Jerin Steele stories, Page 36
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Highlands’ Sarah Sawhook and Leechburg’s Dylan Cook
Sarah Sawhook Class: Senior School: Highlands Sport: Basketball Report card: Sawhook finished her high school career with a pair of 20-point efforts, scoring a personal-best 25 in a 73-48 loss to Apollo-Ridge and 22 in a 47-44 loss to Burrell. She was a four-year starter. What’s the most memorable moment...
Fox Chapel hockey hopes to ride momentum into postseason
In 20 years of being involved in hockey, Fox Chapel coach Cam Raidna never experienced anything like what his team pulled off Thursday night against Kiski Area. With the Foxes’ playoff hopes hanging by a thread, Andrew Rich and Reed Troutman scored 38 seconds apart with the goalie pulled —...
Alle-Kiski Valley Athletes of the Week: Knoch’s Madilyn Boyer, Burrell’s Ian Oswalt
Madilyn Boyer Class: Sophomore School: Knoch Sport: Basketball Report card: Boyer twice led the team in scoring and was in double figures in three victories for playoff-bound Knoch last week. She had a game-high 16 points in a 59-39 win over Apollo-Ridge and followed with another game-high — 23 points...
Knoch girls finally slay rival Freeport
Moments after Lauren Cihonski hit a game-winning basket with four seconds remaining to help Knoch beat Freeport 53-52, the magnitude of what transpired hit her. As teammates were hugging her and fans were screaming, tears started rolling down Cihonski’s face. For three years, the Knights had been trying to beat...
Alle-Kiski Valley Athetes of the Week: Plum’s Kennedie Montue, Leechburg’s Jake Blumer
Kennedie Montue Class: Junior School: Plum Sport: Basketball Report card: Montue eclipsed 1,000 points for her career with a 23-point effort in a 44-37 win over Franklin Regional last Monday. She also had a game-high 28 points in a 47-43 win over Mars on Friday, helping the Mustangs avenge their...
No. 1 North Catholic fights off serious challenge from Freeport
Coming into Monday’s game, North Catholic girls basketball had won 54 section games in a row — all but one of them by double digits — so when Freeport tied the game with five minutes remaining, it presented a situation that hadn’t come up in a while. The Yellowjackets had...
Thomas Jefferson’s Pazo, North Catholic’s Shaffer lift Team Blue to PIHL Class A All-Star Game win
Thomas Jefferson junior Eddie Pazo and North Catholic junior Quinten Shaffer had a hat trick each to lead Team Blue to a 9-5 win over Team Gold in the PIHL Class A All-Star Game Sunday at RMU Island Sports Center. Shaffer scored once in each period. In the second, he...
Ringgold’s Budjos nets hat trick to lead Team Blue to victory in PIHL Class B All-Star Game
Typically going on the penalty kill late in a game down by two goals is not a successful strategy, but in the PIHL Class B All-Star Game, Team Blue made being down a player work in a major way. Team Blue scored four times shorthanded in the third period, including...
Surging Norwin girls basketball team finds right balance
The Norwin girls basketball team was the top scoring offense in WPIAL Class 6A through 14 games, and the Knights ranked second in scoring average against. For coach Brian Brozeski, attitude is the reason for Norwin’s success. Sets and strategy are important, too, but what has stood out to Brozeski...
Gateway girls grind out win over Armstrong
Armstrong girls basketball coach Kirk Lorigan joked that he started looking in the stands for James Naismith, because it felt like the cylinder hoops at Gateway’s gymnasium were replaced with peach baskets. Gateway coach Curtis Williams summed up the way the offense went for either team succinctly by saying it...
Alle-Kiski Valley Athletes of the Week: Freeport’s Maddie Clark, Highlands’ Jrake Burford
Maddie Clark Class: Senior School: Freeport Sport: Basketball Report card: Clark had a game-high 22 points to lead Freeport to a 65-38 Section 1-4A victory Thursday at Greensburg Salem. She also scored 15 points to help the Yellowjackets rally in the second half of a 54-43 win Monday at Indiana....
Kiski Area goalie Petika leads A-K Valley contingent in PIHL All-Star games
Kiski Area goalie Eric Petika got a nice wakeup call from his dad the morning after the PIHL All-Star teams were released a couple of weeks ago. “He said ‘Check out the list! Look you’re on it!,’ ” Petika said. “It was a great way to wake up.” Not only...
