High school girls flag football entered a new era this spring under the direction of the WPIAL and PIAA.
Gateway is under that umbrella, and a youthful Gators squad is making its way through the early season with five games under its belt.
The Gators opened the season March 18 with two wins at Cupples Stadium, topping Allderdice, 36-6, and Perry, 19-12.
They then fell to Plum, 21-0, on March 20 and Oakland Catholic, 40-0, on March 24 before a 43-18 loss to Latrobe on March 28.
“We have an incredibly young team as two-thirds of them are first-year players,” coach Haley Adams said.
“We had a tough gauntlet to start the season, but looking ahead, we are excited about the opportunity to win games.”
Adams said she was proud of her players for their effort against a Latrobe team, she said, which has been dominant in the early season.
The Gators and Wildcats were tied at 12 at halftime.
“To put it in perspective, they beat a conference opponent 75-0,” Adams said.
“We fell 43-18 in the end, but the way our girls competed in that first half says a lot about where this program is heading. If I had to predict the final conference standings, I would say Latrobe, Oakland Catholic and Plum would be the top three. I think playing that stretch will only make us better as the season goes on.”
Senior running back Izzy Brown paced the team with 23 carries for 237 yards and four touchdowns over the first five games.
Senior quarterback and captain Nyerra Reid completed 27 of 45 attempts for 333 yards and three touchdowns, and sophomore Jordyn Parks owned eight catches for 93 yards and two scores while returning an interception for a touchdown against Perry.
Gateway will move to 4-3 overall with forfeit victories over Hempfield and Burrell. The Gators host Propel on Thursday (April 9).
Memije claims section singles gold
Gateway senior Logan Memije built momentum for this week’s WPIAL Class 3A singles tournament by winning the Section 1 title last week at Murrysville Racquet Club.
He defeated Franklin Regional junior Colin Stalnaker, 6-2, 6-0, in the championship match.
Memije adds this section singles title to the section and WPIAL doubles championships he won with graduate Zidaan Hassan last year and in 2024.
At No. 1 singles, he helped Gateway get off to a 4-1 start in Section 1-3A.
The defending WPIAL champion Gators had to say farewell to Hassan and top singles star Adam Memije because of graduation. Both are freshman on the men’s team at Allegheny.
But Gators coach Matt Stockunas said he likes the way the mix of veteran talent and those new to the lineup came together in the early season.
Gateway’s lone loss in the early stretch was a 3-2 setback to section rival Franklin Regional on March 24. The Gators blanked Hempfield, Connellsville, Latrobe and Plum.
Memije was 4-0 in section matches, while senior Troy Boden started 4-1 at No. 2 singles.
Fellow seniors Wasay Syed (3-1 doubles, 1-0 singles) and Abuzar Hameez (4-1 doubles), junior Isaac Sha (3-1 singles), sophomore Daniel Bandos (3-0 doubles) and freshman Jan Joza (5-0 doubles) also started the season strong.
Gateway hopes to keep rolling in section with matches this week against Penn-Trafford and Norwin.
Gators baseball opens section play with sweep
Gateway needed nine innings to defeat McKeesport, 2-1, in the Section 4-5A opener March 30.
The second game of the series the next day wasn’t as close.
Gateway had just four hits — Harris Otterman had two of the four — but the Gators walked 12 times in a 9-3 victory. Joseph Pachete and Cameron Gottschalk combined to limit the Tigers to six hits. Each struck out three.
Only one of McKeesport’s runs was earned.
Bryce Rogacki doubled and drove in two runs for the Gators, who improved to 4-2 overall with the section sweep.
Gateway’s winning half of the ninth in the 2-1 series opener started with a single off the bat of catcher Grady Dunsmore. Courtesy runner Tyler Feeser came on to run for Dunsmore and advanced to second on an error.
Shane Demchak laid down a sacrifice bunt which advanced Feeser to third.
Otterman then came through in the clutch with a two-out single to score Feeser to close out the victory.
Pachete, Colin Graves and Jon Saunders combined to strike out 16 McKeesport batters. Graves fanned 11 while scattering five hits over his seven innings on the mound. Saunders struck out the side in his one inning, and Pachete recorded two strikeouts.
Dunsmore and Max Cobbs each tallied two hits in the seven-hit Gators attack. Dunsmore’s solo home run in the bottom of the seventh tied the game 1-1 and sent it into extra innings.
Track earns several wins at tri-meet
Members of the Gateway track and field teams fared well at Plum on March 24 in the traditional early season section dual meet with the Mustangs and Penn Hills.
Junior Jayden Stammer was strong in the sprints with wins in the 100-meter dash (11.22 seconds) and 200 (23.02), and a victory as part of the boys 400 relay (43.77).
Senior Tashon Gowder won the boys pole vault (9 feet), and freshman Jacob Zielinski captured the boys javelin (121-3).
On the girls’ side, junior Jace Smith was the winner in the 100 (13.16) and 200 (27.51), while junior Kalee Kellman won the 100 hurdles (16.63) and 300 hurdles (50.48).
The Gators girls 400 free relay brought home first in 53.58.
Others to win their events at Plum were sophomore Londyn Coleman in the high jump (4-10) and freshman Ailiyah Young in the triple jump (30-2½).
Boys volleyball breaks into win column
After a trio of 3-1 setbacks to Franklin Regional, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Upper St. Clair to open the season, Gateway was victorious March 31 with a 3-1 triumph at North Hills in the Section 4-3A opener.
The Gators lost the first set by a narrow margin, 25-23, but came back to win three in a row: 25-20, 25-20 and 25-21.
Gateway was to continue section play last Thursday (April 2) at home against Penn Hills. The Gators are scheduled to take on Central Catholic (April 7) and Plum (April 9) in section play this week.
Gateway is led by returning section all-stars in senior outside hitter/opposites Daniel Bozicevic, Aiden Coughran and Toktobek Kubanychbekov.
The Gators earned a spot in last year’s WPIAL playoffs. As the No. 9 seed, they traveled to Mt. Lebanon and suffered a 3-1 first-round loss.
Rassiane medals at states
Aliya Rassiane capped her strong junior season with three events at the PIAA Class 3A swimming championships at Bucknell, and the Gateway standout topped her performances with an eighth-place medal in the 50-yard freestyle.
She swam to a time of 23.76 seconds in the Day 1 prelims, a slight improvement from her time at WPIALs a week and a half earlier.
Rassiane then swam a 23.79 in the championship finals for eighth. She was one of four WPIAL swimmers in the 50 free final. Fox Chapel freshman Delaney O’Toole placed second (22.81).
Rassiane returned for the Day 2 evening session in the 100 free consolation final and finished 13th overall (52.06).
She also was part of the 400 free relay with Madeline Pakarek, Katelyn Pekarek and Gianna Laurenti. The quartet swam to a time of 3:28.47 in the preliminaries and placed 21st.