High School Wrestling Beat

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B01] | 01/12/20

23:25 | CONNORSSTE

LAUREN CHARLTON DALLAS Official SpOrtS Medicine SpOnSOr Of the athlete Of the Week

The Dallas senior scored 18 points in a back-andforth battle with Wilkes-Barre Area, including the gamewinning layup while facing a 1-point deficit.

Was there a play set up for you to get the ball at the end? no, it was actually the opposite. i was put in the middle to kind of pull in the defense, and then we could kick it out to the 3-point line to where everyone else on my team was, so they can get the shot, because we figured the defense would kind of collapse on me, but that didn’t happen.

That game was back and forth. Did

tHE CItIzEns’ VOICE

the team panic at all when you faced a deficit? honestly, no. We’ve had a few games where we’ve been in some close situations. But our team, we just have such great chemistry that we all just lift each other up and we’re fine. We try not to panic as much as we could.

After all the injuries you’ve faced the last few years, how does it feel this year to be healthy and playing in games like this? it feels amazing, i’m having so much fun. i have the best team around me, amazing girls, and we’re just having the time of our lives. We’re just playing the game, having a good time.

What are some of your goals for the

rest of this season? i would like to get to the arena (for the district 2 championships). We want to keep our record strong. We do have a few pretty tough games coming up in the next few weeks, so we definitely want to push through those and stay healthy and keep having fun with it.

What it’s been like playing with your sister, Claire? it’s the best thing ever, and i could not be happier. We get along so well and, honestly, i feel like we have such great chemistry. We just know where we’re at on the floor and we can find each other. it’s really great having her out there with me.

For more from the interview, check out citizensvoice.com/aow.

MOndaY, JanUarY 13, 2020

NFL PLAYOFFS

Packers hold off Seattle

BY DAVE CAMPBELL aSSOciated preSS

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodg ers connected with Davante Adams eight times for 160 yards and two touchdowns, Green Bay’s spr uced-up defense fended off a spirited Seattle rally, and the Packers held on for a 28-23 victory Sunday night to reach the NFC championship game for the third time in six years.

Aaron Jones rushed for 62 yards and two first-half scores for the Packers (14-3), who will travel next weekend to take on top-seeded San Francisco.

“This is where it really gets fun. There’s only four teams left, and we’re one of them, and we’ve got a legitimate chance,” said Rodgers, who went 16 for 27 for 243 yards in his 17th career postseason start. He has 38 touchdown passes in the playoffs, good for fifth in league history.

Russell Wilson carried the Seahawks (12-6) on yet another comeback, this time from a 21-3 halftime deficit, but the Packers forced a punt shortly before the two-minute warning on the second sack of the game by Preston Smith. That was Green Bay’s fifth of the g ame.

Za’Darius Smith, the other bigmoney free agent added to the defense last spring, had two sacks too.

The Seahawks never got the ball again.

Please see NFC, Page B3

Jeff rOBerSOn / aSSOciated preSS

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass during Sunday’s game.

‘Something special’

Mahomes leads Chiefs surging back from deficit

BY DAVE SKRETTA aSSOciated preSS

darrOn cUMMinGS / aSSOciated preSS

Packers’ Aaron Rodgers passes during Sunday’s game.

WVC WRESTLING

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes stalked up and down the sideline like a field marshal rallying his troops, the brilliant young quarterback imploring the Kansas City Chiefs to stay together even as the Houston Texans were on the verge of taking them apart.

The Chiefs already faced a 24-0

hole, bigger than any deficit they had overcome in franchise history.

“The biggest thing I was preaching,” Mahomes said later, “was, ‘Let’s go do something special. Everybody is counting us out. Let’s go out there and play by play put it out there.’ And play by play, we did what we were supposed to do.”

Beginning with the first of his f ive t o u c h d ow n p a s s e s,

Mahomes and the Chiefs slowly chipped away at Houston’s seemingly insurmountable lead.

They continued to pick up momentum, outscoring the Texans 28-0 during the second quarter alone, and eventually reeled off 41 consecutive points before cruising the rest of the way to a 51-31 victory Sunday that propelled Kansas City back to the AFC championship game for the

second consecutive season.

In doing so, the Chiefs (13-4) became the first team in NFL history to win a playoff game by at least 20 points after trailing by at least 20. They matched the fourth-biggest comeback in playoff history while winning a postseason game in back-to-back seasons for the first time.

Please see AFC, Page B3

Recent tiebreaker went the distance Breaking down the result, plus some local history with the complex system.

BY ERIC SHULTZ Staff Writer

Nanticoke Area wrestling never led at any point during its dual meet Thursday night.

The Trojans still left Dallas’ gym with the victory.

That sounds like a complex the citizenS’ VOice file riddle to solve, and it probably Officials go to Criterion H, which determined was a little tricky for the offiWestern Wayne a winner over Lake-Lehman at cial scorekeeper. But Nanticoke the District 2 Dual Championships in 2012.

Area’s win ultimately came

down to a strong comeback effort and then, after tying the Mountaineers in the final bout of the night, a trip through the tiebreaking criteria process.

The Trojans earned the extra match point at the end to defeat the Mountaineers, 43-42, via Criterion H, or most first points scored in each match throughout the meet.

Down 36-18 with five bouts

remaining, pins by Isaiah Johnson (195 lb.), Jeffery Ultsh (220), Joseph Sauers (106) and Zach Capie (113) tied the final score. In a team sport with no overtime (how cool would a team tug-of-war be, though?), the match was taken to the scorer’s table from there.

An efficient night of wrestling rendered the first seven criteria useless in deciding this one. The NFHS rulebook’s Criteria A-C deal with flagrant, coach misconduct and unsportsmanlike conduct pen-

alties assessed to overall teams, head coaches and wrestlers.

Criterion D, most matches won including forfeits, was split evenly between the Trojans and Mountaineers, 7-7 (the Trojans won more contested bouts, for what it’s worth). Criterion E counts the total number of falls, defaults, forfeits and disqualifications, but Nanticoke Area and Dallas’ seven wins came exclusively by fall or forfeit.

Please see WRESTLING, Page B6

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B06] | 01/12/20

22:24 | CONNORSSTE

SPORTS

B6 THE CITIZENS' VOICE

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

DAVID J. PHILLIP / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney speaks during a news conference Sunday for today’s College Football Playoff national championship game.

SHOT AT HISTORY

Dabo, Clemson can join elite company with win over LSU

BY RALPH D. RUSSO ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has this drill down.

The Sunday before the College Football Playoff championship game, a news conference is held with the head coaches.

They compliment each other’s team and talk about focus and preparation. After, they shake hands and pose for photographs with the trophy that goes to the winner.

This was Swinney’s third time doing the dance, always as the team trying to derail a dynasty. Now his Tigers are on the cusp of joining exclusive in college football history.

No. 3 Clemson (14-0) will try to become the fourth team since The Associated Press began crowning college football national champions in 1936 to win three titles in four seasons when it faces No. 1 LSU (14-0) tonight at the Superdome.

“They know,” Swinney said of his players. “They’re very well aware of what they’ve been able to achieve. And listen, regardless of what happens in the game tomorrow night, it’s really been a historic run. To win two out of the last three national championships is amazing.”

To win the first two, Clemson upset Alabama twice in the championship game. The Tigers also lost twice to Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide in the playoff, including in the 2015 final.

In those previous Sundaybefore-the-final news conferences, it was often Swinney — who grew up in Alabama and played on the Tide’s 1992 title team — being asked to put Saban’s unprecedented tenure in Tuscaloosa into perspective.

CFP CHAMPIONSHIP

JOE BURROW

3-CLEMSON (14-0) vs. 1-LSU (14-0) Today, 8:15 p.m., ESPN

KEY MATCHUP Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons vs. LSU QB Joe Burrow. Linebacker vs. quarterback might make you think Burrow is going to be running the tripleoption, but Simmons is a different kind of linebacker. The Butkus Award winner lines up all over the defense run by coordinator Brent Venables.

PLAYERS TO WATCH Clemson: RB Travis Etienne. The best and most versatile weapon on Clemson’s offense. He ran for 1,538 yards and 8.0 per carry. Also caught three passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns in the semifinal against Ohio State.

LSU: DE K’Lavon Chaisson. The Tigers had 35 sacks and Chaisson is far and away their best individual pass rusher. Injuries slowed the sophomore early this season, but he led the team with 6.5 sacks, including 4.5 the last three games.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

This year, it’s Clemson that has put itself in position to match one of Alabama’s greatest accomplishments. The Crimson Tide were the last team to win three championships in four seasons, winning BCS titles in 2009, ’11 and ’12.

The Tide has won five championships in 13 seasons under Saban.

Nebraska, under coach Tom Osborne, won national titles in 1994-95 and then shared the championship in 1997 with Michigan after being voted No. 1 in the final coaches poll.

Notre Dame won three in four seasons in 1946-47 and ’49, being crowned the champs by the AP each time.

A case cab be made that what Clemson is trying to do would top them all.

The playoff makes teams go

through two quality opponents to earn a championship. The Tigers were the first major college football team in the modern era to go 15-0 last year and will have to do it again to repeat, beating two undefeated opponents in Ohio State and LSU along the way.

A victory tonight in front of what will unquestionably be a partisan crowd in LSU’s backyard will make Clemson the seventh major college program since 1950 to win at least 30 straight games.

The last team to win back-toback national titles with a perfect record was Nebraska in the mid-90s. Those Cornhuskers played a total of 25 games.

Swinney has often complained this season that his team hasn’t received the respect it deserved while running

roughshod through the Atlantic Coast Conference. Clemson was the first AP preseason No. 1 to end the season No. 3 despite not losing a game since it happened to Alabama in 1966.

Swinney turned perceived slights into fuel for his team.

Clemson is a verified college football superpower, but the Tigers remain upstarts, still with something to prove in their minds.

“Ever since I’ve been at Clemson that’s how it’s been,” AllAmerica linebacker Isaiah Simmons said. “We always get the, ‘We don’t play anybody,’ this and that.

“We’re like the red-headed stepchild in other groups.”

So Clemson is embracing that narrative entering this championship game as underdogs again. LSU is about a six-

point favorite behind Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and a record-breaking offense.

The senior who transferred from Ohio State in 2018 is on pace to break the FBS record for completion percentage at 77.6.

He has thrown for 5,208 yards and 55 touchdowns. Burrow can become the first Heisman winner to win the national title since Alabama’s Derrick Henry helped the Tide beat Clemson in the 2015 title game, and the first Heisman winning quarterback to win it all since Florida State’s Jameis Winstion in 2013.

Burrow is the odds-on favorite to be the first player selected in the next NFL draft. The quarterback on the other side, Trevor Lawrence, is already the front-runner to be No. 1 overall in 2021.

The sophomore has yet to play in a losing game in college and Clemson is 25-0 when he starts.

“A winner, very quick release, very well-coached, outstanding feet, knows where to go with the ball, can run,” Orgeron said, rattling off what makes Lawrence so good.

No matter what happens Monday night, Clemson will begin next season as one of the favorites to win the national title. The 50-year-old Swinney also just signed the highest-rated recruiting class he has ever had in 10 seasons at Clemson.

This impressive run is far from over. But first things first.

“I think when you focus on that, you’re focusing on the magnitude of the moment and you lose the joy of the moment,” Swinney said.

“That’s all we try to focus on is just being great where our feet are and just have some fun doing what we do to get ready.”

WRESTLING: Some District 2 contests that were decided by criteria FROM PAGE B1

That wiped out Criteria F and G, which tally tech falls and major decisions.

So, eight tiebreakers had to be resolved before Nanticoke Area could officially celebrate its first Division 1 victory of the season.

It’s rare for matches to end in ties, let alone go that deep in the tiebreaking process.

But similar results have happened around District 2 in the past decade — and more than one came with significant consequences.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of D2 meets settled by criteria in recent years. Match info was gathered through Times-Shamrock archives.

Jan. 24, 2018: Western Wayne topped Honesdale, 33-32, on Criterion H. The vic-

torious Wildcats led by four entering the final bout, in which George Lee avoided a pin and allowed only a major decision to the Hornets’ Jordan Young. Western Wayne proceeded to beat Mountain View in the night’s tri-meet to claim the Lackawanna League’s Division 2 title over Honesdale by one win.

