Michael Love stories, Page 84

The BMC Cheer Team Rampage based out of Brandy Marie Gymnastics in Sarver captured a national championship title at the Encore Championships Pittsburgh Division I and II event March 20 and 21 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The team performed routines for judges both days in the L2...

Gateway track and field head coach Tom LaBuff is used to spending the spring coaching Gators athletes to top finishes at meets and invitationals. So, it took some time for him, his fellow Gateway coaches and the athletes to process last spring’s season cancellation by the PIAA amid growing covid...

Valley News Dispatch Girls Basketball Player of the Year Kennedie Montue, Plum 5-11, Sr., Forward In Plum’s season-opening win over Mars, Kennedie Montue scored 29 points. Two nights later, she scored 30 as the Mustangs nearly upended Upper St. Clair. Montue then hit for 30 as Plum rolled past Kiski...

After being denied an opportunity to compete and defend section championships last spring, members of the Riverview boys and girls track and field teams got back to competition March 27 at the Altoona Igloo Invitational. It was the first glimpse of what Riverview coach Dave Illnicki hopes are productive seasons....

While there are many things Valley softball coach Carrol Perroz is concentrating on this season, planning a senior-day ceremony isn’t one of them. A youthful Vikings squad will take the field made up primarily of sophomores and freshmen. There are no seniors and just one junior is on the 17-player...

When looking for silver linings in what was an otherwise frustrating turn of events with the sudden cancellation of high school sports last spring, Valley baseball coach Jim Basilone knew that he would have nine players returning with varsity experience gained in either 2018 or ’19. Now, with the 2021...

After a most unprecedented regular season with more changes and ups and downs than one can count, the PIHL has reached the Penguins Cup varsity playoffs. The brackets for the Class AAA, Class AA and Class A and Class B tournaments have been revealed, and quarterfinal games throughout the region...

Seniors Kelsey DuVall and Kassandra O’Hara own varsity starting experience, and that experience, along with their leadership, is being called upon to help guide a group of eight freshman on a roster of 11 for the St. Joseph softball team this spring. “We kind of know how each other works...

Only one senior was lost from the 2019 St. Joseph baseball team that finished 8-8 overall and suffered a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to Union in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs. Expectations were high for the Spartans entering last season, but all of the hopes and goals were...

After winning just two games in 2019, the Springdale baseball team had high hopes to move up the ladder last year with an experienced group. But the covid pandemic squashed those hopes before they had the chance to be realized. Now back on the field, the Dynamos are working to...

There was a great deal of excitement surrounding the Springdale softball team after a rather youthful group posted 13 wins in 17 games and made the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs in 2019. That run came after the program posted 15 wins in the previous nine seasons combined....

Several WPIAL boys volleyball teams kicked off the 2021 spring season with matches Friday and Saturday. Picking up wins were North Catholic, Hopewell, Mars, Butler, South Fayette, Seton LaSalle and Seneca Valley. Seven nonsection games are on the docket this evening, and section play for Class AAA begins Tuesday. The...

In a high school swim season full of ups and down, with changes and uncertainty around every corner, Andrew Holmes still planned to meet all of his goals and expectations. The Gateway junior ticked off many of the boxes he hoped to over the past couple of months and capped...

Bill Stoops knows what it’s like to help lead a high school baseball team to the WPIAL playoffs and pick up postseason victories. He did it with Deer Lakes as the coach from 1999-2007, as an assistant at North Allegheny from 2008-15 and with Gateway from 2016-18. After a short...

No softball team in the WPIAL has built a streak quite like Leechburg’s. The program’s penchant for consistency has equated to 33 straight WPIAL playoff seasons. That is a run, coach Debbie Young said, this year’s team will fight fiercely to maintain. But the goals and expectations, she added, are...

One moved up, and one moved down. Both were good things when talking about senior Logan Minick and junior Sam Schohn’s swims representing Plum at the PIAA Class AA championships March 19 at Cumberland Valley High School. Minick, seeded 13th in the 500-yard freestyle, moved up two spots to 11th...

Jon Williams can light it up from long range. The Robert Morris guard led the Horizon League in 3-point field goal percentage (.440) for the 2020-21 season. Now, Williams will get a chance to show what he can do on a national stage as he will take part in the...

While covid protocols and safety precautions made the 2020-21 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League season like no other, an experienced Gateway boys varsity team worked through all of the obstacles to finish with successful results. The Gators capped play at the Western Regional Championships on March 5 and 6. Senior...

Luke Jackson played 14 games and collected 33 at-bats as a sophomore in 2019 as Gateway finished 13-7 and qualified for the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. The senior center fielder, along with a returning group that included nine seniors, hoped to build on the experience, which included a tough 2-1...

The Penn-Trafford boys 200-yard freestyle relay entered Saturday’s PIAA Class AAA swimming championships at Cumberland Valley High School tied for the 10th seed. But the quartet of senior Austin Prokopec, freshmen Patton Graziano and Conner Alexander and senior Ben Yant didn’t let their seeding tie them down. They finished with...

After defending her WPIAL title in the 100-yard butterfly two weeks ago, Fox Chapel sophomore Sophie Shao went looking for a similar repeat performance Saturday at the PIAA Class AAA championships at Cumberland Valley. Mission accomplished. Taking to the pool for the third time in a little more than 60...

Bill Gras has high hopes this spring for his Riverview baseball team, a group he said which is high on both youthfulness and talent. The Raiders have settled into their move down to Class A, and Gras said his players are anxious to put their abilities to the test in...

Two years ago, the Plum baseball team missed the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2005. The Mustangs finished 8-12 and were fifth in Section 2-6A. Plum hoped to get back in a postseason mindset last year, but covid concerns wiped out the 2020 season before it started. But...