Pine-Richland notebook: 3 more football players make college choices

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, February 6, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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A trio of Pine-Richland football players made their college commitments official on National Signing Day on Feb. 2.

Cole Boyd (Marist), Alex Gochis (Duquesne) and Jacob Domer (Clarion) signed their letters of intent joining Jeremiah Hasley (Duke) and Jalen Klemm (Kansas St.), who signed during the early period.

Boyd was the starting quarterback until he suffered an injury late in the season. In seven games, he passed for 1,159 yards and had 12 touchdowns to five interceptions. He was an all-conference honorable mention.

Gochis was the Rams’ leading receiver with 48 catches, 780 yards and eight touchdowns and was named first-team all-conference.

Domer played on the offensive and defensive line. He recorded 50 tackles, five sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception. He was an all-conference performer.

Levi Krebs (lacrosse) signed to play at Washington & Jefferson and Harley Aguglia (softball) signed to continue her career at Pitt-Greensburg.

Competitive spirit at states

The Rams finished eighth in the preliminary round and fourth in the semifinals, falling short of making the finals in the Class 3A Small Varsity division at the state finals Jan. 28-29 in Hershey. They posted a score of 77.9667 in the semifinals.

Pine-Richland won the WPIAL Class 3A Small Division title and will compete at nationals in Florida later this month.

Wrestling team takes 2nd

Anthony Ferraro won the 126-pound title to lead a contingent of place winners for the Rams, who earned second place out of 31 teams at the annual Fred Bell Invitational on Jan. 29 in Grove City. Shane Simpson (113), Dominic Ferraro (120) and Joey Schneck (285) won consolation matches and Jake Lukez (160) won a seventh-place bout.

The Rams qualified for the WPIAL Class 3A team playoffs and fell to perennial power Kiski Area, 48-19, in the first round.

Former Rams recognized

With the college baseball season set to get underway in mid-February, a trio of former Pine-Richland players Matt Wood, Troy LaNeve and Thomas Zbezinski received preseason honors.

Wood, a catcher at Penn State, was ranked sixth among preseason draft eligible prospects in the Big Ten by D1Baseball.com He hit .295 with 10 doubles, a triple and four home runs in 39 games as a sophomore last season.

LaNeve, an outfielder at Vanderbilt, was ranked in the top 75 of preseason draft eligible prospects in the SEC by D1Baseball.com. He had a .286 batting average with seven doubles, six homers and 22 RBI in 84 at-bats as a redshirt freshman last season.

Zbezinski, a pitcher at Penn State Behrend, was named a Division III preseason All-American by D3baseball.com. He had an outstanding junior campaign, going 8-1 with a 1.68 ERA over 10 starts. In 64.1 innings, he struck out 85 batters and had only 21 walks and had a no-hitter May 11 against Pitt-Bradford.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

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