Michael Love stories, Page 131
Fox Chapel boys soccer expects to be battle-tested come playoff time
There is a buzz surrounding the Fox Chapel boys soccer team. With several players back who earned postseason all-star recognition among a sizable group of returning talent, the Foxes hope to make a move up the ladder, contend for a section championship and be in the mix for a WPIAL...
Hanlon’s versatility provides unique advantage for Riverview
Zach Hanlon possesses two Riverview football jerseys: No. 36 and No. 78. Versatility is the name of the game for the Raiders senior captain, a 220-pound bruising running back and the anchor of the defense at inside linebacker. While he enjoys his current offensive position at running back, he understands...
Riverview will rely on versatility in hopes of successful season
As his team went through summer workouts, Riverview coach Todd Massack said he made sure to remind his players they need to learn and be comfortable at multiple positions. It’s been that way the past couple of seasons, he said, with the Raiders’ limited roster and the specter of injuries...
Plum’s Matolcsy hopes to build on solid sophomore season as 2-way playerVideo
Max Matolcsy led the Plum football team last year in receiving yards and touchdowns, total tackles and interceptions. He capped his sophomore season with Class 5A All-Foothills second-team honors at outside linebacker. But the numbers Matolcsy, along with the rest of the Mustangs, was most concerned with were the ones...
Veteran players hope to lead Apollo-Ridge back to playoffs
The Apollo-Ridge football team, youthful over the past couple of seasons, returns experience at several key positions this fall, and coach John Skiba said the Vikings are pointing in the right direction for a return to the WPIAL playoffs. However, an improvement on last year’s 2-8 record, he added, will...
Freeport hopes to reload for another playoff run
Last year, the Freeport football team came close to putting its stamp on a Class 3A Big East Conference championship. The Yellowjackets lost to Derry in overtime, and they had the lead late in the fourth quarter against Elizabeth Forward before the Warriors rallied for the winning score. Derry and...
Plum hopes experience translates to success
The Plum football team last made the WPIAL playoffs in 2015 when it upset Penn Hills in a Quad-A first-round matchup. Mustangs coach Matt Morgan said the past three seasons out of the playoff picture, including last fall’s 2-8 campaign, were frustrating for him and his players, but with several...
Gateway seeks return to championship form
The Gateway football team won a combined 26 of 29 games the past two seasons. Two years ago, the Gators captured the WPIAL Class 5A title and finished as PIAA runner-up. In an attempt to repeat that feat last fall, Gateway, as the No. 1 seed, was stunned by West...
Gateway to celebrate 50th anniversary of 1st WPIAL football championship
As the United States was putting a man on the moon in the summer of 1969, the Gateway football program was preparing to hopefully put a Gator on the turf at Pitt Stadium in Oakland. There was optimism heading into the campaign that Gateway would be able to reach the...
Fox Chapel’s offseason effort lays groundwork for improvement
Shane Susnak is confident. The senior quarterback feels the pieces are in place for Fox Chapel to take a step forward this season and improve upon last year’s 2-8 overall record and 1-6 mark in the Class 5A Northern Conference. “We lost 27 seniors from my sophomore year, so we...
WPIAL and City League girls basketball players ranked on state Class of 2020 list
PAGirlsHoopsReport.com recently released its list of the top 100 players from the Class of 2020, and a sizeable group from the WPIAL and City League made the cut. North Catholic 5-foot-10 guard/forward Tess Myers, a Duquesne commit, fronts the the local group at No. 7. Myers earned Class 4A first-team...
Freeport linemen ready to benefit from experience together
Elijah Freeman recalled a welcome-to-varsity-football moment early last season as the now-sophomore right guard got comfortable in his spot along the Freeport offensive line. “In my first game on the first play, I got put on my back,” he said. “He blew me up. I quickly saw how much faster...
WPIAL Class 4A football breakdown: Thomas Jefferson motivated after title-game defeat
The Blackhawk football team engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in the WPIAL last year, going from 2-7 in 2017 to 10-2 last year and making the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals. Despite having to replace a number of key players on both sides of the ball, second-year coach Zack Hayward...
