Bill Beckner stories, Page 107
Junior receiver could be Southmoreland’s secret weapon this season
The “X” receiver could be Southmoreland’s X-factor this football season. Ty Keffer is out for football again for the first time since elementary school and the 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior could be a difference maker on both sides of the ball for the Scotties. “I have always been a big fan...
Latrobe grad Austin Butler to play pro basketball in Finland
Austin Butler was going to continue his basketball career beyond college. It was just a matter of where and in what country. On Wednesday, his dreams of playing professionally came true. Butler, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Latrobe, signed a one-season contract with the Kouvot club in Kouvola, Finland. Butler...
Fox Chapel Golf Club to host 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open
The USGA is returning to Fox Chapel Golf Club for another national championship. The Seth Raynor-designed club will host the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, the golf governing body announced Monday. Fox Chapel will welcome 120 of the world’s top 50-and-older women Aug. 1-4, 2024. Two other sites, San Diego...
No-nonsense senior leads Norwin into Class 5A competition
While he appreciates the benefits and value of social media, Noah Vogel doesn’t rely on the look-at-me platforms to forward his football career. “Just because I don’t post something doesn’t mean I’m not working,” the Norwin senior said. “I didn’t film and post those 90-degree days in the heat when...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Saint Vincent adds Samantha Kelly to volleyball staff
Saint Vincent added some local knowledge to its women’s volleyball coaching staff. Samantha Kelly, a former Penn-Trafford and Westminster volleyball standout, will join the Bearcats as a graduate assistant. Kelly was a three-time All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference player and racked up 2,293 assists, 101 kills and 120 service points in her...
2022 WPIAL girls soccer preview: Rankings, contenders, players to watch
WPIAL girls soccer preview Class 4A Defending champion: Moon powered its way to WPIAL and PIAA titles and finished with a 20-1-1 record. But the Tigers moved to Class 3A so there will be a new 4A champion. The classification now has two sections and just 16 teams. Contenders: Peters...
2022 WPIAL boys soccer preview: Rankings, contenders, players to watch
WPIAL boys soccer preview Class 4A Defending champion: Seneca Valley. The two-time defending WPIAL champion Raiders have what it takes to win it all again. They bring back senior standout Beaux Lizewski, who earned all-state honors last season, and senior goalkeeper Ryan Krumenacker, who was part of 15 shutouts. The...
After rare down season, Jeannette ready to rebuild under new coach Tom Paulone
It’s a mid-July evening and Jeannette is returning home from a 7-on-7 workout as the sky begins to dim toward nightfall. About 10 hours later, the team reassembles for a rise-and-shine workout. “We get done with a 7-on-7 at 8:30 at night and we’re back at 7:15 the next morning,”...
After trying season, Greensburg C.C. presses forward with talented roster, high hopes
Nothing could have prepared Greensburg Central Catholic’s Marko Thomas for what he and his team faced in his first year as head coach of the Centurions. Two of his assistant coaches — William “BJ” Farrell and Joe Oslosky — died within less than a week of one another, just days...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Derry golfers off to fast start with narrow wins
It’s still early in an early starting high school golf season, but Derry is in mid-season form. The Trojans have shown a knack for winning close matches. On consecutive days last week, Derry won sudden-death playoffs over a pair of Section 2-2A opponents. The Trojans went to extras with Greensburg...
WPIAL Class A football breakdown: Defending champion Bishop Canevin the team to beat
Bishop Canevin does not have a lot of players who might be considered NCAA Division I prospects — at least not according to the feedback from college coaches. “We’re kind of on that (5-foot-9) threshold,” Crusaders coach Richard Johnson said. “There are a lot of D-3 schools interested but not...
Justin Sliwoski, Jack Salopek see big things ahead this season
Maybe it was when Peyton Manning made him look at route-running differently. Or when Eli Manning discussed the mindset of third-and-long or second-and-short. There were a number of “eureka” moments for Justin Sliwoski when he attended the exclusive Manning Passing Academy in June at Nicholls State in Louisiana. The rising...
