Michael Love stories, Page 58
Gateway grad Courtney Jackson leaves Syracuse, enters transfer portal
Gateway graduate Courtney Jackson recently announced that he is entering the NCAA Transfer Portal and has concluded his playing career at Syracuse. The graduate student, with two years of eligibility remaining, made the announcement Nov. 29 on Twitter. The wide receiver said a lot of prayer and consultation with those...
Alex Keeling-Oliver leads Gateway bowlers into 2022 season
Alex Keeling-Oliver finished seventh in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League’s East section last year with a 184.03 average with a high game of 242 and a top series of 644. The Gateway junior used those totals to earn a trip to the WPIBL and Western Regional singles tournaments. Keeling-Oliver,...
3 Plum wrestlers claim Eastern Area titles
Plum wrestling coach Mike Supak said the Eastern Area Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Dec. 2 and 3 at Gateway was a strong first step for his young but experienced group. The Mustangs finished a close second to Bethel Park in the team standings and produced three champions, one runner-up, a...
Plum girls swim team boasts talent, depth
Plum swim coach Shawn Haupt looks up and down his girls roster and is excited for what could transpire throughout the 2022-23 season. “It is exciting because not only is our core and leadership coming back, but our freshmen coming in are just as excited and enthusiastic and are expected...
Alle-Kiski Valley Campus Clippings: Thimons named all-region
Highlands graduate Brayden Thimons was a defensive force again this past fall for the Westminster football team. The Titans graduate student defensive end, a two-time Presidents Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, recently was selected to the D3football.com All-Region 2 team. A three-time first-team All-PAC selection, he ranked third...
Inaugural We Serve First all-star event is ‘celebration of volleyball’
You can’t fault Sydney Joyce if she gets a little emotional or is overcome with nostalgia when she takes the court Friday and Saturday as part of the inaugural We Serve First All-Star Classic girls volleyball event at Kiski Area High School. “This is very exciting, especially since it is...
Freeport sophomore headlines swim season in A-K Valley
Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost didn’t let the bright lights and pressurized atmosphere of the WPIAL Class 2A swimming championships get to her last year as swam to gold in the 100-yard butterfly and second in the 200 individual medley as a freshman at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She followed that up with...
WPIAL well represented on PVCA all-state girls volleyball teams
The Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association recognized the top players from each of the four girls volleyball classifications Tuesday with the release of the all-state selections. Five members of the team from North Allegheny, which captured its sixth straight Class 4A state title with a 3-1 win over Garnet Valley on...
Aquinas Academy tops St. Joseph, makes early statement in Class A girls basketball
The St. Joseph girls basketball team hoped to build on Friday’s victory over Class 4A Belle Vernon at the Play 4 Mae Tournament at Woodland Hills as it hosted Aquinas Academy on Monday in an early season clash of top five Class A teams. But those hopes were dashed by...
Gateway wrestlers aim for postseason success
Arontay Heningcamp broke out last year for the Gateway wrestling team. After winning just five of 11 matches as a sophomore, he rose to the occasion and went 25-11 at 113 pounds and qualified for WPIALs where he produced a 2-2 mark. Now, as a new season ramps up, the...
Gateway’s Hunter Raymer ready to defend WPIAL swimming title
Hunter Raymer entered his high school freshman season last December already experienced in a number of high-level club swim meets. So when it came time to deliver at the WPIAL championships in early March, he was ready. And he was golden. Raymer, also a prominent member of the local Racer-X...
Deer Lakes’ Ryan Hanes named 2022 Valley News Dispatch Boys Soccer Player of the Year
Postseason honors have been piling up for Deer Lakes senior Ryan Hanes. The WPIAL Class 2A Player of the Year was selected to the All-WPIAL team for a second straight year and picked to the all-state team last week. Now, he can add another postseason award to the list. The...
Plum’s Kaitlyn Killinger named 2022 Valley News Dispatch Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Kaitlyn Killinger works with a girl in her neighborhood, a member of the Plum youth soccer program, on several aspects of the game. “She tells her mom all the time about me and how she looks up to me,” said Killinger, who recently completed a standout four-year varsity career with...
