Sunday, February 11, 2007 PAGE 7 Tae DALLAS POST Sports L Murray, Sabatini spark wins John Murray led all scorers with 16 points as Gem Therapeutics cruised to a 30-24 victory against Diagnostic § maging in Dallas Youth Basketball’s * fifth and sixth grade boys action. Mike Kapral chipped in six points while Mike Carey added four. Kyle Razawich was leading scorer for Diagnostic Imaging with eight points. Dominic Deluca and Mike Boland added four points each. e Brian Stepniak scored eight points as the Dallas Lions defeated Gordon-Smith Insurance, 26-24. Chris Reiman and Drew Harding added four points each. Greg Petorek scored a game-high 16 points for Gordon-Smith Insurance. John Murray added four and Gage Brown played well defen- sively. Jason Siminovich and Rudy Geor- getti combined for 31 points — 16 and 15 points, respectively — to lead Inte- grated Power to a 42-37 victory against the Dough Company. Nick Michalisin added four points for the winners. Danny Saba scored a game-high 21 points for the Dough Company. Matt Saba chipped in six points while JT Carey played well defensively. TIMES LEADER STAFF PHOTO/FRED ADAMS DeRojas more than measures up to competition § d | ¢ Nathan Kish scored 13 points to lead Dr. John Kish to a 36-34 win against MetLife Securities. Mike Gal- lis added 11 points for the winners. Ryan Zapoticky scored 15 to lead Met- Life while Buddy Shutlock finished with eight. Will Akins added four points. ® Eric Zawatski led all scorers with 18 points as Sheetz rolled to a 42-31 victory over Gem Therapeutics. Blake Williams scored eight points and Chase Makowski added six. Chris Behm finished with four. John Murray was high scorer for Gem Therapeutics with 15 points. Mike Carey added eight points and Dylan Pilger scored four. ¢ Eric Zawatski scored 20 points as Sheetz earned the No. 3 seed with a 34- 30 win against Medico Industries. Fe- lix Dolman added nine points and Chase Makowski threw in three. Mar- iano Medico scored 12 for Medico In- dustries. Brian Banas added nine points and Zack Goodwin chipped in four. ¢ Rudy Georgetti and Jason Simi- novich each scored 14 points to lead In- tegrated Power to a 36-30 win against Diagnostic Imaging. Josh Evans and Ryan Georgetti each added four points for the winners. Kyle Razawich and Dominic Deluca scored 10 points each for the imaging company. By DAVE KONOPKI Dallas Post Editor KINGSTON - The comments came early — and often — from members of the GAR student body, apparently not convinced Bishop O'Reilly’s Chris DeRojas measures up to the 5-feet, 10 inch- es listed on the Queensmen’s ros- ter. “Are you allowed out after dark?” “What time do you get tucked in ‘at night?” “I didn’t know Bishop O'Reilly had a day care?” But like he has so many times during his playing days, it was De- Rojas who got in the last word. The senior guard sealed his team’s win against the Grenadiers with a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining in a recent Wyoming Valley Conference Divi- sion II game. DeRojas, who was fouled after getting a rebound away from 6-foot-5 GAR center Bryon Phillips, finished with 20 points and enough stellar plays to fill a highlight reel. And he won over any doubters who remained. “That No. 1 (DeRojas) killed us,” said the same GAR student sleeping habits. “Just killed us.” Growing up as the player who was usually the shortest on the court, the son of Dr. Juan DeRojas of Dallas and Alma DeRaojas of For- ty Fort knew there were people who doubted his ability to play on the high school level. “I used it as motivation when people wanted to hold it against me,” said the 18-year-old. “I didn’t hear it a lot, but there were people who didn’t think I could play. I get a lot of satisfaction when I prove them wrong.” The bottom line is that DeRojas doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. Those days began to dis- appear when he would run circles around the taller and slower play- ers as an elementary school stand- out at Gate of Heaven School in Dallas. They continued at Bishop O'Reilly, where DeRojas and his teammates won three District 2 Class A titles and a pair of state championships in his first three seasons. And almost completely went way this season, with DeRojas es- tablishing himself as a legitimate college prospect and one of the premier players in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division II. sion and one of the top three-point shooters in the conference,” said GAR head coach Paul Brown. “I've been extremely impressed with him. His self-discipline is excel- lent. He doesn’t put himself in sit- uations where he can make a big mistake. We got first-hand experi- ence of