Jan. 22, 2016: Meyers’ WVC Division 2 winning streak spanned a few seasons until 2017-18, but that run nearly ended sooner with a close call in Lake-Lehman’s old gymnasium. The Mohawks won via Criterion H, 35-34, and they needed a rally to even give themselves that chance. They were down by 13 with three bouts remaining, forcing the tie with a pin by Isaac Mensah, major decision by Gino Setta

and decision by Namir Murphy.

Jan. 20, 2016: Two days before Meyers and LakeLehman’s clash ended in a tie, Honesdale beat Abington Heights, 35-34, on Criterion H with a 6-5 advantage in first points scored. Joe Rutledge, Anthony McDevitt and John Kuhns-Miller led the Hornets with pins. Honesdale ended the season 2-3 in Division 1; both wins required tiebreakers.

Jan. 6, 2016: Two Lackawanna League meets resorted to tiebreakers in the same night. Lackawanna Trail beat Mountain View, 35-34, on Criterion D with a 7-6 advantage in matches won (there was no contest at 106). Honesdale got by West Scranton, 38-37, on Criterion E. It was all decided by pins — Alec

Dragos, Dennis Putzi, Troy Russell, Matt Davis and Jimmy Wolfe gave the Hornets a 5-3 advantage.

Jan. 31, 2015: Hazleton Area’s stay at the previously single-day District 2 Class 3A Team Championships nearly ended after two matches. But the Cougars advanced past Wallenpaupack in the consolation quarterfinals on Criterion D (8-6 lead in matches won) with victories by Jonathan Kaschak, Jimmy Hoffman, Keith Lowery, Carson Kinney, Brandon Watt, Jacob Maurer, Chris Lasecki and Anthony Martoccio. Hazleton Area picked up another win from there and finished in fourth place.

Feb. 4, 2012: An all-timer in District 2 tiebreaker history. Western Wayne won the District 2 Class 2A Team

Duals championship over Lake-Lehman, 35-34, on Criterion H, taking a district title match for the ages with a 14-12 edge in first points scored. It was just enough after a huge comeback by the Black Knights, who trailed 31-12 with five weight classes remaining. Lake-Lehman got back in the match — and took the lead — with John Tomasura’s major decision and pins from Jimmy Stuart, Zeb MacMillan and Austin Harry. But Morgan Fuller came up with a 5-2 decision in the meet’s finale to force the tie and settle PIAA qualification around a crowded scorer’s table.

Dec. 29, 2011: West Scranton posted a 31-30 (Criterion H) victory over Troy during an undefeated performance by the team (and 126-pounder

Tom Hendry) at the Berwick Duals. It was the third straight season the Invaders went to the eighth tiebreaker.

Jan. 8, 2011: West Scranton fell to Milton by Criterion H, 38-37, during its weekend at Towanda’s duals tournament, in which 112-pounder Tom Hendry went 5-0.

Feb. 17, 2010: West Scranton used a 7-6 advantage in Criterion H scoring to win a dual against East Stroudsburg South, 28-27.

Jan. 6, 2010: Delaware Valley didn’t have to worry about a close Criterion H decision, as the Warriors built a 18-6 lead in first points scored to settle a 25-all tie with Scranton.

Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVEricShultz on Twitter

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B01] | 02/27/20

23:20 | CONNORSSTE

tHE CItIzEns’ VOICE

Sports FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020

GOLF

Matthews to make PGA Tour debut Dupont native gets special exemption into Arnold Palmer Invitational.

it’s giving Matthews a special exemption into next week’s tournament.

“To get an exemption into this tournament, it’s really special, especially Staff rePOrt because this is Mr. PalmThe upcoming Ar nold er’s tour nament,” MatBrandon Matthews’ opportunity to play on the P a l m e r I n v i t a t i o n a l t h ew s s a i d i n a v i d e o PGA Tour has arrived. announced Thursday that shared by the Arnold Palm-

BRANDON MATTHEWS Pittston area graduate

er Invitational. “To be recognized in any light with him is special.”

Since tur ning pro in 2016, Matthews, 25, of Dupont, has played many tournaments on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Korn Ferry Tour.

The Ar nold Palmer

Invitational, scheduled fo r T h u r s d ay, M a rch 5 through Sunday, March 8 at Bay Hill Golf Course in Orlando, Florida, will b e h i s f i r s t P G A To u r start.

“What an incredible honor to be able to get the chance to compete in the

(API) as my first PGA Tour event,” Matthews tweeted.

“Words can’t describe how g r at e f u l I a m fo r t h i s opportunity. I cannot wait to tee it up next week!

Thank you to everyone for the incredible support as always.”

Please see MATTHEWS, Page B4

GIRLS BASKETBALL

SLAM DUNK BOYS BASKETBALL

Royals soar to District 2 title Piontkowski, Redeemer overwhelm Riverside to win 3A championship.

BY STEVE BENNETT Staff Writer

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — It was clear from the beginning that Holy Redeemer center Jared Piontkowski was going to be the focal point of the offense.

Whether or not he was scoring didn’t matter. Just his presence alone was enough for Riverside to have to account for.

And even when he wasn’t touching the ball, he opened up the lane for Redeemer guards to go to the basket off dribble penetration.

That was more than enough for Holy Redeemer to roll to the District 2 Class 3A championship.

Justice Shoats scored a gamehigh 21 points and Mason Mendygral added 17 in Holy Redeemer’s 72-44 victory Thursday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Please see ROYALS, Page B3

CHriStOPHer DOLaN / Staff PHOtOGraPHer

Holy Redeemer’s Jared Piontkowski goes up for a dunk during the District 2 Class 3A championship against Riverside.

CHriStOPHer DOLaN / Staff PHOtOGraPHer

Dallas’ Claire Charlton looks for a shot against Scranton Prep on Thursday at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Dallas falls to Prep in 4A final

BY MATT BUFANO Staff Writer

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — The Dallas Mountaineers had plenty of fight.

At times, they even had the lead.

The Scranton Prep Classics were just a bit too overpowering, though, as they spoiled the Dallas girls basketball team’s first trip to Mohegan Sun Arena.

Junior guards Rachael Rose and Cecelia Collins scored 21 and 10 points, respectively, lifting Scranton Prep over Dallas, 52-35, in Thursday night’s District 2 Class 4A championship game.

“We got into the arena and that was our goal from the very beginning of the season,” said Dallas junior Claire Charlton, who scored a team-high 10 points. “Playing here with all of my best friends on the team, we’re such a tight-knit group.

Being able to play here, especially for my sister’s (Lauren) senior year and seeing her play out there at the arena, it was such a great thing. Getting the win would have been amazing, but this experience in general has been amazing for all of us. We really gave it our all.”

Please see DALLAS, Page B3

WRESTLING

Stuart dedicating season to his late mother Lake-Lehman junior lost his mother, Melissa, right before regionals last year.

BY ERIC SHULTZ Staff Writer

L2Z. That’s how Melissa Stuart would finish every text message exchange with her son, Zach.

The unique sign-off had gone on as long as he can remember. It stands for “Love to Zach,” and he’d always reply to it with “L2M” — love to mom.

DaVe SCHerBeNCO / Staff PHOtOGraPHer “Whenever our conversation would Lake-Lehman wrestlers Nick Zaboski, left, and Zach Stuart, end, it would always end in ‘Love to Z.’ right, have dedicated their seasons to Stuart’s mother, It was always just so powerful,” Stuart said, “and it always showed the Melissa, who died last year.

amount of love she had for me.”

Those acronyms are now inked on Stuart’s chest; L2Z above a cross, L2M below it.

Stuart, 17, got his tattoo in the past year in memory of Melissa, who died after an illness on March 1, 2019 — the same day he was supposed to begin last year’s Northeast Regional wrestling tournament. One year later, Stuart has repeated as a District 2 Class 2A champion and qualified for the Class 2A regional for the third time.

The Lake-Lehman junior heads to Williamsport today along with classmate and fellow two-time district champ Nick Zaboski. With hopes of qualifying for next week’s state tour-

nament, they’ll both continue dedicating their wrestling seasons to one of their biggest supporters.

“She was one of the most caring and heartful people that you will ever meet. She loved everybody she talked to. And everybody that she cared about, she showed that she cared about them,” Stuart said before a practice this week. “She spent the time out of her day to make sure everything was OK with everybody else before she made sure she was OK. “Everybody that was affected by her ... was really at a loss for words when she passed away. She was, really, a second mom to everybody.”

Please see STUART, Page B5

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B05] | 02/27/20

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SPORTS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020

THE CITIZENS' VOICE B5

Sports in Asia taking hit from coronavirus

BY DENNIS PASSA ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Lake-Lehman’s Zach Stuart, top, wore his uncle’s singlet at the district championships.

STUART: Lake-Lehman junior carries memory of his mother FROM PAGE B1

Known by just about everyone as Missy — or, to friends of Zach and his older brother, Jimmy, as “Mama Stu” — Melissa Stuart was a 1990 graduate of Lake-Lehman. She returned to her alma mater to work as a librarian, where she’d see Stuart’s classmates, including Zaboski.

“She wasn’t afraid to show favoritism. She’d give me a bag of Doritos whenever I wanted them, give me snacks whenever I wanted them,” Zaboski remembered her with a smile. “I’d be able to go back behind her desk and just chill out back there. ...

She definitely showed that she was like a second mom.”

That wasn’t the case just during school hours.

Zaboski got to know the Stuarts at around 5 years old, when he began wrestling. He was a constant fixture at Mama Stu’s house, where her cooking quickly earned a reputation.

Missy had a passion for canning food and concocting different types of salsas and jams.

It’s impossible for Stuart to pick a favorite meal — “there’s so many to choose from” — but her mango salsa came to mind quickly.

“Maybe even some shepherd’s pie. Pork quesadillas.

Who knows? Everything,” Stuart said. “She cooked everything and anything you can think of.”

The house was also stocked up on oatmeal cream pies and fruit snacks that Zaboski could never find at his own place. He looked forward to getting his hands on those, as well as some homemade strawberry jam.

“Nothing was as good — I’ve never had any better jam, or jelly or salsa than that,” Zaboski said. “That’s one thing that I really miss, is her food. Her cooking was really good.

“She was a great soul to be around.”

Missy was just about everywhere except wrestling matches, where she usually supported Stuart and his teammates from a distance. He said the stress of meets would often be too much for her to take in person, though she was just as invested in his success as anyone else.

She was a proud mother last year when Stuart won District 2’s 126-pound title and he went home to show off his championship medal and commemorative bracket, which included his two pins and decision for first place.

There wasn’t any indication then of what would happen less than a week later, Stuart said.

But on the Thursday night of regionals, Stuart was cutting weight when a phone call

DAVE SCHERBENCO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lake-Lehman’s Zach Stuart displays his tattoo that he got to honor his mother.

Online Extra For a video feature on Zach Stuart and Nick Zaboski, visit citizensvoice. com/sports.

sent him to the hospital.

Missy died the next day at 46 following what Stuart said amounted to about two years of illness.

“It sucked having to watch her go through that,” he said.

“It’s nice to know she isn’t suffering anymore, and it’s nice to know that she’s in a better place. That’s how I just keep thinking about it, and that’s how I stay in a good place about it.”

In the weeks and months that followed, teammates, friends and family members helped Stuart through his loss.

They’ll always be there for him; family is “everything” for Stuart. So much so, he’s been thinking of starting a tradition with Jimmy by getting tattoos of their family crest somewhere on their dominant side.

Those family bonds showed again this past weekend when various family members filled Hazleton Area’s gym to watch Stuart win another district title. He took first at 138 pounds with two wins and then a decision in the finals — when he wrestled in his uncle Mike’s singlet from the 1990s.

As the whistle blew at the conclusion of his 8-2 decision for gold, Stuart gestured toward the bleachers.

“I pointed to my uncle in the stands like, ‘I did it. And I told you I would win a district title in this singlet,’ ” Stuart said.

“It wasn’t really until I got off the mat where all the emotions hit me like a truck.”

