Michael Love stories, Page 75
PIAA-playoff bound Knoch beats Montour in WPIAL Class 4A semifinals
The Knoch girls basketball team will play in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals for the second straight season. After a 15-day break from competition, the No. 3 Knights opened the playoffs in the quarterfinals Friday night and scored a 67-48 home victory over No. 6 Montour. “We had our two...
Fox Chapel freshman has eyes on PIAA diving qualification
Jackson Hagler quickly established himself as a qualifier for the WPIAL Class AAA diving championships. With that berth already secured, the Fox Chapel freshman continued to work on his craft, and he recorded a season-best score of 247.95 at a section meet with Penn Hills on Jan. 20. Now, he...
Gateway’s Passalinqua aims for success at WPIAL diving championships
Noah Passalinqua established himself as a major player in Class 3A boys diving throughout the season, and now he hopes to make his mark on a championship stage. The Gateway junior will make his WPIAL meet debut Saturday at North Allegheny High School. He is seeded seventh overall with goals...
A-K Valley WPIAL basketball playoff preview capsules: Games of Friday, Feb. 25, 2022
BOYS Class 4A Quarterfinals 7-Pine-Richland (12-11) at 2-Fox Chapel (21-1) 7 p.m. Friday Winner plays: Winner of 6-Butler (13-9)/3-Central Catholic (17-5) Tuesday in semifinals (site and time TBD) Layup lines: Pine-Richland had no trouble with No. 10 Bethel Park in a 64-41 first-round victory. Joey Dudkowski, who came into the...
Montour shakes off rust, pulls away from Burrell in Class 4A quarterfinals
The Montour boys basketball team is moving on. The Spartans, the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs, overcame an early challenge from No. 7 Burrell in Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchup and went on to a 70-50 home victory. The game was Montour’s first in 12 days. Burrell came...
A-K Valley WPIAL basketball playoff preview capsules: Games of Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022
BOYS Class 5A Quarterfinals 5-Highlands (17-6) at 4-Penn Hills (18-4) 7 p.m. Thursday Winner plays: 8-Hampton (13-10) at 1-Laurel Highlands (22-0) Monday in semifinals (site and time TBD) Layup lines: Highlands is coming off a dominating 76-40 victory over Albert Gallatin in the first round Monday. Jimmy Kunst scored 24...
Plum trio set to represent Boyce Gym in Golden Gloves bouts
Salvatore “Dom” Sheffo started sparring with his uncle a little over a year ago. “We would hit pads for fun,” said Sheffo, 17, a senior at Plum High School. The former Mustangs wrestler took the relaxed sparring sessions and turned it up a notch in August as he began training...
Alle-Kiski Valley WPIAL basketball playoff capsules for Feb. 23, 2022
Wednesday’s games Boys Quarterfinals Class 4A 7-Burrell (14-8) at 2-Montour (18-4) 7 p.m. Wednesday Winner plays: Winner of 11-Freeport (13-9)/3-Belle Vernon (18-3) in semifinals on Saturday (site and time TBD) Layup lines: Burrell kicked off the WPIAL playoffs in successful fashion Friday with a 63-42 victory over No. 10 Elizabeth...
St. Joseph girls halt playoff losing streak
The St. Joseph girls basketball team is back in the WPIAL postseason win column. The youthful Spartans, with just one senior on their roster, halted a three-game playoff losing streak dating to 2018 with a 45-37 victory over Mapletown on Monday in a Class A first-round game at Gateway High...
Alle-Kiski Valley WPIAL basketball playoff capsules for Feb. 22, 2022
Boys First round Class 2A 9-Sto-Rox (11-7) at 8-Springdale (11-11) 7 p.m. Tuesday Winner plays: Winner of 1-Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (19-0)/16-Chartiers-Houston (9-13) on Friday in quarterfinals (site, time TBD) Layup lines: Sto-Rox finished in third place in Section 2 behind co-champions Fort Cherry and Carlynton. The Vikings...
A-K Valley WPIAL basketball playoff capsules for Feb. 21, 2022
Monday’s games Boys First round Class 5A 9-Kiski Area (15-7) at 8-Hampton (12-10) 7 p.m. Monday Winner plays: Winner of 1-Laurel Highlands (21-0)/16-Woodland Hills (8-14) on Thursday in quarterfinals Layup lines: Kiski Area already tripled its win total from a year ago under first-year coach Corey Smith, who played for...
