Bill Beckner stories, Page 194
‘Magnificent Seven’ help WCCC relaunch women’s basketball program
Last year, on would-be women’s basketball game nights at Westmoreland County Community College, the gym was either quiet or being used for another event at the school. Intramurals got more attention. That is because there was no women’s basketball last year in Youngwood. The season was shelved due to a...
Coach turns Jeannette girls basketball into trending topic
Clear back in the spring, when basketballs were tucked away on dusty racks in darkened equipment rooms, Jonathan Bass was starting the hype. The second-year girls basketball coach at Jeannette has taken social media by storm in an effort to promote his program and players. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram — the...
Murrysville’s Andrew Mastovich makes All-ECAC team
Andrew Mastovich surely made his mark in the Penn State Behrend men’s soccer program. The senior defender out of Franklin Regional added another postseason accolade Wednesday when he was named to the All-Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III All-Star First Team. Mastovich, the AMCC Defensive Player of the Year, is...
Greensburg Central Catholic takes down rival Jeannette
Greensburg Central Catholic rookie basketball coach Christian Hyland said his young lineup was not starstruck playing at Jeannette. Neither was the 24-year-old coach, who made it two wins in his first three games as the Centurions clipped the Jayhawks, 48-46, in a nonsection game Tuesday night. An introduction to varsity...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Latrobe’s Pevarnik leaving Penn State
Former Latrobe golf standout Brady Pevarnik will play for a new team next season. Pevarnik is leaving Penn State and will transfer to the College of Charleston (S.C.) for the spring semester. A a regular contender during his WPIAL career, Pevarnik has top-10 finishes at the notable Scott Robertson Memorial...
IUP women’s soccer coach Adel Heder gets call to hall
Longtime IUP women’s soccer coach Adel Heder will be inducted into the PA West Yough Soccer Hall of Fame. Heder, who has WPIAL ties, will join four other inductees at a ceremony Jan. 4 at the PA West Soccer Awards Gala at the DoubleTree Hotel in Green Tree. The boys...
Lackawanna’s Robert Kennedy receives Marshall offer
Robert “Poogie” Kennedy has one more semester left at Lackawanna before, concievably, he embarks on the next chapter of his football career. The former Jeannette star who has shined as a safety at the junior college level, continues to draw Division I interest. Lackawanna (10-1) finished runner-up in the NJCAA...
GCC girls basketball moving on without top scorer Melina Maietta
Senior basketball player Melina Maietta, a 20-point scorer, has been dismissed from the Greensburg Central Catholic girls basketball team, according to Centurions coach Sam Salih. Maietta was in attendance at Monday night’s game at Jeannette but sat in the opposite-side bleachers and did not play. Salih said the move was...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Interest increases for Yough grad, Lackawanna offensive lineman
Scott Houseman almost did not go to Lackawanna, but the hulking linemen sure is glad he did. Not only did the Yough graduate get to play for a national championship with the Falcons, he also has seen a spike in his recruiting. A starter on the offensive line this season,...
Gutsy Greensburg Salem rallies to beat Franklin Regional
Knocked around but never rattled, Greensburg Salem rallied from a scratchy start and evened its record after the first weekend of the boys basketball season. All it took was for Franklin Regional to back it into a corner. “We took two separate roundhouses — two 10-0 runs — but kept...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Hempfield’s Graham gets 3 more Division I offers
Hempfield senior football player Cole Graham added three Division I college opportunities to his suddenly growing list. He announced scholarship offers last week from FCS programs Lehigh, Duquesne and Monmouth. Graham, a 6-foot-6, 270-pound two-way lineman, also has a FBS offer from Connecticut. Graham helped Hempfield rush for 2,039 yards,...
Logan Danielson of Thomas Jefferson wins inaugural Bill Fralic AwardVideo
After a pancake breakfast that paid homage to the man of the hour — the hulking yet gentle man who invented the “pancake block” — the first recipient of the Bill Fralic Memorial Award was announced Saturday morning at Oakmont Country Club. Thomas Jefferson senior Logan Danielson was selected as...
