Michael Love stories, Page 124
Tarentum’s James 5:16 Boxing Center to host amateur bouts
The James 5:16 Boxing Center in Tarentum will host amateur boxing Saturday. Chris Archer, a trainer at the facility, said there will be 13-15 bouts between fighters from local gyms throughout the area and region who continue to prepare for the Golden Gloves and USA Boxing tournaments early next year....
Kiski Area wrestlers, other A-K Valley athletes sign letters of intent
Last year at this time, Nick Delp saw Kiski Area graduates Cam Connor and Darren Miller sign Division I National Letters of Intent to wrestle at Penn and Bucknell, respectively. On Wednesday, it was Delp’s turn to celebrate the finality of his college decision. The Bucknell wrestling commit joined a...
Plum grad Crossey maintains stout defensive play for Case Western Reserve
The Case Western Reserve football team edged Waynesburg on Saturday to clinch the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Throughout the matchup with the Yellow Jackets, Patrick Crossey was making a difference for the Spartans defense. The Plum graduate and senior...
North Allegheny keeps hopes of PIAA volleyball 3-peat alive
The North Allegheny girls volleyball team captured PIAA gold the past two seasons, and the Tigers will go after their third consecutive crown and sixth in program history after defeating Landisville Hempfield 3-1 in a Class AAAA semifinal match Tuesday at Altoona High School. The Tigers improved to 21-1 overall...
Palmyra ends Knoch’s volleyball season in state semifinals
Things started well for the Knoch girls volleyball team in Tuesday’s PIAA Class AAA semifinal against Palmyra at Altoona High School. The Knights outlasted the Cougars 27-25 in a competitive first game and hoped to build on the gained momentum. But the District 3 champion didn’t waver. Palmyra, undefeated in...
Freeport volleyball set for high-stakes rematch with North Catholic
As the Freeport girls volleyball team was taking care of Beaver on Saturday in a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal at Shaler, North Catholic and defending PIAA champion Bald Eagle Area squared off for another spot in the state semifinals. The Yellowjackets’ sweep of the Bobcats propelled them into the PIAA...
Standout Freeport pitcher Jarrett Heilman gives verbal commitment to Mercyhurst
Jarrett Heilman is busy preparing for his final high school baseball season with a Freeport, which returns numerous starters and key contributors from last spring’s run to a Section 1-3A title and the PIAA playoffs. But when the senior pitcher hangs up his Yellowjackets uniform for the final time, he...
Knoch volleyball sweeps Franklin Regional to move into state semifinals
The Knoch girls volleyball team swept Franklin Regional when the teams met in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals last week. The Panthers hoped to turn the tables on the Knights as they faced off again Saturday, this time with a berth in the PIAA semifinals on the line. But Knoch,...
Freeport volleyball sweeps Beaver, moves into PIAA semifinalsVideo
The Freeport girls volleyball team is returning to a familiar place. The Yellowjackets fired on all cylinders Saturday in a 3-0 sweep of Beaver in a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal at Shaler, and they will play in the state semifinals for the third year in a row. “We always talk...
Chase Balla does it all for Allegheny’s football team
Chase Balla is a jack-of-all-trades for the Allegheny College football team. The 5-foot-8, 180-pound junior has served as an anchor of the defense as a linebacker/defensive back hybrid since his freshman season, when he earned All-North Coast Athletic Conference honorable-mention honors. Balla, a Valley High School graduate, has been a...
Knoch block party frustrates volleyball foesVideo
In last week’s WPIAL Class AAA semifinal victory over Franklin Regional, Knoch girls volleyball players recorded more than two dozen blocks, with four players leading the way with six apiece. Senior Hannah Rowe tallied 14 blocks in Saturday’s WPIAL title game victory, and fellow senior Skylar Burkett added five. On...
Freeport refocuses, gets set for PIAA volleyball quarterfinals
After two emotional and physically draining five-set matches to cap the WPIAL playoffs, senior outside hitter Lauren Lampus and the other Freeport girls volleyball team members were happy to take care of business in straightforward fashion Tuesday in the first round of the PIAA tournament. The WPIAL champion Yellowjackets took...
Nation’s best martial artists flock to Alle-Kiski Valley tournament
The Pennsylvania Karate Championships is the second-longest running event of its type in the United States, and Saturday’s 47th annual event at Valley High School again is expected to attract the top martial arts competitors from the Alle-Kiski Valley as well as the region, state and country. “It was one...
WPIAL releases field hockey all-star lists
The WPIAL wrapped up the 2019 field hockey season Thursday with the release of its Division I and II all-star lists. North Allegheny and Mt. Lebanon, WPIAL Class AAA playoff qualifiers, led the way with three Division I first-team selections apiece, while champion Pine-Richland and runner-up Peters Township each had...
Plum pleased with progress after historic girls soccer season
When Plum girls soccer team members gathered for summer workouts and then came together for official preseason practices in August, a buzz surrounded the talented but youthful group. First-year head coach Jamie Stewart said he saw the potential, but hard work and determination would turn potential into a reality of...
A-K Valley campus clippings: Deer Lakes grad Irvine has hat trick for Saint Vincent
Hannah Irvine was on point offensively for the Saint Vincent women’s soccer team in a 3-1 victory over Thiel to cap the 2019 season. The Deer Lakes graduate, a sophomore midfielder, recorded a hat trick as the Bearcats finished 2-6 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference and 2-14 overall. Irvine led...
Plum’s Jackson gives verbal commitment to Pitt volleyball
For Plum’s Makayla Jackson, Pitt is it. The Mustangs standout junior middle hitter paid an official visit to the University of Pittsburgh volleyball program over the weekend, and she came away impressed so much that she gave a verbal commitment to the Panthers. “I loved the campus and the fact...
WPIAL volleyball champs Freeport, Knoch eager to begin PIAA title quests
Shaler Area will be a volleyball hotspot Tuesday as WPIAL champions Freeport and Knoch open the PIAA playoffs with back-to-back matchups. The undefeated Yellowjackets (18-0) will face District 9 champion Brookville at 6 p.m., and the Knights (21-1) will battle South Fayette at 7:30. “We’re playing with so much momentum...
First PIAA-playoff appearance is ‘great opportunity’ for Plum girls soccer
The Plum girls soccer team fell short Saturday in its quest for a WPIAL Class AAA championship in its first title-game appearance. The Mustangs were not able to solve unbeaten Mars in a 4-0 loss at Highmark Stadium. But that didn’t end the season for Plum (17-2-1). It has turned...
Future bright for Riverview boys cross country team
Riverview junior Mason Ochs finished eighth in the Class A boys race at Saturday’s PIAA cross country championships after taking second at WPIALs. Teammate Gideon Deasy was 14th. The top five Raiders runners — all underclassmen — posted finishes 40th or better to help the team finish runner-up to Winchester...
Knoch, Freeport volleyball teams seek repeat of 2017 PIAA titles
In 2017, the Knoch and Freeport volleyball teams played the final three matches of their PIAA championship runs in the same location. The Knights followed the Yellowjackets on the court in the quarterfinals at Slippery Rock High School, the semifinals at Seneca Valley High School and the finals at Richland...
A-K Valley football teams fall short in 1st round of WPIAL playoffs
When sophomore Cody Dykes connected on a 33-yard field goal early in the second quarter of Friday’s WPIAL Class 5A first-round game at Bethel Park, the Kiski Area football team held a 10-point lead. Seniors running backs Peyton McCann and Luke Lander combined for 106 yards to that point, and...
Bethel Park scores 28 unanswered in playoff defeat of Kiski AreaVideo
With 10 minutes left until halftime of Friday’s WPIAL Class 5A first-round matchup at Bethel Park, Kiski Area led the Black Hawks by 10 points and appeared ready to take full control. But Bethel Park had other ideas. The seventh-seeded Black Hawks reeled off 28 unanswered points in the second...
Plum’s Justin Mascilli misses spot at state cross country meet by narrowest of margins
Plum senior Justin Mascilli placed 27th in the boys Class AAA race at the WPIAL cross country championships Oct. 24 at Cal (Pa.). He completed the Roadman Park course in 17 minutes, 30 seconds, an improvement of 24 spots and 41 seconds from his finish there last year. While Mascilli’s...
Freeport hungry for WPIAL girls volleyball title
The Freeport girls volleyball team celebrated Thursday’s come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Avonworth in the WPIAL Class AA semifinals at North Allegheny with a trip to Chick-fil-A. “My girls all love Chick-fil-A, and they kind of devoured a lot of chicken sandwiches on the way home,” Yellowjackets coach Tom Phillips said....
