Bill Beckner stories, Page 217
Westmoreland PIAA basketball playoff capsules for games of March 15
Boys Class A Quarterfinals Nazareth Prep (21-3) vs. Monessen (17-9) 6 p.m. Friday at Keystone Oaks Winner plays: Winner of Vincentian Academy (18-8)/Cornell (21-5) on Monday in semifinals Coaches: Nehemiah Brazil, Nazareth Prep; Dan Bosnic, Monessen Players to watch: Tre Harvey, Sr., F, Nazareth Prep; Dishon Howell, Sr., G, Monessen...
Former Penn-Trafford RB Gay leaving Air Force
John Gay IV wants to be a more traditional college student, which he hopes can make him a more traditional college football player — and maybe lead to something further. The former Penn-Trafford standout running back is leaving the Air Force Academy and will transfer to Lafayette, a FCS program...
Campus clippings: Transfers finding success on diamond
Change has been good for a few local athletes who have found new homes this spring sports season. Tommy Pellis transferred from Penn to Seton Hill, seeking a better on-field opportunity and a chance to play baseball in the area where he grew up. Pellis, a junior infielder out of...
WPGA opens Frank Fuhrer III Hall of Fame
Moving day for the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association a year ago brought it to a new home on Pittsburgh’s North Side. A spacious and classic-style red brick building — as vintage-looking as an Arnold Palmer cardigan — not only allowed the organization to stretch its legs but also afforded them...
Nazareth Prep continues impressive postseason run with PIAA 2nd-round victory
There is a sense of the unknown surrounding Nazareth Prep, the tiny private Catholic school situated along Ohio River Boulevard in the Allegheny County borough of Emsworth. One thing is quite clear, however, regarding that obscure third-year WPIAL member, the former Holy Family Academy: The Saints know how to play...
YWCA of Westmoreland County announces award winners
Several individual and team winners were announced this week for the annual YWCA Sportswomen of the Year Awards Banquet set for 5:30 p.m. April 15 at the Ramada Inn, Greensburg. Sports Girl of the Year for Excellence in a Team Sport: Morgan Phillips Sports Teen of the Year Excellence in...
Norwin girls overwhelm opponents with depth, substitutions
Usually by state playoff time, basketball teams have pared their rotations down to a workable number, maybe six or seven players. They go with what got them there and don’t mess with chemistry. Championships have been won with minimal depth. Then there is this year’s Norwin girls team. As the...
Seton Hill’s Craig drafted by MLL team
Seton Hill is sending another lacrosse player to the pros. Senior long-stick midfielder Brett Craig was picked by the Atlanta Blaze in the fifth round of the Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft. He was the 39th overall pick but the first chosen from a Division II program. The reining Great...
WPGA offers assistance for golf rules changes
Trying to figure out some of the new rule changes in golf can be enough to cause a club toss. That might result in said club being damaged. But wait, there is a new rule for that. A club damaged during a round can now continue to be used, “even...
PSAC basketball teams set for NCAA tournaments
Seven teams from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference were selected to play in the NCAA Division II basketball tournaments. Conference winners received automatic spots in the postseason brackets, while 40 at-large bids went to teams chosen by the tournament committee. There are eight regional tournaments (8 teams each) that will...
Westmoreland campus clippings: County wrestlers qualify for NCAA championships
What would the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Pittsburgh be without a Pittsburgh presence? No need to fret. When it comes to star power at the tournament, the question might be, who isn’t from Pittsburgh? Several talented Westmoreland County wrestlers qualified for nationals, set to take place March 21-23...
Westmoreland high school lookahead: Week of March 11, 2019
TUESDAY Girls basketball: The state playoffs will continue for Norwin as the Knights take on Northhampton, a District 11 school near Philadelphia, in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs. The game tips at 5 p.m. at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg. Boys basketball: Monessen, the last...
Beaver Falls’ pressure, rebounding too much for Ligonier ValleyVideo
JOHNSTOWN — Ligonier Valley didn’t overlook Beaver Falls, an opponent with a sub-.500 record and fifth-place standing in the WPIAL. The Rams knew the Tigers had speed and would try to press them out of the building. The pressure was fast and furious as expected, but it wasn’t the only...
