A-K Valley teams won’t have to wait long for WPIAL playoffs to start
Alle-Kiski Valley basketball teams and their fans don’t have to wait long to kick off their respective WPIAL playoff tournaments. Some, like the Knoch boys, the highest-seeded team among the 16 from the area that qualified for the postseason, begin playoff action Friday. The Knights finished the regular season 18-4...
Gateway wrestlers prepare for postseason tournaments
Members of the Gateway wrestling team didn’t wait around until right before the start of the season to prepare for matches and tournaments. Coach Ryan Sula said work began months in advance with close to three dozen wrestlers, including some in junior high, coming to the wrestling room to work...
After securing section title, Gateway boys turn focus to WPIAL playoffs
Gateway’s boys basketball team captured a section championship in 2023, and it didn’t wait long to add to the section-title banner that hangs in the gym at the Furrie Sports Complex. The Gators started the season as one of the favorites to claim the Section 1-5A title, and they turned...
Plum senior Brooke Price ready for final push to WPIAL swimming championships
Brooke Price is ready. The Plum senior knows what the rush of swimming at the WPIAL championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool feels like as well as the work that must be done to be ready. The Mustangs are in prep mode for WPIALs, set for Feb. 26 and 27, and...
After securing 1st section title, Plum girls look ahead to WPIAL playoffs
The Plum girls basketball team already had clinched at least a tie for the program’s first section championship. That came Jan. 30 in a convincing 52-34 win at playoff-bound Penn Hills on the heels of a close nonsection victory over WPIAL power Penn-Trafford two days earlier. The outright title was...
Highlands boys escape against Valley, get needed help to earn playoff berth
The Highlands boys basketball team did its part against Valley on Friday in hopes of securing a WPIAL playoff spot from Section 1-4A. The Golden Rams found themselves in a dogfight against the Vikings but were able to make the plays down the stretch and pull away for a 62-44...
WPIAL investigating brawl between Penn Hills, Gateway girls basketball teams
The WPIAL spent part of Friday reviewing information and video of an on-court fight during the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Section 2-5A girls basketball game between rivals Gateway and Penn Hills at Gateway’s Furrie Sports Complex. WPIAL executive director Vince Sortino said he had no direct comment on the fight...
Terry Smith, Tom Loughran to be inducted into state football coaches hall of fameVideo
Two of the most impactful football coaches in the history of the WPIAL, Tom Loughran and Terry Smith, will be celebrated in May as part of the Class of 2026 into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Coaches Hall of Fame. They will join five other coaching greats to be...
Kiski Area girls happy to control their playoff fate
The Kiski Area girls basketball team has had its ups and downs throughout the season, but with two Section 2-5A games left Thursday and Friday, it controls its own destiny for a spot in the WPIAL playoffs. Senior Ali Pencak welcomes the challenge. “It’s nice to be able to control...
Pittsburgh Marathon officials expect record participation in 2026
The 2026 Pittsburgh Marathon’s weekend of events will be May 1-3, and runners and walkers of all ages and abilities are encouraged to register before the next price increase set for Thursday. “The Pittsburgh Marathon has always been about more than the finish line — it’s about bringing people together...
Knoch’s Adrian Lavorini chasing medals in final trip to WPIAL championships
Adrian Lavorini is in the twilight of his high school swim career at Knoch before he heads off to compete in college. But the multi-time WPIAL medalist and PIAA qualifier has a lot left to accomplish while representing the Knights. While personal goals are on his mind with just a...
A-K Valley girls basketball notebook: Plum can clinch 1st outright section title Monday
The Plum girls basketball team did not lose a game in January, going 9-0 overall and 7-0 in Section 1-5A to take control at the top of the section standings. The Mustangs clinched at least a tie for their first section title with a convincing 52-34 win over playoff-bound Penn...
Burrell girls clinch playoff spot with win over rival Freeport
The Burrell girls basketball team was comfortably in contention for a WPIAL playoff spot heading into its Section 1-4A matchup Thursday at Freeport. All the Bucs needed to officially clinch that postseason berth was a win over the Yellowjackets. Mission accomplished. Freshman Chase Coury led Burrell with 19 points, and...
