Michael Love stories, Page 18
Gateway swimmers to be tested in early season meets
A dozen swimmers and divers represented Gateway at last year’s WPIAL championships. Coach Glenn Raymer hopes that many, or more, will punch their tickets to the district’s grandest stages at the end of February and the beginning of March. With the work put in during offseason training sessions and club...
Thomas Jefferson rolls past Clearfield, advances to PIAA semifinals
ALTOONA — There was no hangover for WPIAL champion Thomas Jefferson on Saturday against District 9 champion Clearfield in a PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal at Altoona’s Mansion Park. The Jaguars forced three turnovers in the first half, took control with four touchdowns before the break and finished off a 35-0...
Plum welcomes new class of inductees to sports hall of fame
It was an evening seven years in the making. For the first time since 2017, the Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame celebrated its own with the induction of some of the greatest to ever represent Mustang athletics. Enshrined at a banquet ceremony Nov. 14 at Edgewood Country Club...
Small roster doesn’t dampen hopes of Riverview girls
Riverview girls basketball coach Jill Catanzaro doesn’t need a lot of time to take roll call before a practice session. With a roster of eight players, creativity in practice is the rule of the day. But Catanzaro said the small roster, which also is youthful with just two seniors in...
New coach sees drive in Riverview boys to get back to playoffs
Riverview boys basketball coach Dre Corbin joined the program in May and quickly got a feel for what kind of team could take shape for the 2024-25 season. The former assistant for five years at Aquinas Academy, who took over after Phil McGivney stepped down after three seasons with the...
Rosters set for 2024 Western Pa. Soccer Coaches Association boys all-star games
The Western Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association boys all-star games will be Nov. 30 at Pine-Richland. The first game features Class A vs Class 2A all-stars at 11 a.m., followed by Class 3A vs. 4A at 1 p.m. Coaches for the teams are Nick Malarbi from Bentworth (Class A), Jon Cantwell...
Deer Lakes grad Jake McCaskey signs with Washington Wild Things
Former Deer Lakes baseball standout Jake McCaskey has signed a contract with the Washington Wild Things in the Frontier League. The right-handed pitcher, who played four seasons at PennWest Cal (Pa.) and one more at Division I Gardner-Webb, will play for his second pro team in as many seasons after...
Kiski Area girls basketball team putting in work to improve
Kiski Area girls basketball coach Dave Williamson saw the potential of this year’s team in the work put in during the offseason. “We didn’t have the greatest offseason as a unit going into last season,” said Williamson, who saw last year’s Cavaliers team go 6-16 overall and finish 2-10 in...
Kiski Area boys basketball team returns on a mission
The Kiski Area boys basketball team last season fell one win short of a berth in the PIAA Class 5A playoffs. The Cavaliers suffered a two-point loss to Gateway in a seventh-place game with a spot in the state tournament on the line. “That was the third time we played...
Springdale girls soccer team reflects on impressive season
In the moments that turned into hours after Friday’s 4-3 loss to District 1 champion Dock Mennonite in the PIAA Class A championship game at Cumberland Valley’s Eagle View Middle School, Springdale girls soccer players remained upbeat despite the disappointment of coming up just short of the title. Coach Marc...
Gateway girls hungry to get back to winning ways
The numbers haven’t been pretty the past couple of seasons for the Gateway girls basketball team since making the WPIAL playoffs in 2020-21. The Gators own just 11 wins the past three seasons and were victorious twice last year in 22 games. The team enters this season hoping to snap...
Gateway boys basketball players step into increased roles after heavy graduation loss
A senior-laden Gateway boys basketball team was stopped by rival Franklin Regional in last year’s WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals. But the Gators rallied after the loss, and a dramatic down-to-the-wire home victory over Kiski Area in the seventh-place game propelled them to the state playoffs for the third year in...
Plum boys soccer players have ‘nothing to hang their heads about’
The Plum boys soccer team wanted to make waves in the PIAA Class 4A playoffs. It started out well for the Mustangs as they advanced past the first round Nov. 5 with a dramatic penalty-kick shootout win at District 10 champion McDowell. But they were not able to continue the...
