Michael Love stories, Page 87
A-K Valley football players to watch for 2021 Week 1
Calvin Heinle Kiski Area, Sr., WR/CB An all-conference selection last year who led the Cavaliers in receptions and receiving yards is back after recovering from a torn meniscus. Coach Sam Albert played Heinle sparingly in Friday’s Week Zero win over Butler, but he expects Heinle to carry a bigger load...
A-K Valley don’t miss high school football matchups for 2021 Week 1
Nonconference Apollo-Ridge (0-1) at Class 2A No. 2 Avonworth (1-0) 7 p.m. Friday, Lenzner Stadium, Ohio Township Last year’s matchup, slated for Owens Field in Apollo, was canceled amidst covid schedule changes. Apollo-Ridge hopes to bounce back from Friday’s season-opening 28-22 home loss to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart....
Covid cancels Riverview, Butler football games
The Riverview football team will not play its nonsection game at Chartiers-Houston on Friday. “We are experiencing multiple cases of covid-19 on the varsity football team. After numerous conversations with the Allegheny County Health Department, we have decided to suspend football practices and games from Aug. 30 (Monday) until Sept....
Fox Chapel girls soccer out to defend section title
For the 18th time in program history, the Fox Chapel girls soccer team brought home a section championship in 2020, edging WPIAL power Norwin by two points for the Section 3-4A crown. While a sizeable group of contributing seniors moved on — including All-WPIAL performers in goalkeeper Sammi Dunlap and...
Deer Lakes runner McCoy gears preparation toward contending at WPIAL cross country championships
Carson McCoy is a state champion in track and field, as he won the PIAA Class AA title in the 1,600-meter run in May at Shippensburg after placing second at WPIALs at week earlier. Now, the Deer Lakes senior hopes to add more gold to his resume as one of...
Teams post victories in Week 2 of WPYFL season
The Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League’s 40 member programs continued their seasons over the weekend. The WPYFL stretches across seven counties and nearly 3,000 square miles in Southwestern Pennsylvania, making it the largest youth football organizations in the state and one of the largest in the country. Additional information on...
Volleyball coaches association releases preseason WPIAL girls rankings
Girls volleyball teams in the WPIAL officially begin their seasons Friday and Saturday with matches and tournaments all throughout the region. For the sixth year, the Western PA Volleyball Coaches Association is ranking the teams with a top-10 poll for all four classifications. Each week, all 120 WPIAL head coaches...
Plum girls soccer aims to maintain contender status
With back-to-back runs to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game, the Plum girls soccer team has established itself as a team to beat. Despite the loss of eight seniors who were starters or significant contributors from the last two postseason trips, including a berth to states in 2019, coach Jamie...
Plum boys soccer players motivated by early playoff exit
The Plum boys soccer team didn’t expect last season to end suddenly. But the Mustangs, seeded fourth in the Class 3A bracket after finishing as Section 4 co-champions with Franklin Regional, were stunned in the WPIAL first round by No. 13 South Fayette, 2-1. “That left a bitter taste in...
Optimism abounds for experienced Gateway girls soccer team
The 2020 season for the Gateway girls soccer team was anything but normal as covid uncertainties and a two-week stoppage in the middle of the regular season were just some of the obstacles which challenged the Gators players and coaches. “Just having any soccer season, it was a light and...
Gateway boys soccer embarks on ‘new beginning’
On the main page of the Gateway boys soccer website are the words “New beginnings” along with “Pride, passion and perseverance.” “In the offseason, that was kind of our theme, a new beginning, because we graduated 10 seniors, and seven of them were very influential from their freshmen to senior...
A-K Valley girls soccer preview: Plum eyes another trip to WPIAL final
The Plum girls soccer team hopes three is the magic number this fall. The Mustangs, despite the loss of eight seniors who were starters or significant contributors the past two seasons, will attempt a run at a third straight trip to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game. Coach Jamie Stewart...
