Bill Beckner stories, Page 110

Southmoreland pulled somewhat of a surprise last week when it knocked off McGuffey. The fact the Scotties won was impressive, but how they did it was even more so: big plays and balance propelled them to a 47-22 victory. The final score echoed around the WPIAL. But the celebration must...

After playing one season as a club team, Hempfield’s girls golfers were primed to begin their first year as a WPIAL member. The girls are apparently an iron, driver and putter team, too. Nobody saw this kind of start coming. The Lady Spartans have embraced the challenge that comes with...

Pitt-Greensburg will have an athletics hall of fame for the first time. The university put together a selection committee which began meeting in June. They will consider past standouts for induction in four categories: student-athlete, coach/administrator, team and honorary. The nomination process begins Wednesday of this week and will end...

Tiana Stewart just graduated from Seton Hill, but her basketball career is continuing overseas. Stewart will earn a master’s degree while playing for TeamGLEAS, which gives former college players a chance to keep playing and studying in another country. A 5-foot-9 swing guard, Stewart will play for Newcastle University in...

Oakmont’s Sean Knapp could be on his way to a second U.S. Senior Amateur title. Knapp finished tied for third in the stroke play portion of the championship to advance to match play at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. The Hannastown Golf Club member shot...

WPIAL girls soccer preview Class 4A Defending champion: With Sarah Schupansky and others gone, two-time defending champ North Allegheny will be a different team. But the Tigers only lost six players to graduation. Lucia Wells and Anna Bundy will keep the Tigers in the mix. Contenders: Peters Township looks to...

WPIAL boys soccer preview Class 4A Defending champion: Defensively-sound Seneca Valley won 14 straight games to close out the 2020 season en route to WPIAL and PIAA titles. The Raiders must replace standouts Zack LaValle and Mason Baldwin, but bring back junior Beaux Lizewski, another All-WPIAL selection. George Williams was...

Corinn Brewer wants to compete at the highest level of college track and field — and possibly beyond — so the senior at Greensburg Central Catholic is preparing herself now with high-level competition. Brewer traveled to San Francisco on Aug. 21-22 to compete in the Women’s Decathlon Association National Championships...

If Josh Pajak was only allowed to give his Southmoreland girls soccer team one message before the start of the season it might be this: Proceed with caution. Southmoreland appears to be loaded with returning talent, but the second-year coach doesn’t want the Scotties to get ahead of themselves. Offsides...

Franklin Regional senior Anthony DiFalco has seen just about everything there is to see in high school soccer. He has won two WPIAL titles, finished as a runner-up and played in the PIAA semifinals twice. He’s been All-WPIAL, all-state and All-American. But even the best players want more. They always...

As the band played and cheerleaders and students chanted from packed bleachers, the normally steely-eyed John Ruane felt some emotion. The Penn-Trafford coach soaked in the atmosphere that he and his staffers and players had missed last season. Ruane remembered what it felt like to play in empty stadiums where...

Chased out of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria in 2017, Sebastian Rosado Guindin has found a home at Norwin. The brawny, 6-foot-2, 270-pound senior lineman is expected to be an important two-way player this season for the Knights, who are trying to return to contention in WPIAL Class 6A. The...

A slightly crumpled piece of paper is far from a national letter of intent, but it sure meant a lot to Maddie Griffin when she was a big-dreaming middle schooler. “I still have the paper I wrote my future goals on from fifth grade,” said Griffin, a star softball pitcher...

If the first play of the season is an indicator of how Penn-Trafford’s football season is going to go, watch out for the Warriors. Carter Green took his first snap as the Warriors’ starting quarterback and went 99 yards for a touchdown on the team’s first play from scrimmage —...

The quarterback competition at Franklin Regional will remain just that as it stretches into the regular season. New coach Lance Getsy plans to rotate a pair of quarterbacks in Friday night’s season opener against visiting Plum as he looks for a firm starter. Junior Roman Sarnic and senior Connor Donnelly...

Irwin’s Calahan Young is off to a fast start at the Paralympic Games. Young scored four goals as the U.S. goalball team took down defending world champion Brazil, 8-6, on Thursday at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Tokyo. “For us to come out here and win our first Paralympics game...

Spiders and stink bugs make Anthony Govern cower. A snarling middle linebacker with a score to settle? Not so much. The senior quarterback plays with an edge, but he has a soft side, too. “People say I’m a big baby,” he said. “I’m a big teddy bear.” Fair enough. But...

Nonconference Albert Gallatin vs. Yough 7 p.m. Friday, Cougar Mountain, Herminie Albert Gallatin begins its third season as an independent. The Colonials are 10-4, including a 5-1 mark in 2020, after enduring 35 consecutive losing seasons in the WPIAL. Albert Gallatin runs a triple-option offense led by senior fullback Shawn...

Roy Hall is not sure how this season — his last with the Jayhawks — will play out, but he knows what the main goal is for his football team. “Survival,” he said. “We want to keep our kids healthy and do everything we can to get through the season....

It’s a hot July afternoon and Clairton just finished its final 7-on-7 competition of the summer. Next stop: McDonald’s. The players order their value meals, and the coach gets ready to pay. “That’ll be $76.81,” the cashier says. Coach Wayne Wade steps up and handles the transaction. “It would be...

It could take some time for Greensburg Central Catholic to find its identity early in the football season. New coach Marko Thomas said the Centurions are ready to try a number of offensive sets until they find one that continually produces results. “I brought in some things from Connellsville, and...

Nick Turowski drove the first green Tuesday, ripping a 300-plus-yard drive to about 20 feet to open his nine-hole high school match. He then dropped a birdie putt into the cup and, “I was off to the races.” The sophomore from Penn-Trafford had a day to remember at Manor Valley...

Wayne Wade has heard about Jeannette’s transfer issues and low player turnout. But the Clairton coach wants to see for himself if the ravaged Jayhawks are truly in for the rough go everyone says they are. Call it a respectful nod to the defending WPIAL Class A champions, who throttled...

Redshirt junior defender Mackenzie Aunkst (Penn-Trafford) dribbled inside the 18-yard box and dropped a perfect cross-pass to teammate Lauren Segalla, who scored a goal for West Virginia in a 4-0, season-opening win over Buffalo. The assist was the first for Aunkst in her career. She has started 31 games for...

Dom Barca appreciates variety in life. He likes a good country song as much as he does an old-school hip-hop jam or some new age rap. “All types,” he said. “I listen to everything.” Kind of like his athletics career. He has tried them all. The Norwin senior has dabbled...