Michael Love stories, Page 58
After 4 years of success, Plum senior soccer players cap careers in PIAA playoffs
Only one team had scored a goal against the Moon girls soccer team before the Tigers faced Plum in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal Nov. 12 at Peters Township’s Confluence Financial Partners Stadium. The Mustangs were up for the challenge and put the first goal on the board within the...
Gateway hockey selects trio for 2022 Honor Roll
The 50th anniversary year of the inaugural season of Gateway hockey will culminate Dec. 26 with the program’s annual alumni event at Palmer Imaging Arena in Delmont. Alumni president Stefan Biancaniello said the organization is proud to welcome three former Gators players to the Gateway Honor Roll in 2022. The...
Gateway football players earn postseason honors
The Upper St. Clair football team was to take on Pine-Richland at Norwin on Saturday for the WPIAL Class 5A title. In its journey to the championship game, the No. 5 Panthers survived a razor-thin quarterfinal game against No. 4 Gateway on Nov. 4 at Gateway’s Antimarino Stadium. The Gators...
Freeport sweeps York Catholic to claim PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball crown
MECHANICSBURG — Josie Russo celebrated her 17th birthday Saturday, and she couldn’t have asked for a better gift. The Freeport junior middle hitter’s block at match point against District 3 champion York Catholic closed out a 3-0 sweep of the Fighting Irish at Cumberland Valley High School and gave the...
Freeport’s run to PIAA volleyball finals gives junior middle hitter chance to get back on court
Autumn English was a key part of the Freeport girls volleyball team’s early-season surge and its rise to the No. 1 spot in the Class 2A state rankings. It then all came apart for the junior middle hitter. English broke a bone in her foot near her ankle during warmups...
Players selected for We Serve First All-Star Classic girls volleyball event
The inaugural We Serve First All-Star Classic girls volleyball event will be Dec. 10 at Kiski Area High School, and the 36 seniors set to take part have been selected. They represent 16 schools in the Alle-Kiski Valley and surrounding communities: Apollo-Ridge, Armstrong, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Franklin Regional, Freeport, Hampton,...
Freeport girls volleyball team outlasts Philipsburg-Osceola, reaches state final
A pair of district champions battled for five games Wednesday at Punxsutawney High School with a trip to the PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball championship on the line. In a packed gym, a boisterous crowd saw District 6 champion Philipsburg-Osceola deliver the first shot with a dominant win in Game...
Pitt’s the pick for Riverview scoring sensation Lola Abraham
Riverview junior Lola Abraham has put together an impressive resume of on-field soccer results the past several years with her Pittsburgh Riverhounds Academy club and with her high school teammates. She now hopes that she can do the same thing at Pitt. Abraham has concluded her recruiting process with a...
Experienced lineup, drop to Class 3A could spark Burrell girls
The Burrell girls basketball team was on the move in the offseason, dropping down to Class 3A. Bucs coach Shaun Reddick hopes that change can be one of a few sparks for the team as it hopes to improve on last year’s 4-15 overall record and 4-8 mark in section...
Burrell boys eye return to postseason after dropping to Class 3A
A new section with new opponents in a new classification doesn’t change the goals of the Burrell boys basketball team. That’s the view of fourth-year Bucs coach Mike Fantuzzo, who hopes to guide this year’s group to a return trip to the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs. Burrell, like all the...
With roster intact from playoff team, Apollo-Ridge girls expect big season
Not a single member of last year’s Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team was lost to graduation. The youthful Vikings capped a 16-7 overall season with a trip to the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals and a berth in the PIAA tournament. With everyone back, energy and anticipation is high for the upcoming...
Excitement building for boys basketball season at Apollo-Ridge
The Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team started last season with three wins over its first five games. Then injury and other misfortune conspired against the Vikings, who lost 14 of their final 15 games to finish 4-18 overall and 3-9 in section play. That was then, 6-foot-4 senior guard/forward Gage Johnston...
Freeport volleyball team prepares for state semifinal matchup
Normally, team banquets are designated for the end of a high school season when the program looks back at all its accomplishments. The Freeport volleyball team held its team banquet Sunday. While coach Tom Phillips said the evening was a perfect time for fellowship and reflection on what the Yellowjackets...
