UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A sports highlight show created by Penn State students to cover high school sports in Centre County and around District 6 kicks off its fifth season this fall.
“After the Whistle” initially launched with a two-fold purpose — offering more on-camera and technical experience for Penn State journalism and production students and providing coverage of high school sports in the region.
The show has allowed many first-year college students to get experience in real-life settings. It has also allowed more experienced students to bolster their skills by moving into leadership \ and mentoring roles.
The sportscast airs live Friday nights in the fall on YouTube and largely focuses on high school football. Teams of Penn State students travel to games throughout the region each week and then return to the University Park campus to cut together highlights and feature stories as part of the live show.
“After the Whistle” also covers Penn State sports, and the success of the show during the initial fall seasons led to an expansion of episodes into winter and spring sports. In many ways participating in the show has become an integral first step for aspiring journalists at Penn State.
The show also maintains an active presence on social media, sharing highlights, news and updates on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X.
Earlier this year, “After the Whistle” was named Best Sportscast in the 2025 Keystone Pro Media awards sponsored by the Pennsylvania News Media Association. That means the show topped entries from many professional news outlets across the state in the annual contest. Only TV stations in the biggest markets, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, were not included in the contest.
An episode of the show is also a national finalist in the Video Sportscast category of the College Media Association’s Pinnacle Awards. Winners in that competition will be announced in mid-October.