Michael Love stories, Page 132

Weather issues and other scheduling variables over the past month-and-a-half altered the original District 31 American Legion game plan, and that made for a compacted stretch run to the playoffs. Teams playing two games in one day on the weekend was commonplace. Kiski Valley and Young Township concluded the regular...

One of the closest races at the PIAA Class AAA championships at Bucknell University in March saw Butler junior Laura Goettler edge Fox Chapel freshman Zoe Skirboll by 10 one-hundredths of a second for the title in the finals of the girls 100-yard breaststroke. Skirboll, however, would capture state gold...

The Penn State football program continues to add to its 2020 verbal commitment list. Bryce Mostella, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound weak-side defensive end from Kentwood High School in Grand Rapids, Mich., gave a verbal commitment to the Nittany Lions on Friday. Rivals ranks Mostella three stars. He made an official visit...

Austin Hendrick, a rising senior at West Allegheny and a Mississippi State baseball verbal commit, will compete in the inaugural High School All-Star Game on Saturday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Major League Baseball and USA Baseball released the rosters Friday. Forty players, selected from the 80-player Prospect Development Pipeline...

Jason Norris was on a plane to Los Angeles when he found out he was hired as coach of the Highlands boys soccer team. “When the athletic director called me to tell me the news, the people on the plane were telling us to put our phones away, and I...

Sean Knapp missed the cut at last weekend’s U.S. Senior Open at Notre Dame’s Warren Gold Course in South Bend, Ind. While the ending to his second straight appearance in the tournament and fourth overall wasn’t what he hoped for, the opportunity again to share the course with the world’s...

The Penn State football program has added two more commitments to its Class of 2020. Virginia’s Joseph Johnson, an athlete/defensive back from Chester Life Christian Academy, and Texas’ Parker Washington, a wide receiver from Fort Bend Travis High School, both gave verbal commitments to the Nittany Lions on Tuesday evening....

The Sewickley Academy girls tennis team had won its only previous Class AA state championship in 2011, and the Panthers were gunning for a second title in Hershey to cap the 2018 season. That title seven years prior also was the only other time the school had reached the championship...

Monica Gourley collected three hits in four at-bats, one being a triple, and also drove in two runs in the Knoch softball team’s 7-2 victory over Thomas Jefferson in the WPIAL Class 4A third-place game. The victory propelled the squad to its first PIAA tournament appearance. The senior shortstop’s production...

The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason WPIAL Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 23 during a HSSN Media Day live broadcast at Kennywood Park. Johnny Crise announced his arrival on the high school football...

Knoch senior shortstop Monica Gourley has been selected the state’s Class 4A Softball Player of the Year by the Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association. Gourley was the only WPIAL player to earn the player of the year recognition in the six PIAA classifications. Each candidate for the player-of-the-year designation...

2019 Valley News Dispatch Baseball All-Stars Player of the Year Jarrett Heilman, Junior, Pitcher, Freeport Jarrett Heilman said he and his Freeport baseball teammates are getting noticed more in the community since they lifted the program to its first PIAA playoff appearance since 1998. “I’ll go into Tony’s Pizza in...

The A-K Valley’s Senior Legion baseball teams continue to move through their league schedules as they enter a busy stretch run to the playoffs. Plum visits Highlands on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Allegheny South action at Highlands High School. Plum enters the game 4-2 overall after a 7-2 win...

When longtime St. Joseph boys basketball coach Kelly Robinson resigned in April after 21 seasons at the helm, the search began in earnest to find his replacement. A little less than a month later, the Spartans had their man in Hart Coleman, who led the Plum boys team the past...

When Mark Marino joined the men’s basketball coaching staff at Lycoming College in 2008, his first task as a high school talent evaluator was to observe Plum standout Andrew Cressler as Cressler was going into his senior season with the Mustangs. “I sat down, watched him play and took notes...

Several of the top WPIAL golfers from the fall 2018 season will compete at the National High School Golf Association’s inaugural High School Golf National Invitational on June 27-28 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The boys and girls fields for the invitation-only tournament were...

When Gregory Guzzo was 13, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, and open-heart surgery was needed to correct the issue. The recent Valley graduate was given a renewed opportunity at life, and he didn’t want to waste it. Guzzo was told he couldn’t take part in contact sports,...

The Sen. John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum provided the setting Monday evening for the eighth annual Positive High School Athlete Awards. Student-athletes representing 30 boys and girls high school sports from throughout western Pennsylvania, along with two coaches and North Allegheny High School, were recognized and...

C.J. Hepler emerged this spring as one to watch for the future of throwing events in the WPIAL and beyond. The Kiski Area rising sophomore was the lone freshman to compete in the discus at the WPIAL Class AAA championships last month at Slippery Rock, and he placed 12th overall...

Kiski Area rising sophomore CJ Hepler placed sixth in the freshman discus competition Friday at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championships in Greensboro, N.C. Using a disc slightly lighter than what is used for high school competitions, Hepler completed a toss of 164 feet, 1 inch on his first of...

Hempfield East and Latrobe didn’t play a league game this past week, but the teams remain atop the District 31 American Legion standings heading into Monday’s action. Hempfield East is undefeated at 5-0, and Latrobe is 5-1. Kiski Valley split a pair of games and joined Hempfield East and Latrobe...

When Graham Childs joins the Hofstra men’s lacrosse team in the fall, he will bring many memories from his time playing for Fox Chapel. His high school resume includes more than 50 victories, playoff triumphs and several section and WPIAL all-star selections. Childs recently added one of his biggest honors...

For the second year in a row, Ryan Skladany participated in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Golf Championship. The Gateway graduate and sophomore at the Boyce campus of Community College of Allegheny County in Monroeville carded a four-round total of 331 to tie for 48th from June...

For two months this spring, Alyssa Schofield put her softball talents on display and helped Plum to a co-section championship and a No. 2 seed in the WPIAL 5A playoffs. The Mustangs junior then expanded her visibility in the sport over the Memorial Day weekend as one of a select...

Seven years ago, Lauren Ferragonio was a rookie with the Pittsburgh Passion, and as she began her journey in women’s tackle football, she leaned on the numerous veterans who had shaped the franchise’s fortunes for a decade. Now, the Plum graduate is the experienced veteran — a starter for several...