Westmoreland County boys soccer notebook: Belle Vernon set to host Paul Sasko Kickoff Classic

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, August 27, 2025 | 4:42 PM

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A Belle Vernon soccer tradition continues this weekend with the Paul Sasko Kickoff Classic.

The event will be Saturday and Sunday at James Weir Stadium.

Sasko, a former BVA soccer coach, died in 2016. Proceeds go toward scholarships in his name.

The Belle Vernon boys will play twice Saturday. The Leopards (1-1) will face Connellsville (1-1) at noon, and Thomas Jefferson (3-0) at 7 p.m.

The Belle Vernon girls will play Greensburg Salem at 3:30.

On Sunday, Connellsville will take on Thomas Jefferson at 1:30 p.m.

LH tournament

Southmoreland (0-1) will play twice on Saturday in another event, the Fayette County Coaches tournament at Laurel Highlands.

Five teams will play a round-robin format.

The schedule has Uniontown (0-1) vs. Laurel Highlands (0-1) at 8:30 a.m.; Beth-Center (0-0) vs. Albert Gallatin (0-1) at 10; Southmoreland vs. Laurel Highlands at 11:30; Uniontown vs. Albert Gallatin at 1 p.m.; and Southmoreland vs. Beth-Center at 2:30.

OT winner

Belle Vernon used some late drama to get new head coach Tyler Caterino his first win.

Trailing by one goal with 16 seconds remaining, Logan Metzger scored on an assist from Jesse Sobczak to tie Uniontown 1-1.

The game went to overtime and Sobczak found the back of the net to give the Leopards a 2-1 win in their Section 3-3A opener.

Roll Vikes

Mt. Pleasant (2-0) roughed up Brownsville, 8-1, with some big stat lines in the Section 4-2A debut.

Lukas Showman netted a hat trick, while Grant Zahbrosky had two goals and two assists, and Bryson Bankosh passed out four assists.

Busy Bee

Ligonier Valley (0-1) had a tough time against South Park in the teams’ first Section 3-2A game of the season. But Rams’ goalkeeper Will Bee took his share of shots. He made 28 saves in his team’s season opener.

Next up

Three more local players have gone the way of MLS Next over the high school season.

Brothers Brady (junior) and Trevor Porter (sophomore) of Penn-Trafford, and junior Andrew Acosta of Franklin Regional are playing in the new league, which prohibits players from double-rostering with high school teams.

Top games

Norwin (0-2) will host Seneca Valley (3-0) Thursday night in a matchup of 4A contenders. Norwin began the week ranked No. 4 by Trib HSSN.

Other local games to watch Thursday include Section 4-3A matchups Latrobe (0-1, 0-0) at Franklin Regional (2-0, 1-0) and Penn-Trafford (1-1, 0-1) at Belle Vernon (1-1, 1-0).

In Section 4-2A, it will be Greensburg Salem (0-3) at Southmoreland (0-1), Mt. Pleasant (2-0) at Derry (0-0-1, 0-0-1), and Yough (1-0, 1-0) at Brownsville (1-2, 0-1).

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional, Greensburg Salem, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland