Michael Love stories, Page 59
Burrell boys eye return to postseason after dropping to Class 3A
A new section with new opponents in a new classification doesn’t change the goals of the Burrell boys basketball team. That’s the view of fourth-year Bucs coach Mike Fantuzzo, who hopes to guide this year’s group to a return trip to the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs. Burrell, like all the...
With roster intact from playoff team, Apollo-Ridge girls expect big season
Not a single member of last year’s Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team was lost to graduation. The youthful Vikings capped a 16-7 overall season with a trip to the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals and a berth in the PIAA tournament. With everyone back, energy and anticipation is high for the upcoming...
Excitement building for boys basketball season at Apollo-Ridge
The Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team started last season with three wins over its first five games. Then injury and other misfortune conspired against the Vikings, who lost 14 of their final 15 games to finish 4-18 overall and 3-9 in section play. That was then, 6-foot-4 senior guard/forward Gage Johnston...
Freeport volleyball team prepares for state semifinal matchup
Normally, team banquets are designated for the end of a high school season when the program looks back at all its accomplishments. The Freeport volleyball team held its team banquet Sunday. While coach Tom Phillips said the evening was a perfect time for fellowship and reflection on what the Yellowjackets...
Gateway’s Kefimba Cisse strong cross country season comes to close at PIAA meet
Kefimba Cisse began his cross country season by winning the Gateway Invitational in early September at Boyce Park. The Gateway junior concluded it Nov. 5 in the Class 3A boys race at the PIAA championships in Hershey. It was a season of progress and a breakout effort of sorts for...
Gateway’s Madi Jesih ready to continue soccer career at Robert Morris
Madi Jesih dreamed for many years of an opportunity in soccer beyond high school. The dream was put into action with work on and off the field and play with the Hotspurs club team and with Gateway through her senior season this fall. Now, Jesih said, the work really begins...
Riverview runners finish 5th at PIAA championships
The WPIAL represented itself well in the PIAA Class A boys cross country championship meet in Hershey on Nov. 5. All four qualifying teams, including Riverview, were near the top of the standings. Winchester Thurston was third, followed by Eden Christian, the Raiders in fifth, and Our Lady of the...
After capturing 4 section titles, Plum seniors cap high school careers in PIAA playoffs
For the first time in 17 years, the Plum varsity boys soccer team played in a PIAA tournament game. Mustangs coach Raf Kolankowski said his players gave great effort against District 10 champion Cathedral Prep, but the homestanding Ramblers made enough plays to defeat Plum, 2-0, in the PIAA Class...
Hailey Longwell’s hat trick lifts Moon past Plum, sets up rematch with Mars
In rainy and chilly conditions at Peters Township, Moon put a damper on Plum’s attempt to unseat the undefeated Tigers in a PIAA Class 3A girls soccer quarterfinal Saturday afternoon. Moon, the WPIAL champion, broke a halftime tie on a trio of goals from senior midfielder Hailey Longwell and closed...
Freeport trounces West Mifflin in WPIAL quarterfinals
Freeport didn’t let persistent rain showers or West Mifflin slow it down in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal Friday at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium. The Titans scored first, but the Yellowjackets scored more often and rolled to a 42-6 victory. “I am so very proud of the boys,” Freeport coach...
Plum girls soccer team ready for another crack at Moon in PIAA playoffs
The Moon girls soccer team did to Mars what no other team had done in 80 previous matchups with the Planets. The Tigers posted a 1-0 victory at Highmark Stadium last Saturday to win the WPIAL Class 3A title and end Mars’ monumental win streak. Moon also denied the Planets...
Freeport QB Croney acquitting himself well as starter
Gavin Croney’s only varsity snap as a quarterback last year didn’t quite go as planned With starter Ben Lane out of the lineup for the WPIAL Class 3A first-round game against Ambridge, Croney found himself under center for a play in the first quarter. “It was a handoff, and it...
Pennsylvania Karate Championships return to A-K Valley
Two years ago, the Pennsylvania Karate Championships were called off in the midst of the ongoing covid pandemic. It stopped the event’s annual gathering of the top martial artists from throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley as well as the Pittsburgh region, the state and the country. But the championships returned in...