Stuart said he broke down away from the mat as everyone there rooting him on surrounded him. Even Zaboski, who was due up soon at 160 pounds, said he had tears in his eyes as he watched Stuart celebrate his win.

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“I was just so happy but yet still sort of saddened because I knew who I did it for. I know who my season and who the rest of my wrestling year, really, is dedicated to,” Stuart said.

“It is sad, but it is nice to be able to get another one for her.”

Stuart gathered himself after a few moments in time for the awards break midway through the finals, which also gave Zaboski extra time to get ready to wrestle. On the other side of the intermission, he repeated as champ by finishing his tourney with a third consecutive pin.

“I needed to refocus and get my game on for my district match,” Zaboski said, “and just go out there and get it done so she could have another one.”

Zaboski said he’s been dedicating this season to Stuart’s mom, as well as a mutual friend of theirs who died last year.

They’ll continue wrestling with a purpose at this weekend’s regional in Williamsport.

The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.

Before Zaboski snaps into wrestling mode, he’ll pray like he says he does before every meet.

So will Stuart, who says a prayer with his assistant coach and “mentor” Rocky Bonomo, who is also a minister and presided over Missy’s funeral.

“I always pray to those people and just ask them to be watching down over me and my teammates,” Zaboski said.

“Although there might not be people here, there are still people that are always watching down on you,” Stuart said, “and always pushing you to get that little extra bit.

“And you always just gotta try and make them proud.”

L2M. Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVEricShultz on Twitter

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Baseball and basketball played in empty stadiums.

Soccer leagues delayed.

Clubs left out of Asian competitions or matches relocated.

And the rapidly spreading virus that has infected more than 81,000 people globally and left more than 2,750 dead, mostly in China, continues to threaten the Tokyo Olympics which begin July 24.

The three biggest soccer leagues in Asia have gone into recess, as the governments of China, South Korea and Japan try to contain the fallout of the rapidly spreading virus.

The surge of postponements of sports events has spread from China, where the outbreak started, to South Korea and Japan.

Japan’s professional baseball league says it will play its 72 remaining preseason games in empty stadiums because of the threat of the spreading coronavirus. The regular season is to open on March 20.

“This was a bitter decision to make,” Commissioner Atsushi Saito was quoted as saying. “Because we can’t determine the situation, I won’t say anything right now about (opening day). “If possible, we all want to go ahead on March 20.”

Outside of sport, worries over the ever-expanding economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis multiplied Thursday, with factories idled, trade routes frozen and tourism in trouble, while a growing list of nations braced for the illness to breach their borders.

Japan’s top soccer

league, the J-League, has halted all play until March 15. That announcement came less than a week after South Korean authorities postponed the start of the K-League season, which came in the wake of the suspension of the lucrative Chinese Super L e a g u e. T h e Ko re a n domestic basketball season will finish with matches in empty stadiums.

Continental competition has been disrupted, with Chinese clubs excluded from the start of the competitions including the Asian Football Confederation’s Asian Champions League. Other countries in Asia have refused to allow Chinese teams to enter, or placed Chinese spor ts teams in quarantine.

On Thursday, the governing body for Super Rugby said a match between t h e Au s t r a l i a - b a s e d Brumbies and Japan’s Sunwolves set for Osaka on March 6 would likely be relocated. If that wasn’t possible, the teams would receive two competition points each, as they would if the match was drawn.

Other matches involving the Sunwolves, who play some of their home matches in Singapore, were likely to be affected in the the tournament that involves clubs from South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, Australia and Japan..

The Hong Kong Sevens, the annual highlight of the rugby sevens global competition, has been pushed back to later in the year.

Major events in China including the For mula One Grand Prix and the track and field world indoor championships were among the first to be

postponed.

The staging of the Tokyo Olympics remain a serious threat because of the virus. On Thursday, fivetime Olympic swimming gold medalist Ian Thorpe said Australia’s athletes should consider their longterm health before deciding to compete in Japan in July.

“I would most definitely be concerned,” said Thorpe, who still has a profile in Japan long after retiring from competitive swimming. “What we need ...is to use some of the best expert disease specialists to find out what is the risk to the team. What is the risk to the other nations and how can we have an Olympic Games, one that is safe, that doesn’t put athletes at risk?”

T h o r p e ’s c o m m e n t s come a day after International Olympic Committee veteran Dick Pound warned the Tokyo Games could be canceled due to the coronavirus.

Pound told The Associated Press that any decision on whether the Olympics can proceed could be put off until late May. “In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?”’ Pound said.

If the IOC decided the Games can’t go ahead as scheduled “you’re probably looking at a cancellation,” he said.

Thorpe said “the decision should come down to each individual athlete.

But whether or not they want to compete, that they should take their health into consideration first.”

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WB_VOICE/PAGES [B01] | 03/07/20

21:01 | CONNORSSTE

tHE CItIzEns’ VOICE

Sports SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2020

PIAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tigers’ D’Amato takes 2nd in state Tunkhannock senior comes up just short in final.

BY ERIC SHULTZ STAFF WRITER

HERSHEY — It typically takes a few parades of champions to make it to the state tournament.

So, the traditional introduction of title contenders was nothingnewtoGavinD’Amato.

Then the spotlight hit the three-

WA freshman Pepe secures 3rd place

time District 2 champion and followed him as he headed to the center of the Giant Center floor to shake hands with his PIAA finals opponent.

“When I walked out there, it was a totally different feeling,” D’Amato said. “Hearing everybody cheering, looking up and seeing me on the jumbotron, seeing my family and MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER my parents and everybody else that came.

Tunkhannock’s Gavin D’Amato, left, faces Gage Please see D’AMATO, Page B4

McClenahan in the 145-pound state championship.

It’s the highest finish for a District 2 freshman since 1976.

BY ERIC SHULTZ STAFF WRITER

HERSHEY — Once he fell in the quarterfinals, Jaden Pepe focused on what his dad has always told him: Finish on an odd number.

That means reaching the medal round of a tournament and going out on a win.

I t ’s h ow Pepe ended his District 2 tournament when he won gold. He e a r n e d PEPE another oddnumber finish at regionals when he rallied for third place.

In a debut season in which hardly anyone could stop him, of course Pepe finished on an odd number at states, too.

Please see PEPE, Page B4

PIAA GIRLS BASKETBALL

Dallas storms into 2nd round Lauren Charlton led the Mounts with 17 points, 13 rebounds.

WITHOUT A DOUBT PIAA BOYS BASKETBALL

Redeemer routs SLA Beeber in state opener

BY MATT BUFANO STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — It all started at practice.

According to Dallas players and coaches, the Mountaineers shook off last week’s loss in the district final and returned to put in one of their best weeks of practice all season.

The extra effort paid off Saturday at Wilkes University’s Marts Center, where Dallas scored a postseason-high while holding its opponent to a postseason-low number of points.

Senior Lauren Charlton recorded a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, juniors Bella Hill and Deanna Wallace also scored in double-digits and Dallas routed Shamokin Area, 58-32, in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball playoffs.

“It’s a great group of kids,” Dallas head coach Kelly Johnson said. “They’re energetic, they’re enthusiastic, they work hard. But this week, it just felt like there was an increased sense of enthusiasm and energy. I think they wanted this really bad.”

Saturday marked Dallas’ first appearance and first win in the state playoffs in 16 years, when the Mountaineers exited in the second round back-to-back in 2003 and 2004.

While extending the high school careers of its four seniors — Charlton, Haley Habrack, Morgan MacNeely and Morgan Landau — Dallas (23-5) advances to play Wednesday against District 12 champion Lansdale Catholic (23-3), which beat Bermudian Springs, 63-48.

Please see DALLAS, Page B3

SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Holy Redeemer’s Jared Piontkowski breaks away for a layup against SLA Beeber on Saturday in the PIAA Class 3A playoffs.

The Royals advance to face Neumann-Goretti.

BY STEVE BENNETT STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — There was plenty to be concerned about for Holy Redeemer in its openinground state playoff game.

At least in the first half.

Maybe it was rust, having not played a game in over a week.

Perhaps nerves played a factor.

Regardless, the Royals overcame

sloppy early play, stopped settling for the outside jumper and eventually cruised to a 61-32 victory over Science Leadership Academy at Beeber on Saturday afternoon at Wilkes University’s Marts Center.

The win improved the Royals, the No. 1 seed out of District 2, to 19-6 overall and sends them to Wednesday’s second round, where they will face Neumann-Goretti at a site and time to be announced. SLA Beeber, the No. 4 seed from

District 12, ends its season at 18-9.

“We were not happy with the way we star ted. Our guys weren’t happy,” Holy Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. “I don’t know if it was the week off. We started off the game really, really sloppy. We were fortunate we were able to survive that rough start.”

Holy Redeemer shook off eight first-quarter turnovers and five more in the second. The Royals led by three at the end of the

first quarter and increased the margin to 16 at the half.

It was in the second quarter when the Royals stopped trying to score from the outside and began to attack the basket. Of the eight baskets the Royals scored in the second quarter, seven of them came in the lane.

Whether it was taking the ball to the basket off the dribble or converting a rebound, they scored 18 points in the quarter and closed the half on a 10-0 run.

Please see ROYALS, Page B3

SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Dallas’ Lauren Charlton shoots over a Shamokin Area defender Saturday.

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B04] | 03/07/20

21:56 | BARESSJOE

PiAA WrEStliNG

B4 THE CITIZENS' VOICE

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2020

Tigers’ Evans gets 4th-place medal

By Eric Shultz Staff Writer

MarK MOraN / Staff PHOtOGraPHer

Tunkhannock’s Gavin D’Amato receives his silver medal at the PIAA Championships.

D’AMAtO: Falls just short of gold frOM PaGe B1

“It was crazy. It felt like I was in a movie.”

If D’Amato was the focus o f a s c r e e n p l a y, t h e Tunkhannock senior would have had his hand raised at the conclusion of an underdog classic. Everything seemed to be going according to such a script: an unheralded state qualifier gets revenge over a former place-winner, then clinches a medal, then upsets one of the country’s top wrestlers for a championship bout with a star Division 1 recruit.

D’Amato came so close to rolling the credits on a perfect story. Gage McClenahan refused to let him.

McClenahan rode out D’Amato for the entire third period to defeat him, 1-0, and claim the 145-pound title as the Class 2A tournament concluded at the PIAA Wrestling Championships on Saturday afternoon in Hershey. But the loss could only sting so much for D’Amato, who closed his varsity career as the first state finalist in Tunkhannock history.

“I’m happy. I’m glad that I was able to come out here and do better than I was supposed to do — better than everybody thought I could do,” D’Amato said. “I was seeded like seventh or eighth, and I came out and got second and surprised everybody. I guess even myself.”

D’Amato and teammate David Evans, who took fourth at 126 pounds shortly before his final, became the Tigers’ first medalists since 1989. No other duo from the school had placed in the top-

eight in school history.

An unprecedented weekend all started with a chance at redemption for D’Amato.

He dropped to the consolation bracket in 2019 right away with an 8-2 loss to Berlin-Brothersvalley’s Tristan Pugh, setting up an elimination two rounds short of a medal. This year’s tournament started once again versus Pugh — who placed sixth last season — and D’Amato turned the tables in a 5-4 win.

A 9-2 quarterfinals decision over Westmont-Hillt o p ’s N o a h Ko re n o s k i clinched D’Amato’s medal during Friday’s first Class 2A session. Then, he came back to the arena and shocked nationally-ranked Erik Gibson of Forest Hills with an extremely close near-fall that led to a 9-4 decision.

There wasn’t much separating D’Amato from McClenahan, a Cornell commit ranked second in the U.S. by InterMat, either.

They wrestled on their feet for most of the first period as they looked to find an opening. Scoreless after two minutes, McClenahan quickly escaped from bottom to start the second with a 1-0 lead.

Both sides found nothing in neutral again, and it was D’Amato’s turn to take bottom position as the final period began.

He said McClenahan wrestled differently than anyone else he’s faced. Just when D’Amato would think he found a way to his feet, McClenahan would drop to a leg and find a way to keep him down.

