Brennan Valladares stories
2-sport star at Baldwin, Duquesne to join 2 halls of fame in a week
Robert Healy III, like every young athlete, aspired to be recognized as one of the best in his sport. At the end of January, that dream will become a reality — twice. The former standout football and track and field athlete will be joining Duquesne University and Baldwin High School’s...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Burrell’s Chase Coury, Deer Lakes’ Mason Cervone
Chase Coury School: Burrell Class: Freshman Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Burrell freshman Chase Coury extended her double-digit scoring streak to six after dropping 15 and 16 points in two section wins against Knoch and Derry this week. She now has 14 double-digit scoring games and is averaging 16.8 a...
Burrell boys defeat section foe Highlands to stay hot
After witnessing his team lose a 10-point lead in a section matchup with Highlands, Burrell’s Trey Coury found himself with the ball in his hands in the final 10 seconds of a tie game Friday night. Isolated on Golden Rams guard Ty Hall, Coury made his move. The Buccaneers guard...
Burrell hockey wants to finish strong after forfeits, suspension
Nearly 10 months ago, Burrell Hockey lost 5-1 in the Division 2 Penguins Cup Championship, fueling coach Drew Burkett to get an early start for the next season. “Yeah, after that championship game, I wanted to get started a lot earlier,” Burkett said. “So we had our tryouts a little...
Norwin girls rally past 1st-place Canon-McMillan
It was beginning to look like dire straits for Norwin not even three minutes into its girls basketball matchup with first-place Canon-McMillan on Friday. The Big Macs jumped out to an 11-point lead after Madison Clair hit her team’s second 3-pointer of the game. For better or for worse, though,...
Fink leading way for young, up-and-coming Greensburg Salem hockey team
Jake Fink wasn’t always a fan of hockey. In fact, he once took a short hiatus from the sport. “Yeah, I tried it in kindergarten. I just did not like it,” Fink said with a chuckle. His laughter was appropriate in that moment because, a short time beforehand, Fink had...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Riley Stephans, Fox Chapel’s Grant Fenton
Riley Stephans School: Plum Class: Senior Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Stephans scored 57 total points across two games at the Peter Sauer Memorial Tournament at Shady Side Academy. She went off for 33 points in a loss against Class 6A Pine-Richland on Monday. She then followed that with her...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Fox Chapel’s Lyla Jablon, Deer Lakes’ Collin Rodgers
Lyla Jablon School: Fox Chapel Class: Senior Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Jablon scored 23 points in a nonsection win against Avonworth on Monday in the Pittsburgh Holiday Classic. She then had 10 points in a section loss to Franklin Regional on Tuesday. Jablon leads Fox Chapel (4-5, 2-1) with...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: St. Joseph’s Bella Bartolovic, Springdale’s Robby Simmen
Bella Bartolovic School: St. Joseph Class: Sophomore Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Bartolovic dropped a season-high 27 points against Leechburg on Tuesday. She then followed that up with 19 against Eden Christian on Thursday to lead St. Joseph to a 2-0 week. The sophomore guard leads the Spartans with six...
Top-ranked Seton LaSalle returns to WPIAL Class 2A final after topping Washington
With under five minutes left in the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals Friday night, Washington was slowly walking down Seton LaSalle for a chance to overcome a one-point deficit. Quarterback Tristan Reed was electric all night, throwing for 209 yards and a touchdown. Facing third-and-10, he found his star wideout, Ameer...
Sanctuary Boxing Club hosting Fall Brawl at Kiski Area High School
Sports have a unique way of fostering a sense of community among people. Rich Cantolina, owner of Sanctuary Boxing Club in New Kensington, understands that well. “I watched what boxing can do for kids,” Cantolina said. “Kids that felt like they didn’t have friends, they made friends in the gym....
Parnell sisters battle nation’s best at War of the Roses wrestling tournament
Twenty-six years ago, AlyssaBeth Parnell began wrestling with the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association. Now, she watches her daughters compete nationally. Continuing the family legacy, the Parnell sisters — Ireland, Dublin and Maeve — competed at the War of the Roses Girls National Tournament on Oct. 4-5 in Columbus, Ind. The...
