# The two Dallas High School.
athletes took different paths to
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Tue DALLAS POST
PAGE 9
Sports
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Dallas High School tight end standout Jason Simonovich has signed a letter of intent to play foot-
ball for the University of Maine, Orono, main campus, earning a full four- year scholarship to the
school. From left, seated, are Sarah Simonovich, sister; Terri Simonovich, mother; Jason Simonov-
ich and Bernie Simonovich, father. Standing, Jeff Shaffer, Dallas High School principal; Ed Radzinski,
assistant football coach; Nancy Roberts, athletic director; Paul DuMond, assistant football coach;
Bob Roper, assistant football coach; Bob Zaruta, head football coach; Rich DuMond, assistant foot-
Il coach; and Greg Miller, assistant football coach.
@
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Dallas High School field hockey standout Evonna Ackourey has been voted to the National Field
Hockey Coaches All-American Hockey Association and earned a four-year scholarship to Quinnipiac
University in Connecticut. From left, first row, are Margia Ackourey, mother; Evonna Ackourey and
Dan Ackourey, father. Standing, are Amanada Jez, assistant field hockey coach; Kylie Fischer, head
field hockey coach; Jeff Shaffer, high school principal; and Nancy Roberts, athletic director.
Two Dallas High School athletes are Division [-bound
By TOM ROBINSON
For The Dallas Post
Evonna Ackourey made sure to
assess other options, but the field
hockey player knew from the
start that Quinnipiac University
was where she wanted to contin-
ue her academic and athletic ca-
reers.
Jason Simonovich was closing
in on a final decision between two
other schools when the Universi-
ty of Maine entered the mix and
persuaded the football player to
head there.
their final decisions before cele-
brating the landing of Division I
athletic scholarships with signing
ceremonies in the school’s gym-
nasium Wednesday afternoon on
the first day of the latest NCAA
Letter of Intent signing period.
“I tried to look everywhere and
keep my options open, but it real-
ly came down to Quinnipiac was
the number-one choice all along,”
said Ackourey, who has headed to
the Connecticut school for clinics
and camps since her sophomore
year. “No one else could compare.
It was a perfect fit.”
Simonovich preferred playing
defense in college when the
Maine coaches convinced him to
consider coming there as an of-
fensive recruit at tight end.
“A couple of months ago, I was
down to Ursinus and Monmouth
as my two college choices,” he
said. “Then, I got an e-mail from
swone of ithe ‘Maine coaches that
they were really interested and
wanted me to play tight end.”
Ackourey is likely to play for-
ward in college but both Dallas
athletes were attractive to college
recruiters because of their versa-
tility.
“She’s little in size, but she’s
quick with her feet and has great
"| always wanted to get a scholarship. Probably my
sophomore year when | started taking academics
very seriously, | realized that | have the size and |
think | have the speed and ability to play college
ball.”
Jason Simonovich
DHS football player
stick skills,” Dallas coach Kylie
Fisher said. “We moved her
around to all positions in her four
years.
“She has an all-around general
skill level and she can be a great
utility player. They can put her
anywhere they need to.”
Ackourey generally moved be-
tween midfield and forward dur-
ing her career at Dallas. She
played left midfield much of her
senior year, in which she served
as the only captain on an 114
team, but moved to the forward
line when the Lady Mountaineers
needed more scoring punch.
Simonovich excelled at tight
end and defensive end. He was an
all-star in his first season after
moving from defensive back and
continued to show skills he had
used as a wide receiver earlier in
his career.
“He’s got the physical size and
strength,” Dallas coach Bob Zar-
uta said of the 6-foot-4, 230-poun-
der. “He combines that with agil-
ity, speed and versatility.
“You can look at what we did
with him. He not only played
wide receiver. He played tight
end. We had him in motion as a
lead blocker.”
Simonovich finished with 25
catches for 567 yards and eight
touchdowns. He also made 24
tackles for losses, including 13
sacks.
“Pm going to miss defense a
lot,” he said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Maine plays on the Football
Subdivision Championship level,
which was formerly known as Di-
vision I-AA. The Black Bears
went 4-4 in the Colonial Athletic
Association and 5-6 overall.
Quarterback Marcus Wasilew-
ski, a Mount Carmel graduate,
hosted the recruiting visit that
convinced Simonovich the school
was the right fit for him.
“I always wanted to get a schol-
arship,” said Simonovich, who
plans to study business. “Proba-
bly my sophomore year when I
started taking academics very se-
riously, I realized that I have the
size and I think I have the speed
and ability to play college ball.”
It was a week of accomplish-
ments for Ackourey.
Before formally accepting her
scholarship offer, Ackourey
learned she had been named to
the National Field Hockey Coach-
es Association Academic All-
American team.
“I felt at home at Quinnipiac,”
said Ackourey, who will major in
biology. “It had everything that I
wanted — the great academics and
great athletics.”
Ackourey scored five goals and
assisted on four others as a senior
while earning second-team Class
AA all-state honors.
Dallas graduate Lauren Zim-
niski was a team captain last sea-
son as a fifth-year senior, helping
Quinnipiac go 5-2 in the North-
east Conference and 12-7 overall.
