Bill Beckner stories, Page 32
Franklin Regional girls embrace smooth style of play, enter playoffs on winning streak
Franklin Regional might allow a goal or two, but one thing the Panthers will not do in a game is disconnect. Playing organized is their bond. “As usual, our main strength is staying connected and playing together as a team whether attacking, defending or in transition,” fifth-year coach Scott Arnold...
Annalyse Bauer joins Latrobe girls soccer’s pipeline to Division I programs
Latrobe junior Annalyse Bauer has played in various U.S. cities in travel soccer and internationally for a club showcase. The standout midfielder/forward will be on the move again in the future. She is heading west to play in college. Bauer announced she has made a verbal commitment to Eastern Michigan...
Defending 4A boys champ Norwin expecting similar draw in WPIAL soccer playoffs
Scott Schuchert expects his team to get a similar to draw to last season’s playoffs when Norwin ran the table as a No. 8 seed and won its first WPIAL championship in boys soccer. “Hopefully, it’s the same result, too,” Schuchert said. The WPIAL will announce playoff seedings and matchups...
Jackson Vacanti grows into big-play threat for Greensburg Central Catholic boys soccer
From a 5-foot-3, 97-pound freshman to a senior who now stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 125 pounds, Jackson Vacanti has grown. But so has his game. All the diminutive soccer player does is make big plays. “I feel like I have gotten better every year,” the midfielder from Greensburg Central Catholic...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Hempfield’s DeMatt will join Bucknell
Allie DeMatt plans to compete in multiple track and field events in college. She had multiple reasons to like her future destination. The senior from Hempfield announced a commitment to Bucknell of the Patriot League. “Bucknell has great athletics but also an amazing academic record, and their campus is beautiful,”...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Penn-Trafford grad Nick Turowski wins Red Flash Invitational
Nick Turowski knew he could compete at the NCAA Division I level, but winning might take some time. OK, maybe not. Turowski, a freshman golfer at West Virginia and a Penn-Trafford graduate, won the Red Flash Invitational at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown. He was the only player to finish...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Puck drops for area’s PIHL teams
Hockey season has a way of sneaking up on people because it pops up late in the fall season. But the PIHL is back, and local teams already have played a few games. Penn-Trafford jumped out to a 2-0 start, scoring six goals in both games. A 6-0 win over...
Westmoreland high school football notebook: Greensburg Salem honors Rich Bowen
Greensburg Salem wore special helmet decals Friday night to honor late assistant coach Rich Bowen, who died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. It wasn’t the standard initials on the crowns, either. No, the Golden Lions made sure the name was loud and proud. The decals stretched down the back...
Southmoreland’s Anthony Smith throws for 3 TDs as Scotties top Mt. Pleasant, move closer to title
Southmoreland moved closer to its first conference title since 1979 with a sound victory over rival Mt. Pleasant in the teams’ 50th meeting. Anthony Smith threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns as visiting Southmoreland brushed aside the Vikings, 28-7, in a Class 3A Interstate Conference game Friday night at...
Greensburg Salem to wear helmet decals to honor late assistant coach Rich Bowen
Greensburg Salem football players will wear special helmet decals on their helmets Friday night at Derry to honor assistant coach Rich Bowen, who died earlier this week after a battle with rectal cancer. He was 60. Bowen was in his second year as an assistant coach with the Golden Lions....
Plum outlasts Norwin to capture boys soccer section title
Plum seemed to have a lot going against it in the Section 1-4A boys soccer finale. Already dealing with some injuries, the Mustangs had to set up their bench on the opposite sideline of Norwin, so that meant they had to deal with fan noise. Any would-be distractions were not...
Westmoreland County high school football notebook: Kickers step into spotlight
In what has been the year of the kicker in the WPIAL, local legs are getting into the act. Eleven kickers from Westmoreland County have connected on field goals, with seven of the kicks sailing 35 or more yards through the uprights. Southmoreland’s Jake Kaylor made a school-record 50-yard field...
Gesinski scores 6 goals, Mt. Pleasant girls cruise past Yough
A third straight section crown secured, title contender Mt. Pleasant displayed the offensive muscle and goaltending prowess it will throw at teams in the upcoming WPIAL girls soccer playoffs. Morgan Gesinski scored a season-high six goals and assisted another, Rylin Bugosh had four assists and Laurel Rummel made three saves...
