Section 2 The Dallas Post THE DALLAS POST ports Dallas, PA Thursday, January 17, 2002 9 New football alignment will preserve Old Shoe Game BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB Post Staff BACK MOUNTAIN — For the past two seasons, Lake-Lehman had the un- welcome distinction of being the small- est Class 3A school in the Northeast Pennsylvania Football Conference. The Black Knights were forced to play a schedule in the now defunct NEPFC which included teams from much larger schools. Not any longer. With the NEPFC dissolved, the dVyoming Valley Conference is once Wagain in existence, and the future is looking up for the Black Knights. “The Wyoming Valley Conference (WVC) is now an advantage for us,” said Lake-Lehman athletic director Rich Gorgone. “We would have really liked to have been a AA school last year, but we were two kids over the maximum al- lowed, forcing us to play teams a lot larger in size.” Wyoming Valley West, Berwick, Pittston Area and Williamsport, who were on the Black Knights schedule last season, will now be replaced by more comparable schools like Nanticoke Area, Hanover Area, GAR and Meyers. “It was in the best interest for Lake- Lehman to have what happened hap- pen,” said Gorgone. “Now we will be able to play teams that are more on the same level as we are.” One concern Gorgone now has will be the selection of teams for the PIAA Dis- to play teams that are more on the same level as we are.” Rich Gorgone Lake-Lehman Athletic Director trict II Class 3A playoffs. The NEPFC was formed as a way to give the best possible scenarios for post-season play. Teams would be forced to compete for the District 2 playoffs as a whole, with teams from both the Lackawanna Football Confer- ence (LFC) and WVC facing each other during the season. But the teams from the LFC did not like the direction the super conference was heading and de- cided to leave the NEPFC. Now, those concerns will once again be in the forefront as both leagues re- emerge for the 2002 season. “The idea of the (NEPFC) was that teams would win and lose the game on the field,” said Gorgone. “It was a con- stant concern of mine when I coached that we would not be able to play any of these teams head-to-head, but we can- not force (the Lackawanna Football Conference schools) to play in the (NEPFC).” A few miles down the road in Dallas, Mountaineer athletic director Jack Wolensky thinks that Dallas would be in good shape no matter what league they played in. “It is a more equitable schedule for us,” said Wolensky. “We are playing every AAA school in the area, and if we can play the way we know we can, we will be in good shape.” Wolensky said he is not worried about the issue of having enough state points for the District II playoffs, be- cause every Class 3A team in the dis- trict will be in the same boat, regardless of the league in which they play. “We have won a state championship and we like that,” said Wolensky. “It seems that we worry about state points and qualifying for the state playoffs See FOOTBALL, pg 10 Dallas girls *are champs of 1st halt By JOHN ERZAR Special to The Dallas Post NANTICOKE — Rosalyn Wen- @° lay flat on her back Monday night, and then glanced over her right shoulder unsure of what she would see. “I just looked at the ref, and I was praying because they al- ways call blocks,” Wentko said, “I was like, if I need a charge I need it now.” Wentko’s daring defensive gamble resulted in more than a @ nticoke charge with five sec- onds remaining. It secured Dal- las’s 48-45 victory over Nanti- coke and the Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball Di- vision II first-half champi- onship. Wentko managed to get posi- tion just as a Nanticoke player drove through the lane. Three seconds later, Meredith Lacey added two free throws, and a @¢speration three-point shot by ‘Nanticoke caromed hard off the backboard and rim as time ex- pired. “We haven't had any respect,” Dallas coach Joe Noon said. See DALLAS GIRLS, pg 10 I SPORTS ROUNDUP GIRLS BASKETBALL The Dallas boy's and girl's swim teams suffered tough home losses to Wyoming Semi- nary on January 12. EP Dallas’s Joe Stredny (top pho- to) comes out of the water dur- ing the 200 Fly against Wyoming Seminary. Stredny finished second in the event. At left, Dallas head coach Matt Stretanski and assistant coach Jen Lewis watch their team’s performance during the meet. Dallas’s Pam Shaver, right, competes in the 200 Free. Dal- las lost to Wyoming Seminary 97-86 in Wyoming Valley Con- ference girl's swimming action. POST PHOTOS/JIM PHILLIPS Murrphy were double winners for the Mountaineers boy’s meet. Yeager captured the 100 back in 58.32, while Mur- Mountaineers swimmers swept hy Wyoming Seminary firsts in the 50 free (26.60) and Stredny. in the Arie