Michael Love stories

Freeport is 5-0 for the first time since 1990. But Burrell didn’t make it easy for the visiting Yellowjackets on Friday in an Allegheny 7 Conference clash of rivals at Buccaneers Stadium. The Bucs were within striking distance in the fourth quarter, but the Yellowjackets made the plays they needed...

Marco Mangieri is a healthy 11-year-old fifth-grade student and athlete in Deer Lakes School District. He loves playing basketball, baseball and flag football. A Lancers sports fan, Mangieri doesn’t hide the fact that he draws inspiration from following the athletic careers of older brothers, Dante and Luca, and older sister,...

Player of the week Danny King Freeport, Jr., QB/WR The Yellowjackets had numerous contributors to last Friday’s 58-7 dismantling of rival Deer Lakes, and King played a big part in helping his team improve to 4-0. King returned an interception 62 yards with 45 seconds left until halftime. The score...

The Leechburg and Jeannette football teams followed similar paths in arriving at Friday’s Eastern Conference clash at Leechburg’s Veterans Memorial Stadium. Both suffered Week Zero setbacks — the Blue Devils fell to Apollo-Ridge, whereas the Jayhawks saw Mt. Pleasant rally for a win — before rattling off three straight victories....

Bethel Park and Seneca Valley remained undefeated with Hempfield also near the top of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League after all of the Week 3 Sunday doubleheaders. The Black Hawks and Raiders both improved to 6-0 with two-game sweeps of North Allegheny and Peters Township, respectively. Hempfield, with just...

The Freeport and Burrell girls soccer teams renewed their storied rivalry Monday night at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium. Something had to give as both teams came into the matchup a perfect 3-0 in Section 2-2A. The Yellowjackets scored twice in the first half and extended their lead over the second...

Kenny Lewis IV wanted to make a big impact in his collegiate football debut. The recent Gateway graduate got his chance in the Cal (Pa.) Vulcan’s season and home debut Sept. 4 against Charleston (W.Va.). And he delivered. Coming into the game as the back up punt returner, Lewis was...

Piper Munyon made her Red, White & Blue Invitational debut Sept. 6 at White Oak Park and found herself among some of the top runners in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia at the finish line. The Gateway sophomore also saw an improvement in her time from last year’s WPIAL championship...

With a home matchup against Imani Christian looming this week, Highlands was hoping to build some positive momentum and get back on track in Friday’s Allegheny 7 Conference opener at East Allegheny after consecutive losses to Elizabeth Forward and New Castle. The Golden Rams responded in a big way with...

Ashton Saunders made his mark at the season-opening Gateway Invitational on Aug. 30 at Boyce Park in Plum with a sixth-place finish in a time of 17 minutes, 38.53 seconds. The junior followed that up a week later with a strong run to fifth (16:58.10) in the Class A race...

Mayah Torres ran to a 39th-place finish at the Red, White & Blue Invitational on Sept. 6 at White Oak Park. The Plum senior and the Mustangs girls cross country team’s top runner was close to going below 20 minutes in the Class 3A race filled with some of the...

It was another complete win for the Freeport football team. The Yellowjackets, like they have in games before Friday’s Allegheny 7 Conference opener against Deer Lakes at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium, scored in all three phases and put their stamp on the game with a 37-point first half en route...

Charlie Heese looked ahead of him down the home stretch of last year’s boys race at the Kiski Area Invitational and saw a trio of seniors win the title and take silver and bronze. The Latrobe junior was right behind them in fourth. On Friday, Heese returned to the Northmoreland...

Player of the week Antonio Perkins Burrell, So., QB/S Perkins had his hands and feet stamped all over the Bucs’ 28-21 win over Mt. Pleasant last Friday. He rushed for 162 yards on 16 carries, an average of 10 yards per attempt, and scored all four touchdowns. Perkins completed 13...

The Freeport boys golf team rolled through its first 11 matches without a loss. The Yellowjackets compiled an 8-0 record in Section 1-2A, and that included a 204-222 win over Deer Lakes on Aug. 18 at Buffalo Golf Club behind a 37 from senior Ethan Crooks, a returning WPIAL qualifier....

For the first three weeks of the season, the Deer Lakes and Freeport football teams faced schools in nonconference play that are not traditional area rivals. The Yellowjackets (3-0) matched up with, and defeated soundly, Indiana in Week Zero, Derry in Week 1 and Quaker Valley last Friday. The Lancers...

Deer Lakes lost just two Section 4-2A games last year. Both were to Mt. Pleasant. The Lancers on Monday evening hoped to avenge those 2024 outcomes, wins by the defending section champion Vikings by a combined 9-0. But Mt. Pleasant had other ideas. The game was as close and intense...

Jayson Jenkins is getting the hang of college punting. The Gateway graduate and special teams standout as a graduate student on the Robert Morris football team earned Northeast Conference Co-Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in the Colonials’ opener Aug. 30 at West Virginia. In his first...

Piper Munyon split her time as a Gateway freshman last fall between soccer, her first love, and competing as a member of the Gators cross country team. It was a several-month balance, combined with her school studies, that she worked on through the end of the soccer season in mid...

Antonio Perkins is heating up at the right time as a dual threat for the Burrell football team. Friday night against Mt. Pleasant, the Bucs sophomore shined with his feet and his arm. He scored on touchdown runs of 1, 42, 10, and 3 yards to help Burrell get into...

Isabel Chaparro likes what she sees from the Riverview girls soccer team’s early set of games. The Raiders were 3-0 in nonsection action through a 9-0 victory over Apollo-Ridge last Wednesday at Riverside Park. Junior midfielder Mary Quinlan tallied a hat trick, giving her a team-best eight goals through three...

The Plum girls soccer team ran its current section winning streak to 30 games with a convincing 9-0 home win over West Mifflin last Wednesday. The Mustangs, 4-0 overall and 3-0 in Section 4-3A with the win over the Titans, contributed to that run of section success in their opener...

In Week Zero, Plum snapped a seven-game losing streak to rival Franklin Regional. On Friday, the Mustangs ended another long streak. This time to neighboring Gateway. Plum had lost 13 in a row to the Gators, but the Mustangs were able to make the plays they needed to in all...

Mike Rairigh earned nine varsity letters in football, basketball and track and field as a Kiski Area athlete. He finished his high school football career as the Cavaliers’ all-time leader in receptions, picked up all-conference recognition football and basketball and earned a silver medal in the javelin at the WPIAL...

After seven seasons as head coach of the Gateway boys basketball team, Alvis Rogers felt it was time to step down from the post, citing family and personal issues for his decision. “There was a lot of things that were weighing on me mentally, and I felt I needed to...