Michael Love stories, Page 7
Riverview QB Connor Kmetz returns from injury-interrupted season bigger, stronger, faster
Connor Kmetz was perfect. In the first half of last year’s victory over Valley, the Riverview quarterback completed all nine of his pass attempts for 125 yards and three touchdowns as the Raiders led 21-12 at the break of what turned out to be a 37-35 victory. However, Kmetz was...
Riverview confident focus on process, not results, will pay off
Trevor George saw the potential of last year’s Riverview football team and what the Raiders wanted to do: Stack victories in and out of Eastern Conference play, finish with a winning record and make the WPIAL playoffs. Those goals ended up not being reached as the Raiders finished 3-6 overall,...
A-K Valley football teams leaning on their lines this season
Nick Anderson felt confident at the start of last season. The 6-foot-4, 275-pound sophomore was a young pup playing on a veteran Kiski Area offensive line with four senior starters. But his first-year varsity status didn’t keep him from shining in the spotlight as he made his mark for a...
WPIAL Class 4A preview: Star-studded McKeesport among contenders to Thomas Jefferson’s throne
Thomas Jefferson found itself in familiar territory last year. The Jaguars finished the regular season undefeated and went into the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs as the No. 1 seed. They then topped West Allegheny and Aliquippa in the quarterfinals and semifinals before upending McKeesport, 28-7, in the title game at...
Apollo-Ridge aims to bounce back after 1-win season
Apollo-Ridge took its lumps in and out of Allegheny Conference play last year. The Vikings won just one game out of nine, with the lone triumph a conference victory by three points over Ligonier Valley in the season finale. But with the struggles, veteran head coach John Skiba said, came...
Longtime WPIAL head coach Sam Albert happy to help as assistant at Pine-Richland
When Sam Albert stepped down at Kiski Area shortly after the 2024 season and ended a three-decade run as a head coach at stops that included Valley, Butler, Freeport and Highlands, he said he had plans to serve as an assistant somewhere. That somewhere is Pine-Richland. Albert has joined Rams...
After track success, senior jumps at chance to lead Highlands back to playoffs
Jahmar Wright bridged the gap between the majority of his junior season and the lead-up to his senior year with strong performances at the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A track and field championships in May. Wright, a senior at Highlands and one of the top returning talents for the Golden...
2-way playmaker Drew Ross leading the charge for confident Freeport
Drew Ross is comfortable sitting in the pocket, surveying the field and delivering a strike to any one of several receiving targets in Freeport’s passing game. He also is ready to have his number called and use his feet to get yardage and move the sticks. Defensively, he’s set to...
Highlands working to adapt offense, keep playoff streak going
Highlands was one quarter away from a trip to last year’s WPIAL Class 3A semifinals. The Golden Rams led No. 1 Imani Christian by nine at the end of the third quarter, but the Saints erupted in the fourth and raced past Highlands for a 31-17 win. While that heartbreaking...
Coming off playoff berth, strong offseason, Freeport building momentum
The Freeport football team returned to form in 2024. After a 2023 season that saw the Yellowjackets win just three games and suffer a rare playoff miss, last year’s team grew and learned from its tough fortunes, finished third in a strong Allegheny 7 Conference and returned to the WPIAL...
Veteran players committed to keeping winning culture growing at Deer Lakes
The Deer Lakes football program has forged a culture of winning the past couple of years, which has resulted in trips to the WPIAL playoffs and a great deal of excitement among many in the Lancers athletic community. Tim Burk, Deer Lakes’ eighth-year head coach, said the team members gearing...
1st-year coach looks to get Burrell back to WPIAL playoffs
Winds of change swept through the Burrell football program in the offseason. Shawn Liotta, the Bucs coach for seven seasons who led the program to three WPIAL playoff appearances during his tenure, stepped down in December to enter the Arena Football coaching ranks. Dom Girardi, quite familiar with high school...
