Bill Beckner stories, Page 59

Amari Mack caught the attention of college coaches when he received a scholarship offer to play at Sacred Heart as a sophomore. Schools are still plenty interested in the senior from Greensburg Central Catholic. Mack, a 6-foot, 180-pound running back, wide receiver and defensive back, has a preferred walk-on offer...

With a six-days-a-week running schedule that equates to about 40 miles, Emma Jiancristoforo is always on the move. You can catch her running up and down the hills through her neighborhood or trekking the wooded trails of Bushy Run, BY Park or Yough. The Norwin senior’s competitive career also is...

A 14-team, seven-game basketball showcase event will take place this weekend at Seton Hill in Greensburg. For the first time, the “Shootout at Seton Hill” will be played over two days at the Griffins’ McKenna Center. There will be two games Saturday and five Sunday. The schedule is as follows:...

Joe Enick School: Penn-Trafford Class: Senior Sport: Wrestling Claim to fame: Enick won the heavyweight title at the Mid-Winter Mayhem at IUP. He defeated some of the top wrestlers in the state, including No. 1 seed Gunner Treibley of Danville in the semifinals by fall and Brockway’s Gavin Thompson, 1-0,...

As Erica Gribble was making inroads to high school basketball, she was always a step ahead and a level above her opponents. Now that she’s playing in the WPIAL, she still is. “She always played up one or two grade levels,” said her father, Dan Gribble. “She goes against the...

Point guard Cooper Rankin saw limited varsity time last season as he played primarily on the junior varsity team at Franklin Regional. What a difference a year can make. All of a sudden, he is one of the go-to scorers for the varsity Panthers. The breakthrough player of the year...

Two Franklin Regional wrestlers captured championships at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championships earlier this month at Greensburg Salem. Gavyn Beck and Juliano Marion walked off the mat with titles at 160 and 189 pounds. Beck scored a 7-1 decision over Wyatt Schmucker of Latrobe in the finals, while Marion...

Apparently, all Serra Catholic needs is a double-digit deficit to stir things up and inspire the team. It’s becoming second nature for the Eagles to rumble to life in the second half. The Eagles trailed Riverview by 14 at halftime. They won. They were down 16 at the break against...

The Kiski School will host an impressive lineup of teams and players for a boys prep basketball showcase this weekend. The Great Atlantic Conference Showcase will be Saturday and Sunday in Saltsburg. Admission is free. The schedule is as follows: Saturday — Westtown (14-8) vs. Scotland Campus (10-6), 1:15 p.m.;...

Woodland Hills flinched, but only slightly, when Franklin Regional cut a 16-point Wolverines advantage to five early in the third quarter. No worries here, the visitors thought. The Wolverines didn’t give away the lead. They cauterized it. Hope Hawkins had a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Carmen...

Two former local players are up for hockey’s Heisman Trophy. Bowling Green sophomore Austen Swankler and Niagara senior Chad Veltri are nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, which recognizes the top player in the college game. A Norwin graduate, Swankler is currently on an NCAA-best 16-game scoring streak that...

Robin Reilly is taking her game to a national stage — again. The Latrobe soccer player was selected for an elite-level experience on the cup circuit for the second year in a row. A sophomore, Reilly was selected to the 2023 United States Youth Soccer Olympic Development national team pool....

Ty Keffer became the ninth male basketball player from Southmoreland to reach the 1,000-point mark Wednesday in the Scotties’ 78-55 victory over visiting Indiana. Keffer, a 6-foot-4 junior guard, hit the milestone on one of his five 3-pointers with 4 minutes, 15 seconds to play in the third quarter. He...

When a sports reporter first dubbed him “Dirty Harry,” Hempfield’s Harrison Sowers had to do some research. He thought the nickname might be derogatory. “I didn’t know what it meant,” the senior guard said. “I asked my parents about it. I read about it and found out it was for...

Yough? In a section race? Believe it. The Cougars girls basketball team is in a three-way tie for second place in a jam-packed Section 4-3A. Yough is 6-8 overall and 3-2 in section after winning three of its last six games. Section wins over Waynesburg (44-38) and McGuffey (39-23) moved...

Greensburg Central Catholic is growing up fast. The girls basketball team has just 11 players and only two seniors, so it might look like their best days could be ahead. But the Centurions, brimming with talent, have emerged as a serious contender in WPIAL Class 2A. To a large degree,...

Norwin hasn’t qualified for the WPIAL playoffs yet, but the Knights are already in survive-and-advance mode with their top player on the shelf. The Knights overcame a second-half charge by Hempfield — and some rough free-throw shooting — to escape with a 47-46 Section 3-6A victory Tuesday night in North...

Pitt-Greensburg unveiled its second Athletics Hall of Fame class. The inductees will be honored Feb. 10 at Wagner Dining Hall on campus. The class includes Dean Rick Fogle, the men’s golf teams of 1997-2000 and basketball players Jim Kubicek, Kevin Conlon and Kelsey Wilcox. Fogle played a key role in...

Penn-Trafford still had the unsavory taste of a bad second half against top-ranked McKeesport in its mouth when it traveled to Latrobe on Monday night. A good way to get rid of it was to have one of its better second halves of the season. The Warriors pumped in 21...

Moon had a girls soccer season to remember in the fall. The Tigers didn’t let anybody get in the way as they collected WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A championships and finished a perfect 24-0. Moon won WPIAL and state titles last year, as well, in Class 4A. The engineer of...

Sarah Liberatore decided to make the move from a Division I program to one playing in Division II. It looks like it was the right move for the former Hempfield standout. Liberatore had a career game last week for Florida Tech, a D-II school in Melbourne, Fla. A sophomore guard,...

They would make a nice starting five. Five district players made the Clarence “Bevo” Francis watch list for the award that recognizes the top small-college basketball player in the country. Bryce Butler of West Liberty, John Paul Kromka of Pitt-Johnstown, Shawndale Jones and Dave Morris of IUP and Jo Valrie...

When Ligonier Valley made the giant leap from District 6 to the WPIAL in 2020, Wesley Siko was the Rams’ athletic director and oversaw the move. But soon after, Siko left to become the AD at Ringgold. Two years later, he is back. Ligonier Valley rehired Siko following the resignation...

Savannah Schneck lost her sophomore and junior basketball seasons, and she never will get them back. She spent the better part of 19 months rehabbing an ACL that she tore, had repaired then tore again. Some players never recover from knee injuries like that. But Schneck isn’t some player. She...

Gionnah Ruffner will take her powerful softball swing to the Big East. The junior from Greensburg Salem made a verbal pledge to play at Seton Hall. The power-hitting catcher also had an offer from Akron. “When I arrived on campus, the first thing I told my dad was I knew...