Michael Love stories, Page 11
Apollo-Ridge turns tables on Leechburg, scores late for comeback victory
In last year’s Week Zero rivalry game between Leechburg and Apollo-Ridge, the Blue Devils rallied from a touchdown behind in the fourth quarter to score a five-point victory. Friday night, the Vikings returned the favor. Trailing by nine in the third quarter, Apollo-Ridge fought back, scoring the final 13 points...
Thousands of youth soccer players geared up for 28th annual Plum Kick-Off Classic
The largest youth soccer tournament in Pennsylvania is set for its 28th edition this weekend. Tournament director Jamie Stewart said Plum Area Youth Soccer and PA West are excited to host the Plum Kick-Off Classic and will welcome teams from neighboring communities and throughout the region. “We are right around...
A-K Valley high school football players to watch for 2025 Week Zero
Players to watch Amos Glenn Freeport, Sr., RB The Yellowjackets tailback hopes to have the same type of game against Indiana on Friday as he did in a breakout performance last year against the Indians. In that 30-7 victory, Glenn carried the ball 23 times for 167 yards as Freeport’s...
Rivalry battle kicks off 2025 season for Leechburg, Apollo-Ridge
Last year, the Leechburg and Apollo-Ridge football teams played down to the wire in their annual season-opening clash. The Blue Devils trailed the Vikings by a touchdown in the fourth quarter at Veterans Memorial Field before rallying for 12 points to earn a 19-14 Week Zero win in the rivalry...
A-K valley girls high school soccer preview: Deer Lakes ‘shooting for higher ground’
The Deer Lakes girls soccer team made a number of long trips for section matches last season and faced a few unfamiliar foes. But the Lancers powered through their schedule and fashioned a runner-up finish to Mt. Pleasant in Section 4-2A at 8-2. They also made it to the WPIAL...
Riverview QB Connor Kmetz returns from injury-interrupted season bigger, stronger, faster
Connor Kmetz was perfect. In the first half of last year’s victory over Valley, the Riverview quarterback completed all nine of his pass attempts for 125 yards and three touchdowns as the Raiders led 21-12 at the break of what turned out to be a 37-35 victory. However, Kmetz was...
Riverview confident focus on process, not results, will pay off
Trevor George saw the potential of last year’s Riverview football team and what the Raiders wanted to do: Stack victories in and out of Eastern Conference play, finish with a winning record and make the WPIAL playoffs. Those goals ended up not being reached as the Raiders finished 3-6 overall,...
A-K Valley football teams leaning on their lines this season
Nick Anderson felt confident at the start of last season. The 6-foot-4, 275-pound sophomore was a young pup playing on a veteran Kiski Area offensive line with four senior starters. But his first-year varsity status didn’t keep him from shining in the spotlight as he made his mark for a...
WPIAL Class 4A preview: Star-studded McKeesport among contenders to Thomas Jefferson’s throne
Thomas Jefferson found itself in familiar territory last year. The Jaguars finished the regular season undefeated and went into the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs as the No. 1 seed. They then topped West Allegheny and Aliquippa in the quarterfinals and semifinals before upending McKeesport, 28-7, in the title game at...
Apollo-Ridge aims to bounce back after 1-win season
Apollo-Ridge took its lumps in and out of Allegheny Conference play last year. The Vikings won just one game out of nine, with the lone triumph a conference victory by three points over Ligonier Valley in the season finale. But with the struggles, veteran head coach John Skiba said, came...
Longtime WPIAL head coach Sam Albert happy to help as assistant at Pine-Richland
When Sam Albert stepped down at Kiski Area shortly after the 2024 season and ended a three-decade run as a head coach at stops that included Valley, Butler, Freeport and Highlands, he said he had plans to serve as an assistant somewhere. That somewhere is Pine-Richland. Albert has joined Rams...
After track success, senior jumps at chance to lead Highlands back to playoffs
Jahmar Wright bridged the gap between the majority of his junior season and the lead-up to his senior year with strong performances at the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A track and field championships in May. Wright, a senior at Highlands and one of the top returning talents for the Golden...
