Michael Love stories, Page 58
Julie Spinelli sparks St. Joseph girls to statement win over Freeport
There’s something about playing Freeport that sparks St. Joseph junior Julie Spinelli. Last year, she scored 33 points to lift the Spartans past the Yellowjackets in a three-point nonsection victory. Spinelli was at it again Wednesday evening in the championship game of the St. Joseph holiday tournament at Walter Dlubak...
Leechburg’s Braylan Lovelace, Apollo-Ridge’s Nick Curci carry A-K Valley flag on signing day
Braylan Lovelace and Nick Curci may be headed to different colleges, but the two Alle-Kiski Valley football standouts on Wednesday shared a similar celebratory atmosphere. They finalized their college decisions to Pitt and Duquesne, respectively, along with friends, family, teammates and coaches on the first day of the NCAA’s National...
Win over nemesis Knoch gives Highlands girls basketball team shot of confidence
The Highlands girls basketball team was back at it in practice Tuesday afternoon, one day after a big Section 1-4A victory over Knoch and one day before a nonsection clash with undefeated Armstrong. Six games into the season, the Golden Rams are optimistic about what they have done and where...
Second-half surge powers Plum girls past Franklin Regional
With 2 minutes, 2 seconds left in the third quarter Monday night, the Franklin Regional girls basketball team held a three-point lead over Section 1-5A rival Plum and hoped to extend its advantage. But the Mustangs then went on a 14-0 run that lasted until two minutes were left in...
Gateway JV hockey team shattering expectations
The Gateway junior varsity hockey team registered eight points in 15 regular-season games last year. The Gators own that many points through their first eight games this year, and coach Shawn Jesih said his experienced team continues to improve as it closes out 2022. “The development of the boys has...
Gateway boys basketball has date with Laurel Highlands circled on calendar
The Laurel Highlands boys basketball team won its second WPIAL Class 5A title in three years last season and had high hopes for a run in the PIAA tournament. But Gateway, which made a run to the WPIAL semifinals and qualified for states, played spoiler in the quarterfinals. The Gators...
After successful run in Japan, Plum native Scott McGough making return to MLB
Scott McGough is coming home. The 33-year-old Plum native who got his start in professional baseball in 2015 after being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers will return to Major League Baseball for the 2023 season. McGough, a reliever who helped the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League...
Big things ahead for Plum bowling team
Mareana Pilyih stands head and shoulders above the girls East section in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League after four games. The Plum junior, last year’s Western Regional champion and state qualifier, rolled games of 211, 211 and 226 for a 648 series Dec. 14 in her team’s 7-0 victory...
2022 Valley News Dispatch Defensive Player of the Year: Freeport’s Jacksen Reiser
Jacksen Reiser was focused on making the most of his senior season with the Freeport football team. Preseason practices provided promise and potential. But a torn ACL suffered in the Yellowjackets’ scrimmage with Slippery Rock put a halt to his gameplan. The outlook was bleak. Reiser’s season appeared to be...
2022 Valley News Dispatch Football All-Stars
Here’s a look at the Valley News Dispatch’s 2022 football all-stars: First team Devin Beattie Burrell, RB/DB, jr. Beattie broke out as a workhorse this year with 1,441 yards and 18 touchdowns on 222 carries as the Bucs earned a trip to the WPIAL playoffs in Class 2A. He rushed...
Lernerville Speedway to host high-paying sprint car race as part of 2023 season
Lernerville Speedway will host a high-stakes sprint car evening race late in the 2023 season that will pay out $50,000 to the winner. The Commonwealth Clash on the High Limit Sprint Car Series schedule is set for Tuesday, Sept. 26, and is the highest-paying sprint car event ever held at...
Furious fourth-quarter rally lifts Mars girls past Kiski Area
With 5 minutes, 14 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s nonsection girls basketball game between Kiski Area and Mars, the Cavaliers led by nine and had designs on putting the game away. But the Planets had other ideas. Mars regrouped with a timeout and proceeded to outscore Kiski...