Riverview runners continue to find success at PIAA championships
The Riverview boys cross country team has been a consistent commodity at the PIAA championships the past several seasons. The Raiders’ runner-up finish in the Class A race Nov. 2 in Hershey was the team’s fifth top-five placement in six years. Riverview hoped to follow up its WPIAL championship performance...
Plum tandem to continue football careers at St. Francis
With the emotions of his final high school football game — a loss to rival Penn Hills on Oct. 25 — still fresh in his mind, Plum senior Darian Slaughter decided to commit to where he will play football for the next four years. “That night, I called (St. Francis,...
After wild 2nd half, Dock Mennonite gets past Springdale to repeat as Class A state champs
MECHANICSBURG — There was a mix of tears in the eyes and pride in the hearts of the members of the Springdale girls soccer team in the moments following a 4-3 loss to District 1 champion Dock Mennonite in Friday’s PIAA Class A title game in Mechanicsburg. Dynamos coach Marc...
New Kensington to host 51st Pennsylvania Karate Championships
A tradition unlike any other in the Alle-Kiski Valley or Pittsburgh region continues this weekend. The 51st Pennsylvania Karate Championships, a keystone event since the early 1970s, returns Saturday to the grand ballroom of the Quality Inn in New Kensington. It is where the event began all those years ago....
Springdale girls soccer team blanks Seton LaSalle, advance to Class A state finals
For the fourth time in program history, the Springdale girls soccer team will play for a state championship. The Dynamos scored early, led by three goals at halftime, and added one more in the latter half of the second 40 minutes to come away with a 4-0 victory over Seton...
Springdale girls soccer team must get past Seton LaSalle for berth in PIAA title game
When the final seconds of Saturday’s PIAA Class A quarterfinal girls soccer game ticked off the clock, Springdale players began to erupt in celebration. The Dynamos had just finished off a hard-fought 2-1 victory over District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle at Indiana High School. Junior Hailey Marchlewski scored both goals,...
New coach among many changes for Apollo-Ridge girls basketball this season
The Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team experienced change several times in the offseason. The Lady Vikings had to say goodbye to a trio of starters: leading scorer and all-star Sophia Yard as well as Malea Veneziani and Jaden Mull. They also found out over the winter that they would be dropping...
After lean years, Apollo-Ridge boys basketball coach believes team is ready for big season
Winning has been hard to come by for the Apollo-Ridge boys basketball in recent seasons. The Vikings have seven victories combined the past three years and are mired in a 29-game section losing streak. But seventh-year coach Greg Fox is sounding the bell of optimism. “The enthusiasm and the way...
Gateway winter sports teams set to commence 2024-25 campaigns
The Gateway boys and girls basketball, swimming and wrestling teams have arrived at their WPIAL winter seasons as official preseason practices kick off Friday. The Gators athletes on those teams will join several thousand others in those sports on a journey that they hope will lead them to WPIAL gold...
Gateway’s Hunter Raymer has high expectations for final high school swim season
Hunter Raymer closed out his 2024 high school swim season at the PIAA championships with a pair of medals. The Gateway senior distance specialist took eighth in the Class 3A 200-yard individual medley and came back a day later to place fifth in the 500 freestyle. The time of 4...
Riverview boys soccer continued to make strides, capping 2024 season in playoffs
The Riverview boys soccer team had a breakout season in 2024 with 10 wins in the regular season and its first trip to the WPIAL playoffs since 2019. Coach Mickey Namey said his Raiders players represented themselves with a solid effort in a WPIAL Class A first-round game against No....
Plum girls soccer team reflects on another rewarding season
The Mars and Plum girls soccer teams met to decide the WPIAL Class 3A championship three straight years from 2019-21. The Fightin’ Planets won all three meetings, two at Highmark Stadium and a third at North Allegheny. The teams reunited at North Allegheny on Oct. 31 to decide this year’s...