Ryan Love prepared to take on featured role in Deer Lakes backfield
Last year, Ryan Love served as an understudy to running back Zier Williams. The current Deer Lakes senior tailback learned and grew in the game during his junior season, one that saw the Lancers finish 8-3 and record their third straight trip to the WPIAL playoffs. When he got the...
Workhorse running back Trey Coury embraces Burrell’s ‘more diverse offense’
In Burrell’s run-heavy offense last year, Trey Coury shined. He was a workhorse for the Bucs, carrying the ball an average of 26.9 times a game. He finished the season with 1,143 yards and seven touchdowns. When the opportunity presented itself for him to catch the football, he did so...
Apollo-Ridge QBs commiserate in return from injuries
Two years ago, Alex Clawson suffered a serious ankle injury during an early-season game for the Apollo-Ridge football team and was lost for the rest of his sophomore campaign. Last year as a sophomore, Chris Dailey suffered the same fate as an ankle injury in the second game of the...
Monroeville Red Pandas celebrate division title
The Monroeville Red Pandas won just six games in their 2024 Pittsburgh NABA season. It wasn’t the overall performance manager Donovan Baxter and his team had hoped for. But the group, made up predominantly of Gateway graduates in their early to mid 20s, regrouped and refocused on this summer’s new...
Leechburg girls coach inherits young squad, sees hope
Rich Marshall has experienced opportunities at every level during his basketball coaching career. He was a Division I men’s assistant at Clemson and Arizona State, and he helped Clemson win the only ACC championship in program history in 1989-90 under head coach Cliff Ellis with standouts Dale Davis and Elden...
2025 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: West Mifflin’s Armand Hill
Armand Hill broke out in a big way for West Mifflin as a freshman two years ago. Already a starter at defensive back, Hill got his shot at running back as an injury replacement, and he shined as the Titans finished runner-up in their conference and earned a spot in...
Summer turnout benefits Gateway soccer teams ahead of 2025 season
The Gateway boys soccer team has qualified for the WPIAL playoffs five years in a row. Gators coach Mike Rugh said with the returning talent and a crop of newcomers, this year’s group can make it six straight. He is encouraged by the work the team has put in over...
Riverview soccer teams use summer months to maintain momentum from playoff seasons
When Jessica Garland was hired as the new Riverview girls soccer head coach in mid April, she had one eye on the immediate tasks of getting her footing with the school and the Raiders athletic department. The other eye was focused on getting to know the mix of returning and...
Added game wraps up Freeport International Baseball Invitational after another successful week
The Aussie Drop Bears baseball team was in the middle of a game Saturday evening in the closing hours of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational when the rain came and put a halt to the proceedings at James E. Swartz Sr. Memorial Field. The adverse weather then forced event officials...
Gateway youth track club sends large contingent to USATF JO Nationals
Alexis Bansah jumped at the chance to win a WPIAL Class 2A championship in May at Slippery Rock. The Monroeville resident and Winchester Thurston sophomore brought home WPIAL gold in the triple jump with a top attempt of 40 feet, 2 inches, a season and personal best. She then went...
Summer workouts help Plum soccer teams reload for upcoming season
Chase Eber is a rising junior goalkeeper hoping to raise his game for the Plum boys soccer team. He split varsity duties in net for most of last year with Brady McLaughlin and helped the Mustangs go undefeated in Section 1-4A play, win 18 games overall, reach the WPIAL title...
Post positions set for 59th edition of Adios Pace for the Orchids
With post positions finalized Wednesday, the 59th edition of the $385,000 Grade 1 Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids is set to go off Saturday evening with a 4:10 post time at the Hollywood Casino at the Meadows. The winners of the two elimination heats run last Saturday, Swingtown...
Australian contingent soaking up the fun on, off baseball fields during Freeport International
Kobi Dodd said he felt excited about coming back to the Freeport International Baseball Invitational with the chance to tell some of his Aussie Drop Bears teammates new to the tournament about what to expect. “I know what needed to be done with preparing for the games,” he said. “I...