Class 2A Burrell values longstanding wrestling rivalry with 3A Kiski Area
The Burrell wrestling team last beat neighboring rival Kiski Area in 2011. The Bucs hope this year’s clash — the teams meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kiski Area High School — can be the end of the decade-long winning streak by the Cavaliers. “This is always a highlight of...
Lernerville Speedway sets 2023 schedule
Four months from now, fans will hear the firing of motors at Lernerville Speedway as the 2023 season gets rolling. Lernerville officials over the weekend released the upcoming season’s schedule of events. The slate is highlighted by additional Fab4 Revved Up with Marburger Farm Dairy events on Friday nights. That...
Fox Chapel girls add to win streak, hand Plum its first loss
The Fox Chapel girls basketball team lost its season opener, falling by seven to Highlands at the Freeport Tip-Off on Dec. 2. The Foxes have reeled off four straight since then. The latest triumph came Monday evening at Plum. Led by a balanced effort where five players had at least...
Freeport girls volleyball players go from young fans to state champions
At a gathering at Freeport Middle School shortly after the Yellowjackets girls volleyball team captured the 2017 PIAA Class 2A championship, then-sixth graders Josie Russo and Grace Beach posed for photos holding the title trophy. Five years later, the duo, now juniors on the Freeport team, again took photos together...
Gateway grad Courtney Jackson leaves Syracuse, enters transfer portal
Gateway graduate Courtney Jackson recently announced that he is entering the NCAA Transfer Portal and has concluded his playing career at Syracuse. The graduate student, with two years of eligibility remaining, made the announcement Nov. 29 on Twitter. The wide receiver said a lot of prayer and consultation with those...
Alex Keeling-Oliver leads Gateway bowlers into 2022 season
Alex Keeling-Oliver finished seventh in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League’s East section last year with a 184.03 average with a high game of 242 and a top series of 644. The Gateway junior used those totals to earn a trip to the WPIBL and Western Regional singles tournaments. Keeling-Oliver,...
3 Plum wrestlers claim Eastern Area titles
Plum wrestling coach Mike Supak said the Eastern Area Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Dec. 2 and 3 at Gateway was a strong first step for his young but experienced group. The Mustangs finished a close second to Bethel Park in the team standings and produced three champions, one runner-up, a...
Plum girls swim team boasts talent, depth
Plum swim coach Shawn Haupt looks up and down his girls roster and is excited for what could transpire throughout the 2022-23 season. “It is exciting because not only is our core and leadership coming back, but our freshmen coming in are just as excited and enthusiastic and are expected...
Alle-Kiski Valley Campus Clippings: Thimons named all-region
Highlands graduate Brayden Thimons was a defensive force again this past fall for the Westminster football team. The Titans graduate student defensive end, a two-time Presidents Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, recently was selected to the D3football.com All-Region 2 team. A three-time first-team All-PAC selection, he ranked third...
Inaugural We Serve First all-star event is ‘celebration of volleyball’
You can’t fault Sydney Joyce if she gets a little emotional or is overcome with nostalgia when she takes the court Friday and Saturday as part of the inaugural We Serve First All-Star Classic girls volleyball event at Kiski Area High School. “This is very exciting, especially since it is...
Freeport sophomore headlines swim season in A-K Valley
Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost didn’t let the bright lights and pressurized atmosphere of the WPIAL Class 2A swimming championships get to her last year as swam to gold in the 100-yard butterfly and second in the 200 individual medley as a freshman at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She followed that up with...
WPIAL well represented on PVCA all-state girls volleyball teams
The Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association recognized the top players from each of the four girls volleyball classifications Tuesday with the release of the all-state selections. Five members of the team from North Allegheny, which captured its sixth straight Class 4A state title with a 3-1 win over Garnet Valley on...
Aquinas Academy tops St. Joseph, makes early statement in Class A girls basketball
The St. Joseph girls basketball team hoped to build on Friday’s victory over Class 4A Belle Vernon at the Play 4 Mae Tournament at Woodland Hills as it hosted Aquinas Academy on Monday in an early season clash of top five Class A teams. But those hopes were dashed by...
