Bill Beckner stories, Page 200
Westmoreland campus clippings: Saint Vincent, Seton Hill end skids
The Saint Vincent and Seton Hill football teams have more than a few things in common. Both broke losing streaks and gave their rookie coaches — and proud alums of their respective schools — their first wins Saturday. Saint Vincent broke a nine-game skid with a 41-18 victory at Thiel...
Westmoreland football notebook: Three more teams clinch WPIAL playoff spots
Three more Westmoreland teams punched their ticket to the WPIAL playoffs with wins Friday night. Latrobe, Franklin Regional and Greensburg Salem will return to the postseason. Latrobe and Greensburg Salem will make back-to-back playoff appearances after droughts: Latrobe made it last year for the first time since 2009, and the...
Latrobe makes goal-line stand to defeat Plum, claim playoff spotVideo
As momentum swayed, it was one of those games that seemed destined to produce good news and bad news for the Latrobe football team. And it did. The good news for the Wildcats? There was hardly any bad news. Latrobe wiped its collective brow and took care of business Friday...
Fox Chapel, Sewickley Academy boys, Upper St. Clair, GCC girls take WPIAL team golf titlesVideo
A couple of streaks ended and a couple more carried on Thursday at the WPIAL team golf championships. New champions were crowned in boys and girls Class AAA, while it was the same old story in both Class AA tournaments played at sun-splashed Cedarbrook Golf Course in Rostraver. In Class...
JJ Matijevic is a fall league all-star
JJ Matijevic has made his presence known in the Arizona Fall League. The 23-year-old Norwin graduate and Houston Astros prospect was selected to play in the AFL All-Star Game set for 5 p.m. Saturday at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Maricopa County, Ariz. Matijevic, a first baseman for...
Saint Vincent QB Brady Walker done for the season
Saint Vincent freshman quarterback Brady Walker is done for the season with a knee injury, Bearcats coach Aaron Smetanka confirmed. Walker was injured Sept. 28 in a home game against Carnegie Mellon, a 49-14 loss for Saint Vincent (0-4). Walker, who started his college career at West Virginia Wesleyan before...
Playoff hopes still flickering for resilient Mt. Pleasant boys soccer team
Give Mt. Pleasant’s boys soccer players credit: All things considered, they’ll be able to say they stayed in the race until the race was over. A key injury and some harried schematic changes made out of desperation sent the team sideways but didn’t stop it from chasing a WPIAL playoff...
Westmoreland football Q&A with Mt. Pleasant’s Jake Johnson
Teetering between a potential playoff berth and an early end to the season can be like purgatory for WPIAL teams. It’s a week-to-week waiting game as the season crawls to a finish. The only way they can impact their fate — and avoid potential tiebreakers and the dreaded Gardner Points...
Westmoreland County don’t-miss football matchups for Week 7
Class 6A Hempfield (2-5, 1-5) at No. 1 North Allegheny (7-0, 6-0) 7 p.m. Friday at Newman Stadium, McCandless On the air: TribHSSN.TribLive.com Last week: Seneca Valley 40, Hempfield 12; North Allegheny 49, Butler 14 Coaches: Rich Bowen, Hempfield; Art Walker, North Allegheny Players to watch: Fintan Brose, Hempfield (Sr.,...
Former Hempfield hockey player Christian Gorscak makes D-1 commitment
Former Hempfield hockey standout Christian Gorscak finished his high school education online and graduated last year. Next up is a college degree for the rising prospect — and he hopes a lot more hockey. Gorscak announced Wednesday he will continue his career at Niagara, a Division I program in New...
Six from WPIAL nominated for HS All-American soccer games
Four girls and two boys from the WPIAL have been added to the 2019 High School All-American Soccer Game Watch List. The national game for seniors will be Dec. 7 in Orlando, Fla. Finalists will be chosen at a later date. WPIAL girls players on the ballot include Norwin defender...
Locals Jackson, Goetz lead college teams to victory
Household names in local golf are on their way to carrying that same status at major college programs. Notre Dame freshman Palmer Jackson and West Virginia junior Mark Goetz led their teams to victory Tuesday. Jackson, a Franklin Regional graduate who has quickly taken to Division I golf, dropped a...
