Michael Love stories, Page 6

Joe Hohman may not be the biggest name in area basketball coaching circles, but the long-tenured varsity boys coach at St. Bernadette’s school in Monroeville, now Divine Mercy Academy, has built a successful winning resume for 35 years while also serving as a trusted mentor to hundreds of players who...

Player of the Year Sydney Selker Freeport, Senior, Pitcher When Sydney Selker was forced to miss the last half of her junior softball season because of injury, thoughts turned forward to this past spring and how she would rebound and be a driving force in getting Freeport back to the...

Lola Abraham enjoyed one of the most prolific high school careers in WPIAL girls soccer history, and that included a 2023 senior season when she scored 77 goals and added 20 assists to help lead the Riverview girls soccer team to the WPIAL and PIAA title games. A bevy of...

When Josh Shields stepped down as Burrell head wrestling coach a couple of weeks ago, he wanted to convey to the returning underclassmen that while he won’t have the same title, he wants to be present to help them reach their goals. “Hopefully, I will be able to volunteer at...

Temperatures hovered in the mid 80s under a setting sun as Team Gold and Team Black gathered Tuesday evening for a celebration of the 2024 WPIAL softball season. Many of the region’s best senior players tested their skill in the inaugural Western PA Softball All-Star Game, a relaxed and fun...

Last month, Jarrett Heilman entered the transfer portal after three successful seasons with the Mercyhurst baseball team and a fourth that never materialized because of an elbow injury and subsequent surgery. The Freeport graduate, the 2023 PSAC West Pitcher of the Year, now has a new home for his final...

Many of the top senior softball players in the WPIAL will gather Tuesday evening for an all-star game at Plum High School. The inaugural Western PA Softball All-Star Game between Team Gold and Team Black is set for 8 p.m., a change from the original 6 p.m. start time. Players...

The Gateway boys bowling team finished fourth overall at the Pennsylvania State Championships in March at Leisure Lanes in Lancaster. But it wasn’t the final event of the season for the team, which returned to Leisure Lanes on June 8-10 for the U.S. High School Bowling Foundation’s National Championships. “We...

The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball team concluded the 2023 season in the Pennsylvania state playoffs, capping a successful summer that saw them win 19 of 30 games. Post 820 started the run by surviving a rugged regular season and playoff tournament in the Westmoreland County League. Monroeville coach Mark Rawls...

Members of the Plum Junior League baseball team are playing a lot this month between their community team and travel baseball. It is keeping them on their toes, and second-year coach Markus Cestra hopes that by the end of the month, his team, with players mostly from seventh through 10th...

Gabe Norris and Michael Sullivan have been friends for close to 16 years as they got to know each other on the soccer pitch at 5 or 6 years of age. No matter the travels through life on and off the field, it has been a bond that’s hard to...

The high school bowling seasons for the Plum boys and girls teams and the Freeport girls team didn’t end in March at the state championships. All three extended their runs to this past weekend and faced the best from the country at the U.S. High School Bowling Foundation’s National Championships...

The Mars and Meadville boys volleyball teams entered Tuesday’s PIAA Class 2A semifinal winners of a combined 39 matches without a loss. Something had to give as the WPIAL champion Fightin’ Planets and District 10 champion Bulldogs met at Shenango High School with a trip to Saturday’s PIAA championship match...

Brookelyn Kotch, Josey Michalski, and Bailey Snowberger were the only three seniors on a rather young Norwin softball team that upended No. 1 Hempfield in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals before suffering a 4-3 extra-inning heartbreaker to No. 2 Seneca Valley in the title game. The Knights’ season came to...

The Burrell baseball team rose from the No. 14 seed for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs to a top-four finish while earning a PIAA tournament berth for the first time since 2010. The Bucs saw their postseason run end last Monday with a tough 7-3 first-round loss to District 10...

The 2023-24 school year featured a number of standout moments for the Gateway School District athletic programs. With section titles, WPIAL medals and trips to states, individuals and teams produced top results and raised the level of pride for those who support the Gators in black and gold. Here is...

Norwin rising junior Jakob Howard toed the rubber Friday morning at No Offseason Sports in Russelton and fired 10 to 12 pitches in front of more than 40 local and regional college coaches. A right ankle injury suffered a month ago during the high school season had healed, and, he...

Bentworth and Laurel met for the second time in two weeks Thursday in a PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal at Gateway. The first matchup went the way of the Bearcats in a low-scoring, one-run classic in the WPIAL semifinals. Monday’s rematch featured a few more runs — and a different result....

Plum athletic director Drew Karpen was not surprised with the number of student-athlete nominations for the Positive Athlete Western Pennsylvania Awards. A total of 30 from parents, coaches, community members and school administrators were given to Positive Athlete, and that number, in addition to the positive quality of the stories...

Carlo Buzzatto graduates Thursday with the Riverview Class of 2024. It closes one chapter of his life before he makes the transition to St. Francis (Pa.). But before he heads to the Loretto campus and joins the Red Flash football team, he will get the chance to represent the United...

The Burrell baseball team went down swinging in the seventh inning of Monday’s PIAA Class 3A first-round game against District 10 champion Fairview at Mercyhurst. Down by seven, the Bucs tallied three runs on three hits in the final inning off of Tigers reliever Aari Fox and had two runners...

Current Burrell baseball players were 4 years old or younger when the program made its most recent trip to the PIAA playoffs. The year was 2010, and the Bucs, the WPIAL Class 2A runner-up to Beaver Falls, won a first-round contest at Slippery Rock over District 10 Sharpsville. Burrell returns...

Last year, Dino Nadarevic didn’t make the WPIAL championship meet as he was starting out throwing the shot put and discus in his first season with the Gateway track and field team. It’s been a whole new ballgame for Nadarevic this spring, and this season of firsts concluded May 24-25...

In a way, it was déjà vu for Gateway in the PIAA Class 3A doubles tournament at the Hershey Racquet Club. Last year, the Gators team of Zidaan Hassan and Adam Memije made it to the semifinals where the duo fell to the twin-brother combination of Aidan and Tyler Mahaffey...

Members of the Riverview track and field teams competed in five events at the PIAA Class 2A championships in Shippensburg, and the boys 3,200-meter relay came the closest to making it onto the medals podium. Junior Holden Deasy, sophomore Braden Longstreth and juniors Christopher Barnes and Micah Ivy came in...