Michael Love stories, Page 44
Burrell girls soccer aims to keep momentum going vs. Freeport after long layoff
The Burrell girls soccer team kicked off its season Aug. 26 with a 2-1 victory over District 10 Class 5A McDowell at the South Park tournament. One day later, the Bucs toppled defending District 10 Class 2A champion Fort Le Boeuf, 3-2, for a 2-0 start and a great deal...
Playoff milestone within reach for Gateway boys soccer
The Gateway boys soccer team, and specifically the senior class, can make history this year. No other Gators class has made the WPIAL playoffs all four of its seasons. Gateway qualified for the playoffs from 1986-88, but the 1989 seniors were denied a fourth consecutive trip. The Gators players are...
Gateway girls volleyball to lean on deep lineup in quest for return trip to playoffs
The Gateway girls volleyball team was happy to finally kick off its regular-season competition schedule Tuesday (Sept. 5) against Woodland Hills after several weeks of workouts in the gym leading to the past three weeks of official season practices. The Gators didn’t have a scrimmage, and second-year coach Nicole Riley...
A-K Valley high school football notebook: Highlands’ Randolph equals WPIAL record
Aaran Randolph tied a WPIAL record Friday. The Highlands senior dual-threat quarterback made his mark in the fourth quarter at Blackhawk to help secure the Golden Rams’ 33-20 victory and a 2-0 record. With his team leading 20-13 in the final quarter and the offense backed up to the shadow...
Riverview boys soccer to count on young roster
For the second time in three years, the Riverview boys soccer team is youthful with no seniors on the roster. But coach Mickey Namey said that the mix of experience and talent new to the varsity program is making strides in the early part of the season. “I am really...
Plum boys soccer team learns from early setback
The Plum boys soccer team had a most interesting, and exhausting, opening to its season Aug. 26. Kiski Area pulled out of the Mustangs’ kickoff tournament which also featured West Allegheny and Upper St. Clair. It created a void that the coaches of Plum, West A and USC worked to...
Deer Lakes dominates rival Burrell in shutout
Last year’s matchup between Burrell and Deer Lakes went to overtime before the Bucs pulled out a six-point victory. An extra session wasn’t needed Friday in the latest edition of the series between the area rivals. Deer Lakes scored three times in the first half, added two TDs in the...
A-K Valley football players to watch in 2023 Week 1
Player of the week Luke Bombalski Highlands, Sr., RB/LB After missing the final four games last season, Bombalski wanted to make a statement at Ambridge last Friday that he was back and healthy. He got Highlands’ scoring started with a 2-yard run in the first quarter and added a pair...
Deer Lakes aims to end 4-game losing streak to rival Burrell
The Burrell football team has won the last four games in the series with Deer Lakes, but three of the four went down to the wire. In last year’s nonconference matchup, then-junior Tristan Brothers intercepted a pass in overtime, which set up the winning score in the Bucs’ 27-21 victory....
Under clear skies, Kiski Area defeats Norwin in Pack the Park volleyball match
Last year’s Pack the Park girls volleyball event between Norwin and Kiski Area didn’t make it to the Ellen Toy Grass Court at Vandergrift’s Kennedy Park as rain chased officials, fans and both teams inside to Kiski Area High School. But no such change of plans was necessary Tuesday evening....
Freeport girls volleyball team ready to defend WPIAL, PIAA crowns
Every year around this time, Tom Phillips sees the landscape of WPIAL girls volleyball, both overall and in his classification, and knows his team is the hunted. The Freeport coach, now in his 23rd year, knows it especially is the case in 2023 as a host of teams hope to...
Despite small roster, Gateway girls soccer team chasing playoff berth
The Gateway varsity girls soccer team fields one of the smaller rosters in recent memory with just 20 active players for the 2023 season. That leaves the program without a JV team. But Caleb Kyper, who enters his second season at the helm of the Gators, said the returning and...
Gateway grad Marnie Giunta named among top coaches in state of Delaware
Marnie Giunta is considered one of the top coaches in the history of athletics in the state of Delaware. The 1989 Gateway graduate and longtime cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field coach at Padua Academy, an all-girls school in Wilmington, Del., recently was honored with that distinction....