Gateway’s Kefimba Cisse strong cross country season comes to close at PIAA meet
Kefimba Cisse began his cross country season by winning the Gateway Invitational in early September at Boyce Park. The Gateway junior concluded it Nov. 5 in the Class 3A boys race at the PIAA championships in Hershey. It was a season of progress and a breakout effort of sorts for...
Gateway’s Madi Jesih ready to continue soccer career at Robert Morris
Madi Jesih dreamed for many years of an opportunity in soccer beyond high school. The dream was put into action with work on and off the field and play with the Hotspurs club team and with Gateway through her senior season this fall. Now, Jesih said, the work really begins...
Riverview runners finish 5th at PIAA championships
The WPIAL represented itself well in the PIAA Class A boys cross country championship meet in Hershey on Nov. 5. All four qualifying teams, including Riverview, were near the top of the standings. Winchester Thurston was third, followed by Eden Christian, the Raiders in fifth, and Our Lady of the...
After capturing 4 section titles, Plum seniors cap high school careers in PIAA playoffs
For the first time in 17 years, the Plum varsity boys soccer team played in a PIAA tournament game. Mustangs coach Raf Kolankowski said his players gave great effort against District 10 champion Cathedral Prep, but the homestanding Ramblers made enough plays to defeat Plum, 2-0, in the PIAA Class...
Hailey Longwell’s hat trick lifts Moon past Plum, sets up rematch with Mars
In rainy and chilly conditions at Peters Township, Moon put a damper on Plum’s attempt to unseat the undefeated Tigers in a PIAA Class 3A girls soccer quarterfinal Saturday afternoon. Moon, the WPIAL champion, broke a halftime tie on a trio of goals from senior midfielder Hailey Longwell and closed...
Freeport trounces West Mifflin in WPIAL quarterfinals
Freeport didn’t let persistent rain showers or West Mifflin slow it down in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal Friday at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium. The Titans scored first, but the Yellowjackets scored more often and rolled to a 42-6 victory. “I am so very proud of the boys,” Freeport coach...
Plum girls soccer team ready for another crack at Moon in PIAA playoffs
The Moon girls soccer team did to Mars what no other team had done in 80 previous matchups with the Planets. The Tigers posted a 1-0 victory at Highmark Stadium last Saturday to win the WPIAL Class 3A title and end Mars’ monumental win streak. Moon also denied the Planets...
Freeport QB Croney acquitting himself well as starter
Gavin Croney’s only varsity snap as a quarterback last year didn’t quite go as planned With starter Ben Lane out of the lineup for the WPIAL Class 3A first-round game against Ambridge, Croney found himself under center for a play in the first quarter. “It was a handoff, and it...
Pennsylvania Karate Championships return to A-K Valley
Two years ago, the Pennsylvania Karate Championships were called off in the midst of the ongoing covid pandemic. It stopped the event’s annual gathering of the top martial artists from throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley as well as the Pittsburgh region, the state and the country. But the championships returned in...
Alle-Kiski Valley athletes join in national signing day
Levi Hansen hopes to swim like a king in the Queen City. The Kiski Area senior turned a verbal commitment to the Cincinnati men’s swim team into a signed, sealed and delivered promise Wednesday morning during the first day of the National Letter of Intent signing period for every Division...
Freeport girls volleyball team sweeps into state quarterfinals
The Freeport girls volleyball team celebrated what likely was its final home game of the season in dominant fashion. The WPIAL champion Yellowjackets swept past District 10 runner-up Corry on Tuesday in a PIAA Class 2A first-round match at Freeport Middle School. “I loved having that one more game at...
A-K Valley campus clippings: Kiski Area grad Alexis Moyer earns 4th all-conference honor
Kiski Area graduate Alexis Moyer recently made history for the Clarion women’s soccer team. The fifth-year senior defender became the first Golden Eagles player to earn four all-conference honors for a career. She was named second-team All-PSAC West for 2022. Moyer started and played in all 73 games over her...