“That was the first kid to ride me out, I think, ever in

my entire life. That told me I ’ m n o t i nv i n c i b l e, ” D’Amato said. “There’s always bigger fish in the sea. Just because I can get out on every other kid that I’ve wrestled, there’s always that one kid that’s going to ride me the entire match like he did. Shout-out to that kid for being freakin’ good.”

McClenahan flattened out D’Amato as time ran low and avoided a stalemate call in the final moments.

The one-point loss extended the Wyoming Valley Conference’s longest drought between state champions.

No wrestler from the league has finished best in the state since Hazleton Area’s Nate Eachus and Lake-Lehman’s Scott Davis in 2007.

In the 13 years since, seven total wrestlers have now wrestled in eight PIAA finals and come up short.

D’Amato follows Hazleton Area’s Jimmy Hoffman, who earned back-to-back silvers in 2016 and ‘17.

It doesn’t take a championship to validate all the work D’Amato put into the sport, however.

“I definitely would’ve loved, obviously, to be a state champion. But I know everybody back home is proud,” D’Amato said. “My family’s proud. My friends that came are proud. My uncle from Connecticut that I haven’t seen in years is proud, too; he came here to surprise me.”

“Everybody’s proud, and that’s all I care about right now.” contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVericShultz on twitter

Gavin D’Amato’s road to the PiAA finals District 2 Class 2A tournament Preliminaries: Won by fall over Western Wayne’s Jack DuBeau, 1:30.

Quarterfinals: Won by fall over Hanover area’s Christian torres, 1:20.

Semifinals: Won by fall over Mountain View’s Nathan Ofalt, 1:15.

Finals: Won by major decision over Lake-Lehman’s Josh Bonomo, 11-3.

Northeast Regional tournament Quarterfinals: Won by tech fall over Line Mountain’s Bryce Carl, 22-6 (5:36).

Semifinals: Won by decision over Midd-West’s avery Bassett, 3-2.

Finals: Lost by decision to Sullivan County’s Nathan Higley, 10-4.

PIAA tournament Round of 16: Won by decision over Berlin-Brothersvalley’s tristan Pugh, 5-4.

Quarterfinals: Won by decision over Westmont-Hilltop’s Noah Korenoski, 9-2.

Semifinals: Won by decision over forest Hill’s erik Gibson, 9-4.

Finals: Lost by decision to Bald eagle area’s Gage McClenahan, 1-0.

H E R S H E Y — D av i d Evans wanted a shot at the best. He got his wish twice this weekend.

Though he didn’t wrestle in the finals, Evans faced one state champion Friday night and another the next day. There were no shortcuts to the medal stand at the PIAA Wrestling Championships — just the way he intended his varsity career to end.

It was besides the point that Evans fell to Forest Hills’ Jackson Arrington, 5-2, in the 126-pound consolation finals to take fourth place Saturday afternoon at the Giant Center. By then, Evans had successfully navigated a grueling Class 2A bracket, undoubtedly ear ning the PIAA medal he had fallen short of twice before.

“It feels great. Especially losing two times in the blood round, it’s heartbreaking,” Evans said.

“It’s kind of all I’ve been thinking about throughout this whole season. So it definitely feels good to get that redemption.”

Evans’ performance at t h e s t at e t o u r n a m e n t ranks second in school history to classmate Gavin D’Amato, who became the 145-pound runner-up shortly after his match. Togethe r, t h e y ’ r e t h e f i r s t Tunkhannock medalists s i n c e 1 9 8 9 — a nd t h e team’s first teammates to place at the same state tournament.

He had gotten so close to a top-eight finish in Hershey before. Evans fell a win short of that accomplishment in 2018’s Class 3A tour nament, and he was eliminated in the same consolation round at the 2A level last season.

In getting the job done this time, D’Amato said multiple times throughout the tour nament, Evans wrestled better than his teammate had ever seen him on the mat.

“Wherever he places on the podium isn’t going to show the type of wrestler he is,” D’Amato said Friday night, “because he belongs at the top. He works like it. He wrestles like it.”

The only wrestlers who stopped him from reaching the top were Ryan Crookham and Arrington who had both reached the P I A A’ s m o u n t a i n t o p before.

In f act, all three of Evans’ defeats this season came to state champions:

MarK MOraN /Staff PHOtOGraPHer

Tunkhannock’s David Evans reacts during his 126-pound medal match Saturday. in December, a 6-1 loss to Glendale’s Brock McMillen, who took first place in 2019 and ‘20; in Friday’s semifinals, a 6-3 loss to Notre Dame Green Pond’s Ryan Crookham, also a back-to-back champion; and in Saturday’s thirdplace match to Arrington, a 2019 champ.

“That’s the only reason I really went down (to 126 pounds),” said Evans, who wrestled at 132 for much of the season. “I told my coach that I was going down to wrestle the tougher kids. We wrestled them.

I went after them, and what ever happened happened.”

Evans’ victories at states weren’ t a g ainst pushovers, either. He started his tournament with a major decision over 2019 eightplace finisher David Kreidler of Allentown Central Catholic. In the quarterfinals, he clinched a medal in a 17-8 major decision over Derry Area’s Tyler Cymmerman, who placed fourth last season.

Wi n o r l o s e, E v a n s looked like he belonged on the same mat as his competition.

Season-long work on a Jonesy tilt with sophomore teammate Owen Woods helped get him his medal.

“At the beginning, the first couple of times, it was hard to defend,” Woods said Friday. “Now I’m trying to figure it out and I’m starting to defend it now.”

“Yeah, he’s figuring it out,” Evans chimed in. “I don’t finish as much. I don’t hit it anymore on him.”

It landed against Cymmerman when he took a deep shot on Evans during their first period. Tied 3-all, Evans defended with the Jonesy, only hoping for a stalemate call; instead, he rocked Cymmerman to his back for a four-point move that put him in the clear.

Evans couldn’t tur n Crookham, who’s ranked second in the nation by InterMat, but Crookham c o u l d n’ t m a ke E v a n s budge, either.

Crookham put his talent on display right away with a quick takedown in the first period and then a reversal to start the second, but Evans settled in from there. He kept bringing the action as the match went on, escaping in the second and backing Crookham out of bounds multiple times.

One more takedown sealed Crookham’s win, but Evans still earned a stalling point, got an escape and got a nice shot at Crookham’s right leg before the final whistle. As they got up, Crookham and Evans slapped hands in a mutual show of respect.

Crookham’s other wins in the tournament were a pin, a 10-2 major decision and a 7-2 decision for the title.

“He’s a funky wrestler, so I had to just stay on my attacks, stay clean on my finishes,” Crookham said.

“He’s a gamer. I could tell he had those moves. He was a tough opponent.”

Arrington opened up his third-place win over Evans with three takedowns in the second period. Still, Evans was sharp on bottom and kept escaping He didn’t relent during the final seconds of his season. Evans tumbled into a third escape in the final minute, gained control of Arrington’s upper body and dropped him for one final takedown as a Tiger.

“I have no regrets. It was a good season,” Evans said.

“I’m happy I made the memories I made throughout my high school career.” contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVericShultz on twitter

PEPE: Freshman finishes in 3rd frOM PaGe B1

Pepe continued to carve out his place next to rare company in the school and district record books when his first trip to the PIAA Wrestling Championships concluded Saturday at the Giant Center. The Warriors freshman beat West Perry’s Deven Jackson, 7-4, to earn the 106-pound bronze medal in the Class 2A tournament.

“Just awesome. The kid works nonstop,” Wyoming Area coach Steve Mytych Sr. said. “Lifting, running — he’s always doing something to better himself. I’m not surprised he’s here.”

Few wrestlers from the area have accomplished what Pepe did this weekend.

In Wyoming Area history, only one other has taken third place in the state: Don Morgan, as a 125-pound senior 1996.

In District 2 history, no ninth-grader has placed as high as Pepe at states since Valley West’s John Brennan was runner-up in 1976, according to PA-Wrestling. com’s records. Brennan remains the only Wyoming

Valley Conference wrestler to step on the PIAA medal stand four times.

“It just means that I can make more history than I already am right now,” Pepe said. “I think I can win states in the next three years, at least once.”

Pepe secured the Warriors’ first top-eight finish in five years on Friday morning with an 8-2 decision over North Star’s Nathan Pelesky.

He returned to the arena later that night and beat Benton’s Ethan Kolb, 7-0, and Brookville’s Cayden Walter, 7-4, to advance to Saturday’s consolation final.

With bronze on the line, Pepe faced another remarkable underclassmen in West Perry’s Jackson. The sophomore is a double amputee who had the crowd in his corner Friday as he clinched a state medal by riding out Reynolds’ Kane Kettering — Pepe’s first opponent of the tournament — in an ultimate tiebreaker period.

“He’s outstanding. I have a lot of respect for what he does,” Pepe said.

Pepe knew Jackson would

bring strength to their match. He found out it was tough to shoot for takedowns as Pepe dropped to his knee to look for leverage on Jackson.

After a scoreless opening period, Pepe kept searching for a front headlock and successfully circled behind Jackson for three takedowns the rest of the way.

“I knew I had to go to a front headlock. But from there, it was just ‘wrestle,’ ” he said.

Pepe’s memorable debut season included a WVC championship, a D2 title and the third-highest spot on the PIAA podium.

Nothing is guaranteed for returning state qualifiers, especially not in the Northeast region. But Mytych envisions even bigger things to come for Pepe.

“I know he would like to be on top of the medal stand,” Mytych said. “But a little work, he’ll get there.

He’ll get there.” contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVericShultz on twitter

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B01] | 03/14/20

22:54 | PICCOTTITY

tHE CItIzEns’ VOICE

Sports SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2020

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

George P. Moses All-Star Classic postponed Scheduled date for event was March 27 at Holy Redeemer.

STAFF REPORT

The Dr. George P. Moses Senior All-Star Classic has been postponed until further notice because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Classic, which features the top male and female basketball players in the Wyoming Valley Conference, was scheduled for March 27.

The preliminary rounds of the 3-point shootout scheduled for March 23 are postponed as well.

The events are co-spon-

sored by the Wyoming Valley Athletic Association and The Citizens’ Voice.

“The safety and welfare of the players, coaches, family and fans is our top priority,” WVAA member Neil Corbett said. “We extend our sincerest thanks to all who have made contributions as we work to help res-

idents facing medical hardships.”

Proceeds from ad sales, program sales, tickets and donations benefit seriously ill children in the Wyoming Valley and charitable groups.

To date, more than $1 million has been raised to help residents of the Wyoming Valley.

The WVAA started the senior classic in 1969 and it was an outgrowth from the Dream Games of the 1960s, which featured all-star teams from what were then the four area high school leagues. Those leagues were made redundant by the state-mandated school jointures and led to an expanded

Contact the writer: sports@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060

BASEBALL

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

COLLATERAL DAMAGE? NCAA must make eligibility extensions fair for all

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE

Justin Vought, seen playing for Valley West in 2017, is now on the University of Maryland baseball team.

Vought, Terps face spring of uncertainty

DONNIE COLLINS Commentary

T

his was supposed to be a column about a baseball field.

It was going to discuss how the University of Scranton’s sparkling Volpe Field has already hosted seven college baseball games in a Northeast Pennsylvania winter, about how it has led to one of the best recruiting classes in Royals baseball history slated to arrive on campus next year, how it has drawn some of the best prospects from the east coast to Scranton for travel ball, how prestigious high schools in Philadelphia and New Jersey are slated to play on it in the not-too-distant future, assuming we can at some point return to normal.

Instead, that field sits empty on a sunny weekend, just days after the hardest day of Mike Bartoletti’s two-plus decades as a head coach.

When the Royals were finishing up a tough 4-3 loss to New Paltz on Wednesday afternoon, they did so in a different world. A few hours later, the NBA suspended its season because of concerns over the spread of COVID-19, and by the time Thursday hit and more leagues did the same, it became clear the NCAA was going to do the same. It was the responsible thing to do, they all knew. Even if it wasn’t the easy thing.

“It was the unknown,” Bartoletti said of his players. “They worked so hard from the fall, and that’s the thing: Is this their last time together?”

Thankfully, those players — and thousands of others like them — were given a more definitive and positive answer to that question by Friday afternoon.

