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tHE CItIzEns’ VOICE
Sports F R IDA Y , JA NUA R Y 24, 2020
WVC BOYS BASKETBALL
Mounts hold off Patriots Dallas avenges a loss to Pittston Area earlier this season. BY STEVE BENNETT STAFF WRITER
DALLAS TWP. — The Dallas Mountaineers were walking a pretty fine line in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s game against Pittston Area. While trying to protect a slim lead, the Mountaineers were playing SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER well enough defensively to Dallas’ Luke DelGaudio dribbles past Pittston Area’s make it nearly impossible J.J. Walsh on Thursday. for Pittston Area to get a
shot off from the field. But when the Patriots drove to the basket, the Mountaineers were fouling, not only giving the Patriots an opportunity to score, but stopping the clock, as well. Jack Farrell finished with a game-high 18 points and made 2 of 3 free throws in the span of 22 seconds to help the Mountaineers hold on for a 49-48 victory at Dallas High School. The Mountaineers moved to 5-3 in conference play and 12-4 overall and saw their winning streak reach three.
Pittston Area saw its threegame winning streak come to a close and is now 6-2 in the conference and 12-4 overall. In the first meeting between the two teams, a 66-59 Pittston Area win, the Patriots made 10 3-pointers, but it was a different story the second time around. Dallas locked down the perimeter in its man defense. Pittston Area missed its first seven shots from the floor but was able to hang around long enough to only trail by five points.
“I think they played great defense,” Pittston Area coach Al Semenza said. “In the first half, we were not moving well and we were over-dribbling. Every game is a battle and I don’t buy into the fact that now that we have to go on the road, we can’t win. I am confident we can go on the road. We are going to be heard from, we’re not done. If we win six in a row the worst we can do is be tied in this division.” Please see DALLAS, Page B3
Champion’s mEnTaLiTY FIELD HOCKEY
Hard work a constant at every level of Sharkey’s storied career The Sem grad, 2016 Olympian retired from the national team Thursday.
F
ield hockey is a tough sport. The Wyoming Valley just has a lot of individuals who worked so hard and dedicated themselves so much to the game that it looks easy. Perhaps the greatest examMATT ple of that, BUFANO Kat Sharkey, Commentary 29, retired Thursday from the U.S. women’s national team after nine years. “I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a member of the U.S. women’s national team for this long,” Sharkey said in a statement released by USA Field Hockey. “It was incredibly rewarding, fulfilling and challenging. I truly enjoyed being on this journey with such strong and inspiring women and I’ll always cherish the memories that we made on and off the field.” Wyoming Seminary remembers Sharkey as a state champion. Princeton remembers Sharkey as its all-time leading scorer. Please see SHARKEY, Page B4
COURTESY OF LUKAS SCHULZE
Moosic native and Wyoming Seminary grad Kat Sharkey was the captain of the national field hockey team.
Kat Sharkey’s career highlights
THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE
Kat Sharkey, left, and Kelsey Kolojejchick were teammates at Wyoming Seminary and at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Wyoming Seminary ■ Two-time District 2 Class 2A champions (2005, 2006) ■ Two-time first-team All-American (2006, 2007) ■ 2006 PIAA Class 2A state champions Princeton ■ 2008 Ivy League Rookie of the Year ■ Three-time first-team All-American (2009, 2010, 2012) ■ 2012 NCAA national champions ■ School-record 107 career goals, 245 points Team USA ■ 2014 Champions Challenge tournament title ■ 2016 Fifth-place at Rio de Janeiro Olympics ■ Team USA flag bearer for opening ceremony of 2019 Pan American Games, where she earned a bronze medal
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Offseason changes excite Girardi, Phillies BY DONNIE COLLINS STAFF WRITER
BETHLEHEM — Someone asks him about the fan support so far, the growing excitement among the sea of red in the City of Brotherly Love, and Joe Girardi smirks. “I’m still undefeated,” he chuckles. But in places like Reading
JOE GIRARDI Phillies manager
last week and the Wind Creek Event Center on Thursday, where Girardi and a contingent from the team
met with fans during the annual Phillies Caravan stop just outside of their Triple-A home in Allentown, the anticipation for the 2020 campaign is tangible. Just like it was after they obtained Bryce Harper and Jean Segura last offseason. This time, though, their new manager hopes positive change is seen more than it is
felt once the pitches start flying and the bats swinging at Citizens Bank Park at the end of March. This time, he thinks, it’s OK for Phillies fans to have championship hopes. “I think when you start looking around at the players who were here last year, the young players who gained experience and what we add-
ed through free agency, I really like the construction of this club,” Girardi said. “There are things that have to go right for our club, just as there are for every other club in baseball. One of them is health.” Certainly, the Phillies were hit hard by the injury bug last year. Girardi noted that a torn ACL limited a prized
free-agent outfielder, Andrew McCutchen, to just 59 games. He noted that the Phillies never could find a leadoff hitter, that the bullpen was so beaten up and overused, there was a seemingly cons ta n t s hu t t l e o f a r m s between Philly and Lehigh Valley. Please see PHILLIES, Page B5
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LOCAL SPORTS
B4 T HE C IT IZE NS' V O IC E
F R IDA Y , JA NUA R Y 24, 2020
Several adjustments made to proposed schedule BY STEVE BENNETT staff writer
There’s a reason the proposed football schedule that began to circulate on Wednesday afternoon is not official as of yet. That’s because there have been a few minor adjustments already made to the schedule that made the rounds to athletic directors and coaches Wednesday night. The Citizens’ Voice received a copy of the proposed 2020-2021 schedule on
HS FOOTBALL Wednesday. The schedule will not become official until principals and superintendents from the schools in District 2 approve it. Athletic directors from the Lackawanna League are scheduled to meet Wednesday, while the Wyoming Valley Conference will meet Thursday to decide whether or not the currently proposed schedule will be ratified.
Based on meetings held at PIAA headquar ters on Wednesday, Southern Columbia and Williamsport had their classifications adjusted, causing a few teams in District 2 to have to change games that were on the original copy that was distributed. The current adjustments, though not official yet, were announced in an email on Thursday sent by Mike Ognosky, the schedule coordinator for District 2.
Southern Columbia, originally classified as 3A based upon the new PIAA competition rules, appealed the ruling and won, and will remain Class 2A for the next two-year cycle. Williamsport was originally scheduled to drop to Class 5A, but requested, and was granted permission to remain at Class 6A. Those decisions resulted in changes to the proposed schedule. A few home and road games will be adjusted to
maintain the five home and five away games for each team on the schedule. The adjustments to the home/away games prevent any team playing three consecutive games at home or on the road. Three Wyoming Valley Conference teams had adjustments made to their proposed schedule. In Week 7, Crestwood will play at Abington Heights as opposed to playing Wallenpaupack. In Week 9, under the new proposal, Dun-
more would play at Wyoming Area, creating a scenario where Wyoming Area would drop Selinsgrove. Other adjustments to the proposal include Valley View at Delaware Valley and Wallenpaupack at West Scranton in Week 2. In Week 7, Delaware Valley plays at Williamsport and Wallenpaupack plays at Valley View. Contact the writer: sbennett@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2062; @CVsteveBennett on twitter
Miletic will represent WBS in All-Star Classic staff report
Sam Miletic battled through multiple injuries last season to show his potential as a rookie. For his encore, the forward will represent the Penguins at the AHL AllStar Classic. Miletic, 22, was named to the Atlantic Division roster for the league’s annual skills showcase on Thursday. He replaces veteran forward Andrew Agozzino, who will be unavailable for t h e eve nt S u nd ay a nd Monday in Ontario, California. In his second year with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Miletic has been a fixture among the team’s top forwards and power-play units. His 19 assists lead the Penguins, and his 27 points rank behind only Agozzino. Miletic’s addition is the latest in a series of change s a n n o u n c e d fo r t h e event’s rosters this year. On Tuesday, Charlotte goaltender Alex N e d e l j kov i c, H e r s h e y goaltender Vitek Vanecek and Har tford forward Vinni Lettieri were all a dd e d t o t h e A t la n t i c team in place of original selections Igor Shester-
burgh doesn’t play again until Jan. 31. Contact the writer: sports@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060
Scouting Charlotte
tHe CitiZeNs’ VoiCe fiLe
WBS Penguins’ Sam Miletic will replace Andrew Agozzino in the AHL All-Star Classic.
PENGUINS kin, Chris Driedger and Mike Sgarbossa. Both Sunday’s skills competition (8 p.m.) and Monday’s mini-tour nament (10 p.m.) will be televised on the NHL Network. Agozzino — promoted to the NHL on Jan. 6 — was reassigned to the Penguins on Wednesday with Sam Lafferty, Joseph Blandisi and Kevin Czuczman. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton begins a two-day series in Charlotte tonight, and Pitts-
When: 7 p.m. tonight and 6 p.m. saturday Where: Bojangles’ Coliseum Season series: Charlotte won the first two meetings at Mohegan sun arena. the teams will not play each other again after this weekend. About the Checkers: the aforementioned reinforcements are a huge boost for the penguins, as Charlotte is one of the league’s hottest teams with five straight wins and nine over its last 10 games. the Checkers’ special teams have been dominant, ranking third in the league on the power play and No. 1 killing penalties. the player to keep an eye on is forward steven Lorentz; he had three points against the penguins on Jan. 8 and has had multipoint efforts in seven of his last 12 contests. the penguins are likely to see both Nedeljkovic and anton forsberg in goal. Both have won 12 games and have nearly identical save percentages. — Staff RepoRt
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SHARKEY: Sem grad, Olympian retiring from national team “My parents and I invested in a goal-cage for our All local sports fans backyard,” Sharkey said. “I should remember Sharkey would spend my free time as an Olympian, someone out there with my dad, just who — along with Kelsey hitting shots and learning Kolojejchick and Paige Selhow to shoot the ball from enski — traveled with USA any angle or from any body Field Hockey to the 2016 position. So I really just Games in Rio de Janeiro. spent a lot — a lot — of time Kolojejchick, of Larksout in my backyard, working ville, was the natural athlete. on those skills in my free Selenski, of Shavertown, time.” was the superstar. Sharkey’s father was a Sharkey, of Moosic, had a field hockey novice, but he ton of natural ability and knew what a good, powerful some starlike tendencies, as swing looked like from his well, but in my opinion, time on baseball diamonds Sharkey’s identity was that and golf courses. of a hard worker. Ninth grade arrived and “My first year — literally Sharkey’s powerful hit my first year — playing, I immediately translated to couldn’t score a goal,” Sharvarsity success, scoring a hat key said years ago. “That one trick in her first game, an 8-0 season, I think it was sevWyoming Seminary win at enth or eighth grade, I literGAR. ally could not score a goal. It was a sign of things to My teammates would try come. and set me up so well to just As she ascended the ranks get that one goal in a season. of her high school, college I really couldn’t.” and national teams, Sharkey Sharkey wasn’t overly kept working hard. frustrated, nor was she disNo challenge was too couraged to the point that daunting, including a broken she quit. ankle in July 2015. She comShe understood — even as pleted rehab in time for the a kid — that she was still 2016 Olympics. learning how to play, sparkJust a few months ago ing a desire to improve in the when the U.S. was still in offseason. contention for a spot in this froM paGe B1
year’s Olympics, teammates Anna Dessoye and Danielle Grega spoke glowingly about Sharkey, their team captain. “You see her work ethic and her hard work and you just want to match that,” said Dessoye, a Crestwood grad. “I’m always taking note and asking her questions on whatever I can do to improve my game,” added Grega, a Valley West grad. In Sharkey’s statement Thursday, she thanked her family, friends, coaches and fiance, Tom Schreiber, for their support. Sharkey will make her next career move with an MBA in hand. Sharkey told Team USA she hopes to stay involved in field hockey on some level. She’s already done her part to a degree, though, influencing young players all over and authoring a bluecollar success story — one that emphasized dedication and perseverance as much as, if not more than, raw ability and skill — that started in a Lackawanna County backyard. MAtt BufAno covers field hockey for the Citizens’ Voice. He can be reached at mbufano@citizensvoice.com.
