Michael Love stories, Page 106
Alle-Kiski Valley high school football notebook: Plum eases to unbeaten year
Plum came into Friday’s regular-season finale against Armstrong averaging 34.7 points. The Mustangs blew past that in the first half of a 63-13 triumph that gave them an undefeated regular season (7-0) for the first time since 1977 (8-0-2). Plum scored 18 seconds into the game on a 63-yard touchdown...
Gateway girls soccer navigates tough stretch of schedule to make playoffs
The Gateway girls soccer team finished its regular season with seven games in 11 days as a stretch of time off because covid issues within the school district created a stretch run more compact than normal. Coach Kelly Bender said she couldn’t have been more proud of the way her...
Strong finish lifts Gateway boys soccer into playoffs
The Gateway boys soccer team last week finished its mission of returning to the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2016. Needing a strong stretch run to earn a berth to the postseason, the Gators won their final three section games, including a 4-0 victory Oct. 20 over West...
Quick start propels Plum past Armstrong; Mustangs finish regular season unbeaten
Plum didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard in Friday’s Greater Allegheny Conference game against Armstrong at Mustangs Stadium. Sophomore Eryck Moore took a handoff on Plum’s first play and raced around the right side for a 63-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs the lead just 18 seconds into...
WPISL playoff tournament set for Saturday, Sunday
A Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League varsity champion will be crowned this weekend as 13 teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament Saturday and Sunday. Mt. Lebanon’s WPISL program will host the games on a pair of area fields. The first round and quarterfinals will be Saturday, with the semifinals...
Knoch outlasts Sewickley Academy, wins elusive WPIAL Class AA girls tennis team title
Knoch didn’t want another second-place trophy. After three straight runner-up finishes to Sewickley Academy at the WPIAL Class AA girls tennis team championships, the Knights broke through Thursday on the courts at Shady Side Academy. Knoch senior Brooke Bauer outlasted Sewickley Academy freshman Ashley Close in a third-set tiebreaker at...
A-K Valley football players to watch for Week 7
Thomas Burke Leechburg, jr., WR/DB Burke showed his multi-faceted ability last Friday against Riverview as he hauled in a 56-yard touchdown pass from senior Dylan Cook in the first half and added a 13-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He finished with two receptions for 67 yards as the...
A-K Valley don’t miss high school football matchups for Week 7
Class 5A northeast North Hills (2-4, 2-2) at Fox Chapel (2-4, 2-2) 7 p.m. Friday, Fox Chapel Stadium, Fox Chapel North Hills lost to Pine-Richland last week, 59-13, and Fox Chapel suffered a 27-7 loss at Penn Hills. … Zidane Thomas scored the Foxes’ lone touchdown, his first rushing score of...
Deer Lakes boys, Plum girls earn No. 2 seeds in WPIAL soccer playoffs
When the WPIAL soccer playoff brackets were announced Wednesday, not one A-K Valley soccer team found itself named a No. 1 seed. But the Deer Lakes boys and the Plum girls did earn No. 2 seeds, and they will both look to work their way back to the WPIAL final...
Weather again halts WPIAL girls tennis playoffs
For the second consecutive day, the WPIAL girls team tennis tournament has been halted because of rainy weather. Both the Class AAA and AA semifinal matches now will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday. WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said Tuesday the weather forecast for the rest of the week “looks...
Deer Lakes volleyball on verge of section title
The Deer Lakes girls volleyball team is one win away from its first section championship since 1991. The Lancers, at the top of the Section 5-AA standings at 9-1, control their own destiny and will clinch the title with a victory Tuesday at home against Steel Valley. At the same...
North Allegheny regains top Class 4A spot in girls volleyball coaches association rankings
The WPIAL girls volleyball regular season ends later this week, and a couple of section titles and playoff berths remain up for grabs. The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its latest rankings Monday, and there is a new top team in Class 4A. North Allegheny, which began the season...
Rain forces WPIAL to postpone girls tennis semifinals
With rain showers in the area, WPIAL officials on Monday morning postponed the Class AAA and AA girls tennis semifinal matches. All four matches now will be Tuesday afternoon with 3 p.m. starts. In Class AAA, top-seeded Peters Township will host Latrobe, and Upper St. Clair hosts Pine-Richland. Peters Township,...