Please see COLLINS, Page B5

Wyoming Valley Conference. A girls game was added in the 1980s as the popularity of the girls game increased.

Please check The Citizens’ Voice for future updates on the game.

BY STEVE BENNETT STAFF WRITER

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

The NCAA announced it would grant an extra year of eligibility to student-athletes in spring sports, such as softball, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The flight to Texas for the weekend series with TCU took off as planned. The plane was equipped with wireless internet and the University of Maryland baseball team was tuned into their phones and watching ESPN. It was a day after the NBA suspended its season, and the Terrapins on board were preparing for the worst. The first indication came when it was announced the Southeeastern Conference was postponing its baseball season.

Valley West graduate Justin Vought, a junior catcher on the team, figured the Big Ten was going to follow suit.

Not long after the plane landed and the team arrived at its hotel, Vought’s biggest fears became a reality. His junior season was officially over because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Once the whole NBA thing broke Wednesday night, we were still wondering if we were going on Thursday,” Vought said on Friday in a phone interview from his apartment near the Maryland campus. “We got up Thursday morning, had a lift and flew down. We were getting all the alerts. We saw all the conferences putting out statements, but we didn’t see anything from the Big Ten. We thought maybe we had a chance.”

Please see VOUGHT, Page B5

WRESTLING

Patterson’s legacy lives on after 40 years Meyers wrestler is only 3-time state champion in D2 history.

BY ERIC SHULTZ STAFF WRITER

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE VIA NEWSPAPERS.COM

Jay Patterson won his third-straight state championship on March 15, 1980.

The Citizens’ Voice described it as “a heroic performance.”

It was done “on just one leg — and guts,” The Morning Call told its readers in Allentown.

Jay Patterson’s former coach still calls it “unbelievable” to this day.

Exactly 40 years later, Patterson’s victory at the PIAA Wrestling Championships on March 15, 1980 can still be labeled what it was back then, too: unprecedented and oneof-a-kind.

It’s been four decades since Patterson wrestled one final time for Meyers and accom-

plished a feat no one else has ever done in the district. With his 11-5 decision over Downingtown’s Glen Koser, Patterson etched his place in District 2 history as its first — and, to this day, only — three-time state champion.

He’s known now as one of the area’s greatest high school athletes, and he was a favorite by the time his senior tournament began, too. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds, however; Patterson’s three-peat was nearly derailed in each and every postseason.

■ Patterson’s streak started in 1978, not a bad year for Bill Hilburt to take over for Tim McGinley as the Mohawks’ head coach.

Hilburt inherited a team that won five D2 titles in six years under McGinley, including a 1977 squad that had seven champs.

Please see WRESTLE, Page B4

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B04] | 03/14/20

23:01 | PICCOTTITY

SPORTS

B4 THE CITIZENS' VOICE

SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2020

Ginocchetti secures state medal

Valley West senior finishes 8th in final states appearance.

DIVING

BY ERIC SHULTZ STAFF WRITER

At first, Sophia Ginocchetti narrowly avoided losing her chance to even compete for a state diving championship last week.

When Day 2 at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships went on as planned Thursday, she then narrowly avoided falling short of the state medal stand.

Everything came together just in the nick of time as Ginocchetti nailed her final two dives in the Class 3A competition at Bucknell. A strong finish lifted the Valley West senior to an eighth-place showing — by the thinnest of margins.

“It was overwhelming,” Ginocchetti said. “I’ve been working all season to look for a top-five or even top-eight finish. Even getting top-eight at states was an accom-

plishment for me.”

Ginocchetti’s first state medal was earned with a final score of 387.45. She was only a tenth of a point better than ninth-place finisher Abby O’Leary of Northeastern.

It took a little time, but Ginocchetti eventually clinched a top-eight finish as her Spartans career came to a close.

She finished the preliminaries in 13th place. She was still just 10th after the semifinals.

But she delivered when it counted with solid execution on her nextto-last dive, a 2½ somersault tuck.

It’s one she’d had trouble with in practice and was by no means easy, “especially at states because of all the nerves,” she said.

Though Ginocchetti didn’t know how close she was to the eighthplace cut-off before her final attempt, a solid forward ½ pike got

the job done. By 0.1 points, she finished her year among the best in the state.

“During the 10th dive I think was in 11th place. That last dive really did it for me,” Ginocchetti said.

Other divers haven’t been so lucky so far. The same day Ginocchetti earned her medal, the PIAA announced it was postponing the Class 2A meet originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday as the sports world reacted to the coronavirus pandemic.

“On the way there we were just hoping and praying that we were able to compete,” she said. “We didn’t know if it was going to happen.”

North Penn’s Meghan Wenzel won the championship with a 507.15 final score following two straight years of second-place finishes.

Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVEricShultz on Twitter

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE

Sophia Ginocchetti won the District 2 championship earlier this season and earned her first medal at the PIAA Championships.

WRESTLE: Accolades rolled in for Meyers great Patterson FROM PAGE B1

Patterson was one of them as a freshman, part of a strong core returning for Hilburt’s debut season at the helm.

Meyers’ 1978 season went down as one for the ages. The Mohawks took home the PIAA’s overall Class 3A team championship as it saw three individual state champions crowned. Patterson defeated Nazareth senior Jeff Tripp, 8-6, at 112 pounds; Frank Castrignano took Outstanding Wrestling honors as he posted a 9-2 victory over Penn Trafford’s Tom Klingensmith in a battle of undefeated finalists at 138; and senior Charles DeGraf fenreid topped Cedar Cliff ’s undefeated Steve Sefter, 7-2, at 167.

But Patterson nearly saw his road to state gold end before he could even get started.

I n wh at w a s t h e n a 16-wrestler bracket, his first PIAA tournament opened against undefeated West York senior Ken Shorts.

Shorts closed in on a 23-0-0 overall record as he led Patterson with 20 seconds remaining, 8-6, according to The York Dispatch on March 11, 1978. Until, that is, Shorts’ would-be victory turned into “a heartbreaker” as Patterson quickly improvised.

As Patterson recalled over the phone, he baited Shorts by grumbling out loud about his inevitable loss and sticking his leg out farther than usual. Shorts went right for the knee, and Patterson caught him in a standing cradle for a four-point move that clinched a 10-8 decision.

“I always said I’m the smartest,” Patterson looked back. “I’m not the strongest.

I’m really fast. But I will outthink you.”

“He had a bag of tricks,” Hilburt concurred. “You could never catch him off-balance. He was fast and he was strong. He knew a lot of stuff.

But his balance was amazing.”

John Zimich, a former wrestling reporter for The Citizens’ Voice, described Patterson as a “slick wrestler” with plenty of intelligence.

“He had the strength to go with that. He used his head a lot,” Zimich said. “Jay was a really smart wrestler. He got a lot of pins in his career. He was not only strong, he was quick and intelligent.

“On the wrestling mat, he had everything. He had all the qualities.”

■ Patterson’s all-around skills made him a state champion just halfway through his Mohawks career.

It also cranked up the pressure every time he wrestled the next two seasons.

“You’re expected to win.

Your biggest fear, you have a target on your back. Your competition is watching you,” Patterson said. “I was suspecting that they were sending scouts even during districts to watch me to see

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE VIA NEWSPAPERS.COM

Left: John Zimich of The Citizens’ Voice presents Jay Patterson with the District 2 Class 3A Outstanding Wrestler trophy in 1980. Right: Patterson wrestles during a match in 1979. what my moves were. I had to tone it down on my fancy moves and my very good moves.”

Those attempts at secrecy only went so far. Patterson still had to wrestle his best in order to win 1979’s Northeast Regional crown, and it seemed like the competition was prepared in his return to states.

In the semifinals of the PIAA’s 119-pound tournament, he fell behind to Elizabethtown’s John Risser. In fact, the Voice reported in March 17’s edition, Risser came close to pinning the champ twice.

Patterson figured by then that Risser had studied him closely. Opponents never pancaked him, yet Risser — “strong as an ox” — put him on his back twice.

Desperate for a comeback, Patterson said he switched to a less dominant right-handed style, found an edge from there and started hunting for big moves.

The Intelligence Journal in Lancaster wrote that Risser was up, 7-2, and “held a near fall for 50 seconds at the end of the second period.”

But he lost track of his lead throughout Patterson’s frantic comeback and, rather than “playing dead for the last 15 seconds, he tried for another switch and was put on his back for the winning points with just four seconds showing.”

“I just watched that state gold melt through (my) fingers,” Risser told the Intelligence Journal then.

Hilburt says today that he thought Patterson was “done” once the match got to 7-2.

“All (Risser) had to do was stall and run some time off the clock,” Hilburt said. “But he tried something, and Jay sprung him.”

Another come-frombehind win at states sent Patterson to the state final, where he defeated Bald Eagle’s Mike Millward, 14-9, for title No. 2.

■ Patterson’s wrestling career received national recognition as his senior year got into full swing.

He repeated as Outstanding Wrestler at Easton’s holiday tournament and, a few weeks later, had that feat printed in the Faces in the Crowd section of Sports Illustrated’s Feb. 4, 1980 edition. Later that month, he received a plaque for becoming the Mohawks’ all-time wins leader before they wrestled against GAR. A fourth district championship followed, then a successful defense of his regional crown.

Though the Voice noted Patterson “did not look sharp” as Central Dauphin’s Tom Kreamer continued to get out from bottom, he still won a 13-8 decision to reach the PIAA quarterfinals along with WVC qualifiers Dave Banashefski of Coughlin and Shawn Kavanaugh of Dallas.

Patterson pinned Trinity’s Joe DeProsky next. Then, disaster struck in his semifinal against Erie Tech’s Terry Wayne.

The state tournament was still held at the old Hersheypark Arena then, and Patterson and Hilburt both recalled the mats resting right on top of the hockey rink’s ice. It wasn’t so forgiving by the time Patterson wrestled Wayne and dropped to his knee to defend a shot.

“My knee hit that rockhard mat. I was down in pain, and he got behind me and got two (points) because I was trying to call a timeout,” Patterson said.

Patterson “practically

wrestled one one leg” from there to hang on and win, 9-7, earning “the lengthiest ovation of the tournament,” the Voice reported the next day.

The Associated Press detailed Patterson unable to stand at first and wrestling much of what remained in the match from his knees.

Patterson “cried out loud with pain and frustration” as time was called later on, the AP wrote, but he held on.

One more match still separated Patterson from a third gold, though.

“We didn’t know if he was going to be able to wrestle in the finals. We were going to wait until the next morning and see what happened,” Hilburt said. “We were just hoping he would not get hurt, and if it came to the point that he couldn’t do it, we would just default.

“There’s no shame in that.

But he was on a mission.”

Patterson said there was no way he would miss wrestling for state gold in his final high school match.

Hilburt wasn’t so sure the following day.

The coach was called over by assistant coach Joe Kislan, who told him he’d better go see Patterson in his hotel room. Hilburt remembered Patterson sitting on the bed, unable to walk well, even after icing his knee all night.

“I asked him, ‘How are you going to wrestle in the state finals?’ ” Hilburt said. “Jay’s response was, ‘Just get me there.’ That’s what he said.”

“He meant business. There was no way he wasn’t going to finish that match.”

So, Hilburt and Kislan flanked Patterson and assisted him out of the hotel and back to the arena. The coach asked a doctor to tape up the bad leg, “like a cast,” to make it as immobile as possible.

For as brave a face as he

put on, Patterson said he cried all night — disappointed his hopes for a dominant win and Outstanding Wrestler honors were dashed — and was scared to wrestle.

But he refused to show it when the finalists lined up for introductions. As others walked out to shake hands with their opponents, he remembers hopping to the center of the floor.

In a Voice story published two days later on March 17, 1980, Patterson’s father, Jim, said he would have quit had he suffered the knee injury his son did. In fact, he walked outside before the championship bout, afraid Jay would hurt himself more — “only the second time in Jay’s career I didn’t see him wrestle,” he said.

He missed a storybook finish.

Patterson kept dropping to his good knee to draw in Koser, Downingtown’s sophomore finalist. His altered gameplan worked in an 11-5 decision.

“I was amazed Jay could go out there and win. He couldn’t put any pressure on his right leg because the pain was so bad,” his brother, teammate and classmate, Joe, told the Voice after the title.

