Scholastic Notebook – 02/17/2012

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, February 17, 2012 | 11:55 AM

The coaching wheels are turning – not only in football, but already in basketball. There were some noteworthy coaching changes in both sports this week. 

In football, Ed Dalton was hired Thursday night as the new coach and athletic director at McGuffey; Glenn McDougal is back as coach at South Side Beaver; Rich Bowen is expected to be named Hempfield’s coach next week.

In basketball, Greensburg Central Catholic coach Don Favero announced he will resign at the end of the season. His team is currently in the WPIAL playoffs. Also, Joe Falletta resigned as Ambridge’s coach.

First, about the football hirings:

* Dalton’s hiring at McGuffey ends his 13-year reign as Trinity’s coach. Dalton had a rocky relationship with the Trinity school board in recent years. They removed him as coach and athletic director a few years ago, only to rehire him as coach, and then put him in a teaching position in 2010. Dalton did a tremendous job in turning around Trinity’s program. In 11 years before he was hired, Trinity was 28-80 and had one playoff appearance. In Dalton’s 13 years, he was 64-60 and made six consecutive playoff appearances at one point. At McGuffey, Dalton takes over the head coaching position from Derek Bochna, whose contract was not renewed. Bochna re-applied for the job.

* South Side Beaver’s new coach has a WPIAL and state championship on his resume. McDougal won both titles in 1999, with quarterback Sean McCune as his star player. McDougal resigned after the 2000 season, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. In nine seasons as South Side’s coach, McDougal was 57-36-2.

* The guy who has made a habit of rejuvenating downtrodden programs will try to do it again at Hempfield. Bowen will take over for Greg Meisner, who resigned after last season. Bowen spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Waynesburg University. But he was a head coach in the WPIAL for 19 seasons. He had two coaching stints at Serra. Both times he took over the Eagles, they were losing games with regularity. In 2007, he won a WPIAL title at Serra and guided the Eagles to the PIAA title game. At Elizabeth Forward, Bown guided the Warriors to a WPIAL Class AAA semifinal appearance in 1999. At Yough, Bowen’s teams struggled for a few years before he guided the 2004 team to a 7-3 record. He left for Serra after the 2004 season. Now Bowen takes over a Hempfield team that has won only 25 games since the 2000 season.

Now, about the basketball moves:

* Favero has been Greensburg Central Catholic’s coach after four seasons, but he has a few decades worth of experience. He has coached the Butler, Deer Lakes and Leechburg girls, as well as the Springdale boys. He has more than 500 career wins.

* Falletta resigned at Ambridge after only two seasons. He previously coached at North Hills and Hopewell.

Baseball Coaching News

Thursday night, there was also a noteworthy hiring of a coach in WPIAL baseball.

Scott Henson is the new coach at Trinity, taking over for Levi Bristor, who was very successful with a 70-45 record. Henson coached Ringgold for nine years and also coached Canon-McMillan from 2001-06. One of his Ringgold teams played for a WPIAL championship.

500 for Cleary

It didn’t get much attention in the local media, but Serra Catholic girls basketball coach Bill Cleary hit a big milestone recently when he won his 500th career game.

He has been Serra’s coach for 25 seasons and his record is 500-141. That is awfully impressive. That comes out to exactly 20 wins a season.

One-Two Punch

The final statistics for WPIAL regular-season scoring leaders are in. They show New Castle had a pretty potent one-two punch.
New Castle’s Shawn Anderson averaged 19 points a game and teammate Corey Eggleston 18. They were the only players from the same team to both average more than 18 points a game.

On the girls side, Kiski Area was the only school with two players averaging more than 16 a game. Maddie Antone averaged 16.9 and Makenzie Zidek 17.9.

Two for the Show

WPIAL Executive Director Tim O’Malley announced at the basketball pairings meeting Tuesday that 58 schools had both their boys and girls teams in the playoffs. For one school, it was a first-time occurrence.

This is the first time that both the South Side boys and girls teams have qualified for the playoffs.

Washington Wrestling to Go?

In terms of wrestling history, it is sad to hear what is going on at Washington High School.

Due to budget cuts from the state, Washington is considering getting rid of a few sports. One of those that will possibly be cut is wrestling.

Washington has a rich history in wrestling. The Little Prexies have won six team titles and the school has 13 state individual champions.

But interest in the sport has been waning at Washington. The team has only nine wrestlers left on the team this year.

The fate of the wrestling program, along with soccer and boys and girls tennis will be decided by the school board by Feb. 27.

Girman an All-American

Serra Catholic baseball player Alain Girman is considered one of the best players in the WPIAL for the upcoming season.
One publication considers him one of the best players in the country.

Girman, a senior, has been named to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American Team. Girman is one of only 31 pitchers in the entire country named to the team. Girman has a 24-0 record in his career.

Where Are They Now?

Former Greensburg-Salem point guard Chris Klimchock has made quite an impact on the St. Vincent mens basketball team after transferring from Edinboro and becoming eligible after the first semester. Klimchock is averaging 10.3 points and 4.3 assists in 14 starts and is tied for second on the team in steals with 26. He has helped St. Vincent win 10 of 12 and the team now has an 18-6 record.

Tags: Ambridge, Elizabeth Forward, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Kiski School, Washington, Yough