Freshman Stephens banks in 3-pointer at buzzer to lift Plum girls to win over Freeport
The bank was open late for Riley Stephens, and the Plum freshman made a deposit she won’t soon forget. Stephens’ 3-point shot at the buzzer deflected off glass and went in to give the Mustangs a come-from-behind 49-48 victory over Freeport on Friday in the second game of the Freeport...
Starting 5: A primer for high school hoops season in the A-K Valley
The WPIAL basketball season opens Friday. Here are some of the top players, teams and storylines to watch this winter in the A-K Valley. Boys 5 players to watch Mackey Bennis, Jr., G, Burrell: With four starters lost to graduation, including VND first-team all-star Brandon Coury (21.9 points per game),...
Kiski Valley 10U Knights celebrate Super Bowl victory
It was a productive fall season for the Kiski Valley Lancers youth football teams as three of the four made the Big East Youth Football League playoffs and the 10U Knights captured the championship of their division. The Knights defeated Penn-Trafford, 24-8, in the Super Bowl Nov. 5. Kiski Valley...
After 4 years of success, Plum senior soccer players cap careers in PIAA playoffs
Only one team had scored a goal against the Moon girls soccer team before the Tigers faced Plum in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal Nov. 12 at Peters Township’s Confluence Financial Partners Stadium. The Mustangs were up for the challenge and put the first goal on the board within the...
Gateway hockey selects trio for 2022 Honor Roll
The 50th anniversary year of the inaugural season of Gateway hockey will culminate Dec. 26 with the program’s annual alumni event at Palmer Imaging Arena in Delmont. Alumni president Stefan Biancaniello said the organization is proud to welcome three former Gators players to the Gateway Honor Roll in 2022. The...
Gateway football players earn postseason honors
The Upper St. Clair football team was to take on Pine-Richland at Norwin on Saturday for the WPIAL Class 5A title. In its journey to the championship game, the No. 5 Panthers survived a razor-thin quarterfinal game against No. 4 Gateway on Nov. 4 at Gateway’s Antimarino Stadium. The Gators...
Freeport sweeps York Catholic to claim PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball crown
MECHANICSBURG — Josie Russo celebrated her 17th birthday Saturday, and she couldn’t have asked for a better gift. The Freeport junior middle hitter’s block at match point against District 3 champion York Catholic closed out a 3-0 sweep of the Fighting Irish at Cumberland Valley High School and gave the...
Freeport’s run to PIAA volleyball finals gives junior middle hitter chance to get back on court
Autumn English was a key part of the Freeport girls volleyball team’s early-season surge and its rise to the No. 1 spot in the Class 2A state rankings. It then all came apart for the junior middle hitter. English broke a bone in her foot near her ankle during warmups...
Players selected for We Serve First All-Star Classic girls volleyball event
The inaugural We Serve First All-Star Classic girls volleyball event will be Dec. 10 at Kiski Area High School, and the 36 seniors set to take part have been selected. They represent 16 schools in the Alle-Kiski Valley and surrounding communities: Apollo-Ridge, Armstrong, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Franklin Regional, Freeport, Hampton,...
Freeport girls volleyball team outlasts Philipsburg-Osceola, reaches state final
A pair of district champions battled for five games Wednesday at Punxsutawney High School with a trip to the PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball championship on the line. In a packed gym, a boisterous crowd saw District 6 champion Philipsburg-Osceola deliver the first shot with a dominant win in Game...
Pitt’s the pick for Riverview scoring sensation Lola Abraham
Riverview junior Lola Abraham has put together an impressive resume of on-field soccer results the past several years with her Pittsburgh Riverhounds Academy club and with her high school teammates. She now hopes that she can do the same thing at Pitt. Abraham has concluded her recruiting process with a...
Experienced lineup, drop to Class 3A could spark Burrell girls
The Burrell girls basketball team was on the move in the offseason, dropping down to Class 3A. Bucs coach Shaun Reddick hopes that change can be one of a few sparks for the team as it hopes to improve on last year’s 4-15 overall record and 4-8 mark in section...
