A-K Valley high school notebook: Riverview set to debut new lights at Riverside Park

The newly installed lights at Riverside Park in Oakmont are ready to shine Friday evening for Riverview football’s homecoming game with Greensburg Central Catholic.

“With homecoming, we will have some festivities before the game to commemorate everything,” Riverview athletic director Andre Carter said. “We have invited a lot of people who made (the lights) happen. Everyone is really excited about this.”

The lights were to have a test run Thursday evening with the Riverview girls soccer team’s game against Carlynton.

Carter said there was hope to have the lights ready for the start of the fall season, but some final touches to the project delayed those plans.

The Riverview boys and girls soccer teams, playoff qualifiers from their respective sections, will celebrate senior night under the lights with the girls playing Obama Academy on Monday and the boys matching up with rival Springdale on Tuesday in their Section 3-A finale.

The Raiders football team will mark senior night next Friday against Springdale.

Fox Chapel boys soccer coach Erik Ingram reached a milestone earlier this week.

The Foxes’ 8-0 win over Connellsville on Tuesday was the 23-year Fox Chapel boys coach’s 300th with the program.

Ingram, also the women’s lacrosse coach at Point Park, now is 300-111-28 with the Foxes and guided the program to WPIAL titles last year and in 2024.

The Kiski Area girls soccer team’s hopes for a spot in the WPIAL playoffs out of Section 4-3A will be determined Monday evening.

The Cavaliers, currently fifth in the section at 4-5-2 (14 points), had the section bye Wednesday and watched Franklin Regional roll past Indiana, 8-1, and move into fourth at 5-4-2 (17 points).

Kiski Area wraps up its section slate Monday at Greensburg Salem, and Franklin Regional will host Plum.

The Cavaliers need to beat Greensburg Salem and have the Panthers lose to Plum to forge a tie for fourth place. If that happens, both teams qualify for the playoffs as they split their season series.

Riverview girls clinch share of section title

Springdale gave Riverview all it could handle Wednesday in a battle of Section 4-A girls soccer rivals at Riverside Park.

The Dynamos got goals from Adele Walters-Vrabel and Tessa Derringer, but the Raiders saw Mia Murphy, Mary Quinlan and Hannah Hudack score for a 3-2 victory that clinched a tie for the section title with Shady Side Academy.

It was Riverview’s third win in a row since its only section loss: 2-1 to Shady Side on Sept. 30.

The Raiders topped Shady Side, 5-3, on Sept. 9 at Riverside Park.

Despite the loss, Springdale is in the WPIAL playoffs and in a third-place section tie with Steel Valley.

Both teams wrapped up section play at 3-5.

They split their section home-and-home series.

Springdale football returns

The Springdale football team returns to the field Friday.

The Dynamos, 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the Eastern Conference, were forced to postpone last week’s game at Clairton when injuries limited the team to fewer players than needed to compete.

With several returning this week, coach Chad Walsh said his team is set to host Serra Catholic at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Dynamos, one of the few teams in the WPIAL who didn’t play a game in Week 1, won their opener Sept. 5 at Summit Academy. Since then, Springdale suffered consecutive on-field losses to Union, Jeannette, Greensburg Central Catholic and Sto-Rox.

The Dynamos close out their season next Friday against Riverview under the lights at Riverside Park and Oct. 30 at home against Leechburg.