Bill Beckner stories, Page 104
Rodney Gallagher uses smarts to lead Laurel Highlands past Latrobe
Rodney Gallagher: 4-star prospect, West Virginia commit, clock manager extraordinaire. With Gallagher at the wheel guiding the offense and making plays with his arm and legs, Laurel Highlands held off Latrobe in a defensive struggle, 10-7, on Friday to spoil homecoming at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. Gallagher, who will play wide...
Greensburg Salem boys soccer team trounces Jeannette
Maybe it was the energy from Senior Night or the realization this year is far from over, but Greensburg Salem decided to play its best soccer game of the season. In contrast, Jeannette may have played its worst. Seniors Daishaun Alexander, Owen Gall and Taylor Edwards scored two goals apiece...
As buzz builds, undefeated Hempfield football team stays grounded
The first 4-0 start in 51 years has made Hempfield football the talk of tailgates and round tables. Hempfield is back — and in full force. The idea of the Spartans being “for real” is becoming a real thing as they get set to host No. 1 Penn-Trafford (3-1) on...
Westmoreland County high school football notebook: First-year QBs finding rhythm
First-year quarterbacks have embraced their role behind center and, as a result, some teams have not missed a beat offensively through a few weeks of the WPIAL season. Ten area teams have a new quarterback, including Franklin Regional (2-1) with senior Roman Sarnic, who rushed for 126 yards on 28...
Gesinski sisters connect to lead Mt. Pleasant girls soccer past Southmoreland
Sisters Riley and Morgan Gesinski couldn’t wait to play varsity soccer together so they could make an impact for fast-rising Mt. Pleasant. They are both good players individually, but they showed what they can do as a pair Wednesday night in an important road victory that kept Mt. Pleasant undefeated....
‘Essential’ midfielders drive Mt. Pleasant boys soccer team
Opponents sometimes get lost in the triangle. The Mt. Pleasant boys soccer triangle. Junior Luke Rivardo, senior Dylan Donitzen and junior Chase McCoy make up a midfield that can leave teams rearranging their defenders and altering their gameplan to combat the three-sided unit. The trio has helped the young Vikings...
Mt. Pleasant swim star Lily King to attend national select camp
Fast-rising Mt. Pleasant sophomore swimmer Lily King will train with other future Olympic hopefuls next month and learn more about how to manage her budding career. An elite junior competitor, King was one of just 51 girls in the 14/15-year-old age range nationally to get an invite to the USA...
Westmoreland County boys soccer notebook: Returning players boost Jeannette
Jeannette welcomed junior Austin Emery and senior Deyton Conrad back this week. Both were clearly glad to be back. A junior and key facilitator and scorer for the Jayhawks, Emery sustained a calf contusion against Knoch on Sept. 6 and had not played until Monday’s practice. Conrad missed time with...
Westmoreland County girls soccer notebook: Southmoreland’s Olivia Cernuto out for season
Southmoreland senior standout Olivia Cernuto is done for the season with a right knee injury. Cernuto, a talented forward who will finish her career with exactly 100 goals, was injured last Monday during a home game against Yough. She had 18 goals this season for the Scotties (7-0, 4-0), the...
Section-opening loss drives Latrobe girls to find higher gear
When Latrobe was tripped up by top-ranked Plum, 4-2, in its Section 3-3A girls soccer opener, the sky was falling, but only briefly. Was Plum that good? Was Latrobe better than it showed? Was Class 3A this tough? The Wildcats took a long look in the mirror. “It was a...
Westmoreland campus clippings: UPG women’s tennis continues to thrive
Pitt-Greensburg posted its third consecutive win in women’s tennis with a 9-0 victory over Mount Aloysius. Junior Abby Rosman now has 26 career doubles wins, tying Sydney Geary for the most in program history. Rosman and junior Amber Sterrett won their match 8-1 for the Bobcats (3-1, 3-0 AMCC). Women’s...
Mt. Pleasant girls blank Yough to stay unbeaten
One-goal games are usually a good bet when Yough and Mt. Pleasant meet in girls soccer. Overtime is legitimate and often imminent. Not this time, though. Third-ranked Mt. Pleasant scored one goal in the teams’ latest matchup Monday night, then added a few more on the way to its fifth...
