Michael Love stories, Page 96
Beaver shuts down Knoch, earns spot in Class 4A girls title game
The Beaver girls basketball team is back in familiar territory. The Bobcats will play for a WPIAL championship for the second year in a row. Behind a game-best 22 points from senior point guard Emma Pavelek, Beaver limited Knoch on the scoreboard and came away with a 40-22 victory in...
Western Pa. individual swimmers, relays discover fates for PIAA championships
Swimmers from Alle-Kiski Valley and Westmoreland County schools brought home eight WPIAL Class AAA and Class AA titles from this past weekend’s swimming championships at Upper St. Clair High School. With those titles came automatic bids to the PIAA championships, set for March 19-20, at Cumberland Valley High School. Claiming...
Fox Chapel’s Sophie Shao defends WPIAL title in 100 butterfly
A change of location didn’t deter Sophie Shao’s goal of defending her WPIAL Class AAA girls 100-yard butterfly championship. Covid-related capacity limitations forced the WPIAL to move Sunday’s meet from Pitt’s Trees Pool to Upper St. Clair High School. But the Fox Chapel sophomore, who already had a WPIAL title...
Gateway boys build confidence after WPIAL playoff victory
Gateway boys basketball coach Alvis Rogers appreciated the spirited atmosphere that an increased number of fans, including student sections, brought to the Gators’ WPIAL Class 5A first-round game against Albert Gallatin last Wednesday at the Furrie Sports Complex. Two days earlier, the Gov. Tom Wolf administration raised gathering limits on...
Up-and-down season provides ‘learning experiences’ for Gateway girls
The Gateway girls basketball team hoped for good things from their WPIAL Class 5A preliminary-round game March 1 at Mars. Despite a spirited effort, which included a rally from a double-digit deficit, the Planets pulled away for a 47-33 victory that ended the Gators’ season at 7-11. “We started off...
Fox Chapel freshman makes mark at WPIAL championships
Whether it was a sprint or a more measured pace, Zachary Zornan-Ferguson was able to shine in his WPIAL swimming championship debut Sunday at Upper St. Clair High School. The Fox Chapel freshman recorded a pair of second-place finishes in opposite events: the 50-yard freestyle and 500 free. He first...
Belle Vernon’s Shahan claims 2 more WPIAL individual championshipsVideo
Ian Shahan found himself in seventh heaven at Saturday’s WPIAL Class AA swimming championships at Upper St. Clair High School. The Belle Vernon senior and Army commit captured his sixth and seventh individual titles: the 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly. He joined Southmoreland sophomore Henry Miller (100 breaststroke) and the...
Freeport’s Schrecongost sets school record at WPIAL championshipsVideo
Alexis Schrecongost finished third in the WPIAL Class AA 100-yard breaststroke as a freshman and placed fourth last season. She battled both years but fell just short against the likes of graduates Heather Gardner from Mt. Pleasant, Rachel Blackburn from Highlands and Harley Kessler from Indiana. The Freeport junior didn’t...
Plum basketball teams enjoy playoff success before bowing out
For the Plum girls basketball team, joy at winning the program’s first playoff game since 2002 on March 1 turned to disappointment the next day as covid issues forced the Mustangs to bow out of the WPIAL Class 5A tournament ahead of a first-round matchup against No. 2 Chartiers Valley....
Experience helps Plum’s Kvortek capture WPIAL gymnastics gold medal in bars event
When Sarah Kvortek placed fifth on bars at last year’s WPIAL individual gymnastics championships at Moon High School, her sights quickly were set on soon rising to the top of the medals podium. The Plum sophomore fulfilled that title goal Feb. 27 as her return to WPIALs brought championship gold...
WPIAL’s top swimmers gear up for this weekend’s championship meets
Josh Matheny never thought he would be in position to win a WPIAL swimming championship in his home pool. But the Upper St. Clair senior, the three-time defending Class AAA boys champion in the 100-yard breaststroke, will have that chance Sunday as the meet comes to Upper St. Clair High...
Fox Chapel holds off Penn Hills in WPIAL Class 5A clash
Fox Chapel walked the line in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s WPIAL Class 5A first-round girls basketball game against Penn Hills. All nine of the Foxes’ points over the final eight minutes came on free throws. It was enough to produce a 39-34 victory over the Indians and send them...
Shady Side Academy betters Apollo-Ridge for 3rd time this season
After a pair of regular-season losses to Section 3-3A rival Shady Side Academy, the Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team hoped the third meeting would be the charm Thursday in a WPIAL first-round game at Fox Chapel. But the No. 3 Bulldogs (14-2) didn’t let the 14th-seeded Vikings taste postseason victory at...
Fox Chapel swimmers lead A-K Valley contingent into WPIAL championship meet
Fox Chapel’s Talia Bugel made the most of her freshman swimming season. That included two individual medals — a third in the 100-yard backstroke and a sixth in the 50 freestyle — at the WPIAL Class AAA championships. Now a sophomore, Bugel is back in both and highly seeded for...
A-K Valley basketball playoff capsules: Games for Friday, March 5, 2021
Here’s a look at Friday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving A-K Valley teams: Boys Quarterfinals Class 6A 7-North Allegheny (16-6) at 2-Fox Chapel (19-2) 6 p.m. Friday Coaches: Dan DeRose, North Allegheny; Zach Skrinjar, Fox Chapel Winner plays: Winner of 6-Pine Richland (12-5) at 3-Hempfield (12-5), 6 p.m. Tuesday About...
A-K Valley basketball playoff capsules: Games for Thursday, March 4, 2021
Here’s a look at Thursday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving A-K Valley teams: Boys First round Class 4A 11-Burrell (9-9) at 6-Central Valley (10-5) 6 p.m. Thursday Coaches: Mike Fantuzzo, Burrell; Brandon Ambrose, Central Valley Winner plays: Winner of 19-Beaver (2-16) at 3-Montour (12-7), 6 p.m. Monday About Burrell: After...
Sophomore scorer sparks Mt. Pleasant girls in overtime win over Freeport
Survive and advance. That is what the Mt. Pleasant girls basketball team did Tuesday evening in a WPIAL Class 4A first-round game against No. 6 Freeport. The No. 11 Vikings rallied from six points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime. They outscored the Yellowjackets 7-0 in the extra...
Plum girls pull away from Lincoln Park, earn program’s 2nd playoff win
For just the second time in program history, the Plum girls basketball team owns a WPIAL playoff victory. Behind a game-high 19 points from senior Kennedie Montue, the Mustangs pulled away from Lincoln Park for a 44-31 WPIAL Class 5A preliminary-round victory Monday at Plum. “We knew Lincoln Park was...
After battling cancer, Freeport’s Garrett King eager to get back on field
In one week, the Freeport boys lacrosse team begins practice, and junior Garrett King with be there ready to work. “Lacrosse is so much fun for me,” the Yellowjackets multisport athlete said. “It is a change of pace from football. There’s so much running, and it keeps me in great...
Gateway swimmers take aim at WPIAL success
Gateway boys and girls swimmers are making final preparations for Sunday’s WPIAL Class AAA championships at Upper St. Clair. After a month and a half of meets and numerous qualifying attempts, the Gators found out last week where they would be situated for both individual and relay events. A number...
Gateway’s Holl looks forward to coaching in East-West all-star game
For the first time in the nearly two decades of the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association’s East-West Classic, there will be two games celebrating many of the state’s top players. One game will involve the smaller schools — Classes A-3A — with the other featuring talent from Classes 4A-6A. Gateway...
WPIAL’s Finest distance relay takes 2nd at national indoor track championships
WPIAL’s Finest almost was the finest in the nation. The 3,200-meter relay grouping of Greensburg Salem’s Quintin Gatons, Knoch senior Mike Formica, Riverside senior Colby Belczyk and Deer Lakes junior Carson McCoy finished second in the championship race Saturday at Adidas Nationals in Virginia Beach, Va. The team, which came...
Plum grad Maria Lawhorne making most of shortened season at W&J
In November, the Presidents’ Athletic Conference released a return-to-competition plan for the spring 2021 semester. Plum graduate Maria Lawhorne, a senior on the women’s basketball team at Washington & Jefferson, was encouraged as she completed remote-learning classes for the fall semester. “It was challenging and definitely not something I was...
Plum swimmers seeking success at WPIAL championship meet
The Plum boys and girls swim teams are making final preparations for this weekend’s WPIAL Class AAA and AA championships at Upper St. Clair High School. After a month and a half of meets and numerous qualifying attempts, the Mustangs swimmers found out last week where they would be situated...
Inaugural Willie Thrower Award to honor football pioneer, recognize top WPIAL QB
Willie Thrower established himself as a top-level quarterback at New Kensington High School in the 1940s before making his mark in college at Michigan State and making history as the first Black quarterback in the NFL. More than a half century after he worked to break color barriers in the...