Westmoreland high school notes: P-T’s Lisbon gets first 2 D-I offers
A running back with breakaway speed, one who averaged nearly 9 yards a carry last season, has his first two Division I offers. Penn-Trafford junior Caleb Lisbon is expected to draw many more offers, but Navy will be the pace car after the Midshipmen offered last week. Fordham followed a...
Fresh legs, strong shooting key opening-round PIAA win for Norwin girlsVideo
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Playing with confidence, fresh legs and resolve following a gut-wrenching elimination from the WPIAL semifinals, the Norwin girls basketball team opened the state playoffs with a lively victory. The Knights returned to the PIAA tournament after a two-year absence and rang up a dozen 3-pointers, shared the ball...
Roundball Classic rosters announced
Event director Allen Deep released rosters for the Roundball Classic all-star basketball games, set for April 12-13 at Geneva College. There will be seven games over two days at Metheny Fieldhouse. More than 200 senior players were selected. On April 12, there will be three boys games, including East vs....
Point Park’s Shields is NAIA’s top athlete, again
What Anna Shields has done at Point Park will become legendary long after she graduates. It will tough to forget her “run” of success. Arguably the fastest woman in Pittsburgh for the duration of her college running career, Shields achieved elite status and stayed there. For the fifth time, she...
Ligonier Valley boys chasing first PIAA win in 3 decades
Ligonier Valley has a proud sports heritage — not exactly the reason the Rams play in the Heritage Conference, but rather fitting nonetheless. The boys basketball team has seen a surge in recent seasons and many of those proud followers around the program feel this is the group that will...
Kennesaw State’s Amani Johnson tabbed ASUN’s top freshman
Amani Johnson, the former WPIAL scoring champion from East Allegheny, was unanimously voted the top freshman basketball player in her college team’s conference. The 5-foot-6 guard at Kennesaw State was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year. Johnson, who scored 2,345 points in high school, was named ASUN...
Westmoreland PIAA basketball capsules: Games for March 8-9, 2019
Boys basketball Class 5A First round Franklin Regional (17-7) vs. Lower Dauphin (24-3) 6:30 p.m. Friday at Milton Hershey HS Winner plays: Winner of Johnstown (19-2)/Elizabethtown (16-12) on Tuesday Coaches: Steve Scorpion, Franklin Regional; Rick Attivo, Lower Dauphin Players to watch: Nick Leopold, Sr., G, FR; Luke Hedrick, Sr., G,...
5 district athletes to watch at NCAA D-I Indoor Track & Field
The NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will be contested Friday and Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. Here are five district athletes to watch at the meet: Jordan Geist, So. Arizona (Knoch) — A record-breaker and bona fide “stud” in his sport growing up, Geist drew crowds away from...
Decision time nearing for Franklin Regional’s Nick Leopold
Franklin Regional’s Nick Leopold soon will find himself at a fork in the road. The senior two-sport standout has some options to consider when it comes to making his college decision. Football or basketball? Defensive back or point guard? Which level? Leopold, who will lead the Panthers (17-7) against Lower...
Longtime coach D.P. Harris leaving Saint Vincent hoops program
For the first time in more than a decade, Saint Vincent is looking for a men’s basketball coach. Don Paul “D.P.” Harris, the man in charge of the Bearcats for 16 years, stepped down to take a position at a college in Florida. The Bearcats just finished a 22-5 season...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Penn State’s Holmberg set for NCAA indoor championships
Penn State’s Maddie Holmberg was named U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Field Athlete of the Year in the Mid-Atlantic Region. She will compete in the NCAA indoor championships this week in Birmingham, Ala. Holmberg, a senior and a Hempfield graduate, took seventh in the pentathlon last...
WPIAL athletes garner all-state honors for indoor season
Athletes from WPIAL schools were lauded by the Pennsylvania Track & Field Coaches Association with the organization’s all-state teams for the indoor season. Hempfield’s MacKenna Orie and Zachary Kinne of North Allegheny, state champions in the shot put and 3,000-meter run, respectively, were first-team selections. Jared Bannon of Hempfield (60-meter...
