Michael Love stories, Page 28

The Freeport girls volleyball team is no stranger to taking on the best in the state at this point in a fall season. While the Yellowjackets players had hoped to enter this year’s PIAA Class 2A playoffs with another WPIAL title under their belts, head coach Tom Phillips said they...

Only two programs in the Big East Youth Football League had all four of its teams — flag, ages 7-8, ages 9-10 and ages 11-12 — qualify for the season-ending league playoffs. One was Penn-Trafford, and the other was the Gateway teams: the Midgets (11-12), Mites (9-10), Termites (7-8) and...

A fourth straight trip to the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs was in the preseason plans for the Gateway boys soccer team. A streak-breaking victory in their first-round matchup at No. 5 Montour also was what the Gators wanted. They got the former but were denied the latter, as the Spartans...

The Plum girls soccer team sought a return trip to the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals for the fifth year in a row when it faced Montour in a quarterfinal rematch of a regular-season tie game. It was the only blemish in 17 games for the No. 2 Mustangs through a...

The Plum and South Fayette boys soccer programs were no strangers to each other before meeting Oct. 25 in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal at Plum High School. In the 2020 first round, the No. 13 Lions rose up and stunned the No. 4 Mustangs, 2-1, in overtime. Last year,...

Something had to give Friday when Southmoreland and Deer Lakes met in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round game at Lancers Stadium. Neither team had won a playoff game in its history. The Lancers came in with an 0-3 mark, and the Scotties had lost their first four postseason opportunities. Deer...

Georgia Tsambis had a feeling. The senior captain and defender on the No. 1 Riverview girls soccer team said the pieces were in place to make some noise and affect the WPIAL landscape in Class A. “We knew we had some talented freshmen coming up, and the potential was there...

The Riverview boys and girls cross country teams both ran at the PIAA Class A championships last year. They hoped to do it again this year. Mission accomplished. The Raiders boys squad, led by an 11th-place finish from junior Chris Barnes, won its second WPIAL title in three seasons last...

Player of the week Ethan Alwine Knoch, Sr., RB/LB The Knights finished the regular season and Allegheny 6 Conference slate with a dominant 40-0 victory over Valley last Friday. Alwine, who has shown his prowess all season as a dual threat in both the Knoch run and pass games, put...

When Deer Lakes and Southmoreland met for a nonconference game in Week 4 at Southmoreland, the Lancers came away with a 24-7 victory, scoring 17 second-half points to break open a game that was tied at halftime. The teams will do battle again Friday, this time in a WPIAL Class...

Senior Shaye Bailey scored her 46th goal of the season with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left, and the score was the difference as No. 2 Freedom rallied past No. 6 Springdale, 3-2, in a WPIAL Class A semifinal Tuesday evening at North Allegheny. Freedom will attempt to defend its WPIAL...

Lola Abraham had five shots in the first half of a WPIAL Class A semifinal against South Allegheny on Tuesday at North Allegheny. The attempts by the Riverview senior were solid, but the Gladiators defense was marking her closely and keeping her from getting the Raiders on the board. South...

WPIAL soccer playoffs Girls Class 2A Semifinals 6-Burrell (14-4) vs. 7-Shady Side Academy (14-3-1) 8 p.m. Tuesday at Gateway High School Winner plays: Winner of 1-Avonworth (16-1-2) vs. 5-South Park (15-5) Saturday at 11 a.m. in championship game at Highmark Stadium. Loser plays: Third-place consolation Thursday (site/time TBD) for a...

For several players on the Springdale girls soccer team, there is no secret to what it is like to be one game away from a WPIAL championship opportunity. The Dynamos made it to the Class 2A final four in 2021, played for the gold last year at Highmark Stadium and...

Devin Murray began his collegiate soccer career at Division II Mercyhurst after many standout moments at Deer Lakes, including helping the Lancers to a WPIAL Class 2A title as a senior in 2020. After a time at the Erie school, Murray decided a change academically was needed, and he made...

WPIAL soccer playoffs Boys Class A Semifinals 7-Bentworth (16-2) vs. 3-Burrell (14-3) 6 p.m. Monday at Peters Township Middle School Winner plays: Winner of 1-Charleroi (18-0)/4-Seton LaSalle (15-2-1) in WPIAL finals (time, date TBD) at Highmark Stadium Players to watch: Ryan Moessner, Bentworth; Jayson Ireland, Burrell Throw-ins: Bentworth beat No....

Two years ago, the Riverview boys soccer team went winless in its return to the field after low numbers had put the program in a one-year hiatus. Last year, the Raiders won one game. This year, a youthful Riverview team with no seniors on the roster won five games, including...

One of Wes Lorish’s main goals throughout the 2023 fall golf season was to make it back to states and have a shot at improving on last year’s tie for 10th place. Moving from the White Course at Penn State over to the Blue Course this year, Lorish moved up...

More than 50 years have passed since a group of Gateway long distance runners made their mark on area and region cross country courses. The 1967 Gators boys cross country team capture the Class AAA state title. It was the first state championship for any Gateway team since the school...

The Gateway football team left no doubt as to who was the king of the Big East Conference when it rolled to a 48-20 victory over Norwin in the conference finale Oct. 20. The Gators collected 369 total yards. They got 219 yards through the air and touchdown passes from...

Highlands and Kiski Area took care of business in their final two Greater Allegheny Conference games to punch their tickets to the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. The Golden Rams (6-4) and Cavaliers (5-5) joined fellow Alle-Kiski Valley postseason qualifiers Knoch (Class 3A), Deer Lakes (Class 3A), Burrell (Class 2A) and...

All Deer Lakes needed to do to qualify for its fourth trip to the WPIAL playoffs was to defeat rival Freeport in the teams’ Allegheny 6 Conference (Class 3A) finale Friday. The Lancers did just that. Deer Lakes scored three touchdowns in the first half while holding Freeport off the...

Leechburg again has an athletic director. Mark Duriancik, a technology teacher in the school district, will assume the athletic director duties after the school board approved him Wednesday evening. In addition to his teaching role at Leechburg, the North Apollo resident has experience coaching various high school sports, including football...

WPIAL soccer playoffs Boys Class 4A Semifinals 5-Fox Chapel (11-4-2) at 4-Upper St. Clair (14-1-2) 1 p.m. Saturday Winner plays: Winner of 1-Seneca Valley (13-0-3)/8-Norwin (12-5-1) in semifinals Oct. 31 Players to watch: Pablo Linzoain, Fox Chapel; Joe Donnelly, Upper St. Clair Throw-ins: Fox Chapel finished fourth in Section 1...

Kiski Area senior Eliza Miller sounded an optimistic tone on the eve of her final WPIAL Class 3A cross country championship race. After taking 10th last year at Cal (Pa.) and making a return trip to the PIAA championships in Hershey, Miller is one of eight top-10 finishers back among...