Jerin Steele stories, Page 2

Erik Kidwell’s journey to coaching started with trying to sign up his son Hayden for the Valley boys soccer team. That’s when they found out the school didn’t have a team. The program went dormant but since has been revived. After a three-year hiatus, the Vikings are back to playing...

After four years at the helm of the Pine-Richland boys soccer program, Jordan Wiegand has decided to pull double duty this fall and coach the Rams’ girls program as well. It’ll be a unique challenge to balance, which Wiegand has a plan for, but how impressive the Rams girls have...

After reaching the summit of WPIAL Class 4A boys soccer in 2022, Pine-Richland went into its title defense with a much younger group and narrowly missed out on the postseason. But Rams coach Jordan Wiegand looks at the positives that came from it, which included gaining experience in one of...

One pick-6 in a quarter is a momentum shifter, but two? That is typically a game changer. And that was the case for Bethel Park on Friday night. Jack Bruckner and William Sabatos each intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown in the first quarter to set the...

It was another strong regular season for the Deer Lakes boys soccer team that concluded with a section title, but its reign as defending WPIAL champs didn’t last as long as they wanted. The Lancers were stunned 4-0 by Hopewell in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs....

At the beginning of Plum’s football practices, Darian Nelson is one of the vocal leaders, counting out with a booming voice while everyone stretches. Nelson has been playing on both sides of the ball since he was a freshman and has learned from the older guys along the way. Now...

In about five minutes of second half stoppage time the Pittsburgh Riverhounds went from jubilation to the sensation of a gut punch. Sean Suber’s header into the net 25 seconds into the five minutes of added time gave the Hounds the lead, but they couldn’t see it out. Colorado Springs’...

Colt Sprankle is probably the only current WPIAL quarterback to appear on a nationally televised game show. Sprankle and his family appeared on two episodes of “Family Feud” in April. It wasn’t long before those shows that he entered a new school, transferring from Armstrong to Knoch. There haven’t been...

The announcement for the 2024 Pine-Richland Sports Hall of Fame class was made a few weeks earlier, but John Falvo had no idea he was included. That was until he received a phone call from a family member. “Nobody knew where I was or my phone number, so they were...

Sean Selinger is a lead-by-example type, which is a trait that runs in the family. It’s the method his older brother Conor used when he was a senior, and he is trying to emulate it as he gets ready to play his final season at Freeport. Leadership is a role...

A young Freeport football team took its lumps last year in a season that ended with a 3-7 record and a rare playoff miss. The Yellowjackets are still young on paper for 2024 with the majority of the team being juniors, but they are more experienced. Now the goal is...

In coach Shawn Liotta’s first season at Burrell in 2018, he had 18 players come out for the team. Seven years later, he’s able to put down 60 names on the roster, which is a testament to what he and his coaching staff have built. Of those 60 kids, only...

As the quarterback in Burrell’s Slot-T offense, Steve Hasson is the conductor. He isn’t asked to throw the ball as much as most high school quarterbacks, having only 69 pass attempts last season, but he orchestrates the play calls, making reads to get the handoff to the right ball carrier....

Knoch football experienced a renaissance last season. After nearly a decade of playoff misses, the Knights broke through by contending for a conference title and getting back to the WPIAL postseason. There’s plenty of players returning and some new additions, and they’ll look to repeat the same success while moving...

A scoreless draw to end a stretch of three games in eight days like the one the Pittsburgh Riverhounds had Saturday night at Highmark Stadium may seem like an acceptable result in most circumstances. Especially since they were the stronger side statistically. But going up against a San Antonio FC...

Jamel (Nicholas) Debri hasn’t been back to Pine-Richland since she graduated nearly two decades ago, but before going to Notre Dame, she left her imprint on the Rams’ volleyball program. Debri was a standout on Pine-Richland’s only state championship volleyball team in 2005 and is one of the members of...

Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 23. In his first two years at Pine-Richland, Jon LeDonne has guided the Rams to the WPIAL championship game. Following the WPIAL and state title run in...

The last three realignment cycles have brought change for the Plum football team. They went from Class 4A in 2020-21, to 5A in 2022-23 and are in 5A again this cycle, but they have an almost brand new slate of conference opponents for which to prepare. After being in the...

Dale Mollenhauer lived a childhood dream by playing professional baseball for five years, but before that he helped build the foundation at Pine-Richland. Mollenhauer was a senior and key contributor to the Rams’ first WPIAL baseball championship team in 2005. Now he has a place in the Pine-Richland Athletic Hall...

What could have been nine straight points turned into seven for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in a not too unfamiliar fashion for this season. They got an early goal, which resembled the last two wins, but the rest of the night was akin to a major chunk of the year with...

Rico Abreu didn’t know he had an extra $4,000 on the line if he could win from his eighth-place starting spot, but he certainly drove like it. Abreu had to survive a wild feature and had a little bit of luck on his side when James McFadden and Tyler Courtney...

Jacob Begenwald will have the shortest commute to Lernerville Speedway of any sprint car driver entering the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup on Tuesday. He lives in Buffalo Estates, which is located across from the track in Buffalo Township, and now that he successfully passed his driver’s license test Thursday...

After seeing Hartford Athletic score twice in the first 20 minutes of a loss last month, Pittsburgh Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley implored his team to step on the pedal early in Saturday’s rematch. The Hounds responded by scoring three times in the first 21 minutes and turned the tables on...

Owen Long loves wrestling and appreciates any opportunity he can to share his passion with others. So, when Pine-Richland coach Ian Abplanalp approached the team about spending the day teaching the sport to visually impaired kids at the Envision Blind Sports Camp in Erie, he immediately volunteered to help. Long...

A 5-0 shellacking of Oakland Roots SC on Saturday night was a welcomed reprieve for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in what has been the most challenging season in Bob Lilley’s time at the club. It ended a 10-game winless streak in USL Championship play where the Hounds went 0-6-4 and had...