Bill Beckner stories

Preslee Horchak School: Hempfield Class: Senior Sport: Volleyball Claim to fame: Horchak is always in the mood to help her teammates. The setter recently reached 1,000 career assists while helping Hempfield to a 10-3 record and a first-place tie with Penn-Trafford. She had 32 assists in a 3-2 win over...

Hempfield’s injury list is growing, along with a sense of urgency. The Spartans saw three linemen and a receiver/defensive back leave the field and not return in Friday night’s flat 47-8 loss to Seneca Valley. Linemen Jake Wiederstein (arm), Brock Heisler (hand) and Noah Helfrich (shoulder) and receiver Nick Marquis...

Coming off a 1-19 season, second-year Norwin hockey coach Denny Zeravica wants to take what he and his players learned from bouts of adversity and apply it to present times. Last year was last year. That ice has melted. “Even though we had a down year in regard to winning,...

Seneca Valley had been practicing the play it calls “White Whale” for weeks. When offensive tackle Tommy Wuychek, big No. 68, turned the trick play into a “Big Man” touchdown — a 3-yard pitch and run in the second quarter — the Raiders knew it was their night. A whale...

Russ Grimm Field will be jam-packed for Friday night’s Class 3A Interstate Conference football matchup between Mt. Pleasant and Southmoreland. Southmoreland officials are urging fans to arrive early. Online ticket sales were stopped after orders reached 1,500, athletic director Brian Pritts said. A limited number of remaining tickets, which are...

A section-championship boys soccer match didn’t get a victor, but it proved to be an ideal tune-up for the upcoming WPIAL playoffs. Norwin and Plum settled on a 0-0 draw on a cold Thursday night at Mustang Stadium in their second Section 1-4A game of the season. Even with the...

Penn-Trafford is showing a penchant for late-game flair. Just like they did against Moon earlier in the season, the fifth-ranked Warriors rallied in the second half last week to get past rival Gateway, 33-23, in Class 5A Big East play. Gateway took a 23-7 lead into halftime before the Warriors...

Addison Ayres saves most of the shots she faces, but the Franklin Regional senior goalkeeper couldn’t save herself after Wednesday night’s game. As the Panthers gathered in their customary circle after a 5-0 Section 4-3A girls soccer victory over visiting Elizabeth Forward, Ayres didn’t see junior teammates Grace Copeland and...

Franklin Regional is getting healthy. That could be bad news for other boys soccer teams in WPIAL Class 3A. “The more we start to get healthy, the more depth we have,” Panthers coach Nick White said. “When we put guys in, the level doesn’t drop.” Senior Keaton Sheetz and sophomore...

Norwin has secured its first outright section championship since 2019, a sure sign the Knights (12-2) are back to being WPIAL title contenders again. “Yes, Norwin is back,” junior Siena Ali said. Senior Nicole Bown and her classmates on the team have seen both ends of the spectrum. When they...

Fifth-ranked Norwin secured its first outright section championship since 2019 and ran its winning streak to 11 with a 1-0 victory over Penn-Trafford on Monday night in a Section 1-4A girls soccer game teeming with playoff atmosphere at Norwin Knights Stadium. The longtime Westmoreland County rivals staged another one of...

With sophomore David Newsom out in front as the medalist, the Saint Vincent men’s golf team won the Grove City Invitational at Grove City Country Club. Newsom, a Penn-Trafford graduate, shot 3-under-par 69 to win the individual title by two shots. The lefty finished with six birdies and carded a...

The Westmoreland County Coaches Association Cross Country Championships will be Wednesday at Westmoreland County Community College. The boys varsity race begins at 3 p.m., followed by girls varsity at 3:40 and junior varsity at 4:20. Returning champions are the Norwin boys and girls (3A), and the Greensburg Salem girls (2A)...

Allyssa Velasquez School: Franklin Regional Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Velasquez has emerged as one of the top goal scorers in the WPIAL. She is second in Westmoreland County in goals — to Morgan Gesinski of Mt. Pleasant — with a career-high 18. She had back-to-back hat tricks...

Samir Crosby didn’t get a win in what was likely his final game at Jeannette, but the elusive senior star from Greensburg Central Catholic still put on a show in front of his hometown family and friends. A day after getting cleared to play after suffering a concussion two weeks...

The Franklin Regional soccer teams were looking to rebound from section losses that bumped both from the Trib HSSN rankings. The boys (11-2, 5-2) moved into the No. 5 spot in Class 3A for the second time this season but dropped a 1-0 decision to Penn-Trafford. The defeat ended a...

Two lifelong friends who grew up together in Jeannette had another blast playing backyard football against each other, trading big runs and pass plays in the latest chapter of the Jeannette-Greensburg Central Catholic rivalry. Jeannette and Kymon’e Brown won the first half. Greensburg Central Catholic and Samir Crosby won the...

Familiarity won’t be a problem for new Greensburg Central Catholic boys basketball coach Tim O’Rourke. He’s had maroon in his blood for some time. A former girls assistant and junior high boys and girls coach at the school, O’Rourke is primed to take over after the summer resignation of Christian...

Franklin Regional had its annual campus bonfire Thursday night. Shortly after the fire department doused the flames, the boys soccer team went out and smoked Belle Vernon. Aidan Alexander and Michael Hillebrand each scored two goals as the fifth-ranked Panthers avenged an earlier loss to the visiting Leopards in dominant...

Forget the stat sheet. Take a look at the injury list. The biggest question mark in the 36th football meeting between Jeannette (3-3, 1-2) and Greensburg Central Catholic (3-3, 1-2) is who has more questionable players. Both teams had standout wide receivers sustain injuries last week. For Jeannette, it was...

Forget the stat sheet. Take a look at the injury list. The biggest question mark in the 36th football meeting between Jeannette (3-3, 1-2) and Greensburg Central Catholic (3-3, 1-2) is who has more questionable players. Both teams had standout wide receivers sustain injuries last week. For Jeannette, it was...

Norwin girls soccer coach Ashley DeVito had a name for her team’s defensive mission before Wednesday night’s Section 1-4A game at Latrobe. “Operation Clean Sheet” was a success. The Lady Knights were met with little resistance as they pinned up their eighth shutout of the season with their 10th consecutive...

Here’s a look at the don’t-miss matchups for Week 6 in Westmoreland County: Class 5A Big East Gateway (2-4, 2-1) at No. 5 Penn-Trafford (5-1, 1-1) 7:30 p.m. Friday, Warrior Stadium, Harrison City Last week: Armstrong 29, Gateway 28; Penn-Trafford 33, Plum 14 Last year’s meeting: Penn-Trafford 32, Gateway 13...

Don’t count Norwin out of the Section 1-4A boys soccer title race just yet. The Knights, who had dropped back-to-back one-goal games, rebounded with two straight section wins, the second one a dandy against a team it previously tied. Yes, the Knights have learned how to win close games. Tyler...

Yough and Mt. Pleasant play with contrasting styles. Yough is more direct and physical, while Mt. Pleasant is organized and tactical. The latter approach prevailed in the teams’ second Section 4-2A boys soccer matchup of the season. Playing a near perfect game schematically and tilting the field, Mt. Pleasant blanked...