Michael Love stories, Page 9

The Mt. Pleasant and Freeport football teams are no strangers to one other. The Vikings and Yellowjackets met as nonconference foes the past two seasons and as members of the same conference as recently as 2019. The teams again will be back together on the same field Friday evening in...

There might be a bit more traffic than usual heading down Route 28 the next few days, as local soccer fans make their way to Highmark Stadium on the South Side. Of the 16 boys and girls soccer teams playing for WPIAL championships Thursday through Saturday, five are from the...

Fox Chapel is heading back to Highmark Stadium for a shot at a second straight WPIAL championship. Sophomore Emily McKee and senior Maddie Grimsley tallied first-half goals for the top-seeded Foxes, senior Alyssa Quackenbush scored in the second half, and the defense limited the normally potent offensive attack of No....

The third annual We Serve First All-Star Classic, sponsored by the We Serve First Foundation, is set for Dec. 7 at Kiski Area High School. The event will celebrate and recognize the skills of 40 of the top senior girls volleyball players from 20 schools in the Alle-Kiski Valley and...

WPIAL soccer playoffs Boys Class 4A Semifinals 1-Plum (16-0-3) vs. 4-North Allegheny (16-3-1) 6 p.m. Tuesday, Gateway’s Antimarino Stadium, Monroeville Winner plays: Winner of 2-Peters Township (16-1-1)/3-Fox Chapel (11-4-2) Oct. 31, Nov. 1 or Nov. 2 at Highmark Stadium in championship Corner kicks: These teams played to a 1-1 tie...

Gateway first-year girls volleyball coach Erica Bosh said her team’s trip to the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs showed just how far the team came since she arrived in August, and how hard they worked to come together and make a run to the postseason. The Gators saw their season come...

It wasn’t the way the Gateway boys soccer team wanted its WPIAL Class 4A first-round playoff game to play out. Homestanding Canon-McMillan, the eighth seed, scored quickly, developed a multi-goal advantage in the first half, and finished off a surprising 6-0 victory over the No. 9 Gators on Oct. 22....

Four Alle-Kiski Valley football teams will be a part of the WPIAL playoffs. Three of the four — Deer Lakes, Freeport and Leechburg — knew they were securely in the field by finishing high enough in their conference standings to earn an automatic berth. It was a slightly different story...

The Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2024 on Nov. 14, at Edgewood Country Club. This year’s inductees are Scott Benzel (Class of 1993), Nolan Cressler (2012), Andrew DeFazio (1995), Richard Foutz (1970), Scott McGough (2008), William Rometo (1970), William Wilmore (1990), Ronit Yurovsky...

Second place in the Eastern Conference and a possible home playoff game were up for grabs between Leechburg and Greensburg Central Catholic on Friday at Leechburg Veterans Stadium. The Blue Devils and Centurions went down to the wire. The GCC defense made one final stand with just over a minute...

Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania will be well represented as the Croatian American Sports Hall of Fame Committee welcomes 11 new members at a banquet ceremony Saturday evening at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center hotel Downtown. Legendary Pitt athletes Bill Fralic, Ralph Cindrich and Tim Grgurich will be joined by Penn...

All season, Norwin cross country coach Brian Fleckenstein kept telling his runners they could beat North Allegheny. On Thursday, that’s exactly what they did. The Knights won their first team title since 1977, second in school history, by edging the Tigers for the WPIAL Class 3A boys title at White...

Player of the week Landon Kucic Kiski Area, sr., RB/LB The 210-pound tailback continues to run hard for a Cavaliers team in the hunt for a wild-card berth in the Class 5A Big East Conference. Kucic tallied his third straight 100-plus rushing-yard performance last Friday in a 15-14 comeback win...

The journey to the WPIAL championships for hundreds of cross country runners and their teams concludes Thursday at White Oak Park. Individual and team gold and trips to the PIAA championships are on the line in six boys and girls races. The Riverview boys hope to return to the top...

A lot is on the line when Leechburg and Greensburg Central Catholic meet Friday in the Class A Eastern Conference finale for both teams. With the playoffs set to start next week, both teams want to go into the postseason on a roll. “It’s a huge game where the winner...

WPIAL soccer playoffs Boys Class 2A Quarterfinals 13-Burrell (9-9) vs. 12-Seton LaSalle (13-4) 8 p.m. Thursday, Joe P. DeMichela Stadium, Imperial Winner plays: Winner of 1-South Park (17-1-1)/9-Central Valley (14-4) on Monday in semifinals Corner kicks: All five Burrell shooters scored in a shootout Monday as the Bucs upset No....

There will be a new WPIAL girls soccer champion in Class 2A. Deer Lakes, the No. 7 seed, got a goal from freshman Reese Waruszewski in the ninth minute of the second half, and that turned out to be enough as the homestanding Lancers eliminated three-time defending champion Avonworth, 1-0,...

The Shaler girls soccer team hoped for a longer stay in its first WPIAL playoff tournament in close to four decades. But No. 4 Plum, a seasoned postseason program participating in the playoffs for the 13th year in a row, made sure the No. 13 Lady Titans’ season came to...

WPIAL soccer playoffs Girls Class 2A First round 10-Avonworth (7-10-1) at 7-Deer Lakes (13-3-2) 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lancers Stadium, West Deer Township Winner plays: Winner of 2-Quaker Valley (13-2-2)/15-Southmoreland (10-7) on Saturday in quarterfinals Corner kicks: Deer Lakes returns to the playoffs for the second year in a row after...

Kairell McCoy ran to a time of 18 minutes, 31.8 seconds at last year’s WPIAL Class 3A cross country championships at White Oak Park. The time landed him 110th overall. Now, the Gateway senior has his sights set on a sizeable improvement in both time and placement. He will get...

The Gateway boys soccer team found itself back on the pitch against a familiar face in the WPIAL Class 4A first round. The No. 9 Gators, who tied for third in Section 1 with Central Catholic, were scheduled to make the long trip south and west to take on Canon-McMillan...

Deer Lakes bounced back in a big way from a pair of tough shutout losses to roll past Valley, 44-13, on Friday and solidify its automatic WPIAL Class 3A playoff berth from the Allegheny 7 Conference. It marks the third year in a row the Lancers have qualified for the...

The Plum and Riverview cross country teams are set for the WPIAL championships scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 24 at White Oak Park, and titles and medals, both for teams and individuals, are there for the taking. The Raiders, in Class A, will run the first races – boys at 11...

The Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2024 on Thursday, Nov. 14, at Edgewood Country Club. This year’s inductees are Scott Benzel (Class of 1993), Nolan Cressler (2012), Andrew DeFazio (1995), Richard Foutz (1970), Scott McGough (2008), Bill Rometo (1970), William Wilmore (1990), Ronit...

For the first time in 20 seasons, the Freeport girls volleyball team doesn’t head into the WPIAL playoffs as a section champion. The Yellowjackets (10-3) finished tied for second with Hampton at 7-3 behind undefeated Mars (10-0) in Section 2. Despite that unfamiliar feeling, coach Tom Phillips said he is...