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Saturday April 23, 2022 | 9:01
Anthony DiFalco’s goals aren’t just limited to the soccer field.
The Franklin Regional star also excels in class.
The WPIAL announced the winners of its James Collins Scholar-Athlete Awards and DiFalco was one of the recipients. Each will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
DiFalco was a three-time All-American, three-time All-Region and three-time all-state player. He scored a school record 118 goals.
He won two WPIAL Class 3A titles, added a second place and made the PIAA semi-finals twice.
DiFalco will continue his playing career at Duquesne.
Among the 20 senior winners (and 142 nominees) were Carter Green from Penn-Trafford, Maddie Griffin from Ligonier Valley, Gracie Spadaro from Southmoreland and Meghan Zambruno from Greensburg Central Catholic.
Fox Chapel’s Russell Fenton, who has family in the area, was also a winner.
Green, a former standout quarterback, heads to Seton Hill for lacrosse.
Griffin will play softball at Youngstown State, Spadaro basketball at IUP and Zambruno golf in St. Francis, Pennsylvania.
On the right track
The Franklin area track teams improved to 4-0 with a 5-3A sweep of the Oakland Catholic Section. The boys won, 95-55, and the girls were victorious by a score of 80-70.
Nick Petrucci took second place in all three throwing events, while Nick Provenzo earned 15 points running a two-relay leg winner and also won the 800-meter race.
On the girls’ side, Alexandra Hartman took part in four events, including a second in the high jump for the first time.
College scene
Verification of Franklin area athletes competing at the collegiate level:
Soft ball
• Pointe Park: Junior Angalee Beall was named the River States Conference pitcher of the week. She went 3-0 for the Pioneers, pitching a pair of complete games and saw brief relief work. Beall has walked just two of 15 innings. In a 6-3 win over Carlow, she allowed five hits and two earned runs and did not walk the ball.
Men’s athletics
• Westminster: Junior Ryan Beard was part of two first-place stints at the Westminster Invitational. He helped the 400 meter relay win in 43.19 seconds and the 1,600 meter relay in 3 minutes 27.84 seconds. Beard also competed in a 400 stint win at the Grove City Mini Meet (42.17). Then, at the Thiel College Invitational, he joined his 400 relay teammates for another win, clocking 42.42 seconds.
Women’s Lacrosse
• Ganon: Sophomore Kendra Delissio had a 9.98 goals-against average in 283 minutes this season.
male golf
• Ganon: Junior Clayton Skoff shot a 76 to help the Golden Knights claim victory at the Gannon Spring Invitational at Whispering Woods Golf Club in Erie. Freshman teammate Michael Wareham added a 77 on his way to a team score of 303, 12 shots ahead of Humber. Skoff tied for third individually, while Wareham finished seventh.
Wareham came close to winning his next start, at the Mercyhurst Invitational.
He finished tied for second, and his 71 in the second round not only tied a tournament low, but also moved him up 11 places in the standings. He went 78-71 for a total of 148. Skoff finished tied for 19th.
Bill Beckner Jr. is an editor of the Tribune-Review. You can contact Bill by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
Keywords: Franklin Regional
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