Ray Fisher stories, Page 30

Last season, the Quaker Valley girls basketball team, seeded No. 2, qualified for the WPIAL finals for the first time before losing to No. 1 Beaver, 44-29. Will the Quakers be able to take that next step forward in 2021-22? Well, first things first. Quaker Valley is aiming for a...

Lizzy Groetsch and Paige Morningstar led North Allegheny’s girls basketball team to a season for the ages in 2020-21. It easily could be labeled the best girls basketball season in school history. The Tigers captured their first PIAA championship, won a fourth WPIAL title in five years, stormed through Section...

Hempfield’s competitive cheerleading team appears to be a heavy favorite to repeat as WPIAL Class 3A Large Division champion in 2021-22. The Spartans have participated in four events this season with spectacular results — four first-place finishes — and are looking forward to the WPIAL championships set for Jan. 8...

Brayden Thimons has been a stalwart in his short time in the Westminster football program, culminating in a sensational 2021 fall season. A rock-solid 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior lineman, Thimons was named Defensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. “I am shocked and honored to...

Sewickley Academy girls basketball advanced to the WPIAL semifinal round the past two seasons. Although the Panthers may be hard-pressed to replace five senior starters from a year ago, they do have a talented group of athletes looking to make some noise this season. This year’s team is built around...

The Quaker Valley boys basketball team has two important characteristics: The Quakers are talented and experienced. That should lead to some difficult times for opponents this winter. Adou Thiero, Markus Frank, Jack Gardinier and Wil Dunda are returning senior starters. All are 6-feet tall or taller. “We return four seniors...

Thomas Jefferson captured the Section 3-3A championship with an unblemished 12-0 record this season. Nine members of the TJ squad were lauded as section all-stars. Junior OH Delaney Concannon, junior libero Cate Galioto, senior setter Caitlyn Chalovich and sophomore outside hitter Mia Fox were voted to the first team. The...

The turnaround began last year and continued into the 2021 season. After sitting out the WPIAL playoffs from 2015-18, Bethel Park’s girls soccer team qualified last year with a 6-4-2 section record, then continued its upswing this year. The Black Hawks went 5-1-1 in the home stretch of their schedule...

Heinz Field had become a second home for the Thomas Jefferson football team in recent years. Not 2021. The two-time defending WPIAL and state champion Jaguars lost Nov. 19 to rival Belle Vernon, 21-7, at West Mifflin in the WPIAL semifinal round. TJ had won the past two and five...

There’s a new look to the Bethel Park girls basketball program. Samantha Loadman is in her first year as the team’s coach, taking over for longtime legendary floor boss Jonna Burke, who resigned to become a coach and physical education teacher at Shady Side Academy. Loadman is a local product....

They say defense wins championships in football. The same could be applied to soccer. Quaker Valley’s boys soccer team entered the postseason as the Section 4-2A champion. Not only were the Quakers unbeaten at 12-0 in the section, they did not allow a goal. Remarkably, QV outscored the opposition 99-0...

Quaker Valley’s soccer legacy climbed a notch higher this season. The QV boys team rolled to section, WPIAL and PIAA championships in 2021, finishing 23-2 overall. With nine starters and five of the top six scorers back from last year’s 11-1-1 squad, the Quakers started the 2021 campaign with great...

Bethel Park’s football team won five games this season and qualified for the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs after experiencing a rare winless campaign in 2020. “Yes, we expected to win more often,” coach Brian DeLallo said. “You have to believe you can win to make it happen. We raised our...

He is one of the esteemed deans among WPIAL soccer coaches. Michael Kulish, affectionately known as “Doc,” has enjoyed a legendary coaching career at Thomas Jefferson. At age 74, Kulish is one of the oldest soccer coaches in Western Pennylsvania, and he recently completed his 29th season in style, attaining...

Quaker Valley strung together a winning record in the second half of the girls soccer season. The QV girls blanked Ambridge and Riverside at the end of September en route to a 5-4-1 mark that included five shutouts down the season’s home stretch. The Quakers achieved their season-long goal of...

They are two of a kind. As 17-year-old athletes, both hail from long-standing soccer families, and both are super talented on the pitch. Quaker Valley cousins Rowan and Chase Kriebel displayed their senior leadership skills admirably throughout the fall soccer season. Rowan Kriebel, a 6-foot forward and captain on the...

The Close sisters are not just close. The Sewickley Academy athletes are best of friends. “Kirsten is my best friend and my biggest competitor,” Ashley said, “and I am so grateful she was able to be a part of this season with me.” Ashley, a 16-year-old sophomore, starred at No....

Quaker Valley’s football team finished fifth in the rugged Class 3A Northern Six Conference this season, behind Central Valley (5-0), Avonworth (4-1), Keystone Oaks (3-2) and Ambridge (2-3). The Quakers played 10 games, finished 2-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference, and allowed 40 or more points five times. They...

WPIAL champion Sewickley Academy finished the girls tennis season with honors, ending up as PIAA runners-up. The SA girls stormed through the regular season and playoffs until losing a tight 3-2 decision to Wyoming Seminary in the PIAA Class 2A finals Oct. 30 at Hershey Racquet Club. The Panthers closed...

Fox Chapel secured the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class 2A field hockey playoffs for the second year in a row. And for the second consecutive season, the Foxes finished second in the WPIAL. Penn-Trafford (16-0) slipped past Fox Chapel, 1-0, to win the title Saturday at W&J’s Cameron...

Call it a “near-miss” for the Quaker Valley girls volleyball team. QV finished 4-8 in Section 2-2A, one game behind fourth-place finisher Brentwood (5-7), which earned the section’s final WPIAL playoff spot. North Catholic, the defending WPIAL champion and a PIAA semifinalist a year ago, Avonworth, Seton LaSalle and Brentwood...

Max Quinn is known for his hard-charging, high-energy attitude on the ice. Both are reputations the Quaker Valley hockey senior embraces with fervor. A defenseman who moves to center at times, Quinn is in his second season as team captain. He was an alternate captain two years ago when he...

There was only one way to go for the Hampton girls tennis team this season. After a winless, covid-strained campaign in 2020, and with at least a half-dozen returning players, the Talbots anticipated having a bounce-back season. Among the players back from last year were junior Abi Green, sophomore Elena...

Cross country runners across Western Pennsylvania have been gearing up for the WPIAL championships set for Thursday at Cal (Pa.). Two teams that hope to contend for top finishes in Class 2A are the Freeport boys and girls. Freeport’s boys squad logged an 8-1 record to place second behind Riverview...

There is a major news flash brewing in the Thomas Jefferson tennis program. After 42 years of coaching, Chuck Correll plans to retire next spring following the boys tennis season. “I decided several years ago that I would retire at age 70,” Correll said. “I plan to stay in shape...