Bill Beckner stories, Page 89
Westmoreland high school notebook: Norwin’s Vogel commits to IUP football
Norwin’s Noah Vogel had his top schools all lined up and was about to make a decision on his football future when a new opportunity came in. An opportunity he could not refuse. IUP had been interested in Vogel since his junior year but increased its financial offer only a...
Norwin grad McDowell joins Phillies Double-A affiliate
Norwin graduate Max McDowell will be with a new team this baseball season. The journeyman catcher, who will begin his eighth season in the minor leagues, will play for the Reading Fightin Phils, the Double-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. After spending most of last season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRaiders,...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Mt. Pleasant’s Lily King, Hempfield’s Eli Carr
Lily King School: Mt. Pleasant Sport: Swimming Class: Sophomore Claim to fame: King was dominant for the second straight year at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association championships at Derry, winning the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races in record fashion. She set county records of 49.63 seconds in the 100 free...
Norwin notebook: Emergency goalie comes through for hockey team
A bout of adversity didn’t stop the Norwin hockey team from winning, and it didn’t stop an offensive player from suiting up and playing goaltender. Norwin had to face Freeport without junior goalkeeper Owen Burmeister, who suffered a concussion while playing for his youth team the previous weekend. Knights coach...
Norwin’s Fleming brothers step into stripes shortly after graduation
It was only last year when Michael Fleming was firing in 3-pointers for Norwin, and two years ago when Nick Fleming was contributing key points and rebounds for the Knights. Now, the brothers are calling fouls and wearing stripes. Like their father, who has officiated basketball, football and other sports...
Hard-charging Latrobe boys knock off Franklin Regional
The playoff race in WPIAL Section 3-5A boys basketball just got a lot more interesting. Latrobe was one of the teams throwing wrenches into the works. The Wildcats clearly aren’t ready to call it a year just yet, as evidenced by their 66-53 win over reeling Franklin Regional on Friday...
Norwin girls on a “role” with sweep of Hempfield
Norwin girls basketball players recently filled out and read a Google form report about finding their roles on the team. It was a topic the Knights know well. The exercise gave the players a better idea of what their collective personality is. Norwin is ranked third in WPIAL Class 6A...
Westmoreland County boys basketball notebook: Few teams have playoff sports locked up
With just over a week to go in the WPIAL regular season, the Westmoreland County playoff picture is coming into greater focus. Only four county teams had secured spots at the beginning of the week: Burrell and Yough in Class 3A, Greensburg Central Catholic in 2A and Monessen in Class...
Belle Vernon boys still looking to find groove in season of constant change
A search for continuity is a seemingly ongoing adventure at Belle Vernon this season as the boys basketball team tries to grow into its expectations. The journey has been met with flared locker room discussions, a maddening sense that the Leopards (9-9) should be better and the coach trying to...
Seton Hill celebrates 100th anniversary of women’s basketball team
Seton Hill women’s basketball players used to walk across the road to the Armory near downtown Greensburg to play intrasquad games. Later, they would hop a train to play in Pittsburgh, Indiana or Ohio. Dressed in their blooms, skirts and tiny caps, they would weave around creaky courts, pass to...
Yough girls charging toward playoffs during breakthrough season
Mike Gerdich, walking gingerly in front of his team’s bench, watches a loose basketball roll out of bounds and into the near corner during a home game against Charleroi. He makes his way to the ball, bends down with a cringe and grunts under his breath, “Oh, that hurt,” as...
Westmoreland County girls basketball notebook: 7 teams punch playoff tickets
Seven Westmoreland County teams have secured WPIAL playoffs spots with just more than a week remaining in the regular season. Norwin clinched a berth in Class 6A, and Penn-Trafford wrapped up a a spot in Class 5A. Belle Vernon (4A), Greensburg Salem (4A), Yough (3A), Greensburg Central Catholic (2A), and...
