Michael Love stories, Page 36
Kira Schrecongost leads way for Freeport swimmers
Kira Schrecongost again was an iron woman at the WPIAL and PIAA swimming championships. The Freeport junior last season swam four events — two individual and two relays — on the first day of the WPIAL Class 2A meet at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She earned four medals that day —...
Before heading to Cincinnati, South Park’s Katie Jackovic aims for more WPIAL, PIAA success
Like many elite swimmers at the high school level, Katie Jackovic is versatile in what she can do in the water. That again is evident by the fact that the South Park senior already has qualified for WPIALs in every individual event. What she will swim at WPIALs in early...
West Virginia-bound Patton Graziano an all-around performer for Penn-Trafford Water Warriors
Patton Graziano gained a second home in November as he signed a national letter of intent to swim at Division I West Virginia. His first home, Penn-Trafford, is where he hopes to continue to make his mark in a senior season filled with high expectations. The defending WPIAL Class 3A...
Former Gateway coach Daryn Freedman leads Penn State Greater Allegheny to No. 1 ranking
Daryn Freedman entered his fourth season as Penn State Greater Allegheny men’s basketball head coach in the fall, and his team had its sights set on making its mark in the Penn State University Athletic Conference and beyond. So far, things have gone well for the former boys head coach...
Focus on defense fuels 8-1 start for Gateway boys basketball
The Gateway boys basketball team kicked off 2024 in winning fashion Jan. 2 with a 62-46 victory over McKeesport in its Section 3-5A opener. It continued what has been a strong start for the Gators, who improved to 8-1 overall. While coach Alvis Rogers is happy with the way his...
Recovered from offseason injury, Plum’s Antonino Walker off to strong start to senior season
Antonino Walker’s summer of wrestling competition and also his preparation for the 2023-24 high school season came to a halt when he suffered a broken ankle at a tournament with Young Guns in Nashville, Tenn. The injury required surgery and the standout Plum senior was off the mat for nearly...
Highlands girls step on gas pedal in win vs. Freeport
The Highlands girls basketball team carried a lot of momentum from a pair of wins at its holiday tournament into a Section 1-4A matchup with Freeport on Thursday at Highlands High School. The Golden Rams’ senior-laden lineup came out strong on both ends of the court and began to overwhelm...
Riverview girls basketball team rounding into form
The Riverview girls basketball team got a later jump into the season than some others as several players who enjoyed a run to the state soccer finals in mid November didn’t get onto the court until two days after official practices began. Playing catch-up in a number of areas, the...
Megan Marston scores 1,000th career point to lead Plum girls past Woodland Hills
The Plum girls basketball team entered the New Year hoping to get back on the winning track after three straight losses to close out 2023. The Mustangs got what they were looking for as they improved to 3-0 in Section 1-5A on Tuesday with a 53-43 victory at Woodland Hills....
2023 in A-K Valley sports: High school athletes make their championship dreams come true
The year 2023 will long be remembered for many monumental happenings, from a landmark announcement by the PIAA to A-K Valley athletes’ accomplishments and championship performances and teams bringing home gold at the district, regional and state levels. Athletes again were able to pay off many hours of dedication and...
Kiski Area swimmers won’t rest on laurels
Landon Seman remembers it well. The current senior and the other three members of the Kiski Area boys 400-yard freestyle relay — junior Justin Tucker and graduates Parker Sterlitz and Levi Hansen — knew what they needed to do to overtake Indiana in the Class 2A team standings and wrap...
A-K Valley girls basketball notebook: Injuries pose another challenge for Fox Chapel
Fox Chapel coach Marty Matvey said his team had a strong offseason and had designs on claiming a section championship after just missing the playoffs a year ago. But after injuries to a pair of seniors – Sarah Slember and Skye Byrnes – Matvey has retooled the Foxes lineup as...
Valley defensive lineman Ballard signs to play football at Division I Buffalo
Demetrius Ballard was a focus of many offensive game plans during his senior season on the Valley defensive line. The 6-foot-4, 235-pounder wreaked havoc in the trenches and in backfields, often garnering double and triple teams to try to neutralize his strength and quickness. The Valley News Dispatch first-team all-star...
