Jerin Steele stories, Page 38
North Catholic volleyball gets vengeance, defeats Freeport in PIAAs
The day after North Catholic girls volleyball lost to Freeport in the WPIAL Class AA finals by surrendering a 2-0 lead, coach Amanda Fetter told her players they deserved to have a banner hanging in the gymnasium, and the only one left to get was a PIAA banner. The Trojans...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Knoch’s Skylar Burkett and Fox Chapel’s Colby Zmenkowski
Skylar Burkett Class: Senior School: Knoch Sport: Volleyball Report card: Burkett totaled 22 kills in Knoch’s two 3-0 sweeps in the PIAA playoffs last week. The Knights topped South Fayette in the first round and Franklin Regional in the quarterfinals. Burkett is an outside hitter and setter, and she possesses...
Playing through injuries solidified Knoch volleyball team’s depth
At practice Monday, Knoch girls volleyball players sat on the gym floor in a circle around coach Diane Geist as they prepared for their state semifinal opponent, District 3 champion Palmyra. The Knights are in the PIAA semifinals for the third year in a row and will be seeking an...
Mars girls soccer team rolls past West Allegheny in PIAA playoffs
The Mars girls soccer team has been dominant against WPIAL opponents all season, and in its final meeting against a district foe this season, it wasted little time establishing the tone. The Fightin’ Planets scored twice in the first five minutes Saturday, which went a long way towards breaking a...
Pine-Richland easily handles North Allegheny on way to WPIAL final
As Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz was giving his postgame speech with his players surrounding him on a knee, the assistant coaches started tossing Heinz ketchup packets into the huddle. The ketchup-themed celebration has become semifinal tradition as of late for the Rams, and after a career night from junior quarterback...
Knoch volleyball back to full strength in first-round PIAA win over South Fayette
The last time Kennedy Christy was in the Shaler gym, she was injured on the final night of the regular season in a nonsection match against the Titans and it caused her to miss Knoch’s entire WPIAL playoff run. Christy was cleared to play Monday and made her return on...
Freeport volleyball shakes off ‘WPIAL hangover,’ cruises in first-round PIAA match
After having to come back from two-set deficits to win in the WPIAL semifinals and finals last week,the Freeport girls volleyball team had a much less stressful opening to the state playoffs. Behind a balanced attack, the Yellowjackets cruised to a 3-0 sweep of District 9 champion Brookville in the...
A-K Valley high school athletes of the week: Freeport’s Isabella Russo, Riverview’s Mason Ochs
Isabella Russo Class: Sr. School: Freeport Sport: Volleyball Report card: Russo had the match-clinching kill for the Yellowjackets, who rallied after dropping the first two sets in a 3-2 win over North Catholic in the WPIAL finals Saturday at Fox Chapel. She had 17 kills in the match. Russo also...
Knoch girls volleyball beats Thomas Jefferson for 3rd straight WPIAL title
In its playoff run, Knoch girls volleyball proved how strong a team it is by grinding out wins without standout hitters Kennedy Christy and Hannah Rowe. On Saturday in the WPIAL finals, Rowe showed how good a player she is, and delivered a three-peat for the Knights. Rowe, surrounded by...
Plum soccer reached goals despite dramatic playoff loss
If someone had told Plum boys soccer coach Raf Kolankowski before the season that his team would have been leading in a WPIAL Class AAAA semifinal with five-plus minutes remaining, he would’ve taken it in a heartbeat. What happened in those final five-plus minutes, where Canon McMillan scored twice to...
Joey Fonagy’s overtime goal lifts Canon-McMillan to WPIAL boys soccer title
The Big Macs had one more comeback in them and it was one that they’ll remember for a long time. Trailing by a goal with just over a minute remaining, Luke Gladden found some open space and scored a goal from 18 yards out before Joey Fonagy scored on a...
AK Valley high school athletes of the week: Plum’s Kaitlyn Killinger and Deer Lakes’ Michael Sullivan
Kaitlyn Killinger Class: Fr. School: Plum Sport: Soccer Report card: Killinger scored twice and had an assist for No. 2 Plum in a 4-2 win over Hampton in the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals on Thursday. She also was one of six girls that scored in penalty kicks in Plum’s 2-1...
