Alle-Kiski Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Tamia West, Highlands’ Jah’mar Wright
Tamia West School: Plum Class: Junior Sport: Flag Football Claim to fame: On Monday, West caught eight passes for 101 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Plum won a nonsection contest against Kiski Area. The next day, West again scored two touchdowns and had a pick-6 in a 35-6...
Chartiers Valley grad bringing structure, fun as new lacrosse coach
Those around Chartiers Valley familiar with his Tik Toks will undoubtedly recognize the new boys lacrosse coach. Or if they aren’t constantly on social media, they have surely seen him patrolling the grounds of the high school and the middle school. When Kyle Kelsch took over as the School Resource...
New coach looking to bring stability to the Chartiers Valley baseball program
David Oddi always thought the Chartiers Valley baseball coaching job was one he would eventually like to have. Originally from Carnegie and while coaching at West Allegheny and Carlynton as either an assistant or head coach for 19 years, Oddi always had the opportunity to look at the Colts baseball...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Carly Venanzi, Valley’s Dom Dunkel
Carly Venanzi School: Plum Class: Senior Sport: Lacrosse Claim to fame: Venanzi put together a productive week for the Mustangs. On March 13, she scored a pair of goals and had three assists as Plum (3-1) defeated North Allegheny, 13-10. On Monday, she scored another two goals and had an...
Quaker Valley beats Avonworth at own high-scoring game, claims program’s 6th Penguins Cup
It had been a tough road for the seniors on the Quaker Valley hockey team. The last three years saw them lose in the quarterfinal round because of misplays or bad bounces, but in their final run through the PIHL Class A playoffs, they were able to reach the promised...
Seneca Valley weathers fierce Peters Township comeback bid to repeat as 3A Penguins Cup champsVideo
Oftentimes, one of the hardest things to do in hockey is to hold on to a multiple-goal lead. Even more so when that lead is by a large margin early on. Seneca Valley jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against Peters Township after the first period in the PIHL...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Fox Chapel’s Delaney O’Toole, Deer Lakes’ Evan Moore
Delaney O’Toole School: Fox Chapel Class: Freshman Sport: Swimming Claim to fame: O’Toole had a successful PIAA championship meet, grabbing second place in the 50 free and third in the 200 free relay Wednesday. On Thursday, she swam a time of 54.15 seconds to win gold in the 100 backstroke....
A-K Valley softball preview: Knoch sets sights even higher
Sometimes Mother Nature can be cruel. The Knoch softball team found out the hard way in its Class 4A quarterfinal loss to No. 6 Beaver last season. “That was a game we thought we had handled,” coach Chris Gardner said. “After about three or four lighting delays and a two-and-a-half-hour...
Deer Lakes makes free throws when it counts in Class 4A 2nd-round win over Hickory
Anyone who has ever played basketball has heard it from a coach maybe a thousand times: You have to make your foul shots. For Deer Lakes, it was tough sledding from the charity stripe as the team went 2 of 14 through three quarters, but the Lancers were able to...
Penn-Trafford uses 3-goal burst in 2nd period to top Shaler in Penguins Cup quarterfinals
One of the sayings for the Penn-Trafford hockey team has been to “race to the next goal.” No matter if they’re up a goal, losing or tied, the Warriors knew getting that next goal was a major step in coming away with a win during the Penguins Cup Class 2A...
Kiski Area’s Ava Golding wins 3rd West Regional girls wrestling title
Coming into the PIAA girls wrestling West Regionals at Mt. Lebanon High School, Kiski Area senior Ava Golding had a couple more goals to check off. She already won her third WPIAL gold medal a week ago and came into Saturday’s event one win away from 100 for her career....
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Kiski Area’s Ava Golding, Knoch’s Roman DeFelice
Ava Golding School: Kiski Area Class: Senior Sport: Wrestling Claim to fame: Golding won her third straight WPIAL wrestling title Feb. 21. She was the top seed in the 142-pound weight class at the PIAA West Regionals at Mt. Lebanon on Saturday and won her third consecutive regional gold medal...
