Cheswick Christian girls basketball team short on numbers but has ‘ton of heart’
Being an assistant on the Cheswick Christian girls basketball team last year, Nicole Dias had firm knowledge of the team she would inherit coming into 2025-26. Although the roster is small — eight players this season — and inexperienced, returning just two regulars from a year ago, Dias says her...
Cheswick Christian boys basketball prepped for year of milestones
The seniors on the Cheswick Christian Academy boys basketball team have a chance to do something many don’t often accomplish. Last year’s team finished first in the Greater Pittsburgh Division of the Southwestern Christian Athletic Conference (SWCAC) with a 10-0 record and went on to claim the SWCAC championship with...
A-K Valley high school athletes of the week for week ending Nov. 15, 2025
Katie Koehler School: Burrell Class: Junior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Koehler scored a goal and had an assist as Burrell (15-8-2) defeated Bedford in the PIAA quarterfinals. She then scored a goal in the Bucs’ 2-1 win over rival Freeport in the semifinal round. Koehler and Burrell’s great season...
Da’Ron Barksdale sparks Steel Valley past Western Beaver to return to WPIAL finals
Moments after his team defeated Western Beaver, 34-7, in the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals Friday night at Dormont Stadium Friday night, Steel Valley running back Da’Ron Barksdale’s was asked how he felt. “My life in high school,” he said, “has come full circle.” After Steel Valley lost to Beaver Falls...
Alle-Kiski Valley athletes of the week: Springdale’s Adele Walter-Vrabel, Deer Lakes’ Peyton Kushon
Adele Walters-Vrabel School: Springdale Class: Freshman Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Walters-Vrabel propelled the Dynamos (14-2-1) to the quarterfinal round of the PIAA Class A playoffs with a header in overtime to defeat Windber 2-1. What was it like joining a team that won the WPIAL last year in Class...
Clairton survives scare from Jeannette in WPIAL quarterfinals
Going into a game when the Clairton football team is one of the participants, one can expect the scoreboard is going to show crooked numbers early and often. As the WPIAL Class A quarterfinal matchup between the No. 2 Bears and No. 11 Jeannette Jayhawks went into halftime, the numbers...
A-K Valley high school athletes of the week for week ending Nov. 2, 2025
Lily McLaughlin School: Fox Chapel Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: McLaughlin scored the golden goal with 1:38 left in overtime to lift the top-seeded Fox Chapel (19-1-1) to a 1-0 victory over No. 2 South Fayette in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game. The Foxes will look to...
Tight playoff losses end seasons full of highlights for Pine-Richland boys, girls soccer
Fall is a busy time of the year for Pine-Richland’s John Wiegand. As the coach for both the boys and girls soccer teams, his days are usually spent in the never-ending loop of practice and games. But it’s all worth it when his teams can make the playoffs. Both Pine-Richland...
Defense, ground attack lift Highlands past Derry in WPIAL Class 3A 1st round
Not a lot of tricks, but plenty of treats to go around on Halloween night as both Highlands and Derry had their share of mistakes. Led by an opportunistic defense, the Golden Rams came away with a 14-0 win over the Trojans (6-5) in a WPIAL Class 3A first round...
Shady Side Academy gets past Aquinas Academy for record-tying 22nd WPIAL field hockey title
For the third straight year, Aquinas Academy and Shady Side Academy met in the Class A field hockey title game. The Crusaders came in looking to finally get over the hump, having played in the championship game the last four years and coming up empty. The Bulldogs were looking to...
Fox Chapel captures elusive WPIAL field hockey title
The only thing to match the torrential rain at the WPIAL Class 2A field hockey championship game at North Allegheny was the relentless force of the Fox Chapel attack. The No. 2-seeded Foxes (13-3-3) rode a strong wave of offensive pressure to a 2-0 victory over top seed Peters Township...
Sophomore nets OT winner to send Fox Chapel past Plum to WPIAL finals
Ava Stackhouse was just doing what she normally does, hoping it would pay off. The Fox Chapel sophomore forward found herself with the ball on the left side of the Plum defense 64 seconds into overtime and was looking to create something. “I don’t even know what I was thinking,”...
Mt. Pleasant girls soccer in semifinals for 1st time in 3 years
On Saturday, the Mt. Pleasant girls soccer team was finally able to clear a hurdle that has eluded them the last two years. The No. 4-seeded Vikings (14-4-1) defeated No. 12 Shady Side Academy, 2-1, to secure a quarterfinal win in the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs and advance to the...
