Bill Beckner stories, Page 156
Jeannette opens girls basketball coaching position
Jeannette is taking its girls basketball program in a new direction. The district opened the coaching position held for the last three seasons by Jonathan Bass after the Jayhawks finished 0-19 this season. The team was 0-6 in section play but opted to enter the WPIAL open playoff tournament and...
Mt. Pleasant softball team honors late State Rep. Mike Reese by wearing his numberVideo
You could not tell the players apart by their roster numbers, but you could tell they were playing collectively for a common purpose. Everyone wore No. 12 for the Mt. Pleasant softball team on a sunny Wednesday afternoon when the Lady Vikings hosted Laurel Highlands for a scrimmage. The team...
Belle Vernon freshman Quinton Martin gets 2 more Power-5 offersVideo
Quinton Martin had his share of exciting slam dunks this season for the Belle Vernon boys basketball team. He even had a few alley-oops from junior point guard Devin Whitlock. But that is only one of the sports in which Martin makes big plays. Only a freshman, he could be...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Seton Hill baseball continues hot start
Seton Hill baseball powered its way to an upset and continued a hot start. The top four hitters in the Griffins’ lineup homered as Seton Hill took down No. 10 Millersville, 13-6, to mark its best start since 2012. The team has risen to No. 1 in the National Collegiate...
Penn-Trafford grad Lydia DeFazio again tabbed AMCC softball preseason player of year
Softball season opens Saturday for Mt. Aloysius and junior standout Lydia DeFazio, a player who will carry a unique distinction into a doubleheader at Pitt-Greensburg. DeFazio, a Penn-Trafford product, is the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Preseason Player of the Year. She was bestowed that honor last season before the pandemic...
Saint Vincent women run past Waynesburg, give coach Petruska 200th win
Saint Vincent advanced in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament and Bearcats’ coach Jimmy Petruska reached a milestone. Petruska, in his 10th season, registered win No. 200 of his career as SVC downed visiting Waynesburg, 87-59, in the PAC quarterfinals. Saint Vincent (8-0) advances to play Westminster (6-4) at...
Westmoreland Campus Clippings: Saint Vincent men’s basketball moves on
The Saint Vincent men’s basketball team snapped a six-game losing streak, and the feat came with a bonus: The Bearcats advanced in the PAC postseason. SVC (3-7) toppled Waynesburg, 72-58, in the play-in round to advance to Tuesday’s quarterfinals at Geneva. The Bearcats used a 45-point second half to pull...
Norwin notebook: Altieri shakes off slam to wrestle at states
John Altieri was cleared for a trip to Hershey for the PIAA Wrestling Championships, but the Norwin senior’s participation in the state tournament looked like it might be in question after a brutal body slam. During the PIAA West Super Regional at Altoona, Altieri won a championship at 145 pounds,...
Franklin Regional swim team hopes to add to medal haul at PIAAs
Franklin Regional sent a number of swimmers to the medal stand at the WPIAL Class AAA Championships at Upper St. Clair. “I am very happy with our results from WPIALs,” Panthers coach Victor Santoro said. “All three girls relays won medals.” The girls 200-yard freestyle relay finished fifth, the 200-yard...
Westmoreland high school basketball notebook: Southmoreland girls should contend again
The Roundball Classic committee couldn’t pick any girls basketball seniors from Southmoreland to play in its event in May. It’s not because the Scotties are lacking worthy players. They just don’t have any seniors to offer. Southmoreland had one of the youngest semifinal-qualifying teams in the WPIAL this season, with...
OLSH handles Greensburg CC to take 3rd straight WPIAL crown
While Greensburg Central Catholic was talking about diamonds, Our Lady of the Sacred Hearts grabbed the gold. Second-seeded GCC tried a diamond-and-1 defense early, trying to slow down No. 1 OLSH in the WPIAL Class 2A boys basketball championship, and the plan was effective early. But the high-speed Chargers adjusted,...
Westmoreland notebook: County well-represented in Big 5/6 selections
The Big 5/6 Conference, which recognizes the accomplishments of teams and athletes in the WPIAL’s two largest classifications, announced all-section teams for basketball and a number of Westmoreland County players made the list. In Class 6A, Hempfield senior guards Christian Zilli and Michael Hosni, Penn-Trafford senior guard Josh Kapcin, and...
In 1st finals since 2014, Greensburg CC to face high-powered OLSH offense
Greensburg Central Catholic didn’t get the home-court advantage other No. 2 seeds did in the WPIAL playoffs this year. Its gym was too small to host in the first round, so it had to play on the road, and issues from a water main break forced the Centurions to play...
