Michael Love stories, Page 41
Alle-Kiski Valley high school football notebook: Final week has playoff implications galore
Playoff spots are coming down to the wire in the Class 3A Allegheny 6 Conference. East Allegheny, which knocked off Knoch, 14-13, in overtime Friday, captured the conference title and improved to 4-0, 7-2 overall. Even before the game, the Knights, based on their 3-0 conference record coming in, had...
Floodgates finally open for Burrell in playoff-opening win over Greensburg Central Catholic
The Burrell boys soccer team delivered numerous shots and scoring chances in last year’s WPIAL Class A first-round game against Serra Catholic at Buccaneer Stadium. But the Eagles got the game’s only goal in what was a frustrating final contest for the Bucs in the 2022 season. Burrell again found...
School-record rushing effort part of special season for Riverview’s Carlo Buzzatto
It was a bittersweet feeling for senior tailback Carlo Buzzatto on Oct. 14 after Riverview football’s heartbreaking 29-28 loss to Leechburg in a rivalry game at Riverside Park that had huge playoff ramifications. The Raiders rallied from a 29-14 deficit in the fourth quarter and had a two-point conversion play...
After series of tough losses, Plum football aims to finish strong
The Plum football team, for the second year in a row, will cap its season Friday with a nonconference matchup against Indiana. The Mustangs last year went out with a bang in a 46-27 victory over Indiana which saw the now-graduated Eryck Moore set the career-yards record for a Plum...
Derry outlasts Burrell, clinches playoff spot
Derry and Burrell both were held off the scoreboard in the third quarter of Friday’s Allegheny Conference clash on senior night at Burrell’s Buccaneer Stadium. But the Trojans and Bucs erupted for a combined 31 points over the final 12 minutes. Derry led by a single score heading to the...
4 schools selected as WPIAL Sportsmanship Award recipients
Armstrong, Elizabeth Forward, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and South Fayette have been honored by the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League as the recipients of the WPIAL Sportsmanship Awards for the 2022-23 school year. It is the program’s 27th year. This is the first selection for Armstrong, the 70th...
North Allegheny, Hampton, Freeport, Serra Catholic receive No. 1 seeds for WPIAL girls volleyball playoffs
The section and nonsection matches have concluded, and invitational tournaments are in the past. The WPIAL girls volleyball postseason is here, and the WPIAL playoff pairings committee on Friday assembled and released the brackets. North Allegheny, Hampton, Freeport and Serra Catholic drew No. 1 seeds. The Talbots are the only...
A-K Valley football players to watch in 2023 Week 8
Player of the week Carlo Buzzatto Riverview, Sr., RB/LB The Raiders didn’t score a home win against rival Leechburg last Saturday, but they witnessed an all-time performance by their standout senior running back last week. Buzzatto finished the game with 36 carries for 418 yards and touchdown runs of 69,...
No. 4 Knoch, No. 5 East Allegheny to clash for Allegheny 6 championship
The last time Knoch won a football conference title was in 2011, when the Knights went 6-0 and captured the Class AAA Greater Allegheny Conference crown. They advanced to the WPIAL title game before falling to Montour at Heinz Field and ended the season 12-1 overall. East Allegheny has had...
Deer Lakes plots course to defend WPIAL boys soccer championship
The Deer Lakes boys soccer team lost just once in Section 2-2A play and finished the regular season 14-2. That means the Lancers have put themselves in prime position to defend their WPIAL championship and go after a third title in four years. The WPIAL soccer selection committee released its...
Lola Abraham scores all 3 goals as Riverview girls soccer makes history with section title
The Riverview girls soccer team clinched a share of the Section 1-A championship when Springdale lost to Greensburg Central Catholic on Saturday. But the Raiders were not willing to share the title with anyone, let alone the section rival Dynamos. Lola Abraham tallied a hat trick, and Riverview held off...
Highlands’ Bradyn Foster verbally commits to Penn
Bradyn Foster is looking forward to the final few weeks of preparation for the upcoming Highlands boys basketball season. But the 6-foot-8 senior forward also can look to his future after he graduates from Highlands in May. Foster verbally committed to the Penn men’s basketball team in the Division I...
