Bill Beckner stories, Page 127

Southmoreland mixed and matched its starting five last season as coach Frank Muccino and his staff sought to develop a baby-faced group. Starting wasn’t about prestige, it was about reps. “Plug and play,” said Muccino, who begins his 13th season with the Scotties. “We had a lot of guys playing...

With 59 wins, a WPIAL runner-up, two WPIAL semifinal trips and a run to the PIAA second round highlighting a three-year run, the Southmoreland girls basketball team has big plans this winter for Year 4. And a big rotation to match. Five starters return from a 16-5 team that reached...

Soccer players can get pigeon-holed into a position and the duties that come with it. Franklin Regional senior Sydney Lindeman took the midfielder tag and stretched it three ways. Sure, she lived up to the job description, working the ball between defenders and forwards to create the best scoring opportunities....

Special talents such as Anthony DiFalco don’t come along often. So when the four-year prep career of a player of his caliber comes to a close, the accomplishments, the full body of work, tend to be that much more impressive. Consider what DiFalco did at Franklin Regional: • He was...

TribHSSN Fab 15 Player of the Year Kelsey Salopek Sr., F, Steel Valley As a Kent State commit, Kelsey Salopek already was on the WPIAL radar, but she took her individual talents a step farther as she led Steel Valley to its first WPIAL championship in its first try. The...

Trib HSSN Fab 15 Player of the Year Anthony DiFalco Sr., F, Franklin Regional Special talents like Anthony DiFalco don’t come along that often. So when the four-year prep career of a player of his caliber comes to a close, the accomplishments, the full body of work, tend to be...

Mike Evans Jr. is proof the NCAA transfer portal works — if you have patience and are willing to do a little self-promoting. Evans has a new college destination and he couldn’t be more pleased. Relieved to finally arrive at a decision, Evans announced Saturday he will play next season...

About 12 hours after getting showered with Hershey’s Kisses as he helped his team to a PIAA semifinal win, Sean FitzSimmons was putting away syrup-soaked pancakes in a room full of former Pitt football greats. It’s been a pretty sweet couple of days for the senior from Central Valley. After...

Adam Bilinsky can fly. He proved it during AAU basketball season in social media videos that showed him slam-dunking over defenders with ease. Adam Bilinsky T O O K O F F ???????? (@AdamBilinsky) @MasonElite2023 pic.twitter.com/aZpLiVaBj8— Prospect Media (@prospectmedia_) July 13, 2021 But the Norwin junior’s newfound leaping ability didn’t...

Norwin has four starters back, but those players rarely formed the same lineup last season because injuries would not allow it. Junior Savannah Schneck and senior Alyssa Laukus missed a combined nine games last season, which gave junior Lauren Palangio a chance to make her name known in the post....

Lance Maha feels like he has been at Norwin for ages, but it has been only about three months since he took the boys basketball coaching job in North Huntingdon. His transition has been smooth, and he feels right at home. “The kids have been great,” Maha said. “We’ve had...

Basketball season tips off a week from Friday, and Penn-Trafford already has been dealt a devastating blow to the lineup. Big Ben is done for the season. Senior 6-foot-6 forward Ben Myers tore his ACL and will need six to nine months to recover. The injury occurred during an open...

Point Park and Carlow have been watching the schedule with eager eyes as a unique matchup approached. Finally, it is here. The women’s basketball teams will face off Thursday night in the NAIA “City Game” at Duquesne’s new UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m. One team will...

After a slow start to his debut season, Chris Klimchock (Greensburg Salem) picked up his first win as men’s basketball coach at Pitt-Greensburg. JoJo France had a lot to do with the maiden victory as the senior guard poured in a season-high 34 points to pace the Bobcats to an...

Youngstown State will play Duquesne next football season, but Gianni Rizzo will change his uniform and allegiance long before kickoff. Rizzo, a redshirt freshman linebacker out of Norwin, announced recently he is leaving Youngstown State and will transfer to Duquesne. A want to see the field more and a belief...

Dann Appolonia has four daughters. “But it feels like I have 100,” he said. “What a blessing it has been.” Reflecting back on a decade of memories and the dozens of players he has coached, Appolonia closed the book on a career atop Cougar Mountain. He is stepping down as...

Franklin Regional senior Anthony DiFalco was hoping to cap his brilliant high school soccer career with another WPIAL championship and a PIAA title. While he fell short of his expectations, he was lauded just the same with his third All-American nod. DiFalco was named a United States Soccer Coaches Region...

Former Franklin Regional soccer standout Zach Lorenz parlayed a year at a prep school into a Division I opportunity. Lorenz played this year as Woodstock Academy (Conn.), a first-year program. Interest began to pick up for Lorenz and he decided to further his career at Sacred Heart of the Northeast...

With the district and state playoffs complete, the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association announced its boys and girls all-state teams. The WPIAL had a number of representatives with 14 boys selections and 10 players picked for the girls list. The girls are Penn-Trafford senior forward Malia Kearns, Plum junior forward Kaitlyn...

Norwin was recognized for another outstanding season in boys and girls soccer by the Big 5/6 Conference, which follows the top classifications in the WPIAL sports. The websites’ all-section teams recently were announced. Girls’ first-team selections for Section 3-4A included senior Paloma Swankler, junior Reagan Casper and freshman Julia Bursick,...

Nate Leopold has been a mainstay on the John Carroll football team since he arrived on campus several years ago, a standout prospect out of Franklin Regional with the potential to lead a defensive unit. His calming presence in the secondary allowed the Blue Streaks to contain opposing passing attacks....

Belle Vernon made it to the WPIAL championship game with highlight-reel plays that punctuated short scoring drives. It was almost the team’s trademark. The top-seeded Leopards had short drives again in the Class 4A title game against No. 2 Aliquippa, but for the wrong reasons. And that meant a long...

Consistency is not a word you would associate with last year’s Hempfield girls basketball team. One of the programs truly affected by covid-19, the Spartans endured three shutdowns and went 31 days between their first and second section games. They had 13 postponements. “Just when we would get going again,...

Hempfield is not backing down from anyone this season, that much is clear from a quick once-over of the Spartans’ boys basketball schedule. Aside from daunting Section 3-6A home-and-homes against Fox Chapel and Central Catholic, the Spartans will take on North Allegheny, North Hills, Butler, Pine-Richland, Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon,...

Cade Yacamelli is headed to Wisconsin to play defensive back. The Badgers might want to give him some reps at running back. The film doesn’t lie. The senior from Penn-Trafford put on a show Saturday night in the WPIAL Class 5A championship at Heinz Field, rushing for 136 yards and...