Whitlock’s big second half leads Belle Vernon boys over JeannetteVideo
With Thomas Hepple visible in the corner of his eye, Devin Whitlock caught ball on the break under the basket and saw the play of the game develop seconds before it happened. Whitlock, the sophomore guard from Belle Vernon, playing his first game since transferring from Monessen, nonchalantly underhanded an...
Latrobe’s Lane Ruffner signs with Wichita of North American Hockey League
Latrobe senior Lane Ruffner is ready to take the next step in his hockey career. Ruffner signed a contract with the Wichita Warriors of the North American Hockey League. The defenseman is in his second season with the U18 Esmark Stars AAA Hockey Club. “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity...
Former Latrobe golfer Brady Pevarnik leaving Penn State
Brady Pevarnik has changed clubs before to combat a stiff wind or to negotiate a tight pin placement. But now the former Latrobe star golfer is changing colleges. Pevarnik is leaving Penn State and will transfer to the College of Charleston (S.C.) for the spring semester. “It just wasn’t the...
Penn-Trafford boys embark on ‘total reload’
Total reload. Those are the words Penn-Trafford boys basketball coach Jim Rocco paired together to describe his team heading into a new season that begins Friday night with the Warriors taking on North Allegheny at the Hempfield tip-off tournament. The Warriors bid farewell to five quality seniors, including double-digit scorer...
Starting 5: A guide to the Westmoreland County girls high school basketball season
STORYLINES 1. Great expectations Norwin and Southmoreland could be the last local teams standing come the postseason. Both have experienced teams that went a couple of rounds in the WPIAL and PIAA postseason but will need deep benches to sustain prolonged runs. 2. Gene pull A veteran coach returns to...
Starting 5: A guide to the Westmoreland County boys high school basketball season
STORYLINES 1. Youth movement Christian Hyland is the new coach at Greensburg Central Catholic and he is barely older than his players. At 24, he is one of the youngest head coaches in the WPIAL. Can he take the experience he honed as an assistant and turn it into wins?...
Fralic Award winner to be announced Saturday morning
Pancakes. How appropriate. Late Penn Hills, Pitt and NFL great Bill Fralic made the pancake block famous and organizers of an award in his honor will announce the first recipient Saturday morning during a pancake breakfast. The first Bill Fralic Memorial Award, which will recognize the top lineman in the...
Dutch Harvey returning to coach Yough softball team
Yough was in Dutch, so it brought “Dutch” back. Art “Dutch” Harvey has returned to lead the Cougars softball program, which he had run until June when he resigned. He had been the coach for six seasons but decided to go in a different direction. That direction became a U-turn...
Hempfield lineman Cole Graham adds another D-1 offer
Hempfield senior football player Cole Graham added his second Division I college opportunity Wednesday, announcing a scholarship offer from Lehigh, a FCS program. Graham, a 6-foot-6, 270-pound two-way lineman, has a FBS offer from Connecticut. Graham this season helped Hempfield rush for 2,039 yards — led by senior running back...
Slippery Rock QB Roland Rivers III finalist for Harlon Hill Award
The Harlon Hill Award often is called the Heisman Trophy of NCAA Division II football. Could this year’s hardware end up in the hands of a player from … Slippery Rock? Could happen. Slippery Rock senior quarterback Roland Rivers III is one of the eight finalists for the Hill Award,...
Seton Hill’s Viktoria Farian an all-region selection
On the eve of her volleyball team’s opening match in the NCAA Division II Tournament, Seton Hill’s Viktoria Farian received some more postseason recognition. Farian, a junior outside hitter, was named to the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association All-Atlantic Region second team. She was a first-team selection last season....
Soccer stars Anthony DiFalco, Hannah Stuck earn All-America honors; All-region teams also announced
Anthony DiFalco was in biology class Wednesday morning when his soccer coach at Franklin Regional, Rand Hudson, entered the classroom and interrupted the session. The coach came bearing good news. Forget biology. This was more like AP soccer. DiFalco, a sophomore forward, was selected as a United Soccer Coaches Region...
Chase Rowe leaving La Roche baseball to join Detroit Tigers organization
Seven-time AMCC Baseball Coach of the Year Chase Rowe is leaving La Roche to take a minor league position with the Detroit Tigers. Rowe will be a hitting coach but the team or level at which he will coach has not been announced. The Knoch graduate announced the move on...
