Bill Beckner stories, Page 205
Westmoreland H.S. notebook: Football tiebreaker tweaked in Class 5A
There is a change in the WPIAL Class 5A football tiebreaker for the playoffs. With Albert Gallatin departing the league, 5A has 23 teams competing for 16 playoff spots. The top five teams in each of three conferences qualify, along with one wild-card team. The tiebreaker also will determine which...
Pace picks up with high school football camps set to open
Watch a Penn-Trafford football practice, and the first thing you notice is structure. Players know where to be, when to be there and the effort required in each drill. An exercise in precision. The whole process is machine-like with its station-to-station mechanics and monotonous attention to technique. An ordinary workout...
Franklin Regional’s Greg Botta puts off retirement, back for 26th year
With the advent of one-year contracts, annual player turnover and the season-to-season minutia that comes with the job, it is not unusual for veteran football coaches to contemplate retirement in the offseason. Greg Botta admits it has crossed his mind. But this time, he really considered calling it a career...
Former GCC state champion Zambruno finishes 2nd at Pa. women’s amateur
Olivia Zambruno put together quite a week on the other side of the state at the 83rd Pennsylvania Golf Association Women’s Amateur. But she came out on the wrong side of the final match. The former three-time PIAA champion from Greensburg Central Catholic reached Saturday’s 18-hole final in the championship...
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Corinn Brewer excels at AAU meet
Incoming Greensburg Central Catholic sophomore Corinn Brewer has had a productive offseason in track and field. Brewer, who placed third in the 1,600-meter run and seventh in the pole vault and 800-meter run at last year’s PIAA Championships, came away a four-time All-American at the recent AAU Junior Olympic Games...
Ward, Oberdorf help Martella’s return to AAABA semifinals
Martella’s Pharmacy is not ready to give up its national championship trophy. The lively baseball team from Johnstown is back in the semifinals of the 75th All-American Amateur Baseball Association (AAABA) Tournament, a step away from another finals appearance. They advanced with a 5-4, walk-off win over Zanesville Junior Pioneers...
Greensburg Central Catholic grad Olivia Zambruno reaches semifinals of state amateur
Rising Penn State junior golfer Olivia Zambruno remained in the chase for a title at the 83rd Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill course. A Greensburg Central Catholic graduate, Zambruno downed Julia McLaughlin of Saucon Valley Country Club, 5 & 4, in a quarterfinal match Friday...
Nemacolin Woodlands to host PGA Jr. League Championship qualifier
Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington is one of 12 qualifying sites for the PGA Jr. League Championship this fall. On Sept. 14-15, Nemacolin, the host for Region 5, will welcome four, co-ed all-star teams consisting of junior golfers (ages 13 and under). They will compete for 12 spots available for...
Miller, Zambruno advance at women’s state amateur
Former WPIAL and PIAA golf champions Katie Miller and Olivia Zambruno moved on at the rain-hampered 83rd Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur. Miller, a three-time champion who starred at Hempfield at North Carolina, defeated Julianne Lee, 2-up, holding off a back-nine rally by the unaffiliated Lee Thursday at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia...
Jeannette moves scrimmage to Valley as turf project progresses
As a fail-safe, Jeannette moved its 10 a.m. football scrimmage on Aug. 17 against Valley — originally scheduled to be played at home — to Valley Memorial Stadium in New Kensington. Jeannette’s McKee Stadium is undergoing an artificial turf project that is slightly delayed, and school officials want to give...
Several locals in chase for title at women’s state amateur
Rain caused a suspension of play and ultimately rained out the first day of stroke play Wednesday in the 83rd Pennsylvania Golf Association Women’s Amateur at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Plymouth Meeting. A number of local players are in the 42-player field in the Amateur Division, including former Hempfield and...
Mt. Pleasant girls soccer players Ulery, Leeder commit to D-I programs
Mt. Pleasant will have a pair of Division I midfielders prowling the soccer field this fall. Brooke Ulery and MacKenzie Leeder have made verbal commitments to higher-level programs on the eve of their junior seasons. Ulery plans to attend Cleveland State, and Leeder pledged to Duquesne. Both are two-time All-WPIAL...