Bishop Canevin regains top spot in final volleyball coaches association WPIAL Class A girls poll
North Allegheny, Hampton, Freeport and Bishop Canevin finish at the top of their respective rankings in the final Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association WPIAL girls top-10 polls released Monday morning. Bishop Canevin debuted at the top of the Class A poll in Week 1, but recently had slipped to No....
PIAA names Freeport’s Phillips Girls Volleyball Coach of the Year for 2022
The Freeport girls volleyball team continued the storied tradition of the program in 2022, winning its 18th straight section title, its seventh WPIAL title since 2010, and the second state championship (2017) in school history. Yellowjackets head coach Tom Phillips said many people had a hand in making last season...
Gateway’s Kefimba Cisse sets sights on returning to PIAA championships
Kefimba Cisse likes to run at White Oak Park. The Gateway senior won the Class 3A boys division at the 45-team Bald Eagle Invitational there Oct. 7 with a time of 16 minutes, 14.11 seconds. He was fourth overall with three boys from Class 2A and Class A schools as...
Gateway hockey off to strong start, hopes to make jump to varsity next season
Justin Evans is no stranger to the Gateway hockey program. He started coaching with the developmental team (ages 8-10) a half-decade ago and then served as the middle school coach for two years before moving up the JV team as an assistant through last year under former head coach Shawn...
Kiski Area football adds Guardian Caps for extra level of safety during practice
Kiski Area football players, coaches and fans witnessed a Laurel Highlands football player being carted off the field to an area medical facility after a collision late in a Sept. 8 nonconference game with the Cavaliers at Richard Dilts Stadium. Player safety remained on the minds of several of those...
Riverview runners ready to contend for WPIAL medals, PIAA berth
PA Milesplit, a website which tracks and reports on cross country teams throughout the state, lists five teams as the primary contenders for the four PIAA qualifying spots from WPIAL boys Class A. Riverview is in that top grouping, and coach Palma Ostrowski said the team is looking strong as...
Plum runners prepare for WPIAL cross country championships
Gabriel Powell has the PIAA cross country championships on his mind as the days become fewer and fewer before the WPIAL’s top races of the year take center stage Oct. 26 at White Oak Park. The Plum senior finished 32nd at last year’s WPIAL Class 3A meet at Cal (Pa.),...
Knoch shuts out rival Freeport, improves to 7-1
After a lopsided shutout loss to rival Freeport last season, Knoch wanted to return the favor Friday at Knights Stadium in the latest installment of the battle for the Traveling Pike Trophy. The Knights held a one-score lead at the break, but two touchdowns in the first minute of the...
Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League down to final weekend of regular season
The final weekend of the regular season for the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League is here, and it comes down to the final few games to determine the regular-season champ. West Allegheny owns a 10-2 record and takes on Baldwin (1-9) in a doubleheader Sunday. North Allegheny is nipping at...
Penalty kick sends Plum girls soccer team past Franklin Regional, clinches section title
The Plum girls soccer team clinched its fifth straight outright section championship Wednesday evening at Mustangs Stadium. But the Mustangs needed overtime to get the victory. A controversial penalty call on a Franklin Regional defender in the box set up a penalty kick for Plum. Senior Ava Weleski set up...
A-K Valley football players to watch in 2023 Week 7
Player of the week Jayden Floyd Leechburg, Jr., QB Floyd completed 15 of 28 passes for 230 yards, one of the highest yardage totals in the WPIAL for Week 6, in a loss to Jeannette on Friday. He completed a 73-yard pass to Tristan Zalenski down to the 1-yard line...
Playoff future in the balance for Knoch, Freeport in Allegheny 6 clash
Eight and a half miles separate Knoch and Freeport high schools. But the history between the schools, including the Knights and Yellowjackets athletic teams, is much closer. Athletes on both sides know each other well from growing up next door, and each season builds on the tradition from past matchups....
Freeport girls volleyball sweeps Derry, moves closer to another section title
The Freeport girls volleyball team hadn’t allowed a Section 5-2A foe to win a set through 10 matches. Derry hoped to be the first to do that Tuesday as the Trojans got a second crack at the Yellowjackets in their home gym. But Freeport had other ideas, and the No....