Alle-Kiski Valley athletes join in national signing day
Levi Hansen hopes to swim like a king in the Queen City. The Kiski Area senior turned a verbal commitment to the Cincinnati men’s swim team into a signed, sealed and delivered promise Wednesday morning during the first day of the National Letter of Intent signing period for every Division...
Freeport girls volleyball team sweeps into state quarterfinals
The Freeport girls volleyball team celebrated what likely was its final home game of the season in dominant fashion. The WPIAL champion Yellowjackets swept past District 10 runner-up Corry on Tuesday in a PIAA Class 2A first-round match at Freeport Middle School. “I loved having that one more game at...
A-K Valley campus clippings: Kiski Area grad Alexis Moyer earns 4th all-conference honor
Kiski Area graduate Alexis Moyer recently made history for the Clarion women’s soccer team. The fifth-year senior defender became the first Golden Eagles player to earn four all-conference honors for a career. She was named second-team All-PSAC West for 2022. Moyer started and played in all 73 games over her...
A-K Valley PIAA soccer preview capsules: Games for Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022
Boys Class 3A First round Plum (19-2-1) vs. Cathedral Prep (16-1-1) 6 p.m. Tuesday, Hagerty Family Events Center, Erie Winner plays: Winner of Moon (20-0-1)/Palmyra (18-3-1) in PIAA quarterfinals Saturday (site, time TBD) District seeds: Plum 7-3, Cathedral Prep 10-1 Coaches: Raf Kolankowski, Plum, Sam Tojaga, Cathedral Prep Players to...
After WPIAL title, Freeport volleyball team seeks second state championship
Freeport girls volleyball hasn’t lost to a Class 2A team this season. The Yellowjackets were No. 1 in the Western Pennsylvania Coaches Association rankings from beginning to end, they rolled through Section 5-2A undefeated and they won 12 of 13 sets in the WPIAL tournament to win the program’s second...
Plum Stallions capture AYFL 10U championship
Plum Midget Football Association teams went 1-1 in Super Bowl championship games as the Allegheny Youth Football League wrapped up its 2022 season Oct. 29. The Stallions (10U) completed an undefeated season (10-0) with a 13-0 win over Lower Burrell in the championship game at Bushman Field in Natrona Heights....
Gateway grad Brady Sundin named PAC Newcomer of the Year for Saint Vincent cross country
The Saint Vincent men’s cross country team collected a pair of top-10 finishes and three in the top 20 to finish fourth at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships Oct. 29 on its home course near campus in Latrobe. One of those top-10 finishes came from Gateway graduate Brady Sundin, who...
Gateway rides strong finish into postseason
The Gateway football team transitioned from a wild and hectic regular season to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs Friday as it was slated to host Upper St. Clair in the first round at Antimarino Stadium. The Gators earned one of the two automatic postseason berths from the Big East Conference...
Steady ground game helps Riverview football continue to improve
The Riverview football team took a step forward in 2022 as it captured four victories in a season for the first time since 2015. Third-year coach Trevor George said the 4-6 overall record was the work of a total team effort to get better in practice each week and on...
Freedom girls soccer team rolls past Springdale for WPIAL Class A title
The Freedom girls soccer team is back on top in WPIAL Class A. The top-seeded Bulldogs scored once in the first half and added two more over the second 40 minutes to finish off a 3-0 victory over No. 2 Springdale in the Class A championship game Friday at Highmark...
Apollo-Ridge’s Gabe Kavulic will cap 1st foray into cross country at PIAA championships
Gabe Kavulic didn’t run cross country last year as a freshman. It was soccer with the Apollo-Ridge-Leechburg co-op all the way. But following a promising track and field season in the distance events last spring, the Apollo-Ridge sophomore was encouraged to give cross country a shot. Kavulic became a two-sport...
Springdale girls soccer team seeks 3rd WPIAL title
Springdale’s Molly Hurley has had a knack for scoring goals in her breakout sophomore season. She has two of them in the playoffs: one against Sewickley Academy in a 3-2 first-round victory and another one to open the scoring in Monday’s 5-0 victory over No. 6 Waynesburg that sent the...
