Jerin Steele stories, Page 16

Riverview coach Phil McGivney said when his team is balanced on the score sheet, it normally comes out on the right side. The Raiders were balanced Tuesday night with four players in double figures, and, combined with a defensive adjustment intended to slow down Leechburg standout Marcus Cleveland, it was...

A showcase in New Jersey in July changed the landscape of Freeport sophomore Dustin Rape’s baseball career. It is where the left-handed pitcher hit 90 mph on a radar gun for the first time, and he caught the eye of some major Division-I baseball coaches, including Penn State assistant Dallas...

The Pine-Richland wrestling team was eliminated in the first round of the WPIAL Class 3A tournament, falling 44-19 to West Allegheny on Wednesday night. Now the Rams will turn their attention to the individual postseason and have several wrestlers in good form. Prior to the WPIAL team playoffs, the Rams...

The majority of high school athletes post their college commitment on social media as a way to celebrate the accomplishment and let everyone know where they are headed. When Pine-Richland senior Ryan Palmieri found the right school to continue his football career, he didn’t follow that trend. Instead, he quietly...

Penn Hills girls basketball coach Robert Cash didn’t tell his team that a win would keep them alive in the postseason race. He didn’t want to put any undue pressure on them and just wanted them to go out and play. “We just talked about going out and getting a...

Highlands boys basketball coach Corey Dotchin sensed that Class 4A was going to be a dogfight when he first got a look at the new section alignments in July. That certainly has come to fruition, and the Golden Rams are in the thick of the fight. The top two teams...

Every team needs a glue guy and Kyle Polce has embraced that role with IUP men’s basketball. Someone that is willing to come off the bench, play tough defense, dive for a loose ball and take a charge when necessary. “Those things add up slowly,” said Polce, a Pine-Richland grad....

Pine-Richland wrestling left the Allegheny County wrestling championships with some gold, silver and more proof of a program on the rise. The Rams had three county champions, a pair of runners-up and placed second overall in the team standings at the annual tournament at Fox Chapel. Anthony Ferraro (133) and...

Tasso Sfanos knew it was in as soon as the ball left his hand. Considering what he had accomplished already, his confidence was understandable, but the degree of difficulty he pulled off to hit a buzzer beater can’t be understated. Sfanos had three defenders on him and had to adjust...

Kiski Area boys basketball coach Corey Smith senses that everything is coming together. Not just because the team is on a four-game winning streak. It’s more about how the Cavaliers are winning. Smith called it “buy-in” to committing to winning as a group. “They see my energy every day at...

It’s rare a team wins a basketball game after making one field goal in an entire half. Not every team has Megan Marston, however. After a difficult first half when nothing would fall for anyone, Marston found a rhythm and her Plum teammates followed. And they pulled off an epic...

The Kiski Area hockey team already was trending in the right direction, but after the heist pulled off against Norwin on Jan. 10, the group should galvanize even more. The Cavaliers trailed 3-2 late in the third period but received a power play and took full advantage. Ethan Bombalski scored...

Max Heckert got a look at the rings in the Slippery Rock trophy case during his visit to the school and it reminded him of what he accomplished at Pine-Richland, winning two WPIAL and state championships in four years. That was just one of the similarities between his high school...

Vaughn Spencer soaked in the moment after recording a pin in his first varsity match last week. It’ll likely be the first of many pins in his Pine-Richland career, but it will always have a special place for the sophomore after what he’s gone through to get back on the...

At halftime, Shady Side Academy coach David Vadnais told his team it was a gift that they were still within striking distance after only scoring 12 points in the first half. He challenged his group to shoot the ball with confidence. Standout junior guard Eli Teslovich stepped up, and the...

At the halfway point of the season, Burrell boys basketball finds itself in a first-place tie in Section 3-3A with Deer Lakes and Shady Side Academy. Considering the Bucs only had one returning starter, it’s a pretty good spot to be in, and now they are looking to make good...

There’s plenty of positivity surrounding the Highlands wrestling program. The team has a place to call home after moving into a new wrestling room at Grandview Elementary in Tarentum. They also are off to a strong start on the mat. The Golden Rams are 5-1 overall and already have scored...

Pine-Richland girls swimming reached plenty of goals with a young team last year. The Rams had a pair of relay teams — the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay — qualify for the PIAA championship meet, and Sarah Shaffer placed 10th in the state in the 100 breaststroke as...

Josh Folmer was in the middle of his school day when he got a text message from his parents that told him he had made the PIHL All-Star game. Zach Howard clicked on the PIHL website to check where Pine-Richland was in the standings when he noticed the all-star rosters...

It will be a summer of soccer at Highmark Stadium. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds, along with the entire USL Championship, announced their full 2023 schedule Monday and the bulk of the home games will be in June, July and August. Pittsburgh opens the season on the road against Birmingham on March...

Madison Zavasky made the tough decision to end her soccer career and put her full sports focus into basketball. The returns on that investment have been high. Zavasky, a junior, scored in double digits in each of Pine-Richland’s first eight games and averaged 20.5 points per game in that span....

As the Freeport boys basketball team gets ready to dive into the heart of section play, second-year coach Sean Devinney is looking for a more consistent commitment to defense. It’s no surprise with Devinney’s background as a former assistant to Zach Skrinjar at Fox Chapel, a team known for its...

Max Hurray and North Catholic got off to a sizzling start and didn’t slow down. Hurray, a junior, scored 14 points in the first quarter with a trio of 3-pointers and helped the Trojans build an 18-point lead on their way to an 89-47 win over Plum in a nonsection...

There will be quite a few updates to the banners in the Pine-Richland gym. Pine-Richland’s win in the state football championship game Dec. 2 closed the book on a fall sports season for the ages for the school. Four teams won WPIAL titles, to go along with the Rams’ football...

In a sense, it was a welcome-to-varsity-wrestling moment for Julian Bertucci. The freshman 121-pounder found himself in a spot to clinch the match for Burrell and end a 10-match winning streak for Kiski Area in the battle of Alle-Kiski Valley rivals. Bertucci said there were some nerves, but he dug...