Hat trick lifts Deer Lakes boys soccer past South Park in Class AA semis
Deer Lakes boys soccer has used “unfinished business” as its mantra after narrow misses on the road to a WPIAL championship appearance the last few years. Lancers junior Michael Sullivan provided the finishing touch Saturday, when he scored all three goals in a 3-0 victory over South Park in the...
Canon-McMillan boys score 2 late goals, edge Plum in Class AAAA semis
A few minutes after the Plum boys soccer team’s magical season ended Saturday with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in the WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals that saw Canon-McMillan score twice in the final six minutes, Mustangs coach Raf Kolankowski used the moment as a teaching tool. “It’s disappointing, but I told...
Norwin grad Logan Deri forges solid career for West Liberty football
Logan Deri got a text from his younger brother, Peyton, on Tuesday, and the message hit home with regard to how he’s been able to carve out a strong career on the football field at West Liberty. The text read: “There’s always going to be someone bigger, faster and stronger...
Westmoreland girls soccer playoff capsules: Games of Oct. 24, 2019
Class AAAA 9-Fox Chapel (10-7-1) at 1-Norwin (16-1) 8 p.m. Thursday Winner plays: Winner of 4-Moon (15-2-1) and 5-Seneca Valley (12-3-2) on Monday in semifinals Coaches: Peter Torres, Fox Chapel; Lauren Karcher, Norwin Players to watch: Lucy Ream, Jr., F, Fox Chapel; Katelyn Kauffman, So., MF/F, Norwin Corner kicks: The...
A-K Valley high school athletes of the week: Burrell’s Sara Novak and Springdale’s Mike Mitchell
Sara Novak Class: Sr. School: Burrell Sport: Volleyball Report card: Novak had a solid all-around game for playoff bound Burrell in a 3-0 sweep of rival Valley on Thursday with five kills, seven aces and 10 assists. She also had 13 kills and 11 digs in a 3-1 loss to...
Senior-led Leechburg girls volleyball turns focus to playoffs
The best word to describe Leechburg girls volleyball in matches against the two teams in front of them in the Section 4-A standings is “close.” The Blue Devils took Vincentian Academy and Greensburg Central Catholic to five sets in the second meeting with each team this season before falling. The...
Greensburg Central Catholic boys soccer shakes off slow start, advances in playoffs
For Greensburg Central Catholic boys soccer coach Tyler Solis, Saturday’s first-round playoff game had several elements that his team needed to get through. One was several freshmen getting their first opportunity to play playoff soccer. Another was a general anxiousness among the team to start the game, and the third...
Neshannock’s Jeremy Nativio, who has Down syndrome, scores touchdown on senior nightVideo
Neshannock’s Jeremy Nativio had a senior night to remember on Friday. In the final minute of the fourth quarter of his team’s 36-0 victory over Western Beaver, Nativio, a senior who has Down syndrome, entered the game, took a handoff and scored on a 34-yard run. The entire Neshannock sideline...
Neshannock shuts down Western Beaver, secures playoff berth
There were a lot of playoff scenarios in a crowded Midwestern Athletic Conference entering Friday night, but the easiest way for Neshannock to secure a postseason berth was to go out and get a win. Behind a dominating defensive effort and the running of standout senior Braden Gennock, the Lancers...
With Mohrbacher sisters filling the net, Freedom girls soccer doesn’t skip a beat
Freedom girls soccer has a bit of a different look from the 2018 WPIAL championship team after the graduation of some key seniors and standout Jayden Sharpless transferring to North Catholic, but the results have been the same. There have been goals, goals, more goals and wins. Led by the...
Knoch girls volleyball team doesn’t let success become distraction
The last few seasons for the Knoch girls volleyball team has been a special ride, with two WPIAL titles and a PIAA title. So as the postseason approaches, it is natural for the seniors to dream of finishing their careers with winning a third district title. After all, they are...
Relief pitcher, Springdale grad Mike Devine key part of title-winning St. Paul Saints
Mike Devine played in the previous three American Association finals only to see his team lose in a deciding Game 5 twice and once in four games, so celebrating a championship on the field with the St. Paul Saints in September was a special moment. The fourth time was the...
Hughes-Sciarro connection leads Riverside past rival Ellwood City
Riverside quarterback Ben Hughes and wide receiver Nathan Sciarro started working on their connection in May, going down to the football field after school and running routes with the goal of getting better timing. All of that offseason work certainly paid off, because their connection was impeccable Friday night. Hughes...