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WB_VOICE/PAGES [B01] | 05/09/20
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tHE CItIzEns’ VOICE SUNDA Y , MA Y 10, 2020
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Surgery behind him, McCrum eyes next level Dallas grad earned Monmouth award for perseverance, dedication. BY STEVE BENNETT Staff Writer
This was going to be the season to shine, that much Jordan McCrum was sure about. Nearly a year removed from Tommy John surgery, the 2015 Dallas graduate was looking forward to getting back on the mound to flash his fast-
JORDAN McCRUM 2015 Dallas graduate
ball that increased in velocity since he arrived at Monmouth University almost five years ago. But it wasn’t the surgery or the rigorous rehab that ended McCrum’s fifth and final collegiate season. It was the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the col-
lege spring sports season. “My senior year I was the closer,” McCrum said this week from his home in Kennesaw, Georgia. “I threw three innings against East Carolina to get the save. The following weekend against FAU, I was in the fourth inning of relief and I tore my UCL (ulnar collateral ligament). I had Tommy John on April 1 and was able to take a medical redshirt for 2019 with the hope of coming back in the middle of this year.
Then everything came down with COVID-19 and I wasn’t able to pitch. I was hoping to be a couple weeks out before everything was shut down.” Instead, McCrum was able to take a step back from his rehab process, slow things down a little bit and get back on his own schedule. There was no need to rush to get back on a mound. For his contributions to the Monmouth baseball
SUBMitteD PHOtO
Jordan McCrum’s right arm after getting his cast removed following Tommy John surgery.
Please see McCRUM, Page B4
DONNIE COLLINS Commentary
HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOCKEY
UNEVEN FIELD
MLB should get creative with rosters
A
Why doesn’t Wyoming Valley’s dominance stretch to Lackawanna League schools?
I
BY MATT BUFANO Staff Writer
f you build a field hockey program in Northeast Pennsylvania, the players will come. Or will they? That question lingered on the minds of Laura Evans and Kellie Martin two years ago, when their new club, NEPA Force, hosted its first clinic at Keystone College’s La Plume campus north of Scranton.
“We didn’t really know what response we would get,” Evans said. “I remember financially thinking, ‘OK, we’ll break even if we can get 25 kids.’ We had over 80 kids sign up in the first year and it just took off from there.” For every NEPA Force, however, there’s a Montrose Area High School. Brianna Strope Vaughn, who played at Division II Mansfield University, returned to her alma mater in 2010, coaching the Lady Meteors for
three seasons until the program ceased operations. “It was sad. It was difficult to see,” Strope Vaughn said. “When I came back from law school into the area and there was a need for a coach, I really wanted to keep the program going.” The gradual decline of field hockey’s popularity at Montrose was significantly impacted by the proliferation of competing fall sports at a small school, Please see HOCKEY, Page B4
Lackawanna Trail players celebrate their 2016 District 2 title, part of the school’s decorated history in field hockey. SUBMitteD PHOtO
nother week, another plan to get Major League Baseball up and running again. Another week, another set of COVID-19 numbers slapping us all in the face with a sense of reality. This is not going to be a blizzard that comes, hits hard and leaves quickly, as I heard someone say back in March. It’s going to be a long, cold, harsh winter. It’s so hard not to dream about the summer. Had this nightmare not fallen upon us, the New York Yankees were scheduled to play their 42nd game tonight. They’d be wrapping up their first series of the season against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball. We’d be more than a quarter of the way through the year. We might very well be talking about Aaron Judge and James Paxton preparing for rehab assignments at PNC Field. Seven of the 10 teams in playoff position in the standings a year ago today wound up making the playoffs, so it wouldn’t be foolish to be keeping an eye toward October by now. Either way, we’d be steamrolling into summer. Right now, we simply don’t know if we’ll ever get it. Reports surfaced last week that baseball is eyeing a midsummer return, a brief “spring training” in June and games that count by the dawn of July, with all teams hosting games in their own stadiums, they hope. I hope so, too, considering the mathematical unlikelihood Philadelphia will be open, never mind New York, even to host games with no fans. We can’t even host a Little League game in Scranton. How is Philadelphia going to get players and staffs and umpires and camera crews and other necessary workers into Citizens Bank Park? Let’s assume for a moment, though, that this somehow works out, that a happy medium is struck Please see COLLINS, Page B5
WRESTLING
Wrestling ran in GAR star, Valley West coach’s blood Joel Kislin, an All-American at Hofstra, died Friday. BY ERIC SHULTZ Staff Writer
During his time coaching Valley West, Joel Kislin had plenty of stories to share from his own wrestling days. Kislin achieved so much
on the mat that he didn’t have to exaggerate and tell tall tales to his Spartans. Not even those times he faced an opponent tipping the scales at nearly a quarter-ton. “His claim to fame was that he had to wrestle Chris Taylor, who was like a 500-pound heavyweight,” former Valley West assistant coach Don Morgan said.
Kislin, a star wrestler for GAR who became a national champion at Luzerne County Community College and an All-American at Hofstra before coaching locally for several decades, died Friday. The Kingston resident was 68. “He was a good motivator,” Morgan recalled over the phone. “I just think it was in his blood to be a wrestler. He
liked to develop young athletes into becoming the best they could be.” Kislin developed his share of talented Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers, perhaps none more notable than former Valley West heavyweight and 2006 state champion Trevin Cowman. Starting out as an assistant for GAR, Dallas, Meyers and
Wyoming Area, Kislin — a special education teacher for 35 years — ran the program at Nanticoke Area for 10 years, spent a season back at Dallas and then found himself in the Valley West corner with Morgan. “He was good for the big guys,” said Tim McGinley, who was athletic director at Meyers when Kislin coached
on Bill Hilburt’s staff. “He could talk to them about the things big wrestlers needed to do against different types of styles.” Before he coached, though, a lifetime around wrestling began at GAR. Kislin’s first major accomplishment was his upset pin over Coughlin’s Rich Chulada Please see KISLIN, Page B4
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SPORTS
B4 THE CITIZENS' VOICE
SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2020
HOCKEY: Clubs have opened as sport grows fRoM paGe B1
tHe CitizeNS’ VoiCe fiLe
Jordan McCrum, right, makes a tag while playing for Dallas in 2015.
McCRUM: Following dream of playing pro fRoM paGe B1
program, and his dedication to working toward getting back on the mound this year, McCrum was recently awarded the school’s Joan Martin Award, presented annually to student-athletes while staying the course through adversity. “That really means a lot,” McCrum said. “It shows all the hard work that I have put in since coming back. It is also a huge shoutout to the people who rehabbed me at Monmouth, the sports medical staff and conditioning staff. They have all done a great job in a full calendar year to help put me in this spot.” McCrum arrived on the Monmouth campus as a middle infielder and mixed in some pitching as well. He always had a live arm while playing at Dallas, but things picked up a notch once he got to college. During his freshman year, he saw 35 innings on the mound and then spent the summer playing in the Hamptons Collegiate Summer League. “The summer in the Hamptons was a great way to spend a summer. I got to face Manny Ramirez’s son, and the competition in the league was good,” McCrum said. That was when he saw his velocity rise. “Going into the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I was consistently throwing 88-90 mph,” McCrum said. When he returned to Monmouth for his sophomore season, his velocity was consistently sitting 92-93 mph and topping at 95. With that, he put the middle infielder’s glove down and was strictly a pitcher. “I had about 50 innings my sophomore year, but I had a shoulder injury towards the end of the season and didn’t play that summer. I just rehabbed my shoulder and tried to get stronger. By the time I was a junior I was a back of the bullpen guy.” With his senior season came the role of closer. His consistent velocity and a slider as a secondary pitch made him the perfect fit
for the role. He picked up that threeinning save against East Carolina before suffering the season-ending injury the following weekend. He technically does have a year of eligibility left after the NCAA granted a waiver to spring sports student-athletes who lost the year because of the pandemic. McCrum has bigger plans. He will decline coming back for what would have been a sixth season of college baseball and instead pursue his dream of trying to hook on with a professional organization. Prior to getting injured last season, McCrum met with a scout from the Cleveland Indians org anization, and has received the standard questionnaires from other clubs. But since he has not pitched competitively in nearly 15 months, he believes the best route will be to continue to wo rk t o i n c re a s e h i s strength and endurance. He does that by working out at a field near his home in Georgia. He plays long toss to add strength and distance to his pitching arm, and will progress to throwing bullpen sessions. He constantly checks in with his trainers and doctors to let them know how things are going. “I pride my arm strength and jump in velocity to long toss and stretch my arm out,” McCrum said. “I have seen a lot of results from that. While he was hoping to get back on the mound this season, McCrum is looking at the bigger picture. He was able to take the time to get his right arm back to where he wants it to be. “The season cut short helped more in the fact I didn’t have to rush things trying to get back,” McCrum said. “If the season continued, it might have hurt me long term health-wise. With the season cut short I was able to take a couple of weeks off to strengthen up and make sure everything is clear.” Contact the writer: sbennett@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2062; @CVSteveBennett on twitter
With health in mind, Pens’ Sexton retires Staff RepoRt
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Ben Sexton announced his retirement from playing professional hockey on Saturday in a post on his Twitter account. Sexton, 28, missed the entire season because of a concussion, and he cited his health as the determining factor in his decision. “After missing the 2019-20 season due to a concussion, and having a prior history of the injury, for my long term health and growing family it is in our best interest for me to step away from the game,” the post said. “I look forward to starting this next chapter in my life and giving back to the game I dearly love and has given me so much.” Sexton received a number of supportive messages from other players, including Torey Krug of the Boston Bruins and former Penguins teammate Joseph Cramarossa. “One of the best team-
AHL mates I’ve ever had, and an even better friend,” Cramarossa tweeted. “Congrats on a great career ... you lived your dream.” Sexton appeared in only two career NHL games, both for Ottawa in 2017-18, and played in 200 AHL games with four different teams. He joined Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton in December 2018 after Pittsburgh acquired him and defenseman Macoy Erkamps from Ottawa in exchange for Stefan Elliott and Tobias Lindberg. Sexton appeared in only 26 games the rest of that season and never had a chance to show what he was truly capable of because of injuries. He signed an AHL contract with the Penguins last summer, but spent the entire season skating in a red noncontact jersey and didn’t appear in any games.
