Michael Love stories, Page 101

Zach Fields Plum, sr., WR/DB The Mustangs defense turned McKeesport over five times in last week’s WPIAL Class 4A first-round win. Fields produced two of those turnovers with a pair of interceptions, giving him three picks on the season. He added seven tackles, increasing his total to 30. Max Matolcsy...

The Plum football team Friday will play its first WPIAL semifinal game since 1996. On the other sideline will be Thomas Jefferson, the defending WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A champion that owns eight WPIAL and four PIAA crowns since 2004. The Jaguars have made at least the WPIAL semifinals every...

It was déjà vu for the Plum girls soccer team. For the second year in a row, the Mustangs topped West Allegheny, 1-0, in a WPIAL Class 3A semifinal. With Wednesday’s home victory, they now will get another crack at winning the program’s first WPIAL championship. “There’s literally no better...

The PIAA singles and doubles tennis tournaments kick off Wednesday for the four WPIAL champions at the Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford. All four quarterfinals matches are set to begin at 11:30 a.m. Knoch senior Laura Greb, the four-time WPIAL Class AA singles champion, opens against District 6 champion Alyssa...

Shady Side Academy and Ellis School are no strangers in battling for a WPIAL field hockey championship. The teams met for the seventh consecutive time in the finals, including each of the five Class A matchups since the WPIAL expanded to three classifications in 2016. Monday’s title contest at a...

While Penn State football’s season opener against Indiana on Oct. 24 didn’t go as planned, the Nittany Lions players, including Gateway graduate JaQuan Brisker, were happy to be back on the field competing. The Big Ten announced in August it was cancelling its 2020 football schedule because of covid-19 concerns....

Gateway girls soccer coach Kelly Bender said the 2020 season for her players went by in a flash. With the season already compacted because of the covid-19 pandemic, virus issues specific to the Gateway School District halted practices and games for the Gators in late September. That created a busy...

Not many teams get the chance to say they faced the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 teams in their respective classification in one season. That was the case for Springdale this year. The Dynamos led No. 3 Jeannette for most of their Eastern Conference matchup before losing 36-28,...

Under normal WPIAL cross country circumstances, the Riverview boys team would be heading to Hershey this weekend to compete with the best in the state. But when the PIAA announced new qualifying parameters amid the coronavirus pandemic, it created a unique situation where only the district champions would qualify. Riverview,...

The Plum slowpitch softball team was unable to solve second-seeded Seneca Valley in a Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League quarterfinal Oct. 24 at Mt. Lebanon. The Mustangs reached that point with a first-round victory over West Allegheny, but the Raiders ended Plum’s season with a 15-5 win. “We had a...

The Plum and McKeesport football teams were no strangers to each other when they met Friday at Plum’s Mustangs Stadium for a berth in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals. The Tigers and Mustangs clashed for the eighth time in the past 10 years. The latest meeting was one of the...

Boys Class 4A quarterfinals 5-Upper St. Clair (8-5-1) at 4-Fox Chapel (10-3) Noon, Saturday, Fox Chapel Stadium, Fox Chapel Winner plays: Winner of 9-Baldwin (8-6-1) at 1-Peters Township (11-1-1) in semifinals Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m. at a site to be determined. Hat tricks: Two of Fox Chapel’s losses came...

Leah Brockett has logged a lot of miles this fall. As the top runner on the Burrell girls cross country team and one of the leading scorers on the soccer team, the freshman has made an impact while balancing both sports with her academic work load. Brockett hopes to put...

Ed Habjan, the widely regarded PGA head golf professional at Verona’s Green Oaks Country Club, was elected Friday during the 104th PGA annual meeting to serve on the organization’s board of directors. He will take over as the District 4 Director, one of 17 such individuals who work on a...

Neither a steady rain nor Thomas Jefferson could prevent the Plum girls soccer team from advancing in the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs Thursday evening. The undefeated Mustangs scored twice in the first half and added two more goals in the second half to post a 4-0 quarterfinal win, their third...

Preston Sunday Plum, sr., RB/LB Sunday has been a difference maker on Fridays for the undefeated Mustangs. His 55 tackles through seven games lead the team with fellow senior Max Matolcsy (54). He was all over the field with 22 stops, including four for a loss, in a 20-7 Greater...

As a freshman last year, Brownsville’s Jolena Quarzo earned a silver medal at the WPIAL Class AA cross country championships at Cal U (Pa.) as older sister Gionna dominated the field to claim gold. With a new setting for this year’s championship meet and Gionna now running at N.C. State,...

North Allegheny defeated Seneca Valley, 21-10, to capture the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League varsity championship Sunday at Middle Field in Mt. Lebanon. It is the Tigers’ first WPISL title since 2011 and fourth overall since the league’s first season in 2006. North Allegheny entered the two-day playoff tournament as...

Plum needed penalty kicks in last season’s WPIAL Class AAA first-round girls soccer matchup to get by neighboring Gateway on its way to an eventual championship-game appearance. There was no overtime drama in Monday’s WPIAL rematch. The undefeated and No. 2 Mustangs scored three times in the first half and...

The Freeport girls volleyball team finished in a four-way tie for the Section 5-3A title with Mars, Armstrong and Hampton. Each team went 9-3 in section play. Yellowjackets coach Tom Phillips said he was surprised Monday when he found out where his team and the other three from Section 5...

North Allegheny, Beaver, North Catholic and Bishop Canevin were selected as top seeds as the WPIAL girls volleyball committee finalized and released the playoff brackets Monday afternoon. The playoff tournaments begin Tuesday with four preliminary-round matches in both Class 3A and Class 2A. First-round matches Wednesday kick off the tournaments...

With the regular season in the books, hopes turn to WPIAL gold as the playoffs begin this week. The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association on Monday morning released its final rankings for the 2020 season. North Allegheny (Class 4A), Beaver (Class 3A), North Catholic (Class 2A) and Bishop Canevin (Class...

The Plum girls volleyball team returned to the top last week as they clinched the program’s first section championship since 2011. The Mustangs’ 3-1 victory at Kiski Area on Oct. 20 wrapped up their 16th section crown overall. “That was really exciting for the girls, especially the (eight) seniors,” Plum...