Bill Beckner stories, Page 119
Westmoreland baseball opening day primer: Teams, players, games to watch
Friday is opening day for high school baseball in the WPIAL. Here are some particulars to guide you into opening day — and a new season. Teams to watch Hempfield — The returning WPIAL Class 6A runner-up has some key players back and opens the season ranked No. 2. Norwin...
Westmoreland softball opening day primer: Teams, players, games to watch
Friday is opening day for high school softball in the WPIAL. Here are some particulars to get you started on a new season. Teams to watch Norwin — The Knights have pitching and power and are ranked No. 2 in Class 6A. Hempfield — New coach Tina Madison takes over...
Senior leadership, sophomore talent helps Norwin reach Pennsylvania Cup final
While the roster lists them by their sweater number and class, Norwin hockey players say they identify as one. In other words, in their minds there are no sophomores or seniors, freshmen or juniors. Just a bunch of talented players on the same team with the same goals. Big, realistic...
Expectations remain high for Southmoreland softball team
Southmoreland softball had some fun with its first week of practices, introducing themes. Players showed up in all kinds of gaudy costumes. One day, they were ballerinas. The next, hunters dressed in camouflage. Their outfits in the days that followed included medical scrubs, fluorescent construction gear and cowgirl hats and...
‘Playoffs or nothing’ for refocused Southmoreland baseball team
With rain in the forecast earlier in the week, Southmoreland baseball players rolled out a brand new tarp to cover their home infield. They used tires to weigh it down. In this case, the wheels didn’t come off. Last year was a different story. The Scotties started 5-0 but proceeded...
Norwin hockey rolls into state final against West Chester East
Norwin hockey players held up a poster board with two words written on it Monday night after their first championship victory. The words? “Roll Academy.” The meaning? “We call ourselves the Academy,” sophomore goaltender Owen Burmeister said. “It’s just a name we came up with. We want to keep it...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Norwin’s Anthony DelleFemine changing course
Former Norwin football standout Anthony DelleFemine is leaving Youngstown State. He has entered the NCAA transfer portal and will have two years of eligibility left. DelleFemine began his college career at Robert Morris but setbacks and injuries forced him to change lanes. The 6-foot, 185-pound senior wide receiver played in...
Norwin blanks McDowell to claim 1st Penguins Cup championship
Norwin likes to give out a banana to its top player after each hockey win, the recipient being the choice of senior defenseman Will Dillner. The Knights were going bananas Monday night as they made program history, but Dillner could hardly decide on one player. There were a bunch. This...
Peters Township uses 3rd-period surge to capture Class 3A Penguins Cup title
All of their players adorned with blond hair, the Peters Township hockey team captured PIHL gold. The Indians scored four times in the third period to bust open a tight game and bump aside Seneca Valley, 6-2, to capture their third Penguins Cup title, the first since 2017, on Monday...
Expectations are high for Norwin softball team
Satisfied is not a word you want to associate with the Norwin softball team heading into the 2022 season. After losing three straight times in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals, the Lady Knights want to finally see how the other half lives. “We want to put a banner up on...
Westmoreland PIHL playoff capsule: Penguins Cup championship, March 22, 2022
Today’s game Class 2A Penguins Cup championship 2-Franklin Regional (18-2) vs. 1-Thomas Jefferson (19-1) 6:30 p.m. at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Cranberry Coaches: John Winebrenner, Franklin Regional; John Zeiler, Thomas Jefferson How they got here: Franklin Regional — beat Butler in quarterfinals (10-2), and South Fayette in semifinals (3-2, OT);...
‘Expectations never change’ for talent-rich Norwin baseball team
Norwin is trying to put last baseball season in the rearview mirror, although the Knights still wonder what might have been. They had one of the most talented teams in WPIAL Class 6A with a host of college-level talent. They earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs but saw...
North Allegheny, Seton LaSalle top preseason boys volleyball polls
It should come as no surprise that defending WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champion North Allegheny, and WPIAL 2A winner Seton LaSalle top the Western PA Volleyball Coaches Association preseason polls. Both boys programs are primed for more success in 2022. Powerhouse North Allegheny has won the last four WPIAL...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Franklin Regional grad Michael Kemerer a 5-time All-American
Earning All-America recognition one time is an accomplishment in college wrestling. To do it twice it highly commendable. But Michael Kemerer took it to another level. The Iowa redshirt senior wrestled back to claim a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Division I Championships, giving the Franklin Regional alum five All-America...
