Bill Beckner stories, Page 156

As South Fayette brought the basketball up the floor in the closing seconds, its season on the line and elimination perhaps one unlucky bounce away, the Lions had an air of calmness about them. It was like they had been here before. That’s because they have. Close finishes are nothing...

Boys Class 6A First round No. 8 Hempfield (12-10) vs. No. 9 Peters Township (13-9) 8 p.m. Tuesday at Mt. Lebanon Winner plays: No. 1 Butler (17-4) Saturday in quarterfinals Coaches: Bill Swan, Hempfield; Gary Goga, Peters Township Points scored/allowed: Hempfield 58.1 ppg/55.2; Peters Township 57.7/57.7 Players to watch: Marcus...

Playing experience stood out on the resumes of two new coaching hires at Pitt-Greensburg. Amanda Balas was named coach of the new women’s bowling team, which will play an independent schedule in 2020-21 and plans to join the AMCC the following year. Balas was an accomplished bowler at Division-I St....

Boys Class 5A First round No. 11 Franklin Regional (11-11) vs. No. 6 South Fayette (15-7) 8 p.m. Monday at Peters Township Winner plays: No. 3 Mars (17-5) Friday in quarterfinals Coaches: Steve Scorpion, Franklin Regional; Dave Mislan, South Fayette Points scored/allowed: Franklin Regional 56.5/53.7; South Fayette 61.9/56.5 Players to...

Sotiri Tsourekis played at a high level of soccer so he expects a high level of performance from the teams he coaches. The new Penn-Trafford boys soccer coach is anxious to evaluate his players even with the fall season months away. “I would like consistency and attention to detail,” Tsourekis...

Misfortune has hit the Derry boys basketball team this season in waves. “To say we’ve been through a lot in the past two weeks — (along with) Justin Huss’s injury — is an understatement,” Trojans coach Tom Esposito said. “In 24 seasons of coaching, I’ve never had a season of...

WPIAL boys basketball playoff preview capsules Class A First round No. 4 Greensburg Central Catholic (16-6) vs. No. 13 Eden Christian (13-9) 1 p.m. Saturday at Fox Chapel Winner plays: No. 5 Nazareth Prep (15-7) or No. 12 Clairton (13-9) on Thursday in quarterfinals Coaches: Christian Hyland, Greensburg CC; Todd...

Boys Class 3A First round No. 11 Southmoreland (11-11) vs. No. 6 Beaver Falls (13-7) 6:30 p.m. Friday at Mt. Lebanon Winner plays: No. 3 South Allegheny (21-1) or No. 14 Avonworth (11-11) in quarterfinals Coaches: Frank Muccino, Southmoreland; Carliss Jeter, Beaver Falls Points scored/allowed: Southmoreland 54.1 ppg/55.8; Beaver Falls...

When Mitchell Pohlot rises to meet the rim for slam dunk, his thought process is simple. “I usually don’t think much, but I tell myself to get up there and finish the dunk, regardless of what is happening” said Pohlot, a 6-foot-5 senior forward at Belle Vernon. “The end result...

Zach Rocco has been watching his mailbox with increased anticipation just about every day since he applied to Army West Point months ago. The Penn-Trafford senior point guard knew the application process would be long, and he would have to satisfy all of the necessary requirements to get into the...

Jeannette will have new shoes for the WPIAL playoffs, thanks to an old friend who made good on a promise. A few weeks ago, former Jayhawks star Terrelle Pryor told the team he would buy them shoes if they won the section title. Jeannette obliged by winning 14 of its...

Greensburg Central Catholic will be without its leading scorer for the WPIAL boys basketball playoffs. Junior guard Christian McGowan is not injured. In fact, he is perfectly healthy and has started all 22 games for the Centurions (16-6). He played a key role in the team sharing the Section 3-A...

Janine Vertacnik has coached in numerous WPIAL playoff games over the years, including when she led teams at Jeannette and Greensburg Salem. She guided Jeannette to a WPIAL title in 2010. Now the third-year coach at Monessen, who has more than 300 career wins, needs to educate her players on...

What happens when Brennan Marion’s “Go-Go” offense meets the “High Octane” style of former Pitt coach Todd Graham? We’re about to find out … in Hawaii? Talk about somewhere over the rainbow. Marion, the Greensburg Salem alum whose uptempo scheme has worked at several other places, is leaving William &...

Southmoreland cut down the nets Monday night. On Tuesday night, the upstart Scotties climbed another ladder — to respect and, perhaps, some due regard. Southmoreland (22-0), fresh off its first section title in girls basketball since 2007, was awarded the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. Some...

Here is a breakdown of the 2019-20 WPIAL girls basketball playoffs: Class 6A Favorite: Bethel Park (19-2) looked like it might be the top seed, but the Black Hawks lost to Class 4A North Catholic Monday. Bethel Park allows just 37.7 points per game and has a pair of formidable...

Olivia Miller didn’t go to the River States Conference indoor track and field championships to finish second. Not in her top event, at least. The Carlow junior and Ligonier Valley graduate won her second title in the triple jump, soaring 10.8 meters to reach the medal stand for the third...

Penn-Trafford’s soccer teams will be under new leadership next season. The school district Monday night accepted the resignation of girls coach and new mother Jackie Bartko, who guided the Warriors to their second WPIAL championship in 2017. The boys team, meanwhile, has a new coach in Sotiri Tsourekis, who coached...

Youth golfers from across the country will once again get to compete in the annual Drive, Chip and Putt competition, set to begin at hundreds of golf courses in the spring. The 2021 competition is for golfers ages 7-15, who are broken up into four divisions. Players take part in...

Two years after Geneva College introduced a women’s golf program, the school in Beaver Falls announced it will add men’s golf as a varsity sport in the fall of 2021. The addition will bring Geneva’s number of varsity sports to 19. Andrew Fee, who coaches the women’s golf team, also...

It took Austin Butler less than four years to reach 1,000 points when he played at Latrobe. The basketball standout hit the fast track to the milestone in college, too. Butler, a junior point guard at Holy Cross, scored his 1,000th career point for the Crusaders in a 74-60 loss...

Despite retiring from his position as a long-time athletic trainer at Penn-Trafford at the end of the 2017-18 school year, Glen “Larry” Cooper has remained quite active in his profession. He has fanned out on a national level as the secretary of the National Athletic Trainers Association. While he may...

Twenty-one up, 21 down. Southmoreland has pieced together a perfect regular season — with one game to go — for the finest pre-playoff run in the history of its girls basketball program. Now, the Scotties will put their playoff path in the hands on the WPIAL. “This is something that...

While challenging and often debatable, Riley Comforti finally found comfort in his college decision. The two-sport standout from Southmoreland opted to play football at the next level, signing a letter-of-intent Wednesday to play wide receiver at Alderson Broaddus in Philippi, W. Va. Comforti was one of the WPIAL’s top pass-catching...