Michael Love stories, Page 65
AK Valley football notebook: Running game powers Burrell to opening win
Physical play on both sides of the ball is the calling card for Shawn Liotta-coached teams, and he said he was pleased with what he saw on film from Burrell’s 31-10 victory at Jeannette on Friday. Before the season, Liotta said the Bucs would rely a lot on a power...
Apollo-Ridge fends off rival Leechburg in opener
After a two-year hiatus, the Leechburg and Apollo-Ridge football teams renewed their neighboring rivalry Friday night for a Week Zero clash at Owens Field. The Vikings, who collected 530 yards of offense, earned bragging rights in the latest matchup against the Blue Devils. Apollo-Ridge held off a late Leechburg charge...
A-K Valley girls soccer preview: Plum driven to add to impressive resume
The WPIAL girls soccer championship games will be back at Highmark Stadium for the second year in a row, and Plum hopes to again reserve a spot in the Class 3A game in early November. Runners-up to Mars the past two seasons — 2020 at North Allegheny and last year...
A-K Valley football players to watch in 2022 Week Zero
Dom Dininno Kiski Area, sr., WR/DB The Cavaliers senior has emerged as a main target in the passing game and hopes to make his mark in Friday’s opener against Plum. Dininno also is one to watch on the defensive side of the ball. He earned Class 5A Northeast Conference second-team...
A-K Valley’s don’t miss high school football matchups for 2022 Week Zero
Nonconference Armstrong at Valley 7 p.m. Friday, at Valley High Memorial Stadium, New Kensington Armstrong is led by the arm and legs of senior Cadin Olsen, a Penn commit. Olsen threw for 28 touchdowns and added 16 rushing scores in 2021. The River Hawks hope to qualify for the WPIAL...
Springdale sophomore tight end poised for breakout season
Garrett Myers attended Redeemer Lutheran school in Penn Hills through eighth grade. The school doesn’t offer a football program. Basketball was Myers’ main sport. Football wasn’t in the picture for the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Springdale tight end and linebacker. “We moved into the area, and I saw a photo of the...
Highlands’ Jimmy Kunst commits to play baseball at Eastern Michigan
Jimmy Kunst took an unofficial visit to the campus of Eastern Michigan a couple of months ago, and several aspects of the trip, including a tour of the Eagles baseball facilities, drew him closer to making his recent verbal commitment. The Highlands senior and multi-sport standout announced his decision to...
Senior Kevin Tomlinson driven to restore Riverview pride
Riverview senior Kevin Tomlinson has grown 5 inches in height since his freshman football season. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound wide receiver/free safety also has grown significantly through all of the ups and downs experienced during his varsity career with the Raiders. Those experiences fuel the team co-captain, and he said that...
No time to waste as senior quarterback takes reins of Kiski Area offense
Playing three sports at Kiski Area, Lebryn Smith doesn’t have much down time. But he doesn’t mind. Competition is in his blood. “I’m definitely always on the go,” Smith said. “I don’t have that many days where I’m not doing anything. As soon as football ends, I start basketball training....
New coach brings wide-ranging changes to Springdale program
It was a busy senior night last fall for the Springdale football team. Seventeen team members were honored, and many of them were key two-way starters and contributors. As the page turned to a new season, first-year Dynamos coach Ryan Tempalski, who was hired in March, and his staff were...
Riverview rebuilding project could pay off this season
Riverview has struggled in and out of Eastern Conference play with just seven victories over the past five seasons. But third-year Raiders coach Trevor George is sounding the bell of optimism that this year’s group can turn things around and be a factor in conference play and also make a...
Experience buoys RMU goalie Zolnierczyk in return from injury
Mike Zolnierczyk’s leadership skills on and off the field were on display throughout his high school career at Springdale, where he was a three-time All-WPIAL performer and the Class A Player of the Year as a senior in 2018. Upon his arrival the next year at Division I Robert Morris...
