A Great Year in Sports
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan’s Morgan Kendall, Jessica Taylor, Reagan Rush, Madison Dupont and Madison Ludrosky raise the championship trophy after winning Thursday against Chartiers-Houston. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
Holly Tonini
Holly Tonini Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale flips Chestnut Ridge’s Aaron Burkett (top) over his back during 106-pound final bout of the PIAA Class AA Individual Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. Teasdale won the gold medal by a 4-2 decision over Burkett.
Waynesburg Central's Madison Clayton (left) maneuvers the ball past Uniontown goalkeeper Lindsey Merschat to score the Lady Raiders' third goal in their Section 4-AA girls soccer match Wednesday at Uniontown's Bill Power Stadium.
Jefferson-Morgan's Erin Confortini (15) drives the ball around California's Marissa Bitoni (21) during Tuesday's PIAA Class A 5th-place play-in playoff game at Peters Township High School.
Carmichaels' Mike Blasinsky steals third before California's Alex Adams can make the play Tuesday at California.
Holly Tonini
Holly Tonini Carmichaels Elaine Kerr gets one past Frazier’s Annya Kossol (14) and Khristyne Barch (12).
Holly Tonini
Mapletown’s Dylan Rush (9) scores the first of six touchdowns against West Greene during last Friday’s Tri-County South Conference game at West Greene High School. The Maples defeated the Pioneers, 61-22.
Holly Tonini
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe (14) dribbles around California’s Jenna Miller during first half action of Monday’s Section 3-A game at West Greene High School.
Jefferson Morgan's Nick Teagarden (17) and Carmichaels' Cody Brown (14) spar on a drive in the first half of their Tri-County Conference game Friday night at Parker Field in Jefferson.
It seems as you get older, the years go by quicker!
And, as 2015 is coming to a close, what a memorable and unforgettable sporting year in Greene County it has been!
From teams making playoff history to individuals breaking records, the past 12 months have been truly tremendous to witness as a sports writer, as a spectator and as a sports fan.
So, as usual, I will be doing my top 10 moments in Greene County high school sports.
Some on this list you will definitely remember, and others you might have forgotten. To narrow it down to just 10 moments was truly tough, so I’m sorry for those moments that I miss.
And since social media and Twitter was such a big facet of my life as a newspaper writer this year, let’s countdown the 10 moments via some hashtags (#).
10.) #MightierMikes — It was the final week of the regular season in high school football and with only one playoff spot left in the Tri-County South Conference, two of the bitterest rivals met to decide their playoff fate. It was do-or-die, win-or-go-home between Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan.
With a lot of hype surrounding the game, the Mighty Mikes were the better team on that Friday night with a 28-0 triumph over the Rockets. Senior tailback Shawn Dulaney was the catalyst for the Mikes with three rushing touchdowns and 95 yards on the ground.
Carmichaels improved to 53-32-5 against its close rival and met the eventual Class A champion Clarion in the first round of the playoffs.
9.) #PIAAGoesSix — For years it was rumored about the possibility of expansion of football and other sports in the state. Well, the speculation became reality when the PIAA voted to drastically change the sporting landscape of high school athletics with more classifications.
Football, boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball will expand to six classes, while sports like girls and boys soccer, volleyball, wrestling, track and golf move to four classes. It’s a move that was well-talked about and a lot of controversy is still around the passing of this vote.
For the most part, Greene County will not see a lot of big changes in the next few years due to the reclassification, but there will be some moves for some schools. Waynesburg Central boys and girls basketball moves up to 4-A. The local football, softball and volleyball rivalries will stay the same, while baseball might get a revamped look.
8.) #PressGreene — The 2014-15 season for the West Greene girls basketball team was a struggle for a lot of different reasons, most notably their 0-22 record. Fast-forward to this season, it’s a new attitude for the Lady Pioneers.
West Greene has depth and experience and has implemented a ferocious, full-court press defense that has caused havoc for their opponents. They have been led by a strong freshman class that includes McKenna Lampe, Madison Lampe and Kaitlyn Rizor.
After averaging just 19.3 points per game a year ago, West Greene is one of the top scoring teams in the WPIAL with a 67.7 points per game.
7.) #WhatARush — In a Week 5 contest against Avella, Mapletown’s running back Dylan Rush made history on the gridiron. Rush broke two school records when he rushed for 387 yards and scored eight touchdowns.
The sophomore running back had scoring runs of 67, 23, 16, 6, 15, 8, 88 and 28 in the 58-24 victory Avella. Rush also added a pair of two-point conversion runs and four extra-point kicks for a total of 56 points.
For the season, Rush finished second in the Herald-Standard Touchdown Club behind Beth-Center’s senior tailback and defending champion Anthony Welsh.
6.) #BumpSetSpikeMakeHistory — All five volleyball squads in Greene County had memorable seasons on the court. Both Waynesburg Central and Carmichaels made history with their first-ever playoff victory and were led by seniors Taylor Staley, Tiffany Ross, Shelby Morgan, Katelynn Schooley, Abby Cutwright and Brenna Sadlek.
Jefferson-Morgan made a trip back to the playoffs and placed second in Section 5-A with 10 section wins. The Lady Rockets were led by a strong senior class that included Morgan Simkovic, Camryn Dugan, Morgan Gamble, Kayla Yorko and Abby Phillips.