LL wrestling streak
halted at
By TOM ROBINSON
For The Dallas Post
Lake-Lehman extended its
winning streak all the way to 17
before falling, 38-28, to Western
Wayne in the District 2 Class AA
Dual Meet Wrestling Champion-
ships final on Feb. 2 at Pittston
Area.
The Black Knights reached
the district championship match
for the second straight year with
two comfortable wins on their
home mat the night before. The
Wyoming Valley Conference Di-
vision 2 champions lost to West-
ern Wayne in the final for the
second straight year.
“They have a great team,”
Lake-Lehman coach Tom Wil-
liams said of the Lackawanna
League Division 2 champions.
17 victories
Derek Dragon had pins in all
three bouts to lead the Black
Knights in the tournament. He
put away two opponents in un-
der a minute and managed to
rally from behind to stop Tho-
mas Bogarowski of Hanover Ar-
ea in 3:52 at 182 pounds of the
semifinal victory over Hanover
Area.
“As soon as I rolled through, I
really felt like I was going to be
able to get him,” said Dragon,
who posted the pin shortly after
a reversal.
Austin Harry and Brady But-
ler each had two pins-and a for-
feit victory. Zeb McMillan went
3-0 with a pin, a major decision
and a forfeit.
The Black Knights handled
Lackawanna Trail, 52-21, in the
quarterfinals and Hanover Area,
48-18, in the semifinals on Feb. 1.
SPORTS BRIEFS
@/. Litle League
sign-ups set
Harveys Lake Little League will
hold its final sign up day from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16
at the Harveys Lake Borough
Building.
Children between the ages of 5
and 16 who reside with the
league’s borders may sign up.
They must provide a birth certif-
icate at the time of registration.
For more information, call
league president Mark Wallace at
6904026.
Bandits lacrosse team
accepting registration
Registrations are now being
accepted via the web site at
www.laxteams.net/bmylax for
the Back Mountain Bandits la-
crosse team.
Boys and girls in grades 1-3 may
sign up for intramurals. Boys age
groups are U-9, U-11, U-13 & U-15.
Girls age groups are third and
fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade
and seventh and eighth grades.
Participants should print the
form and mail it, along with appli-
cable fee, to BMYL, P.O. Box
1746, Shavertown, PA 18708.
Mountaineers cage coach looking ahead
Move to Division 1, loss of
graduates double blow to
Dallas basketball program.
By TOM ROBINSON
For The Dallas Post
Timing was not kind to the
Dallas boys basketball team
this season.
The Mountaineers moved
up from Division 2 to Divi-
sion 1 as part of Wyoming
Valley Conference realign-
ment just as graduation
forced them to replace the
entire starting lineup from a
championship team.
That combination. has
made for a difficult season,
but one in which coach Doug
Miller has seen the promise
of better times ahead.
“We are so young this
year,” Miller said. “There
have been times when we've
played our best basketball
with four sophomores and a
freshman on the court.
“That’s a good thing for
down the line, but it’s not al-
ways the best for right now.”
With District 2’s return to
open tournaments this year,
Dallas moved into playoff ac-
tion after completing the reg-
ular season Thursday night
at Wyoming Valley West.
District playoffs will be a
new experience for all but
leading scorer Matt Ross, the
only Mountaineer remaining
who appeared in a tourna-
ment game last year.
“It’s going to be a totally
new experience for pretty
much the entire team,” Mill-
er said.
It will also be an important
experience if the Mountain-
eers eventually make the im-
provement their coach antici-
pates.
“We're talking next year
that we’re going to be much
more competitive,” he said,
“and I think we’re looking
two years from now where we
really want to compete for
league and district titles.
“Everything were doing
this year, we're trying to help
with that.”
The Mountaineers entered
Friday night just 1-10 in the
division and 2-17 overall.
Their youngest player, 14-
year-old freshman Suk Math-
on, played a big role in one of
those wins with 12 points and
13 rebounds in a holiday tour-
nament game against Wyom-
ing Area.
“He’s 14 years old and he’s
playing against 17 and 18 year
olds,” Miller said of the 6-
foot-7 center. “That’s a huge
maturity and experience dif-
ference.
“There’s a very high ceiling
for his talent.”
Mathon leads the team
with 7.5 rebounds per game
while also averaging 5.5
points.
Ross, a sophomore, leads in
scoring with 14.5 points.
Allen Fell, another sopho-
more who has been sidelined
by a leg injury, is second in
both categories with 8.7
points and 5.6 rebounds per
game.
They are three of the rea-
sons Miller is hopeful about
the future.
“We spend a lot of time
talking about the future,”
Miller said. “Other coaches
and people who have been
BILL TARUTIS FILE PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Sukhmail Mathon, right, drives the baseline as his brother Gur-
mail defends during a Dallas boys basketball practice.
around the game see that
we're making progress and
getting better.
“We're staying positive and
the kids’ attitudes have been
very good this year, despite
the record. The kids continue
to work hard every day.”
In the process, they are
helping convince their coach
that better days remain
ahead.
Dallas’ Matt Ross practices
free throws.