Michael Love stories, Page 80

Class 5A Northeast Fox Chapel (3-3, 1-0) at Kiski Area (5-1, 0-1) 7 p.m. Friday, Richard Dilts Stadium, Allegheny Township Fox Chapel opened conference play last Friday with a 28-14 victory over Shaler. The Foxes have won three of four after an 0-2 start. Their three losses have come to...

Dom Beyer Plum, So., RB/LB A consistent piece of the defensive puzzle for the Mustangs, Beyer has recorded 38 tackles and a sack in five games of his debut season as a key varsity performer. He made 10 tackles, nine solo, in last Friday’s 23-21 win over Highlands which put...

The Deer Lakes girls soccer team is on the cusp of clinching its fifth straight trip to the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs, but coach Frank Accetta doesn’t want his players to slow down as they enter the stretch run in the regular season. That stretch run begins Wednesday at Freeport....

When Katie and Nance Conlon, coaches of the Highlands and Knoch girls tennis teams, respectively, met for their teams’ Section 3-AA match last week, daughter and mother had another chance to reconnect their love of the game and reminisce about how it has played such a strong part in their...

The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its latest WPIAL girls top-10 polls Monday morning, and there is a new No. 1 team in Class AAA. Hampton, which leads Section 5-AAA with a 7-0 record, takes over the top spot this week, unseating Thomas Jefferson. The Jaguars, at 7-0 and...

The Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League’s regular season continued over the weekend with Week 7 games. The league concludes the regular season Saturday and Sunday before the playoffs begin Oct. 16-17. Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League Scores Week 7 CLASS AAA Division I (5th-6th grade) Washington 39, West Allegheny 6...

The Plum girls volleyball team ended the first half of Section 1-3A play in a three-way tie for the section lead with Franklin Regional and Indiana. Each team sported 6-1 records. Franklin Regional defeated Indiana, 3-2, in the section opener for both teams, while the Indians swept Plum, 3-0. Then...

For the first time this season, Matt Morgan was able to deliver a victory speech. The Plum head coach’s winning address to his players came shortly after the final horn sounded signaling the end of a 29-0 victory over Mars on Sept. 24. The Mustangs had come close the week...

The Gateway girls soccer team earned an important point in the chase for the top spot in Section 1-3A with a 1-1 tie against Hampton on Sept. 28. The game marked the beginning of the second half of section play. The Gators, who upped their section mark to 4-2-1 with...

Shawn Jesih has high hopes this season for the Gateway junior varsity ice hockey team, the organization’s highest-level squad in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League. The Gators, who haven’t fielded a varsity team since the days of Tyler Perhac, Jonathan Kasper, Cam Cacolice and Jordan Mardirossian a little more than...

Plum coaches put their faith in freshman Angelo Baleno on Friday at Highlands, and Baleno rewarded them. The young kicker delivered a 38-yard field goal in crunch time of the fourth quarter to lift the Mustangs to a come-from-behind 23-21 victory over Highlands in Greater Allegheny Conference action. The kick...

Deer Lakes is on a roll in the Allegheny Seven Conference. The Lancers stopped a 15-game losing streak in Week 3 with a 49-0 victory over Derry in its conference opener. Last week Deer Lakes shut out Valley, 6-0. On Friday, the Lancers made it three in a row with...

Golden Gloves boxing returns to Monroeville on Saturday evening. The Western Pennsylvania Police Athletic League will host eight bouts at Gloria’s Gym on the second level of the Monroeville Mall. The bell time is 6 p.m., and doors open at 5:30 p.m. The 16 boxers who will compete for victories...

North Hills was in a precarious position late in the fourth quarter of its Northeast Conference opener with Kiski Area on Friday. The Indians trailed by three and were backed up into the shadow of their end zone. But the defense forced a turnover on downs, and quarterback John Green...

Class 5A Northeast Shaler (2-3, 0-0) at Fox Chapel (2-3, 0-0) 7 p.m. Friday, at James Burk Complex, O’Hara Township The Foxes hope to bounce back after a 48-28 loss to Class 5A No. 1 Moon last Friday. The setback halted a mini two-game win streak (Plum, Franklin Regional). A...

Nick Curci Apollo-Ridge, Jr., RB/LB Curci returned to the lineup against Burrell and was an impact player in both the running and passing games. He carried the ball 11 times for 150 yards and three touchdowns and added four catches for 126 yards and two scores. Defensively, Curci recorded a...

Ally Bauer won a WPIAL Class 2A doubles championship last year with sister Brooke. The Knoch junior hoped to add singles gold to her portfolio last Friday at North Allegheny High School. But Sewickley Academy’s Ashley Close had other ideas. Close defeated Bauer, 6-3, 6-3, to claim the title. Despite...

The Kiski Area girls soccer team finds itself in the middle of a playoff chase in Section 1-3A. The Cavaliers are tied for fourth place in the section at 3-3 and are 5-6 overall heading into the second half of section play, which begins Thursday at Franklin Regional. Coach Mike...

The defending Section 2-2A champion Shady Side Academy girls soccer team scored just one time in Monday’s Section 2-2A contest on the turf at Burrell’s Buccaneer Stadium. But that one score near the midway point of the first half was all the Bulldogs needed for a 1-0 victory. “We knew...

The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its Week 4 top-10 rankings Monday, and there are changes at the top in both Class 4A and Class 3A. Shaler, which went 3-0 last week and swept past undefeated North Allegheny in a Section 1 clash, is the new No. 1 team...

The Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League’s 40 organizations continued regular-season play over the weekend. The regular season is set to conclude this weekend with games Saturday and Sunday. Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League Scores Week 6 Sept. 25-26 CLASS AAA Division I (5th-6th grade) Trinity 41, Seneca Valley 13 Washington...

The Gateway boys soccer team finds itself right in the mix for a playoff spot in Section 4-3A as it gets into the second half of section play this week. Coach Bernie Stiles said the team is working well together and is learning from all the ups and downs the...

Brady Sundin didn’t have the 2020 cross country season he had hoped. “It wasn’t ideal,” said Sundin, who finished the season with what he said was a less-than-desired 108th-place finish in the Class 3A boys race at the WPIAL championships at White Oak Park. “I think I had overtrained from...

Thomas Burke is in a lead role for one of the higher-octane offenses in the WPIAL. Leechburg leads Class A in points at 46 per game. The Blue Devils hit 41 in a victory over Eastern Conference rival Springdale on Friday. Burke, a senior in his first year at quarterback...

Michael Komaniak is dangerous. The opponents of the Washington & Jefferson senior forward know that all too well. Point Park saw that first-hand Sept. 1. The Presidents team co-captain and Riverview graduate made his presence felt throughout the nonconference season opener. Komaniak factored into all three goals in W&J’s 3-2...