Bill Beckner stories, Page 186
Virtual reality: Western Pa. coaching clinics move to web
Health officials are trying to stop the spread. Burrell football coach Shawn Liotta still is teaching teams how to run it. Liotta refers to the football offense, not the coronavirus, when he addresses a captive audience via his laptop computer. The coronavirus’ spread, though, has not stopped coaches like Liotta...
Senior Spotlight: Thomas Jefferson slugger ‘the epitome of what a team player is’
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight WPIAL spring athletes whose senior years were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Coming to terms with the new normal is half the battle for high school senior athletes who had their spring seasons ripped from their grasp. The waves of fear...
Recovered from arm surgery, Derry pitcher Hood eager to get back into action
One of the great joys of an injured athlete is the day they can return to live action. The day the wait is over, when all of the rehab and patience-testing cashes in its coins. But that day will have to wait for Ryan Hood. The sophomore baseball player from...
Well-rounded Derry standouts Huss, Kelly up for awards
Editor’s note: This is the third in an 18-part series profiling nominees for the Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete Excellence Awards. A pair of 4.0 students and three-sport athletes from Derry had as much to give in the classroom as they did in athletics. Justin Huss and Kamryn Kelly found a way...
Riverhounds Development Academy graduates record number of players
With 39 standouts committed to play collegiate soccer, and more on the way, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Development Academy announced a program record for graduating players. “The variety of schools that the players will be attending shows the positive impact of our developmental platform and recruiting network,” RDA director Scott Gibson...
Latrobe’s Walker signs NAHL tender with Wichita Falls
Add another Latrobe hockey standout to the Wichita Falls Warriors’ roster. Forward Alex Walker signed a tender contract to play for the Warriors, a team in the North American Hockey League. Walker, a junior, joins Latrobe teammate Lane Ruffner, a defenseman who signed with Wichita in December. Walker and Ruffner...
Organizers hold off on canceling Westmoreland County 7-on-7 summer football event
With schools closing across the state, high school sports also were shut down for the spring by the PIAA. In line with that decision, local organizations such as the Westmoreland County Coaches Association also have been affected by the paralyzing restrictions of the coronavirus. The association’s spring and summer schedule...
Senior spotlight: Albert Gallatin shortstop hits all the right notes
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight WPIAL spring athletes whose senior years were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Annalia Paoli plays a mean shortstop. But did you know the senior softball star from Albert Gallatin also plays the guitar and violin? The down time over the last...
Hempfield hoops standout Liberatore picks Marshall
Sarah Liberatore often was asked about her college interest, beginning last year when, as a junior, the basketball standout from Hempfield was beginning to surface on the radars of Division I coaches. But she opted to keep her decision close to the vest, saying she would rather wait until the...
Westmoreland County notebook: Soccer star DiFalco sticking with Franklin Regional
Franklin Regional boys soccer fans can relax. Anthony DiFalco isn’t going anywhere. There have been rumblings the star sophomore forward and two-time WPIAL champion was considering leaving to join a professional academy. DiFalco, who already has Division I interest, did spend a few days training in January with D.C. United,...
Gateway coach Alvis Rogers squared off with Michael Jordan long before his ‘Last Dance’
Each time Alvis Rogers sits down to watch another episode of “The Last Dance,” the 10-part ESPN miniseries about Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, he is time-warped back to his college days at Wake Forest when he and the Demon Deacons went against Jordan and North Carolina. Rogers,...
IUP product Matt Guevremont headed to CFL
A former IUP football lineman is taking his talents north. Expect the landscape to be familiar to Matt Guevremont. A 6-foot-4, 335-pound tackle, Guevremont was taken by the BC Lions in the fifth round of Thursday’s Canadian Football League Draft. He is a native of Pickering, Ontario. The Vancouver-based Lions...
Senior Spotlight: Frazier softball star helping keep steelworkers safe
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight WPIAL spring athletes whose senior years were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Goal-oriented and driven to overpower hitters, softball pitcher Logan Hartman was nearing the school record at Frazier for career strikeouts. “But unfortunately now, I can’t get it,” Hartman said....