Strope Vaughan said, and there was a lot of travel involved. Consider that Wyoming Seminary’s Kingston-based PIAA Class 1A championship team of a year ago traveled about 16 miles per oneway trip to play road games in the Wyoming Valley Conference. Meanwhile, Montrose’s average one-way ride to play eight WVC opponents on the road in 2012 was about 51 miles. “We were spending a lot of time on the bus,” Strope Vaughan said. “I think that had something to do with either parents not wanting their children to play, or the actual students not wanting to play, because we were on the bus for a couple hours a day when we had games out of town.” There are many theories, but one undeniable conclusion that field hockey has thrived in District 2’s southernmost territory — Luzerne County — while failing to do the same in Lackawanna, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties. ■■■ The student-athletes at Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association schools are just as talented as their WVC counterparts. Take Abington Heights senior Shaelyn Kobrynich, for example, whose Lady Comet softball teams appeared in three straight District 2 title games. Kobrynich never played for a district championship in field hockey, although she shined on an individual level as Abington Heights’ leading scorer and center midfielder. While both are team sports, field hockey often requires a higher level of commitment from next-level players like Kobrynich, whose travel team, Electric Surge in Kingston, is about a 40-minute drive from home. “I started playing field hockey in seventh grade. I did a lot of travel softball and that was my focus, but I wanted to try something new,” Kobrynich said. “That’s why I picked field hockey. But then, I actually started to fall in love with it, so my parents let me do travel with Surge my freshman year.” Playing travel field hockey is time-consuming and expensive. But, it opened doors for Kobrynich, who improved her game and played in front of numerous college coaches at showcase tournaments all over the East Coast. Kobrynich’s Electric Surge indoor team last year had players from Crestwood, Dallas, Delaware Valley, Honesdale, Valley West, WilkesBarre Area, Wyoming Area and Wyoming Seminary. “Knowing at least a handful of girls from every single team you play, it makes it more fun and more exciting,” Kobrynich said. “Those are relationships I’ve built for a lifetime.” Abington Heights is possibly on the brink of an upswing, said Kobrynich,
WVC ebbs and flows Below is the number of field hockey teams in the Wyoming Valley Conference by year. the number of teams based from outside Luzerne County is in parentheses. 2020: 19 (7, abington Heights, Berwick, Delaware Valley, Honesdale, Lackawanna trail, tunkhannock, Wallenpaupack) 2010: 24 (9, abington Heights, Berwick, Delaware Valley, elk Lake, Honesdale, Lackawanna trail, Montrose, tunkhannock, Wallenpaupack) 2000: 23 (9, abington Heights, Berwick, Delaware Valley, east Stroudsburg North, elk Lake, Honesdale, Lackawanna trail, Montrose, tunkhannock, Wallenpaupack) 1990: 15 (5, abington Heights, Berwick, Honesdale, tunkhannock, Wallenpaupack) 1980: 10 (0) whose individual success and Division I signing to Wagner College could help inspire young players. “My freshman year, I think I was the only (Abington Heights) girl that did travel field hockey. In sophomore year, I think it was still just me,” Kobrynich said. “And then every year since then, there’s been more and more girls who do travel.” ■■■ Travel field hockey has long existed in the Wyoming Valley and new clubs recently opened in neighboring areas. Pursuit Field Hockey, founded by Honesdale coaches Becca Maciejewski and Grace Manzione, popped up in 2015 and NEPA Force came along in 2018. “There are wonderful travel programs in our area, but they’re each at least 45 minutes away,” said Evans, whose NEPA Force facilities include Keystone College and Mayfield Sports Complex. “We just saw that void and the need for it.” NEPA Force’s roster spans age groups U-19 down to 6 years old, covering students from Abington Heights, Lackawanna Trail, Pittston Area and Tunkhannock. “Our roster now is around 100 girls,” Evans said. “Probably only 10 to 12 of those girls played with another program prior. That goes to show you how many we brought on who likely wouldn’t have played had we not brought something to this area.” Whether leading Honesdale High School or her Pursuit clubs, Maciejewski takes coaching seriously. “Part of being a head coach of a program is being able to open doors for kids that need them,” Maciejewski said. Sometimes, that includes a conversation like the one she had with former Honesdale player Clayre Smith and Smith’s family. It was the eve of Smith’s freshman year and she was considering not going out for the team. Maciejewski recognized Smith’s potential and talent, however, and she pleaded that Smith give her just one week of practice to change her mind. “When she figured out this was something she wanted to do,” Maciejewski said, “she spent every waking moment doing it.” Proving that the sky’s the limit for a driven WVC field hockey player, Smith became one of the nation’s top recruits. She signed with
Penn State and has since transferred to Rutgers. ■■■ Field hockey equipment and of fseason training doesn’t come cheap. Those bills are usually paid by the students and their families, rather than the schools. “It’s one of our least expensive sports when it comes to inventory items,” said Mike Namey, athletic director of Wilkes-Barre Area, which recently combined Coughlin, GAR and Meyers into one team. “It’s awfully similar to soccer, where you supply your game balls and you’ve got some field equipment that you’ve got to take care of. But in general, in the sport of field hockey, girls are very accustomed to buying their own sticks primarily because they are more or less customfit for their height and style of swing.” So, in theory, a school could start a field hockey program relatively cheaply. The struggle would be finding 11 starters plus a few players to round out the varsity bench in a fall season that already features many girls playing golf, soccer, tennis, volleyball and cross country. Naturally, taking a player away from one of those sports would help field hockey, but hurt the other team. “I don’t think it’s ever been discussed at our school,” Tim Hopkins, Dunmore High School principal and a member of the District 2 athletic committee, said of field hockey. “I played sports in the ’80s, I started coaching in the ’90s, and I’ve been here for most of my life. Field hockey is one sport that was never really brought up.” ■■■ Sports fans know all about history and the role it plays in team culture. It’s why football remains king at Berwick, as well as why Dunmore and Nanticoke Area have some of the strongest girls basketball teams from “biddy league” through high school. LIAA-located field hockey programs lack the legendary figures and teams that could serve as sources of inspiration, except for Lackawanna Trail, which has a past worth admiring. “The history is there,” Lions head coach Gary Wilmet said. The Lions won a state championship in 1985 when they were a member of District 12. Head coach Janet Finn said at the time Lackawanna Trail had 43 girls come out
for the 1985 varsity team. She cut it down to 32 players and noted the junior varsity and feeder programs had a great turnout, too, saying field hockey was the most popular girls sport at the school. After Finn retired in 1989, she was replaced by Sandy Spott, who won 342 games before stepping away in 2016. Wilmet coached the juniorhigh team for 25 years before taking the varsity job. Evans now coaches junior high. Longtime Lake-Lehman head coach Jean Lipski said she believes stability in the Lions’ coaching ranks has made all the difference. “(Finn) was there for a long, long time. She was a great coach and very passionate about it,” Lipski said. “Sandy Spott certainly had a really good program and she was a good coach, very diligent and passionate about it. “(Wilmet) has been their junior high coach for as long as I could remember and he always put out a nice program.” Lackawanna Trail went 15-6 last season, easily the most wins of any District 2 team located outside the WVC’s traditional coverage area. “It’s the history, I think, of Trail field hockey,” Wilmet said of its sustained success. “I’m getting kids that I had their parents. I even have grandparents that actually played in the program and come to watch games.” ■■■ No matter the inconvenience, players and coaches from Scranton-area schools consider it a privilege to play in the WVC. “I love the Wyoming Valley Conference because it’s such great competition,” Kobrynich said. “Four teams were in the state playoffs last year and two of them won. That’s crazy to me.” Kobrynich and others just wish some of their neighboring schools in Lackawanna County fielded teams that could join the league. “The travel is sometimes a pain in the butt,” Wilmet said, “but they have to travel to us, too.” Located in rural Factoryville, Lackawanna Trail has run the gamut in terms of leagues it has called home. The Lions played in the Suburban Conference through 1979. They were an original member of the Northeast Athletic Conference from 1980-96. Lackawanna Trail won the one and only Lackawanna League title in 1997 before the four members — itself along with Delaware Valley, Elk Lake and Montrose — joined the WVC in 1998. “I really relish being part of the WVC because of the competitive level that we play at,” Wilmet said. “I just love the competition; playing against the Crestwoods, the Lake-Lehmans, the Wyoming Sems and so on helps our program.” Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060; @CVBufano on twitter
KISLIN: Went toe-to-toe with giant Taylor fRoM paGe B1
for the District 2 heavyweight title in 1967. Though brother Chuck Chulada scored revenge in 1968, Kislin re-gained the D2 crown in ’69 before graduating. His senior year also included a Northeast Regional title and a runner-up finish at the PIAA tournament, a season that made him the second runner-up for the local George Hooper Memorial Award. Kislin’s next stop was at LCCC, where a National Junior College Athletic Association championship cemented his place in the NJCAA’s Hall of Fame. He nearly reached the mountaintop at the NCAA level, too. Kislin made it to the national semifinals in 1973
tHe CitizeNS’ VoiCe fiLe Via NeWSpapeRS.CoM
Joel Kislin, second from right, helped develop Valley West’s Trevin Cowman, a 2006 state champion. but had to settle for third after losing by default to Taylor, the late giant from Iowa who earned bronze at the 1972 Olympics. In an era without a maximum limit for heavyweights, Kislin had to go toe-to-toe with Taylor, who reportedly weighed in the
mid-to-high-400s. To m Wi l l i a m s , w h o crossed paths with Kislin back when he coached at Lake-Lehman, described Kislin’s personality as that of a “gentle giant.” “He was always a professional. He was respectful. I
think the other thing that comes to mind was that he was very accomplished as a wrestler,” Williams said. “I think it points out the tradition and success that the Wyoming Valley has had in the past. … We’ve had some successful wrestlers, and he ranks right up there — not just at the high school level but at the national level.” Hofstra enshrined Kislin and his 118-8 collegiate record in its Hall of Fame, as did the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame. He was also recently named to the latest class of the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame, which had scheduled its banquet and ceremony for May 17. Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com; 570821-2054; @CVericShultz on twitter
THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
Sports Friday, November 13, 2020
PIAA FOOTBALL
Valley West, Crestwood ready to go BY STEVE BENNETT STaFF WriTer
Valley West is going to need to play its most complete game. Crestwood is going to face the most complete team it has played up to this point. Both Wyoming Valley Conference teams open the state playoffs tonight. Valley West hits the road to take on Erie Cathedral Prep at Brockway High School just outside of DuBois. By virtue of its District 2 Class 4A championship and its place on the state bracket, Crestwood gets to stay home and take on Jersey Shore. Both games are 7 p.m.
CP
JS
CLASS 5A
VALLEY WEST vs. CATHEDRAL PREP Tonight, 7, at Brockway HS
CLASS 4A
JERSEY SHORE at CRESTWOOD Tonight, 7, Crestwood Stadium
A closer look at each game. B3 This will be Valley West’s first game since it beat Nanticoke Area on Oct. 16. The Spartans lost their final two games of the abbreviated eight-game regular season due to
COVID-19 issues. The team returned to practice last week and began preparing for Cathedral Prep o n M o n d ay. T h e R a m b l e r s advanced to tonight’s game after
beating Hollidaysburg last week. “I think the biggest challenge was trying to get everybody to practice at game speed,” Valley West coach Jack Baranski said of the approach he took once the team was cleared to return to football activities. “We haven’t played a game in the last three weeks. It is going to be a pretty great challenge against a program that has won five state championships. They set their clocks to make a run every year.” Crestwood gets a Jersey Shore team that is ranked No. 1 in the
state in Class 4A, according to Pennlive.com. Jersey Shore is an up-tempo offense that likes to get to the line and snap the ball as quickly as possible. “They have great team speed and they fly to the football,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “The thing that pops out to me on film is they have great excitement on the sidelines. We are definitely facing a true team. We are going to have to be really sharp.” Contact the writer: sbennett@citizensvoice.com
COLLEGE
Ivy League cancels winter sports BY DOUG FEINBERG aSSoCiaTed PreSS
bob GaeTaNo / CoNTribUTiNG PHoToGraPHer
Crestwood field hockey seniors, from left, Taylor Yeager, Tori Harper, Emily Davidson, Mallory Moratori and Alex Lipinski.
PIAA FIELD HOCKEY
ABRUPT ENDING
Crestwood’s season comes to end because of COVID-19 situation BY MATT BUFANO STaFF WriTer
The Crestwood field hockey team learned late Thursday that its season is over. Crestwood athletic director Dean Ambosie confirmed Crestwood has forfeited Saturday’s PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal playoff game against Southern Lehigh, citing “a COVID situation.” While Ambosie declined to give
further details because of privacy concerns, he said the issue is limited to the field hockey team and does not affect Friday’s PIAA Class 4A football game between Crestwood and Jersey Shore. “It was a really difficult decision,” Ambosie said, “but for the health and safety of the kids and their families, I really didn’t see another option for us.” Despite the natural disappoint-
ment that comes from ending the season so abruptly, several Crestwood players gave voice to their happiness that they even had a season in the first place. “I just feel truly grateful that we were able to have a season,” senior Taylor Yeager said earlier this week. “With everything being up in the air with COVID, I didn’t think it was going to happen. I had lost hope at one point.”
