Bill Beckner stories, Page 83
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Yough welcomes new girls soccer coach
Yough’s girls soccer team will have its third coach in three years with the hiring of Robert Broadwater, a Pennsylvania state trooper and former Yough middle school coach. Broadwater also served as an assistant with Mike Veychek, who resigned after one season coaching the Cougars. Broadwater was a varsity assistant...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Payton Wehner
Lying in a hospital bed about three years ago, Payton Wehner took inventory of his world. “That was a point in life where, honestly, if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing,” said Wehner, Central Catholic’s senior quarterback. Not the wildcat play that resulted in a season-ending injury?...
Yough, Hempfield girls basketball coaches resign
Hempfield and Yough are looking for girls head basketball coaches. Tom Brush resigned at Hempfield, a place where he has coached since 2018. Mike Gerdich, meanwhile, stepped down at Yough following the team’s first playoff trip in 10 years. Brush said his decision is work-related. Since his schedule changed, he...
Latrobe wins WCCA 7-on-7 tourney for 2nd time in row
As John Wetzel walked off the field Thursday, he made it clear to his teammates he was far from tired. His arm wasn’t sore. His legs were fine. He was charged up. “I’m ready to play another one,” the Latrobe quarterback said with a smile. Transfixed on validating last year’s...
Scott Morrison to coach Westmoreland County Community College men’s basketball team
Scott Morrison has been itching to get back into coaching. After spending a season as an assistant for the women’s basketball team at Westmoreland County Community College last year, he is primed to take over the men’s program. Morrison, a former athletic director at Yough and a Norwin alum, was...
Yough’s Kendalyn Umbel commits to play soccer at YSU, won’t play high school season
Like a penalty kick in a shootout, Kendalyn Umbel has lined up her Division I college soccer future — with two years left in her high school career. Umbel, a rising junior at Yough who does not plan to play for the high school team this season, announced a verbal...
Longtime Southmoreland coach, teacher Brian Pritts takes on athletic director role
It was a promotion Brian Pritts was proud to accept. A true “Southmoreland guy” would be. Pritts is set to take over as athletic director at Southmoreland, his alma mater and a place where he has taught and coached since 1995. The former Southmoreland girls basketball coach had been the...
Westmoreland Saints youth football program folds as Greensburg Central Catholic starts flag, middle school programs
An ordinary Friday turned into All Saints Day. When news began to travel last week that the Westmoreland Saints youth football program out of Greensburg was folding, former players took to social media to pay their respects to the middle school-level team. The Saints are stepping aside now that Greensburg...
2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin
Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of 25 profiles of the members of the Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team. When it came time to make his college decision, Quinton Martin operated on his own terms. No news conference. No three hats lined up on a table....
Franklin Regional soccer players join select team for national tournament in Florida
A handful of Franklin Regional boys soccer players were set to compete on a national stage. The 05 BVB International Academy Premier team, coached by former Franklin Regional coach Thomas Louisy, traveled Florida to play in the United States Youth Soccer National Championship Series. The Franklin Regional players on the...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Latrobe out to defend 7-on-7 title
Route-runners and defensive backs will exchange moves, and quarterbacks will sharpen their downfield throws Thursday when the 12th Westmoreland County Coaches Association Larry Sellitto Memorial 7-on-7 Passing Tournament returns to Greater Latrobe High School. Sixteen teams will compete for the title beginning at 9 a.m. on four turf fields. Rossi...
St. Francis (Pa.) extends offer to Central Catholic QB Payton Wehner
Central Catholic has more than 100 players signed up for football this season. That includes a rising group of more than 50 freshmen. Once a promising ninth grader himself, quarterback Payton Wehner has come a long way in his time with the Vikings. Suddenly, though, he is all grown up...
After collecting one trophy, Bushy Run American Legion sets sights on the next
After Bushy Run secured the final out and collected its District 31 championship trophy, players shouted, “We won the WPIAL.” The reference is meant to draw a parallel to the high school baseball season, where teams win the WPIAL then play for a PIAA state title. It’s a progression. For...
