Bill Hartlep stories, Page 14
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Camryn Woods, Deer Lakes’ Collin Rodgers
Camryn Woods Class: Freshman School: Freeport Sport: Soccer Report card: Woods made quite a debut for the Yellowjackets on Thursday, scoring twice to help Freeport (2-0, 1-0) earn a 3-1 Section 2-2A victory over Deer Lakes. She also scored twice Saturday in a 6-0 win over Steel Valley. The freshman...
A-K Valley high school football matchups for 2023 Week 1
Friday Apollo-Ridge (1-0) at Valley (0-1) 7 p.m. Friday, Memorial Stadium, New Kensington Last week: Apollo-Ridge 18, Leechburg 16; Armstrong 49, Valley 16 Last year’s meeting: Apollo-Ridge 34, Valley 19 These longtime rivals each would like to gain some nonconference momentum before conference play begins. … The big story for...
Pitt backcourt shorthanded after Dior Johnson leaves men’s basketball team
A once-prized Pitt basketball recruit who ran into legal trouble and redshirted last season, Dior Johnson is “no longer attending the University of Pittsburgh,” a team spokesman said in a statement Friday evening. The move comes as a surprise after the 6-foot-3 guard joined the Panthers on their preseason trip...
New coach hopes to bring about change at Carrick
There’s a theme of change surrounding the Carrick football program. Dennis “Shor D” Wolford, who was the Raiders’ offensive coordinator last season, has moved into the head coach position, replacing Greg Johnston, who was 2-14 in two seasons at the helm. And he is focusing on making changes, starting in...
A-K Valley high school football matchups for 2023 Week Zero
Nonconference Apollo-Ridge at Leechburg 7 p.m. Friday, Veterans Stadium, Leechburg Last year’s meeting: Apollo-Ridge 34, Leechburg 28 Apollo-Ridge gained bragging rights last season when the rivalry renewed after a two-year hiatus. Can the Vikings collect 530 yards of offense this time around? … Apollo-Ridge has a young roster, but senior...
Summit Academy eyes improvement in Big 7 Conference
Summit Academy’s football team took its share of lumps last season, but there were plenty of learning moments for the players and coaches. The group is hoping to use that experience from a year ago to find more success this fall, with an all new team. “The goal is to...
2023 WPIAL Class A football breakdown: Strength of Big 7 Conference on displayVideo
It’s popular coachspeak to say that a meat-grinder conference schedule prepares teams for the postseason. Last season, that appeared to be absolutely accurate in the WPIAL Class A Big 7 Conference. Laurel won the conference with a 6-0 record and earned the No. 2 seed for the Class A playoffs...
New coach hopes to guide Freedom to success
It was mid-March when Ron Balog took the reins of the Freedom football team. It’s been full-speed ahead since. The former Quaker Valley head coach who spent last season as an offensive coordinator at North Catholic wanted to make sure his team was prepared despite the late start to the...
Ellwood City ready to take next step in program turnaround
Ellwood City got rid of a losing stigma last season, and now the Wolverines are aiming to take the next step in the program’s turnaround. They snapped a 27-game losing streak in Week 2 last season with a 46-6 victory at Carlynton. It was the longest skid among WPIAL teams,...
Highlands’ Aaran Randolph likely to grab more headlines this fall
Aaran Randolph had quite an introduction to A-K Valley football fans. When they opened their newspaper Saturday morning Oct. 1, 2022, the Game of the Week headline read: “RUNNING RAM: Randolph’s 5 scores lead Highlands past Mars.” What the Golden Rams faithful already knew, many across Western Pennsylvania then discovered...
Freeport linemen hoping to pave the way toward Allegheny 6 title defense
It’s unlikely Isaac “Ickey” Woods will score a touchdown this season. The Freeport lineman doesn’t get carries in the backfield, won’t catch any passes and isn’t going to take snaps at quarterback. He doesn’t return punts or kicks and probably isn’t going to be deep enough in the secondary to...
Young Freeport looks to outslug opponents in defense of conference title
Freeport doesn’t have the largest linemen in Class 3A. The Yellowjackets don’t have a bevy of skill players committed to Power 5 programs. With 39 players, they also don’t have the biggest roster in the Allegheny 6 Conference. None of that matters to veteran coach John Gaillot as long as...
Highlands hunting playoff success
Luke Bombalski had a simple response when asked about goals for the Highlands football team this season. “Win that first playoff game,” he said. There was no mention of rushing yards, a number of touchdowns or how many tackles or interceptions the senior running back/linebacker wants to accumulate. Nothing about...
