Ted Sarneso stories

Over the last two seasons, the Springdale girls basketball team saw improvement in the wins column. The Dynamos won seven games in 2023-24 and 11 in 2024-25 and made the playoffs. “Last year, we were a year older, and I felt like we knew more basketball,” said coach Mike Dudjak....

In his first year as Springdale’s boys basketball coach, Scott Ruppert had very little time to get to know his players and get them ready for the season. After last year’s 59-44 loss to Northgate in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs, the Dynamos have been consistently...

Last season ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Chartiers Valley girls basketball team. Entrenched in a back-and-forth affair against Baldwin in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs, the Colts found themselves down four points with 29 seconds left. The Highlanders turned the ball over twice in the...

If there was a moment that catapulted Chartiers Valley on its way to a WPIAL Class 5A championship last year, coach Corey Dotchin pointed towards the team’s 72-63 loss to Allderdice in late January. “I talk to our coaches all the time about it,” said Dotchin. “If we don’t lose...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,”...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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”...

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...

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...

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...