Vankuyk was the top diver of the meet, coming in first with a total 100 free (52.67). score of Lacey Cooper also picked up a first with her winning swim of Broker boys edge Eye Care to hold top spot Ben Thomas and Sean McAn- drew combined for 41 of their team’s 49 points as Morgan, Stanley, Dean DYB Witter remained IEA IOMESY in first place with a 49-46 win against Eye Care Specialist in Dallas Youth Basketball's sev- enth and eighth grade boys divi- sion. Adam Singer added eight points for the winners, who raised their record to 10-1. Eric Domzalski scored 17 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for Eye Care (7-4). Jeff Decker added 11 points and J.J. Durr finished with nine. Teammates Guy Carpenter and Alex Kish chipped in five and four points, respectively. Gilroy Realtors 46, House of Nutrition 35 The trio of Mike Race, Adam King and Ryan Konopki com- bined for 38 points: as Gilroy Realtors posted its first win of the season. Race led all scorers with 18 points, while King added 12. Konopki finished with eight points, while Cale Charney and Daniel Jacobs chipped in six and two points, respectively. Steve Zubko led House of Nutri- tion (5-6) with 13 points. Chris Parrish added nine, while Brian Feleccia and Thomas -Runscav- age scored two points each. See 7-8 BOYS, pg 12 Byron on list for Hoinski award Lehman 33, Hanover 31 Lisa Wasser poured in a team- high 10 points to lead the Lehman past Hanover Area. Megan DeCesaris added eight n for the Black Knights in the winning effort. ; Dallas 53, Wyoming Area 36 Dallas scored 22 third quarter points to rally past Wyoming Area. Shannon Thomas led the Mountaineers with 14 points, in- cluding two three-pointers, and er Hartwick and Rosalyn wentko each added 11 in the winning effort. Pittston 39, Lehman 30 Lake-Lehman jumped out to an early 12-0 lead with pins from Kelby Morgan (103 lbs.) and John Houssock, but the Patriots rallied to defeat the Black Knights. Jeremy Schutz (135) &:d Bob Morris (171) also reg- istered falls for Lehman. Near right, Patriot Bill Vassell wraps Black Knight Bob Morris up early in their 171-pound bout. Morris came back to pin Vassell in 1:04 At far right, Lake-Lehman's Jeremy Schutz waits for referee Yogi Michaels ® signal a pin fall in his 135- pound match with Rich Beaven. Schutz pinned Beaven in 1:56. POST PHOTOS/TIMOTHY J. RAUB The boy's swim team fell the the Blue Knights 109-76, while the girl's found themselves on the wrong end of a 97-86 loss. Douglas Yeager, and Robert rphy took a first in the 50 free with a time of 24.25. Both swimmers were members of the winning 200 free relay team, along with Sean Gilroy and Joe 150.75. Jen Arthur was a double win- ner for the Mountaineers in scholastic girl's action. Arthur swept the sprint events with 1:07.30 in the 100 back. The meet was held at Nanti- coke High School, which is the Mountaineers’ home pool for this season. Lehman 42, Nanticoke 41 Jackie Paul scored 12 points and Lisa Wasser added 11 as Lehman downed Nanticoke Area. The Black Knights led 34-28 go- ing into the fourth quarter, and held off a late-game rally for the victory. Wyoming Area 70, Lehman 67 Lisa Wasser and Danielle Kern combined to score 33 points, but it was not enough as Wyoming Area defeated the Black Knights in two overtime periods in Wyoming Valley Con- ference Division II girl's basket- ball action. Lehman led 23-20 at the half, but a 16-10 run in the third quarter would give the Warriors a 36-33 lead to start the fourth quarter. The Black Knights rallied in the fourth to tie the game, and send it into overtime. Kari Maskalis had Lehman's only three-point bas- ket of the game. Dallas 73, Crestwood 30 Dallas jumped out to a 26-2 lead early, and never looked back as the Mountaineers de- feated Crestwood. Four players scored in double digits to lead the Mountaineers. Meredith Lacey led all scorers with 15 points, while Rosalyn Wentko and Shannon Thomas added 13 apiece and Kelly Brzozowski scored 11 in the winning effort. Dallas 65, Hanover 42 Shannon Thomas poured in a team-high 18 points, and Ros- alyn Wentko and Meredith Lacey added 14 and 10 points, respec- tively, to lead Dallas past Hanover Area. The Moun- See ROUNDUP, pg 10 In last week's edition of the Dallas Post, Liz Byron was omit- ted from the list of Back Moun- tain semifinalists for the Killer Bees Athletic Club Hoinski Award. Byron, a senior at Bishop Hoban, is an all-American in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 medley relay by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association. She has won four gold medals at the District II Class 2A Swim Meet for three consecutive years, and placed third in the 100 fly and as a member of the 200 medley relay.
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