Gateway grad Evan Whiteside claims PAC title, advances to NCAA tournament
Evan Whiteside is on a roll. The Gateway graduate and 125-pound starter in the Thiel College wrestling lineup is enjoying a breakout first collegiate season. He hopes the momentum built throughout the season, including the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title won Feb. 12, will lead him to big things at Friday...
First trip to PIAA meet memorable for Plum competitive spirit squad
The Plum competitive spirit team made a long journey this season from a spring and summer of training all the way through to its first appearance on biggest high school stage for the sport in Pennsylvania. Along the way, coach Amanda Anderson, in her fifth season with Plum, said the...
Plum trio blazing trail for girls wrestling in district
High school girls wrestling in Pennsylvania is gaining momentum on a weekly basis. In December, North Allegheny and Canon-McMillan faced off in the first-ever girls dual match between WPIAL schools. At around the same time, Kiski Area became the 31st school in Pennsylvania to sign on to the movement to...
Gateway girls hope strong finish provides momentum for next season
Despite not having the entire season it wanted, the Gateway girls basketball team finished on a positive note with three wins over its final four games. The finish was something coach Curtis Williams hoped to see and was something the returning team members can build on going into the offseason....
Excitement growing for WPIAL swimming’s return to Pitt
When Penn-Trafford swim coach Dave Babik took over as the WPIAL swimming and diving chairman at the start of this school year, he knew he would have a lot on his plate. Near the top of that list was the when, the where and the format for the upcoming WPIAL...
Deer Lakes boys get playoff win in final seconds
Justin Brannagan’s final field-goal attempt in the final home game of his varsity career ended up being a shot he will remember for the rest of his life. His Deer Lakes teammates, coaches, classmates and the rest of the Lancers faithful who witnessed Friday’s WPIAL Class 4A first-round game against...
A-K Valley WPIAL basketball playoff capsules for Feb. 18, 2022
Boys Class 4A First round 9-Blackhawk (12-9) at 8-Deer Lakes (15-5) 7 p.m. Friday Winner plays: At 1-Quaker Valley (20-0), 7 p.m. Wednesday in quarterfinals Lay-up lines: At 7-7, the Cougars finished fourth in competitive Section 2, behind Quaker Valley, Montour and Lincoln Park. They lost three of four games...
Knoch girls basketball seniors gear up for final ride
Maddie Boyer, Mackenzie McGraw and Lily Hawk have been friends and basketball teammates since fourth grade. The three Knoch seniors admit they have come a long way on a journey that has brought them to a last hurrah and a chance to make history before they graduate. “It’s been a...
Brian Miller named athletic director at Plum
Just a couple weeks after Josh Shoop stepped down as Plum’s athletic director, the school district’s board of directors on Tuesday hired his replacement who will guide the Mustangs teams through the remainder of the winter season, into the spring season and beyond. Brian Miller comes to Plum with more...
Fox Chapel boys, Knoch girls refocus after getting look at WPIAL playoff pairings
The WPIAL boys and girls basketball playoff brackets were released Monday, and the Fox Chapel boys and Knoch girls, as predicted, earned byes into the quarterfinals. For the Knights, who reached the Class 4A semifinals last year, a 19-2 record from the regular season and a first section championship in...
Gateway graduate Jordan Edwards finds scoring touch at High Point
Jordan Edwards Jordan Edwards has made a scoring impact as of late for the High Point women’s basketball team in NCAA Division I. The 5-foot-7 senior guard and Gateway graduate scored a season-high 14 points last Wednesday in a 65-57 victory over Radford which put the Panthers at 11-11 overall...
Gateway’s Holmes siblings look forward to WPIAL championships
Andrew Holmes has his sights set on more WPIAL gold at Pitt’s Trees Pool in a couple weeks as he hopes to add to last year’s WPIAL title in the 200-yard freestyle. But the versatile Gateway senior also is ready to dive into swimming at the next level as he...
Plum athletes off to strong start during indoor track season
Plum cross country and track and field coach Stephanie Kennedy is optimistic as she looks ahead to the outdoor track season. Those positive feelings, she said, have their genesis in the work a number of Mustangs athletes have put in this winter in advance of moving outdoors early next month....
Kiski Area girls avenge loss against Plum
When the Plum and Kiski Area girls basketball teams met Jan. 26 at Plum, the Mustangs came away with a victory. Plum hoped for a season sweep Friday as the Section 2-5A rivals rematched at Kiski Area. But the Cavaliers had other plans, and they celebrated senior night with a...