what he can do on the court.” Despite not having great height, Bishop O'Reilly head coach Mark Belenski says his co-captain has the tools to be a complete player. “Chris is a leader. He has great skills, quickness and great knowl- edge of the game,” he said. “Those are the things you need to be suc- cessful.” Bishop Hoban head coach Matt Choman says DeRojas has another attribute that makes him a special player. “Chris has the ability to elevate the game of the other players on the team,” he said. “That’s the sign of a great player. Chris under- stands what his limitations are on the court. But he maximizes his potential. He’s a dangerous player who can carry team with his ability and court sense.” DeRojas has embraced his role as a team leader this season — a role he learned from former Bish- a sophomore guard at Towson Uni- versity. “I learned a lot from Tim,” said DeRojas, one of the leading scorers in the division. “I learned the right way to play the game. He taught me a lot about how to stay calm and how to play with composure. He taught me how to be a leader. I try to do the same things with our younger players today that he did with me.” DeRojas’ play has caught the at- tention of several college coaches. He’s considering attending Wilkes University, Albright, Lycoming or Colgate. Wilkes head coach Jerry Rickrode is a frequent spectator at Bishop O'Reilly games. “I can always improve on every- thing, but mostly I need to improve my defense to play in college,” said DeRojas, who expects to play point guard at the next level. “It’s a good feeling knowing they want me to play at their schools and they think I can play on the (college) level. It gives me more confidence.” In the meantime, DeRojas is try- ing to enjoy the final weeks of an excellent high school career. “I've enjoyed myself. Winning those state championships was a special time,” he said. “We had so much support from all of the fans. Not many people get that kind of “Right now, I'd have to say he’s who inquired about DeRojas’ ope of the top players in the divi- 3RD/4TH GRADE BOYS op O'Reilly standout Tim Crossin, opportunity.” Jonathan Sabatini scored 11 points and Eric Pincofski added seven to lead C&C Sheetmetal to a 32-17 win against Intermountain Health. Spen- cer Bowanko and Aleksey Gitelson added six points each for the league’s first-place team, while Omar Nijmeh scored a game-high 13 points for Inter- mountain. Chad Phillips added two é points while Jacob Ondish and Cory Metz played well defensively. Brendan Baloh scored 11 points and Jesse Goode added 10 as Duke’s Construction escaped with a 21-20 win against D.J. Charlie Hayes to remain in second place. Nick Romanowski and Dylan DeArmitt played well defensive- ly for Duke’s, while Allen Fell led Char- lie Hayes with 11 points. Adam Niznik and Chandler Caruso added six and two points, respectively. Stephen Sca- fidi played well defensively. e Jake Archer scored five points and Kyle Archer added four as Quad Three narrowly edged Fieldhouse Sporting Goods, 14-13. Nicholas Mathers and Chris Ferrara led the defense for Quad Three. Brian Drouse scored five points for The Fieldhouse, while Jonathan Wilson added four. Mikey Shutlock added a basket and Connor Motley had one point. e Ryan Martin scored a game-high 10 points to lead Bishop Photo to a 20-7 win against CDI.. James Flores and Tanner Gattuso added four points each for Bishop Photo, while Kyle Pis- korik added two. Alex Kurent, Aaron Becker and Jack Tomko scored two points each for CDI, while Ben Han- son added one point. BLACK KNIGHT STANDOUTS SIGN WITH COLLEGES Five members of the Lake- Lehman High School field hock- ey team signed letters of intent to continue their academic and athletic careers in college during National Signing Day last week. The ceremony was held in the school library. Jamie Lipski and Joscelyn Mahon are headed to Providence College, Tina Wat- kins is going to Quinnipiac, Aime Sgarlat will attend Bloomsburg, and Elyse Apaliski is headed to Millersville. Providence and Quinnipiac are Division | colleg- es, while Bloomsburg and Mil- lersville are Division Il. Fellow se- nior Alyson Paulauskas also an- nounced she'll be attending Wilkes University. The group was part of nine senior starters for the Black Knights in 2006, all of whom were named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad. At- tending the signing ceremony, from left, first row are Lipski, Sgarlat, Paulauskas, Mahon, Apaliski and Watkins. Second row: head coach Jean Lipski, as- sistant coach Sandy Boyle, prin- cipal Tracey Wagner, and super- intendent James McGovern. a.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers