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May 8, 2024

Riverside Clinches Section Title, Ellwood City’s Playoff Hopes Dashed

The Riverside baseball team completed its critical two-game sweep of Mohawk on Tuesday, earning a 9-4 road victory and clinching the Section 1-3A title. The Panthers (13-1 Overall, 11-1 Section 1-3A) used a three-run homerun by Darren McDade in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach. Riverside got on the board in the third inning, scoring four runs without the aid of a hit. Zach Hare was hit by a pitch and Sam Barber walked, each scoring a run and a fielders choice by McDade and fielding error plated two more Panthers runs in the inning. Mohawk…

May 6, 2024

Wolverines Outlast Shenango In 13 Innings; Hare Strikes Out 10, Homers For Panthers

In two pivotal playoff implicating match-ups on Monday, both local teams came out with big victories, putting more focus on Tuesday’s Class 3A-1 section games. Needing two victories over the Wildcats this week to earn a playoff berth, Ellwood City outlasted Shenango 6-3 in 13 innings Monday to earn the first victory in the two-game series. After a 3-3 game fell silent for five extra innings, Ellwood City used four consecutive singles, including two-run single by Jordan Keller in the top half of the 13th inning to pull away from the Wildcats. Wolverines starter Will Nardone helped his own cause…

May 6, 2024

Wolverines Track & Field Team Eyeing WPIAL Championships

After its qualifying victory last week at West Mifflin, the Ellwood City boys track and field team will turn its focus to the WPIAL Championships on Tuesday. The team earned its first-ever playoff win knocking off five foes in the qualifier last Thursday. The WPIAL Team AA Championships will be held at Peter’s Township Stadium: Confluence Financial Partners Stadium beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The Wolverines will face off against Hopewell, Quaker Valley and the reigning Class-2A champion Greensburg Central Catholic. The boys have had a successful season, winning the Tri County Championship, earning a second place finish at…

May 3, 2024

The Riverside Hall of Fame: Royann Winfield, Selfless Coach, Mentor to the End

NOTE: This is the third in a three-part series featuring The Riverside Hall of Fame’s first class, all coaches. The inductees will be honored at the First Annual Hall of Fame banquet at Shakespeare’s Restaurant this Saturday, May 4th, from 6 to 10 p.m. Attendees will celebrate the esteemed inaugural class of: Dan Oliastro, Karl Florie, and Royann Winfield. Royann Winfield was a fighter to the end. Whether it was standing in strong support of her students, or her residents at McGuire Memorial, or battling cancer, Royann simply refused to give up on herself or others. Her final season in…

May 2, 2024

PHOTOS: Ellwood City Boys’ Track And Field Advances To WPIAL Finals

The Ellwood City Boys’ Track And Field team is heading to the WPIAL 2A Finals next week after a dominating performance in Wednesday afternoon’s qualifying meet at West Mifflin High School. The Wolverines steamrolled its five foes Wednesday beating Riverview 84-66, West Mifflin 86-64, Knock 87.5-62.5 and Waynesburg Central 91-59. Bradley Custer collected 2nd place finishes in the 800m and 1600m runs and Nick Franitti collected 2nd place finishes in the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles.  Nick Wise took 2nd place in the 400m dash.  Nate Williams finished 1st overall in the long jump, adding a 2nd place finish in…

May 2, 2024

The Riverside Hall of Fame: Dan Oliastro, Winningest Coach in WPIAL History

NOTE: This is the second in a three-part series featuring The Riverside Hall of Fame’s first class, all coaches. The inductees will be honored at the First Annual Hall of Fame banquet at Shakespeare’s Restaurant this Saturday, May 4th, from 6 to 10 p.m. Attendees will celebrate the esteemed inaugural class of: Dan Oliastro, Karl Florie, and Royann Winfield. He may be the winningest coach in WPIAL history, but winning isn’t everything to Coach Dan Oliastro. “It’s more than just baseball,” he said. “One of the things you have to do is build relationships … good relationships with the kids.”…

May 1, 2024

The Riverside Hall of Fame: Karl Florie Built Powerhouse Team and Family of Football Players

NOTE: This is the first in a three-part series featuring The Riverside Hall of Fame’s first class, all coaches. The inductees will be honored at the First Annual Hall of Fame banquet at Shakespeare’s Restaurant this Saturday, May 4th, from 6 to 10 p.m. Attendees will celebrate the esteemed inagural class of: Dan Oliastro, Karl Florie, and Royann Winfield. Karl Florie, wasn’t the school board’s first choice to coach Riverside’s football program, but it came to pass that he was he was the right choice. Although his first season produced zero wins, he went on to build a program that became a powerhouse in…

April 26, 2024

McQuistion Shines, Wolverines Knock Off Rival Riverside

Amber McQuistion shined at the plate and on the mound Thursday, leading Ellwood City to a 5-2 victory over Riverside. McQuistion collected three hits, including a solo homerun, and three RBIs to power the offense and struck out nine Panthers in her complete game pitching performance. The Wolverines took the lead early by way of the second inning solo homer by McQuistion and never relinquished the lead. In the third, Keira Rozanski joined the bag trotting club, smacking a solo homer of her own to put Ellwood City ahead 2-0. The duo of McQuistion and Rozanski helped Ellwood City stretch…

April 25, 2024

EC Baseball Beats Laurel, Softball Blasts Beaver Falls

Both Ellwood City baseball and softball teams collected victories on Wednesday afternoon. The Wolverines baseball team defeated Laurel 10-8 at Sanders Field behind two doubles and a 4-RBI performance by catcher Jordan Keller. After Ellwood City posted three runs in the first inning, the Wolverines tacked on three more in the second inning as Keller doubled in a run and Aaron Lake smacked an RBI single. Lake finished with three singles and three RBIs on the afternoon. Ellwood City saw the lead stretch out to 10-2 after four innings and withstood a Laurel rally late to secure its non-section victory….

April 23, 2024

Fornataro Blasts Two Homeruns, Riverside Beats Quaker Valley

Panther slugger Bo Fornataro connected on two homeruns Monday afternoon as Riverside easily dismissed Quaker Valley 11-0 to stay unbeaten on its season. Fornataro blasted a three run homer as part of a Panthers seven run second inning outburst and swatted his second homerun just one inning later when Riverside added four more runs. After a scoreless first inning, the unbeaten Panthers erupted with seven runs aided by the Fornataro bomb and a three-run double by Ashton Schlosser. Darren McDade and Sean Hayes each collected RBIs in the frame for Riverside. In the third, Hunter Garvin followed up a 2-out…