Chartiers Valley makes adjustments, finds stride in rewarding football season
The 2025 season began very rocky for the Chartiers Valley Colts. They came into the year with a new head coach, Steve Spence, who came from Washington & Jefferson College, and had to learn new schemes and new terminology. And as the season opened against South Fayette, they were without...
Chartiers Valley boys overcome adversity, show improvement during playoff season
As the WPIAL playoffs were just set to begin, Chartiers Valley boys soccer coach Bill Douglass knew it wasn’t about where his team was seeded, just that the team was in the postseason for the third year in a row. “Once you get into the playoffs, everyone has a chance...
Mt. Pleasant girls dispatch Shady Side Academy, clear quarterfinal hurdle
Third time’s the charm. The past two seasons for the Mt. Pleasant girls soccer team ended in tough defeats at home in the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals. But thanks to leading scorer Morgan Gesinski, the No. 4-seeded Vikings (14-4-1) were finally able to clear that hurdle Saturday, with a 2-1...
Crosby accounts for all 5 TDs as Greensburg Central Catholic tops Leechburg, awaits playoff fate
Samir Crosby did everything in his power to make sure his football team still had a shot at making the playoffs. The dual-threat senior quarterback accounted for all five touchdowns as the Centurions (5-5, 3-4) routed Leechburg (7-3, 5-2), 36-7, in a Class A Eastern Conference clash on senior night...
Pine-Richland volleyball takes pride in Spike Out Cancer efforts
When Angela Seman took over as head coach of the Pine-Richland girls volleyball team in 2021, she wanted to teach her players more than just the game. She wanted the girls to learn life skills and make sure they understood that “volleyball and sports end for everyone at some point”...
Defense answers every question for defending WPIAL champion Pine-Richland
Coming into the 2025 season, the Pine Richland football team knew what it had on offense. Top statistical leaders in passing (Aaron “Oobi” Strader), rushing (Maclane Miller) and receiving (Jay Timmons) all returned to an offense that averaged 35.6 points a game last year. More on them later. But the...
Kiski School football leaning on run game, suffocating defense
The Kiski School football team opened the season with a unique opportunity, getting the chance to showcase its talents overseas in a game in Dublin against the National U19 team of Ireland on Aug. 22 as part of the Global Ireland Football Tournament (GIFT), an annual international invitational tournament. The...
Alle-Kiski Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Peyton Los, Highlands’ Jerid Kaminski
Peyton Los School: Freeport Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Peyton scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Burrell on Monday. The Yellowjackets then defeated Knoch, 3-0, on Wednesday evening. Freeport (14-1, 10-0) sits atop Section 2-2A and is getting ready for the playoffs. Tell me about...
Grabowski’s big runs help Penn-Trafford race past rival Franklin Regional
For Penn-Trafford junior running back Ben Grabowski, it was a near-perfect game. The junior saw plenty of green in front of him and was barely touched Friday night as he carried the ball four times for 172 yards (a 43-yards-per-carry average) and scored on three of those carries. That helped...
Alle-Kiski Valley athletes of the week: Fox Chapel’s Clara Koteski, Kiski Area’s Max Mottura
Clara Koteski School: Fox Chapel Class: Junior Sport: Golf Claim to fame: Koteski finished fourth in the WPIAL Class 3A girls golf final with a 7-over-par 79 at Sewickley Heights Golf Club on Wednesday. The top seven finishers qualified for the PIAA championships Oct. 20 at Penn State. Her nine-hole...
Plum girls soccer rolls in regular season, but improvement is key to reach playoff goals
After last season’s 3-0 loss in the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals to Fox Chapel, Plum girls soccer coach Jamie Stewart knew his team needed to face more quality opponents. The one school that came to mind was Norwin out of Class 4A. “We wanted to see where we stacked up...
Shoaf spoils alma mater’s homecoming as Southmoreland remains unbeaten with win over Yough
Normally a homecoming elicits feelings of remembrance and allows for reflection of years gone by. Dustin Shoaf, Southmoreland’s coach and Yough’s all-time leading rusher, downplayed most of those feelings as his team rolled into Cougar Mountain in Herminie and came away with a win. “It was just another game for...
