Deer Lakes

High school basketball season is still months away, but excitement levels ramped up a little early for the Freeport boys basketball team. The Yellowjackets captured the St. Joseph summer league championship with a buzzer-beating victory over Kiski Area on Thursday. Rising junior Brady Sullivan hit the game-winning shot. Fellow rising...

Mike Mastroianni was in a no lose situation in this year’s race for the Trib HSSN Cup in Class 4A. He is the athletic director and boys basketball coach at Quaker Valley while he lives in the Montour school district. Those two schools finished first and second, with Mastroianni’s Quakers...

Carson McCoy worked his way into becoming a Division I runner. Thanks to countless hours of running and training, he has earned a spot on Eastern Michigan’s track and field team. He spent his four years of high school building that resume at Deer Lakes, where he recently graduated after...

Basketball in the A-K Valley will have a bit of a different look next winter. The WPIAL board of directors approved section alignments for the next two-year cycle in boys and girls basketball on June 13. Several A-K Valley teams were impacted. Here’s a look at some of the changes:...

Kyle Blackwell spent his past four seasons playing volleyball at Deer Lakes. The right-side hitter always had a passion for the sport and was motivated to play after watching his older sister, Allison Blackwell, play for the Lancers. Blackwell was the team’s only senior this season. On Senior Night, he...

2022 Valley News Dispatch Baseball All-Stars Player of the Year Justin Brannagan Deer Lakes, Sr., P/INF Justin Brannagan had a propensity this year for coming up big in clutch playoff scenarios. In February, Deer Lakes trailed Blackhawk by one point in the final seconds of a WPIAL Class 4A first-round...

2022 Valley News Dispatch Softball All-Stars Player of the Year Katie Armstrong Burrell, Jr., P If the regular season didn’t already show it, then a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal game against Belle Vernon proved just how dominant Burrell junior pitcher Katie Armstrong was throughout the spring. Armstrong held a potent...

Terence Parham called it one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make. Citing changing work requirements, the veteran Deer Lakes boys basketball coach has resigned after seven years at the helm of the program. The Deer Lakes School Board voted to accept his resignation at Tuesday’s meeting. “My...

Deer Lakes softball coach Rick Cerra saw the pieces for a strong season and postseason run come together back in September, six months before preseason practices began. “Things were really falling into place, and we were really looking forward to having this team on the field,” Cerra said. His expectations...

Moon senior Mia Cochran turned in quite a performance at the PIAA track and field championships the weekend of May 27-28. She won three distance races — 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters — in Class 3A, and for that effort she was named the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association’s...

Deer Lakes entered Thursday’s PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal matchup with Bald Eagle hoping to punch its ticket to the state semifinals for the first time since 2015. But the Eagles and freshman pitcher Sierra Albright had other ideas. Albright limited Deer Lakes to five hits and struck out nine over...

A quartet from the Deer Lakes softball team — Jenna Bisegna, Reese Hasley, Keeghan Cook and Lydia Guthrie — took one of the biggest walks of their lives and graduated Wednesday evening. As one journey comes to a close, the graduates hope another keeps rolling along. They will join their...

Today’s games Class 4A Quarterfinals Burrell (14-2) vs. Beaver (20-0) 3 p.m. at Mars Winner plays: Winner of Hamburg (20-3) vs. Clearfield (19-3) in semifinals Monday (site and time TBD) Players to watch: Caroline Dynka, Burrell; Payton List, Beaver Extra bases: Burrell won its first state playoff game since 2011...

While opening day of the PIAA baseball playoffs was a mixed bag for district teams, the WPIAL softball qualifiers got a chance to strut their stuff in the first round. The WPIAL was a strong 12-7 in opening round games Monday, with all six new district champions winning and moving...

CORRY — After hitting eight pop-up outs over the first five innings, Deer Lakes resorted to a series of line drives. The Lancers exploded for five runs in the top of sixth and posted a 5-1 victory over Corry in a PIAA Class 3A opening-round game at Lou Hanna Memorial...

District champions, when they enter the PIAA playoffs, always are afforded the opportunity to play their first game in their home district. Sometimes, the benefit extends to a home game in the opening round. Deer Lakes, the WPIAL runner-up, must deal with that scenario when it travels to District 10...

Class 4A First round 7-3 Burrell (13-2) vs. 10-1 Villa Maria Academy (17-3) 3 p.m. Monday at Penn State-Behrend Winner plays: Winner of 7-1 Beaver Area (19-0) vs. 3-3 Fleetwood (16-6) Thursday in quarterfinals (site and time TBD) Players to Watch: Katie Armstrong, Burrell; Jenna Wagner, Villa Maria Academy Extra...

The 2022 PIAA softball playoffs start Monday with 19 WPIAL teams searching for state gold, including recently crowned district winners Seneca Valley, Armstrong, Beaver, Avonworth, Neshannock and Union on the hunt for more treasures. The state playoffs are made up of four rounds with the championships to be played at...

Jenna Bisegna was at the meeting point between disappointment over Deer Lakes’ 8-1 loss to Avonworth on Wednesday in the WPIAL Class 3A softball title game and getting energized for Monday’s PIAA first-round game as the Lancers met for practice Thursday afternoon. “We were feeling rather defeated yesterday, and the...

Deer Lakes sophomore pitcher Maddie Kee did all she could to hold off the explosive Avonworth lineup in the WPIAL Class 3A softball championship game Wednesday at Lilley Field at Cal (Pa.). The Antelopes (17-5) had the bases loaded and none out in the first, but Kee limited the damage...

Avonworth softball is back on top of the WPIAL Class 3A mountain. The top-seeded Antelopes were strong at the plate, on defense and in the pitching circle, with sophomore standout Alivia Lantzy leading the way, in an 8-1 victory over Deer Lakes in the championship game Wednesday afternoon at Lilley...

Anna Bokulich remembers Deer Lakes’ 2015 WPIAL softball championship well. The Deer Lakes junior, along with a number of other young, up-and-coming players in the Deer Lakes area youth program, including seniors Shayne Cerra, Keeghan Cook and Lydia Guthrie, were on hand to see the Lancers rout Mohawk, 13-5, to...

WPIAL Class 3A softball championship 1-Avonworth (16-4) vs. 3-Deer Lakes (13-3) Noon Wednesday at Lilley Field, Cal (Pa.) On the air: Trib HSSN (Video) Road to the finals Avonworth — When the Antelopes lost their final three games of the regular season, it might have looked like the undefeated Section...

SHIPPENSBURG — Carson McCoy apologized after his latest come-from-behind victory, knowing he’d just ruthlessly dashed the hopes of the same opponent for the third time. But McCoy wasn’t really sorry. The Deer Lakes senior used his strong kick to surge ahead in the final stretch and win the boys 800...

Carson McCoy Class: Senior School: Deer Lakes Sport: Track and field Report card: Carson McCoy found success at the PIAA track and field championships over the weekend, winning gold in the 1,600 and 800 meters. McCoy also won gold in the 1,600 and the 800 at the WPIAL championships earlier...