2022 Moe Rosensteel Award watch list for top girls soccer player announced
It is becoming a tradition, just like the committee had hoped. The Moe Rosenteel Player of the Year Award, given to the best all-around girls soccer player in the WPIAL since 2019, is now in its fourth year and a new winner will be crowned later in the fall. The...
Behind alum Ben Hoffer, Yough aims to turn program around
Watching the Yough football program fall into disrepair was a cringe-worthy endeavor for proud alum Ben Hoffer, who used to shed tacklers and score touchdowns with ease when he played on Cougar Mountain. The new coach has big plans for his alma mater — “big” being a relative term. He...
Two-way lineman a blue ribbon prospect for Latrobe football team
He will show lionhead rabbits and work a bottle-rocket contest at the Westmoreland Fair later in the summer. But this week, Danny Calabrese is honing his skills as a two-way lineman for Latrobe as the Wildcats make their way into Class 4A football under first-year coach Ron Prady and his...
New roles at Southmoreland but familiarity remains
Familiarity is a buzz word around Southmoreland camp. The more things change with the Scotties, the more they seem to stay the same. The coaching staff is different — only in titles. Tim Bukowski was elevated from offensive coordinator to head coach, and Dave Keefer went from head coach to...
Former Norwin slugger JJ Matijevic recalled to Astros a day after getting his own bobblehead
Another MLB promotion and a bobblehead? JJ Matijevic’s dream summer just keeps getting better. A day after getting his own bobblehead, Matijevic is headed back to “The Show.” The former Norwin star is set to join the Houston Astros again after a third call-up from Triple-A Sugar Land where he...
From soccer goalkeeper to 2-way football player, Jeannette senior does it all in the fall
Making up for lost time he can’t get back, Mitchell Steele III plans to give everything he has to his senior football season at Jeannette. It’s all or nothing for the two-sport athlete who regrets not donning shoulder pads sooner in his high school career. “Man, I wish I had...
Gino Caesar, fellow running backs ready to guide Hempfield to success
Gino Caesar still has the game ball from the night nobody could stop him. “My mom is going to get some stats engraved on it,” the Hempfield senior running back said. “My confidence really went up after that game.” Hempfield fans were yelling, “Hail, Caesar,” when he carried 39 times...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Norwin grad Nick Nguyen to coach college golf
Nick Nguyen is set to take over the coaching reins for a golf team he used to lead into the postseason. A Norwin graduate, Nguyen is the successor to the retiring Joe Martin at Thomas Jefferson University, a Division II school in Philadelphia. Martin is stepping down after 14 seasons....
Norwin baseball job lures Craig Spisak away from Yough
Craig Spisak is a Pennsylvania State Police trooper. He will be patrolling a new dugout next baseball season. Spisak is leaving Yough after six seasons as the head baseball coach to take the same position at Norwin. He was approved at Monday night’s Norwin School Board meeting. The upper-class lure...
Latrobe works toward more victories after move to Class 4A
It is better to be the shark than the minnow, and Latrobe might be ready to raise its fin in a new classification. A conditioning drill, implemented by Wildcats team partner FSQ Sports Training, is called “sharks and minnows.” “It’s fun,” Latrobe senior tight end and linebacker Corey Boerio said....
Gritty Kimmel happy to be at Greensburg Central Catholic
You can keep your entitlement. If you want something, you earn it. Roughly, these are the philosophies Ryan Kimmel lives by and seeks to perpetuate on and off the football field. The hard-hitting senior at Greensburg Central Catholic has brought a blue-collar work ethic and no-nonsense approach to the Centurions,...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Lukas Petersen takes over Franklin Regional boys soccer
Perennial power Franklin Regional has a new boys soccer coach on the eve of a new season. Lukas Petersen was hired Aug. 1 to replace Thomas Louisy, who led the Panthers for one season. Petersen was set to be a second-year assistant with the Pitt men’s soccer team. He played...
Ligonier Valley accepting nominations for inaugural athletic hall of fame class
Ligonier Valley will soon join a short but growing list of local high schools with an athletic hall of fame. The district’s athletic hall of fame selection committee announced plans to form the inaugural class, with the nominee process now open. Nomination forms can be found on the high school’s...