AK Valley high school football notebook: Plum celebrates 800th game with victory
Plum played the 800th game in program history Friday night, and the Mustangs celebrated with a win at rival Kiski Area. The Mustangs mixed the pass and the run, scoring a pair of TDs each way in the 28-18 victory. Junior Nick Odom doesn’t mind running against Kiski Area. In...
Riverview girls soccer hopes to maintain winning formula
The Riverview girls soccer team is after a playoff three-peat. After the frustration of not having enough players to field a team in 2020, the Raiders have enjoyed a resurgence in the program. That growth has produced back-to-back WPIAL playoff berths in Class A. Junior midfielder/forward Cailey Trosch, one of...
Despite graduation losses, Plum girls soccer aims to continue winning ways
The Plum girls soccer team enjoyed a strong four-year run through last season that included 72 victories in 83 games, four consecutive section championships, three WPIAL title-game appearances and three trips to the PIAA playoffs. Last year’s Mustangs reached the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals and the PIAA quarterfinals and were...
Schrock carries load for Apollo-Ridge in win over Leechburg
Karter Schrock missed almost the entire 2022 season with a left knee injury. The Apollo-Ridge senior got back to game action Friday, and his return against rival Leechburg was triumphant. Schrock carried the ball 28 times for 134 yards and touchdown runs of 2 and 4 yards in the second...
A-K Valley girls soccer preview: Springdale returns strong core in bid for repeat
Springdale coach Marc Bentley can’t help but smile when thinking back to last fall and his team’s run to the WPIAL Class A championship game at Highmark Stadium and its trip to the PIAA quarterfinals. “It was such a great experience for the girls, especially knowing how hard they worked...
Plum Kick-Off Classic youth soccer tournament to welcome 309 teams
For a quarter of a century, the Plum Kick-Off Classic youth soccer tournament has hosted competitive matchups involving teams and organizations hoping for a successful start to their seasons. One of the region’s largest youth soccer events is back this weekend. The 26th annual tournament begins Friday and runs through...
QB Chase Weihrauch aims to lead Springdale football team to bounce-back season
Chase Weihrauch made his starting quarterback debut in last year’s Week Zero game against Ligonier Valley. The Springdale senior then suffered an ankle injury during the week before the Dynamos’ Week 1 contest against Northgate and had to sit out several games. “It was so frustrating,” Weihrauch said. “I saw...
Plum, Kiski Area to work out the kinks in Week Zero rivalry matchup
Plum and Kiski Area passed each other last year when the WPIAL realigned its football conferences and classifications. The Mustangs moved up to Class 5A and into the Big East Conference with the likes of Penn-Trafford, Franklin Regional and Gateway, while the Cavaliers moved down to the Class 4A Greater...
A-K Valley football players to watch in 2023 Week Zero
Derek Burk Deer Lakes, sr., QB/S Burk hopes to start out with a strong game Friday at home against Keystone Oaks as the Lancers begin a journey that could ends with a second straight WPIAL playoff trip. Burk finished last season with 1,426 passing yards and nine touchdowns to go...
QB Cecere has Riverview football team ready for breakthrough
Rocco Cecere spent his freshman and sophomore seasons as a backup quarterback in the Riverview offense. He said that focus on his abilities and his improvement provided a lot of the motivation he needed to be ready when it was his turn to run the Raiders’ wing-T offense last year...
Katie Jo Stobert named Highlands’ new athletic director
Katie Jo Stobert officially was hired Monday night as Highlands’ next athletic director. The school board vote was unanimous. But she has been busy in the position for the better part of a month getting the Golden Rams’ individual athletes and teams ready for the 2023 fall sports season as...
Recruiting process takes Freeport pitcher Michael Hanz to the place he belongs
Michael Hanz first made contact with the West Virginia baseball program a couple of summers ago. The Freeport junior right hander’s pitching prowess at a camp on campus caught the eye of the Mountaineers coaches. Hanz attended several WVU camps since then. The most recent camp there this past weekend...
