Jerin Steele stories, Page 40

Nick Stotler enjoyed playing baseball at Lock Haven, but when he graduated last year with a degree in business administration and the school didn’t offer an MBA program, he had to look elsewhere. Stotler, a Plum native, still had one year of eligibility remaining, so he started looking to see...

Catcher and shortstop aren’t typically positions where the same player is listed at the top of the depth chart, but Matt Swartz is not a typical player. When Swartz, a Freeport graduate, isn’t wearing the “tools of ignorance” and crouching behind home plate for IUP, he finds himself standing between...

For the second year in a row the Penn-Trafford boys and girls track teams have small rosters, but that doesn’t mean there is a shortage of talent. Being low on numbers will make it tough to score enough points to win meets, but the Warriors have several athletes who plan...

The Penn-Trafford boys volleyball team jumped right into the thick of an intense battle in its season opener Tuesday night, and that was exactly what Warriors coach Jim Schall wanted to see to get a better handle on his team. The Warriors battled back two deficits before losing 3-2 to...

Kiski Valley boys rugby coach Seth Erwin was already excited about the group he had returning from a team that was the state runner-up last year, and then he received some news in the offseason that made his roster even stronger. The Burrell Buckheads decided to suspend their team for...

Deer Lakes boys volleyball coach Brady Schuller said he had a couple of curveballs thrown his way last year with some injuries to key players in a season that ended one win short of a second consecutive PIAA playoff berth. This year the metaphorical pitch is more like a changeup....

North Allegheny rolled into the second intermission break on the back of two late goals that got the Tigers tied with La Salle and looked to continue the momentum when they received a power play early in the third. That’s when a series of unfortunate events happened. The Tigers had...

Jalen Brown paused a moment before describing the impact his mother, Eve VanDyke, has had on his life and his basketball career. “She’s meant everything to me,” he said. “She’s been there for me through the good times and all the bad times.” VanDyke has never missed one of Brown’s...

Springdale softball coach Anthony Pototo pointed to a few factors that went against his team last season: poor weather, a lack of pitching depth and a young team. Cancellations for poor weather led to playing section games three days in a row or having to resort to doubleheaders, and the...

After each practice, Springdale baseball coach Brett Burger tells his team to “be better tomorrow than they were today.” Some players like Dynamos first baseman Garrett Apuzzo are taking a liking to that message. “That’s a good way to look at things,” Apuzzo said. “I mean if you focus on...

With the score tied in the third period, Burrell had the ice tilted in its favor and fired a bunch of shots on goal, but Ringgold goalie Evan Cook answered each time. When the Rams finally got some sustained pressure late in the period, Justin Day made sure it would...

There isn’t any question that Penn-Trafford baseball lost some talented players to graduation with all five departed seniors going on to play in college. The good news, however, is that a deep team chock-full of varsity experience returns and is ready to shoulder the load. Josh Spiegel (Oklahoma State), Zach...

PIHL Penguins Cup Class AAA Championship Peters Township (16-3-1) vs. North Allegheny (16-4) 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Cranberry How they got here: Peters Township: def. Mt. Lebanon, 3-2, in double overtime in the semifinals and def. Canon-McMillan, 3-0, in the quarterfinals. North Allegheny: def. Bethel Park,...

PIHL Penguins Cup Class A championship Montour (20-1) vs. South Fayette (19-2) 6 p.m. Tuesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Cranberry How they got here: Montour: def. Thomas Jefferson, 6-5, in overtime in the semifinals; def. South Park, 6-3, in the quarterfinals; and def. Greensburg Salem, 14-1, in the first...

When new alignments came out, Penn-Trafford softball coach Denny Little looked at who was going to be in the Warriors’ section and came to a quick conclusion. “Someone isn’t going to be happy at the end of the season,” he said. With Class 6A runner-up Latrobe and Class 5A playoff...

PIHL Penguins Cup Class AA Championship Pine-Richland (20-0-1) vs. Upper St. Clair (16-3-2) 8:30 p.m. Monday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex How they got here: Pine-Richland: def. Latrobe, 5-2, in the semifinals and Hempfield, 8-4, in the quarterfinals. Upper St. Clair: def. Franklin Regional, 9-8, in overtime in the semifinals...

For a half, Pine-Richland controlled the pace with a slow down offense and shot well enough from beyond the arc to go into halftime down only five to Class 6A’s No. 1 team, Kennedy Catholic. But eventually the size advantage and overall strength of the Eagles, led by 6-foot-9 West...

Class AA semifinals Latrobe (15-4-1) vs. Pine-Richland (19-0-1) 7 p.m. Wednesday at RMU Island Sports Center, Neville Island Winner plays: Franklin Regional (12-6-1) or Upper St. Clair (15-3-2) at 8:30 p.m. March 18 at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Cranberry Township Goals for/against: Latrobe, 92/41; Pine-Richland, 120/36 About Latrobe: Latrobe had...

Gateway coach Ryan Sula saw improvement from Evan Whiteside in every area of his wrestling, but the one thing that stood out the most was the growing confidence in his 113-pound junior. A specific example came after a tough 11-2 major decision loss to Latrobe’s Marino Angelicchio in the third-place...

As a freshman this year, Plum’s Vinny Citrano believed in himself every time he stepped on a mat, and it showed in his results. But before his first match at the WPIAL individual championships Feb. 28, the magnitude of the event set in. “There were definitely some butterflies in my...

After Tyler Stewart skated around three Trinity players before depositing the puck into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the game midway through the third period, Burrell hockey coach Max Rickard said he looked at one of his assistant coaches and just shook his head. Even...

Tim McConnell thought back to eight years ago when he said someone made a comment to him that one day he’d coach his daughter, Megan. “I told them I would never coach girls basketball,” he said. He’s glad he was wrong. In his first season as the Colts girls coach,...

Hempfield controlled zone time, puck possession and outshot Quaker Valley by 26 shots through the first two periods, but due to giving up some odd-man breaks, the Spartans found themselves with only a one-goal lead heading into the intermission. During the break, Spartans coach Denny Zeravica told his players to...

After Seton LaSalle had a good second quarter to cut its deficit to seven points going into halftime, Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said he gave his team a brief history lesson on what can happen if you let an opponent keep the game close. His players responded by running...

After Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann finished his instructions for an inbounds play during a time out with the score tied and five seconds remaining, Colin Luellen reminded everyone to go hard for the rebound if there was a missed shot. Luellen followed his own advice and found a rebound to...