Softball star Maddy Grimm nabs first-team all-league honors
After leading her moh-BEEL!USA team to a championship this season, Maddy Grimm was recognized with a postseason accolade in the American Softball Association. The burgeoning, four-team professional league announced its all-ASBA players and Grimm was a clear first-team selection. A third baseman who hails from Ligonier Valley and Kent State,...
Norwin grad JJ Matijevic makes MLB Pipeline prospect team of week
JJ Matijevic is leaping and hip-bumping teammates, smiling and chomping on wads of gum as he revels in one of the hottest streaks of his professional baseball career. He looks like a kid enjoying the game again. Matijevic, a corner infielder and outfielder for the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Double-A...
Host member Katie James wins WPGA Women’s Amateur
Katie James used home-course advantage to raise a golf trophy Monday. James captured the 12th Western Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship on her home course, Fox Chapel Golf Club, with a steady-as-she-goes round of even-par 73. Sewickley Heights Golf Club’s Madison McDanel, of Central Valley, was a shot back at 74...
Seton Hill announces latest hall of fame class
Seton Hill announced its newest athletic hall of fame inductees. The four-member class features lacrosse player Matt Delmonico (Class of 2014), men’s basketball player Chris Giles (2012), football player Antwarn Jones (’10) and women’s soccer player Nicky Pergar (’08). • Delmonico, a three-time All-American, holds career school records for points...
St. Francis women, Waynesburg men taking international trips
Preparations for basketball season are beginning a little earlier this year for a pair of area programs. The St. Francis (Pa.) women and Waynesburg men are taking international trips that are a blend of team-bonding, competition and culture. St. Francis will leave Tuesday for Australia, while Waynesburg will spend more...
New athletic director Ryan Hayden brings youthful enthusiasm to Jeannette
Ryan Hayden peered out from the press box at McKee Stadium as workers smoothed over gravel and continued to prepare the historic field for artificial turf. The Jeannette faithful are awaiting the big reveal. Count Hayden among them. “It’s a good time to be around here,” Hayden said. “Everyone is...
Palmer Jackson maintains hot streak with Hannastown club title
Palmer Jackson is one of those rare, up-and-coming amateur golfers who has the uncanny ability to capture lightning in a bottle. Just when you thought the recent Franklin Regional grad from Murrysville couldn’t get any better on the course, he started another hot streak. Some might say Jackson’s favorite club...
Franklin Regional’s Andrew Muraco commits to Coastal Carolina
Andrew Muraco always dreamed of playing Division I baseball but the actuality he could do so began to take shape last year when he was a freshman at Franklin Regional. After two seasons at the high school level — and a growing reputation as a gamer in travel baseball —...
Former Hempfield QB Justin Sliwoski leaving Pitt
Justin Sliwoski knew he wasn’t heading into an idealistic situation when he walked on at Pitt. The strong-armed quarterback out of Hempfield figured he could possibly find a niche with the Panthers as a backup or third-stringer — and be ready in the wings as a just-in-case guy. He’d pay...
Hannastown Golf Club brings out best from Westmoreland County and beyondVideo
Do the math on this one. Longtime accomplished amateur golfer Sean Knapp lives in Oakmont. He has played some of the best courses in the country. He won a national championship — the U.S. Senior Amateur — two years ago. The 57-year-old Knapp has been one of the country’s top...
Former Bearcat Aaron Smetanka ready to help Saint Vincent ‘regain its footing’
It’s late July and Saint Vincent College is alive with the sights and sounds of football. But that is nothing new. The Pittsburgh Steelers have called Latrobe their preseason training camp home for more than five decades. The home-standing Saint Vincent Bearcats, who will overlap three days with the Steelers...
Bill Fralic Award to recognize WPIAL’s top lineman
The late Bill Fralic was never one for attention. But the mountain of a football player, who blocked and tackled better than most at Penn Hills and Pitt before a pro career he spent mostly with the Atlanta Falcons, enjoyed being able to make a difference in the lives of...
Pitt-Greensburg names Kelsey Oddis as cross country coach
Kelsey Oddis was a two-sport standout during her undergraduate days at Pitt-Greensburg, excelling in both cross country and basketball with the Bobcats. Now, she will have multiple coaching titles at her collegiate alma mater. Already a women’s basketball assistant at UPG, the Burrell graduate will take over the school’s men’s...