Westmoreland campus clippings: D.J. Gray leads Saint Vincent to 1st victory
It wasn’t the prettiest football game Saint Vincent has played, but the Bearcats will take their first victory of 2022. Sophomore D.J Gray ran for a career-high 118 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries as SVC (1-2, 1-0) held back Thiel (0-3, 0-1), 24-16, in the teams’ Presidents’ Athletic...
Hempfield coach Katie Miller Gee advances to U.S. Mid-Am match play
Katie Miller Gee is taking a break from coaching the Hempfield girls golf team to play in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. After a solid showing across 36 holes of stroke play, Gee is headed to the match play part of the tournament at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla....
Westmoreland high school notebook: Mt. Pleasant’s Eutsey shocked by hole-in-one
Emily Eutsey was having an ordinary round of golf, during a routine high school match, when the extraordinary happened. The Mt. Pleasant junior pulled her 7-iron on the par-3 No. 4 hole at Luke’s Links at Norvelt Golf Club, aimed at the flag, took a swipe at the ball and...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Greensburg Central Catholic’s Izzy Aigner, Hempfield’s Owen Dzurko
Izzy Aigner School: Greensburg Central Catholic Sport: Golf Year: Junior Claim to fame: In nine rounds this season, Aigner is averaging 35 strokes for Greensburg Central Catholic. The recent champion of the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championship with a 1-under-par 36 at Champion Lakes Golf Course, Aigner has finished under...
Westmoreland high school football notebook: Franklin Regional gets physical
Lance Getsy channeled his inner Greg Botta on Friday night. Getsy, the Franklin Regional coach who replaced Botta, the longtime leader of the Panthers, drew up a Botta-like gameplan to pull off the upset of the night in the WPIAL, a 16-7 stunner over No. 1 Gateway in the Class...
Norwin girls volleyball to rely on deep senior class entering Section 3-4A play
Norwin girls volleyball returns most of its rotation from last season’s WPIAL Class 4A playoff team. But can all of that talent translate into another postseason bid? The 16th-year coach of the Knights girls volleyball team hopes so. “The players work hard and won’t give up on a play or...
Franklin Regional notebook: Girls golf team celebrates WCCA championship
With four top-10 finishers and a little determination to repeat as champion, the Franklin Regional girls golf team defended its Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championship on Sept. 9 at Champion Lakes Golf Course in Bolivar. The event was nine holes. Panthers freshman Gionna Johnson shot 43 to finish third. A...
Franklin Regional controls ground game, stuns top-ranked Gateway
Franklin Regional already had momentum from a strong start. But when the Panthers added a purpose — to play for an injured teammate — nobody was stopping them. Nobody. Not even No. 1 Gateway. With the straight-ahead strength of a dominant power running game, and an opportunistic defense, the Panthers...
Belle Vernon boys soccer has a blast, beats Mt. Pleasant to move into 1st-place tie
Belle Vernon opened with a quirky kickoff formation with just about every player lined up to one side at the 50-yard line, with a deep kick. Leopards coach Al Yeschenko said the team was just having some fun. But the fun was only beginning. They got even more enjoyment out...
Westmoreland County high school football notebook: Penn-Trafford’s Conlan Greene settles in under center
Conlan Greene was a backup quarterback last year at Penn-Trafford but didn’t truly embrace the position because he was more valuable as a tight end and defensive end. He is, after all, heading to Temple on a scholarship to play on the defensive line. Public address announcer P.J. Downs calls...
Latrobe girls upset No. 5 Franklin Regional in Section 3-3A soccer match
You would have thought Latrobe had just won a championship as the girls soccer team’s bus pulled out of Franklin Regional on Wednesday night. There was singing and laughing, and it was loud. The celebration showed just how much a 1-0 Section 3-3A victory over fifth-ranked Franklin Regional meant to...
Westmoreland County boys soccer notebook: Mt. Pleasant thriving with young roster
Mt. Pleasant might have a bright future in boys soccer. The proof lies in the team’s present lineup. The Vikings have been rolling out an all-underclassmen starting 11 at times, but that hasn’t prevented them from contending for a section title this season. “At one point, we had five of...
New alignment gets mostly positive reviews from Westmoreland County boys soccer coaches
WPIAL realignment caused a shake-up in classifications and sections, and boys soccer saw quite a bit of movement in Westmoreland County. Latrobe and Penn-Trafford moved from 4A to 3A. Greensburg Salem and Belle Vernon went from 3A to 2A, and Jeannette opted to play up a class in 2A. With...