PIHL Class A Penguins Cup capsule for March 21, 2022
Monday’s game Class A 4-Norwin (15-4-2) vs. 7-McDowell (14-8) 8:45 p.m. Monday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Cranberry Coaches: Mike Robinson, Norwin; Alex Luddy, McDowell How they got here: Norwin — beat Westmont Hilltop in quarterfinals (3-2), and Fox Chapel in semifinals (5-4, OT); McDowell — beat North Catholic (3-2)...
History on the table as Norwin hockey seeks 1st PIHL Penguins Cup title
Dinner tasted particularly good that night. Nearly two months before their run to the PIHL Penguins Cup championship game, Norwin hockey players and coaches gathered at The Canned Tomato in Irwin, where senior defenseman Will Dillner is a chef, for a team sitdown. It was a what-are-we-made-of gathering, a meal...
Westmoreland notebook: Norwin’s Young added to East-West All-Star Game
Better late than not at all. Norwin senior football player Jacob Young was added to the West roster for the big-school East-West All-Star Game set for May 29 at Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg. Young is a two-way lineman who played center, tackle, guard and defensive tackle for the Knights. He...
Norwin notebook: Young to play in East-West All-Star Game
Norwin senior football player Jacob Young was added to the West roster for the big-school East-West All-Star Game, set for May 29 at Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg. Young is a two-way lineman who played center, tackle, guard and defensive tackle for the Knights, and also can handle long-snapping duties. The...
Freedom stuns WPIAL champion North Catholic to earn trip to PIAA basketball finals
As Freedom girls basketball coach John Kaercher would have it, “These dogs had their day.” Talk about March Madness. Instead of falling victim to highly touted North Catholic for a fourth time this season, Freedom decided to stun the Trojanettes, 46-39, in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals Friday night at...
PIAA boys basketball preview capsule: Fox Chapel vs. Archbishop Wood, Saturday, March 19, 2022
Class 6A Semifinals Fox Chapel (27-1) vs. Archbishop Wood (20-7) 4 p.m. Saturday at Chambersburg Winner plays: Winner of Lower Merion (27-3)/Roman Catholic (22-4) in championship 7:30 p.m. March 26 at Giant Center, Hershey Coaches: Zach Skrinjar, Fox Chapel; John Mosco, Archbishop Wood How they got here: Fox Chapel —...
Latrobe softball hopes old-school approach leads to playoff push
Bob Kovalcin is a throwback. He is as old-school as they come and darn proud of it. “I still have a flip-phone,” the Latrobe softball coach said with a grin. “I don’t even own a computer. Don’t need one.” In addition to his pencil-and-paper stats, Kovalcin also is vintage when...
Latrobe baseball team hopes pitching catches up to offense
Vinny Amatucci’s nickname is “Ammo.” The senior third baseman thinks the Latrobe baseball team is locked and loaded and can turn some heads in WPIAL Class 5A — if it can develop pitching. Bats don’t seem to be an issue. The uncertainty on the mound, now that is a different...
Chunko resigns as Yough football coach
Yough football will drop to Class 2A next season, but it will do so without Chris Chunko. Chunko has resigned as head coach after two years in the position. He said his job has become more demanding, taking his attention away from the program. “I can’t put forth the time...
Saint Vincent set to start wrestling team
Wrestling once prospered at Saint Vincent College. From 1963-75, the school sponsored a full-fledged NAIA program before it faded into a club team. Rumblings of a program reboot turned into much more than that Thursday when SVC announced wrestling will return as the school’s 24th varsity sport. Backed by supportive...
Norwin hockey team edges Fox Chapel for PIHL playoff win
Mario Cavallaro skated wide as two defenders closed in on his puck-handling teammate, Alex Thomas. Then, in a flash, the pair of sophomore forwards connected for some playoff magic. Thomas delivered a pass to Cavallaro, who fired his second goal of the game into the back of the net 2...
