Michael Love stories, Page 12

Burrell hockey coach Drew Burkett remembers well the trip he and his Bucs teammates made to the 2019 USA Hockey High School Division II National Championship tournament. The goaltender for that year’s Burrell team, Burkett helped the Bucs reach the championship game before losing to Boulder/Monarch from Boulder, Colo. Current...

Jordan Edwards didn’t waste any time hitting the ground running after she was hired last June as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at Princeton. “Summer is the big evaluation period, and there is a lot of recruiting that goes into it,” said Edwards, a standout player at...

The Gateway unified bocce teams hosted Fox Chapel on Thursday at the Furrie Sports Complex in front of a large contingent of junior and senior students. The special start time of 2 p.m. allowed for a vast cheering section for the two Gators teams in the thick of the chase...

Last season, Alex Wylly made a postseason push that saw him place fourth in his Class 2A section tournament, earn a sixth-place medal at the WPIAL championships, and compete at regionals. The sophomore and lone Springdale varsity wrestler in this year’s Springdale-Riverview co-op is on a mission to take that...

Mercyhurst athletics made the move from NCAA Division II to Division I last April, and its teams began play at the highest level during the fall season. The Lakers baseball team will hope to make its mark this spring against the likes of St. Francis (Pa.), Long Island, Central Connecticut...

With its playoff hopes on the line, Freeport responded in a crucial Section 1-4A game Friday at rival Burrell. But it was far from a runaway down the stretch for the Yellowjackets. Freeport led by as many as 14 in the third quarter before Burrell cut the lead to two...

Boyce Gym in Plum will be well represented Saturday at the eighth annual Punch Out Parkinson’s fundraising event at The Pittsburgh Shrine Center on Shriners Way in Cheswick. Seasoned Boyce boxers Gavin Alford, Johnny Trujillo and Anthony Carlisano will put it on the line as part of the charity event...

After a first quarter in which the Burrell and Freeport girls basketball teams combined for 26 points, scoring was a little harder to come by the rest of the way in Thursday’s Section 1-4A clash of rivals at Burrell High School. But the homestanding Bucs scored enough and made the...

James Conley is fondly remembered in the Michigan football community for his contributions as the captain of the 1964 Big Ten championship team that went on to win the Rose Bowl. Conley remained closely connected to the football program, the university as a whole and the surrounding region for the...

The Knoch girls basketball team began its season with five straight losses, leaving players and coaches looking for a spark to dig themselves out of their early struggles. The turnaround came in the form of a 56-30 home victory over Valley in the Section 1-4A opener Dec. 12. The Knights...

The Franklin Regional girls basketball team moved one game closer to its goal of a Section 1-5A championship Tuesday evening. The Panthers held off a challenge from playoff-bound section foe Fox Chapel and completed a season sweep of the Foxes with a 59-43 victory. FR moved to 13-5 overall and...

Courtney Jackson and Tui Faumuina-Brown shined during their time in a Gateway football uniform. Neither skipped a beat at the next level — Jackson at Syracuse and Arkansas State and Faumuina-Brown at UConn. Their impact was significant up to and including the final games of their collegiate careers, bowl victories...

Gateway wrestling coach Ryan Sula said he didn’t see a lot of good things early on during the two-day Allegheny County tournament Jan. 17 and 18 at Fox Chapel High School. “I thought we got out to a slow start in the first round or two and didn’t wrestle very...

Saphia Davis wrestled just two matches in December before being forced off the mat because of injury. She made quick work of Burrell’s Cierra Molnar with a 48-second pin in Plum’s season opener and pinned Norwin’s Avalin Barry in 5:55 of their 130-pound bout during a dual match Dec. 18....

Each year at the Allegheny County wrestling tournament, one can find Plum wrestlers contending for championships and podium finishes. This year was no exception, as multiple Mustangs were in contention on the second day of the two-day tournament Jan. 17 and 18 at Fox Chapel High School. When all of...

The Kiski Area boys basketball team had payback on its mind Friday night from a six-point loss to Section 2-5A rival Hampton on Dec. 20. Mission accomplished. The Cavaliers, ahead by six at halftime and nine at the end of three quarters, weathered a couple of Hampton second-half rally attempts...

A trio of Kiski Area individual swimmers and one relay team have the biggest targets on their backs as top seeds for Saturday’s Westmoreland County Coaches Association championships at Derry. Sophomore Leah Kunkle has the fastest time this season among Westmoreland swimmers in the girls 200-yard individual medley. Senior Riley...

Colyn Haugh remembers the tough, challenging games against Kiski Area during his days as a high school football player at Franklin Regional. Now, the newly hired Cavaliers coach hopes to bring the same intensity and high-level ability and effort he saw in his one-time rival more than two decades ago....

Deer Lakes girls basketball rolled past South Allegheny on Monday, winning the Section 2-3A contest 54-32 for its 11th victory of the season. The Lancers, with a mix of veteran talent and newcomers giving the program a spark, have surpassed their win total — nine — for the previous two...

Forty years have passed since Deer Lakes brought home the Alle-Kiski Valley’s first and only PIAA girls basketball championship. The Lancers defeated Palmyra from District 3 for the championship in comeback fashion 45-43 on March 29, 1985. Deer Lakes rolled through an undefeated postseason to capture WPIAL and state gold....

The Gateway boys basketball team fell short in its first crack at Section 1-5A leader Uniontown. The Gators were competitive in the Jan. 7 matchup with the Red Raiders, but a 22-12 margin in the second quarter ended up being the difference in the 82-73 Uniontown win. Gateway, which got...

Dino Nadarevic kicked off his 2025 indoor track and field season in the shot put with a pair of meets at Hempfield Area High School. The Gateway senior recorded a top attempt of 56 feet, 11½ inches Dec. 19 and 56-5½ in his return to Hempfield on Jan. 7. He...

The Plum boys and girls bowling teams swept past the competition to win last year’s Saint Vincent College Bearcat Challenge. The Mustangs were the hunted Jan. 5 in their return to the tournament at Hillview Lanes in Greensburg. But the bowlers for both Plum teams would not be denied a...

Plum track and field coach Matt Proskin said he is energized by what he is seeing from his sprinters, jumpers and throwers as the winter indoor season progresses. “We have our best numbers since we brought the (indoor) program back,” Proskin said Wednesday after conducting a top-end speed day workout...

In Monday’s 70-36 Section 1-A victory over Springdale, St. Joseph girls basketball players made 29 field goals. Of those 29, 21 came off assists. It continued a winning trend from the Sewickley Academy section game four days earlier where team members produced 15 assists in a 59-31 victory. “It was...