WPIAL Class 4A football breakdown: Aliquippa ready for another heavyweight fight
In winter 2020, Aliquippa challenged the PIAA assertion, under the competitive-balance rule, that it should move up from Class 3A to Class 4A. Despite their best efforts, including the fact they were already voluntarily playing up in Class 3A, the Quips were bumped up one class and into a grouping...
Devil in the details: Pitt-bound Braylan Lovelace leading Leechburg to success on the field and off
Braylan Lovelace earned 13 Division I football offers throughout the college recruiting process, and three of them came from the Ivy League. Brown, Columbia and Penn recognized the 6-foot-2, 205-pound athlete’s ability on the field and in the classroom. Education is a high priority for the Leechburg senior, who carries...
Gateway trio to play in international ball hockey tournament
Monroeville will be well-represented at the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation Future Stars Tournament which starts Friday in Buffalo. Nico Mager, Austyn Malloy and C.J. Evans will play for Team Pennsylvania in two divisions against more than a dozen state teams from the northeast and east coast. “It’s such...
Burrell ready to take on new challenges in Class 2A
After several years in Class 3A, Burrell made the move down a classification in the new two-year cycle. Coach Shawn Liotta said his team is getting ramped up for the season and is excited for its potential in its new conference. “There are a lot of new challenges for us...
Veteran linebacking corps lights fuse for Freeport Area defense
The Freeport Area defense created havoc for opposing offenses throughout the 2021 season. Yellowjackets players combined for 47 sacks, one of the largest totals in all of the WPIAL. The two inside linebackers — Jacksen Reiser and Andrew Sullivan — and the pair of outside ’backers — Colton Otterman and...
Freeport could have plenty to celebrate in program’s 100th season
The Freeport football program celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2022, and this year’s coaches and players hope to make it one for the record books. With several starters and all-star performers returning on both sides of the ball, optimism is high that Freeport can make a run to the WPIAL...
Deer Lakes in position to return to playoffs
Deer Lakes came as close as a team can to making the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs last year. The Lancers, who finished 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the Allegheny Seven Conference, lost out to East Allegheny and Burrell on a three-way tiebreaker for the third and fourth playoff spots from...
A-K Valley football teams eager to get to work as official practices open
Ryan Tempalski experienced numerous first official football practice days as an assistant coach at schools throughout the region. But Monday was a new experience for the first-year Springdale head coach who was hired in March to lead a young and relatively inexperienced Dynamos squad hit hard by graduation after reaching...
Deer Lakes father, son unsatisfied with missing playoffs
Derek Burk didn’t wait long to try and make improvements after last year’s close home loss to Burrell. The 28-24 setback factored into the Lancers missing a WPIAL Class 3A playoff spot in a tiebreaker with the Bucs and East Allegheny in the Allegheny Seven Conference. “My wife texted me...
Burrell to lean on pair of senior linemen
Ian Quinn started organized tackle football in third grade in the Lower Burrell Flyers youth football organization. He found himself blocking on the offensive line. “I was always a bigger kid. I was destined to be a lineman,” Quinn said. “I wasn’t too good at first, actually. I was a...
Kiski Area brings new-look roster into Class 4A competition
When Kiski Area moved down from Class 5A to Class 4A and into the Greater Allegheny Conference, coach Sam Albert knew one of the league matchups would carry extra meaning. The Cavaliers will host Albert’s former team, Highlands, on Oct. 14. “I’m sure that probably is one that Highlands circles...
Familiar face set to lead Gateway girls volleyball program
There is a reunion of sorts taking place within the Gateway varsity girls volleyball program. New head coach Nicole Riley is familiar with many of the team members having coached them and built a rapport with them at the middle school level. Now, the task at hand as preseason practices...
Highlands grad Alan Crise aims to help local student-athletes navigate recruiting path
Alan Crise went through the college recruiting process during his senior year at Highlands in 2011-12, and the football, basketball and track and field participant remembers having a lot of questions throughout the journey that ultimately led to a track and field scholarship at Division II West Virginia Wesleyan. After...