Months of uncertainty, compounded by school board and PIAA meetings, finally ended when the Comets took the field Sept. 14 and lost, 5-1, at reigning state champion Wyoming Valley West. Less than two months later, Crestwood was one of the hottest teams in the Wyoming Valley Please see COMETS, Page B3
The Ivy League became the first Division I conference this year to cancel all winter sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. The decision Thursday came 13 days before the scheduled start of the college basketball season. The league had decided this past summer, when it canceled fall sports, not to allow any of its sports to start play before early December. “Regrettably, the current trends regarding transmission of the COVID-19 virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner,” the Ivy League presidents said in a joint statement. “Student-athletes, their families and coaches are again being asked to make enormous sacrifices for the good of public health — and we do not make this decision lightly. “While these decisions come with great disappointment and frustration, our commitment to the safety and lasting health of our student-athletes and wider Please see IVY, Page B10
MASTERS
Casey rolls into early lead
Shoots 65 for two-shot lead as first-round play suspended due to rain. BY DOUG FERGUSON aSSoCiaTed PreSS
CUrTiS ComPToN / aSSoCiaTed PreSS
Tiger Woods tees off on the 11th hole Thursday at the Masters.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Already seven months behind schedule because of the pandemic, the most unusual Masters was 30 minutes old Thursday when the silence was interrupted by a rumble down by Amen Corner. No roars this week. Just thunder.
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Volpe Report
And then a weather delay of nearly three hours. All that, and it was still worth the wait. Paul Casey matched his lowest score at the Masters with a 7-under 65, giving him a two-shot lead among half the field fortunate to play in perfect scoring conditions. Tiger Woods matched his lowest start, a 68, and kept a bogey-free card in a major for the first time in 11 years. The course was different than what they expected, a result of the
rain and the calendar. The silence was exactly what they expected because majors haven’t had spectators in 16 months. But it was still the Masters. “So many people like myself are just excited to play this,” Casey said. “This is a treat. It always has been and always will be a real treat.” No doubt, the absence of roars was as eerie as the sound of a drone that approached the first tee as Jack Please see CASEY, Page B7
SUNDAY MORNINGS 10:30AM
BLUE WAVE DREAM EVAPORATES IN PA
fact that Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and others spent massive amounts of money in their attempts to win. Instead, they lost more Democrats hopes of a Blue Wave in 2020 elections were washed away by a Red Tide no one saw coming and that may have changed seats in the already Republican held House and Senate, including the Democratic Leader, a 30 year incumbent, and despite “Dark the political landscape in Pennsylvania. Money” that was heaped on various Democratic candidates from Pennsylvania Senator John Yudichak, I-14, returns to THE VOLPE places as far away as California, according to Yudichak. REPORT SUNDAY on FOX56 at 10:30 a.m. for a post-election ON TUESDAY, BETWEEN 10 and 10:30 PM, on FOX 56 News at 10, analysis of an election where the polls were off by considerable margins, and in which Democrats lost all but one of the statewide tune in for Volpe’s Views as Chuck comments on the election and races, including for Auditor General for the first time in more than how “Democrats have been hijacked by an elitist socialist -leaning faction”, ceding middle America and blue collar votes to the 30 years. While the Democrats carried the Presidency for Joe Biden, the party did not fare well all over the ballot, despite the Republicans.
Senator John Yudichak
LOCAL SPORTS
Friday, November 13, 2020
THe CiTiZeNS' voiCe B3
PIAA FOOTBALL CLASS 4A QUARTERFINAL
JERSEY SHORE (8-0) at CRESTWOOD (8-0) WHEN: Tonight, 7 HOW THEY GOT HERE: Jersey Shore defeated Shamokin 54-0 to win the district 4 Class 4a title. Crestwood defeated dallas 34-14 to win the district 2 Class 4a title. UP NEXT: The winner advances to the state semifinals to play either Lampeter-Strasburg or eLCo. SERIES HISTORY: First meeting. COACHES CORNER: Jersey Shore — Tom Gravish (9th season at Jersey Shore, 68-39); Crestwood — ryan arcangeli (2nd season, 15-5) SCOUTING REPORT: Jersey Shore ranked No. 1 in the state, according to Pennlive.com. Crestwood is ranked seventh in the same poll. Jersey Shore has won three straight district 4 championships and 15 consecutive league games. The bulldogs reached last year’s state semifinals but lost to dallas. defensively, the bulldogs average 3.2 points and 112.4 yards per game. They have four shutouts this year and has not alowed a team to score more than nine points in a game. The offense is averaging 40.1 points and 401.0 yards per game. Quarterback Branden Wheary has 1,401 yards passing and 19 touchdowns and just one interception in 171 attempts. ... Cam Allison leads a balanced run game with 833 yards and six touchdowns. Owen Anderson has 343 yardsrushing, while Brady Jordan has 316 and leads the team in rushing touchdowns with eight. ... Cayden Hess has 43 catches for 617 yards and seven touchdowns. anderson has 23 catches for 432 yards and seven scores. Dalton Dugan has 22 catches and four touchdowns. ... Crestwood last won a district title in 2014 when it was a 3a school. The Comets lost in the first round of the state playoffs to bethlehem Catholic. ... The Comets ranked fourth in the WvC in total offense with 301.8 yards per game and third in scoring with 30.6 points per game. defensively, the Comets were the top ranked defense in the WvC. They were fourth against the pass with 92.3 yards per game, first against the run at 82.8 yards per game, first with 175.2 yards and points allowed with 10.2. ... Jimmy Hawley leads the team in rushing with 433 yards and six touchdowns. Kaleb Benjamin averages 5.3 yards per carry with five touchdowns. Brendan DeMarzo has 16 catches and averages 16.3 yards per reception. Nick Kreuzer averages 23.1 yards per catch, while tight end Logan arnold has three touchdown receptions. — STEVE BENNETT
CLASS 5A QUARTERFINAL
VALLEY WEST (2-3) vs. CATHEDRAL PREP (5-2) WHEN: Tonight, 7 WHERE: brockway High School HOW THEY GOT HERE: valley West was awarded the district 2-11 subregional title. erie Cathedral Prep defeated Hollidaysburg, 33-7. UP NEXT: The winner advances to the state semifinals to play either Upper dublin or WC rustin. SERIES HISTORY: First meeting. COACHES CORNER: Valley West — Jack baransk (2nd season, 5-11); Cathedral Prep — michael mischler (21st season, 18th at Cathedral Prep, 218-63 overall, 201-47 at Cathedral Prep) Scouting report: Cathedral Prep ranked fifth in the state, according to Pennlive.com. The ramblers won five state titles and three consecutive Class 4a titles from 2016-18. They were bumped up to Class 5a this year. ... Jaheim Williams, an all-state linebacker is committed to duquesne. He saw some carries last week at running back after suffering an ankle injury in September. For the season, he has 194 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 8.4 yards per carry. ... Quarterback Tamar Sample has 585 yards passing and six touchdowns against two interceptions. X’zonder Goodwin and Patrick Fortin each have 11 receptions. Fortin leads the team with three touchdown catches. ... The offense averages 33.9 points and 329.0 yards per game. Last week against Hollidaysburg, the ramblers allowed 84 total yards and six first downs. ... valley West quarterback Donte Rhodes leads the team in rushing with 500 of the team’s 692 yards on the ground. The Spartans are averaging 5.1 yards per carry. rhodes has rushed for five of the team’s seven rushing touchdowns. ... Tyler Weidman has 10 catches for 278 yards and three touchdowns. He is averaging 27.8 yards per catch. The Spartans are averaging 238.0 yards and 19.8 points per game. defensively they are giving up 333.0 yards and 25.8 points per game. valley West won back-toback district 2 Class 5a titles and is in the state playoffs for the first time since 2017 when they lost to archbishop Wood. — STEVE BENNETT
NONLEAGUE FOOTBALL HONESDALE (2-4) AT TUNKHANNOCK (2-5)
WHEN: Tonight, 7 WHERE: Tunkhannock HS Stadium LAST: Tunkhannock, 35-26 (2019) THE BUZZ: Honesdale has won two straight games. Honesdale is 4-5 in its last nine games dating back to last season. ... Tunkhannock lost to Wilkes-barre area last week.
aSSoCiaTed PreSS FiLe
Penn State running back Journey Brown runs for a touchdown against Memphis in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 28.
Brown looking to impact Nittany Lions from sideline On Wednesday, running back announced he is giving up football because of heart condition. BY DONNIE COLLINS STaFF WriTer
Ja’Juan Seider is often keen to tell his players what football can give them. Millions of dollars in an NFL contract, if you’re good enough of course. More importantly than that, teammates who become broth-
PENN STATE ers, coaches who become like fathers, direction and discipline in lives that may not otherwise have had it. Then, he reminds them that it can also be cruel. He points out that you can commit a turnover that costs your team, or suffer an injury that cuts you off at the knees in your prime. That, for all the game gives to you, it will never apologize for what it takes away. Those are hard lessons for young kids, and they’re just as difficult sometimes for old
coaches at times like this. As Penn State’s running backs coach, Seider spent the last three years guiding Journey Brown from lost-on-the-depthchart high school track phenom to a player he considered one of the best at his position in the country. When Brown had to announce his retirement from playing after preseason COVID-19 screenings discovered he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Seider immediately lamented the talent lost. He also knew he’d need to get to work to help the man who became so much to him
not lose any more. “I know he was motivated and driven to get to the NFL, which we all felt like he was on that path to do,” Seider said Thursday. “Now, we just try to find out what’s next.” The next step for the gifted former running back might be just as important as anything he did the last five games of 2019, when he rushed for 593 yards and nine touchdowns and captured the imaginations of Penn State fans with his impressive Cotton Bowl performance. Please see BROWN, Page B6
COMETS: Mothers, daughters cherish legacy From PaGe b1
Conference and exacted its revenge with an overtime victory, 2-1, for the District 2 Class 2A championship at Valley West. That ended up being the last high school game played by Yeager, as well as fellow seniors Mallory Moratori, Alex Lipinski, Tori Harper and Emily Davidson. Moratori, daughter of head coach Patsy Moratori, scored the dramatic game-winning goal on a penalty corner. “We all got in our positions, we took a deep breath and we knew that we had to execute on this cor ner,” Yeager recalled. “The ball went out to Mallory and as soon as we heard the ball hit the back of the cage, I just ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug. We all piled on from there. It was really a great moment.” While the District 2 champion Comets (12-5-1) are unable to chase the field hockey team’s sixth state championship, they can take solace in the fact that they put “the Big Red Machine” atop the district for the first time since 2015. Crestwood’s senior class was uniquely qualified in knowing what was at stake when playing field hockey for Crestwood, given the motherdaughter connections between Patsy and Mallory Moratori, as well as assistant coach Justine Nemshick-Yeager and Taylor Yeager. Moratori and NemshickYeager played together for Crestwood’s first state champion team in 1988. “There is such a great sense of pride,” Nemshick-Yeager said. “This senior group, Patsy and I used to coach them in
SUbmiTTed PHoTo
Crestwood assistant coach Justine Nemshick-Yeager, left, and her daughter, Taylor, pose with their District 2 Class 2A champion gold medals after beating Wyoming Valley West. the dome since third or fourth grade. … When it came to coaching and teaching them the basics of field hockey and getting them to where they are today, it really is a feeling that I almost can’t describe. They’re almost, to me, like my
own daughters. We’ve been with them for so long. We have seen where they started and of course where they are today.” Nemshick-Yeager is a veteran in the sport, having played under the g reat Elvetta
Gemski at Crestwood and then under coaches Addy Malatesta and Mary Jo Hromchak at Wilkes University. Nemshick-Yeager coached Crestwood’s junior-high from 1995 to 2003. That’s when Taylor was born. As Taylor grew older and began playing field hockey, however, Nemshick-Yeager jumped back into the sport and eventually joined Moratori’s staff as a varsity assistant in 2014. It’s only right that this group, loaded with so many ties to Crestwood’s glory days, put the team back on top, leaving some to wonder, “What if ...” they played Saturday needing to win twice to reach the state final. “Mrs. Gemski started to build this program from 1972 until the day she left — and she’s still a part of this program in so many ways,” Nemshick-Yeager said. “She still has Patsy and myself there; she has Kim Schuler at the junior high program along with Missy Farrand Zaroda. (Gemski) has left, obviously, a legacy that will continue on as the years go on.” Perhaps it’s fitting, too, that although Crestwood will not a raise a state championship trophy this year, the Comets did finish the season by beating last year’s Class 2A state champ with as memorable a win they could have had. “To finally overcome in overtime and beat them, it’s just been crazy since last Tuesday,” Taylor Yeager said. “I still can’t even believe we did it.” Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060; @Cvbufano on Twitter
Fri., Nov. 13 • 7 PM CH 7, 507 HD Jersey Shore at Crestwood PIAA 4A Quarterfinal (Replayed Sat. & Sun. at 1:00 PM)
THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
Sports Tuesday, November 17, 2020
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NCAA looking at Indy for tourney bubble March Madness change comes as result of pandemic. BY JOHN MARSHALL assoCIaTed Press
The University of Maryland-Baltimore County pulled off one of the greatest upsets in American sports history at the 2018 NCAA Tournament, knocking off Virginia to become the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1. The madness kept coming that March from Pittsburgh
to San Diego. Top-ranked Xavier lost in the second round and so did No. 2 seeds North Carolina and Cincinnati. Two third-seeded teams were bounced early, as were three No. 4 seeds during an opening weekend that epitomized the beloved spectacle the NCAA Tournament has become. That won’t happen this season: The NCAA announced on Monday it plans to hold the entire 2021 men’s tournament in a single geographic area to mitigate
the risks of COVID-19. It is in talks with Indianapolis to serve as the host city. Instead of all those upsets, buzzer beaters and star-turning perfor mances being spread out at venues across the country, the bracket will be played out at sites in one city, a sort of one-stop shopping version of the sprawling tournament typically played in every region of the U.S. The news comes nine months after the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancella-
tion of the 2020 tournaments, a severe economic blow not just to the host cities but scores of athletic departments across the country. “It will be a very controlled environment,” NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said. “It’ll be different, it’ll be historic and it’ll be hopefully something we all treasure and experience just once, hopefully not ever again.” There was no immediate Please see HOOPS, Page B3
assoCIaTed Press FILe
Duke players celebrate after beating Wisconsin in the 2015 championship game in indianapolis.
