Michael Love stories, Page 78

Class 5A First round 10-Fox Chapel (4-6) at 7-Upper St. Clair (6-4) 7 p.m. Friday, at Panther Stadium, Upper St. Clair Township Winner plays: At 2-Penn-Trafford in quarterfinals Nov. 12, 7 p.m. Fox Chapel returns to the WPIAL playoffs after a one-year hiatus. The Foxes are part of the postseason...

The Freeport girls volleyball team is back in the WPIAL championship game. The top-seeded Yellowjackets lost the first game of their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal match with section rival and fifth-seeded Armstrong on Tuesday. But Freeport won three of the remaining four games, including the deciding Game 5 by a...

In a Section 5 match with Armstrong late in the regular season, the Hampton girls volleyball team found itself down 2-0. The Talbots were able to mount a rally that night and pull out a win. It helped them finish in a tie for the section title. Hampton was in...

Boys Class 3A Consolation game Plum (17-3-1) vs. Franklin Regional (15-4) 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pete Antimarino Stadium, Gateway, Monroeville The winner of this third-place game between Section 4 foes will advance to the PIAA playoffs, which begin next Tuesday around the state. Fourth-seeded Plum took top-seeded and undefeated West...

The Steel Valley girls soccer team is headed to Highmark Stadium. The No. 3 seed earned a spot in Friday’s WPIAL Class A championship game with a 1-0 victory over Springdale on Monday at Gateway’s Antimarino Stadium. “This is an unbelievable feeling,” Steel Valley coach Bill Abraham said. “This is...

Tuesday’s WPIAL soccer playoff games Boys Class 4A Semifinal 5-Fox Chapel (15-3-1) vs. 1-Seneca Valley (16-0-1) 8 p.m. at Newman Stadium, North Allegheny High School, Wexford Winner plays: Winner of 2-Peters Township (15-1-1)/6-North Allegheny (15-5) 5:45 p.m. Saturday at Highmark Stadium. Notes: The Foxes played the Raiders to a 2-2...

The past couple of days have been pretty emotional for Muzzy Colosimo since he announced his retirement from coaching football and was on the sidelines guiding his Valley football team one last time Friday evening. His son, Willie, who coached with him at Valley and Greensburg Central Catholic and with...

Parker Steele Riverview cross country Parker Steele will run his final high school cross country race Nov. 6 in Hershey as he and his Riverview teammates, the newly crowned WPIAL Class A team champions, go after the best in the state at the PIAA championships. While he acknowledged the soon-to-be...

Molly McNaughton ranged to her left, got a hand on the ball and pushed it away from the goal. It was the sixth round of a penalty-kick shootout that decided the winner of last Thursday’s WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal between No. 9 Fox Chapel and top seed and two-time defending...

Grace Gent led Springdale in scoring during the regular season with 23 goals. The Springdale junior forward added her 24th as part of a strong effort by the No. 2 Dynamos in a 3-2 Class A quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Seton LaSalle last Wednesday at Steel Valley’s Campbell Field....

The Gateway girls soccer team hoped for a longer stay in the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs, but coach Kelly Bender said she was happy with her team’s effort in the 3-0 first-round loss to South Fayette on Oct. 25. “It was a tough loss, but my girls gave it their...

The Plum slow-pitch softball team entered the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League single-elimination playoffs Oct. 23 hoping to make a run to the title game. As the No. 6 seed, the Mustangs did just that. Plum upended No. 11 Penn-Trafford, 21-12, in the first round, scored an 11-5 win over...

Burrell entered Friday’s Allegheny Seven Conference finale with Valley at Buccaneer Stadium needing a win and a Deer Lakes loss to make the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs. The Bucs got the win they needed, 19-14 over the Vikings. They also got the Lancers loss necessary. Deer Lakes fell to Freeport,...

The WPIAL cross country championships return to Cal (Pa.) on Thursday after a one-year covid hiatus, and the Knoch girls team hopes to be a major factor in the team and individual standings. Five of six runners from last year’s Class AA fifth-place team are back, and coach Wess Brahler...

Today’s games Girls Quarterfinals Class 4A 9-Fox Chapel (9-7-1) at 1-North Allegheny (16-0-1) 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Newman Stadium, McCandless Winner plays: Winner of 4-Seneca Valley (14-3-2)/5-Norwin (13-4) on Monday in semifinals (site and time TBD) Notes: Fox Chapel, the third-place team from Section 3 behind Latrobe and Norwin, secured a...

Class 5A Northeast Conference Penn Hills (5-3, 3-1) at Kiski Area (6-3, 1-3) 7 p.m. Friday, at Richards Dilts Stadium, Allegheny Township Penn Hills can clinch a share of the conference championship with a win Friday. The Indians put themselves in position last Friday with a 40-3 victory over Shaler....

Devin Beattie Burrell, So., RB/DB Beattie is one the many young players who have helped keep the Bucs alive for a WPIAL playoff spot heading into the final week of the regular season. Last week against Derry, he ran nine times for 82 yards and scored two touchdowns in a...

The Freeport girls volleyball team feels right at home in the WPIAL playoffs. The Yellowjackets haven’t missed the postseason in close to two decades, and they find themselves the hunted as the No. 1 seed in Class AAA as they shoot for their second WPIAL championship in three years, their...

After a regular season full of positive outcomes for the Penn State New Kensington men’s soccer team, the Lions turn their attention to a quest for gold this week at the Penn State University Athletic Conference tournament. PSNK (11-4 overall) finished conference play 8-2 and will be the No. 3...

The WPIAL playoff brackets are set and the postseason matches begin this week. The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its final girls rankings and players of the week Monday. North Allegheny (Class 4A), Freeport (Class 3A), North Catholic (Class 2A) and Bishop Canevin (Class A) own the top spots...

There will be a new WPIAL champion in boys Class 2A. East Allegheny sophomore midfielder Ryan Nichol scored off a rebound 24 seconds into overtime to lift No. 10 East Allegheny past defending champion Deer Lakes, 2-1, in a first-round game Monday at Lancers Stadium. “That felt amazing,” Nichol said...

Summer Raymer is busy in the water getting ready for competitions with her Racer-X club team and also for her final season with the Gateway swim team. But the Gators senior standout also has her eyes focused on the future after high school. Raymer recently set her course for college...

The Gateway ice hockey program is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and alumni president Stefan Biancaniello said there are a lot of positive vibes surrounding what will be a year-long celebration. “From humble beginnings in 1972 to undefeated WPIHL AA champions in 1976 to WPIHL AAA champions in 1996...

The Plum varsity hockey team won just one game last year in a 2020-21 season that was unlike any other in the history of the PIHL with delays, restrictions and numerous changes overall because of the covid pandemic. But a new season with new opportunities has begun for the Mustangs,...

Leechburg traveled Route 66 on Friday to face Imani Christian and wrapped up its first trip to the WPIAL playoffs since 1988. The Blue Devils (7-2, 4-2) snapped the longest playoff drought in the WPIAL with 40 first-quarter points en route to a 66-6 Eastern Conference victory. “This is really...