Dave Mackall stories, Page 15

There have been great expectations in recent years for the Deer Lakes boys basketball team, which enters a new season with a new coach in a new classification. Don’t count on those expectations changing. Albie Fletcher, a Deer Lakes graduate and former basketball assistant at the school, certainly doesn’t see...

Keith Dambrot was looking for a bounce-back game from Duquesne on Monday, three days removed from a humbling trip to legendary Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., and a decisive loss to No. 4 Kentucky. The Dukes responded to their coach in resounding fashion, scoring from seemingly everywhere, and ran past...

For a team used to playing for WPIAL football championships, Pine-Richland came away from Friday night’s Class 5A semifinal battle with Woodland Hills like it had never before been to the finals. The second-seeded Rams broke their postseason huddle with a burst of enthusiasm — and relief — knowing they’d...

The Robert Morris men’s basketball program gladly accepted a nice-sized paycheck from Ohio State for traveling to Columbus, Ohio, earlier in the week for an anticipated spanking by the Buckeyes, who entered the season receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Ohio State won that game Monday night...

Wake up, Pine-Richland. It’s as real as it gets. You’re a WPIAL champion. “You know, I’ve been having this dream for about four months, where I can vividly see us winning the WPIAL finals and listening to ‘We Are The Champions,’” Pine-Richland girls volleyball coach Angela Seman said. It’s not...

A No. 14 seed in the WPIAL Class A playoffs apparently didn’t sit well with the Rochester football team. Don’t believe the Rams coaches and players if they tell you otherwise. “We don’t look at the seedings,” Rochester coach Gene Matsook said with a straight face. Oh, really? Judging from...

In his four seasons as hockey coach at Greensburg Salem, Corey Mentch hasn’t seen a Golden Lions team offer this much potential. Whether they can deliver is another matter. Despite getting 12 victories last season, the most under Mentch, Greensburg Salem was left out of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League...

A freshman season of learning for former Latrobe girls volleyball standout Emma Fenton has evolved into a sophomore year of applying at St. Francis (Pa.). Fenton was learning the life of a college athlete last season as a wide-eyed first-year player before a year later applying all that in a...

It never gets old. So say members of the Penn-Trafford field hockey team on the age-old concept of winning, something the Warriors are accustomed to doing. They continued their winning ways Saturday at the WPIAL championship, earning their seventh consecutive Class 2A title with a 4-1 victory over Latrobe at...

So much excitement surged through Ellis School junior Rita Gianakis as she raced to meet her teammates moments after the Tigers secured their third WPIAL Class A field hockey championship on Saturday at Washington & Jefferson College. Gianakis almost single-handedly provided the spark, scoring three fourth-quarter goals to lead Ellis...

Their football playoff aspirations dashed, Hempfield and Norwin entered their 2022 season finales having been reduced to playing for the latest bragging rights in this storied Route 30 rivalry. Norwin came into Hempfield’s Spartan Stadium on Friday night carrying the torch after a decisive victory last season, but the nod...

After their first playoff miss in 17 years, the Latrobe IceCats high school hockey team came to camp this season with one thing in mind. “They were embarrassed not making the playoffs last year,” coach Josh Werner said, smiling. What else could the veteran coach do, but laugh it off?...

During the buildup to Hempfield’s season-opening high school hockey game — a 5-1 loss to Latrobe last Thursday at Nevin Arena in Greensburg — Spartans players were weighing the idea of a new season with a new coach. One, they say, with a changing approach. Cory Myers, a former American...

Mt. Pleasant attempted to build momentum as the WPIAL football playoffs inched closer, taking advantage of a depleted and reeling South Allegheny squad and rolling to a 42-0 victory Friday night. The Vikings, who play at Southmoreland in the regular-season finale next Friday, qualified for the WPIAL playoffs for a...

Serra Catholic coach Jose Regus might have witnessed a better season a year ago when the Eagles won a WPIAL championship and advanced to the PIAA title game, but he appears to be enjoying 2022 just the same. Maybe more. “I don’t know if last year was the best year...

Not long ago, elite WPIAL field hockey teams almost certainly would mark down a victory against Latrobe before the games actually were played. Now, not so much. The Wildcats lately have been playing like anything but a pushover. They reached the WPIAL Class 2A championship game in back-to-back seasons in...

Randy Walters gazed around McKee Stadium — a storied venue in Jeannette — and he was proud in the moment. Walters, Leechburg’s proud football coach — especially on this night — witnessed his team again dismantle a Jeannette squad that represents the school with the most victories all-time in the...

With just one senior on its roster, the Ligonier Valley girls volleyball team has been looking to its younger veterans for a spark this year. And there are many. On a team with 21 girls, a total of 14 are either sophomores or freshmen, many with prior varsity experience. Outside...

Penn-Trafford shrugged off last week’s disappointing loss to one of its arch-rivals and took out its frustrations this week on another. Conlan Greene passed for 132 yards and two touchdowns, and Daniel Tarabrella scored twice as the Warriors overcame a slow start to blank visiting Norwin, 28-0, Friday night in...

Erin Salas, with a long history of coaching in the Greensburg Central Catholic system, has taken over the Centurions varsity girls volleyball team this year, becoming the program’s third head coach in as many seasons. She succeeds Angela Grabb. “I did it because I love to coach,” said Salas, a...

Top-ranked Steel Valley kept rolling in Class 2A on Friday night, earning its first shutout of the high school football season and scoring another mercy-rule victory, its third in a row. Cruce Brookins passed for 122 yards and a touchdown and rushed for two more scores — all in the...

In volleyball at Latrobe — no matter the classification, the ranking, the opponent — longtime coach Drew Vosefski has continued to preach a singular theme: “Go into every match as if you’re the underdog.” There’s something to prove against other teams with similar pride, Vosefski maintains. “Your opponent isn’t just...

As the season got underway, Hempfield was looking to build on last season’s WPIAL playoff appearance in girls volleyball, but the current lineup remained a work in progress. Through four matches, second-year coach Ashten Flynn was beginning to get a better understanding of her team’s tendencies following the defections of...

The WPIAL’s winningest football program hasn’t had much to celebrate since claiming its 10th WPIAL championship and reaching the PIAA final in 2020. The Jeannette Jayhawks have won twice since falling to Steelton-Highspire in Hershey in the Class A final that year. On Friday night, Jeannette notched its second victory...

Greensburg Salem made a rare venture into the mountains Friday night and escaped with a narrow high school football victory over relative WPIAL newcomer Ligonier Valley. The teams hadn’t played in more than 90 years. Cody Rubrecht passed for 118 yards and rushed for 116 to lead Class 3A Greensburg...