Norwin’s Kendro gives verbal commitment to Tennessee
An impressive workout at a summer showcase will afford Jake Kendro the opportunity to showcase his talents at the highest level of college baseball. The sophomore middle-infielder from Norwin began drawing interest from Tennessee after coaches saw him at a Perfect Game event in July in Georgia. An offer followed...
Campus clippings: Franklin Regional graduate Nate Leopold sets tone for John Carroll football
Nate Leopold got the scoring started and set the tone for his defensive teammates as the John Carroll football team dumped Muskingum, 31-10, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game. Leopold, a sophomore defensive back out of Franklin Regional, scooped up a first-quarter fumble and returned it 34 yards for a...
Defense dominates as Class 5A No. 1 Penn-Trafford beats Latrobe
Penn-Trafford was not clicking offensively. The running game was sluggish, passes were off the mark and the sticks weren’t moving with normal rapidity. The Warriors’ defense, however, was there to bail it out. No. 1 Penn-Trafford held Latrobe to one first down, pressured the Wildcats’ continuously and pounded down a...
Pitt basketball team practices at Pitt-Greensburg
Pitt-Greensburg had some special guests in for a visit Friday. No, they weren’t recruits; these basketball players’ recruiting days have long since passed — and they were courted at a much higher level. But the group has plenty of game and put it on display for spectators inside Chambers Hall....
Yough names Kelsey Kuhns softball coach
Just five years ago, Kelsey Kuhns was leading the Southmoreland softball team from behind the dish. Suddenly, the former standout catcher is a head coach at another Westmoreland County program. Kuhns, 23, has been named the next coach at Yough. She replaces Art “Dutch” Harvey, who resigned in June after...
Strong freshman class boosts Greensburg Central Catholic soccer
An influx of freshmen can raise a number of concerns for soccer coaches at the high school level. While the issues aren’t always pressing, they are worth examining at some point – in many cases, sooner than later. Are they equipped to handle the varsity game? Is it too early...
Westmoreland football Q-and-A: Penn-Trafford’s Ethan Carr
Penn-Trafford takes road trips on a bus. It scores touchdowns by Carr. Ethan Carr put on a show last week in the top-ranked Warriors’ home game against Plum. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior tied a single-game school record with five touchdowns, finding the end zone three ways in a 47-17 victory...
Westmoreland County’s don’t-miss high school football matchups for Week 6
Class 6A No. 2 Central Catholic (5-1, 3-1) at Norwin (2-4, 1-3) 7 p.m. Friday at Norwin Knights Stadium, North Huntingdon Last week: Central Catholic 29, Pine-Richland 7; Norwin 49, Butler 21 Coaches: Terry Totten, Central Catholic; Dave Brozeski, Central Catholic Players to watch: Eddy Tillman, Central Catholic (Jr., 5-8,...
Cox’s EAF program to take participants to Penn State game
Educated Athletes First is providing another college tour experience and stepping up its game at that. EAF, the nonprofit venture of former Jeannette star athlete Demetrious Cox and his father, Dorsey, designed to help aspiring athletes and their parents along the path to college-level sports and academics, will hit the...
Point Park men’s basketball coach sets new team for 3×3 tourney in China
Point Park men’s basketball coach Joe Lewandowski has assembled another 3-on-3 team to represent the states overseas. Lewandowski, who guided Team USA to a FIBA 3x3 World Cup title with a 7-0 record over the summer in Amsterdam, will lead another four-player crew to the 2019 FIBA Men’s 3x3 U23...
Lackawanna’s Robert Kennedy gets 3 more Division I offers
Robert Kennedy knew there were no guarantees when he took the junior college route. The former Jeannette star quarterback and defensive back — Mr. PA Football for small schools in 2018 — decided to play at Lackawanna. The plan was to be patient, work on his game, get stronger physically...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Jeannette grads help Lackawanna College to rout
A pair of Jeannette graduates led Lackawanna College (4-0) to a runaway victory. Sophomore defensive back Robert Kennedy returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown, and sophomore teammate Kareem Hall ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns in an 83-0 win over Erie Community College. Hall, who transferred from...
Fox Chapel’s Scott Bitar cruises to WPIAL title on home courseVideo
Naturally, Scott Bitar felt right at home playing the WPIAL Class AAA championship at Fox Chapel Golf Club where he is a member and the reigning club champion. The senior from Fox Chapel knows the places to miss, the trouble spots to avoid and the pin placements to respect. He...
