Local Sports

COACH TALK: Riverside Track & Field – Boys Look To Defend, Girls Look To Improve

The Riverside Panthers track & field teams begin their 2022 campaigns with areas of focus and improvement for each with some notable individual athletes set to return. For the boys, defending their WPIAL championship streak will be a point of focus under their new head coach while the girls have high expectations as well and hope to contend for section and playoff titles. RIVERSIDE BOYS TRACK & FIELD The four-time defending WPIAL champion Panthers Boys Track & Field team will be led by a new face this spring. Chelsea Kordecki takes over as Riverside head coach after the retirement of…


Panthers Shut Out New Brighton, Coach Oliastro Sets Historical Mark

Three Panther pitchers combined to shut out New Brighton 6-0 Wednesday afternoon, earning the team its second victory of the young season and head coach Dan Oliastro a historical mark – 656 career victories, most in WPIAL History. After striking for the games first run in the fourth inning, Riverside slugger Bo Fornataro launched a homerun in the fifth inning to stake the host Panthers to a 2-0 advantage. Riverside added four runs in the sixth inning. Madden Boehm, Ashton Schlosser, and Fornataro all drove in runs in the pivotal inning. Christian Lucarelli got the win for Riverside. He surrendered…


COACH TALK: Ellwood City Track Under New Tutelage

The Ellwood City Track & Field team will be under new tutelage this spring and the group of athletes will look to overcome a bit of adversity. $3.3 million dollars in renovations for Helling Stadium will begin in April. The work includes the installation of a new artificial turf field, new lighting, and a completely redone track. Work that will uproot the Wolverines from a home track, forcing practices to be held at neighboring Riverside’s track facility and all meets to be on the road this season, but none of that will affect the team’s performance according to new coach…


COACH TALK: RHS Softball Building On Success, Baseball Looks To Continue Playoff Streak

Riverside baseball and softball teams both earned playoff berths last season, albeit in the short form of opening round defeats, but this year each program will look to continue to build on their successes RIVERSIDE SOFTBALL: Head coach Gerilynn Cummings has high expectations for her softball squad this year, with a little bit of fine tuning in order. “Now that we’ve gone through the rebuilding process, we’re looking to fine tune the girls,” says Cummings. “The majority have Varsity experience. We’re looking to put the best nine players on the field to give us the best chance to win.” Riverside…


Wolverines Softball Wins Opener, Defeats New Brighton 17-1

The Lady Wolverines opened up their season with a convincing 17-1 victory over New Brighton on Friday afternoon. The game was halted after 5 innings due to the mercy rule. The offense banged out 13 hits on the day. Kyla Servick led the way with 3 hits including a triple. Julia Nardone, Aliya Garroway, and Paige Wearing each had two hits apiece. Angie Nardone, Molly Street, Ellie Kalantzis, and Sara Schwarz rounded out the hit parade with singles. Julia Nardone got the win in the circle as she fired a one hitter. She fanned 8 and walked 2 in the…


COACH TALK: Ellwood City Baseball & Softball Teams Look To Build On Success

Ellwood City baseball and softball teams each earned WPIAL playoffs berths last year and each program will look to continue to build on last year’s success in their respective 2022 campaigns. WOLVERINES BASEBALL: For second-year head coach Chris Weisz, an encouraging 2021 campaign may have laid building blocks for another successful season this spring. “I thought we shocked a lot of people,” says Weisz. “Most people had us finishing 4th or 5th in the section.” The Wolverines (7-3 Section 1-3A, 10-11 overall) finished second in the section and earned a playoff berth in Weisz first campaign. The second place finish…


Ellwood City Boys Tennis Knocks Off Rival Riverside

The Ellwood City Boys Tennis team knocked off its rival Riverside Monday afternoon in Ewing Park. The Wolverines defeated the visiting Panthers 4-1 to improve its record to 2-0 on the young campaign. Grady Smith (6-0, 6-1) and Anthony DiBuono (6-1, 6-0) collected victories in singles matches while the pairings of Daniel Rogers & Ryan Odom (6-4, 6-4) and Hunter Rock & Ayden Frisk (6-4, 6-1) swept doubles. Hunter Farnsworth (6-1, 6-1) collected a singles victory for Riverside in defeat. The Wolverines next host Ambridge on Monday, March 28 with a match set to begin a 3:30 p.m. at the…


Riverside Claims PIAA State Relay Championships; Roth Sets State Record

Led by two relay state titles and a dominating individual performance by Joseph Roth, Riverside finished second overall in the Class-2A PIAA Swimming Championships at Bucknell University. On Friday, the Panther relay team collected a state title in the 200-yard freestyle relay.  The team, consisting of Ryan Turner, Sam Kline, and brothers Joseph and Alexander Roth, finished with a time of 1:25.86 with individual splits of 21.24 (J. Roth) 21.39 (Kline) 22.07 (Turner) 21.16 (A. Roth). The fearsome foursome collected its second state title on Saturday with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay.  The first place time of 3:09.95…


Wilmington Hockey Season Ends In PIHL Semifinals Loss

The Wilmington hockey team’s season came to an end with a 5-1 loss at the hands of top seeded Bishop Canevin in the PIHL Division 2 semi-finals at Robert Morris University Island Sports Center Thursday evening. Wilmington (#5 seed) earned the right to face the Crusaders in the semis with an upset win over 4-seeded a Carrick team last week [VIEW BOX SCORE]. Bishop Canevin got on the scoreboard first with a goal in the opening moments of the first period, but the Hounds responded with the tying tally on a goal by Andrew Cartwright (Union) assisted by Tyler Girman…


Riverside Archery Team Headed to Nationals in Kentucky

Riverside Archery is Right on Target. The team has been at Riverside for four years now and recently attended the state competition where the high school team placed 6th. The next stop is Nationals in Louisville, KY. We are all very proud of our archers and are very excited to compete in Kentucky in May,” said said Angela Conner, head coach. “In 4 years we have exceeded what we ever thought possible but the hard work and diligence of these archers have proven we are Riverside strong and can’t wait to see what our archers do at Nationals!” The High School…