No. 1 Neshannock girls shake off Fox Chapel for holiday tourney win
The Neshannock girls basketball team got in the win column Monday afternoon as it bounced back from a loss two days earlier to state power Bishop Guilfoyle at the Holiday Bash in Butler. But Fox Chapel gave the No. 1 team in the Triblive HSSN Class 2A rankings all they...
2025 in A-K Valley sports: WPIAL, PIAA champions highlight calendar year
This year was the setting for many memorable moments where Alle-Kiski Valley athletes and teams shined with championship performances and accomplishments in all arenas of competition. Athletes again were able to pay off many hours of dedication and determination to not only reach but to surpass their goals. The year...
A-K Valley notebook: Deer Lakes grad takes next step in MLS career
Michael Sullivan will continue his professional soccer career in 2026, and he now will do it a little closer to home. FC Cincinnati 2 has signed the Deer Lakes and Pitt graduate to a Major League Soccer NEXT Pro contract. Sullivan made his pro debut in 2025, scoring four goals...
Aquinas Academy girls keep rolling, beat St. Joseph
The Aquinas Academy girls basketball team is No. 1 in this week’s TribLive HSSN Class A rankings. On Monday against Section 1 rival St. Joseph, the Crusaders continued to prove just how powerful they are. Led by three players in double figures, including a game-best 23 from senior Tess Duer,...
A-K Valley sports notebook: Springdale girls soccer coach Marc Bentley steps down
Marc Bentley has concluded his tenure as coach of the Springdale girls soccer team. He stepped down from the position last week. The Dynamos mentor came on board in the summer of 2019, replacing Jerry Concannon after Concannon’s successful stretch as coach from 2007-18 that included five straight trips to...
10 greats set for enshrinement to Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame
Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith, an Aliquippa native, and professional wrestling champion and New Brighton native “The Franchise” Shane Douglas are two of a group of 10 athletic greats who will be celebrated with enshrinement into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame on June 13 at The...
Kiski Area unveils state-of-the-art wrestling room to honor coaching legend, train future champions
Members of the Kiski Area boys wrestling team worked out Wednesday in their spacious new wrestling room at the high school. Their Cavaliers female counterparts did the same in an adjoining room not far away. Some of them would pause for a moment, still taking in their new surroundings with...
Petruska optimistic Deer Lakes girls can return to WPIAL playoffs
The Deer Lakes girls basketball team experienced a big turnaround last season. The Lancers won just four games and went winless in section play two years ago. Dana Petruska returned to Deer Lakes in 2024 and began her second stint as coach of her alma mater. A spark was lit...
Deer Lakes reloads in quest for another long playoff run
There again are high expectations for the Deer Lakes boys basketball team as another season is set to begin. The Lancers, WPIAL champions in 2023 and 2024, had another strong season last winter, but a tough loss to section rival North Catholic in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals and a...
A-K Valley campus clips: Deer Lakes grad starts senior season strong at Grove City
Reese Hasley is off to a strong start for the Grove City women’s basketball team. The Deer Lakes graduate and Wolverines senior guard is averaging 10 points, 7.5 rebounds and three assists through four games. She collected a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three...
With 4 starters returning, Apollo-Ridge girls aim to challenge for section title
There is a great deal of optimism surrounding the Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team, which returns four starters and several other key contributors after a trip to the WPIAL playoffs last season. “I think the group of girls that we have gets along really well from top to bottom,” Vikings second-year...
With experienced roster back, optimism grows for Apollo-Ridge boys
The Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team has endured some lean years recently in terms of wins and losses, but coach Greg Fox sees a program on the rise with experience throughout the lineup this season. “The summer and offseason were very productive for the players who put in the time,” said...
Burrell girls deal with mixed emotions, but mostly pride, after PIAA runner-up finish
The Burrell girls soccer team members had a bittersweet feeling in their hearts and in the pits of their stomachs hours after the end of Friday’s PIAA Class 2A championship game against Archbishop Wood at Northeastern York High School. The bitter came from a battle that ended in heartbreak in...