Penn-Trafford alum Dave Bucar named offensive line coach at Maine
Trafford native Dave Bucar has joined the football coaching staff at Maine. He will coach the offensive line under head coach Jordan Stevens. Bucar was an offensive analyst and assistant offensive line and tight ends coach at Boston College for the last four years. “Dave brings a wealth of experience...
American Legion District 31 announces all-stars
With its season complete, the American Legion District 31 baseball league announced its all-district teams, based on a managers’ vote. Of the 24 first- and second-team players, league runner-up Latrobe led with six, while champion Bushy Run had five. Homer City had three, while Murrysville, Young Township, Hempfield East and...
Bushy Run unseats Latrobe for American Legion District 31 title
Jason Sabol came back four games ago from a torn right hamstring, an injury that plagued him since early March. The setback, which happened during high school tryouts, cost him most of his junior baseball season at Penn-Trafford and most of this American Legion season. The Bushy Run center fielder...
Lefty Kevin Vaupel joins short but elite list of Seton Hill baseball players to be drafted
When pitcher Kevin Vaupel was selected in the 16th round of the MLB Draft on Tuesday, he joined a list of Seton Hill alumni who have found their way into pro baseball. Vaupel, a South Park alum who was taken by the Miami Marlins with the 473rd pick, is the...
Legion playoff capsule: Bushy Run, Latrobe meet for District 31 title Wednesday, July 12
American Legion District 31 baseball playoffs Championship 1-Bushy Run (18-3-1) vs. 3-Latrobe (21-5) 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Penn-Trafford High School, Harrison City Coaches: Scott Peyman, Bushy Run; Jason Bush, Latrobe Players to watch: Carmen Metcalfe, Penn-Trafford; Erik Batista, Latrobe Scouting report: The district final comes down to a pair of teams...
Cuthbert, who guided P-T girls to WPIAL title, named girls soccer coach at Greensburg C.C.
Championship-winning coach Derek Cuthbert has returned to lead another Westmoreland County school’s soccer team. Cuthbert, who guided the Penn-Trafford girls to a WPIAL Class 3A title in 2003 when he was the district coach of the year, was named the girls coach at Greensburg Central Catholic. Cuthbert, who hails from...
Harrigan, trio of Norwin soccer teams head for hall of fame
The 2023 Norwin Athletic Hall of Fame class reached into the recent past to reconnect with some girls soccer greatness. The 2015, ’16, and ’17 girls soccer teams, and 2018 alum Emily Harrigan, a goal-scoring standout during that time, headline the list of inductees. Norwin won WPIAL titles in 2015...
Hempfield alum Bridget Williams headed to world championships in pole vault
A few years out of college but perhaps as sharp as she has ever been, Bridget (Guy) Williams continues to compete at a high level of track and field. The former Hempfield and Virginia standout is headed to a world-championship event after another strong finish in the pole vault. Williams...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Mt. Pleasant’s Haylie Brunson makes move from Pitt to Penn State
Haylie Brunson has only played two years of college softball, but in a way, you could say her career has come full circle. The former Mt. Pleasant standout and Trib Westmoreland player of the year announced she is leaving Pitt to play at the school where she first committed: Penn...
New Penn-Trafford soccer coach Suchko wants to restore tradition
Ben Suchko played soccer at Hempfield, and he remembers another local program having a reputation at that time. “Penn-Trafford was a juggernaut,” he said. “They were bruisers.” Now the first-year coach at Penn-Trafford, Suchko thinks that luster has worn off, and something needs to change to restore it. “P-T has...
Bushy Run rallies past Hempfield East, Latrobe tops Murrysville in American Legion semifinal openers
Bushy Run baseball coaches said they requested a morning start time for Saturday’s semifinal opener because several players were going to a wedding in the afternoon. With a late rally in its first extra-inning game of the season, Bushy Run left visiting Hempfield East at the altar. Brody Hoffman homered...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Dozen softball standouts earn all-state honors
Belle Vernon won a WPIAL Class 4A softball championship, and the Leopards did so with a potent lineup that produced extra-base hits by the boatloads. Three of the team’s top hitters were recognized with all-state recognition. Maren Metikosh (first team, outfield), Alexa Daniels (second team, outfield) and Lauren VanDivner (second...