Westmoreland County swimmers chasing medals at WPIAL championships
For the better part of the last four years, Lily King and the Mt. Pleasant swim team have been the center of attention, ruling the podium and setting records at the WPIAL championships. Now that King and decorated classmates Kiersten O’Connor, David Mutter and Joseph Gardner are competing for Division...
Season of growth and improvement ends with playoff loss for Chartiers Valley girls
For the second year in a row, the Chartiers Valley girls basketball team saw its season come to an end at the hands of Baldwin in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. A year after a veteran Colts team gave the Highlanders all they could handle in a 73-72 first-round loss,...
Chartiers Valley boys buy in, evolve into dominant force in Class 5A
When Corey Dotchin took over as head coach of the Chartiers Valley boys basketball team ahead of the 2024 season, his major goal for the program was to “put a competitive team on the floor that’s a WPIAL title and section title contender year in and year out.” In the...
Top-seeded Quaker Valley fights off upset-minded Deer Lakes in Class 4A semifinals
The sun might have been shining brightly outside Pine-Richland High School on Saturday afternoon, but inside, the clock was ticking down to midnight. With eight-tenths of a second left and his team down by two points, Deer Lakes junior Evan Moore stepped to the foul line looking to send the...
Knoch shuts down rival North Catholic to reach Class 4A championship game
At some point in this year’s basketball postseason, there will be a team that will solve the Knoch 2-3 defense. Props will be earned by whichever team finally solves that Rubik’s Cube. With a starting five that has each member standing 6-foot or taller, communication and length have been a...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Fox Chapel’s Lyla Jablon, Freeport’s Aiden Bauman
Lyla Jablon School: Fox Chapel Class: Senior Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Jablon dropped 24 points to power the No. 7-seeded Foxes to a 60-58 win over No. 10 seed Latrobe in the Class 5A first round. She then led Fox Chapel in scoring with 22 points in a 72-44...
Thrill of victory for Seneca Valley, agony of defeat for Hempfield in 6A quarterfinals
This one hurt. With the Hempfield basketball players leaving with tears in their eyes — but their heads held high — coach Austin Butler knew this was a tough, rare feeling for his players. “To our guys’ credit, they hadn’t ever been in a position like this, and I thought...
Well-prepared Knoch too much for Central Valley in Class 4A quarterfinalsVideo
As easy as Knoch senior guard Teegan Finucan made it look Wednesday night, it seemed like he had the answers to the test. As it turns out, he was well prepared for whatever Central Valley planned to throw at him in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals matchup at North Allegheny...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Fox Chapel’s Bella Geller, Deer Lakes’ Evan Moore
Bella Geller School: Fox Chapel Class: Freshman Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Geller finished with 10 points and scored the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:37 left in the fourth quarter to help No. 7-seeded Fox Chapel (15-8) to a 60-58 win over No. 10 Latrobe in the first round of the...
Cheswick Christian Academy seniors hit 1,500 career points in back-to-back games
There are many low-probability events with unlikely odds of occurring across the universe. The odds of all the planets lining up within one degree occurs once every 13.4 trillion years. Chances of being struck by lightning twice in a lifetime are about 1 in 9 million. The odds of being...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Apollo-Ridge’s Madison Hughley, Burrell’s Ryan Wass
Madison Hughley School: Apollo-Ridge Class: Sophomore Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Hughley scored 26 points to lead the Vikings (12-10, 6-4) to a 59-46 Section 4-2A win over Frazier on Monday night. She then scored 17 points in a 40-36 win against Riverview on Wednesday and 21 in a victory...
Freeport defense shuts down Knoch, closes off path to playoffsVideo
The Freeport girls basketball team was well aware of what was at stake for its opposition coming into Thursday night’s game against Knoch. “Yesterday at practice, we prepared very hard,” freshman Sydney Reiser said. “We knew it was going to be a big game, knew Knoch was going to try...
After strong season, Kiski School football players earn college opportunities
There were a lot of new and exciting changes surrounding the Kiski School football team in 2025. After coming off their first winning season in three years, posting a 6-3 record in 2024, the Cougars brought in a new coach with new schemes, saw an influx of transfers from the...