Plum girls soccer team past Franklin Regional, clinches section title
The Plum girls soccer team clinched its fifth straight outright section championship Wednesday evening at Mustangs Stadium. But the Mustangs needed overtime to get the victory. A controversial penalty call on a Franklin Regional defender in the box set up a penalty kick for Plum. Senior Ava Weleski set up...
A-K Valley football players to watch in 2023 Week 7
Player of the week Jayden Floyd Leechburg, Jr., QB Floyd completed 15 of 28 passes for 230 yards, one of the highest yardage totals in the WPIAL for Week 6, in a loss to Jeannette on Friday. He completed a 73-yard pass to Tristan Zalenski down to the 1-yard line...
Playoff future in the balance for Knoch, Freeport in Allegheny 6 clash
Eight and a half miles separate Knoch and Freeport high schools. But the history between the schools, including the Knights and Yellowjackets athletic teams, is much closer. Athletes on both sides know each other well from growing up next door, and each season builds on the tradition from past matchups....
Freeport girls volleyball sweeps Derry, moves closer to another section title
The Freeport girls volleyball team hadn’t allowed a Section 5-2A foe to win a set through 10 matches. Derry hoped to be the first to do that Tuesday as the Trojans got a second crack at the Yellowjackets in their home gym. But Freeport had other ideas, and the No....
Kiski Area volleyball sweeps Plum in nonsection play
Plum and Kiski Area teams are no strangers to each other as the schools match up in multiple sports across fall, winter and spring. The Mustangs and Cavaliers girls volleyball teams continued that series Monday with a nonsection matchup at Kiski Area High School. With both teams hoping to build...
Frazier new No. 1 team in Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association Class A rankings
Frazier girls volleyball remained undefeated in Section 2-A last Thursday with a 3-1 win over California. The Commodores, also 11-1 overall, are the new No. 1 team in Class A as the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its latest WPIAL girls volleyball rankings Monday morning. Serra Catholic (10-0, 8-0...
Gateway notebook: Boys soccer edges Franklin Regional; Cisse takes 3rd at section meet
The Gateway boys soccer team needed almost the full 80 minutes, but a late penalty-kick goal from junior midfielder James LoCoco was the difference as the Gators topped Section 4-3A power Franklin Regional on Oct. 3 at home. The 3-2 victory avenged a 1-0 loss to the Panthers from Sept....
While awaiting head coach, Gateway baseball team prepares for ’24 season
The process to hire a new varsity baseball coach at Gateway continues this month, but the program’s players, under the direction of several assistants from last spring, haven’t stopped gathering for workouts and fall games to stay sharp and on the same page with the 2024 season on their minds....
A-K Valley football notebook: Deer Lakes streaks into matchup with East Allegheny
The Deer Lakes football team won its fifth game of the season Friday night and evened its Allegheny 6 Conference record at 1-1. The Lancers hope to move closer to a WPIAL Class 3A playoff spot when they visit East Allegheny (5-2, 2-0) on Friday. The Lancers gave up just...
Young Plum girls volleyball team growing up fast in time for WPIAL playoffs
When Rachel Satira was hired as head coach of the Plum girls volleyball team, she knew the team would be young with some growing to do to get to where it wanted to be. With just two returning starters and only four seniors, three of which owned prior playing time...
Plum sophomore girls soccer player steps into Bigger role with football team
One day a couple of years ago, Olivia Bigger was delivering soccer kicks toward a goal from about the 40-yard line. A couple of Plum football coaches took notice of her booming boots. “They were impressed with my leg and asked me to try out,” Bigger said. “I told them...
Deer Lakes uses fast start to roll past Valley
Deer Lakes wasted no time getting on the board in its Allegheny 6 Conference matchup with Valley on Friday at Lancers Stadium. Junior Zach Grant took the opening kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown. The Lancers then took advantage of a Vikings turnover and converted for a two-score lead just...