Alle-Kiski Valley high school football notebook: Springdale, Deer Lakes renew rivalry
A number of high school football rivalries were put on hold last year as the covid pandemic delayed, shortened and toyed with players, coaches and fans from August to early December. Springdale and Deer Lakes were not immune to the changes as their Week Zero matchup, scheduled for Deer Lakes’...
Smith shines as Franklin Regional beats rival Plum
Things couldn’t have started any better for Franklin Regional and new coach Lance Getsy on Friday against Plum at Franklin Regional Stadium in Murrysville. A Caden Smith interception, his first of three picks, on the first play from scrimmage led to a Connor Donnelly 2-yard touchdown run. With less than...
Versatile senior brings big-play threat to Springdale offense
Last year, Logan Dexter and Dmitri Fritch led the Springdale receiving corps with a combined 53 catches for 841 yards and 10 touchdowns. Not to be forgotten in the passing game mix, John Utiss made his opportunities count. The wideout/running back hybrid in the Dynamos offense hauled in 10 passes...
A-K Valley don’t miss high school football matchups for Week Zero 2021
Nonconference Burrell vs. Mt. Pleasant 7 p.m. Friday, Mt. Pleasant Viking Stadium, Mt. Pleasant Burrell looks to be a running team as it prepares to replace quarterback Alex Arledge, who threw for 3,619 yards in his career. Burrell has four players vying for the quarterback spot. The Bucs threw little...
A-K Valley football players to watch for Week Zero 2021
Derek Burk Deer Lakes, So., QB/DB Burk and the Lancers took their lumps in 2020 with a winless record. But things are looking up for the team, and Burk expects to help lead the charge. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound quarterback and defensive back threw for 537 yards and three scores in...
Springdale hoping to build on back-to-back winning seasons
Springdale is coming off its second straight winning season after just two victories in 2018. The Dynamos navigated the covid waters and all of the imposed restrictions and schedule changes to finish 5-3 overall and 5-2 in Eastern Conference play. It gave perennial power Jeannette all it could handle before...
Riverview ready to rebound after winless campaign
The Riverview football team took its lumps last season as it navigated its way through a WPIAL-wide truncated season with restrictions and schedule changes brought on by the covid pandemic. The Raiders went 0-8 overall and 0-7 in the Eastern Conference. But second-year coach Trevor George said things are looking...
Blue-collar linebacker leads charge for Riverview
Anthony Mazur came into Riverview’s preseason football camp in 2018 as a fullback on offense as he hoped to make an impact in his first varsity season. However, change was on the horizon for Mazur, then a 5-foot-7, 175-pound freshman. Injuries to the offensive line brought opportunity and a challenge...
2021 WPIAL Class 4A football breakdown: Contenders line up to knock TJ from throne
Thomas Jefferson reigned again in Class 4A last season, winning its 10th WPIAL championship followed by its fifth PIAA title. It seems like every year the same question is asked: Can the Jaguars do it again? Veteran coach Bill Cherpak hopes so. But as with other seasons, he sounds the...
Allegheny athletics announces return to Presidents’ Athletic Conference
After 38 years, Allegheny College athletics will return to the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, the college and the PAC announced Monday. Allegheny will be the league’s 11th full-time member and will officially join July 1, 2022. Gators athletics will finish its commitment to the NCAA Division III North Coast Athletic Conference....
Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League kicks off season with games in 3 divisions
The Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League has returned after a year hiatus because of the covid pandemic, and the 2021 season kicked off this past weekend. The WPYFL’s 40 members stretch across seven counties and nearly 3,000 square miles in Southwestern Pennsylvania, making it the largest youth football organization in...
Young Gateway golfers look to make impact this season
Paul Doonan sees a youth movement with his Gateway boys golf team. There is just one senior, with two juniors, eight sophomores and five freshmen on the Gators roster. “We’re very young,” Doonan said. “We graduated four or five kids from last year’s team who really carried the load. I...
Apollo-Ridge excited to build on strong season
Apollo-Ridge was an experienced team in 2020. That experience helped the Vikings navigate the covid landscape and truncated season to a 6-1 overall record and a rout of perennial Class 2A contender Washington in the WPIAL playoffs. Graduation took away many of those main players — names such as Jake...
