Michael Love stories, Page 102

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...

With its 35-7 victory over Knoch on Oct. 16, the Plum football team achieved something the program hadn’t experienced in nearly four decades. The Mustangs captured their first conference championship since 1983, the year of their only WPIAL title. “It feels amazing to represent Plum as a whole team,” senior...

Plum came into Friday’s regular-season finale against Armstrong averaging 34.7 points. The Mustangs blew past that in the first half of a 63-13 triumph that gave them an undefeated regular season (7-0) for the first time since 1977 (8-0-2). Plum scored 18 seconds into the game on a 63-yard touchdown...

The Gateway girls soccer team finished its regular season with seven games in 11 days as a stretch of time off because covid issues within the school district created a stretch run more compact than normal. Coach Kelly Bender said she couldn’t have been more proud of the way her...

The Gateway boys soccer team last week finished its mission of returning to the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2016. Needing a strong stretch run to earn a berth to the postseason, the Gators won their final three section games, including a 4-0 victory Oct. 20 over West...

Plum didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard in Friday’s Greater Allegheny Conference game against Armstrong at Mustangs Stadium. Sophomore Eryck Moore took a handoff on Plum’s first play and raced around the right side for a 63-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs the lead just 18 seconds into...

A Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League varsity champion will be crowned this weekend as 13 teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament Saturday and Sunday. Mt. Lebanon’s WPISL program will host the games on a pair of area fields. The first round and quarterfinals will be Saturday, with the semifinals...

Knoch didn’t want another second-place trophy. After three straight runner-up finishes to Sewickley Academy at the WPIAL Class AA girls tennis team championships, the Knights broke through Thursday on the courts at Shady Side Academy. Knoch senior Brooke Bauer outlasted Sewickley Academy freshman Ashley Close in a third-set tiebreaker at...

Thomas Burke Leechburg, jr., WR/DB Burke showed his multi-faceted ability last Friday against Riverview as he hauled in a 56-yard touchdown pass from senior Dylan Cook in the first half and added a 13-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He finished with two receptions for 67 yards as the...

Class 5A northeast North Hills (2-4, 2-2) at Fox Chapel (2-4, 2-2) 7 p.m. Friday, Fox Chapel Stadium, Fox Chapel North Hills lost to Pine-Richland last week, 59-13, and Fox Chapel suffered a 27-7 loss at Penn Hills. … Zidane Thomas scored the Foxes’ lone touchdown, his first rushing score of...

When the WPIAL soccer playoff brackets were announced Wednesday, not one A-K Valley soccer team found itself named a No. 1 seed. But the Deer Lakes boys and the Plum girls did earn No. 2 seeds, and they will both look to work their way back to the WPIAL final...

For the second consecutive day, the WPIAL girls team tennis tournament has been halted because of rainy weather. Both the Class AAA and AA semifinal matches now will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday. WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said Tuesday the weather forecast for the rest of the week “looks...

The Deer Lakes girls volleyball team is one win away from its first section championship since 1991. The Lancers, at the top of the Section 5-AA standings at 9-1, control their own destiny and will clinch the title with a victory Tuesday at home against Steel Valley. At the same...

The WPIAL girls volleyball regular season ends later this week, and a couple of section titles and playoff berths remain up for grabs. The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its latest rankings Monday, and there is a new top team in Class 4A. North Allegheny, which began the season...

With rain showers in the area, WPIAL officials on Monday morning postponed the Class AAA and AA girls tennis semifinal matches. All four matches now will be Tuesday afternoon with 3 p.m. starts. In Class AAA, top-seeded Peters Township will host Latrobe, and Upper St. Clair hosts Pine-Richland. Peters Township,...

Eliza Miller ran a time of 19 minutes, 24.1 seconds to place first in the girls varsity race at the season-opening Kiski Cavalier Invitational cross country meet Sept. 18 at Northmoreland Park. “I went sub-20 in my first race, and that got me really excited for the rest of the...

The WPIAL last Wednesday revealed a plan to populate the football playoff brackets and deal with unbalanced records and schedules in several of the classifications among a wider announcement of postseason strategies for fall sports. With Gateway expected to finish with four games played in the regular season — it...

The Gateway boys soccer team found itself in a playoff battle in Section 4-4A as it hoped to qualify for the WPIAL postseason for the first time since 2016. The Gators played a compacted, hectic schedule down the stretch — 10 scheduled games in 16 days — after covid-19 issues...

The WPIAL on Wednesday laid out a plan to fill playoff brackets for the six football classifications as covid-19 has canceled games and created unprecedented issues for the organization. Apollo-Ridge had a keen interest in what the WPIAL had to say. The WPIAL’s plan for Class 2A has only the...

The Riverview boys golf team capped its 2020 season in the WPIAL Class AA team semifinals at Beaver Valley Golf Club. The Raiders, in the WPIAL team playoffs for the third consecutive year, placed eighth. “We left a lot of shots out there (on the course),” Riverview coach Hal Biehl...

Charlotte Jones has one final year of swimming at Plum, and then she hopes to make her mark at the NCAA Division I level. The Mustangs senior has given a verbal commitment to continue in the sport at Long Island University-Brooklyn in the Northeast Conference. “It is a great feeling...

The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League regular season concludes this weekend as the focus begins to turn to the playoff tournament. Montour (13-1) wrapped up the regular-season title last Sunday with a doubleheader sweep of Mt Lebanon (6-6). Seneca Valley, which split an early-season doubleheader with Montour, did the same...

Lorenzo Jenkins Fox Chapel, jr., WR/DB In wins over Shaler and Kiski Area after an 0-3 start, Jenkins caught a combined 13 passes for 240 yards and six touchdowns. He is averaging 16 yards a catch this season and owns totals of 24 catches, 383 yards and seven touchdowns. On...