The Kiski girls and boys wrestling teams swept Fox Chapel Wednesday night.

PENN HILLS - Milani Oliver shot down the idea that scoring 1,000 points was a lifelong goal. The Penn Hills senior was pushed in that direction once she demonstrated she had the ability to reach for the stars. 

"As a freshman, it actually wasn't the goal," Oliver said. "But when I was like a sophomore and junior, (coach) Robert (Cash) was telling me to step it up and I could get it if I work hard enough to do it. He was pushing me the whole time I got it."

Oliver hit that mark early during a 48-12 Section 1-5A contest with Gateway Tuesday night at home. Oliver, who finished with 11 points to push her career total to 1,007 points, was happy to part of the lineage of Penn Hills athletes to reach the mark. Hannah Pugliese, who now plays at Slippery Rock University, was the last Indians' player to reach 1,000 points in 2014.

Before that, Penn Hills assistant coach Desiree Oliver was the last player in the program to take her scoring total that high.

"It feels great," Milani said. "It actually feels great being apart of that."

Putting aside her personal accomplishment, Milani knew that the Indians to pick up an emphatic win against Gateway. Penn Hills has lost five consecutive games entering the matchup and the Gators have wallowed at the bottom of the section all season.

"I feel like this win right here, it sets up for some of the goals we set before the season started," Milani said. "I feel like this sets us up to be good. I think our biggest competition is going to be Fox Chapel and Plum. Winning this game gave us our confidence back."

Milani said this Penn Hills has a strong support system in place alongside her. She is hoping to try and lead the Indians back to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs during her senior season. She isn't sure what will be next for her after high school.

"For college, it's still undecided," Milani said. "I was getting a lot of emails and getting a lot of looks, but I don't know yet."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be sent to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo

The opener at The Challenge at Allderdice required overtime to find a winner. Penn Hills did just enough in overtime to pull out a 58-57 win over the defending PIAA and WPIAL Class 1A champions.

I wrote a story for SBLive, which the link will be posted here. The Bulldogs were without a few key players, but showed plenty of fight.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo

The Plum girls basketball team earned an important win at home on Monday. Read my story about it in the Tribune Review and Valley News Dispatch.

The Mustangs were able to gain an important win to try and emerge from the pack in Section 1-5A.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

BUFFALO TWP - For more game details, read my story in the Valley News Dispatch.

Chris Heater had nothing against the Kiski Area wrestling team participating in the Trinity Duals again this season. The Cavaliers' opened last season there and enjoyed the event. But Heater chose to take his team to the Sheetz Kickoff Classic in Greenville instead.

The Cavaliers wanted a fresh batch of opponents. Eight of the teams in the event were from District 9 or 10. The only other WPIAL team to participate beside Kiski was Armstrong.

Kiski (6-0) won all five of its duals at the event. Mario Hutcherson, Cooper Roscosky, Gavin Murphy, Bear Joseph and Jackson Pollick all went 5-0 for the Cavaliers.

"We went to Trinity last year and we wrestled three teams that we saw again later in the season," Heater said. "I just wanted to go somewhere where we wouldn't see anybody and give our guys the chance to wrestle five matches and see where their endurance and conditioning was. It was a good opener for us."

Kiski will host another intense dual event this weekend. The Cavaliers will have a number of strong WPIAL programs -- Canon-McMillan, Hempfield, North Allegheny, Penn-Trafford, Peters Township and Waynesburg Central -- along with District 9's DuBois and District 10's Fort LeBoeuf.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

O'HARA TWP - North Hills girls basketball coach Jason Pirring shouted the information his bench statisticians relayed to him Tuesday night at Fox Chapel High School. Fox Chapel was beating the Indians on the boards.

"Eight offensive rebounds," Pirring shouted toward his team.

The pesky Foxes made the Indians sweat during their non-conference contest. But North Hills did enough in the second half to pull away for a 46-43 win. Pirring had a blueprint for how to proceed following the season opener.

"Imagine what we're working on tomorrow, as well," Pirring said. "Offensive rebounds killed us tonight. We're not a big team either. They're not a big team, but they outhustled us."

North Hills (1-0) fought off a slow start on offense. The Indians shot 14 percent from the field in the first quarter and 20 percent (2-of-10) from the 3-point line in the first half. Fox Chapel led 17-16 at halftime and limited North Hills to five points in the first quarter.

"We couldn't rebound," Pirring said. "We're not making foul shots - we were shooting 50 percent from the line. You can't win games like that. We were making it harder on ourselves."

Fox Chapel coach Marty Matvey was happy with how his team got on the glass. During the summer league, the Foxes struggled to score more than 32 points a game. Fox Chapel's shooting wasn't pretty in the first half either, but the extra opportunities provide more scoring chances.

Lyla Jablon scored six of her team-high 15 points in the first quarter. Emily McKee scored on a layup and drew a foul to stretch the Foxes' lead to 10-4 late in the first quarter.