2025 WPIAL All-Conference Football Team: Eastern
Class A Eastern Conference Offense Name, School, Pos., Ht., Wt., Year Jeff Thompson, Clairton, QB, 6-1, 170, sr. Deon Lovelace Pompey, Clairton, RB, 5-11, 190, sr. Donte Wright, Clairton, RB, 5-9, 185, sr. Jordan Mandich, Frazier, FB/H-Back, 6-0, 204, sr. Taris Wooding, Clairton WR, 5-11, 178, sr. Jayce Powell, Jeannette...
Plum’s Stephans hits 1,000 points in defeat of Penn-Trafford girls
Riley Stephans stepped to the top of the arc and accepted a pass from Tamia West. Flashing a quick glance at the hoop, she took the shot. The bank was open as she used a little backboard to complete the milestone field goal. That 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 41 seconds...
Plum hockey team riding high as regular season winds down
Plum is charging into the stretch run of the PIHL regular season on a seven-game winning streak. Coming off a 7-0 rout of South Park on Jan. 19, Plum has six games remaining, starting with a matchup with Wheeling Central Catholic at 8:10 p.m. Thursday at Pittsburgh Ice Arena in...
Devin Murray returns to alma mater to take over boys soccer program at Deer Lakes
Devin Murray was a major contributor to a run of success for the Deer Lakes boys soccer team that produced a WPIAL championship, a WPIAL runner-up finish, three PIAA tournament appearances and two trips to the state championship game in a three-year period. The 2021 Deer Lakes graduate returned to...
Duquesne athletics announces 2026 hall of fame class
Duquesne athletics revealed its 2026 Merle E. Gilliand Hall of Fame class, and three individuals, three teams and a contributing builder of Dukes athletics will be honored. Former swimmers Emma Brinton (2017-21) and Abigail Stauffer (2015-19) and former baseball player Donald Ziegler (1954-58) join builders Joe and Kathy Guyaux for...
Injuries, illness force shorthanded Highlands girls basketball team to forfeit remaining games
The Highlands girls basketball team faced low roster numbers throughout the first month of this season. With just five players available for a majority of the games, thoughts turned to how the remainder of the schedule might play out. Last weekend, in agreement between athletic director Katie Jo Stobert and...
Highlands grad, star college linebacker promoted to head coach at Kiski Area at age 27
Brayden Thimons is preparing for his third season with Kiski Area football. But this season, he is the man in charge. After serving as linebackers coach in 2024 and defensive coordinator this past fall, the 27-year-old Thimons is now the Cavaliers’ head coach. The former standout linebacker at Highlands and...
Kiski Area’s Kunkle enters WCCA swimming championships at top seed in 200 IM
Leah Kunkle is the hunted. The Kiski Area junior is nearly 3 seconds ahead of the field as the top seed in the girls 200-yard individual medley at Saturday’s Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association swimming championships at Derry Area High School. Kunkle, twice a WPIAL individual medalist last year, also is...
7 home games scheduled for West Virginia football in 2026
West Virginia’s 2026 football schedule has been released, and for only the fifth time since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2012, the Mountaineers will play seven home games. WVU will start the season at home against nonconference foes Coastal Carolina (Sept. 5) and UT Martin (Sept. 12). Five of...
5 WPIAL quarterbacks selected as finalists for 2025 Willie Thrower Award
Nolan DiLucia wrapped up his football career at Peters Township as the second-leading passer in WPIAL history with 8,819 career yards. The three-year starter passed for 2,782 yards and 22 touchdowns this past fall in helping the Indians win the WPIAL Class 5A title. The Villanova recruit completed 177 of...
As stretch run approaches, St. Joseph girls show fine form vs. Riverview
Last year, the Riverview girls basketball team got the better of rival St. Joseph, winning the nonsection matchup at Riverview High School to halt an eight-game losing streak in the series. But St. Joseph didn’t let the Raiders make it two in a row Tuesday evening at the Walter Dlubak...
Trevor George leaves Riverview, returns to coach Blackhawk football team
Trevor George is returning to the football sidelines at Blackhawk while ending a six-year tenure as head coach at Riverview. It was a busy week for George, who met with the Raiders players last Monday and informed them he would not be returning. He was officially hired to head up...
