Bill Beckner stories, Page 17

Derry four-sport athlete Gabe Gess has been showing what he can do juggling three sports in the same season. Gess, a senior who also kicks for the football team and runs track and cross country, was leading the team with eight goals. He scored three against Southmoreland, another against Yough,...

Latrobe won’t have to share its first section championship. The boys soccer team hunkered down defensively to sweep Franklin Regional with a 1-0 victory and take the outright Section 3-3A title with a 10-0 record. The Wildcats (11-3 overall) posed for photos in front of the net Tuesday night at...

Rich Bowen was never a fan of attention. Not as a star football player or a championship coach. Not as a good-natured husband and father, handyman or athletic director. Not as a man who impacted so many young lives, even up until his final weeks when he was fighting for...

Norwin was banged up and flirting with missing the WPIAL boys soccer playoffs last year when everything began to click at just about this same point in the season. “It was the Baldwin game,” Knights coach Scott Schuchert said. “We were chasing … almost not making the playoffs. We had...

Norwin went from wanting to make gradual improvements to taking a giant leap forward. The girls soccer team is back to being a factor after clinching a WPIAL 4A playoff spot for the first time in three years. With four wins over a five-game stretch, Norwin climbed into second place...

Norwin watched film Sunday to get ready to play rival Penn-Trafford. They didn’t like the ending. “Our girls were a little ticked off because P-T celebrated on our logo last time,” Norwin girls soccer coach Ashley DeVito said. “That was the last taste we had playing them. Our girls were...

Longtime Seton Hill women’s volleyball coach Rick Hall reached a career milestone as his team swept a PSAC West match against Slippery Rock. The win was the 800th for Hall, who is on his 40th season with the program. Hall, a Griffins hall of famer, is now 800-434. The Latrobe...

WPIAL golf this week shifts to team competition for the postseason. The boys playoff teams must make it through a semifinal to play for a title. The Class 3A semifinals will be 9 a.m. Tuesday. Central Catholic, Connellsville, Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional, Latrobe, Indiana, North Allegheny and Plum will play...

Latrobe will play the rest of the football season without its star running back and linebacker. Alex Tatsch’s high school career is suddenly finished because the senior will have shoulder surgery Monday. The senior Penn State linebacker commit has missed the last two-and-a-half games with pain in his shoulder, the...

The Westmoreland County Athletes of the Week is presented by Smail Kia. Look for the tags and look for the savings at Smail Kia in Greensburg. Alexis Brown School: Penn-Trafford Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Brown, a Cal (Pa.) commit and standout midfielder, has helped Penn-Trafford take over...

Greensburg Central Catholic proved Friday night it is more than a one-man team. It is more than junior quarterback Samir Crosby. A lot more. Sure, Crosby was a force in a 44-27 win over rival Jeannette on senior night in Carbon, but the Centurions (4-2, 3-1) saw several players pitch...

Former All-American wrestler Michael Kemerer will join the University of Minnesota coaching staff this winter. The former Iowa standout spent last season as an assistant at Brown University, which followed his time as a resident athlete at Spartan Combat RTC in Ithaca, N.Y. A Franklin Regional alum, he also worked...

For the third time in her golf career, Norwin junior Adalena Robb advanced through sectional qualifying then moved on to the final round of the WPIAL championship. Robb finished 22nd out of 29 players in the first round at Willowbrook Country Club in Apollo, shooting a 96, with nines of...

Just like when she helps to create offensive opportunities for Franklin Regional, Abby Paterline was methodical with the college recruiting process. The soccer standout is going to continue her playing career at Edinboro, an NCAA Division II program that plays in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. “Honestly, I took my...

If Greensburg Central Catholic was looking for momentum heading into halftime against rival Jeannette, it found it in a flurry. A 30-point first half was punctuated by the Centurions scoring 10 points in 11 seconds as they rolled to a 44-27 victory in a Class A Eastern Conference game on...

It has been said sophomore Chase Molinaro has a nose for the soccer ball. The Norwin sophomore showed it in a Section 1-4A game Thursday night, using his face to score an insurance goal as the Knights got control of a slow start and held back Gateway, 4-2, in Monroeville....

Connections can mean a lot in college football recruiting. The guy who knows a guy could be a recruit’s way in the door. Case in point: Hempfield, where junior lineman Brock Heisler is an NCAA Division I-FBS prospect after he received an offer to play at Arkansas State. First-year Hempfield...

When Kymon’e Brown and Samir Crosby played on the same youth football team with the Jeannette Midgets, they accounted for more than 50 touchdowns in one season. “Nobody could stop us that year,” Brown said. Crosby threw scoring passes to Brown, and Brown helped block for Crosby on long runs....

Hempfield junior softball pitcher Julia Varhola can bring it on the radar gun, reaching upwards of 65 mph on her fastest deliveries. In two years, she plans to take that speed to the NCAA Division I level. Varhola announced she has made a verbal commitment to James Madison of the...

Momentum continues to build at Norwin as the girls soccer team returns to relevance. First, the girls looked to make fundamental improvements and learn a new coach’s system. Then, they looked to stay healthy, manage minutes in a deep rotation and pace themselves for a productive stretch run. Now, the...

Here’s a look at the don’t-miss matchups for Westmoreland County in Week 6 of the 2024 season: Class 5A Big East Conference Kiski Area (1-5, 0-3) at Latrobe (4-2, 1-2) 7 p.m. Friday, Latrobe Memorial Stadium, Latrobe Last week’s result: Franklin Regional 35, Kiski Area 30; Woodland Hills 30, Latrobe...

Four straight section wins and a five-game unbeaten streak overall have Franklin Regional in the hunt for the Section 3-3A title. The Panthers (8-2-1, 7-1) trail first-place Latrobe (9-3, 8-1) by a half-game. The teams are set to meet Tuesday at Latrobe, likely to decide the section crown. The Wildcats...

If Latrobe is going to live up to the potential and expectations it has set for itself, the team knows it has to handle its business, like winning games it is “supposed” to win. Case in point: the one the Wildcats played Tuesday night against visiting Belle Vernon. Roman Agostoni,...

Penn-Trafford has a unique dynamic going on around the program this season. When a player goes down, another steps up. And it’s not just injuries that have altered the rotation. Still, the team began the week two games up on first place in Section 1-4A. “I just hope we stay...

It was Aug. 27, the fourth day of school. A “team sports” gym class was underway at Franklin Regional, and teachers decided the game of the day would be co-ed softball. Allyssa Velasquez said there was some reluctance at first, but the game went on. Her afternoon changed in an...