While Patterson recalls Wayne honing in on his bad knee during the semis, he was surprised when Koser wrestled around the injury: “I figured he’s going to go for my bad knee, too. Everybody wants to be a state champ.

But he didn’t.”

“That’s something I’ll never, ever forget,” Hilburt said.

“Years after that, we’re down at states and we go out for pizza or something. I think I was done coaching, I might’ve been athletic director at the time.”

Whenever and wherever it

was, Hilburt crossed paths with Koser that day.

“They wanted to know why you didn’t shoot on Jay’s bad leg,” Hilburt asked. “He looked at me and said, ‘I’m a 15-year-old, I’m a sophomore in the state final and I’m wrestling a two-time state champion. Would you?’ ” ■ Patterson completed a perfect 35-0-0 season, putting a bow on a 116-6-1 career at a time when reaching 100 was rare and only Valley West’s John Brennan had won more matches in District 2 history, at 121. He joined Bald Eagle’s Terry Williams in Class 2A that weekend as the ninth and 10th wrestlers in PIAA history to win three titles in the 42 years of the tournament. Forty years later, that list has grown to 46 (three attempts at a third title all fell short at this month’s state tournament).

The accolades poured in for Patterson in the weeks that followed.

He won the George Hooper Memorial Wrestling Award for the second year. He received that trophy and the district’s 3A Outstanding Wrestler trophy during Jay Patterson Day at Meyers, where Wilkes-Barre Mayor Thomas McLaughlin presented a letter and plaque and state representative Bernard O’Brien recognized him with a House of Representatives resolution.

H e av y we i g h t b ox i n g champion Larry Holmes, an Easton native, sent him a congratulatory letter that said, in part, “There’s one thing you and I have in common...that’s our determination to remain number one.

Congratulations!”

P a t t e r s o n’s l e g w a s healthy enough for him to wrestle shortly after states in the Pittsburgh Press Wrestling Classic, also known as the Dapper Dan Classic and simply the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic today. He scored a 9-8 win for Pennsylvania over the United States’ Barry Davis, a three-time state champ from Iowa who went on to win silver at the 1984 Olympic Games.

Recruiting visits to North Carolina State — where former teammate Castrignano took him around campus — Arizona and LSU filled his spring schedule. Patterson eventually wrestled a brief college career at Morgan State, which he said he chose because his brother was also offered a wrestling scholarship there, a big deal in a sixchild household.

Since Patterson, ranked No. 58 in the Voice’s 100 Top Athletes project in 2005, wore his Meyers singlet for the final time, 25 state titles have been won by District 2 wrestlers. Two of them have done it twice.

There’s still only one Jay Patterson.

Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVEricShultz on Twitter

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23:07 | IMPERIALEC

tHE CItIzEns’ VOICE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2020

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING

Rule changes on way, but weights stay same Updates aimed at improving inclusivity in sport.

BY ERIC SHULTZ STAFF WRITER

High school wrestlers will compete under several new rules next winter, but they’ll remain in the same 14 weight classes.

The National Federation of State High School Associations announced 11 rules changes to the sport Tuesday.

Several new or updated rules aim for better inclusivity across the sport, in both genders, prompting NFHS Director of Sports and Student Services Elliot Hopkins to call the changes “some of the most prolific modifications

in the history of high school wrestling.”

Those modifications won’t include a change to the weight class structure, despite buzz surrounding such a move and proposals from state organizations like the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Among the changes are the elimination of hair-

length rules as well as attire changes that will allow male and female wrestlers to weigh-in during the same session with the same officials. In the future, legal uniforms will be required during weigh-ins.

“The change to the weighing-in process is remarkably timely, as schools have struggled in the past to identify

adult females to weigh-in the female wrestlers,” Hopkins said. “This action accommodates transgender children as well; it respects their rights and dignity and addresses any modesty concerns for any affected children. We anticipate that the entire weigh-in process will be expedited and more efficient.”

As for the removal of hair-

length requirements, Hopkins stated the “monumental change” helps to attract more participants by embracing “the current culture of young boys and girls who are expressing themselves through their appearance.

“While the hair-length restriction has been removed, the requirement that hair Please see MATS, Page B3

PENGUINS MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

New plan?

MLB’s latest proposal reportedly puts Phillies, Yanks, Mets, Pirates, BoSox in same division

“EAST”

Overcomes mono to become one of WBS’ top blueliners at time of shutdown.

“CENTRAL”

BY TYLER PICCOTTI STAFF WRITER

“WEST” There might be baseball after all this summer in Philadelphia, but it could look a bit different than normal.

Major League Baseball, the Associated Press reported, is

In 52 games, Pierre-Olivier Joseph scored three goals and tallied 17 points.

Joseph impresses in rookie season

According to a report from USA Today, Major League Baseball is considering a plan that would create three 10-team divisions that would play only each other in the regular season. Games would be at home ballparks, with no fans in attendance.

BY MATT BREEN THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE

discussing a plan to begin the regular season as early as June with teams playing at their traditional home ballparks. But the games would be played without fans and the teams would be aligned in three 10-team regional divisions, disregarding

the National League and American League.

The alignment, which was first reported by USA Today, would place the Phillies in the “East Division” with the New York Yankees and Mets, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals,

Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, and Miami Marlins. The teams would play at least 100 regular-season games before an expanded postseason that could go into Please see PLAN, Page B2

Off the ice, Pierre-Olivier Joseph has experienced the occasional pothole — literal and figurative — during his rookie season.

On it, the 20-year-old’s progression was as smooth and steady as Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins fans could have hoped.

The defenseman overcame mononucleosis in the fall and backed up the lofty expectations he carried as one of the organization’s top prospects and a former first-round pick. Joseph became one of the Penguins’ top blueliners by the time the season was shut down March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic, drawing the praise of Penguins coach Mike Vellucci and his teammates.

One of the biggest questions about Joseph entering the season was whether his slender frame at 6-foot-2 and 161 pounds could handle the physicality of the pro game.

“I think I proved a lot of people wrong by doing pretty good in this league physically,” Joseph said in a recent video call with reporters. “I think a lot of people will look at someone’s weight and forget about their strength and strengths in their game. It’s a lot of workout sessions in the gym, and (playing in the AHL) is a lot about how to outsmart other players when they’re bigger or slower.”

Realistically, the mono absence in late October and Please see PENS, Page B3

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

Holy Redeemer fan remembered as lover of hoops Coronavirus claims Delores Shershen, who was known as team’s ‘towel lady.’

ble fixture at Bishop O’Reilly and Holy Redeemer whose feistiness once helped her talk her way onto the Giant Center court in Hershey where she carried out her

BY MATT BUFANO duties for back-to-back state STAFF WRITER champion teams, died SaturTo know Delores Shershen day due to the coronavirus.

She was 88. was to remember Delores “When I think about the Shershen.

Shershen, an unforgetta- way that she passed away

with coronavirus and everything and being by herself in that room, it breaks my heart,” said Holy Redeemer boys basketball head coach Paul Guido. “That was a lady that loved hoops and loved kids and wanted to help them in any way she could.”

Guido was a fresh-faced assistant coach under Mark Belenski in the early-2000s

when he met Shershen, whose g randson, Jared Warunek, played for Bishop O’Reilly.

“From the first time that we ever met her, we kind of realized she’s different than some of the other grandmoms,” Guido said. “She was extremely loyal and really involved. She understood the game and wanted to be

involved with the team and the coaches and the kids, particularly. She tried to help out in any way, shape or form.

Even when her grandson graduated high school — Delores stayed with us forever. Thank the lord.”

Shershen arrived at basketball games and volleyball matches long before they started, serving as the “towel

lady,” a title she bore proudly.

She carried a gym bag filled with labels, markers and tape, using a meticulous level of detail to make sure every player had their own towel and water bottle.

“She was a part of the team; kids getting drinks when they could cramp up and stuff like that, she got Please see SHERSHEN, Page B3

WB_VOICE/PAGES [B03] | 04/28/20

23:14 | IMPERIALEC

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2020

THE CITIZENS' VOICE B3

Trinity’s Westry headlines 3A All-State team

BY MIKE GROSS LANCASTERONLINE.COM

Trinity’s Chance Westry raised eyebrows around Pennsylvania with a 40-point performance, as a freshman, in the 2019 Class 3A state championship game.

He raised his game to a consistent, dominant level this season, and was voted player of the year in voting for the Pennsylvania Sports Writers 3A All-State team.

Westry, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, raised his scoring average from 15.1 to 24.4 points per game and made, according to Trinity coach Larry Kostelac, “that natural progression you hope to see.

“In terms of offensive talent, he’s one of the best I’ve seen,’’ Kostelac said.

Trinity (22-3) won the District 3

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

PENNSYLVANIA SPORTSWRITERS CLASS 3A ALL-STATE TEAM Player of the Year Chance Westry, Trinity Coach of the Year Dave DeGregorio, North Catholic First team Chance Westry, 6-5 So. G Trinity Jalen Warley, 6-5 Jr. F Westtown Noah Collier, 6-7 Sr. F Westtown Jordan Hall, 6-8 Sr. F Neumann-Goretti Jamil Manigo, 6-4 Sr. F Bishop McDevitt Robert Smith, 6-0 Sr. G Bishop McDevitt

title and was through to the state quarterfinals when the coronavirus ended the season. Westry is the 25th-ranked sophomore in the country, and has scholarship offers from Syracuse, Michigan, Mary-

Second team Hakim Byrd, 5-10 Sr. G Neumann-Goretti Isaac DeGregorio, 5-11 Sr. G North Catholic Franck Kepnang, 6-10 Jr. F Westtown Aiden Gair, 6-2 Sr. G Loyalsock Cameron Young, 6-6 Sr. F Neumann-Goretti Ed Holland, 6-6 Jr. F Friends Central Third team Cam Polak, 6-1 Sr. G Steel Valley Isaiah Smith, 6-0 Sr. G Lincoln Park Matt Bengel, 6-3 Sr. F Mercyhurst Prep Jake Perry, 5-11 Sr. G Camp Hill Hysier Miller, 6-1 Jr. G Neumann-Goretti Aaron Collins, 6-0 Jr. G Erie First Christian

land, Florida, Georgetown and LSU, among others.

Class 3A includes some of the state’s best teams and players.

Eight-time state champion Neumann-Goretti won the champion-

ship of the powerful Philadelphia Catholic League and rolled through two state-tournament wins by a combined 71 points.

Westtown, a non-PIAA boarding school near West Chester, won the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association title for the third time in five years.

Those two programs placed seven players on the teams. Westtown’s Jalen Worley, a 6-4 junior guard ranked 26th in country in the class of 2021, and Noah Collier, a 6-7 senior forward signed with Pittsburgh, joined Westry on the first team.

So did Neumann-Goretti’s Jordan Hall, a 6-8 forward committed to St. Joseph’s. Also on the first team are 6-4 senior Jamil Mangio and 6-0 senior guard Robert Smith,

who have led Bishop McDevitt’s resurgence the past two years in the Philly Catholic League.

Repeat all-staters: Westry, Mangio, Collier, Smith and Isaac DeGregorio, a 5-11 senior guard from Pittsburgh North Catholic.

DeGregorio played for his father, 3A coach of the year Dave DeGregorio, who led North Catholic to a 26-2 record, WPIAL title and the state quarterfinals.

Isaac will attend Kentucky as a preferred walk-on; Kentucky coach John Calipari played for his grandfather, Joe DeGregorio, at Clarion University.

The all-state teams are chosen through nominations and voting by a panel of sportswriters throughout the state.

MATS: Rule changes FROM PAGE B1

CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE

The Holy Redeemer boys basketball team with Delores Shershen before a game in January 2018.

SHERSHEN: Beloved fan had passion for sports FROM PAGE B1

them water and I appreciated that,” said Belenski, whose Queensmen won the 2004 and 2005 PIAA Class 1A titles. “I think at the state tournament, she could not get down on the court because she was not actually employed by the school. Somehow, she talked to the PIAA and she got herself down on the floor at both state championship games.”