Pirates’ No. 1 draft pick Paul Skenes makes minor league debut
Paul Skenes made his professional baseball debut Thursday afternoon, and it was a quick one. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ No. 1 overall pick out of LSU, Skenes started for the FCL Pirates in their game against the FCL Twins at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. He tossed a 1-2-3 inning with...
Experienced Peters Township ready to challenge for Allegheny Six title
There’s one giant benefit when a high school football team has a small senior class — experience for the underclassmen. Peters Township’s youngsters got plenty of it last season, and the Indians’ coaching staff is hoping those reps pay dividends this season. “We’re a lot more experienced than we were...
Robert Morris picked last in Big South-OVC Football Association preseason poll
The Robert Morris football team is looking to bounce back from a winless 2022 season, and the Colonials will face several new opponents in their quest for improvement. The new-look Big South-OVC Football Association released its inaugural preseason poll for the 2023 season Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn. The league’s head...
2023 USFL Championship at a glance: Pittsburgh Maulers vs. Birmingham Stallions
The Pittsburgh Maulers will try to complete their quest to go from worst to first when they meet the the Birmingham Stallions at 8 p.m. Saturday in the 2023 USFL Championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The game will be broadcast on NBC. Here’s...
Pittsburgh Maulers top Michigan in overtime to reach USFL championship gameVideo
It took two overtime “innings” in a “shootout” format to decide a winner, but the Pittsburgh Maulers find themselves in the USFL championship game for the first time after a thrilling 31-27 victory over the Michigan Panthers in the USFL semifinals Saturday night at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio....
Pittsburgh Maulers’ lead slips away late in loss to Houston Gamblers
The Pittsburgh Maulers’ stingy defense held its own for much of Saturday’s USFL contest against the Houston Gamblers. But one of the league’s top running backs proved too much to deny. Mark Thompson scored on a 33-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 51 seconds to play to give the Gamblers...
2023 WPIAL Class 2A softball championship preview: Neshannock vs. Laurel
WPIAL Class 2A softball championship 1-Neshannock (19-0) vs. 2-Laurel (16-2) 4:45 p.m. Thursday at Lilley Field, PennWest University, California On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Neshannock had a first-round bye and then defeated No. 8 Burgettstown, 10-0, in the quarterfinals and No. 5 Greensburg Central Catholic,...
2023 WPIAL Class 5A softball championship preview: Armstrong vs. Trinity
WPIAL Class 5A softball championship 1-Armstrong (19-1) vs. 3-Trinity (18-2) 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Lilley Field, PennWest University, California On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Armstrong defeated No. 16 Upper St. Clair, 10-0, in the first round, No. 8 Thomas Jefferson, 5-3, in the quarterfinals and...
2023 WPIAL Class 6A baseball championship preview: Mt. Lebanon vs. North Allegheny
WPIAL Class 6A baseball championship 5-Mt. Lebanon (12-10) vs. 2-North Allegheny (16-6) 7 p.m. Wednesday at Wild Things Park On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Mt. Lebanon defeated No. 4 Seneca Valley, 2-1, in the quarterfinals and beat No. 1 Pine-Richland, 3-0, in the semifinals; North...
2023 WPIAL Class 3A baseball championship preview: Riverside vs. Neshannock
WPIAL Class 3A baseball championship 1-Riverside (20-0) vs. 6-Neshannock (18-4) 4 p.m. Wednesday at Wild Things Park, 4 p.m. On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Riverside defeated No. 16 Valley, 9-0, in the first round, No. 8 Freeport, 9-1, in the quarterfinals and No. 4 East...
2023 WPIAL Class A baseball championship preview: California vs. Bishop Canevin
WPIAL Class A baseball championship 4-California (14-7) vs. 6-Bishop Canevin (14-3) 1 p.m. Wednesday at Wild Things Park On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: After a first-round bye, California defeated No. 5 Carmichaels, 3-0, in the quarterfinals and No. 1 Union, 9-6, in the semifinals; Bishop...
2023 WPIAL Class A softball championship preview: Union vs. Carmichaels
WPIAL Class A softball championship 1-Union (16-3) vs. 2-Carmichaels (18-0) 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Lilley Field, PennWest University, California On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: After a first-round bye, Union defeated No. 9 Jeannette, 16-1, in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Chartiers-Houston, 13-5, in the semifinals;...