NFL PIAA FIELD HOCKEY
KNIGHT LIFE
Mozeleski goes from young fan to key piece for Sem seTH WeNIG / assoCIaTed Press
Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz leaves the field after Sunday’s loss to the Giants.
No major changes for Eagles after loss BY ROB MAADDI assoCIaTed Press
THe CITIZeNs’ voICe FILe
Wyoming Seminary’s Anna Mozeleski, left, fights for the ball against New Hope-Solebury’s Lilly Smith during the PIAA quarterfinals. Mozeleski, a junior, is a starting midfielder for the Blue Knights.
Junior aids Knights’ attack with smarts, passing ability. BY MATT BUFANO sTaFF WrITer
Anna Mozeleski was Wyoming Seminary field hockey’s No. 1 fan. Now, she’s one of the Blue Knights’ top players. Mozeleski, who people at the Kingston institution would label as being a “lifer” in that Sem’s the only school she’s ever attended, is playing a more critical role than ever as the team is one win from
Today’s game PIAA Class 1A Semifinals bloomsburg at Wyoming seminary When: 4 p.m. At stake: Winner moves on to saturday’s championship game. reaching its fourth consecutive state championship game. “I love playing field hockey,” she said, “and I love playing field hockey for Wyoming Seminary.” Before she began crafting her own legacy at Sem, however, a 9-year-old Mozeleski watched Sem
beat Crestwood, 2-1, for the 2013 PIAA Class 2A title. Mozeleski even has documentation of her fandom, a photograph of her and head coach Karen Klassner smiling wide and holding the state championship trophy. “That’s one of my mom’s favorite pictures of all-time,” said Mozeleski, whose mother, Lisa Mozeleski, is Sem’s head athletic trainer. Anna’s father, Tony, also works as an athletic trainer. “I was just in awe, honestly. I was in awe of Klassner and what her program had accomplished and everything that she had done.
I remember thinking, ‘I would give anything to be a part of this.’” Mozeleski, a junior, will start at midfield today at 4 p.m., when the District 2 champion Blue Knights (14-0) host District 4 champion Bloomsburg in the PIAA Class 1A semifinals at Klassner Field. Mozeleski is “a student of the game,” according to Klassner, who added Mozeleski to the starting lineup back when she was a freshman. “If you watch her in the field, she has pinpoint passing, she Please see SEM, Page B3
PHILADELPHIA — Doug Pederson is mad at himself and the way his team played following a bye. Still, the team leads the NFC East so the coach isn’t planning big changes. A 27-17 loss to the New York Giants (3-7) on Sunday dropped the Eagles to 3-5-1 and tightened the race in the NFL’s worst division. “I don’t want to get in a situation where it becomes a knee-jerk reaction for me or for the team,” Pederson said Monday. “I have to sit back and I do have to evaluate everything. We’re still sitting here in a really good place in the NFC East. I know it doesn’t look pretty. We understand that. But there’s still a lot of ball ahead of us and there’s still a great opportunity for this football team moving forward and that’s the motivation. “I’ll take a look at things and if there’s a chance to make a personnel change or whatever it might be, I’ll take a look at that, but I just don’t want to make a change to change. There’s got to be a reason for the change. I just know that it definitely starts Please see EAGLES, Page B4
NBA
Sixers mum on draft; Harden deal a possibility BY KEITH POMPEY THe PHILadeLPHIa INQuIrer (TNs)
The obvious question is, what are the Philadelphia 76ers looking for in Wednesday’s NBA draft? Give Vince Rozman, the team’s vice president of scouting, credit for keeping things close to the vest. A year ago, the team addressed the need for a perimeter defender by trading up to acquire Matisse Thybulle with the 20th overall pick. They did this after assoCIaTed Press FILe promising to draft the lockRockets’ James Harden has been mentioned as a down defender at No. 24 if available. Then the Sixers possible trade acquisition for the Sixers.
tried to take care of another need by adding sharpshooter Marial Shayok in the second round. Heading into Wednesday’s draft, the team’s biggest needs are additional ballhandlers and perimeter shooters. But you won’t hear Rozman say that, publicly. “When you look back at last year, we ended (up getting Thybulle and Shayok),” he said when asked about this season’s biggest needs. “I don’t know if there was a special target for like a perimeter defender. I think if we didn’t get Matisse, we probably would have gotten
someone who is a different profile. “And similar to this year, our primary focus is to get guys that one, two, three years down the road are still in the league and useful.” Rozman said the Sixers’ primary focus is getting someone who can contribute, regardless of the “skills they are providing.” The Sixers have the 21st pick in the first round and picks 34, 36, 49, and 58 in the second. They could trade their first-rounder to move up in the draft, or package it in a blockbuster trade for a star
veteran player. A win-now executive, new Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey made a knack of trading away draft picks as the Houston Rockets general manager. The Rockets haven’t chosen a first-rounder since selecting Sam Dekker in 2015 because of his approach. James Harden continues to be mentioned the most as a possible acquisition. The Sixers had interest in the Houston Rockets franchise player even before hiring Morey, Harden’s former Please see NBA, Page B3
SPORTS
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
THe CITIZeNs' voICe B3
SEM: Mozeleski becomes leader for Knights’ younger players From PaGe b1
buTCH dILL
LSU head coach Ed Orgeron walks the sideline during the first quarter of a game against Auburn on Oct. 31.
LSU’s Orgeron defends response to allegations assoCIaTed Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Ed Orgeron said Monday that he has and will continue to take “appropriate action” when he receives allegations of player misconduct such as sexual abuse. The LSU coach, now in his fourth full season, was responding to a USA Today investigative article detailing numerous instances in which the university’s athletic administration appeared not to follow up in accordance with protocols on complaints by alleged sexual assault victims. “We need to support and protect victims of violence, sexual abuse of any kind,” Orgeron said. “There’s no place in our society nor on this campus or on our football program for any behavior of this type. “When accusations are made, we have a legal and moral obligation to report every allegation to the university’s Title IX office so due process can be implemented,” Orgeron said. “I have in the past, and will continue to take appropriate action and
NCAA comply with reporting protocols.” The article described repeated instances in which LSU declined to release requested information to not just the media, but also victims themselves, about how they were or had handled complaints against former players including running back Derrius Guice and receiver Drake Davis in recent years. Guice left LSU in good standing and was selected in the NFL draft by Washington, which has since released him after revelations of his assault on a woman. Davis was suspended and ultimately expelled from LSU, but only after prolong and repeated abuse of his girlfriend went unaddressed, according to the report. The report states that Guice and Davis are among at least nine LSU football players reported to police for sexual misconduct and dating violence since coach Ed Orgeron took over the team
four years ago. Also among them was former reserve QB Peter Parrish, who was suspended for a year after being accused of rape and then transferred to Memphis. Among recent former players accused of sexual misconduct but never disciplined were running back Tae Provens, linebacker Jacob Phillips, tight end Zach Sheffer and safety Grant Delpit, according to USA Today. The article stated that Provens, Phillips and Sheffer were accused of rape, while Delpit was accused of recording a woman without her knowledge and sharing the video. Delpit has denied the allegations through his attorney, Shawn Holley. Orgeron said he is confident that “the university is working to address our policies and processes when allegations arise.” Orgeron made the statement at the onset of his usual Monday-of-game-week m e d i a c o n f e re n c e. H e declined to take further questions on the matter. LSU is scheduled to play at Arkansas on Saturday.
HOOPS: Tournament expected to be played in March, April From PaGe b1
word on the women’s tournament, which runs concurrently in March and early April. The pandemic has disrupted every sport for months now. The NBA and NHL completed their seasons in controlled-environment bubbles and baseball trimmed its regular season to 60 games with a World Series played entirely in Texas and no home games for the LA Dodgers or Tampa Bay. The NFL has forged ahead with its regular season, though with dozens of positive COVID-19 tests. The original plan was for the 67 games of the 2021 NCAA Tournament to be played at 13 sites across the country, starting with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Regional sites were set for Minneapolis, Denver, New York City and Memphis, Tennessee. As COVID-19 cases across the country spiked and wreaked havoc on the college football season, it became clear to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee that multiple sites would not work. “We coalesced around a decision that we were not going to be able to host the tournament through 13 different sites,” Kentucky athletic director and committee chair Mitch Barnhart said. “Through the pandemic, it was unreasonable to expect that.”
