Michael Love stories, Page 13

Fox Chapel’s seniors were freshmen the last time they experienced a victory on the football field. It was the 2021 WPIAL Class 5A playoffs when the Foxes upset Upper St. Clair in the first round. A 20-9 setback in Week Zero extended the losing streak to 22 games. But that...

The Highlands and Elizabeth Forward football teams both experienced heartbreak in Week Zero. The Golden Rams lost to Armstrong by one in overtime, and the Warriors came up short by one against West Mifflin as a conversion attempt was unsuccessful with no time left in regulation. But Friday night at...

Player of the week Aven Shirley Kiski Area, jr., WR/DB Shirley delivered in all phases to complement Landon Kucic’s four rushing touchdowns in Friday’s 42-7 Week Zero rout of Knoch. He returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown which sparked Kiski to a 21-0 lead in the first...

Elizabeth Forward and Highlands will get together Friday night at Golden Rams Stadium, each seeking its first win of the season after close, heartbreaking defeats in Week Zero. It is the first matchup between the schools since 1999, and Golden Rams coach Matt Bonislawski and Elizabeth Forward coach John DeMarco...

The seniors on this year’s Freeport girls volleyball team know what it is like to face the competition in Class 3A. It was just three years ago in 2021, when the current senior group were freshman, the Yellowjackets put it all together and claimed the WPIAL Class 3A title before...

The Gateway boys soccer team is on a mission this fall to add to an already record-setting streak for the program. With a move up to Class 4A, the Gators are shooting for a fifth straight trip to the WPIAL playoffs, and with what head coach Mike Rugh feels is...

The Riverview and Plum girls soccer teams open their seasons this week with high expectations as experienced leadership returns for both the Raiders and the Mustangs. With a breakout season last year for Riverview, and Plum’s string of recent success in section play and beyond, the teams understand that targets...

Andy Hoover owns an extensive baseball playing and coaching background at various levels, and he hopes to use his knowledge of the game to make a difference at Gateway. The Lancaster County native officially was hired as the Gators’ baseball coach at a school board meeting Aug. 19. A meeting...

Deer Lakes defeated Apollo-Ridge, 35-14, in its first Week Zero game in 2016. Taking the 2020 covid year out of the equation, the Lancers hadn’t fared well in Week Zero contests since with six straight season-opening setbacks. That changed Friday as Deer Lakes took control in the first half and...

Plum hoped to stop a five-game losing streak to rival Franklin Regional when the neighbors met to open the season Friday evening. But the visiting Panthers weren’t about to relinquish their recent stranglehold on the series. FR scored three times in the first quarter, led by 28 at halftime and...

It didn’t take Kiski Area long to jump into the 2024 football season. After making the playoffs last year in 4A, the Cavaliers moved up a classification. They traveled to Saxonburg on Friday to take on Knoch, which also moved up in classification after qualifying for the 3A playoffs in...

Senior defender/midfielder Katerina Tsambis said she can’t stop smiling when she thinks of Riverview’s run last year to the WPIAL and PIAA Class A title games. “We just formed such a strong bond throughout the entire season,” Tsambis said. “The way the community supported us was just really special. It’s...

As a freshman, Noah Robbins didn’t see the field that much in varsity games. But he gained valuable experience watching a seasoned group of Springdale players, including 16 seniors, lead the way to the WPIAL Class A playoffs and a first-round victory. Fast forward three years later, and Robbins now...

Jayden Floyd Leechburg, sr., QB/FS Floyd became just the 17th signal caller in WPIAL history to both throw and run for 1,000 yards in a single season last fall. He accounted for 26 touchdowns — 18 rushing, eight passing — and 2,624 combined yards as the Blue Devils reached the...

It’s been a while since the Kiski Area and Knoch football teams shared the same field for a game. The year was 1989, and both the Cavaliers and Knights were members of the Greater Allegheny Conference. Now, despite being in difference conferences and in different classifications, the teams will reunite...

The Riverview football team scrimmaged Brashear last Saturday, and though senior Cam Long didn’t suit up, the senior offensive guard and nose tackle’s presence still was felt on the field. Long was right there helping coach his teammates and taking in the action from a different perspective, one he said...

With the high school football season set to commence Friday night, there’s been a couple changes to the schedule in Western Pennsylvania after two teams were left too shorthanded to play. Both Springdale and Perry Traditional Academy will not play their Week Zero games Friday. Because of low numbers before...

A change at the top could be a piece of the puzzle for a Springdale football program working to get back on track after a pair of tough seasons in and out of conference play. Springdale went a combined 1-19 in 2023 and 2022, and new coach Chad Walsh seeks...

In Class A football, large rosters are mostly uncommon. But this year, Riverview is bucking that trend. Fifth-year coach Trevor George was excited to welcome more than 50 players to preseason camp. “We have to get some new uniforms,” George said. “We’ve seen growth every year. Winning helps, and I...

Leechburg football made history last year becoming the first Blue Devils team to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs three years in a row. The postseason streak came about after Leechburg had not made the WPIAL playoffs since 1988. Jake Cummings and his senior teammates want to add on to their...

Lucas Gamble isn’t the biggest defensive end in the WPIAL, but Leechburg coach Randy Walters said the Blue Devils senior makes up for it with dogged determination to get the quarterback and cause havoc in the backfield for opposing offenses. “All the things he does off the field contributes to...

Deer Lakes football has qualified for the WPIAL playoffs four times in its history. Two of those trips have come in the past two seasons with the team hosting a playoff game for the first time last fall and scoring the program’s first postseason victory with a 30-point rout of...

Caleb Kyper understood how lower-than-usual roster numbers coupled with youthful inexperience throughout the lineup conspired to limit the Gateway girls soccer team’s efforts toward qualifying for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs last year. Only two seniors and one starter graduated from the 2023 squad which went 3-8-1 in Section 3-3A...

Landon Kucic acquired a unique nickname early in his tackle football career. “I was playing on the (Kiski Valley Lancers) youth football (team), and my first year, I was on kickoff and I blew a kid up,” he said. “Ever since then, the coaches that helped build me up from...