Michael Love stories

Burrell girls soccer coach Frank Nesko guided his team through a film session Thursday afternoon before the players took to the field at Buccaneers Stadium under sunny skies for a quick and efficient hourlong workout. The Bucs had just come off a competitive 2-1 victory over Shady Side Academy on...

Player of the week Landyn Artman Kiski Area, So., QB/DB Artman delivered for the Cavaliers in their 34-13 victory over Latrobe last Friday that vaulted them back into the playoff hunt in the Big East Conference. He threw a season-best five touchdown passes and finished with 267 yards through the...

It’s the stretch run to the WPIAL playoffs, and for Burrell and Highlands, an Allegheny 7 Conference clash Friday at Burrell’s Buccaneer Stadium is rife with playoff implications. While both teams’ players and coaches understand how important the game is in the conference standings and for the playoff picture in...

The Springdale girls volleyball team is on the cusp of ending an eight-year WPIAL playoff drought. The Dynamos outlasted Aquinas Academy, 3-2, on Tuesday as they held off a furious rally after grabbing a two-set lead in the match. Led by 14 kills from junior Bella George, 11 kills from...

Sam Plazio knows very well what it feels like to take home gold from the Westmoreland County Coaches Association cross country championships. The Kiski Area senior claimed the top spot in the boys varsity race as a freshman and repeated as champion as a sophomore. Last year, Plazio was fourth...

When the Riverview and Springdale girls soccer teams met for the first time this season under the lights Sept. 11 at Riverside Park in Oakmont, the Dynamos had the better of play and came away with a four-goal victory. The Raiders sought a measure of revenge in the rematch Monday...

Vern Benson led a brief film session and a weight room workout before guiding the Gateway boys basketball team in an on-court training session Sept. 30 at the Furrie Sports Complex. He got in the middle of the action, instructing the Gators players on many aspects of the game he...

It’s been a trying season for the Fox Chapel football team. The Foxes (2-5) hoped to snap a three-game losing skid Friday at Franklin Regional. However, the homestanding Panthers claimed their first win of the season, 21-10, in nonconference play. But in the midst of the back-and-forth action, WPIAL history...

The last time the Riverview football team qualified for the WPIAL Class A playoffs was in 2016. It also was the last time the Raiders had defeated Greensburg Central Catholic. They celebrated a 13-7 victory over the Centurions in overtime that day en route to a postseason berth. The subsequent...

Freeport and Highlands needed overtime to decide their Allegheny 7 Conference clash Friday at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium. The teams’ heavyweight runners — Yellowjackets senior Amos Glenn and Golden Rams sophomore Tevin Owen-Cratsenberg — each scored TDs in their overtime possessions. Jackson Babinsack drilled Highlands’ point-after kick. But on Freeport’s...

Last year’s Allegheny 7 Conference contest between Highlands and Freeport was the first one in the brief all-time series that the Golden Rams were held to single digits. The Yellowjackets, who now lead the series 3-2, limited Highlands to a single touchdown in a 28-7 win at Golden Rams Stadium....

Player of the week Tevin Owen-Cratsenberg Highlands, So., RB/LB Owen-Cratsenberg continued to make plays and create havoc defensively for the Golden Rams in their 35-0 victory over Deer Lakes, but he also made an impact running the ball as Highlands improved to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the Allegheny 7...

At the beginning of the season, Freeport girls soccer players came together and established their expectations for the season. A section title, a deep run in the WPIAL playoffs and a trip to the PIAA tournament were some of the high marks on that list. But they also broke it...

Two weeks remain in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League regular season, and Bethel Park (10-0) and Montour (8-0) hope to remain undefeated. Montour will get a chance to move to 10-0 on Tuesday with a rescheduled doubleheader against West Allegheny (3-5). Bethel Park and Montour will clash in a...

The We Serve First Foundation celebrated a successful Pack the Park match earlier this month with Kiski Area defeating Norwin on the outdoor Ellen Toy grass court at Kennedy Park in Vandergrift. The foundation now is looking forward to its fourth annual all-star classic Dec. 6 at Kiski Area High...

The last time Courtney Jackson was at Heinz Field, now Acrisure Stadium, was Nov. 5, 2022, as Syracuse played Pitt in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup. Things didn’t go as Jackson and his Orange teammates hoped that day as the Panthers held the Syracuse offense to three field goals in...

Dennis Shannon coached the Gateway varsity hockey team from 1997 to 2004, and he found success with the Gators to where he is the program’s all-time leader in coaching victories. A Monroeville resident for 47 years who has enjoyed a five-decades long coaching career at the high school, amateur and...

Timmy Andrasy knew coming into his senior season that he would be a major focal point of the Leechburg football offense. After the graduation of Blue Devil heavyweights Jake Cummings and Jayden Floyd, Andrasy expected his impact in the running game to increase. He accepted that role and has run...

The Plum girls golf team’s seven seniors — Kailey Burton, Ava Miller, Addy Pfeiffer, Alex Fulmer, Hayden Tihey, Brooke Price and Aine Collins — were celebrated Sept. 15 before a Section 4-3A home match with Latrobe at 3 Lakes Golf Course in Penn Hills. The contest was the final one...

Last year, Highlands led Deer Lakes by two touchdowns at halftime before the Lancers rallied for a one-point win. There was no dramatic Deer Lakes comeback victory this season. The Golden Rams led by three scores at halftime Friday in an Allegheny 7 Conference clash with the Lancers at Golden...

Player of the week Amos Glenn Freeport, Sr., RB/DB Glenn was again a workhorse for a Yellowjackets team that moved to 5-0 for the first time since 1990 with a 34-7 win Friday at rival Burrell. He rushed 23 times for 194 yards and four touchdowns. His 24-yard scamper in...

Deer Lakes and Highlands went down to the wire last season to decide their first football game against each other in nine years. The Lancers, trailing by 13 points at halftime, rallied in the second half with a pair of touchdowns from since-graduated Zier Williams and a couple of turnovers...

Mars won the first two sets of Tuesday’s Section 2-2A girls volleyball clash with Freeport and hoped to finish off a clean sweep. The Yellowjackets didn’t go down without a fight, however, and rallied to keep the match alive with a third-set triumph. But in the end, the visiting Planets...

Girls soccer teams in the Alle-Kiski Valley are surging as the WPIAL regular season passes the halfway point. Eight teams either lead their section or are in second place. That group — Fox Chapel, Plum, Kiski Area, Freeport, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Riverview and Springdale — is a combined 56-9-1 overall...

Gateway continued its success in the Big East Youth Football League last year as all four of its teams — flag (ages 5-6), Termites (7-8), Mites (9-10) and Midgets (11-12) — qualified for the playoffs. The flag team and Midgets both made it all the way to their division championship...