Centralizing the tournament will allow a controlled environment with venues, practice facilities, lodging and medical resources all near one another. Indianapolis, the only city the NCAA is currently negotiating with, made the most sense since the Final Four was already scheduled there for April and NCAA headquarters is on the edge of downtown, walkable from various sites. The NCAA set a Nov. 25 start date for the season as it tries to bounce back after the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament led to a $375 million shortfall in revenue distributed to member institutions. Schools have scrambled to fill schedules while the coronavirus has ripped through college football, causing the cancellation of more than 60 games. Multiple basketball programs are currently on pause due to COVID-19 and the Ivy League announced last week the cancellation of winter sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. Gavitt said there is no plan to change the start date and the NCAA Tournament is expected to be played in March and April as scheduled. No determination has been made on whether fans will be allowed, a decision that will also face individual conferences as their tournaments approach in March. “The committee has made a really sound decision here,
disappointing as it is to go away from our valued hosts for 13 different sites from First Four through the regionals,” Gavitt said. “Condensing this to one geographic area that we can do it in a more safe and responsible way is where we need to be.” It might be a while before the women’s basketball committee decides what it wants to do with the tournament. Since 2015, the first two rounds have been played on home campuses of the top 16 seeds. Those aren’t known until Selection Monday, so there are no predetermined sites. The women’s Final Four next March is set for San Antonio and the regionals are supposed to be played in Albany, New York; Austin, Texas; Cincinnati; and Spokane, Washington. “Because of the ongoing pandemic, the committee recognizes that the tournament may have a different feel,” NCAA vice president of women’s basketball Lynn Holzman said. “The committee intends to maintain a field of 64 teams and a variety contingency plans — including reducing the number of first- and secondround sites or bringing the entire tournament to one location — are being considered.” A one-site NCAA Tournament will cause a financial hit to the cities scheduled to host early-round and regional games.
always knows where to take the ball,” Klassner said. “She’s not comfortable with shooting; we’re trying to get her to shoot more, and she’d rather dish the ball off to someone else … who might be closer to the goal or whatever. She’s a pretty unselfish player.” Given Mozeleski’s unselfish play, her impact is not necessarily measured by statistics. Sem has scored 20 goals in four playoff games this postseason, for example, and Mozeleski has recorded just one goal and one assist in that stretch. It’s reminiscent of former Sem and current Duke standout Kelsey Reznick, who was a 2018 All-American, despite being the fifthleading scorer on her own team. “I care more about getting the ball up to the person who made the assist and getting the ball up to the goalscorer, rather than scoring the goals themselves, because without those people the goals can’t be scored anyway,” Mozeleski said. “It reminds me of Kelsey and what she did my freshman year. … “I’m proud to be where I am and I don’t show up on the box score a lot. That’s perfectly OK with me because I feel what I do is really important.” Mozeleski admits being “a nervous wreck” at times during her freshman season, but she looked to calming, veteran influences, such as current seniors Mia Magnotta and Grace Parsons, in those tense moments. Having won a pair of state championships and after earning first-team allstate recognition a year ago, Mozeleski is now one of the
submITTed PHoTo
Wyoming Seminary head field hockey coach Karen Klassner, left, and then-9-year-old Anna Mozeleski hold the 2013 PIAA Class 2A championship trophy. varsity veterans worthy of younger players’ admiration. Currently uncommitted, Mozeleski intends on playing Division I field hockey. In the meantime, she’s focused on winning a third state title while keeping herself and the rest of her team healthy and safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. “The main goal that Klassner has been trying to tell us is, ‘Do your best to keep us playing,’” Mozeleski said. “That means keeping our masks on, staying distanced, not exposing ourselves, following precautions put forth by the school and the county and the state. We’ve been doing our best with staying masked and staying distanced
because we all know, as what happened with Crestwood High School, that our season can end in a day or a millisecond. We know that we have to do everything in our power to keep ourselves and others safe so that we have the chance to earn another state championship.” The winner of today’s game will play Saturday at 10 a.m. for the state title at Whitehall High School. It will face the winner of today’s semifinal contest between District 3 champion Greenwood and District 7 champion Shady Side Academy. Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060; @Cvbufano on Twitter
NBA: Point guard Paul off market after trade to Phoenix From PaGe b1
boss. Sacramento Kings shooting guard Buddy Hield, New Orleans Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday, and San Antonio Spurs reserve point guard Patty Mills have also been mentioned as possible trade targets. A source confirmed a Ringer report that the Sixers are interested in Mills. Sources have said the Sixers are among the many teams interested in Holiday, the Sixers’ 2009 first-round pick who went to the Pelicans in the 2013 trade that brought Nerlens Noel to Philadelphia. The Sixers were also interested in point guard Chris Paul, whom the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Monday (along with Abdel Nader) to the Phoenix Suns for Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque, and a protected 2022 first-round pick. Hield has indicated on social media that he would like to be traded to the Sixers. There’s also a report that he wants to play for the Dallas Mavericks. While Harden publicly says he is committed to Houston, sources have said he’s unhappy there. The Brooklyn Nets and Sixers appear to be his preferred
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destinations. ESPN reported that the Nets are considering the possibility of a trade, but noted it was unclear how far the franchise would go to acquire the three-time reigning scoring champion. Harden was in Los Angeles working out with several Nets players last week, according to sources. Guards Cole Anthony (North Carolina), Tyrell Terry (Stanford), Nico Mannion (Arizona), Josh Green (Arizona), Kira Lewis Jr. (Alabama), and Malachi Flynn (San Diego State), and small forward Saddiq Bey (Villanova) are being mentioned among possible Sixers draft acquisitions if they keep the first-round pick. Since Morey was hired three weeks ago, Rozman said the Sixers have been getting him up to speed in the team’s draft preparation. “I think the one thing that immediately comes through with Daryl is kind of the pace of which he works, and trying to keep up with that,” Rozman said. “From a philosophical standpoint, I think we still got a couple of days to go. It’s hard to say. It’s hard to say right now where exactly his head is and how he is going to view those five picks.”
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Porzingis to miss start of season DALLAS — Kristaps Porzingis will miss the start of the season as the Mavericks star continues recovery from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. President of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said in a radio interview Monday the club was being cautious with Luka Doncic’s European sidekick, who missed more than a season because of another knee injury earlier in his career. Porzingis injured his right knee in the opener of a first-round series against the Clippers in the bubble in August. The 7-foot-3 Latvian had surgery in October. Dallas ended a three-year run of missing the playoffs behind the 21-year-old sensation Doncic and Porzingis, who played the next two games after the injury before missing the rest of a series won by the Clippers in six games. Porzingis averaged 20.4 points and 9.5 rebounds in his first season with Dallas. He missed all of 2018-19 after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during what ended up being his final game with the New York Knicks in February 2018.
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THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
Sports Friday, November 20, 2020
PENN STATE
Ford growing in expanded role BY DONNIE COLLINS STaFF WriTer
There’s a difference, Penn State running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider insists, between preparing to play a football game and preparing to be a focal point during a football game. No matter how much he tries to evaluate it, he wonders on what side of that line Devyn Ford fell heading into
Inside a look at the Lions-iowa matchup. Page B4 the 2020 season. That’s no knock on a player who arrived at Penn State in 2019 having eschewed scholarship offers from Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU and dozens of other top programs. It’s just the reality of a tough situation,
one nobody has had to adjust to more than Ford. When Penn State star running back Journey Brown sat out because of a heart condition before the season and then lost bruising sophomore Noah Cain to an ankle injury in the first game, it took quite a bite out of one of the most ferocious running games in college football. It also cast the sophomore
Ford, a dynamic-but-littleused backup in 2019, into a starting role he seemed so far from, not so long ago. “You go from being probably the best running back room in the country to potentially playing with a bunch of young guys,” Seider said. “Even Devyn, who has prepared for this moment, I can assure you he probably Please see FORD, Page B4
aSSoCiaTed PreSS FiLe
Penn State running back Devyn Ford is averaging 3.9 yards per carry this season.
NBA
Embiid, Simmons still form Sixers’ nucleus
FIELD HOCKEY
Team reshaping roster through draft, trades, free agency. BY KEITH POMPEY THe PHiLadeLPHia iNQUirer
THe CiTiZeNS’ voiCe FiLe
The 2010 Wyoming Seminary field hockey team celebrates after winning the PIAA Class 2A championship.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY Members of Sem’s 2010 state title team keeping close eye on alma mater’s current title chase
P
BY MATT BUFANO STaFF WriTer
eople repeat clichés because there’s truth in them. Sports teams, we’re told, cultivate a foundation for a life that prioritizes hard work, teamwork, time management and other skills. “A lot of that sounds like canned answers,” AshLeigh Sebia said. “But it’s really not.” Sebia swears by the life lessons she learned with the Wyoming Seminary field hockey team, as do other members of the 2010 state
THAT WAS THEN Nov. 21, 2010
championship squad who are earning a living in fields like education, medicine and law, such as Sebia, an attorney in Philadelphia. Now a decade removed from their high school glory days — today is the 10th anniversary of the Blue Knights’ PIAA Class 2A title — several members of that team keep a close eye on the program as it plays Saturday for another state championship. “I think Sem field hockey has played the biggest role in my
a snapshot of the cover of The Citizens’ voice sports section the day after Wyoming Seminary won the state championship by defeating Lehighton.
Please see SEM, Page B3
PHILADELPHIA — With the trade market at full speed, the draft behind them, and free agency set to begin tonight at 6, what’s next for the 76ers? They made two rosterreshaping trades and selected three players in Wednesday’s NBA draft. In addition to dumping Al Horford’s salary, the Sixers were determined to improve the team fit by acquiring sharpshooters Seth Curry and Danny Green. Daryl Morey, the new president of basketball operations, made the moves to create the floor spacing for All-Stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. The Sixers have been interested in possibly acquiring three-time NBA scoring champion James Harden, who is unhappy in Houston. The 2018 NBA MVP wants to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets, where Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are forming a superstar nucleus. Rapper Meek Mill is reportedly trying to pursuade Harden, a close friend, to make the Sixers his preferred destination. But the Sixers would have to include Simmons in any package to the Rockets to get the deal done. Philly wants to keep the tandem of Simmons and Embiid together. Please see SIXERS, Page B5
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Smith-Schuster ‘lit’ with a dash of grit WR has reputation as go-to target when things get tough. BY WILL GRAVES aSSoCiaTed PreSS
PITTSBURGH — Don’t get it twisted. Life is still very much “lit” for JuJu SmithKeiTH SraKoCiC / aSSoCiaTed PreSS Schuster. A quick scan of the JuJu Smith-Schuster is tacked by Cincinnati Pittsburgh Steelers wide Bengals cornerback Isiah Swann on Sunday. receiver’s hyperactive social
media accounts offers all the proof required. There’s the soon-to-be 24-year-old hawking pizza. There he is TikToking on the midfield star at the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. There he is rocking his own line of merchandise, including sweatshirts featuring Boujee, his Instagram-famous French bulldog. The off-the-field brand is
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Volpe Report
ONCE ROOTIN’-TOOTIN’, WEST NOW SNORTIN’ & SHOOTIN’
stronger than ever for SmithSchuster. Just don’t think it interferes with his day job. For all the good-natured “look-at-me-ness” SmithSchuster embodies, underneath is a player who has deftly avoided being labeled a diva and all the baggage that comes along with it (see Brown, Antonio). Developing a reputation as one of the NFL’s toughest
players at his position helps. Sure, rookie Chase Claypool has become the field-flipper for the league’s only unbeaten team and Diontae Johnson’s pedigree and quick feet are reminiscent of early-2010s Brown. Smith-Schuster remains first among equals for the Steelers (9-0). While his numbers — 54 Please see JUJU, Page B6
SUNDAY MORNINGS 10:30AM
Federal prosecutor and former assistant Pennsylvania Attorney General Joe Peters, who headed the Drug Enforcement Task Force, scrutinize Oregon’s voters’ decision, a decision that could go sideways in the blink of an eye.
With the pandemic and the SNAFU over the election, it almost went unnoticed when Oregon voters approved a referendum decriminalizing the personal use of deadly drugs, including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
Show host Chuck Volpe and both guests will dissect the new law and the short- and long-term ramifications of the bold move by Oregon liberals whose referendum sponsors maintain addiction is a public health issue.
But was there any wisdom in approving Oregon’s ballot question by nearly 18 percentage points?
Mr. Peters and Mr. Powell are both in agreement that it’s a bad law.
On Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on FOX56, Volpe Report guests, veteran crime fighters, Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell and former Assistant
On Tuesday between 10 and 10:30 p.m. on FOX56 News at 10, Tune into Volpe’s Views as Chuck comments on a study that says some school districts are getting short changed on funding.
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
Friday, November 20, 2020
THe CiTiZeNS' voiCe B3
Lackawanna League delays start of winter sports by two weeks BY JOBY FAWCETT STaFF WriTer
THe CiTiZeNS’ voiCe FiLe
Wyoming Seminary captains Jessica Swoboda, left, and Lauren Skudalski with the 2010 PIAA Class 2A field hockey championship trophy.
