Thought for the Day — With fears of mortality lurking these bleak winter days, remember the words of actress and bon vivant Mae West, who said, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Our subjects today are doing it right.
Football Honors
Lebanon Valley College recently held its annual football banquet and handed out its post-season awards.
Two locals, both seniors, earned honors: outside linebacker Frank Gaffney of Blue Mountain and nose tackle Clayton Williard of Tri-Valley.
Gaffney received the Defensive MVP Award for the second year in a row. He led the Dutchmen with 86 tackles, 47 of them solo stops. He tied for the team lead with 9.5 tackles for loss and racked up 3.5 sacks, two hurries and two pass break-ups.
Williard, as is so often the case for nose tackles, received the Unsung Hero Award. The 5-foot-11, 309-pound Williard was a big run-stopper with 29 tackles, including four for loss, and four quarterback hurries. The versatile Williard was also a part of the offensive line unit, slotting in as an additional guard in short-yardage and goal-line situations to give some extra oomph to the Dutchmen’s running game.
Hardcourt Highlights
As noted in Sunday’s Republican-Herald, congratulations to near-legendary Philadelphia University men’s basketball coach Herb Magee who earned his 1,000th career win in the Rams’ 80-60 victory over Post.
A key contributor to the win was Pottsville graduate and Rams senior guard Nick Schlitzer, who shot 5-of-6 from 3-point range and scored 18 points. The 6-6 Schlitzer leads the Rams in scoring, averaging 18.1 points per game. He also averages 5.0 rebounds per game, 3.0 assists, and tops the team in free-throw-shooting percentage at 89.2 percent.
• Penn State Berks junior guard Shanelle Koch of Blue Mountain is a leader, or among the leaders, in several categories on her team, in the North Eastern Athletic Conference and nationally.
Koch’s 21.1 ppg average leads the conference, and is seventh in the nation in Division III. She also leads the NEAC in free-throw-shooting percentage at 75.5 percent.
Koch leads her team in rebounds, with a 10.3 per-game average, is in the top 10 rebounding in the conference and is 16th in the nation in Division III in defensive rebounds per game. Koch is also in the conference top 10 in steals and blocks, and with 18 blocks is far and away the team leader.
Career-wise, she has 976 points with six games remaining in a quest to reach 1,000. In PSU-Berks’ most recent game, Koch scored 22 points and had 10 boards, five steals, three assists and a blocked shot.
• Goldey-Beacom College qualified for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament with a 66-60 win over Bloomfield, and it was freshman guard Reighly Melochick of Minersville who clinched the win.
Melochick scored her team’s final nine points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:21 left, then converted all three of her 1-and-1 free-throw opportunities in the final 22 seconds to secure the victory. On the night, Melochick matched her personal best with 20 points.
• Susquehanna is a perfect 9-0 at home and 15-4 overall after a 65-54 non-conference win over Alvernia. The Crusaders got 15 points and a team-best eight rebounds from sophomore guard Nikki Komara of Lourdes. In a 76-62 win over Catholic, Komara tied for the team-high in scoring with 21 points, while adding 10 boards and five assists.
• Wilkes sophomore guard Chelsea Smelas of Jim Thorpe scored 18 points and had five rebounds in the Colonels’ 68-59 Freedom Conference loss to King’s.
• California (Pa.) junior forward Josh Dombrosky continues to earn minutes off the bench for the Vulcans (13-10). The Shenandoah Valley alum canned a key 3-pointer and scored five points in 11 minutes in the Vulcans’ 90-70 win over Clarion. Dombrosky is averaging 2.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg and has 10 assists, five blocks and three steals.
In the Swim
Albright senior Lauren Cormier of Panther Valley notched an individual win in the 200 IM in a time of 2:29.22 in the Lions’ regular-season finale against Susquehanna. Cormier also helped the 400 freestyle relay team to a second-place finish and the 200 medley relay to a third place.
Swimming a leg for the winning Susquehanna 200 medley relay team was freshman Joann Butkus of Tamaqua, who also recorded second places individually in the 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle.
Mat Mentions
Elizabethtown freshman wrestler Chris Kummerer of Hamburg recorded a third-place finish — his first tournament placement as a collegiate wrestler — at 149 pounds for the Blue Jays at Saturday’s Messiah Open. Kummerer collected three major decisions in wrestlebacks after winning his first match but dropping the second. At the tourney he was 5-1 to improve his season record to 17-10.
• Another freshman, Bloomsburg’s Auston Hummel of North Schuylkill, recently captured two wins at 174 pounds for the Huskies. Hummel picked up an 8-1 win against Bucknell and a 6-2 victory against Rider. For the season, Hummel is 13-12 with two pins.
Track Talk
Lebanon Valley College junior Kelsey Patrick of Tamaqua recorded the second-fastest 1,000 meters in LVC history at Bucknell’s Bison Open, finishing sixth. Patrick also ran a leg on the women’s distance medley relay team, which recorded the nation’s third-best time of the season in their division and qualified for the ECACs.
And, at the Frank Colden Invitational at Ursinus, Patrick qualified for the ECACs and finished second in the 5,000 meters.
• Patrick’s teammate, senior Alyssa Keich of Tamaqua, recorded LVC’s fifth-fastest time ever in the 3,000 meters at the Bison Open. At Ursinus, she ran a leg on the 4x800 relay team, which won the event and recorded the sixth-best time in school history.
• Susquehanna sophomore Matt Gass of Shamokin finished third in the 400-meter run in a career-best time of 51.86 at the Crusader Classic. Sophomore teammate Justin Skavery of Mount Carmel finished 11th in the 800 meters.
Skavery also recorded a personal-best 4:38.94 in the mile at the Bison Open, while Gass had a career-best 2:01.32 in the 800. Junior Brandon Mendoza of Shamokin recorded a personal best of 1:14.28 in the 500 meter run.
• Bloomsburg sophomore distance runner Jake Plachko of Pottsville recorded two season-best marks recently. The first was in the mile (4:34.48) at the Bison Open and the second in the 3,000 meters (9:23.35) at the Youngstown State Invitational.
• On the women’s side at the Bison Open, Bloomsburg junior thrower Meghan Hallick of Pottsville improved her Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference qualifying status with a mark of 14.18 meters in the weight throw. Hallick also made the Dean’s List.
• Susquehanna junior Renea Broscious of Shamokin threw a personal-best 11.88 meters in the weight throw.
(MacLaughlin’s college column appears bi-weekly. To make contributions, email Sports Editor Leroy Boyer at Lboyer@republicanherald.com)