Freshman sparks Greensburg Central Catholic to season sweep of rival Jeannette
Samir Crosby is from Jeannette. He lives there. He has family and friends there. But on Tuesday night, the freshman guard from Greensburg Central Catholic was out to beat the Jayhawks. And that’s what he and his teammates did, earning a season sweep over their rivals. Crosby scored nine of...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Area grads help Pitt wrestling upset No. 8 Virginia Tech
Three former Westmoreland standouts made an impact on an upset by the Pitt wrestling team. Redshirt senior Micky Phillippi (Derry), redshirt junior Colton Camacho (Franklin Regional) and freshman Dayton Pitzer (Mt. Pleasant) all recorded wins as the 22nd-ranked Panthers clipped No. 8 Virginia Tech, 26-12, on Friday to move into...
Yough girls impress with rout of Charleroi
Yough is chasing its first WPIAL playoff berth in more than a decade. The way the Cougars played Monday night, they might get more. “We want the section title,” junior forward Autumn Matthews said. “This is the best we have played all year. Hopefully it helps us get into the...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Seton Hill baseball tabbed preseason No. 1 in PSAC West
Elevated expectations for Seton Hill baseball: What else is new? The perennially-contending Griffins were picked to finish first in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division for the third straight season. Seton Hill finished 33-19-1 last season and went 2-2 in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional. Three players, senior...
Norwin boys use barrage of 3s to rout Latrobe
All Norwin needed to see was the first one go in. From there, it was nothing but net and nothing but Knights. Norwin connected on a season-high 13 of 19 3-pointers and had four players score in double figures as it throttled Latrobe, 69-41, on Sunday night in the Shootout...
Kent State is right fit for Franklin Regional lineman Andrew Nesler
Andrew Nesler, a football lineman who circled back to Franklin Regional after a short spell at a prep school, has mapped out a future at the NCAA Division I level. Nesler, a 6-foot-2, 285-pound lineman, has accepted a preferred walk-on opportunity at Kent State. A “significant” part of his financial...
High school sports notebook: Ex-Hempfield, Jeannette football assistant heads to Central Catholic
Former Jeannette and Hempfield football assistant Ryan Reitz will be with a new team next season. Reitz has accepted the offensive coordinator position at Central Catholic under new head coach Ryan Lehmeier. “When Ryan asked, it was just too hard to pass up an opportunity like this,” Reitz said. Reitz,...
Franklin Regional girls run away with win vs. Greensburg Salem
Close losses have plagued Franklin Regional all season long. The trend was getting tired. The Panthers lost to Mars by three points, Plum by two and then three, Seton LaSalle by one and Penn Hills by two. Five defeats by a combined 11 points. Eager to reverse course, the Panthers...
Belle Vernon boys respond with victory over Franklin Regional
Joe Salvino sent his team an impassioned message after Friday’s win over Southmoreland. The Belle Vernon boys basketball coach didn’t hold back. Red-faced and vehement, and with that familiar shrill, he questioned his team’s accountability, its defensive energy and its eagerness to play as a team after the Leopards were...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: P-T’s Alyssa Balest, Hempfield’s Dominic Falcon
Alyssa Balest School: Penn-Trafford Sport: Bowling Class: Senior Claim to fame: Balest last weekend won the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championship for the second year in a row, rolling a 676 series to top the field at Hillview Lanes in Greensburg. A Mount St. Mary’s commit, she posted a 238...
Franklin Regional notebook: Bowlers claim county titles
Brandon Smith is the captain of the Franklin Regional boys bowling team. For at least one day, he was the man at Hillview Lanes in Greensburg. Smith won the boys individual championship at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championships. Smith rolled a three-game series of 696 with a 246 in...
Despite rough going, Belle Vernon boys get past Southmoreland
Feeling like his team got away with something in its latest win — the first of three straight games this weekend for Belle Vernon — boys basketball coach Joe Salvino showed more frustration than content as he emerged from the locker room on Friday night and climbed the stairs back...
Norwin girls can’t halt North Allegheny’s home winning streak
Even when it is Norwin coming to town, North Allegheny tries to keep things in proper perspective on its home floor, where the girls basketball team has been virtually unstoppable in recent years. Just because the next opponents is No. 1 Norwin, a rival and the only team to challenge...