2-way playmaker Drew Ross leading the charge for confident Freeport
Drew Ross is comfortable sitting in the pocket, surveying the field and delivering a strike to any one of several receiving targets in Freeport’s passing game. He also is ready to have his number called and use his feet to get yardage and move the sticks. Defensively, he’s set to...
Highlands working to adapt offense, keep playoff streak going
Highlands was one quarter away from a trip to last year’s WPIAL Class 3A semifinals. The Golden Rams led No. 1 Imani Christian by nine at the end of the third quarter, but the Saints erupted in the fourth and raced past Highlands for a 31-17 win. While that heartbreaking...
Coming off playoff berth, strong offseason, Freeport building momentum
The Freeport football team returned to form in 2024. After a 2023 season that saw the Yellowjackets win just three games and suffer a rare playoff miss, last year’s team grew and learned from its tough fortunes, finished third in a strong Allegheny 7 Conference and returned to the WPIAL...
Veteran players committed to keeping winning culture growing at Deer Lakes
The Deer Lakes football program has forged a culture of winning the past couple of years, which has resulted in trips to the WPIAL playoffs and a great deal of excitement among many in the Lancers athletic community. Tim Burk, Deer Lakes’ eighth-year head coach, said the team members gearing...
1st-year coach looks to get Burrell back to WPIAL playoffs
Winds of change swept through the Burrell football program in the offseason. Shawn Liotta, the Bucs coach for seven seasons who led the program to three WPIAL playoff appearances during his tenure, stepped down in December to enter the Arena Football coaching ranks. Dom Girardi, quite familiar with high school...
Ryan Love prepared to take on featured role in Deer Lakes backfield
Last year, Ryan Love served as an understudy to running back Zier Williams. The current Deer Lakes senior tailback learned and grew in the game during his junior season, one that saw the Lancers finish 8-3 and record their third straight trip to the WPIAL playoffs. When he got the...
Workhorse running back Trey Coury embraces Burrell’s ‘more diverse offense’
In Burrell’s run-heavy offense last year, Trey Coury shined. He was a workhorse for the Bucs, carrying the ball an average of 26.9 times a game. He finished the season with 1,143 yards and seven touchdowns. When the opportunity presented itself for him to catch the football, he did so...
Apollo-Ridge QBs commiserate in return from injuries
Two years ago, Alex Clawson suffered a serious ankle injury during an early-season game for the Apollo-Ridge football team and was lost for the rest of his sophomore campaign. Last year as a sophomore, Chris Dailey suffered the same fate as an ankle injury in the second game of the...
Monroeville Red Pandas celebrate division title
The Monroeville Red Pandas won just six games in their 2024 Pittsburgh NABA season. It wasn’t the overall performance manager Donovan Baxter and his team had hoped for. But the group, made up predominantly of Gateway graduates in their early to mid 20s, regrouped and refocused on this summer’s new...
Leechburg girls coach inherits young squad, sees hope
Rich Marshall has experienced opportunities at every level during his basketball coaching career. He was a Division I men’s assistant at Clemson and Arizona State, and he helped Clemson win the only ACC championship in program history in 1989-90 under head coach Cliff Ellis with standouts Dale Davis and Elden...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: West Mifflin’s Armand Hill
Armand Hill broke out in a big way for West Mifflin as a freshman two years ago. Already a starter at defensive back, Hill got his shot at running back as an injury replacement, and he shined as the Titans finished runner-up in their conference and earned a spot in...
Summer turnout benefits Gateway soccer teams ahead of 2025 season
The Gateway boys soccer team has qualified for the WPIAL playoffs five years in a row. Gators coach Mike Rugh said with the returning talent and a crop of newcomers, this year’s group can make it six straight. He is encouraged by the work the team has put in over...
Riverview soccer teams use summer months to maintain momentum from playoff seasons
When Jessica Garland was hired as the new Riverview girls soccer head coach in mid April, she had one eye on the immediate tasks of getting her footing with the school and the Raiders athletic department. The other eye was focused on getting to know the mix of returning and...
