Michael Love stories, Page 22

In past fall seasons, female golfers at Plum would get their opportunity to compete, but they would have to share the course with their Mustangs male counterparts and challenge for positions in the starting lineup. That started to change last year when a group of Plum girls gathered to test...

It wasn’t easy — Raf Kolankowski would be the first one to say it never is — but the Plum boys soccer team passed all of its tests in the first cycle of Section 4-3A play and sits at the top of the standings in its quest for another section...

The Gateway football team is hitting its stride at the right time. The Gators improved to 2-0 in the Big East Conference on Friday at Plum after their three nonconference setbacks to start the season. Brad Birch threw for 358 yards and two touchdowns, Jaquon Reynolds added three short TD...

Jennifer Bigham won the City of Pittsburgh Great Race in 2016, 2017, 2019 and last year, and she hopes to add win No. 5 on Sunday. Bigham has become one of the fastest masters runners in the country, winning the 2022 USA Masters Half Marathon Championship and USA Masters One...

The Riverview girls soccer team rode a wave of momentum into its Section 1-A clash with unbeaten rival Springdale on Thursday. The Dynamos came in 6-0 overall and ranked No. 1 by TribLive HSSN, but the homestanding Raiders had won seven in a row. In front of a large homecoming...

Michael Braun was the seventh-fastest underclassmen and the third fastest sophomore at last year’s WPIAL Class 2A cross country championships at Cal U (Pa.). The Freeport junior placed 11th overall, an improvement of 20 places from his WPIAL debut in 2021. He also ran at the PIAA championships in Hershey...

Player of the week Derek Burk Deer Lakes, Sr., QB Deer Lakes won its third in a row with a 48-14 nonconference win over Greensburg Salem last Friday, and Lancers senior Derek Burk’s influence was all over the victory. Burk completed 11 of 12 passes for 251 yards and five...

Leechburg returns home Friday hoping to add a second Eastern Conference victory. The Blue Devils, 3-1 overall after last week’s 48-25 victory at Springdale, also hope to add a first-ever win over a team that has been a dominant force in the conference. Clairton has won 28 of the 29...

A decade before Jon LeDonne became a head football coach in the WPIAL, he made an impact on the field at Robert Morris University. The four-year Colonials letterman finished his career as one of the all-time RMU leaders in career tackles with 256. LeDonne, an Aliquippa native, earned numerous athletic...

The Springdale girls soccer team is the hunted this season coming off of what it did last year as a WPIAL Class A finalist and a PIAA quarterfinalist. The Dynamos, the No. 1 team this week in the TribLive HSSN Class A rankings, also is a team with a target...

Plum swept Baldwin in a doubleheader Sunday to remain the lone unbeaten slow-pitch team in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League. The Mustangs scored a combined 37 runs in the two games against the Highlanders and have outscored their opponents 104-24 through six games. North Allegheny and Mt. Lebanon split...

The Plum and Franklin Regional girls soccer teams met twice last year in section play, resuming a local rivalry that was dormant for three years. The Mustangs swept the Panthers en route to their fourth straight section championship. Franklin Regional hoped to change that narrative Monday evening at home as...

North Allegheny, Hampton, Freeport and Bishop Canevin each held on to their No. 1 rankings in the latest Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association WPIAL girls top-10 polls released Monday morning. There was a shakeup near the top in Class A as Frazier moved up to No. 2 from its No....

Gateway girls soccer coach Caleb Kyper said his players were a little shell-shocked after a 6-0 loss to Plum, a 2022 WPIAL semifinalist and PIAA qualifier, in the season and Section 3-3A opener Aug. 28. The Gators had a quick turnaround against Penn Hills just two days later, and Kyper...

The Gateway boys soccer team has been up and down and everywhere in between so far in Section 4-3A play. They took care of business against Penn Hills and McKeesport, suffered tough losses to section powers Franklin Regional and Plum, and forged a key tie against a Penn-Trafford team they...

The Riverview girls soccer team couldn’t ask for a bigger opportunity Thursday evening under the lights at Riverside Park. The Raiders, who have jumped out to a 4-1 record in Section 1-A play, will face rival Springdale, the No. 1 team in the Trib HSSN Class A rankings and last...

With new starters all over the field and other younger players getting their first taste of varsity experience, Plum girls soccer coach Jamie Stewart said he likes what he has seen out of his players in the early going as they hope to build off a strong start both in...

The Plum boys golf team qualified for the WPIAL Class 3A team playoffs last season for the first time since 2013. The Mustangs made an impact in the first round and advanced to the finals. Several of the players from that team returned with a repeat performance in mind, and...

When it comes to conference play in the WPIAL, the win is the thing, and Burrell delivered a victory in dramatic fashion Friday against Serra Catholic at Buccaneer Stadium in the Allegheny Conference opener for both teams. Senior Tyler Maglisco scored from 5 yards out in the latter stages of...

Springdale possessed the football early in the fourth quarter down two possessions against Leechburg in both teams’ Eastern Conference opener Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Springdale. But the Blue Devils defense forced a Dynamos punt, and the Leechburg offense tallied two scores to pull away and finish off...

Three is the magic number for Eliza Miller. The Kiski Area senior captured her third Kiski Invitational varsity girls cross country title Friday morning at Northmoreland Park. In near perfect weather conditions with sunny skies and temperatures near 70 at race time, Miller ran to a time of 18 minutes,...

The Plum boys golf team snapped an eight-year WPIAL team playoff drought last year by finishing second to Central Catholic in Section 4-3A. The Mustangs took advantage of their opportunity in the first round at Beaver Valley Golf Club and earned a spot in the finals. Kiski Area hopes to...

For the Highlands football team, the road to the WPIAL playoffs kicks into high gear Friday. After three victories in nonconference play to start the season, the Golden Rams open Greater Allegheny Conference action on the road at perennial playoff contender North Catholic (1-2). Highlands coach Matt Bonislawski knows what...

Player of the Week Devin Beattie Burrell, Sr., RB/LB Devin Beattie was questionable to play Friday against Valley after suffering an injury two weeks ago in the loss at Deer Lakes. But the bruising runner wasn’t going to stand on the sidelines and not play against the rival Vikings. Beattie...

The Freeport girls soccer team earned a WPIAL playoff berth last year for the 10th season in a row. Only Plum, with 11, has a longer streak in the Alle-Kiski Valley. The Yellowjackets lost eight seniors from a team that finished second in a competitive Section 2-2A with 10 victories,...