Bill Beckner stories, Page 58

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Jeannette knew it would have length and experience with seniors Shane Mickens and Jalen Bass along with sophomore Lonnie Greene returning for basketball season. Mickens and Bass are 6-foot-3, and Greene stands 6-4. The trio often plays big. They’re moth-to-a-light rebounders and long-armed defenders. Junior guard Isaiah Mallich also brought...

Westmoreland County Coaches Association Swimming & Diving Championships Friday and Saturday at Derry Diving: 5 p.m. Friday Swimming: 10 a.m. Saturday Teams: Belle Vernon, Burrell, Derry, Franklin Regional, Greater Latrobe, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Kiski Area, Kiski School, Ligonier Valley, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland Scouting report: Buy a ticket and...

Seton Hill will host seven high school games Saturday and Sunday, four of which will be boys matchups. Injuries, though, could dampen at least two of the matchups. Franklin Regional (9-6) plays Belle Vernon (7-7) at 6 p.m. Saturday in the opener. Franklin Regional has been without its top two...

Top-ranked Norwin finally was tripped up by a Class 6A team this week when the Lady Knights lost to No. 2 Upper St. Clair, 56-45, on the road. But they might deserve to be cut some slack. They have had quite a schedule. If some of the opponents sound familiar,...

When Latrobe found out standout center Emma Blair was done for the season with a knee injury just three games into the 2022-23 schedule, the first reaction was panic. Cold sweats and worry. Oh no, the sky is falling. But after some time passed, and reflection and practice reps with...

John Kerr has been a big presence at the net for the third-ranked Penn State volleyball team. On Tuesday, he picked up a big award. Kerr, a Derry graduate, was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Player of the Week. Kerr, a 6-foot-6 senior opposite hitter,...

Deer Lakes is new to the Trib HSSN top-five boys basketball rankings. The No. 3 Lancers continue to show why they deserve recognition among the best in WPIAL Class 3A. High-scoring Deer Lakes registered its fifth straight victory by beating host Derry, 89-64, on Tuesday night in Section 3, using...

Former Westmoreland County football standouts Aaron Krepps and Max Garda are joining forces to coach the football team at Washington & Jefferson. Both are W&J alumni. Aaron Krepps, a Belle Vernon graduate, will serve as assistant head coach, while Garda, who played at Burrell, is an intern assistant who will...

Quinton Martin might miss a few basketball games this season as he continues his ascent to major college football. The junior from Belle Vernon is playing 7-on-7 football this winter with the nationally renowned Trillion Boys organization out of Los Angeles. Martin is seeking top-level competition as he works toward...

Venicia Vignoli won’t forget the first win of her high school basketball career any time soon. Why? Because it snapped Jeannette’s 51-game losing streak, a streak that had stretched back to 2020 when she was a freshman. The junior guard has become a go-to scorer for the Jayhawks. A first-year...

Jaylen McDuffie, the king of tackles at Seton Hill, is aiming big. One of the top linebackers in NCAA Division II, McDuffie announced he is declaring for the NFL Draft. The redshirt senior, collected a number of postseason honors. He was a Don Hansen Division II All-American, made the D2Football.com...

Just before Christmas, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team moved into the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division II rankings. It looks like the Crimson Hawks intend to stay there. As each opponent turns on a spit, IUP (17-0) continues to look like the best team in...