Many high school sports fans dream of one day becoming a professional sports broadcaster. On Friday, senior Austin Bechtold will take a step toward making that a reality.

Bechtold will get a taste of professional broadcasting, as he will cover Baldwin’s football game at Bethel Park live on WPXI’s Facebook page.

Over the summer, Bechtold auditioned at Heinz Field to become a WPXI high school correspondent through a program called Skylights, sponsored by Westminster College.

“During High School Media Day, I went down to the field, and they held auditions to broadcast for Skylights,” Bechtold said. “From there, WPXI got back to me in a few weeks and approved my audition.”

“Fortunately, the game I’d be broadcasting at turned out to be Baldwin’s game this Friday at Bethel,” Bechtold said. “I’ll be giving five-minute reports both before the game and at halftime.”

Bechtold also will go to WPXI’s studio on Monday to recap the game.

The broadcasting experience gives Bechtold an advantage for the college application process

“Basically, this will give me a lot of sports broadcasting experience, especially for college,” Bechtold said. “I’m looking at Waynesburg and Robert Morris.”

Bechtold is a sportswriter for the Purbalite.

“Austin is a great sportswriter and he shows a lot of initiative,” Purbalite sponsor Keith Harrison said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that he earned this opportunity.”