Fox Chapel shot 11 percent from 3-point line in the first half. The Foxes, who shot 25.8 percent (15 of 58) for the game, saw their offensive go in waves throughout the game.

"I would say tonight was a little bit better," Matvey said. "A lot of people are going to play a zone against us because of the shooting. We're really good in our man sets and we're going to get to the rim. We still have things to work out, but I thought people started to look more comfortable."

North Hills took the lead, 18-17, in the third quarter on a transition basket by Zoey Devlin, who finished with 15 points. Delaney Amato made a 3-pointer to stretch the Indians lead to 27-22 and provide some breathing room.

Fox Chapel (0-1) hung around in the game. The Foxes cut the lead to 43-38 in the final three minutes on a jumper by Jablon. Fox Chapel got a stop on defense and cut the lead to 43-31 with 2:05 remaining on a 3-pointer from McKee.

The Foxes got the ball back after forcing a turnover when North Hills turned the ball over on a closely-guarded five seconds call. Fox Chapel missed a shot that could have tied the game on the ensuing possession. Devlin missed a pair of free throws that could have closed out the game.

The ensuing rebound landed in between three players and was kicked out bounds. The ball was awarded to North Hills, who extended the lead to four on a pair of Amato free throws. Fox Chapel's Bailey Sacco scored on a layup to cut the deficit to two points.

Amato split a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining to stretch the lead back to three. McKee, who finished with 11 points, had a 3-point attempt to tie the game blocked.

​Matvey said he was happy with his team's effort.

"I talked to them after the game about let's be good early and often so when it comes down to the last quarter, we're sitting comfortable," Matvey said. "These guys are a little further along than I expected."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

Another Franklin Regional graduate will competing on Real American Freestyle. Former Panther Nico Megaludis competed on the card last month in State College, losing by technical fall.

Now, Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee is listed for the next card on Nov. 29 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Lee is listed as competing at bantamweight (135 pounds) against Ukraine's Andrii Yatsenko. Yatsenko was originally supposed to compete at RAF 02 against Megaludis, but the opponent was changed during fight week.

Megaludis instead faced off against Austin DeSanto, the opponent who upset Lee in the state title match his senior season of high school to prevent Lee from becoming a four-time champion. The main event is set to feature Chad Mendes and Michael Chandler, two UFC alums who have strong amateur wrestling backgrounds.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

Riverview beat Greensburg Central Catholic 26-7 Saturday at Riverside Park.

​Check out all of my coverage in the Tribune Review.

PENN HILLS - Jamie Montini received an emphatic hug from her daughter, Zakeira, in the middle of a swarming crowd.

Zakeira made a beeline for her mom, who was sitting in the front row, after scoring the point that snapped a 14-game section losing streak in section play Tuesday night in home. It was a night of high emotions for Zakeira, who also earned a bouquet of flowers and an invitation to homecoming after the match.

"That's the one thing I was thinking about after I scored that point," said Montini, a senior outsider hitter for the Indians. "'Cause I knew she was watching. I saw her screaming and I ran right to her and everybody started coming in. She was the main focus."

Penn Hills had to use every bit of creativity it had to beat Woodland Hills, 3-1. The Indians (2-7, 1-4) don't have a powerful offensive attack and rely on tips and misdirection to score points.

Penn Hills coach Raymond Ager III was happy to pick up his first Section 4-4A win since he took over the program in 2024.

​"It feels great, especially finding out it's been since 2023," Ager said. "It feels great to beat a rival who was trolling us on social media all week."

The Wolverines (0-8, 0-5) got off to a solid start behind the serving of senior setter/right-side Becca Busch. Woodland Hills scored the first three points and were in control for the entire first set.

Wolverines assistant coach Joey Cunningham said they were able to effectively utilize their serve.

"Honestly, I feel like with our team right now, we are good at utilizing our utility players," Cunningham said. "We have a lot of utility players right now that we could just very easily move around and pop around. I would say when we get it ruts, we can move someone up a little bit. they do very well with that."

Ager said that Penn Hills made a tactical change by switching liberos. The Indians leaned on Layla Smedley after the first set.

"She's an all-around athlete," Ager said. "She's like a ninja on the court. She really flies around and brings big energy."

The Indians won the second set, 25-14. In the third set, Penn Hills built a 23-9 lead before allowing Woodland Hills to roll off seven consecutive points.

"I feel like we like to into a little bit of a rollercoaster where we do really good and then it just kind of drops," Cunningham said. "I think we're getting used to and getting really good at getting ourselves out of that rollercoaster."

The Wolverines rallied in the fourth set to even things at 19 points. Woodland Hills leaned on Niyah Brown and Jayla Brown to help carry the attack. The Wolverines couldn't maintain the momentum, dropping three consecutive points that allowed Penn Hills to get some seperation and close out the match.

The Indians won the final set 25-21. Montini said she believed Penn Hills would find a way to break through this season.

"I was thinking about the ending, like I knew we were going to win and I felt that in my heart and God's presence," Montini said. "I felt that in the whole game that we were going to win and the student section carried us through that with our energy."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.