SEM: Players’ bond still strong From PaGe b1
development as a person and my life philosophy,” said Jessica Swoboda, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Virginia. “I would say Wyoming Seminary field hockey’s philosophy is that, at the end of the game or practice, you need to be able to look into your teammate’s eye and say, ‘I gave it all for you.’ That’s a phrase (assistant coach) Kim Barbacci always repeated to us: ‘It has nothing to do with you personally, but it has to do with something that’s bigger than you.’ That’s something that’s really stuck with me.” In an unlikely twist, Swoboda, a senior midfielder, was the central figure when the biggest obstacle was thrown Sem’s way. During a 7-1 win over Holy Redeemer in the District 2 semifinals, she was assessed the harshest penalty of her career: a red card. Swoboda was a victim of circumstance more than anything, as it was a physical contest that featured several green and yellow cards and warnings prior to her ejection. She was forced to miss the next game, the district final, too. “You see Jess get thrown out of the game — she’s probably the last human you’d ever expect to get thrown out of a game — and you see all of the cards stacked against you,” said former goalkeeper Carly Sokach Kosak, an internal medicine resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Then to be able to rally together and have this wonderful work ethic ... it builds a whole bunch of resilience you carry forward into college, your career, your life and your family.” Short-handed Sem lost the district championship game against Crestwood, 4-1, but still qualified for the state tournament, eventually earning a rematch with the Comets in the semifinals. “Out of that entire run, for a lot of us, that Crestwood game in the state semifinals will ring true and have some really powerful memories for many years to come,” Sokach Kosak said. “I think that was the moment where we all came together.” Sem beat Crestwood in the rematch, 2-1, and then defeated Lehighton, 5-0, for the state title. It was Sem’s fourth state championship, a number that has doubled thanks to titles in 2011, 2013, 2018 and 2019. “I still follow them really closely,” Swoboda said. “Over these past 10 years, coach (Karen) Klassner has become like part of the Swoboda family. So, I keep up with it because she’s still such an important figure in my life. ... Plus, I find this season especially meaningful for me, because people like Ella Barbacci and Anna Mozeleski were 4 or 5 or 6 when I was playing. They were always on the sideline — Anna with her mom, Ella with her mom — and they were a part of my Wyoming Seminary history.” Lauren Skudalski, who co-captained the 2010 team with Swoboda, recalls Barbacci and Mozeleski often tagging along. Barbacci, in particular, has scored a few huge goals during her sophomore season,
SUbmiTTed PHoTo
Carly Sokach, left, and Ella Barbacci pose for a picture on the team bus with a state championship medal after winning in 2010. including the game-winner to beat Wyoming Area, 1-0, in double overtime for the district title. “I still remember when she was at practice — she was very little at that time — getting involved with passing drills with us,” Skudalski said. “It’s so amazing to see her now scoring goals for the team that we once played for.” Sebia, who won three state titles (2008, 2010-11), occasionally visits Klassner Field as an adult. She admits she’s “very rusty” with a stick, but following the team brings back some of her favorite memories. “It’s been really fun and really nostalgic for me,” Sebia said. The legacy of that state champion team, as any program should aspire to, is in the development of its individuals just as much as the wins and losses. Skudalski, for example, is a medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, a path she may have never followed if not for field hockey. “Medicine is a lot of team environments,” Skudalski said. “I realized I love working in a team setting when I was a part of Sem field hockey, which kind of stemmed my interest in medicine and being involved constantly with other people. I love thinking back to those memories with my teammates. That’s a big part of why I went into medicine.” Sokach Kosak said it’s no coincidence so many high school student-athletes, particularly those coached by Klassner, Kim Barbacci and Margaret Kerrick, are successful in their careers. The staff ’s key ingredient, Sokach Kosak said, is the balance with which it empowers players and holds them to a high standard. “It says a lot when you have a group of strong women that are mentored by a group of strong women,” Sokach Kosak said. “I am very proud and grateful that I got the chance to be a part of that group.” Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060; @Cvbufano on Twitter
One day after the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association moved ahead with plans to start official winter sports practices on time, the Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association chose to delay the start for them by two weeks. LIAA athletic directors met Thursday afternoon via teleconference to discuss plans moving forward after being directed by superintendents to delay the start to at least Dec. 4. Teamsarerequiredtocomplete 15 practices in the preseason beforeholdingacontestagainst another school, which puts the first game date at Dec. 25. With those instructions, the league schedule was adjusted for wrestling to move the two match dates in December to Jan. 9 and Jan. 16. Those two Saturdays were opened up after most tournaments being canceled. The Lackawanna League championship meet, which was scheduled for Dec. 19, is postponed to Feb. 20 and could be canceled based on the limit of an eight-team maximum for tournaments. At its inception in 2010, the league tournament took place in late February for the first five years. It also was moved from its usual December date to the week before the District 2 individual championships during the 2016-17 season because of inclement weather. “We just wanted to give as much time as possible for things to improve,” Delaware Valley athletic director Chris Ross said. “That’s sort of our Hail Mary to get it in.” Teams will also be allowed to pick up nonleague matches
during January and February. “That will fit into a puzzle because with all of the tournaments being canceled, our dates are wide open especially on Saturdays,” Montrose athletic director and LIAA athletic director group president Joe Gilhool said. The Lackawanna League basketball schedule stayed intact. The girls varsity season start date is Jan. 4 and runs through Feb. 17. Boys varsity starts Jan. 5 and concludes Feb. 18. Teams that lose nonleague games because of the delayed start can reschedule those games for after Dec. 25. There was some concern as to teams meeting the state minimum number of contests to qualify for the District 2 tournament. The PIAA requires a schedule of at least half the maximum number of games, which is 22 for basketball, and the completion of a third of them, or eight games. The Lackawanna League schedule includes 13 games for teams in Division I and Division II, and 14 games for teams in Divisions III and IV. “If the number is given at the district level (is higher) that could pose a problem,” Gilhool said. The first Lackawanna League swim meet was scheduled for Dec. 11. Swimming league president Scott Gower will schedule a meeting with athletic directors to adjust the schedule and address any guidance from the PIAA and Gov. Tom Wo l f ’s a d m i n i s t r at i o n regarding the new mask mandate for athletics. Swim schools also have the option to compete in virtual meets, which Gower will also address.
The LIAA was informed through a call with Hazleton Area athletic director Fred Barletta that most schools in the Wyoming Valley Conference are scheduled to start official practice today. The exceptions are Wilkes-Barre Area, which will star t Nov. 27; Wyoming Area and Tunkhannock on Dec. 1; and Crestwood on Dec. 14. Many LIAA athletic directors also indicated their athletic programs would continue with voluntary workouts leading into the Dec. 4 start date, which is allowed at the varsity level only by the superintendents. However, others, like Dunmore, which suspended activities indefinitely Wednesday, will not, athletic director Mark Finan said. The LIAA is expected to finalize the winter plans at its next meeting Tuesday. The organization also plans to address restrictions for indoor events in regard to spectators and the large gathering guidelines issued by the state. Some schools already formulated individual plans that accommodate some fan attendance at events. “We are mainly going to finalize the direction of our schedule,” Gilhool said. “It’s going to be a really packed schedule in January and early February. I know school districts are going to be pushed to get more games in in a quicker time frame. Three games a week are probably going to happen. I hope school districts don’t try to get 22 in, but I am sure they will. “It will be each individual school’s decision, so that is up to them.” Staff writer JOE BARESS contributed to this report.
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‘SEM’SATIONAL
Wyoming Seminary field hockey wins 3rd straight title
Flipping to blue
Edwardsville, Forty Fort go from Trump to Biden BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER STAFF WRITER
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Wyoming Seminary field hockey team poses with their trophy after defeating Greenwood for the PIAA Class 1A state championship in Whitehall on Saturday.
W
yoming Seminary added another chapter to its field hockey dynasty Saturday, beating Greenwood, 3-0, for the PIAA Class 1A state championship at Whitehall High School. The undefeated Blue Knights (16-0), who also won Wyoming Valley Conference and District 2 titles, became the first local field hockey team to win three PIAA championships in a row. Isabella Pisano, Ella Barbacci and Anna Mozeleski scored for Wyoming Seminary, which got another sensational performance in goal by Iowa commit Mia Magnotta, who made 13 saves.
COMPLETE GAME COVERAGE BEGINS ON PAGE B1.
Saving history, one building at a time
Advocates praise move to protect W-B’s historic architecture
Please see BLUE, Page A6
Judge throws out Trump bid to stop Pa. vote certification The judge said the campaign’s claims were ‘unsupported by evidence.’ BY MARK SCOLFORO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pennsylvania officials can certify election results that currently show Democrat Joe Biden winning the state by more than 80,000 votes, a federal judge ruled Saturday, dealing President Donald Trump’s campaign another blow in its effort to invalidate the election. U.S. District Judge Mat-
BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER
WILKES-BARRE — Vaughn Koter adores his 91-year-old historic home on West Ross Street, he loves the character of his neighborhood and he’s grateful the city council has taken action to help protect both. “I remember when I was probably in junior high, King’s College tore down all the brownstones on Union Street. I remember seeing all those beautiful buildings being demolished,” Koter, a 49-year-old working in health care technology sales, said. “I just didn’t get it. Other communities are preserving their history, but we have a way of tearing these beautiful architectural gems down and then put up buildings that don’t necessarily fit in with the landscape,” Koter lamented. “I think we’re losing a lot of our history, and it’s not a
Four years ago, Donald Trump won the presidential vote in Luzerne County by 25,971 votes and was on top in 72 of the county’s 76 municipalities. “Ugh,” Edwardsville resident Cynthia Zimmerman said of the 2016 election. Zimmerman voted for Hillary Clinton, who finished 44,292 votes behind Trump in Pennsylvania. “I was very disappointed with that,” she said. In the Nov. 3 election, Trump won the unofficial county vote by 22,056 votes, and Edwardsville is one of two county municipalities to flip to Joe Biden. “Well four years of Trump showed the mess
he’s made of things,” Zimmerman said, explaining Biden’s success in her town. “I certainly hope some people were swayed by the evidence before their eyes, coronavirus out of control, etc.” Forty Fort is the other Luzerne County municipality that flipped. “I didn’t realize it until my wife told me Forty Fort went blue. I don’t know why. I know there were a lot more Biden signs than Hillary signs four years ago,” said Mike Cherinka, a Biden voter from Forty Fort. “But there is a still a big Trump contingent here. I always thought Forty Fort was more of a Republican town.”
thew Brann in Williamsport turned down the request for an injunction by Trump’s campaign. In his ruling, Brann said the Trump campaign presented “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations ... unsupported by evidence.” “In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state,” the opinion said. “Our people, laws, and institutions demand more.” Please see TRUMP, Page A6
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Vaughn Koter stands in front of his historic home on West Ross Street in WilkesBarre. Koter bought the home two years and restored it to a single-family home while maintaining its historic features. good thing for our city.” Koter’s home, which lies in what the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office recognizes as the River Street Historic District, and other buildings in that district are now protected from neglect that could lead to condemnation as well as from developers with plans to demolish
them and replace them with something different. Wilkes-Barre City Council on Nov. 5 passed on final reading an amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance, authorizing an historic properties overlay for the zoning map and establishing an Historic Overlay District Advisory Committee that will desig-
nate historic properties in the city and review any applications that seek to make changes to properties included in the district. The district can be designated to include any property in the city that the committee deems historic. Please see HISTORY, Page A4
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THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
Sports Sunday, november 22, 2020
PIAA CLASS 1A FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP 3-1 GREENWOOD (13-3) 2-1 WYOMING SEM (16-0)
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TRIPLE CROWN
Wyoming Sem wins third straight state title
Sean mCKeaG / STaFF PHoToGraPHer
Wyoming Seminary’s Grace Parsons holds up the trophy as she and her teammates celebrate after winning the PIAA Class 1A field hockey championship.