Shershen was torn prior to the 2015 season when Belenski was appointed Dallas head coach. Meanwhile, Guido was coaching Holy Redeemer, which was the consolidated product of several schools in the Diocese of Scranton including Bishop O’Reilly.

“She tried to do both,” Belenski said, “but it was just too much.”

Shershen, who was also a skilled baker and often cooked up treats for her teams, battled health issues in recent years. She struggled with her vision and could no longer drive at night.

Although she attended fewer games, Shershen kept close tabs on Holy Redeemer volleyball and boys basketball by calling The Citizens’ Voice multiple times per game night.

After the score went final, Shershen sometimes called Guido to break it down for her.

“I lost a great friend.”

Paul Guido

Holy Redeemer boys basketball head coach

please come over, I’m so scared; please come over, I’m so scared.’ ” Shershen’s spirits seemed to lift a few days later, when she told her nurse she was going to beat the coronavirus.

Shershen’s condition took a turn for the worse Friday, however, when she talked to family members on the phone.

“She just kept saying, ‘Joanie, help me,’ and I couldn’t be there,” Warunek said.

The nurse told Warunek that a sense of contentment and peace swept over Shershen after talking to family.

She died the next day.

“That was my only consolation: She wasn’t gasping for air — they did have oxygen on her — and she wasn’t in pain,” Warunek said.

While Shershen’s family, friends and basketball coaches Guido and Belenski are sad to lose her, they can take comfort in knowing Shershen left an indelible mark on so many players as well as themselves.

“As much as she loved the kids, the kids loved her,” Belenski said.

“She was a great woman.”

“I lost a great friend,” Guido said.

Belenski and Guido were among the people who called Shershen’s daughter, Joan Warunek, to offer condolences and express their hope to attend Shershen’s private funeral service.

Warunek isn’t quite sure where her mother gained such a love for sports, which, in addition to Holy Redeemer, she was a big fan of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

“Even when I was a little girl, she would take me to where she graduated from, Plymouth High School, and she would take me to the basketball and football games,” Warunek said. “I grew up going with her to those games.”

Shershen was a resident at Riverstreet Manor in Wilkes-Barre. She tested positive for COVID-19 on April 18, Warunek said.

“They let me talk to her, which was heart- Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; breaking,” Warunek said. “It was, ‘Joanie, 570-821-2060; @CVBufano on Twitter

PENS: Joseph picked up steam as season wore on FROM PAGE B1

November could have been a turning point in either direction. However, Joseph said he received plenty of messages from his teammates and coaches wishing him a speedy recovery that let him know “he was in the right hands.”

Rather than panic from it or be overwhelmed by it, he worked hard to put weight back on and make sure he was on the same development curve as many of his teammates. The results are indicative of why he was a prized addition in the trade that sent Phil Kessel to Arizona.

Joseph’s point totals — only three goals and 17 points in 52 games — aren’t eye-popping, but a lot of that production (eight points) came over the final calen-

dar month before the stoppage. He proved capable of playing in multiple situations, including as the secondary power-play defenseman to captain David Warsofsky. However, perhaps his biggest strides from Game 1 in Hershey were made defensively on his backchecking and angles.

“I learned a lot this year that it’s important to improve in all parts of your game,” he said, noting the skill level among AHL players. “It’s good to be really good offensively, but I think it’s really more important for me to focus on my defense.”

Joseph, a Quebec native, has been at home during the pandemic, and just getting there was a struggle. He made it only about 20 minutes away from Wilkes-Barre before a large pothole on the highway gave him a flat tire. After wait-

ing for a tow truck and having the tire changed, he got back on the road and made it within 90 minutes of Montreal before getting another flat tire.

Police helped him find another tow truck, which brought him to a rest area where he could sleep in the car. It was another full day until a mechanic repaired the vehicle, meaning Joseph also had to spend a night in a hotel.

“It was a long trip, but I made it safe and sound,” he said.

Joseph said that while in WilkesBarre, he would go for long runs every two or three days. Now, he’s limited to working out in a makeshift gym he set up in his living room as he tries to keep in shape should the season restart.

If he has to wait instead, Joseph’s future looks even bright-

er. Vellucci recently spoke about how much the Penguins’ young core progressed during the season and has mentioned Joseph as a definite candidate for a call-up next season should Pittsburgh need it.

In the meantime, Joseph thinks he can unlock even more of his game and continue to build on the strength and hockey IQ he has already shown.

“Of course, I want to be in the NHL as soon as possible; everybody does,” he said, “but there’s no point of me jumping there if I’m not ready. I feel like I’m getting more and more ready to make the jump, but for sure I have a lot of things to improve yet.”

Contact the writer: tpiccotti@citizensvoice.com; @CVPiccotti on Twitter

control devices/treatment items cannot be hard, abrasive or sharp remains,” Hopkins elaborated in his statement. “If a hair cover is used, it shall be attached to the ear guards. Additionally, the barring of oils, or greasy substances on or in the hair is still in effect.”

An ensuing update now lists “pulling an opponent’s hair” as a form of unnecessary roughness.

Current weight classes remain capped at 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285 pounds. The PIAA Wrestling Committee’s proposed model included 12 new classes — at 110, 118, 125, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 190, 215 and 285 pounds — as a way to curb vacant lineup spots and forfeits, PIAA Chief Operating Officer Mark Byers wrote in an email earlier this year.

In an email Tuesday night, Hopkins told The Citizens’ Voice the NFHS rules committee had several proposals to deliberate, and that “the model of several sets of weight classes was enthusiastically discussed. Hopkins added that the committee had to balance what’s fair for both small and large states.

“We need our member state associations to do some soul searching as to what they can handle with possible changes with boys’ weights, the publishing of girls’ weight classifications and provide the rules committee extra guidance,” Hopkins said. “The committee will discuss the weight classes again next committee meeting in April.”

In the meantime, Hopkins wrote that the NFHS is open to state associations that are willing to apply for a rules experiment, such as a pilot program, provided they have a valid reason to modify a rule.

“They have to have a sound hypothesis, collect and provide data after the year long experiment,” Hopkins said. “Any state association is eligible to apply for an experiment, but they cannot apply just to not adhere to a published rule.”

Efforts to reach PIAA officials were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Other rule changes approved by the NFHS include: ■ The weigh-in procedure is getting an overhaul. Legal uniforms are now to be worn during weighins, with no additional weight allowances. Shoes and ear guards aren’t allowed during weigh-ins. Female wrestlers can also opt to wear a form-fitting compression shirt in addition to a one-piece singlet.

■ In an effort to “discourage wrestlers from requesting injury time from the official as an attempt to stop an opponent from scoring,” a referee can determine a wrestler would have scored had an injury time out not been called.

In that event, the injury time out will be charged and the applicable points will be rewarded to the wrestler who would have scored.

■ Matches will be automatically stopped and restarted upon a wrestler’s fourth stalling violation. Technical violations will be given whenever a shoe comes off, with injury time used to resolve the issue, in an effort to avoid intentional stoppages.

■ In an effort to “avoid penalizing a participant twice for the same sequence of events,” points will not be awarded to a wrestler when his or her opponent flees the mat, if that wrestler has already scored a near-fall or takedown.

Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE

Sports Wednesday, July 8, 2020

COLLEGE

Centennial suspends fall sports season Former WVC football players on rosters for schools in conference.

BY STEVE BENNETT sTaFF WRITeR

Sal Gurnari was looking forward to his junior season at Susquehanna. Not only from a personal perspective after play-

ing in all 11 games last year as a sophomore, but the River Hawks hoped to build toward another solid season after finishing last year 10-1 and beating Wilkes in the 5th annual Centennial-MAC Bowl Series.

But if Gurnari, a Hanover Area grad who plays on the defensive line, is going to have a junior season, it is going to have

to wait until at least the spring of 2021.

On Tuesday, the Centennial Conference announced it is suspending inter-collegiate competitions for sports scheduled for the fall semester.

“Within the last couple weeks I saw a couple of teams were canceling,” Gurnari said. “I didn’t think it would happen this fast. I

knew something would be changed with the season, I knew it was not going to be like last year. I thought this would be a good year in the fall for us. Hopefully, we will be able to have it in the spring.”

The press release stated the presidents of the schools in the conference will reevaluate the decision by the end of

September, based on work to be done to assess sports-specific activities and the experiences on the schools’ campus. However, the presidents determined football will not be played in the fall. The conference will also explore the possibility of shifting certain fall sports, including football, to the spring.

Please see CENTENNIAL, Page B3

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

EARLY RISER Schmidt discusses quick climb after Tommy John Yankees prospect dazzled during Monday’s intrasquad scrimmage.

BY CONOR FOLEY sTaFF WRITeR

Clarke Schmidt picked up Monday in New York where he left off in mid-March in Tampa, Florida.

The New York Yankees’ top pitching prospect started an intrasquad exhibition game at an empty Yankee Stadium, facing a lineup that likely was one D.J. LeMahieu shy of being New York’s ideal squad for opening day. The 24-yearold righty surrendered just a bloop single to Gleyber Torres, but otherwise flashed the potential the Yankees hoped to see when they made him their first-round pick in 2017 out of South Carolina, even though they knew he was headed for Tommy John surgery.

Fastballs that ran. Curveballs that dropped off tables. Changeups that perplexed.

Schmidt, who has just 27 games of experience in pro baseball, put himself in the running for a big league job with a strong 2019 — he finished the year at Double-A Trenton, where he had a 1.82 ERA in 29⅔ innings between the regular season and the postseason — and was backing it up with a solid big league spring training debut.

COuRTesy OF THe neW yORK yanKees

Please see SCHMIDT, Page B4

Pitching prospect Clarke Schmidt throws during an intrasquad game Monday at Yankee Stadium.

NBA

NFL

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING

Dinwiddie, Beal to sit out restart

Jackson sorry for posts on Instagram

Nets guard won’t play after positive tests, while Wizards star recovers from rotator cuff injury.

Eagles receiver recently praised Farrakhan, shared text with fake Hitler quote on platform.

BY STEPHEN WHYNO assOCIaTed PRess

WASHINGTON — Wizards leading scorer Bradley Beal and Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie won’t take part in the restart of the NBA season, two significant absences in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Beal is out because of a right rotator cuff injury. Dinwiddie announced that he is still testing positive for coronavir u s a n d wo n’ t participate.

Wa s h i n g t o n , Orlando and DINWIDDIE Brooklyn are the three teams left in the chase for the final two playoff spots in the East. If the Wizards finish within four games of whichever club BEAL finishes eighth, then two games will be played to determine the No. 8 seed.

“He’s worked religiously to get this thing back to where it feels right, and it just hasn’t felt right,” said Wizards general manager Please see NBA, Page B2

BY LES BOWEN AND ROB TORNOE THe PHIladelPHIa InQuIReR (Tns)

His military service and passion for sports collided several years after the war when he established the George Hooper Memorial Wrestling Award, which is given each year to the Wyoming Valley Conference’s most outstanding wrestler.

Hooper, a standout wrestler at Kingston High in the 1930s, was killed in action while serving with the Marines in Saipan in 1944. Walsh created the award

PHILADELPHIA — Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson apologized Tuesday for his recent Instagram posts, in which he praised Louis Farrakhan and shared a text that included a fake Hitler quote.

Jackson’s attempt to explain and express remorse included a JACKSON statement and a video, in which he said he “didn’t intend any harm or hatred,” and he disavowed any approval of Hitler.

“I really didn’t understand what this passage was saying,” Jackson wrote. “Hitler has caused terrible pain to Jewish people like the pain African Americans have suffered.

We should be together fighting anti-Semitism and racism.”

In the accompanying video, Jackson said, in part: “I post things on my story all the time, and just probably never should

Please see WALSH, Page B3

Please see JACKSON, Page B2

CITIZens’ VOICe FIle

Jim Walsh, right, presented a display honoring George Hooper in April 2012 at the Osterhout Free Library during an event that included, from left, former Meyers wrestling coach Ron Swingle, former Meyers wrestler Vito Pasone and former Meyers principal Tony Schwab.

Hooper Award creator dies Walsh, who made the honor in 1955, died June 30 at age 95.

BY ERIC SHULTZ sTaFF WRITeR

The Wyoming Valley lost one of its all-time sports enthusiasts last week.

