Franklin Regional

Penn Township is the returning Pennsylvania Youth American Legion Western Regional and state champion. It opens defense of the Western Regional at 5 p.m. Friday at the White Township Complex in Indiana against Indiana County champion Brookville. Pool play format will be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the top...

Fall sports will introduce WPIAL teams to a new two-year cycle, which means classifications and sections have been realigned. Here’s what Franklin Regional teams will face in 2022: Beginning with football, the Panthers will remain in the Class 5A Big East Conference, which has undergone change. It now has Franklin...

Andrew Nesler is on the move. The rising senior football player is leaving Franklin Regional for The Hill School, a prep academy in Pottstown, about 70 miles east of Hershey. Nesler, a 6-foot-2, 285-pound lineman, said the transfer is motivated by personal and family reasons. He was a key player...

One of the best boys soccer players to come out of the WPIAL in recent years also is being mentioned with the top talent in the country. Three-time All-American forward Anthony DiFalco, who had a stellar, four-year career at Franklin Regional, was named to the All-USA Today High School Sports...

A venture that athletic director Zach Kessler said was long overdue, Franklin Regional finally has an athletics hall of fame in place to honor the legacy of its finest athletes. Now, it has its inaugural class. The Franklin Regional Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2022 was unveiled Wednesday. It...

Hampton captured three district championships and one state title this past school year, with three of those four coming during the fall sports season. Consistent success throughout all three seasons, however, was a big part of the Talbots showing plenty of bark in winning the Trib HSSN Cup for Class...

Some might say Palmer Jackson’s golf game is a 9 out of 10. No golfer is perfect. The game won’t allow for it. But Jackson had nine top-10 finishes this past college season, which also points to excellence. The junior from Notre Dame is one of the top players in...

Fox Chapel’s Izzy Zober and Franklin Regional’s Grace Stark are making softball history. The Israel Softball Association is fielding its first 12U national team to compete in the European Massimo Romero Youth Tournament in August in Italy, and Zober, 11, and Stark, 10, are on the squad. The ISA is...

Summer is just starting, but the WPIAL has its new basketball sections in place for the next winter season. The biggest movers in Westmoreland County are Penn-Trafford and Greensburg Salem, which are dropping from Class 6A. Penn-Trafford will be in 5A in boys and girls hoops. The Greensburg Salem boys...

Bryce Lewis didn’t play his best round Saturday at the 69th annual Sunnehanna Amateur, but it was good enough to capture the title. The University of Tennessee product shot a 5-over-par 75 during the final round at Sunnehanna Country Club in Westmont near Johnstown, and he barely held on for...

The roar of thunder Tuesday morning woke Oakmont’s Sean Knapp from his sleep. So he decided to look at his phone and call up the weather radar, and he saw a blotch of red hanging over Johnstown. Knapp screen-shot the radar and sent it to friend Nathan Smith with the...

Norwin senior Sebastian Rosado Guindin knew he was in the running for a unique award, but he was a little taken aback when his name was called. “Yes, I was a surprised when I won,” he said. Rosado Guindin won the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Sports Most...

There was a time not too long ago when the Murrysville American Legion baseball team ruled District 31. The road to a title always traveled through Murrysville. But for different reasons, mainly the top players electing to play travel ball, the shine of the program has diminished. But a couple...

A nagging shoulder injury stunted his progress in his final collegiate wrestling season, but Michael Kemerer is moving on to his next venture in the sport. The former Iowa and Franklin Regional standout has joined the Spartan Combat RTC, a world-class training outfit in Ithaca, N.Y. Spartan Combat RTC specializes...

Westmoreland County athletes once again made their mark in the WPIAL’s two largest classifications this spring. The Big 5/6 Conference, which covers Class 6A and 5A athletics, had its all-section banquet Wednesday and announced its top players in baseball and softball. Section 2-6A baseball’s first team included senior infielder Joe...

Westmoreland County was well-represented at last weekend’s Roundball Classic senior all-star games, an event that wraps a bow around another high school basketball season in Western Pa. Maybe “most valuable” would be a better way to frame their overall showing at Geneva College. Ligonier Valley’s Matthew Marinchak was named his...

Josh Shields and Nico Megaludis aren’t ready to hang up their headgear just yet. The Franklin Regional grads recently competed in the U.S. Open freestyle wrestling tournament and the World Team Trials and just came up short of making the team. But they’re looking for another shot down the road...

Franklin Regional track and field coach Bob Ralston has been dealing with a sprained ankle, but it didn’t stop him from leading the Panthers at the WPIAL Class 3A Championship meet at Slippery Rock. The Panthers did not have any PIAA qualifiers, but several athletes performed as well as they...

Franklin Regional’s softball team has shown a ton of power this season, scoring runs at a high rate. It’s a big part of why they finished second in their section and earned a spot in the WPIAL playoffs. One thing that cannot be undervalued, though, is their defense. Senior third...

Pittsburgh native Paul Ajak III will be trying to defend his Tri-State Section PGA Amateur Championship title Thursday at Indiana Country Club. He is among the field of 68. Ajak III shot a 3-under par 67 to capture the 2021 title at Hannastown Golf Club. Scott Bitar of Pittsburgh was...

Tre Cunningham’s name and legacy carries on at Jeannette. The late three-sport star, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in the summer of 2020, was honored through a high school boys’ basketball tournament last year at Jeannette. Last week, the Jeannette Educational Foundation presented the Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball...

It wasn’t the way the Franklin Regional softball team wanted to end the 2022 season after a promising start. But losing a starting pitcher with two games left in the season is tough to overcome. That’s what happened to the Panthers when junior pitcher Carli Ramchandran sustained a broken right...

This outing was perfect for South Fayette pitcher Tyler Pitzer in more ways than one. Shoulder soreness had the junior shut down for about a month earlier this season, but the South Carolina commit showed Tuesday night what he can do at full strength when he pitched a five-inning perfect...

PGA Tour Latinoamerica pro and former Oklahoma Sooner Beau Titsworth claimed medalist honors at the Butler County U.S. Open local qualifier May 11. Titsworth shot a 4-under par 67. He was one of five players to earn a spot in the sectional tournaments. Amateur Darin Kolwalski of Bethel Park and...

WPIAL softball playoffs Capsule previews Class 5A First round 12-Latrobe (9-4) vs. 5-West Allegheny (12-4) 6 p.m. Tuesday at North Allegheny Winner plays: Winner of 13-Upper St. Clair (6-14) vs. 4-North Hills (14-3) on Thursday in quarterfinals (time, site TBD) Players to watch: Jenna Tallman, Sr., Latrobe; Elly Vicari-Baker, So.,...