Bill Beckner stories, Page 103

The Seton Hill women’s basketball team will open the season earlier than usual, and more than halfway across the country. After last season was canceled because of the covid pandemic, the Griffins are stretching out and hitting the road. The team will get things started at the D2CAA Tip-Off Classic...

Boys Class 3A Consolation game Plum (17-3-1) vs. Franklin Regional (15-4) 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pete Antimarino Stadium, Gateway, Monroeville • The winner of this third-place game between Section 4 foes will advance to the PIAA playoffs, which begin next Tuesday around the state. Fourth-seeded Plum took top-seeded and undefeated...

Tuesday’s WPIAL soccer playoff games Boys Class A Semifinals 5-Eden Christian (17-2-1) vs. 1-Greensburg Central Catholic (14-3) 6 p.m. at Titan Stadium, West Mifflin Winner plays: Winner of 11-Riverside (9-9)/2-Winchester Thurston (17-0-1) in WPIAL championship, 8 p.m. Friday at Highmark Stadium Notes: Eden Christian has emerged as a possible challenger...

The WPIAL girls soccer playoffs have surged into the semifinals with some of the district’s top players leading the way. The league’s coaches have identified many of those players with their 2021 All-WPIAL list. Here are the players who were selected (in alphabetical order by school): Fiona Mahan, Fr., MF,...

Greensburg Central Catholic will be a man down when it takes on Eden Christian on Tuesday night in the WPIAL Class A semifinals. A key man. How the Centurions respond to playing without senior midfielder Mason Fabean could determine if they get to play for a third straight championship. Fabean,...

The great Bill Fralic would have been 59 on Halloween. The hulking lineman who struck fear in opponents when he played at Penn Hills, Pitt and in the NFL left an indelible legacy that lives on through an award in his name. For the third straight year, the William P....

If golf had a Heisman Trophy, this would be it. The Fred Haskins Award has been given out for 52 years to the country’s most outstanding collegiate golfer. Palmer Jackson could be the next recipient. Jackson, a junior at Notre Dame and a Franklin Regional graduate, was one of 15...

Franklin Regional has enjoyed deep playoff runs in recent seasons, winning two WPIAL titles in three years. But during the Panthers’ recent run of success, they had only faced Hampton one other time in the boys soccer postseason. The Talbots decided it was time to steal some of the Panthers’...

Monday’s WPIAL soccer playoff games Boys Class 3A Semifinals 3-Franklin Regional (15-3) vs. 2-Hampton (17-1) 8 p.m. at Pete Antimarino Stadium, Gateway, Monroeville Winner plays: Winner of 4-Plum (17-2-1)/1-West Allegheny (20-0) in WPIAL championship at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at Highmark Stadium Notes: With a frenzied comeback, Franklin Regional raced...

With 56 shutouts across the last four seasons, Franklin Regional has developed a reputation as one of the top defensive programs in WPIAL boys soccer. But with the team playing a more fast-paced, attacking style, offense has come to the forefront: Watch this team share the ball and make passes...

A single goal and sound defense can still carry a tune in the WPIAL soccer playoffs. Always has. Sixth-seeded North Allegheny proved that Saturday afternoon when the sixth-seeded Tigers jammed up No. 3 Norwin for a 1-0 victory in a WPIAL Class 4A boys quarterfinal game at Norwin Knights Stadium....

When Greensburg Central Catholic and Springdale meet in the boys soccer playoffs, the teams see red. GCC is headed back to the WPIAL Class A boys soccer semifinals for the fourth straight year, but it came at a price after another chippy match. The top-seeded Centurions shut out No. 8...

Despite coming into the season as defending WPIAL champion, the Franklin Regional volleyball team took nothing for granted. Winning the first section title in program history was a difficult task that required a season’s worth of hard work. “We have always said that no one is going to hand us...

WPIAL mathematics when it comes to tiebreakers can make your head spin and your blood pressure rise, especially if you’re a team trying to get into the football playoffs. Take Norwin. The Knights (3-6, 1-5) put together one of their best games of the season, toppling No. 5-ranked Canon-McMillan, 16-7,...

Mathematically, Norwin is out of playoff contention. The Knights didn’t want to hear that, though, in the regular-season finale. If they were going out, they wanted to go out with a bang. Motivated to close the season with back-to-back wins — and get their fourth victory after winning three games...

WPIAL soccer playoff capsules Saturday’s games Boys Class 4A Quarterfinals 6-North Allegheny (14-5) at 3-Norwin (14-1-1) 2 p.m. at Norwin Knights Stadium, North Huntingdon Winner plays: Winner of 10-Butler (14-5)/2-Peters Township (14-1-1) on Tuesday (time, site TBD) in semifinals Notes: North Allegheny had won 9 of 10 heading into the...

Fourteen WPIAL players were announced Friday as Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association all-state selections. Several of them have led their teams to a win or two in the WPIAL playoffs. The picks include Franklin Regional senior Anthony DiFalco; Seneca Valley senior Nathan Prex and junior Beaux Lizewski; Butler senior Landon Mohney;...

A truck carrying a ladder drifted into the lane occupied by the Peters Township girls soccer bus as the team traveled to its playoff game Thursday night. The ladder clipped the side mirror of the bus and broke it off, causing the team to pull over. Duct tape and some...

Greensburg Central Catholic has clinched a spot in the WPIAL Class A football playoffs, but the team the Centurions roll out in the opener might be unrecognizable compared to the one fans have seen all season. That is because the Centurions have to sit five transfers, all two-way starters, for...

Defending conference champion Gannon and Shippensburg are the favorites to win titles in the Pennsylvania State Athetic Conference West and East divisions, according to preseason coaches polls. Gannon went 13-1 in a season shortened by the covid pandemic, a year after the Golden Knights finished 25-6. Gannon returns key players...

After averaging 77.6 points and going 24-7 last season, including an 18-4 mark in conference, the Shippensburg men’s basketball team is expected to repeat in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division. IUP, meantime, is the favorite to win the West Division. Shippensburg brings back three starters, including grad student...

An early two-goal deficit can stun some teams in the WPIAL soccer playoffs. It seemed to inspire Franklin Regional. Let’s just say the Panthers took offense to it. The third-seeded Panthers responded in waves after an early charge from No. 6 Kiski Area, scoring five consecutive goals on the way...

Thursday’s games Girls Class 4A Quarterfinals 5-Norwin (13-4) at 4-Seneca Valley (14-3-2) 6:30 p.m., NexTier Stadium, Jackson Township Winner plays: Winner of 9-Fox Chapel (9-7-1)/1-North Allegheny (16-0-1) on Monday (time, site TBD) Notes: Norwin has overcome a number of injuries tto stay in the thick of the 4A title chase....

If Greensburg Central Catholic makes another WPIAL title run in girls soccer, the Centurions will have to do so without senior Bethany Winnor. The senior midfielder and New Hampshire recruit is out after having surgery on her right ankle on Friday. She is expected to miss four months. “I had...

Class 6A Norwin (3-6, 1-5) at Hempfield (2-7, 0-6) 7 p.m. Friday, Spartan Stadium, Hempfield Norwin appeared to keep flickering playoff hopes alive with a 16-7-win last week over Canon-McMillan. Dom Barca ran for 124 yards and scored two touchdowns, including a school-record 95-yard run. Joey Castle kicked a 32-yard...