2024 WPIAL team golf championships preview
WPIAL team golf championships Boys Class 3A 10 a.m. Thursday, Cedarbrook Golf Course, Rostraver (Gold Course) Teams: Fox Chapel, North Allegheny, Plum, Belle Vernon, South Fayette, West Allegheny 2023 champion: Peters Township (371) Divots: Seven-time champion Peters Township won WPIAL and PIAA titles last season with an all-junior lineup but...
Westmoreland County boys soccer notebook: Derry’s Gabe Gess a triple-threat
Derry four-sport athlete Gabe Gess has been showing what he can do juggling three sports in the same season. Gess, a senior who also kicks for the football team and runs track and cross country, was leading the team with eight goals. He scored three against Southmoreland, another against Yough,...
Latrobe boys soccer earns 1st section title with shutout of Franklin Regional
Latrobe won’t have to share its first section championship. The boys soccer team hunkered down defensively to sweep Franklin Regional with a 1-0 victory and take the outright Section 3-3A title with a 10-0 record. The Wildcats (11-3 overall) posed for photos in front of the net Tuesday night at...
Former Hempfield, Serra Catholic football coach Rich Bowen dies at age 60
Rich Bowen was never a fan of attention. Not as a star football player or a championship coach. Not as a good-natured husband and father, handyman or athletic director. Not as a man who impacted so many young lives, even up until his final weeks when he was fighting for...
Norwin boys in position to make late-season magic again
Norwin was banged up and flirting with missing the WPIAL boys soccer playoffs last year when everything began to click at just about this same point in the season. “It was the Baldwin game,” Knights coach Scott Schuchert said. “We were chasing … almost not making the playoffs. We had...
Westmoreland County girls soccer notebook: Norwin peaking at right time
Norwin went from wanting to make gradual improvements to taking a giant leap forward. The girls soccer team is back to being a factor after clinching a WPIAL 4A playoff spot for the first time in three years. With four wins over a five-game stretch, Norwin climbed into second place...
Norwin girls avenge loss to Penn-Trafford, stay in section title hunt
Norwin watched film Sunday to get ready to play rival Penn-Trafford. They didn’t like the ending. “Our girls were a little ticked off because P-T celebrated on our logo last time,” Norwin girls soccer coach Ashley DeVito said. “That was the last taste we had playing them. Our girls were...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Seton Hill’s Rick Hall earns 800th victory
Longtime Seton Hill women’s volleyball coach Rick Hall reached a career milestone as his team swept a PSAC West match against Slippery Rock. The win was the 800th for Hall, who is on his 40th season with the program. Hall, a Griffins hall of famer, is now 800-434. The Latrobe...
Westmoreland high school notebook: WPIAL team golf tournaments tee off
WPIAL golf this week shifts to team competition for the postseason. The boys playoff teams must make it through a semifinal to play for a title. The Class 3A semifinals will be 9 a.m. Tuesday. Central Catholic, Connellsville, Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional, Latrobe, Indiana, North Allegheny and Plum will play...
Latrobe standout Tatsch done for season because of shoulder injury that requires surgery
Latrobe will play the rest of the football season without its star running back and linebacker. Alex Tatsch’s high school career is suddenly finished because the senior will have shoulder surgery Monday. The senior Penn State linebacker commit has missed the last two-and-a-half games with pain in his shoulder, the...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Penn-Trafford’s Alexis Brown, Franklin Regional’s Colin Holt
The Westmoreland County Athletes of the Week is presented by Smail Kia. Look for the tags and look for the savings at Smail Kia in Greensburg. Alexis Brown School: Penn-Trafford Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Brown, a Cal (Pa.) commit and standout midfielder, has helped Penn-Trafford take over...
Westmoreland high school football notebook: GCC comes together in win over Jeannette
Greensburg Central Catholic proved Friday night it is more than a one-man team. It is more than junior quarterback Samir Crosby. A lot more. Sure, Crosby was a force in a 44-27 win over rival Jeannette on senior night in Carbon, but the Centurions (4-2, 3-1) saw several players pitch...
