The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Thursday, March 7, 2002 11 THE DALLAS POST From the bullpen Timothy J. Raub Black Knights’ ssuccess 18 built on foundation of coaches It is said that a head coach is only as good as the assistants ahe surrounds himself with. ® For Lake-Lehman head wrestling coach Phil Lipski, the assistants he has been able to bring on staff have meant much more. Lipski’'s assistants — former Black Knights standouts Mike Tereska and Rick Hislop — and junior high coaches Ron Swingle Sr. and Ron Swingle Jr. have ‘helped make the Lake-Lehman wrestling team one of the Q.irongest teams in the Wyoming Valley Conference and PIAA Class 2A Northeast Region year after year. “To have a coaching staff like I have been lucky enough to have is priceless,” said Lipski. “When I took over the team on my own a few years ago, I wanted to as- semble the best coaching staff ossible, and these guys have been great.” Lake-Lehman has arguably the largest coaching staff in the Wyoming Valley, and Lipski feels he is in a very comfortable position with the numerous team alumni who continually return to the school to help the Black Knights at practice. “We get more and more guys back every year to volunteer with the team, which is rare,” said Lipski. “It is not something we flaunt, but when the kids are surrounded with great people, a lot of good things will happen.” Tereska, a former state placewinner with the Black Knights, has been Lipski's as- sistant coach since he took the sole reins of the team a few years back. Since then, Hislop, @ standout for Lehman in the mid-1990s has joined the staff, giving the Black Knights a wealth of experience in the coaching ranks. “These. guys have been through the system and that helps,” said Lipski. “The kids have the advantage of working out with a state placewinner on a daily basis, and (Hislop) is a great coach.” The Swingle family has only added to the abundance of coaching experience, and con- tinually give Lipski a plentitude young talent each year. + This year’s additions Matt Dragon (119 pounds) and Jere- my Schutz (130), were both key in Lehman's repeating as Dis- trict 2 team champions. “The Swingles are constantly looking at film for the team, and try to find things to improve on for us,” said Lipski. “Without those guys, I don’t know where we would be.” The Lake-Lehman junior high wrestling program has won the last six junior high district championships, said Lipski. “So when the freshmen come up to the high school team, I have no grorics putting them in the line- up.” Dragon and Schutz are just two examples of what the |, Swingles have brought to the varsity team over the past few season. Both wrestlers placed at Dis- tricts, with Dragon winning the District 2 119 pound title. He also finished fifth in the North- @.. Regional tournament. . Lipski said other teams in the conference have criticized the ,See BULLPEN, pg 12 4 Lake-Lehman Competition will he wrestlers going fierce at to state tourney Hershey Lake-Lehman will send four wrestlers to this week- end's PIAA Class 2A State Wrestling Championships in Hershey, PA. Heavy- weight Matt Carey, who was the Wyoming Valley Confer- A Matt Carey is regional champion heavyweight ence’s only Class 2A region- By TIMOTHY J. RAUB al champion last weekend, Pog Stadt leads the list. WILLIAMSPORT — Lake-Lehman's Matt Carey Also making the trip will : ; e: John Houssock (112 and Meyers’ Joe Ostrowski are getting to know ds), Willie Weber (152) each other really well. pounds), er A little too well, if you ask Carey. an) Be Dec i) ne ) r ¢ Carey and Ostrowski have exchanged wins th x Ix finishe rs a throughout the eight times they have faced each € State fournament Ie other during their careers. But this time it was the ceive medals. Black Knight's turn to take the top spot on the Preliminary round action winter's stand. starts at 8 a.m. on March 7. Carey avenged his loss to Ostrowski in the dis- Here is a quick preview of trict finals last week and defeated his heavyweight who the Black Knights will counterpart 1-1 in a rideout, garnering his first see in the preliminary PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional title on Satur- round, March 7. day. 112 — Junior John Houssock (28-9) will face Strong Vincent senior Andy Henry (26-0), the top seed from the Northwest Region in the first round. 