Plum native Oravitz finding his way through junior hockey ranks with college on horizon
In his first full season playing junior hockey, Plum native Cole Oravitz has learned keeping a positive mindset is important to success. Oravitz transferred from the USHL’s Madison Capitols to the Minnesota Magicians of the NAHL and dealt with a nagging wrist injury for two months. He worked through the...
Steel Valley’s Camden Polak likes making noise in the libraryVideo
Many high school students go to the library to check out a book for their next homework assignment, but Steel Valley senior Camden Polak goes there for a different reason. Every morning, from the start of the school year until the beginning of the Ironmen basketball season, Polak woke up...
Jeannette puts together complete effort in routing Serra Catholic
Even though Jeannette coach Adrian Batts was hoarse from imploring his team all game, it wasn’t going to stop him from talking about the enjoyment he got from watching his team execute Tuesday night. From strong defense, to good ball movement, to shooting well, the Jayhawks did pretty much everything...
A-K Valley Athletes of the Week: Riverview’s Sydney McDonough, Knoch’s Ryan Lang
Sydney McDonough Class: Sr. School: Riverview Sport: Basketball Report card: McDonough scored a game-high 22 points to help Riverview earn a crucial Section 2-2A win at Brentwood on Thursday. She also had a team-high 12 points in a 43-22 nonsection win over St. Joseph last Tuesday. McDonough is the all-time...
Burrell standout Stewart surprises with return to varsity hockey team
After spending some time in the junior hockey ranks this season, Tyler Stewart made a surprise return to the ice for Burrell hockey last Monday. What wasn’t a shock was his production. Stewart, who was the PIHL scoring champion the last two years, netted six goals in his season debut,...
Plum spirit squad shows competitive drive
Every Saturday in the fall, the Plum competitive spirit team met in the gym for a 7 a.m. practice after cheering the night before at football games with a determination to get stronger. Waking up early to get together after a long night on the sidelines was just one of...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: St. Joseph’s Trinity Lockwood-Morris and Plum’s Connor Moss
Trinity Lockwood-Morris Class: Sophomore School: St. Joseph Sport: Basketball Report card: Lockwood-Morris scored a game-high 21 points to help St. Joseph earn its first win of the season in a 42-39 overtime victory over Propel Andrew Street on Thursday. She also had a team-high 13 points in a 50-34 loss...
Blackhawk defense shuts down Central Valley in Class 4A showdown
Blackhawk girls basketball coach Steve Lodovico loves to run a press and trap defense with the goal of creating turnovers and racking up points off them. Facing a familiar foe in Central Valley on the road, he decided to adjust the gameplan. Instead, the Cougars relied on a tough half-court...
Fox Chapel hockey hopes experience in close games helps with playoff push
The Fox Chapel hockey team has played its share of close games this season. Of the Foxes’ 11 games, eight have been decided by two goals or fewer, six have been one-goal games and four have gone to overtime. Through it all, the Foxes have a 4-5-2 record and are...
Plum girls improving in quest for Section 2 championship
About an hour removed from a 41-31 victory over Armstrong on Thursday, Plum girls basketball coach Steve Elsier provided a list of reasons it was their best performance to date. “We had better possessions in the half court,” he said. “We communicated well in the half court. We pushed the...
Plum bowler Shannon Small sets big goals
Nesbit’s Lanes has pretty much become a second home for Shannon Small. When she isn’t there practicing, like she did most days during summer break, or bowling in a match for Plum, she’s picking up shifts working at the snack bar. “I’m there almost every day,” Small said. Aside from...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Deer Lakes’ Reese Hasley, St. Joseph’s Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan School: St. Joseph Sport: Basketball Class: Junior Report card: Sullivan became the first junior in the WPIAL this season to eclipse 1,000 points for his career during a 31-point effort Saturday in a 78-70 win over Aquinas Academy in the consolation game of the St. Joseph tournament. He...
New-look Burrell hockey team finds stability
Entering the season, perhaps no team in the PIHL lost more key pieces than Burrell. Gone were players such as dynamic forward Tyler Stewart, who led the PIHL in scoring two years in a row, stalwart defensemen Bryce Schueler and goaltender Andrew Burkett. They led the Bucs to two consecutive...