Burrell falls to Archbishop Wood in PIAA girls soccer championship OT heartbreaker
MANCHESTER — Intensity, physicality, dangerous scoring chances, high-level defensive plays. That is what one would expect from two high school girls soccer teams going after a PIAA championship. Burrell and Archbishop Wood delivered on all of those Friday night as both came to Northeastern York High School seeking their first...
Burrell girls relish opportunity to play for program’s 1st state title
The Burrell girls soccer team received a police escort for the final few miles back to the high school after Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over section rival Freeport in a PIAA Class 2A semifinal clash at Fox Chapel High School. The Bucs didn’t let a seven-game losing streak to the Yellowjackets,...
Burrell girls knock off nemesis Freeport to reach PIAA soccer championship game
Fourth time’s the charm? The Burrell girls soccer team hoped so. But Freeport wanted to get out the brooms. The section rival Bucs and Yellowjackets met for the fourth time this season Tuesday evening in a PIAA Class 2A semifinal in frigid temperatures at Fox Chapel. Freeport won the first...
Springdale girls soccer looks to topple Bishop Guilfoyle in PIAA semifinal
Hailey Marchlewski made many offensive runs during the 110 minutes of regulation and overtime in Saturday’s PIAA Class A quarterfinal against Sewickley Academy at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadum. The Springdale senior forward, with tired legs but a heart and mind full of confidence, then was the second one to go...
Runner makes Gateway history at PIAA cross country meet
Piper Munyon made history in her debut run at the PIAA Class 3A cross country championships Nov. 1 on the Parkview Course in Hershey. The Gateway sophomore took seventh overall in a time of 18 minutes, 56 seconds. It was the best-ever PIAA finish by a Gators girls cross country...
Gateway football wraps up season of ups, downs
The Gateway football team edged Latrobe, 27-24, in its Big East Conference finale Oct. 17. The Gators finished in a three-way tie for third place with Armstrong and Kiski Area at 3-3. A 42-35 loss to Class 6A Hempfield in what ended up being the team’s final game of the...
Springdale girls outlast Sewickley on PKs in playoff rematch, advance to PIAA semifinals
Eleven days had passed between Springdale and Sewickley Academy’s WPIAL Class A girls soccer semifinal Oct. 28 and their PIAA quarterfinal contest at North Allegheny. The possibility of a rematch of the tight Panthers’ victory was there with some speculating on what would transpire in the rematch. Postulation turned into...
Runners from Riverview, Plum reach goals at PIAA cross country meet
Ashton Saunders enjoyed the view from the medal stand at last year’s PIAA Class A cross country championships in Hershey. The goal in his return Nov. 1 was to not only get back to that position but also stand a little closer to the top. Both were achieved as the...
‘Such a special feeling’: Late-season surge keyed Plum’s postseason berth
After a 14-13 Northeast Conference loss to North Hills in Week 6, the Plum football team stood at 2-5 overall and 0-3 in conference play. Some thought the Mustangs were dead in the water. But Plum coach Matt Morgan, his coaching staff, and his players carried on, taking one game...
Work on special teams keys No. 3 Central Valley’s quarterfinal victory over Highlands
Highlands and Central Valley were separated by just four points in the early stages of the third quarter of their WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal Friday at Central Valley’s Sarge Albert Stadium. That is when things changed. Spurred on by a couple of key special teams plays, the No. 3 Warriors...
A-K Valley high school football players to watch for Nov. 7, 2025
Player of the week Jaden McCray Apollo-Ridge, Sr., RB/WR/DB McCray has been a dual threat in the Vikings’ offense all season, especially in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round win over Riverside last Friday at Owens Field. McCray ran the ball just eight times, but he totaled 63 yards and all...
Kicker Jackson Babinsack provides reliable weapon for Highlands in visit to No. 3 Central Valley
Jackson Babinsack has been a well-known special teams name among Highlands football faithful since his freshman year in 2023. The Golden Rams junior, the team’s punter and kickoff specialist who also handles extra points and field goals, has delivered the goods in some big games the past three years and...