Regretful Nusser opens up about dismissal from Belle Vernon basketball team
The latter stages of his senior basketball season took a sharp turn into the abyss, and Cam Nusser admits he could have done some things differently to avoid the unfortunate outcome. The fiery guard from Belle Vernon was here again, gone again throughout the Leopards’ run in the WPIAL and...
Senior Spotlight: 4-sport Avonworth athlete racked up 13 varsity letters in decorated career
Editor’s note: Each day, Trib HSSN will spotlight WPIAL spring athletes whose senior years were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Four-sport athletes don’t have much free time on their hands to begin with, so the shelter-in-place order has wreaked havoc on their daily schedules and preparation. But the down...
Franklin Regional grad Spencer Lee honored as country’s best amateur athlete
Ever since Spencer Lee stepped onto the Iowa campus, he has dominated opponents. He is a two-time NCAA champion. The junior also has taken on a big-time reputation in the wrestling world. He is one of the most popular names in the sport. Now, the Franklin Regional alum has a...
Fay-West schools team up with rivals for ‘Spirit Week’ eventVideo
Five schools in the Fay-West slice of Western Pennsylvania are teaming up for a virtual “Spirit Week,” a show of solidarity during the coronavirus shutdown. Next week, Connellsville, Frazier, Mt. Pleasant, Southmoreland and Yough will take part in the virtual event with each asked to post photos of school members...
Ligonier Valley’s Kyle Silk has few regrets after tumultuous senior year
When Kyle Silk transferred to Ligonier Valley from United for his senior year, he foresaw an idyllic conclusion to his career in high school athletics. New teammates. A new environment. A fresh start. Today, as he reflects on the past eight months, he wonders what he did to deserve the...
Coach, official Mike Gaffney tries to fill rare down time with sports world on hold
Mike Gaffney is quite conditioned to the changing of the high school sports seasons. In the winter, he is a PIAA basketball referee and serves as an assistant girls basketball coach at Greensburg Central Catholic. Spring gives way to Gaffney serving as coach of the GCC softball team, and he...
Sibling athletes finding ways to stay competitive, in shape during lockdown
Social-distancing is as novel a term in the American vernacular as the virus that created it. But the concept of creating 6-foot spacing between people can be a challenge in a full household. What about a home filled with aspiring college and high school athletes who otherwise at this time...
Former Seton Hill WR Leatherbury signs with Arizona Cardinals
Shane Leatherbury, who played one season at Seton Hill in Greensburg, is set to embark on a professional football career. Leatherbury, who was a freshman for the Griffins in 2015, signed a free agent contract with Arizona Cardinals. After a year in Greensburg, Leatherbury transferred to Towson. There, the Salisbury,...
Norwin lineman Giansante gets 5th college offer
With the status of summer college football prospect camps uncertain because of the coronavirus, Anthony Giansante was not sure what to expect with his recruiting. These are fluctuating times. The Norwin junior football lineman, however, took pride in the fact he had built equity through his efforts in last year’s...
PAC declares team golf champions
With its final rounds thwarted by the coronavirus, the Presidents Athletic Conference declared winners of its team golf championships. The women’s final round was set for April 18 at Chestnut Ridge in Blairsville and the men’s for April 25 at Oglebay Resort (W.Va.), but the spring season was wiped out...
Westmoreland high school notebook: WPIAL names dot Outlaws roster
Travel softball has turnover, just like the high school level. But some teams, like the Ohio Outlaws 18U squad, have managed to sew together the same group for an extended time. It is a valued trait in the current circumstances. “I have coached these same girls for four seasons,” said...
Senior Spotlight: Jeannette ace Faith Johnston ‘proud to be a Jayhawk’
Faith Johnston has every intention of zipping fastballs past opposing hitters next year as a pitcher for the Waynesburg softball team. But she is just as focused on clobbering extra-base hits against opposing arms in the Presidents Athletic Conference. A dual-threat for Jeannette the last few seasons, she hopes to...