Indiana pulls away from Kiski Area girls in 2nd quarter to win section opener
The Kiski Area girls basketball team hoped to stop a two-game losing skid, which included a one-point loss to Mars last Friday, as it opened Section 1-5A play Tuesday against defending section champion Indiana. But the visiting Indians had other plans. Senior guard Bella Antonacci, a section all-star last year,...
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC schedule set for 2024 season
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC will open the 2024 USL Championship schedule on the road at New Mexico United in Albuquerque March 9. The team then will begin the home portion of its 25th anniversary season against Orange County on March 16 at Highmark Stadium. The Hounds, winners of the 2023 Players’...
Quartet of WPIAL players selected to all-state field hockey teams
The Pennsylvania High School Field Hockey Coaches Association recently released its 2023 all-state teams, and while a majority of the players recognized are from the eastern side of the state, four from the WPIAL were honored with spots on the lists for both Class 2A and Class 3A. Penn-Trafford senior...
Plum girls wrestlers continue growth in 1st year as PIAA sanctioned sport
When the Plum school board voted to sponsor a girls wrestling program in June 2022, it got the ball rolling for new opportunities in a district rich with wrestling tradition. Eighteen months on, 12 girls represent the Mustangs in the newly sanctioned PIAA sport. Coach Dave Miller said progress was...
Gateway sports year in review: Boys tennis team makes program history
Paced by singles standouts in sophomores Adam Memije and Zidan Hassan and freshman Logan Memije, the Gateway boys tennis team captured the program’s first WPIAL team title in 35 years with a victory over North Allegheny in the Class 3A finals May 10 at Washington & Jefferson College. The No....
A-K Valley all-time leading passer Derek Burk of Deer Lakes wins Valley News Dispatch offensive player of the year honors
Offensive player of the year Derek Burk Deer Lakes, QB, sr. When Derek Burk stepped on the field against rival Freeport in the Allegheny 6 Conference finale, he had his sights set on doing what he could to help Deer Lakes clinch a spot in the playoffs for the second...
Hard-nosed linebacker Luke Bombalski of Highlands named Valley News Dispatch defensive player of the year
Defensive player of the year Luke Bombalski Highlands, RB/LB, sr. Before Highlands’ 2023 season started, Luke Bombalski was asked what his goals were for the season. The senior two-way standout didn’t point to any type of personal success. It was team accomplishments he was focused on. A playoff win was...
2023 Valley News Dispatch high school football all-stars
Parker Anderson Knoch, OL/DL, Sr. The 6-foot-1, 260-pounder was a difference maker in the trenches for the playoff-qualifying Knights in Class 3A. He helped Knoch gain more than 3,000 total yards and collect eight victories in 11 games. Coaches in the Allegheny 6 Conference recognized him as the most valuable...
North Catholic starts section play with 20-point win vs. Highlands
With about four minutes left in the third quarter of Thursday’s Section 1-4A opener between Highlands and North Catholic, the host Golden Rams trailed by two points. Moments before, senior sharpshooter Kate Myers had drained a 3-pointer from the left wing to draw Highlands to within one possession and energize...
Burrell, Kiski Area wrestlers celebrate sport with 1st A-K Valley girls dual, latest edition of boys rivalry
The final score of the history-making girls wrestling match between Kiski Area and Burrell — the first-ever in the Alle-Kiski Valley — was won by the Cavaliers, 30-12. But the wrestlers, coaches and spectators who witnessed the match know both Kiski Area and Burrell were winners Wednesday night. “This is...
Burrell wrestling looks to start its own streak against rival Kiski Area
The Burrell wrestling team waited 10 years to get back into the win column against rival Kiski Area. The Bucs ended the decade-long losing streak to the Cavaliers in a match last season at Kiski Area High School that went down to the wire. Julian Bertucci’s pin at 121 pounds...
Gateway grad Will Kromka steps into starting lineup for Pitt-Johnstown
Will Kromka was somewhat behind the 8-ball when he began his collegiate basketball career in the fall of 2022. The Pitt-Johnstown sophomore guard and Gateway graduate suffered an ankle injury in the spring that required significant surgery. That put him on the shelf for several months and slowed his growth....
