Bill Beckner stories, Page 154

It has been decades since Penn-Trafford missed the WPIAL girls soccer playoffs. This was not going to be the year the run ended. While the Warriors had to grind a little more than usual to lock down a postseason spot, the team looks to have grown along the way. Tight...

Boys Class 2A First round 11-Burrell (7-4) at 6-Mt. Pleasant (11-1) 6:30 p.m., Monday, Viking Stadium, Mt. Pleasant Winner plays: Winner of 14-Leechburg (7-6) at 3-North Catholic (12-1-1), 6 p.m., Monday, Mars Athletic Complex, Mars Hat tricks: Mt. Pleasant has allowed two goals all season and has 11 shutouts. Charleroi...

Norwin senior tight end and defensive end Tanner Krevokuch has been in contact with Pitt coach Tim Salem of late and the conversation sparked greater interest. After sending some highlights, Krevokuch (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) received a preferred walk-on opportunity with the Panthers. Central Michigan had offered him last year, but...

As Sal Cerilli walked up the 18th fairway on the Gold course at Cedarbrook, he felt a sense of finality kick in. The Norwin senior, while enjoying the sights and sounds of the Knights’ maiden trip to the WPIAL Class AAA boys golf championship, knew this was the end of...

A statistics teacher who doubles as the boys golf coach at Franklin Regional, Jeff Traphagen often looks at life through numbers. At the WPIAL Class AAA team golf championship, he threw around the term “standard deviation” a lot. “We were between 78 and 85; Our standard deviation was better than...

When the WPIAL announced higher-seeded teams will get to play at home through the semifinals of the football playoffs, a number of coaches had reason to smile. Penn-Trafford was one of them. The WPIAL announced playoff pairings Saturday night, and Penn-Trafford (5-1, 4-0) got a home game after finishing first...

Josh Glaser said three words ran through his head as he set up for the final penalty kick. “Don’t miss it.” “If you think you’re going to miss, you’ll miss,” the Indiana senior forward said. “You have to think you’re going to make it.” The confident Glaser fired low and...

WPIAL soccer playoffs preview Boys Class AAA First round 15-Knoch (7-8) at 2-Franklin Regional (13-2) Noon Saturday, Panthers Stadium, Murrysville Winner plays: Winner of 10-Indiana (8-4-2) at 7-Belle Vernon (14-2), 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (site TBD) in quarterfinals Hat tricks: Franklin Regional, which has won the last two WPIAL titles, has...

Monessen and Shane Swope are going separate ways after a college try of a 2020 football season. The school announced Friday that it is parting company with Swope, the Greyhounds’ first-year head coach. Swope called the decision a “mutual break-up,” and said there are no hard feelings on either end....

Class 6A Norwin (1-5, 1-5) at No. 5 Canon-McMillan (2-3, 2-3) 7 p.m. Friday, Canon-McMillan Stadium, Canonsburg Despite a big performance by senior receiver Connor Chrisman, Norwin dropped its second straight conference game, 48-12, to No. 2 Mt. Lebanon. Chrisman returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score and caught...

Here’s a look at the WPIAL girls soccer playoffs: Class 4A Favorite: One of the more skilled teams in a pretty open field, top-seeded Peters Township shut out eight opponents and did not lose in its final seven games. The Indians, who made the semifinals a year ago, are 6-0...

Home-field advantage could play a big part in this year’s WPIAL soccer playoffs. Higher-seeded teams get home games through the semifinals because the WPIAL tried to avoid multiple teams traveling to the same site — a product of covid-19 awareness. Greensburg Central Catholic landed No. 1 seeds in the WPIAL...

Penn-Trafford could finish atop the Class 5A Big East Conference but not be considered a conference champion. The WPIAL said it will not recognize conference winners if canceled games would have an impact on the outcome. Penn-Trafford had covid-19 cases not long after Gateway did, forcing the teams’ anticipated matchup...

Franklin Regional arranged some objectives early in the boys soccer season, like it was laying out a new outfit for the first day of in-person school. No matter what the Panthers wear, they still look good. But winning the section was first on the list. Bringing home a third WPIAL...

Norwin had two late-season ties in boys soccer, which caught the eye of opposing teams and the people who conjure up the WPIAL rankings. Both games were at Norwin Knights Stadium. Allderdice played the high-powered Knights to a 0-0 draw, and, three games later, improved Latrobe and No. 4 Norwin...

The Norwin girls volleyball and Latrobe boys soccer teams have shut down for 14 days because of possible exposure to covid-19. Norwin canceled its last four matches and Latrobe its final four games. If Norwin (5-4) qualifies for the WPIAL playoffs, based on results of other matches, the team might...

When he talks in casual conversation or even in interviews, Brad Birch likes to finish a lot of sentences with the words, “for real.” “I’m not that interesting of a kid, to be honest,” he said sheepishly. “I just want to play football and win games. For real.” Birch, a...

When a clerical error made Apollo-Ridge ineligible for the WPIAL Class A girls soccer playoffs, there was a wide-eyed newcomer waiting to fill the vacancy. First-year WPIAL member Ligonier Valley (3-10, 2-7 Section 1-A) might have found its way into the district tournament as an innocent bystander, but the Rams...

Latrobe earned a hard-fought, 2-1 victory over Penn-Trafford last Thursday night to clinch a spot in the WPIAL girls soccer playoffs from Section 3-4A. What a way to extend the season. The win carried extra meaning because Latrobe hadn’t beaten the Warriors since 1995, when some of the current players’...

Saint Vincent will serve as the host program for the 2022 NCAA Division III women’s volleyball championship Nov. 17-19 at Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The 2018 championship also was played at Duquesne at the then-A.J. Palumbo Center. It marked the first time a Presidents’ Athletic Conference member was selected to...

Here’s a look at this week’s Trib HSSN WPIAL boys and girls soccer rankings. Records are through Saturday’s games. Girls soccer Class 4A Team, record, previous 1. Fox Chapel, 11-1, 1 2. Butler, 9-1, 2 3. Peters Township, 9-1-1, 3 4. Norwin, 7-2-1, 4 5. North Allegheny, 7-2, 5 Class...

There were days this fall when Luke Kimmich would play in a nine-hole golf match after school, change clothes and be back in time to join the boys soccer team for a practice or game. The senior from Franklin Regional pulled double-duty and handled it with the best of the...

They are used to singles and doubles … and triples and home runs. But we’re talking tennis here, not softball. Mt. Pleasant has found success in both sports, and many of the same names have made that happen. In a unique case, the Vikings had three Division I softball players...

Hempfield players had no clue they were playing their final football game of the season two Friday nights ago at Baldwin. The seniors had no idea it would be their last high school game, period. Hempfield had some recent covid-19 cases in school and initially planned to pause athletics for...