Michael Love stories, Page 70

The Plum girls soccer team is in uncharted territory, but at the same time, it has set its course for a familiar destination. For the first time in program history, the Mustangs will play a PIAA quarterfinal game. Plum faces District 3 champion Mechanicsburg at 1 p.m. Saturday. “It is...

PIAA Girls Soccer Class 3A Quarterfinals Plum (20-2-1) vs. Mechanicsburg (18-3-2) 1 p.m. Saturday at Hollidaysburg High School, Hollidaysburg Winner plays: Winner of 7-1 Mars (17-0-1)/7-3 Montour (16-7) on Tuesday in semifinals (Site and time TBD) Notes: Plum punched its ticket to the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory over District...

Saturday’s 48th annual Pennsylvania Karate Championships are going back to where it all began. The Quality Inn in New Kensington, formerly the Clarion Inn, will provide the setting for the event, and co-organizer Master Frank Caliguri from Caliguri’s Academy of Martial Arts in Lower Burrell said this year’s event will...

Springdale and Rochester are no strangers to each other, even though the Dynamos and Rams have played only four times in their respective histories. All four matchups were playoff games, and the teams clashed just last year in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A tournament. Rochester topped Springdale, 34-17,...

Legend Ausk Springdale, Sr., QB/LB The dual-threat capabilities of the veteran signal-caller have the Dynamos thinking big things in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals. In last Friday’s shutout victory over No. 4 West Greene, Ausk threw for 54 yards and a touchdown. He now has 12 passing scores and another...

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Plum girls soccer team threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Hollidaysburg net, and Tigers freshman keeper Natalie Foster in the first half during a PIAA Class AAA first-round game Tuesday at Hollidaysburg. Plum delivered 14 shots, including seven on goal, over the first 40 minutes....

Kaley Simqu was a starter at Cedar Crest High School two years ago for Plum’s PIAA Class 3A girls soccer first-round game against District 3 champion Manheim Central. Now a junior, the midfielder/defender and a number of other current Mustangs teammates experienced the heartbreak of a shootout loss to the...

Class 3A First round 7-2 Plum (19-2-1) at 6-1 Hollidaysburg (13-8) 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hollidaysburg High School Winner plays: Winner of 3-1 Mechanicsburg/12-2 St. Hubert’s in quarterfinals Saturday (site and time TBD) Plum enters the state playoffs after a runner-up finish to Mars in Saturday’s WPIAL title game at...

The Plum and Freeport girls volleyball teams shared a gym four times this season but never played an official match against each other. The Mustangs and Yellowjackets did scrimmage in mid-August, but they missed each other at the Plum and Freeport tournaments. The teams also got a chance to see...

Ashley Persia ran her final high school cross country race Oct. 28 at the WPIAL championships, and the Plum senior made her move throughout the race and finished 48th in Class 3A at Cal (Pa). While Persia didn’t reach her goal of a trip to states, Mustangs’ coach Stephanie Lednak...

The Plum girls volleyball team had its sights set on the WPIAL Class 3A championship game as it faced Hampton in the semifinals Nov. 2 at Gateway. The Mustangs won a pair of close games, 26-24, to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the match. However, the Talbots rallied...

In less than two years, Gateway junior Madi Jesih will trade Gators black and gold for Robert Morris red, white and blue. The talented center defensive midfielder recently gave a verbal commitment to continue her athletic pursuits at the next level with the Division I Colonials women’s soccer team. “I...

It wasn’t the way the Gateway boys soccer team wanted to close out its 2021 season. The Gators finished third in Section 4-3A and were the No. 11 seed for the WPIAL playoffs. Gateway played even with No. 6 Kiski Area for the first half of their first-round matchup Oct....

It took Freeport a quarter to get its offense going Friday night in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round game against Ambridge at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium. The No. 5 Yellowjackets broke out for a pair of second-quarter touchdowns – one rush and one pass – to take the lead at...

The first two matchups between the Freeport and Hampton girls volleyball teams were five-game slugfests that decided the Section 5 championship. The Talbots won the first match at home, but the Yellowjackets returned the favor at Freeport Middle School a couple of weeks later. The teams ended up sharing the...

Logan Brooks Plum, Sr., WR/DB Brooks has been key part of the Mustangs passing game all season, but he picked up his pace the past several weeks with a combined 23 catches for 263 yards and three touchdowns against Knoch, Armstrong and Greensburg Salem. He hauled in 11 passes for...

Class 5A First round 10-Fox Chapel (4-6) at 7-Upper St. Clair (6-4) 7 p.m. Friday, at Panther Stadium, Upper St. Clair Township Winner plays: At 2-Penn-Trafford in quarterfinals Nov. 12, 7 p.m. Fox Chapel returns to the WPIAL playoffs after a one-year hiatus. The Foxes are part of the postseason...

The Freeport girls volleyball team is back in the WPIAL championship game. The top-seeded Yellowjackets lost the first game of their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal match with section rival and fifth-seeded Armstrong on Tuesday. But Freeport won three of the remaining four games, including the deciding Game 5 by a...

In a Section 5 match with Armstrong late in the regular season, the Hampton girls volleyball team found itself down 2-0. The Talbots were able to mount a rally that night and pull out a win. It helped them finish in a tie for the section title. Hampton was in...

Boys Class 3A Consolation game Plum (17-3-1) vs. Franklin Regional (15-4) 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pete Antimarino Stadium, Gateway, Monroeville The winner of this third-place game between Section 4 foes will advance to the PIAA playoffs, which begin next Tuesday around the state. Fourth-seeded Plum took top-seeded and undefeated West...

The Steel Valley girls soccer team is headed to Highmark Stadium. The No. 3 seed earned a spot in Friday’s WPIAL Class A championship game with a 1-0 victory over Springdale on Monday at Gateway’s Antimarino Stadium. “This is an unbelievable feeling,” Steel Valley coach Bill Abraham said. “This is...

Tuesday’s WPIAL soccer playoff games Boys Class 4A Semifinal 5-Fox Chapel (15-3-1) vs. 1-Seneca Valley (16-0-1) 8 p.m. at Newman Stadium, North Allegheny High School, Wexford Winner plays: Winner of 2-Peters Township (15-1-1)/6-North Allegheny (15-5) 5:45 p.m. Saturday at Highmark Stadium. Notes: The Foxes played the Raiders to a 2-2...

The past couple of days have been pretty emotional for Muzzy Colosimo since he announced his retirement from coaching football and was on the sidelines guiding his Valley football team one last time Friday evening. His son, Willie, who coached with him at Valley and Greensburg Central Catholic and with...

Parker Steele Riverview cross country Parker Steele will run his final high school cross country race Nov. 6 in Hershey as he and his Riverview teammates, the newly crowned WPIAL Class A team champions, go after the best in the state at the PIAA championships. While he acknowledged the soon-to-be...

Molly McNaughton ranged to her left, got a hand on the ball and pushed it away from the goal. It was the sixth round of a penalty-kick shootout that decided the winner of last Thursday’s WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal between No. 9 Fox Chapel and top seed and two-time defending...