Bill Beckner stories, Page 62

Now that its basketball team is back to full strength, can Belle Vernon make a run at football and basketball titles? The Leopards have eight players back from the football team that won WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A championships. Three are starters: Quinton Martin, the returning Trib Westmoreland player of...

The Southmoreland boys basketball team put up 83 points in one game and 44 in another and won both games. So what does that say about the Scotties, who had their best start since 2014-15? “That’s a sign of a good team,” coach Frank Muccino said. “We want to be...

Before a legendary NFL career that elevated him to football royalty and before his proud college days at Penn State playing for Joe Paterno, the late Franco Harris was a standout three-sport star at a small high school in New Jersey. Some swear Harris was from Pennsylvania because he is...

The WPIAL and PIAA trophies in the display case at Penn-Trafford tell the story of how far the football program has come. But so do the college signers. The hardware is the centerpiece, the ultimate goal, but NCAA signing day also symbolizes the progress the Warriors have made in recent...

There is a new No. 1 in WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball. Undefeated Norwin surged into the top spot after some impressive wins over other ranked teams. Norwin (6-0), which began the season at No. 4, knocked off Class 4A No. 1 South Fayette (43-40), 4A No. 2 Indiana (47-28),...

Led to believe she could make a full recovery in four months, a goal-oriented and motivated Kaitlyn Mankins aimed for a shorter time to mend. The Greensburg Salem forward suffered a gruesome injury last January in a game at Franklin Regional. It ended her season 12 games into her sophomore...

He has been bringing it up since he first fell for the game. Robert Kennedy used to talk about making it to the NFL when he was playing for the Jeannette Midgets youth football organization. When he was slipping tackles and scoring touchdowns in West Jeannette. The multi-talented back mentioned...

Another postseason honor rolled in for Saint Vincent’s prolific football return specialist, and it’s a big one. Junior Molayo Irefin was named to the D3football.com All-American Third Team after a record-breaking season. He is the Bearcats’ first football All-American since running back Michael Scatena was named Associated Press Little All-America...

Belle Vernon football fans celebrated with their WPIAL and PIAA champion Leopards in a victory parade. The procession Saturday traveled down Broad Avenue in North Belle Vernon. It ended at NBV Community Bank Park, where a ceremony was emceed by BVA defensive coordinator Brett Barish. The team, cheerleaders and band...

“Big Snack” is hungrier for more. Latrobe graduate Trent Holler changed the course of his college football career last November when he left East Carolina for Marshall. At the time, the hulking lineman whose nickname travels with him like a sidecar, said he was “excited to get going and help...

Gabe Carbonara School: Derry Sport: Basketball Year: Senior Claim to fame: It was quite a week for Derry senior Gabe Carbonara. The 6-foot-2 guard scored 41 points, had 21 rebounds, 16 assists and nine steals for the Trojans in games against Freeport and Greensburg Salem. His best game was Thursday...

Jesse Reed was a prolific scorer in high school and college, so when he started coaching, he figured he would have offensive-minded teams that ran the floor nonstop and finished breaks with layups and highlight dunks. “Hey, I thought we’d run and gun to be honest,” Reed said. “Who knew...

With a renovated pool, the water seems to have added sparkle at Norwin. The teams hope to have a similar shine this season. The new digs include a scoreboard, deck, blocks, lighting and more, all changes that have rejuvenated teams that waited patiently for the project’s long-awaited completion. “The renovations...

Eight games into the WPIAL season, there were no losses for either Norwin basketball team. Both teams started 4-0. The boys stayed perfect with a 48-40 win over Yough at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Shootout at Jeannette. Senior Adam Bilinsky had 17 points, senior Justin Weaver added 13 and...

They light up like the Christmas tree in the McKenna Center lobby when they reach back into their Mt. Pleasant past and pluck memories that molded them as coaches. Mark Katarski and Ben Wilkins are teammates again, only they aren’t playing for Joe Dunn on the Mt. Pleasant boys basketball...

Mt. Pleasant recently put an extended 2-3 zone defense to use and was starting to see its merits heading into Friday night’s nonsection boys basketball game at rival Southmoreland. “We were just wondering when our offense was going to come around,” Vikings coach T.J. Kravits said. “Tonight, it finally did.”...

Home is where the commitment is. Penn-Trafford senior football player Daniel Tarabrella wanted to continue his football career close to home so he could remain near family and friends — so those people could come and watch him play. That is why he chose Duquesne over a number of other...

Greensburg Salem girls basketball players and coaches turned an old storage closet at their home gymnasium into a makeshift locker room. Derry felt like it was confined to an even smaller space Thursday night when the teams met in the Section 1-4A opener. Using pressure defense to set up offense...

The Western Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association All-Star Games are set for Saturday at North Allegheny. There are two matchups featuring the top senior boys from the WPIAL. At 11 a.m., the Class A all-stars will play a 2A team. Class 3A will meet 4A at 1 p.m. Tickets are $5...

Former Franklin Regional boys basketball coach Steve Scorpion is coming back to coach against his old team. That he is coming back at all is borderline miraculous. Scorpion’s position was opened in spring 2021 after his longtime opioid addiction came to light. The final straw was a blackout episode that...

When Latrobe ran into foul trouble in a game earlier this season, causing a thin front line with no center, boys basketball coach Brad Wetzel did not panic. He knew what to do. “We had no bigs, so we moved Landon (Butler) to the five (center),” Wetzel said. “We knew...

Norwin takes more pride in the other team’s score than its own these days. Sure, the Lady Knights care plenty about offense, but it has been their defense that has propelled them to a 5-0 start. Norwin has yet to allow more than 28 points in a game. The only...

As he sat in a hotel room in Fairfax County, Va., last Saturday morning, Mark Burkhardt had his team’s next move on his mind. The Latrobe girls basketball coach was ready to patch together a reconfigured lineup and introduce a tweaked playbook, all while doing so with a stiff upper...

High-scoring Southmoreland let its defense take the wheel in its latest boys basketball victory. The Scotties, who came into Yough Tuesday night averaging 77.7 points, did their best to slow the host Cougars, keeping what was expected to be a fast-paced matchup in the halfcourt with a 2-3 zone. The...

Latrobe was dealt a devastating blow to its season Tuesday with the news that senior girls basketball standout Emma Blair will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Blair, a 6-foot-1 center, was injured Friday in the first game of the She Got Game Classic in Virginia....