Bishop Canevin turns to run game to put away pesky Greensburg Central Catholic
Bishop Canevin came into the Class A playoffs seeded third, coming off a run to the WPIAL semifinals last year. But entering the fourth quarter of its playoff opener against Greensburg Central Catholic on Friday night, the Crusaders trailed by a point. They didn’t panic, though. They lined up at...
Pine-Richland wins road game vs. North Allegheny to claim 7th straight WPIAL field hockey title
Confetti rained down from the Pine-Richland stands with a period to go in the WPIAL Class 3A field hockey championship game Tuesday. The odd thing? Neither the Rams nor their Class 3A rival, North Allegheny, had scored. After a shot from outside the circle whizzed past North Allegheny netminder Alaina...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Fox Chapel’s Emily McKee, Deer Lakes’ Jacob Orseno
Emily McKee School: Fox Chapel Class: Junior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Emily McKee’s junior year at Fox Chapel will be one to remember. The junior forward has 45 goals, including 11 in the first two games of the Class 3A playoffs last week. On Monday, McKee had five of...
Dangerous mix of patience, speed sends Avonworth past Mt. Pleasant in 2A quarterfinals
Patience and speed don’t necessarily go hand in hand. Speed connotes being rushed and forced. Patience lets things play out as they come — it’s antithetical to speed. But in Avonworth’s 4-0 shutout of Mt. Pleasant in the WPIAL Class 2A boys soccer quarterfinals Thursday night, it was patience that...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Olivia Bigger, Riverview’s Greg Morse
Olivia Bigger School: Plum Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: In the final two games of the regular season, Bigger tallied three goals and two assists, helping Plum (15-1, 12-0) end on a six-game winning streak. Two of those goals came against section rival Greensburg Salem. As a result,...
Aquinas Academy boys blank Riverview, reach WPIAL 2nd round for 1st time since 2016
The last time Aquinas Academy made it to the second round of the WPIAL boys soccer tournament was in 2016. That all changed Saturday afternoon. The sixth-seeded Crusaders scored three second-half goals to knock off 11th-seeded Riverview, 3-0, in the opening round of the Class A playoffs at Peters Township....
Apollo-Ridge rushes for 4 scores, including game-clincher late, to defeat South Park
Preston Clemens could have had two touchdowns had it not been for a goal-line fumble that his team recovered. With that in the back of his mind, he wasn’t going to let a surging South Park team complete a comeback. After the Eagles cut the lead to 11 with under...
Quaker Valley girls claim section championship to cap off dominant regular season
There aren’t many better ways to follow up on winning your program’s third WPIAL title than what the 2025 Quaker Valley girls’ soccer team has done. Building on their recent WPIAL championship, the Quakers defeated Central Valley, 3-1, on Oct. 8, improving to 9-0-1 in section play and claiming the...
Greensburg Salem girls volleyball team poised to earn section title, sets sights on WPIALs
In 2006, Rachel Brannigan helped lead Greensburg Salem to its second WPIAL volleyball title. Nearly two decades later, Brannigan, now serving as coach, has her alma mater positioned to make a run at the WPIAL championship again. But it has been only recently that the Golden Lions have returned to...
Defending champion North Allegheny golfers make sure to keep eye on ball
Last season was historic for the North Allegheny boys golf team. Not only did the Tigers win their first WPIAL title in 53 years, but they also claimed the first state championship in school history. A year later, North Allegheny is back on top of Section 3-3A and has a...
Coury, Perkins help Burrell edge East Allegheny; Purdue makes game-saving interception
With East Allegheny driving down the field, Burrell’s Liam Perdue made a bobbling, game-saving interception to seal the Bucs’ 29-28 win in Section 2-3A victory Friday. “I think we all did great as a team,” Perdue said. “We fought in the end, and we battled together. I just got lucky...
Riverview runs wild over Springdale in 64-14 win
Kaden Levy’s 39-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter gave Riverview a 50-0 lead, feeding the fire in what would become a dominant 64-14 win for the Raiders (3-2, 1-1) against Springdale (0-4, 0-1) on Friday night. Levy had only three rushing attempts, but he racked up a game-high...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Cam Woods, Springdale’s Alex Wylly
Cam Woods School: Freeport Class: Junior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Woods scored a hat trick in an 11-0 win against Valley on Monday. On Wednesday, the junior forward added two more goals to guide the Yellowjackets to a 4-0 victory over North Catholic. Freeport is atop the Section 2-2A...
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