Fox Chapel’s Brown on mission to return team to WPIAL playoffs
Sam Brown is on a mission. It is two-fold with personal and team goals in mind. The Fox Chapel senior running back and linebacker received his first Division-I offer last week from Dayton. He expects other offers in the coming months. Brown also wants to make a major impact in...
Pitt women’s volleyball team 12th in preseason poll
The Pitt women’s volleyball team, the two-time defending ACC champion, begins its season Aug. 30 with the Panther Challenge at Fitzgerald Field House, and the Panthers will head into that event with a No. 12 national ranking. The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its Division I preseason poll Tuesday afternoon,...
A-K Valley football teams take it up a notch with start of preseason campsVideo
Brandon Mowry has experienced numerous opening days of preseason camp with the Knoch football team, but Monday morning’s start, he said, had a different feel. Mowry, a longtime assistant with the Knights, oversaw his first two-a-day workout as head coach of one of 13 Alle-Kiski teams to don pads for...
Apollo-Ridge’s Logan Harmon eager for camp after injury-shortened 2018 season
When turning his attention to Monday morning — the start of official preseason practices for high school football teams throughout the WPIAL — a big smile came across Logan Harmon’s face. “I don’t know how much I will be able to sleep (Sunday night),” the Apollo-Ridge junior said. “I will...
Monroeville’s Jayla Robinson takes 4th at national championship meet
When Jayla Robinson begins her fourth-grade school year at Ramsey Elementary School later this month, the 9-year-old Monroeville resident will have good news to share with her classmates. For the second year in a row, Robinson is a youth track and field All-American with a pair of medal-winning performances at...
Bozicevic brothers relish opportunity to travel to Ireland with Waynesburg men’s basketball
Brothers Frank and Mark Bozicevic traveled beyond the borders of the U.S. once as kids, but the trip to Canada, they said, didn’t register as they were too young to remember much of the details of the journey. The Gateway graduates and members of the Waynesburg men’s basketball team hope...
Knoch grad Jordan Geist claims shot put silver at Pan American Games
Knoch grad Jordan Geist captured a silver medal in the men’s shot put Wednesday evening at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. In third after the three throws of the opening round and fourth overall after the first two throws of the finals, Geist unleashed a throw of 20.67...
With help from fellow Olympians, Harmotto Dietzen, Give It Back Foundation hosting volleyball camp at Moon
Volleyballs will be flying through the air and hitting the floor at Moon High School on Friday and Saturday as the Give It Back Foundation’s annual girls volleyball camp makes its way to Western Pennsylvania for the first time. Christa Harmotto Dietzen, a Hopewell graduate and one of six former...
Knoch grad Jordan Geist hopes for strong showing in Pan Am Games
For the second time in less than two weeks, Jordan Geist will compete in the shot put against some of the best throwers in the world. The Knoch graduate and rising junior at Arizona will test his mettle Wednesday evening in a field of 13 at the Pan American Games...
A-K Valley athletes shine at Keystone State Games
The Alle-Kiski Valley was well represented over the weekend in both the youth ice hockey and baseball tournaments at the annual Keystone State Games amateur sports festival. The Central Region girls 19U hockey team, with 2017 Freeport graduate Cassie Suran (forward) and sisters Madison (defense) and Miranda (forward) Naylor, both...
Slippery Rock owns top spot in PSAC West preseason football rankings
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference released its 2019 preseason football poll Monday afternoon, and Slippery Rock is favored to repeat as PSAC West champion. The Rock, which suffered a 33-10 loss to West Chester in last year’s PSAC title game, went on to finish 11-3 overall and win a pair...
Plum Youth Legion team reflects on trip to state tournament
After his team’s loss in an elimination game at the Pennsylvania Youth Legion baseball tournament, Plum manager Bill Rumcik stood in front of his players and offered words he hoped would console his dejected group. “They were really down, but I wanted to put (the season) into perspective for them,”...