Mapletown didn’t make the playoffs, but finished strong down the stretch with an 8-3 record after a 0-6 start. West Greene snapped its losing skid with five wins in 2015 and pulled off an upset of Geibel Catholic for the first time in years.
5.) #DiamondCutters — The spring was a highly-successful season for a number of Greene County teams on the diamond.
The Lady Raiders rallied with four wins in their last five games to make it to the postseason out of Section 2-AA. Waynesburg was led by a strong offense that had power-hitting sluggers like Hannah Gibbons, Taylor Staley, Gabby Rose and Tiffany Ross.
The Lady Mikes put together a 13-win campaign in Section 2-AA, won the section outright over McGuffey and tallied a first-round victory over Freeport. Erica Burns ended her tremendous career with the Lady Mikes with over 500 strikeouts in the circle.
After a two-year absence from the playoffs, West Greene qualified for the postseason by finishing third in Section 1-A with a 10-win campaign. The Lady Pioneers were anchored by the pitching-power hitting, cousin combo of Bailey Bennington and Madison Renner.
In baseball, both Carmichaels and Waynesburg Central made the playoffs after strong regular seasons. The Raiders finished tied for second in Section 2-AA with a 9-3 mark, and were led by the pitching arms of Trey Rohanna and Hunter Robinson.
The Mikes ended the regular season with a second-place finish in Section 1-A and defeated Sewickley Academy in the first round. Carmichaels had a young pitching staff and was aided by the senior leadership of Michael Blasinsky.
There’s also one more team in the spring that made an impact, but we will get to them later…
4.) #OneTeamOurTeam — The Jefferson-Morgan girls basketball team believed in the mantra of “One Team, Our Team” and in Chris Niemiec’s first year as coach for the Lady Rockets, the team instantly jelled and had a brilliant season on the hardwood.
The Lady Rockets compiled 19 wins in the regular season and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in recent history with a 53-42 victory over Cornell in the first round. J-M was headed by a stout defense that only allowed 35 points per game and a well-rounded offense.
J-M was led by the sharp shooting of Kayla Yorko, Nikki Venick, Anna Mattish and Jamie Lawrence, and a strong inside game with Ally Bogden, Erin Confortini and Morgan Simkovic.
3.) #LadyRaidersNetBigSeason — After years of not making the playoffs, small rosters and average play on the field, the Waynesburg Central girls soccer team made history and set the foundation for a strong program for years to come.
The Lady Raiders went 11-3-1 for a second-place finish in Section 4-AA and captured the program’s first-ever playoff win with a 2-1 triumph over Yough.
Madison Clayton netted 29 goals in 17 games and goalkeeper Josey Evans was a fearless leader in between the pipes with five shutouts. The Lady Raiders also got solid years from Sarah Snee, Lily Behm, Bailey Fudala, Sophie Benco, Lauren Rose, Breanna Lipscomb and Claire Garber.
2.) #GrapplersWinGold — Making to the PIAA Wrestling Championships at Hershey is a great accomplishment, but winning gold in your weight class is an unbelievable feat. That feat was accomplished by Waynesburg Central’s A.C. Headlee and Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale.
After suffering a setback in last year’s Powerade Tournament, Headlee bounced back and won all of his matches in his senior year. Headlee won gold at 132 and was a crucial leader for the Raiders, as they had a strong team season and finished second in their section.
Teasdale lived up to the hype and went undefeated in his freshman season. Teasdale was near dominant in 2015 and recorded his first of perhaps many titles at Hershey. Wrestling at 106, Teasdale was also a WPIAL champion, a Section 2-AA champion and a TRICADA champion.
1.) #TeamDugan — Words can’t really describe the season that the Lady Rockets softball squad of Jefferson-Morgan had in 2015, from a thrilling 1-0 win over Chartiers-Houston in the regular season to a five-home run performance against Frazier in the Class A semifinals.
J-M then rallied from a deficit to Chartiers-Houston in the Class A title game to pull off a dramatic 3-2 win for the school’s first-ever softball championship. The Lady Rockets then picked up the program’s first-ever PIAA victory with a 2-1 triumph over Smethport.
But the 2015 season meant so much more, because it was for assistant coach Chris Dugan. Coach Dugan was battling cancer and unfortunately lost that battle a couple of days before J-M’s WPIAL quarterfinal match-up. The girls showed tremendous resolve and togetherness, rallying around each other and winning gold for Team Dugan.
From the dominating postseason pitching effort of Madison Ludrosky, to the veteran leadership behind the plate of Reagan Rush, to the clutch hitting of Morgan Gamble, Morgan Simkovic, Madison Dupont and Jessica Taylor, the Lady Rockets earned their championship.
Perhaps the most memorable moment of the Lady Rockets’ postseason run was the performance of Chris Dugan’s oldest daughter Camryn, who blasted one of five home runs against Frazier and a day before her dad’s funeral she rounded the bases and pointed to the skies in honor of her dad.
#Goosebumps, #Inspirational, #TopMoment and #Congratulations to a tremendous year for J-M softball and a once-in-a-lifetime moment!