Kiski Area freshman Eliza Miller running with the elite
Eliza Miller ran a time of 19 minutes, 24.1 seconds to place first in the girls varsity race at the season-opening Kiski Cavalier Invitational cross country meet Sept. 18 at Northmoreland Park. “I went sub-20 in my first race, and that got me really excited for the rest of the...
Despite shortened schedule Gateway football preparing for run at WPIAL title
The WPIAL last Wednesday revealed a plan to populate the football playoff brackets and deal with unbalanced records and schedules in several of the classifications among a wider announcement of postseason strategies for fall sports. With Gateway expected to finish with four games played in the regular season — it...
Gateway boys soccer deals with schedule crunch in quest for playoff berth
The Gateway boys soccer team found itself in a playoff battle in Section 4-4A as it hoped to qualify for the WPIAL postseason for the first time since 2016. The Gators played a compacted, hectic schedule down the stretch — 10 scheduled games in 16 days — after covid-19 issues...
A-K Valley high school football notebook: Apollo-Ridge could be at mercy of playoff selection committee
The WPIAL on Wednesday laid out a plan to fill playoff brackets for the six football classifications as covid-19 has canceled games and created unprecedented issues for the organization. Apollo-Ridge had a keen interest in what the WPIAL had to say. The WPIAL’s plan for Class 2A has only the...
New-look roster carries Riverview boys golf to winning season
The Riverview boys golf team capped its 2020 season in the WPIAL Class AA team semifinals at Beaver Valley Golf Club. The Raiders, in the WPIAL team playoffs for the third consecutive year, placed eighth. “We left a lot of shots out there (on the course),” Riverview coach Hal Biehl...
Plum’s Charlotte Jones makes dream of swimming at next level come true
Charlotte Jones has one final year of swimming at Plum, and then she hopes to make her mark at the NCAA Division I level. The Mustangs senior has given a verbal commitment to continue in the sport at Long Island University-Brooklyn in the Northeast Conference. “It is a great feeling...
Leechburg scores 76 in dominating Riverview for 400th winVideo
Leechburg averaged 44 points in wins over Riverview in Eastern Conference matchups the past two seasons. The Blue Devils surpassed that by halftime against the Raiders on Friday. Leechburg led by 41 at the break and cruised to a 76-25 victory on senior night at Veterans Memorial Stadium. “It was...
Montour wraps up WPISL regular-season title
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League regular season concludes this weekend as the focus begins to turn to the playoff tournament. Montour (13-1) wrapped up the regular-season title last Sunday with a doubleheader sweep of Mt Lebanon (6-6). Seneca Valley, which split an early-season doubleheader with Montour, did the same...
A-K Valley football players to watch for Week 6
Lorenzo Jenkins Fox Chapel, jr., WR/DB In wins over Shaler and Kiski Area after an 0-3 start, Jenkins caught a combined 13 passes for 240 yards and six touchdowns. He is averaging 16 yards a catch this season and owns totals of 24 catches, 383 yards and seven touchdowns. On...
A-K Valley don’t miss high school football matchups for Week 6
Class 5A northeast Fox Chapel (2-3, 2-1) at Penn Hills (2-3, 2-1) 7 p.m. Friday, Yuhas-McGinley Stadium, Penn Hills The winner will get a leg up in the race for a WPIAL Class 5A playoff spot. … Fox Chapel has won two straight after an 0-3 start. Senior starting quarterback Justin...
Winning culture carries over for Kiski Area girls soccer team
The Kiski Area girls soccer team advanced to the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals each of the past two seasons. Coach Mike Spagnolo said he hoped to continue that success this fall with a younger group of players after 11 seniors graduated. While it took time for the team to get...
A-K Valley girls soccer notebook: Fox Chapel wins rugged section
A 2-1 overtime victory over Norwin early in Section 2-AAAA play might turn out to be the difference maker in Fox Chapel’s section championship. The Foxes shut out Allderdice, 5-0, on Tuesday behind two goals from Emma Wecht, single tallies from Lucy Ream and Addie Piper and an own goal...
