Bill Beckner stories, Page 8

Boys Class 5A Preliminary round 17-Indiana (10-12) at 16-Franklin Regional (11-11) 7 p.m. Thursday Winner plays: At No. 1 Montour (21-1), 7 p.m. Tuesday in first round Players to watch: Aaron Webb, Indiana; Connor Crossey, Franklin Regional Layup lines: Indiana finished fourth in Section 2 behind Kiski Area, Penn Hills...

Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette are on opposite sides of the bracket in boys Class 2A, leaving the door open for a third meeting between the county rivals, but it would have to happen in the WPIAL boys basketball finals. The Penn-Trafford girls, meanwhile, despite going undefeated in the regular...

Breaking down the 2025 WPIAL girls basketball playoffs Class 6A Favorite: Norwin has won back-to-back WPIAL titles before (2015, ’16) and the Knights will take another shot as the top seed, the same position they were in a season ago. A late-season win over Upper St. Clair went a long...

Yes, softball season is here again. Seton Hill wasted little time getting on the winning track, sweeping a doubleheader from the host team in Mount Olive, N.C. In a 6-5 win in eight innings, senior Brooklyn Fukushima went 3 for 4, homered and drove in three, including the go-ahead RBI...

Senior night was special for a group of girls who are having a special season. Few saw coming this year’s run to a section championship by the Franklin Regional girls basketball team — the program’s first section title since 1979 — except for maybe the five seniors on the team....

The Penn-Trafford girls basketball team made history Saturday. Sort of. With a thrilling 59-57 win over Upper St. Clair, the Lady Warriors capped a perfect 22-0 regular season, the No. 3-ranked team in WPIAL Class 5A going on the road to knock off the No. 2 team in 6A. The...

The WPIAL will unveil its boys and girls basketball playoff seedings and brackets Monday. Tournaments could begin as early as Thursday. The WPIAL finals are set for Feb. 27, 28 and March 1 at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. Westmoreland County’s representation will be strong on both sides, with a number...

Norwin sophomore swimmer Amber Klingensmith came home from her first trip to the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championships with more than a good story to tell. She found herself in her school’s record book. A first-year varsity swimmer, Klingensmith broke a long-standing program record in the 100-yard butterfly, taking second...

As Max Williams and his senior teammates left the floor with just over a minute to play Friday night, Hempfield interim boys basketball coach Mark Katarski told them to “take your time.” He wanted them to absorb the moment as they checked out of their final game as Spartans —...

Senior forward Lauren Marton not only made the first 3-pointer for the undefeated Penn-Trafford girls basketball team in a ramped-up Section 2-5A girls basketball finale, but she also was the first to climb the ladder to cut off a piece of the net on a special Thursday night in Harrison...

The local boys basketball playoff field is just about set. The WPIAL will meet Monday and announce playoff seedings and opening matchups. The tournaments could start as early as Feb. 13, the league said. Qualifiers from Westmoreland County are: Norwin (10-10, 6-7) in 6A; Latrobe (17-4, 9-4), Penn-Trafford (12-9, 7-6),...

At 26, Cam Auld is one of the WPIAL’s younger coaches, but he admits to having an old-school side. “I dabble in a bit of old and new,” he said. Norwin’s first-year boys basketball leader and Knights alum is all about his players talking and understanding rather than the alternative:...

Penn-Trafford isn’t getting baited into undefeated talk. The Warriors girls basketball team has left a trail of blowouts on the way to a 20-0 record with two games left in the regular season. Penn-Trafford never has finished a regular season unbeaten but is just about at the threshold of perfection....

Senior Kendall Berger has a number of memories as a member of the Norwin girls basketball team. She has a WPIAL championship, PIAA playoff experience and a number of high-scoring performances. Now, she has a scoring milestone. Berger scored the 1,000th point of her career last weekend when Norwin lost...

Jeannette boys basketball coach Adrian Batts said his Jayhawks could play Greensburg Central Catholic 10 times, and each team would win five. It remains to be seen if the county rivals will play again in the postseason — the WPIAL draw and Class 2A bracket will determine that possibility —...

Unlike the first Section 2-3A matchup, Shady Side Academy didn’t have such an easy time getting to the basket in its rematch with Greensburg Central Catholic. High-percentage shots were fewer and far between. Passes were harder to come by into the post, and the Bulldogs had to look for alternative...

The top two boys basketball teams in WPIAL Class 2A have circled back for a rematch. No. 2 Jeannette (17-1, 10-1) will visit No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic (18-2, 12-0) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a matchup of Section 1-2A heavyweights, the latest chapter in one of Westmoreland County’s hottest...

A 15-point halftime deficit meant nothing to Brianna Zajicek. The Cedarville junior basketball player led a fervent comeback with a career day as the Yellow Jackets rallied past Findlay, 81-80, in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Zajicek, a Norwin alum, poured in a career-high 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting and...

Every state has an Olympic Development Program for soccer, but not every player makes it as far as Abby Paterline has. The Franklin Regional senior midfielder continued her breakout year at the club level as she was selected to play for the U.S. Youth Soccer ODP National Team, which will...

Youth is a state of mind. So says new Southmoreland football coach Dustin Shoaf, who might know a thing or two about the subject. Shoaf is one of the youngest head coaches in the state at age 23. The Yough graduate, who was hired earlier this month, does not want...

Local martial arts students Gabby Viola and Xander Eddy, both of North Huntingdon, were selected to compete for the U.S. Army Fight Team. Viola, 14, and Eddy, 15, will be Army-sponsored athletes for the 2025 season and represent their country in international and combative sports competitions. Viola and Eddy signed...

From the time Franklin Regional’s Caden Brush, a senior stricken with leukemia, won a ceremonial opening tip while sitting in his wheelchair, the Panthers had someone to play for and a reason to win. And that’s before you factor in the playoff implications that made this a must-win Section 1-5A...

Norwin is talking the talk. Knights first-year boys basketball coach Cam Auld has a computer spinner wheel with his players’ names on it. When he gives it a flick and the arrow lands on a name, that player has to give the next pregame speech. It was Alex Graney’s turn...

Ligonier Valley has a hoop-a-Hollick. “I have loved basketball since middle school,” said senior guard Parker Hollick, who this week became the boys basketball program’s latest 1,000-point scorer. Hollick needed 29 to reach the milestone and netted 33 on Wednesday in a win over Brownsville. Twenty-seven boys have now scored...

A five-game suspension of three starting players could have sent a talented Belle Vernon boys basketball team into an irreversible tailspin. But the Christmas-time disruption may have had the opposite effect on the Leopards, who have not lost since. This could be a WPIAL championship contender that came to realize...