152 — Willie Weber (29- 8), the Northeast Region's fourth seed, will meet Southeast Regional champi- on Keith Smith (30-3), from Pius X, in the first round. 189 — Ed Becker (31-11), also a fourth seed from the Northeast Region, will have his work cut out for him with Bryan Echart (37-3), from Wilson. HWT — Matt Carey (39- 4), the WVC'’s lone regional champion, is the top seed from the Northeast, and will - meet Pius X senior Jordan Hildebrant (30-4), a fourth y : : 5 : seed from the Southeast Black Knight Ed Becker rides Jeremy Wetzel of Shamokin in Region, in the preliminary their 189 pound bout. Becker posted a 2-0 decision over Wetzel, round. and will advance to this weekend's state tournament. “It is hard to keep up with somebody when you face them as many times as we have,” said Carey, who has won three of the last four bouts with Os- trowski. “I really can’t explain why I have won three of the last four times. It just happens.” Ostrowski (31-5) and Carey (39-4) fought to a 1- See WRESTLERS, pg 12 Lake-Lehman heavyweight Matt Carey hangs onto the leg of Meyers’ Joe Os- trowski in their PIAA Northeast Regional finals match. Carey held on for the 1I- 1 win in a rideout to claim his first regional title. John Houssock (112 pounds) cradles Sean Close of Northeast Bradford in his regional quarterfinal match. Houssock went on to pin Close in 1:29 and advanced to the state championships. © Lake-Lehman girls look to advance A Fall hard to Prep after upsetting Dallas, now face Shamokin By JOHN ERZAR Special to The Dallas Post CARBONDALE — Just a few minutes into Satur- day afternoon’s game it became apparent Lake- Lehman wouldn't be pulling off another upset. And by halftime, all that was left to play for was pride. Jaa sad POST PHOTOS/JIM PHILLIPS Lake-Lehman’s Megan DeCe- saris defends Dallas guard Shannon Thomas in last week's district playoff game. The Black Knights defeated the Moun- taineers in the District 2 Class 3A semifinals. Black Knight Tracey Hudak brings the ball up court as Dal- las defender Meredith Lacey at- tempts to get in the way. Lake- Lehman, the District 2 Class 3A runner-up, will face Shamokin in the first round of the PIAA state basketball tournament at 1 p.m. March 9 at Wyoming Valley West High School. S. JOHN WILKIN/FOR THE DALLAS POST Lake Lehman’s Kim Jones,left, and Lisa Wasser double team a Scranton Prep player during the District 2 playoffs at Carbondale High School. Coming off a stunning victory against top-seeded Dallas three days earlier, the Black Knights could- n't muster the same effort, nor would Scranton Prep allow them, as Prep captured the District 2 Class 3A girls basketball title with a 61-35 victory. Despite the loss, Lehman (17-8) plays District 4 runner-up Shamokin on March 9 at 1 p.m. at Wyoming Valley West in the first round of the PIAA girls basketball state championships. “It was the first time the Lehman girls have been here since 1984,” said Lehman coach Rob Wilson. “And with a team like Prep that’s been here three times in a row, we told them to forget about it, that they had nothing to lose. Just go out, play as hard as you can and see what happens.” Lehman did so, but Prep wasn’t about to be a second consecutive upset victim. The Classics took a 9-0 lead and built it to 30-11 by halftime. Rena Bolan (eight points) caused problems in the back- court while Jenell Fort and Ashley Keen (seven apiece) did the same inside. “With a team like Prep, you can't afford to get down early,” Wilson said. “We got away with it against Dallas and Wyoming Area, but against Prep eight points is almost impossible to come back from.” Lehman didn’t help matters by shooting 3-of-23 in the first two quarters. Kari Maskalis sparked a brief run in the third quarter and another in the fourth that allowed the Black Knights to move within 46-32 with 6:31 left in the game. “When they saw the game was getting out of hand, they decided to dig deep and just play for pride,” Wilson said. “They didn’t want to go out of the district playoffs on a sour note.” Maskalis led Lehman with 15 points and Lisa Wasser added 10.
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