Bill Beckner stories, Page 104

The pack was chasing a Wolf at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference cross country championships at Kutztown. At least that was the case down the stretch. Seton Hill senior Sydney Wolf became the first woman in school history to win a PSAC final as her final 300-meter push gave her...

A driving, sideways rain made it hard for the teams to concentrate on each other Tuesday night at Mt. Pleasant. Marissa Garn clearly was focused on giving her team the lead, though, and moving on in the bracket. She blocked out the wet and wind and extended her team’s season....

Irwin’s Erica Gribble won’t play varsity basketball in the WPIAL until the 2022-23 season. But the promising backcourt standout and youngest sister of Norwin’s Gribble family already has a Division I scholarship offer. Gribble, an eighth grader at Greensburg Central Catholic, was offered by St. Joseph’s, where her older sister,...

Wednesday’s games Girls Class A Quarterfinals 8-Riverside (11-7) vs. 1-Greensburg Central Catholic (13-1) 6:15 p.m. at Fridley Field, Hampton Winner plays: Winner of 4-Bishop Canevin (15-0-1)/5-Freedom (13-4) on Monday (time, site TBD) Riverside won a back-and-forth playoff opener against No. 9 Winchester Thurston, 8-4. Emma Thellman and Megan Zelc scored...

Sydney Lindeman and her Franklin Regional teammates were wary of 14th-seeded West Allegheny in their playoff opener. “They come from a tough section playing against teams like Mars so we knew it would be tough,” Lindeman said. “It wasn’t going to be easy.” Concerning words? Maybe. But not when they...

Tuesday’s games Boys Class 4A First round 12-Penn-Trafford (9-7) at 5-Fox Chapel (13-3-1) 8 p.m. at James Burk Athletic Complex, O’Hara Winner plays: At 4-Canon-McMillan (13-2-1) on Saturday (time TBD) Notes: Penn-Trafford faded late in the season, losing five of its last six with shutouts against Norwin (1-0) and North...

Scott and Caitlin Schuchert met on a soccer field. Because of course they did. “I remember we started coaching together and I went up to him and introduced myself,” Caitlin Schuchert said. “He was like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ We started hanging out and it kind of went from there. We...

Pitt-Greensburg’s queens of the court cleaned up when the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference postseason awards came out last week. Sophomore Emily Ruhlman was named the conference player of the year for the second straight season, and Doug Smeltzer was a co-coach of the year recipient. Six Bobcats players received first-...

Monday’s games Boys Class 2A First round 16-Yough (7-10) at 1-South Park (18-0) 6:30 p.m. at South Park Stadium, South Park Winner plays: Winner of 9-North Catholic/8-McGuffey at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (time, site TBD) Notes: Yough is back in the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Cougars...

If Ben Ritenour didn’t think he was ready for college golf coming out of high school, he probably does now. A 2020 graduate of Greensburg Central Catholic, Ritenour had an outstanding summer playing competitively, winning the Tri-State PGA Player of the Year in the Boys’ 17-18 age division. That came...

“RWG Pap” was written in bold, black lettering on the tape wrapped around Nate Dlugos’ wrist. The Greensburg Central Catholic junior quarterback/defensive back, his brother and teammate, Nick Dlugos, and their cousin, Danny Dlugos, went to Friday’s game at Jeannette with heavy hearts. Only hours before kickoff, they attended a...

Norwin second-year hockey coach Mike Robinson lists his team’s strengths in this order: • Goaltending • Offensive ability • Leadership Put them together and the Knights have three stars that can potentially lead them to the PIHL Class A postseason. “Our goaltending already this year has come up big and...

Based on the level of competition at the WPIAL Class 3A girls team golf finals, coach Kane Daignault was thrilled to see his Franklin Regional team card a top-five finish. “You look around and there are so many good players and teams here,” Daignault said on Oct. 14 at Cedarbrook...

Talk about a U-turn. Greensburg Central Catholic has four players with Jeannette ties: senior Taishaun Jamison (WR/DB), and juniors Ryan Kimmel (OL/DL), Jaydin Canady (RB/DB) and Amari Mack (WR/DB). So it must have been an interesting 24 hours for the transfers, who left Jeannette on Friday morning to go to...

Saturday’s games Boys Class 3A first round 8-Mars (12-4-2) at 9-Belle Vernon (13-4) 2 p.m. at James Weir Stadium, Belle Vernon Winner plays: Winner of 16-Indiana (10-8)/1-West Allegheny (18-0) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (site TBD) Mars is the defending WPIAL and PIAA champion. The Fightin’ Planets have overcome key graduation...

Southmoreland coach Dave Keefer and his staff have prepared for some meaningful games since they took over in 2018. “There were some big ones that first year,” Keefer said. “We had a big one (against McGuffey) two years ago. This one Friday ranks right up there.” Southmoreland (6-2, 3-1 Class...

A second-half brawl last week looks like it will cost 16 players the rest of the football season. Nine players from Valley and seven from Yough will serve a two-game suspension for their involvement in a fight Friday night at Valley Memorial Stadium. PIAA rules say players who get ejected...

Vince Skillings said he doesn’t believe he did anything to warrant a dismissal, but Derry apparently saw otherwise. While neither Skillings nor Derry would go into detail about what transpired, Skillings was relieved of his duties as head football coach Wednesday with two games remaining in the season. Derry is...

Greensburg Central Catholic’s soccer teams seemed to follow each other around last fall during the WPIAL postseason, figuratively and physically. The boys and girls teams won WPIAL Class A championships and reached the PIAA finals, finishing runners-up in Hershey. The Centurions shared Norwin as a home field throughout the playoffs,...

Class 6A Canon-McMillan (4-4, 2-3) at Norwin (2-6, 0-5) 7 p.m. Friday, Norwin Knights Stadium After winning two straight, Canon-McMillan takes a two-game losing streak into Friday after falling to Seneca Valley and North Allegheny in consecutive weeks. Mike Evans threw for 114 yards and a touchdown and Ryan Angott...

Here’s a look at the 2021 WPIAL girls soccer playoffs: Class 4A Favorite: Two-time defending champion North Allegheny has a 22-game unbeaten streak against WPIAL competition and has not lost since last year’s PIAA championship, 1-0, against Pennridge. The Tigers (15-0-1), led by top goal scorer Lucia Wells, are ranked...

Here’s a look at the 2021 WPIAL boys soccer playoffs: Class 4A Favorite: Seneca Valley impressively negotiated a challenging Section 1 schedule and won the title by three games. The Nathan Prex-led Raiders (15-0-1), ranked third in the state, registered 11 shutouts and their one tie came against Fox Chapel....

Finally, a one-goal finish Yough can get behind. In a girls soccer game that carried more importance in the Section 3-2A standings for Mt. Pleasant, it was Yough that showed greater urgency down the stretch Tuesday evening at sun-splashed Cougar Mountain Stadium. The fourth-ranked Cougars delivered a tight, 2-1 victory...

At Point Park, the fire still Burns. Star point guard Michelle Burns (Hempfield) is back for a fifth basketball season after averaging 20.8 points as a senior last winter, and she is expected to be one of the best again in the River States Conference, She has a full-time job...

Fifteen boys teams and nine girls teams from the WPIAL are among the best in Pennsylvania soccer according to the latest state rankings. Three girls teams are ranked No. 1 in the final Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association top 10 poll of the regular season — North Allegheny (14-0-1) in 4A,...