Underclassmen help seniors go out on top; Magnotta makes 13 saves in shutout. BY MATT BUFANO STaFF WrITer
WHITEHALL — Wyoming Seminary played so many conference, district and state championship games over the past four years, it’s nearly impossible to identify one as being the biggest of them all. For Sem’s seniors, however, Saturday’s PIAA Class 1A title game will be pretty hard to top. Wyoming Seminary won its third consecutive state championship and ninth all-
LEFT: Wyoming Seminary’s Abby Santo controls the ball past Greenwood’s Jordan Stroup during Saturday’s game in Whitehall.
time, shutting out District 3 champion Greenwood, 3-0, at Whitehall High School. “Definitely a little bit more special for the seniors,” said senior goalkeeper Mia Magnotta, a three-time state champion and four-time state finalist. “It’s our last year and we’re the leaders of the team, so, it makes you feel good. It makes you feel like you’ve done something right this season.” Longtime head coach Karen Klassner initially
INSIDE ■ Game notes, including the top offensive play, the best defensive stop and a key statistic. B8 ■ Parsons shows heart, attitude and skills of a champion. B8 ■ Photos from Saturday’s game. B9 WATCH IT AGAIN: PCN will rebroadcast the PIAA Class 1A championship game today at 8 a.m.
Please see CHAMPS, Page B8 Sean mCKeaG / STaFF PHoToGraPHer
PENN STATE FOOTBALL
After another loss, QB situation not just 2020’s issue
J
DONNIE COLLINS Commentary
ames Franklin has to keep something in mind right now. This season is no longer about this season. As much as he wants to focus on “the 1-0 mentality.” As much as he wants to right the ship to show it can be righted. As much as the prospect of an 0-8 regular
41 season creeps closer and closer to reality. This season has to be about 2021 now. Simple as that sounds after being soundly beaten, 41-21, by a bigger,
21 stronger, faster, tougher, more-engaged, better-prepared Iowa squad at Beaver Stadium on Saturday night, it’s not the way coaches are trained to look at this. They’re going
to look at turnover margin — a ludicrous minus-9 for Penn State through five losses. They’re going to look at quick-change offense — Penn State allowed 24 points off turnovers and 31 if you include Iowa drives that started on Penn State’s half of the field. They’re
going to think they can win a couple of games if they can just ... clean ... that ... stuff ... up. But winning a couple games at this point is akin to serving grandma’s special giblet gravy alongside the remnants of the Thanksgiving turkey Uncle Cletus blew up
in the fryer. Not many people are going to feel a whole lot better about this season, regardless of how it ends. Guess here is, this team probably lost half its audience anyway. This team needs to build off the positive, and the biggest positive right Please see COLLINS, Page B7
PIAA CLASS 1A FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP B8
THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2020
BREAKING IT DOWN: WYOMING SEMINARY 3, GREENWOOD 0 Greenwood 0000—0 Wyoming Sem. 0 1 1 1 — 3 Second quarter: Isabella Pisano (Sem) unassisted, 10:58. Third quarter: Ella Barbacci (Sem) from Emma Watchilla, 2:31. Fourth quarter: Anna Mozeleski (Sem) unassisted, 13:47. Shots: Sem 16, Green 13 Corners: Sem 7, Green 7 Saves: Sem (Mia Magnotta) 13, Green (Lydia Miller) 13
OFFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME
If at first you don’t succeed, try again. And then again. Tied, 0-0, early in the second quarter, Wyoming Seminary sophomore Isabella Pisano rushed a pair of shots from the right post, both of which were blocked by Greenwood goalkeeper Lydia Miller. However, the rebounds just kept on rolling back to Pisano. Finally, on her third try, Pisano settled down. She backed up a few feet and found the perfect spacing between Miller and the cage, sending the shot in for what proved to be the winning goal.
DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME
Pick from any number of goalkeeper Mia Magnotta’s 13 saves. Magnotta came up especially big with about 8 min-
utes left in the third quarter, protecting a 1-0 Wyoming Seminary lead. Greenwood senior Hailey Womer cut through Sem’s defense and pelted Magnotta with a shot. Magnotta kicked it away with her right foot, but Greenwood immediately drew a penalty corner. But Greenwood botched the insert pass, which traveled only a few feet, and a play never developed.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
In response to the recent surge of coronavirus cases, players on the field wore face coverings during the first half of Saturday’s game. They were maskless during the second half. According to Frank Majikes, president of the PIAA Board of Directors, players on the field could choose whether to wear a mask.
Everyone else, including coaches, reserves, media members and fans, wore masks throughout Saturday’s game, but the thought was masks could do more harm than good to players who are breathing heavily and wearing mouthguards during game action.
QUOTABLE
“There could be anything that’s affecting your play, so you just need to stay focused. To be honest with you, it’s not the most fun to play in a mask, obviously, but I don’t think we let it faze us at all. I think we came out dominating from the get-go, so it wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t a big detriment.” — Wyoming Seminary senior Grace Parsons on wearing a facemask in the first half
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Seminary’s Ella Barbacci, center, celebrates with teammates after she scored against Greenwood during Saturday’s game.
CHAMPS: Pisano nets go-ahead goal in second quarter FROM PAGE B1
downplayed the historical significance of Saturday’s win, as the Blue Knights became the first team from the Wyoming Valley Conference to win three consecutive PIAA titles. “To me, it’s either win or lose on the day of the game,” Klassner said. “But the kids have been on a great run. To be in four state championships, this senior class, it’s really amazing. Never been done.” A trio of underclassmen — junior Anna Mozeleski and sophomores Isabella Pisano and Ella Barbacci — scored in Saturday’s game, a sign that Sem will be hard to beat even when Magnotta departs for Iowa. Magnotta was one of four starting seniors along with Grace Parsons (Virginia commit), Abby Santo (Holy Cross)
BY THE NUMBERS
34 Saves made by Wyoming Seminary senior goalkeeper Mia Magnotta during her four state championship games. She made nine saves and allowed two goals in 2017. She then recorded shutouts with two, 10 and 13 saves, respectively, in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 title games. and Quinn Medico (La Salle), while senior Ava Bufalino was the first player off the bench. “I think the Sem field hockey program will always be a great
program,” Magnotta said. “No matter what, we have great coaches, great players that come into it. I expect nothing but the best from this program.” The undefeated Blue Knights (16-0) were at their most dominant in the first quarter Saturday, piling up five penalty corners and four shots before Greenwood (13-3) had one of either. Ironically, though, Sem didn’t score in the first quarter. Sem broke through with 10:58 left in the second quarter, when Parsons intercepted a pass deep in Greenwood territory. Parsons took a shot, but it was blocked by Greenwood goalkeeper Lydia Miller. The ball ricocheted to the right post, where Pisano took a pair of shots that were also blocked. She scored on the third try for a 1-0 lead. “I was just trying to find an open spot in the cage,” Pisano
said. “I just had to keep going. People were asking me to pass the ball and stuff, but I really wanted it and I knew it was going to open up eventually.” Both goalkeepers did an excellent job to keep the score 1-0 well into the second half. Arguably Miller’s best save happened with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, when Sem sophomore Maddie Olshemski charged into the circle and got off a clean reverse chip. Miller played it aggressively, coming several yards out of the cage, but it turned out to be a good play because she swatted away Olshemski’s shot to keep it 1-0. A few minutes later, Sem got its insurance goal on a corner that saw Barbacci sling a slap shot into the cage. Mozeleski went top-shelf for the third and final goal early in the fourth quarter. Despite Sem’s pedigree as an
annual state championship contender, the pregame nerves never quite eased up, even for its most experienced players. “I wasn’t nervous that we were going to lose,” Parsons said. “I had confidence in our team. But, you know, you always get anxious for a big game like this. It could go either way.” Magnotta, who appears to have nerves of steel during the game, experienced many of those same emotions, she said. “I think I was in bed at like 9:30 last night,” Magnotta said. “I couldn’t sleep, though. I was thinking about the game.” Magnotta would up making 13 saves, a game-changing performance fitting for the last high school game of a player of her caliber. Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060; @CVBufano on Twitter
Parsons makes impact outside of box score BY MATT BUFANO STAFF WRITER
WHITEHALL — One year ago, Grace Parsons scored the most dramatic goal imaginable to help Wyoming Seminary win the state championship in double overtime. This year, Parsons didn’t show up in the box score. No goals. No assists. No hard feelings — at all. Parsons left her fingerprints all over Saturday’s PIAA Class 1A field hockey championship game — a 3-0 Wyoming Seminary win over Greenwood — despite her absence from the stat sheet. “It’s rewarding to score,
it’s rewarding to assist,” said Parsons, a senior. “But it’s also rewarding to start a play. That’s what I think Sem field hockey is — it doesn’t matter who scores, we want every single person to get in the cage.” Tied at 0, Parsons started the most important play of the game. Greenwood sophomore Jordan Stroup tried to clear the ball deep in Wildcats territory with a routine, hard shot downfield. Parsons acted quickly and laid her stick down, stopping the ball and suddenly putting Greenwood on the defensive. Parsons dribbled inside
the circle and aimed on cage. While Parsons’ long-range shot was blocked by Greenwood goalkeeper Lydia Miller, teammate Isabella Pisano scored on a rebound at pointblank range. “I’m so happy for her and I’m so proud of her,” Parsons said of Pisano. “I expected her to get the job done. I sent it in knowing that someone would score on that one.” It wasn’t the first time that Pisano, a sophomore, benefited from having co-captains Mia Magnotta and Parsons around. “I really look to them for leadership, especially Grace being in the field with me,”
Pisano said. “She never gives up. Sometimes we can get a little bit down and Grace is always really positive and pushing us.” Parsons made dozens of similar, small plays on offense and defense Saturday, although they all happened in split-seconds. It was more noticeable when Parsons made a rare mistake. With the game tied, 0-0, Greenwood set up for a penalty corner. Parsons took her position inside Sem’s cage, but the over-eager senior was promptly whistled for a false start. “I think it was honestly
because I was so high on my toes,” Parsons said. “I was ready to go out. I’m a flyer and I’m aggressive, so I was looking forward to stealing a ball and wanting to get it out of there.” The call resulted in Sem losing Parsons as a flyer on the play, but no harm was done, as Parsons’ teammates created enough interference in front of the cage that Greenwood failed to put a shot on goal. For good measure, Parsons ran to the play as fast as she possibly could to try to make up for her absence on the corner defense. “I have confidence in (Magnotta) and my three oth-
er defenders — Quinn Medico, Ella Barbacci and Anna Mozeleski,” Parsons said. “It can’t always go your way, but it’s just that faith and belief in your teammates that you’ll get the job done.” Parsons will soon be tasked with building that same rapport in Charlottesville, where she’ll be a member of the Virginia Cavaliers. Whether playing in high school or college, however, that unwavering confidence among teammates often tends to create winners. Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060; @CVBufano on Twitter
PIAA CLASS 1A FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2020
THE CITIZENS’ VOICE B9
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Seminary’s Anna Mozeleski, center left, embraces teammate Maddie Olshemski after Mozeleski scored.
The Wyoming Seminary field hockey team celebrates after defeating Greenwood for the PIAA Class 1A championship Saturday in Whitehall.
SCENES FROM STATES
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Seminary’s Isabella Pisano, right, and Greenwood’s Alyssa Barner try to get possession.
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Seminary’s Maddie Olshemski chases after a ball.
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Seminary’s Grace Parsons and Ella Barbacci embrace after the PIAA Class 1A field hockey championship game against Greenwood on Saturday.
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Seminary’s Emma Watchilla drives the ball against Greenwood.
EVEN MORE PHOTOS
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Seminary assistant coach Kim Barbacci talks to the team at halftime.
Sem’s Grace Parsons, right, battles Greenwood’s Leah Bryner.
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
See what else photographer Sean McKeag captured at Saturday’s game online at citizensvoice. com.
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Masked Wyoming Seminary fans cheer on the Blue Knights during the PIAA Class 1A field hockey championship Saturday at Zephyr Sports Complex in Whitehall.