Michael Love stories, Page 67
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Anthony Speca
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. On the heels of a breakout freshman season when he led the...
Coach’s death stuns Slippery Rock women’s basketball community, including Plum grad
When Krista Pietropola decided to transfer out of Youngstown State’s women’s basketball program after her freshman year in 2015, Bobby McGraw was quick to reach out to the Plum graduate. Pietropola and McGraw first made a connection during Pietropola’s college recruiting process in what was McGraw’s final year as an...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Armstrong’s Cadin Olsen
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Cadin Olsen passed for more yards in 2021 than every quarterback in...
Gateway’s Courtney Jackson ready for increased leadership role at Syracuse
Courtney Jackson broke out on the field for the Syracuse football team in 2021. The Gateway graduate and redshirt freshman receiver and kick returner appeared in all 12 games with eight starts for the Orange and led the team in receptions (37) and yards (389). He caught three touchdowns and...
Deer Lakes’ Justin Brannagan named 2022 Valley News Dispatch Baseball Player of the Year
2022 Valley News Dispatch Baseball All-Stars Player of the Year Justin Brannagan Deer Lakes, Sr., P/INF Justin Brannagan had a propensity this year for coming up big in clutch playoff scenarios. In February, Deer Lakes trailed Blackhawk by one point in the final seconds of a WPIAL Class 4A first-round...
Burrell’s Katie Armstrong earns 2022 Valley News Dispatch Softball Player of the Year honors
2022 Valley News Dispatch Softball All-Stars Player of the Year Katie Armstrong Burrell, Jr., P If the regular season didn’t already show it, then a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal game against Belle Vernon proved just how dominant Burrell junior pitcher Katie Armstrong was throughout the spring. Armstrong held a potent...
Burrell’s Jarrett relishes being part of 1st PIHL girls hockey season
Ellie Jarrett was smiling ear to ear after the PIHL girls hockey championship game June 11 at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township. The rising sophomore at Burrell proudly held the trophy after she helped Team East, with players also from Armstrong, Elizabeth Forward, Hempfield, Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Windber,...
Coach who built Deer Lakes boys basketball into perennial playoff team steps down
Terence Parham called it one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make. Citing changing work requirements, the veteran Deer Lakes boys basketball coach has resigned after seven years at the helm of the program. The Deer Lakes School Board voted to accept his resignation at Tuesday’s meeting. “My...
Cal (Pa.) softball’s Caleigh Rister earns national freshman award
Caleigh Rister made quite a splash in her debut for the Cal (Pa.) softball team this spring. The two-way standout from Bucyrus, Ohio, recently was selected the Schutt Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II National Freshman of the Year. Rister is the first player from the Atlantic Region, comprised...
6 W.Pa. athletic greats part of PA Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022
A dozen athletic greats comprise the Class of 2022 for the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, and half of the class was nominated by state-affiliated chapters located in the Western Region. PA Sports Hall of Fame State Executive Director Dale Hamer, a Murrysville resident, former NFL official and a 2012...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Gateway’s Brad Birch
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Brad Birch led the WPIAL in passing in 2021, throwing for 2,623...
Gateway’s Zeisloft adds Positive Athlete Award to resume
Dietrich Zeisloft was a leader on the field for several seasons for the Gateway boys soccer team with his ability to put the ball in the back of the net, help control possession and facilitate his teammates on the attack from his midfield position. But the Gators senior also was...
Local basketball coach Mark Marino set to lead U.S. team in Greece
Mark Marino is no stranger to coaching basketball teams from the United States in overseas competition. Marino, who coached the Plum varsity boys basketball team the past three seasons, will make his fourth trip to Europe this week as he helps coach a team of Division I, II and III...
Mid-Season Championships take center stage Friday at Lernerville Speedway
There will be a lot on the line at Lernerville Speedway on Friday evening as the Fab4 Revved Up with Marburger Farm Dairy lineup — featuring the Peoples Natural Gas Sprints, Precise Racing Products Late Models, Diehl Automotive Big Block Modifieds, and the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stocks — will have...
Apollo-Ridge brings back familiar face to coach girls soccer
Sarah Bonelli Christopher graduated from Apollo-Ridge in 2013 and went on the play four years as a midfielder at Lock Haven. She just missed the opportunity to play for her high school alma mater, as the Vikings girls soccer program was formed a couple of years later. “I was sad...
Riverhounds president Vic Gregovits stepping down
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds announced Wednesday that club president Vic Gregovits will step down from his front office position this week. Gregovits joined the Riverhounds in April 2021 and helped the team return to full operations after the covid pandemic-affected 2020 season. He helped fans return to Highmark Stadium with several...
WPIAL athletes across all sports honored for positive impact on community
Kiski Area athletic director John Peterman knows his school’s student-athletes are energetic competitors on the field and make a difference off the field, both in the classroom and the community. He wasn’t surprised when 21 athletes were nominated in several sports for this year’s Western Pennsylvania Positive Athlete Awards. The...
Valley school board removes interim tag, names Kim Johnson full-time AD
For two months this spring, Kim Johnson balanced her duties as a ninth-grade honors biology and AP biology teacher at Valley High School with newly gained responsibilities as the interim athletic director after the resignation of Muzzy Colosimo in March. Through her work with the spring sports teams and advanced...
Duquesne men’s basketball adds Bowling Green transfer Joe Reece
The Duquesne men’s basketball roster expanded Monday as 6-foot-8 forward Joe Reece will join the program for the 2022-23 season. Reece is the 10th member of the current recruiting class. He has enrolled and has joined his new teammates in summer workouts. “I expect Joe to be a real asset...
Deer Lakes softball reflects on impressive season
Deer Lakes softball coach Rick Cerra saw the pieces for a strong season and postseason run come together back in September, six months before preseason practices began. “Things were really falling into place, and we were really looking forward to having this team on the field,” Cerra said. His expectations...
Win over Fox Chapel motivates Monroeville Junior Legion team
The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball team had played a number of close games in the early portion of its Westmoreland County Youth Legion schedule, so it probably came as no surprise to the Gators that they found themselves in a close battle against Fox Chapel on June 8, at Monroeville...
Strong pitching helping lead Plum Junior Legion team toward playoffs
The Plum Junior Legion baseball team found itself right in the mix for a playoff spot as it closed in on the midway point of its schedule. A dramatic 4-3 extra-inning victory June 6 against rival Fox Chapel put Plum at 4-3 in the North Division and also got the...
Gateway softball hopes to build from progress made this spring
When one looks just at the scores of a majority of the games for the Gateway softball team this spring, thoughts might develop of a team that went nowhere in developing on the field. But first-year coach Donny Holl said that was far from the case in examining his youthful,...
Future looks bright for Burrell softball
A youthful lineup this spring didn’t stop the Burrell softball team from reaching the playoffs for the 17th season in a row, and when the Bucs arrived in the postseason, they made the most of their opportunity. Coach Rick Nealer said the team, which faced lower-than-usual roster numbers this year,...
Burrell grads help IUP win Rugby Club Division II championship
RJ Beach and Dom Holmes knew the feeling of teaming up to help win a rugby championship. The Burrell graduates — RJ in 2019 and Holmes in 2020 — were teammates on the Kiski Valley club team that captured the Rugby Club Division II championship in May 2019. Fast forward...
