Michael Love stories, Page 77
Captains McKenna, Heningcamp help spark growth for Gateway wrestling
Floyd McKenna entered his junior season hoping to make his mark on the mat for the Gateway wrestling team. The junior 172-pounder won 15 matches combined the past two seasons. This year, McKenna owned 16 victories against just seven losses through a Section 1 dual match with Plum on Jan....
After year absence, Gateway alumni reunite for annual Black/White hockey game
Stefan Biancaniello surveyed the landscape at Palmer Imaging Ice Arena in Delmont on Dec. 26, and his heart was warmed. After covid canceled Gateway hockey’s 2020 alumni gathering, Biancaniello hoped things would return to the way they were. With more than 40 alumni in attendance for a kickoff event to...
After strong finish at Allegheny County tournament, Plum looks forward to postseason
Few teams at the Allegheny County tournament Jan. 14 and 15 at Fox Chapel High School had the overall performance the Plum wrestling team produced. Led by senior Vinny Citrano, who placed first at 132 pounds, and sophomore Rylen Campbell, runner-up at 106, the Mustangs took third overall. It was...
Plum, Riverview fall sports teams look forward to new, current rivalries
Whether they’re joined in the same conference or separated in the same or a different classification, the Plum and Franklin Regional football teams usually find themselves on the same field each season. This fall, the Mustangs and Panthers will be together again in one of three Class 5A conferences as...
Deer Lakes boys rebound for victory against Knoch
The Deer Lakes boys basketball team was looking for a bounce back from Tuesday’s loss to Section 1-4A leader North Catholic as it hosted section rival Knoch on Friday. Mission accomplished. Led by 21 points from both Bryce Robson and Armend Karpuzi, the Lancers turned back the charge of the...
Apollo-Ridge girls team playing beyond its years
With no seniors on its roster, the youthful Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team took a wait-and-see attitude into the season with hopes of making an impact in and out of Section 4-2A. So far, the veteran presence for the Vikings has meshed well with newer varsity talent to produce a 10-2...
Knoch girls top Freeport, stay unbeaten in section
The Knoch girls basketball team keeps rolling along in Section 1-4A. Last week, the Knights took care of business, beating Highlands by 17 points in a battle of section unbeatens with first place on the line. On Tuesday at home, Knoch produced another fast start, this time against rival Freeport....
Burrell wrestling program mourns loss of Shawn, Edward DesLauriers
Dakota DesLauriers was on hand Friday at Burrell High School to watch the current crop of Bucs wrestlers take on Kiski Area in the annual nonsection matchup of neighboring rivals. As he watched the match unfold, he paused several times to think about his own contributions to those series of...
Gateway girls return from covid shutdown, earn 1st victory
The Gateway girls basketball team tasted victory for the first time this season Jan. 11 with a 49-39 victory over Section 4-5A rival Penn Hills in the friendly confines of Gateway’s Furrie Sports Complex. It was a win long sought after following five losses to open the season and also...
Gateway bowlers chasing postseason berth
The Gateway varsity boys bowling team entered a rebuilding mode at the start of the season after all five starters from last year’s WPIBL playoff squad graduated. But coach Joe Bowman said that with sophomore Alex Keeling-Oliver and senior Heath Chase, both JV players last year, leading the way, the...
After tough stretch, Plum hockey rebounds to get back in playoff chase
Plum ice hockey players knew what it felt like to be in a close game as they skated against Chartiers Valley on Jan. 10 at Mt. Lebanon Recreation Center. In the previous three contests, the Mustangs were right there down the stretch only to fall by one goal to Blackhawk...
Kiski Area wrestling continues dominance, tops Burrell
Covid wreaked havoc with last year’s winter sports season, and the annual wrestling clash between Alle-Kiski Valley rivals Burrell and Kiski Area was one of the big events which fell victim to cancellation. But the match returned Friday night in front of a spirited crowd at Burrell High School. The...
