Michael Love stories, Page 53

The hiring process to find a new girls basketball coach at Highlands is in its second week after Jason Kerr suddenly stepped down from the position after one year. “Jason did a good job in his one year as head coach, but we now are moving forward to find the...

Gavin Croney Freeport, sr., QB/DB The first-year starter at QB has shown his ability to both run and pass for the Yellowjackets (3-1). He has thrown for 267 yards and five touchdowns and also has carried 27 times for 132 yards and two scores. He will attempt to lead Freeport...

Class 5A Big East Conference Plum (3-1, 1-0) at 5-Gateway (3-1, 0-1) 7 p.m. Friday, Antimarino Stadium, Monroeville The rivalry game returns a two-year hiatus as the Mustangs dropped down to Class 4A. Gateway won the 2019 meeting, 44-0. Plum is 1-12-1 all-time against Gateway. Plum rolled to a 42-13...

In the first game of the year on the first day of this month, the Freeport girls soccer team faced a sizeable deficit to rival Deer Lakes. The Yellowjackets trailed the Lancers 2-0 and appeared headed to a defeat in their Section 2-2A opener. But something sparked with the Freeport...

The Plum and Franklin Regional girls soccer teams met Monday for the first time since 2018 as they battled for a first-place spot atop Section 3-3A. After 80 minutes of competitive action at Plum’s Mustangs Stadium, the first of two matchups this year went the way of the Mustangs, 2-0....

All four teams atop their respective rankings — North Allegheny (Class 4A), Moon (Class 3A), Freeport (Class 2A), and Bishop Canevin (Class A) — held on to their spots in the new Western PA Coaches Association WPIAL girls volleyball top-10 polls released Monday. Moon moved to 3-0 in Section 2...

Throughout the WPIAL, there are athletes who play a sport in every season. Some might add a second sport in one of those seasons, but not many are like Apollo-Ridge’s Jake Mull, who makes it work in five sports: football, soccer, basketball, baseball and track and field. “I couldn’t imagine...

Maddy Neundorfer began her collegiate soccer at Duquesne career under trying circumstances. The 2020 Gateway graduate faced the adversity of a 2020 fall season postponed to the following spring because of the ongoing covid pandemic. But she has made the most of the opportunities afforded her since then, and she...

Gateway needed a play early in the fourth quarter at North Hills on Sept. 9. The Gators trailed 17-10 and the Indians had the ball hoping to close out an upset victory. That’s when Dallas Harper stepped up. North Hills had a fourth and 3 from near midfield, and it...

The Plum girls volleyball team faced a measure of déjà vu this past offseason as it looked to transition after losing seven seniors from the 2021 season. Seventh-year Mustangs coach Kelsey Bonk entered this season optimistic because of what happened last year. Eight seniors moved on from the 2020 team,...

Eliza Miller Class: Junior School: Kiski Area Sport: Cross country Report card: Miller ruled the cross country course at Northmoreland Park on Friday by winning the girls varsity race at the Kiski Invitational. She surpassed her own course record with a new top time of 18 minutes, 55.21 seconds. It...

With a big Eastern Conference clash looming next Friday at Clairton, Leechburg coach Randy Walters hoped his players would remain focused and take care of business Friday against Springdale in the conference opener for both teams. Mission accomplished. Leechburg posted its third straight shutout and raced to a 35-0 lead...

After going through massive changes to format two years ago because of the covid pandemic and not being able to run last year, organizers of the fifth Gingerbread Man Kiski Invitational cross country meet at Allegheny Township’s Northmoreland Park were hoping for the best as more than 20 area high...

Deer Lakes, Burrell and Freeport have waged some fierce girls soccer battles for several years in Section 2-2A. The early part of this year’s section schedule was no exception. It started Sept. 1 as the Lancers led Freeport, 2-0, only to have the Yellowjackets rally and win in overtime 3-2....

Ryan Croushore Burrell, jr., K/P Croushore shares his time with the football and soccer teams, and he proved his kicking worth in a big spot in Friday’s Battle of the Bypass against Valley. Late in the game, Croushore booted a 31-yard field goal to break a 27-27 tie and lift...

Class 5A Big East Norwin (1-2, 0-0) at Plum (2-1, 0-0) 7 p.m. Friday, Mustang Stadium, Plum Plum, which has scored just three more points (77) than it has allowed, sustained its first loss as Shaler toppled the Mustangs, 47-14. Eryck Moore and Keyonta Finley had rushing touchdowns in the...

Maddie Joyce started playing organized volleyball in sixth grade, and at the time, she was hitting the ball around with older sister Sydney and mom, Robin, who enjoyed a standout career at Duquesne in the 1990s. With those influences, she formed a foundation that now has brought her notoriety, including...

The Moon girls volleyball team opened Section 2-3A play with convincing victories over South Fayette, 3-1, and Oakland Catholic, 3-0, before going 10-0 and winning its own tournament on Saturday. Those victories were enough toward the Tigers resume to propel them from No. 6 to No. 1 in the WPIAL...

The journey to the formation and implementation of the new Gateway Sports Hall of Fame website — gshof.com — had its genesis more than two decade ago when the first class of Gators greats — the 1969 championship football team, the late Curtis Bray, Michelle Chow, Richard Adipotti, Mel Nash,...

Amberson Bauer and Christopher Barnes finished near the top — third and fourth, respectively — at the traditional season-opening Gateway Invitational cross country meet Sept. 3 at Boyce Park in Plum. Bauer, a senior, and Barnes, a sophomore, helped the Raiders take second to only Class 3A Fox Chapel in...

Plum’s Connor Pivirotto and Riverview’s Christopher Barnes were next to each other down the final straightaway to the finish line in the boys varsity race at the Gateway Invitational cross country meet Sept. 3 at Boyce Park. Barnes edged Pivirotto by less than a second for fourth place overall. Pivirotto...

Kefimba Cisse finished second to the now-graduate Brady Sundin in Gateway cross country races last year. The junior, who placed 67th at the WPIAL Class 3A championships in 2021, now is the top runner on a Gators boys team that includes a number of returning competitors who still possess a...

Early in the second quarter of Friday’s 61-7 victory over Quaker Valley, the Freeport offense faced a fourth-and-6 from the Quakers 40. The Yellowjackets didn’t go for it or punt in the hopes of pinning QV near its goal line. Instead, Isaac Wetzel jogged onto the field to attempt a...

Freeport wasted no time taking control of its nonconference game against Quaker Valley on Friday at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium. After the Yellowjackets defense forced a turnover on downs at the Quakers 34, the Freeport offense needed just one play to find the end zone. Gavin Croney connected with Brady...

Albie Fletcher joined the Deer Lakes varsity coaching staff under Terance Parham for the 2018-19 season. As a varsity assistant and the head JV coach, the Deer Lakes grad got to experience one of the most successful seasons in program history as the Lancers went 18-8 and advanced to the...