Chartiers Valley scorches nets, beats Latrobe to set up rematch with Trinity
Latrobe girls basketball coach Mark Burkhardt looked up at one of the baskets after Thursday night’s playoff game at Chartiers Valley and, half-jokingly, wondered how often the school has to change the nets. “I don’t know how they keep them up in here,” Burkhardt said. With the way second-seeded Chartiers...
‘Iceman’ McGowan leads Greensburg Central Catholic into Class 2A final
His knees encased in twin glaciers, an exhausted Christian McGowan limped out of the Norwin gymnasium Wednesday night after a postgame interview and joined his teammates on the bus. The “Iceman” from Greensburg Central Catholic had just given the Centurions (16-3) all he had — and then some — in...
Greensburg Central Catholic overcomes Sto-Rox to get back to WPIAL title game
Christian Hyland was the Centurions’ senior point guard the last time Greensburg Central Catholic made the WPIAL basketball finals. Now he is headed to the title game as the second-year coach of his alma mater. Hyland, 25, drew on his experiences from that year and passed them on to his...
Defensive strategy key for Latrobe girls against 2-time reigning champion Chartiers Valley
Latrobe is willing to throw a number of defenses at Chartiers Valley to see if one sticks. The sixth-seeded Wildcats (14-2), who are further along in the WPIAL playoffs than they have been in 23 years, face an ominous task in the Class 5A semifinals. The No. 2 Colts (21-3)...
Westmoreland basketball playoff capsules: Games for Thursday, March 11, 2021
Here’s a look at Thursday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving Westmoreland County teams: Girls Class 5A Semifinals 6-Latrobe (14-2) at 2-Chartiers Valley (21-3) 6 p.m. Thursday Coaches: Mark Burkhardt, Latrobe; Tim McConnell, Chartiers Valley Winner plays: Winner of 5-Woodland Hills (13-6) at 1-Trinity (20-1), 8 p.m. Monday in WPIAL championship...
Cinderella season continues for Quaker Valley girls basketball
Remember all that talk about Southmoreland being the darlings of the WPIAL girls basketball playoffs a year ago? Well, the spotlight might have shifted to the Scotties’ latest opponent. It is Quaker Valley’s turn to wear Cinderella’s slipper in Class 4A. A semifinal team for the second time in school...
Norwin freshman emerges as featured playoff performer
Next girl up. It’s the mantra Norwin has adopted out of necessity as two key players were sidelined with season-ending injuries just as the Lady Knights were poised to make a serious playoff push. Norwin (13-4) still made that push, but that it did so without sophomore Savannah Schneck and...
Westmoreland campus clippings: All-America honors for Carlow’s Olivia Miller
Carlow senior Olivia Miller is an All-American again — in two events. The Ligonier Valley product placed sixth in the high jump at the 41st NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships to finish inside the top eight and earn the status. Her distance was 1.61 meters. She also took sixth...
Comfortable in underdog role, Jeannette to face massive challenge at OLSH
Jeannette is an underdog on a big stage. Sound familiar? Think back to the fall when some considered the Jayhawks heavy underdogs in the WPIAL Class A football championship against Clairton. This is basketball — apples to oranges, yes — but the challenge is oddly similar on the surface for...
Greensburg Central Catholic boys hope to get over WPIAL semifinals speed bump
Junior forward Brevan Williams has taken on a greater scoring role this season and leads Greensburg Central Catholic with a 20-point average. He is among the upper echelon of scorers in the WPIAL. But now can his team make a similar rise in Class 2A? Williams and the second-seeded Centurions...
Westmoreland basketball playoff capsules: Games for Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Here’s a look at Wednesday’s WPIAL basketball playoff games involving Westmoreland County teams: Boys Semifinals Class 2A 5-Jeannette (15-4) at 1-Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (19-0) 6 p.m. Wednesday Coaches: Adrian Batts, Jeannette; Mike Rodriguez, OLSH Winner plays: Winner of 3-Sto-Rox (11-5) vs. 2-Greensburg Central Catholic (15-3) in WPIAL...
Latrobe handles pressure, tops Hampton to move into Class 5A semifinalsVideo
Emma Blair hadn’t done much offensively for Latrobe up until the fourth quarter Monday night. She had only two points on a pair of free throws in the third. But Hampton can vouch for the fact that Blair was doing other things to cause it problems — and to keep...
