J.P. Butler

Pennsy downs NY 108-94 for third- straight series win PORTVILLE — The Pennsylvania boys all-star team couldn’t put in an offense, incorporated four players from outside the traditional Big 30 area and was limited to just a 20-minute pre-game shootaround for practice time. But you wouldn’t have known it by the way it played on Sunday evening. In fact, you might have assumed they’d been playing together all winter. The...

PORTVILLE — The Pennsylvania boys all-star team couldn’t put in an offense, incorporated four players from outside the traditional Big 30 area and was limited to just a 20-minute pre-game shootaround for practice time. But you wouldn’t have known it by the way it played on Sunday evening. In fact, you might have assumed they’d been playing together all winter. The Warren duo of Lucas Thrift and Logan Crissey netted...

CA-DIDI event draws hundreds, fosters excitement in STEM careers PORTVILLE — Down one bustling aisle, Olean General Hospital demonstrated lifesaving techniques, Cutco highlighted its knife handle design process and Great Lakes Cheese captured some fun and “cheesy” moments. Around the corner, Napoleon Engineering Services presented its ball bearing assembly game, SolEpoxy featured an epoxy cup pour and Koike Aronson displayed its torch-cutting technology. And meandering up to, and around, those...

Jon Beardsley, understandably, had a hundred other things on his mind. On this day, however, he stopped to consider those around him. He had, as assistant coaches, Cassandra Mills, a Fillmore Central athletics legend, and Darryl Ross, a softball coaching “lifer.” Also there was Desi Miller, a former Eagles pitching star, who’d previously served as bookkeeper and was now poised to take on a bigger role. And in that moment,...

In the aftermath of last year’s 89th annual SWNY-NWPA Men’s Golf Amateur, Kyle Henzel was already mulling potential plans for the round-number anniversary that would follow. Perhaps his tournament committee would go big — a two-day qualifier, a father-son event or a celebratory scramble. Or perhaps, in the interest of not fixing what isn’t broken, Henzel and company would make no major changes at all. In the end, they essentially...

Week-long Young Manufacturers event a ‘great success’ Before delivering her “Five Whys” of engineering presentation to an awaiting student group, Katie Kuzniar had envisioned two potential outcomes. In the first, the kids would be disinterested, and she’d be talking to several blank faces. In the second, she’d excitedly point to students, and they would eagerly answer her questions. “It ended up being the second,” said Kuzniar, a mechanical systems engineer...

In late February, just when he was about to begin his 17th season as the Fillmore Central School softball coach, Jon Beardsley was dealt a devastating blow. Beardsley, already an Allegany County coaching icon, was told he had cancer. Upon hearing those dreaded words, the Fillmore athletics leader and physical education teacher could easily, and understandably, have focused solely on his prognosis. Beardsley, however, was more worried about something else...

Heckman becomes 1st female to reach Championship Flight OLEAN, N.Y. — Corey Haas thought that, perhaps, his round had been “good enough.” The defending SWNY-NWPA Men’s Amateur champion picked up where he left off last summer, making three birdies en route to a front-nine 32 during this year’s qualifying round on Wednesday at Bartlett Country Club. After a birdie on No. 10 to reach 4-under, he allowed himself to believe...

DUKE CENTER — On Nov. 18, 2022, Brian Neal appeared in a photo wearing a wide smile and all five district championship medals that had just been won by Port Allegany’s offensive linemen. Neal was the line coach for Port A’s vaunted front five, which was the driving force behind the Gators’ title run, and the medals were a gesture to the job Neal had done with the group that...

DUKE CENTER, Pa. — On Nov. 18, 2022, Brian Neal appeared in a photo wearing a wide smile and all five district championship medals that had just been won by Port Allegany’s offensive linemen. Neal was the line coach for Port A’s vaunted front five, which was the driving force behind the Gators’ title run, and the medals were a gesture to the job Neal had done with the group...