William Whalen stories, Page 3

Almost on a daily basis, Canon-Millan coach Mike Evans will get stopped by people and asked the big question. “People ask me every day who do I have coming back,” said Evans, who is entering his fifth season as the Big Macs coach. “I say, ‘I have two people coming...

Cam Bramer was just doing what kids do when he was poking around his parents’ basement as a little kid. Digging through boxes, looking on top of shelves and then he came across a box buried way in the back. As it turns out, the box was loaded with gold....

High school athletes across the WPIAL are beginning preparation for the fall scholastic sports season. All will pursue a championship and try to earn a college scholarship with the hopes of turning pro and making the big bucks. Kiski Area rising junior Nick McGuire has them all beat. In a...

Sometimes all it takes is a tiny spark to launch a career path. For 1996 Norwin grad Chris Vonderkall, the spark came early and caught fire. He let his passion for golf lead the way. “As a kid, I was doing a book report and I did it on Arnold...

A lot of hit songs have come out of Liverpool, England. Bands like the Beatles, A Flock of Seagulls and 1980’s sensation Rick Astley all claim the city as home. Springdale’s betting it found the next big hit in new girls soccer coach and Liverpool native Marc Bentley as the...

The Freeport International Baseball Invitational hits the sweet spot in the youth summer schedule: near the end. For most teams, the five-day invitational marks the final days of the season. When Pittsburgh Pirates RBI 18-under coach Nelson Cooper IV learned an invitational was being played just 40 minutes north of...

The echos from the fireworks grand finale had yet to roll out of the valley to bring last year’s Freeport International Baseball Invitational to a close, and FIBI president Chuck Sarver already was thinking about this year’s invitational. As soon as the lights to historic Swartz Field kicked back on,...

WPIAL gold medals in swimming might be won in early March, but they are earned during the offseason. The end of the high school swimming season marks the beginning of a long offseason where swimmers almost immediately jump back in the water with local swim clubs and get back to...

Drop by the field before a Bushy Run District 31 baseball game, and it sounds like a rock concert. Speakers blasting 80s music out of the home dugout have set the tone this season for Bushy Run. Bushy Run didn’t need special effects for its stage show Saturday afternoon. The...

From chipped-ham sandwiches to sand-wedge chips, the Isaly’s Junior Golf Tour has carved its niche on the Western Pennsylvania junior golf scene by attracting top talent and playing at some of area’s most prestigious courses. “When I took the job in January 2018, I looked at the venues — and...

The Franklin Pierce women’s hockey team hasn’t been around long. Just like every fledgling sports program, the Ravens took it on the chin the first few years but have built a winning program over the past seven seasons. Now, all the Ravens need is a little Faith, as in Penn-Trafford...

The 18-game District 31 Legion baseball season is coming to a dramatic conclusion this week … weather permitting. And like nearly every other season, the seeding for the postseason bracket will be determined in the last few regular-season games. “There’s a lot of parity in the league,” said Yough Legion...

It’s been nearly six months since Bret Colbert was hired to lead the Greensburg Central Catholic football team to its next era of gridiron glory. Spend a few minutes talking football with the rookie head coach and one will immediately get a sense the former college wide receiver is in...

Ryan Anselmino and Noah Rady grew up playing backyard football and Wiffle ball together. They went off to play college baseball together and have been roommates for the past three years. They also traveled home for the holidays with one another. So it is only fitting Bethany junior standouts Ryan...

Murrysville youth hockey standouts Anthony and Alex Sargo couldn’t help but drift off and daydream while watching the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft a few weeks ago about hearing their names called some day. The twin brothers are on the same path many professional hockey players have travelled....

In baseball, it takes being solid in all three phases of the game to make a serious run at a championship. Playoffs are where weaknesses are exposed. The Kiski Valley District 31 Legion team is set with pitching, but the hitting has been inconsistent and the defense has been suspect...

The Franklin Regional baseball team found its inspiration when players showed up one day for practice, and a dead frog was in the dugout. Players named the frog after former teammate and 2018 grad Alex Frey, and it ended up on a player’s steering wheel. Eventually, the Panthers gathered around...

Highlands graduate and Bethany junior baseball standout Tyler Alworth is used to being the workhorse of his team’s pitching staff. After all, he was one of Highlands’ bright spots during his senior year. When he took the mound, the Golden Rams always had a chance to pull out a win....

Five years ago, Penn-Trafford baseball coach Dan Miller went through an interview process with the message that the Warriors were three to five years away from competing for a WPIAL title. Miller wasn’t lying. “I started out with this program five years ago; one of the things I continued to...

A young team, a new head coach and more question marks than players, the 2019 Knoch softball team had no idea what was in store this season. They just hoped to be competitive. And then, it happened. Trailing big at home to new section foe Ambridge and down to their...

It was a WPIAL finals rematch the Bethel Park boys volleyball team waited 12 days for and one WPIAL and defending PIAA champion North Allegheny knew was coming. It wasn’t if — the only question was where it would be held. After being swept in the WPIAL finals by the...

The Knoch softball team made its first trip into the PIAA softball playoffs Monday. The weather was near perfect, and the Knights’ confidence was at an all-time high as they looked to rebound from their semifinal loss and make a deep run in the state playoffs. Also near perfect was...

Touchdown celebrations mandatory, 18-minute running clocks and a dee jay set up on the sidelines — it was all fun and football at Cupples Stadium in the South Side Sunday night. Seventy high school football standouts from across Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan played one final high school game. With the...

If there’s one softball team in the PIAA Class 4A bracket flying under the radar, it has to be Knoch. Amid the hoopla that comes with WPIAL softball championship week, the twice-defeated Knights quietly earned the WPIAL’s third seed in the PIAA postseason bracket with their 7-2 win over Thomas...

The Norwin softball team belted out its last rendition of the school alma mater as the team bus climbed the steep hill to reach campus following the Knights’ WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal loss to North Allegheny. Sure, it might not have been the best sounding one of the season. For...