WPIAL standouts get all-star football treatment in Dallas
Brock White Jr. knows what it is like to suit up for a football game at Dallas’ AT&T Stadium, nicknamed “Jerry World” after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The Highlands senior played in the Bret Cooper Junior Academic All-American Bowl as an eighth grader in late 2017. Now, four years...
Riverhounds release 2022 schedule
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Wednesday released their 2022 USL Championship schedule. The Riverhounds will face a mix of new and familiar foes throughout the 34-game slate. Highlights include four road trips to face Western Conference teams. It will be the first time Pittsburgh will play in the Mountain or Pacific...
Knoch’s Nina Shaw shows off scoring touch, all-around game
Nina Shaw went off for a career-high 26 points in Knoch’s 50-33 victory over Section 1-4A rival Highlands on Monday. The junior guard scored 19 in the first half as the Knights established their tempo and took control with a 15-point halftime advantage. But while the team hit its season...
Riverhounds’ Wharton announces retirement from professional soccer
Todd Wharton’s brief career with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC has come to a close. The veteran midfielder announced Tuesday via his personal Instagram account that he is retiring from professional soccer. Wharton, 27, joined the Riverhounds prior to the 2021 season and appeared in all 32 matches. He scored four...
Knoch girls basketball team wins section showdown with Highlands
The lead in Section 1-4A was on the line Monday as 3-0 Knoch and 3-0 Highlands did battle at Highlands High School. The visiting Knights established themselves early and gradually were able to pull away for a 50-33 victory. “We wanted to come out quickly and establish ourselves and make...
A-K Valley senior spotlight: Deer Lakes’ Reese Hasley
Reese Hasley Deer Lakes basketball Whether it’s a pull-up jumper, a drive to the basket or a floater in the paint, Reese Hasley has shown a propensity for putting points on the board for the Deer Lakes girls basketball team. That started right out of the gate as a freshman when...
Monroeville’s Ahmad Matour earns International Federation of BodyBuilders pro card
Ahmad Matour’s focus at last month’s National Physique Committee National Championships was clear. Weeks of weight training and a proper diet regimen fueled the Monroeville resident’s goal of earning his International Federation of BodyBuilders pro card at the Dec. 18 contest in Orlando, Fla. Mission accomplished. Matour, 28, one of...
Gateway swimmers earn early WPIAL qualifying times
The Gateway boys and girls swimming and diving teams have entered the Section 3-3A portion of their schedules, and coach Sherry Sonetti hopes that a strong series of practices over the holiday break will pay dividends. “I beat them up a little bit with wanting them to get that yardage...
Various Alle-Kiski Valley schools change classifications
After many years of high-level contests in WPIAL Class 2A, including five seasons that resulted in WPIAL championships, the Freeport girls volleyball team made a move to Class 3A two years ago. But the winning didn’t wane as the Yellowjackets posted co-section championships this past fall and in 2020. The...
Patience, hard work paying off for Plum girls basketball
Early last month, as the Plum girls basketball team was going through its final paces in practices and scrimmages to get ready for the 2021-22 season, first-year coach Rich Mull said patience and hard work would be key components in the improvement of a young group with just one senior...
Riverview’s Fichte finds success with new bowling program
Gwyn Fichte has had quite the year so far in terms of sports success. In October, the Riverview sophomore placed 16th overall in the Class A girls race at the WPIAL cross country championships at Cal (Pa.). The finish also earned Fichte a berth to the state meet in Hershey....
Junior guard steps into go-to role for Freeport girls basketball team
With two regular starters out of the lineup Monday for a Section 1-4A matchup against Burrell, Ava Soilis set out to lift up her youthful Freeport teammates. The junior guard, a second-year starter for the Yellowjackets and currently the team’s leading scorer, came through with a career-best 26 points and...
Burrell girls get 1st victory of season, beat Freeport
The Burrell girls basketball team was not able to taste the thrill of victory over its first eight games. But as the Bucs turned the calendar to January, they were able to put one in the win column. Senior Hope Clark scored a team-best 18 points, and junior Addy Landowski...