Jim Walsh, a World War II veteran who meticulously compiled decades of statistics, facts and figures in local football and

wrestling, established two high school wrestling awards and donated his passion and wealth of knowledge to the public, died June 30. He was 95.

Walsh, born Dec. 24, 1924 in the Minooka section of Scranton, graduated from Kingston High School in 1943 before joining the Army. He served in the European theater of WWII, in France, Belgium and Germany, including in the Battle of the Bulge.

LOCAL SPORTS

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

THe CITIZens' VOICe B3

WALSH: Area sports buff dies at 95 FROM PaGe B1

CHRIsTOPHeR dOlan / sTaFF PHOTOGRaPHeR

Gray Team’s Nick Carlini holds onto his helmet as he rounds third during a game against the Vegas Team at Covington Park.

Gray Team shows D-III talent

BY CONOR FOLEY sTaFF WRITeR

BASEBALL U PA

COVINGTON TWP. — When Saint Joseph’s pitcher Peter Gallo came out of the Vegas Team’s bullpen in the sixth inning, members of Gray Team started to pay closer attention to their teammates working the radar gun behind home plate.

Ninety one. Ninety two. The 6-foot-4 righty from Immaculata even touched 94 mph on a pitch that sailed to the backstop at County Park.

Gallo dominated the all-NCAADivision-III lineup at first, striking out five of the first seven batters he faced, with one reaching on a walk and another on an error.

Eventually, however, they got to Gallo, too.

University of Scranton outfielder Connor Harding jumped a fastball and shot it to right field for a double, capping the scoring in the Gray’s 11-7 win over Vegas in a Baseball U PA Collegiate Summer League game Tuesday.

Harding went 2 for 4 with a double, a triple and three RBIs. Keystone’s Nick Carlini, an Abington Heights grad, smashed a double off the wall, ripped a single and drove in two runs. Giants teammate Brendan Kucharski, a Mid Valley alum, drove in two runs as the Gray offense scored three runs in the fourth and fifth innings, then tacked on four in the sixth.

“My approach is that I want that,” Carlini said of the chance to face a Division-I pitcher who throws that hard. He didn’t quite get that chance Tuesday, left waiting in the on-deck circle when Gallo got the last out of the eighth.

“I want that challenge. Because if you succeed, then it’s so

rewarding, but even if you fail, then you learn something. You take that to the next at-bat or even pass it on to someone else in the dugout. I try not to back down. I love it. I love the challenge of it.”

Organizers of the league thought they had enough Division III players sign up who felt that way, so they decided to make one of the six teams a roster of the best D-III players, who can have a harder time earning spots in premier summer leagues.

Harding was named the Landmark Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2019. Carlini is a career .292 hitter at Keystone who slugged .582 in his breakout junior 2019 season. Wilkes’ Brandon Reno, a Northwest grad, hit .412 with a .681 slugging percentage over 35 games in his college debut in 2019. Tuesday’s starting pitcher, RJ Kuruts, a former Forest City standout, was off to a dazzling start to his junior season at St. John Fisher, striking out 24 in 18 innings with a 1.00 ERA before the coronavirus pandemic shut it down. “’It doesn’t matter who you are.

It doesn’t matter where you come from. If you’re good, people are going to notice you, teams are going to notice you, whatever the case may be,’” Carlini said, quoting his Keystone coach Jamie Shevchik. “Just instilling that kind of culture into this team and let them know that we can compete with anyone is something that I try to do for us.”

So far, so good. Gray improved to 3-2. Only the Orange Team (6-1) and the Steel Team (5-2) have more wins.

Kuruts allowed just one run over four innings on a double by JD Barrett (Cabrini/Dallas), the

second-to-last hitter he faced, that gave Vegas a 1-0 lead. Kuruts struck out three, walked one and rolled six groundouts.

Gray responded quickly, with Carlini turning on a pitch from starter Drew Patton (Niagara/ Dallas) a lining it off the fence in left field. Kucharski then smacked a single to right that radar guns picked up at 98 mph off his bat, which might have some extra pop to it.

“That is a Mike Ford bat,” Kucharski said.

He won the New York Yankees and former Scranton/WilkesBarre RailRiders first baseman’s bat in a basket raffle. Kucharski said it felt right when he swung it, so he started to use it in summer ball and hits started coming.

“I’ve come alive hitting the ball, just to get more barrels on stuff,” Kucharski said. “But I feel like if it breaks, I can hang it up anyway.

So, it’s a win-win situation.”

He’s 4 for 13 so far, with a mammoth home run Sunday that Gray Team coach Matt Fidati is still wowed by.

“People think we’re D-III, like we weren’t good enough to go D-I, D-II,” said Kucharski, who got into four games before his freshman season at Keystone was canceled. “But that’s not the case.

We’re just trying to come out and prove that we could compete with all these D-I, D-II kids. Which, I would say we’re doing right now.”

Vegas (1-6) tied it in the top of fifth, Gray went back in front, 6-3, in the bottom of the inning, then Vegas grabbed the lead again in the sixth. Barrett’s towering fly ball carried just enough to clear the right-field fence for a two-run homer, Brandon Lohner (Cabrini/St. John Neumann) brought in the tying run with a single, then Jaxon Dalena raced home on a

double steal for a 7-6 lead.

Gray stormed right back, with Harding tripling in two runs and Tyler Kirsten (Scranton/Wallenpaupack) and Carlini tacking on RBI singles.

“I think when we’re on, we can do some damage,” Carlini said.

“It’s huge to see when we string together a good inning because the energy’s high and it really seems like we can do a lot of great things and I just love being a part of that.”

Orange 4, Steel 3 At Hughestown, CJ Peechatka (Campbell/Pocono Mountain East) tripled in the ninth inning and scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk by Dominick Bayo (Wilkes/Wyoming Valley West) to give Orange (6-1) a win.

Peechatka tripled twice in the game while Alex Baratta (Binghamton/Seton Hall Prep) had a single, a double and two RBIs. Ryan Hogan (St. John’s/Wyoming Valley West) doubled and scored a run for Steel (5-2) and Mike Piscotty (Kutztown/ Hanover) had two hits.

Black 4, White 3 At La Plume, Cade Hunter (Virginia Tech/Lenape) had two doubles and two RBIs to lead Black (3-4).

David Curreri (Stony Brook/ Honesdale) had two hits and an RBI for Black and Cole Patten (Seton Hall/Sparta) threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out four.

Rocco DePietro (Keystone/Valley View) had a single and two RBIs for White (1-4) and Nick Marro (Keystone/Montgomery) homered.

Contact the writer: cfoley@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @RailRidersTT on Twitter

honoring Hooper in 1955 with the help of the American Legion’s Black Diamond Post 395 in Kingston, which sponsored the trophy.

In an interview with The Citizens’ Voice in 2011, Walsh reflected on the origins of the Hooper Award. He said he had heard about Hooper’s athletic ability from friends and, in trying to learn more about him, met Hooper’s mother by chance. After combing through a scrapbook displaying all of Hooper’s accomplishments, Walsh felt compelled to create an award in his memory.

“I never, never dreamed it would last this long. Never,” Walsh said in 2011. “I thought it would go on maybe 10, 15 years or something like that, and the interest would die. But it’s just been mushrooming.”

The tradition of the Hooper Award lives on — but not without Walsh’s help. In April 2012, five former winners were in attendance as he presented a framed story about Hooper and an honor roll with the names of all former winners to the Osterhout Free Library.

When the award lost its sponsor in The Sunday Independent, Walsh put in the effort to find a new home for the Hooper. It’s been awarded by The Citizens’ Voice since 1997.

“He could’ve easily just said, ‘OK, it’s too much work. It’s gone.’ He could’ve given it up,” Neil Corbett, sports editor at The Citizens’ Voice, said. “Here it is; it’s still going.”

Walsh — a vocal proponent of the display of the American flag around Wilkes-Barre in recent years — was also behind the Fred Hennebaul Memorial Award. Given to the WVC’s wrestling coach of the year, it was created in 1966 to honor the former Lake-Lehman wrestler who was paralyzed after injuring his neck while wrestling.

Walsh’s passion for local sports extended beyond the current wrestling season — and the Osterhout Free Library has volumes of evidence to prove it, too. He compiled all sorts of statistics and records through research of the area’s football and wrestling history.

His knowledge was accessible to anyone who asked. Prior to the birth of the internet, reporters often relied on it.

A Citizens’ Voice column in 1980 attributed Walsh for information on UNICO football games in the 1930s.

In 1981, he supplied the newspaper with his tally for the longest winning streak in WVC wrestling dual meets. Two years later, a chunk of the sports section was devoted to Walsh’s estimation of the all-time records for area football teams of the past and present — using available records that dated as far back as 1896.

In October 1997, Walsh donated his priceless passion project to the Osterhout library’s reference section for anyone who wanted to learn about the Big 33 football game’s all-time list of participants, the history of the Wyoming Valley’s defunct high school teams, local attendance records, who had the upper-hand in local rivalry series and so much more.

“I just started compiling a list of all-scholastics and one thing led to another,” Walsh told The Citizens’ Voice at the time. “I spent countless hours in the Osterhout using their microfilm and then I would go to school libraries and pore over old yearbooks.”

“I don’t even want to think about the number of quarters I put in those microfilm machines and the dimes for the copy machines.”

Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2054; @CVericshultz on Twitter

CENTENNIAL: Suspends fall sports season because of COVID-19 FROM PaGe B1

Also Tuesday, the Presidents’ Athletic Conference vo t e d u n a n i m o u s ly t o approve intraconference scheduling for the fall sports season. All fall sports except football will have a first contest date of Sept. 7. Football will begin a nine-game league schedule Sept. 19.

“They really haven’t told us much yet,” Gurnari said.

“They are going to evaluate everything and see if football is going to happen in the spring. I would definitely be in favor of playing in the spring.”

Susquehanna is a footballonly member in the Centennial Conference. Other mem-

bers of the conference include Dickinson, McDaniel, Franklin & Marshall, Moravian, Gettysburg, Muhlenberg, Johns Hopkins, Juniata, Ursinus, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore and Washington College. Juniata and Moravian are also football-only members. For all other sports besides football, Susquehanna, Juniata and Moravian are members of the Landmark Conference.

The decision by the Centennial Conference has a direct impact on the football programs at Misericordia University and King’s College. Moravian was scheduled to open the 2020 season

at home against King’s on Sept. 5, while Misericordia was set to host McDaniel the same day.

Including Gurnari, eight former Wyoming Valley Conference football players were listed as returning players for the 2020 season on conference rosters.

Gurnari said he has not been on the Susquehanna campus since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been working out on his own, doing a training program provided the team’s strength and conditioning coach. He imagines since there will be no season in the fall that those workouts will be changed.

“During the semester we were doing weekly meetings on Zoom calls for installs,” Gurnari said. “After the semester was over we were in contact with the coaches over text messages and team Zoom calls every other week.”

Gurnari is scheduled to report to Susquehanna for the start of classes Aug. 24 and is not sure if there will be football-related activities permitted while maintaining social distancing and whatever directives are being handed down from the governor’s office.

“I respect the decision the conference made,” Gurnari said. “I understand why they are doing it.”

Berwick grad Anthony Cicini, who transferred to Dickinson from Assumption, said the Dickinson football team held a video meeting with the coaching staff prior to the Centennial Conference releasing its press release mid-afternoon.

“In the beginning I was a little more optimistic that we would have a season,” Cicini, a defensive back, said. “In the recent weeks we saw more spikes and more people getting the (corona) virus, it was going in the opposite direction. I am still going to work hard and not take a different approach to the way I work out.”

Cicini is gong to report to campus Aug. 17 and said the

team will still be able to conduct football-related activities, but is not sure in what capacity. He also added the reaction of the players on the team when hearing the news ranged from the expected to the unexpected.

“Obviously, everyone was upset,” Cicini said. “Some were more shocked than others. Some were hoping we were going to have a season.

We just have to keep the faith and keep working. We are going to approach it as if we are going to have a season in the spring.”

Contact the writer: sbennett@citizensvoice.com; 570 821-2062; @CVsteveBennett on Twitter