Jerin Steele stories, Page 24

A major focus for Kelin Laffey lately has been the mental side of wrestling. He has received advice and motivation from the Pine-Richland coaches on believing in himself and his abilities every time he steps onto the mat. Now, he has some tangible evidence to build confidence going into the...

Brandon Coury Class: Senior School: Burrell Sport: Basketball Report card: Coury scored 30 points, including 18 in the second quarter, to help Burrell earn a 53-45 win at Section 1-4A rival Deer Lakes. He is 120 points shy of 1,000 for his career. How’d it feel to help the team...

Rylen Campbell Class: Sophomore School: Plum Sport: Wrestling Report card: Campbell won the 106-pound title at the Southmoreland Holiday Classic on Tuesday. He was the sixth seed but worked his way through the bracket and upset top-seeded Ana Malovich of Butler via a pin in the second period in the...

For the majority of his coaching career, Terence Parham has favored a stack 2-3 zone defense, but this summer, he and his assistant Albie Fletcher made a change to their tactics. The Deer Lakes boys basketball team is employing a 1-3-1 zone, and early returns show it has been a...

Darren Miller already has had success at Bucknell, making the NCAA Championships as a sophomore last year, but he may be finding another level. That’s in part, because he feels he has found his proper weight class for optimal performance on the mat. Miller, a former state wrestling champ at...

Gage Johnston Class: Junior School: Apollo-Ridge Sport: Basketball Report card: Johnston scored 30 points, including 21 in the first half, to lead Apollo-Ridge to a 58-46 victory over Steel Valley on Tuesday to improve to 2-0 in Section 3-3A. He hit a half-dozen 3-pointers in the win. Johnston was the...

The Burrell hockey team already has exceeded its win total from last year, which is a sign of the progression since the PIHL season started in October. The Bucs won only three games in 2020-21 but this year have a 5-2 record. It’s a good start, but first-year coach Luke...

The record boards at the Pine-Richland natatorium had plenty of changes after last year with several new school marks set. Many of the record breakers are returning, and the Rams are looking forward to another exciting year in the pool. “I have 16 seniors this year, so it’s going to...

A pair of Pine-Richland football players, Jalen Klemm and Jeremiah Hasley, made their college commitments official during the early national signing day Wednesday. Klemm signed his letter of intent with Kansas State and Hasley signed with Duke. Klemm, an offensive lineman, committed to Kansas State on Dec. 9, choosing the...

Ryan Lang Class: Senior School: Knoch Sport: Basketball Report card: Lang surpassed 1,000 points for his career with a 39-point effort in a 66-52 win over Latrobe. He averaged 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists last year and was a Valley News Dispatch first-team all-star. How did it feel...

If someone told Kris Wright in November of 2019 that he’d be racing full time in NASCAR in three years, he would’ve told them they were crazy. That’s because he had just signed a deal to race in Formula 3 in Europe. Little did Wright or anyone else know in...

When mats need to be cleaned before practice, Pine-Richland wrestling coach Caleb Kolb doesn’t have to seek out a volunteer to get the mop out and start scrubbing. Jake Lukez and Joey Schneck get the job done without anyone on the coaching staff asking. It’s a small detail, but it’s...

As Pine-Richland girls basketball enters a new season, it has a bit of a good-news, bad-news situation. The good news is the Rams have four returning starters, two other returners with experience and a couple of newcomers who will provide help. The bad news is several of those players are...

It wasn’t an easy decision, but with family and work obligations increasing, Seth Napierkowski decided to step down as the Springdale football coach. After a five-year run with the Dynamos, Napierkowski submitted his resignation, and it was accepted by the Allegheny Valley School Board during Monday’s meeting. “It was something...

Burrell wrestling is looking to celebrate a “Sweet 16” this winter. If the 15-time defending WPIAL Class 2A champions are to continue their dominance, they’re going to have to replace a trio of talented wrestlers who graduated: champ A.J. Corrado, state runner-up Ian Oswalt and 24-match winner Aaron Edwards. With...

The Kiski Area wrestling team had some youth in its lineup last year, but it still was able to win the Section 1-3A title. The Cavaliers did lose a couple of key wrestlers to graduation in state medalists Sammy Starr and Braden Roscosky but have plenty of returners that are...

A good word to describe the St. Joseph girls basketball team is potential. The Spartans are a youthful group with only one senior, a bevy of sophomores and a freshman, but coach Dennis Jones feels they have the skill and size to be an intriguing team this winter. “We’re extremely...

Those who followed St. Joseph boys basketball the past four years were treated by Andrew Sullivan to some high-scoring performances, but his 1,000-plus point career ended last season. The challenge for the Spartans this winter is filling the vacuum of scoring Sullivan leaves behind. St. Joseph coach Hart Coleman feels...

The Pine-Richland Rams football team was well represented on the Class 5A Northeast Conference teams. Three offensive and three defensive players made first-team all-conference. Senior tackle Jalen Klemm, senior wide receiver Alex Gochis and junior wide receiver Andrew Mellis were the Rams that made first-team offense. Gochis had 48 receptions...

There are two major themes for the Pine-Richland boys basketball team this winter: They’re experienced and they won’t lack for motivation. The Rams have six seniors — Luke Shanahan, Joey Dudowski, Andrew Alexander, Andy Swartout, Jameson O’Toole and Nate Zavasky — who all played significant roles for a team that...

In one moment, Bishop Canevin went from potentially going up two scores to seeing Redbank Valley tie the game. It was a momentum stealer the Crusaders could not recover from. With the Crusaders driving inside the Redbank Valley 10 early in the third quarter, Chris Marshall intercepted a pass and...

Kiski Area girls basketball coach Nick Dizon likened his team learning and growing to building a puzzle. Once one piece is in place, it’s time to work on fitting in the next one. It’s the theme for the season for a young Cavaliers team rife with freshmen and sophomores that...

The excitement of his first season as the Kiski Area boys basketball coach hasn’t waned an ounce for Corey Smith since the day he was hired back in April. He’s accepted the task of restoring his Alma Mater’s hoops program into a formidable one after some lean years. The Cavaliers...

Coaches never want to use injuries as an excuse, and Pine-Richland football coach Steve Campos is no different in that regard. But what the Rams went through in terms of key players going down this season was something that Campos had never experienced in his long coaching career. The Rams...

Most days after arriving home from elementary school, Dan Mooney would hop off the bus, drop his backpack and jump right into the middle of a pickup hockey game. “My older brother (Tommy) and his friends would always be playing in the driveway,” Mooney said. “They didn’t have a goalie,...