Home teams had a lot to celebrate in 2024 – Hazleton Standard Speaker

Like all good things, the sporting year, unfortunately, must come to an end.

However, the closing of the curtain on 2024 is the perfect time to reflect on an exceptional year for several local teams and even to take a look at possibly even more special times for some of those same teams in 2025.

Looking for individual athletes making local headlines in 2024? Wait until Wednesday, when another Standard-Speaker article will highlight his accomplishments.

For now, these are some of the teams that will be the talk of future class reunions… “Remember when…”

No local team enjoyed more success during the 2023-24 season than the Mahanoy Area boys basketball team. The Golden Bears tied a regional record with 28 wins to start the season, captured the Schuylkill League Division III and overall titles, claimed their second straight District 11 Class AA championship and advanced to the second round of the PIAA tournament before being eliminated by the Philadelphia Public League. Constitution power.

The Bears wowed their legions of area fans with their selfless play, particularly in Mahanoy City, where they were the center of town and filled Mickey Holland Gymnasium and beyond.

“It was a great feeling to be around these kids,” Mahanoy Area head coach Ted Styka said. “They are like my children. We grew up together. I learned a lot from them. … I hope they learned a lot from me.”

At the end of the season, senior starters Brady Alansky, Kadin Styka, Jace Yedsena and Tanner Zawada shared Standard-Speaker Men’s Basketball Player of the Year honors, a nod to their team approach to the game.

“It was an unbelievable run,” Ted Styka said the night his team’s season ended with a disappointing loss to Constitution. “It’s a shame this has to end here, so early for us. “This was probably the East final in the second round.”

The local boys basketball team that had the deepest state tournament in 2024, the second-deepest in its program’s history? How about the little MMI?

The Freeland-based team won more games (18) during the 2023-24 season than any Preppers team since 1973, when MMI won 24 en route to the Anthracite League and District 11 titles and the PIAA Class C championship, the first for a private school in Pennsylvania.

The 2024 Preppers also became MMI’s third District 2 champion since 2018. They finished behind only Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg in the District 2/11 subregional tournament, defeating top-seeded Bethlehem Christian along the way.

The Preppers then beat Galeton, 61-51, three hours from home in the District 4 hinterland, and District 3’s High Point Baptist in Minersville to reach the PIAA quarterfinals. There, they ran into a buzzsaw at District 3 champion Linville Hill and were eliminated.

Still…

“For me, I’ll always remember this trip … and that 10-day period where we played like five (playoff) games,” Preppers head coach Joe Flanagan said. “I was with these kids more than their parents…at school, at practices and at games everywhere. Every other coach I asked said, ‘Just enjoy it!’ “You never know when it will happen again.”

Meanwhile, two local women’s basketball teams were making their own history last winter.

Marian struggled to get past the second round of the state tournament in recent years. That was until the 2023-24 Fillies avenged a close loss to Northern Lehigh in the District 11 Class AA semifinals with a close victory over the Bulldogs in the PIAA tournament. That sent Marian to the state quarterfinals, where the Fillies blew an early lead and fell to Marion Center, the eventual PIAA runner-up.

Hazleton Area found capturing the overall Wyoming Valley Conference crown and exiting the District 2/4 Class 6A subregional tournament a challenge since 2020. However, the Lady Cougars overcame the previous two hurdles, beating District opponent 1 Pennsbury in the first round of the PIAA tournament and gave eventual Class 6A state champion Cardinal O’Hara its toughest postseason challenge before falling in the second round.

Mind you, the Lady Cougars accomplished all of the above with a core of talented freshmen.

“Among the last 16 teams in the state? What more could you ask for? said longtime Hazleton Area head coach Joe Gavio after his team’s loss to Cardinal O’Hara. “Seriously, they’re just little kids and they’re only going to get better. They are hungry. They’re angry in there and that’s a good sign. They didn’t just think they could win this game. They really thought they were going to win. “They didn’t, but this is all part of their growth as a team.”

For the Lady Cougars, Fillies and Mahanoy Area kids, that hunger has carried over into this season. The Hazleton area girls and the Golden Bears achieved undefeated records in the new year; while the Marian girls have only lost once. All three teams have the ingredients to advance even further in the postseason next March.

“If we do what we did last year, I would be very happy,” Gavio said in an interview in November. “If we don’t do it, it will be a disappointment.”

This past June, the Hazleton Area and MMI baseball teams again demonstrated why they are perennial contenders for District 2 big- and small-school honors, respectively, and almost automatic qualifiers for the PIAA tournament each year. The Cougars won their fifth consecutive Class 6A subregional title under head coach Russ Canzler and the Preppers used Andrew Burns’ no-hitter against Susquehanna in the district final to claim their fourth Class A championship since 2014.

“You want to take the lead early and, honestly, that gave me confidence,” Burns said, after being bet an early 1-0 lead against the Sabres. “I built on that and it allowed me to go out and pitch.”

At states, Hazleton Area took advantage of stingy pitching from seniors Jonas Aponick and Antonio Doganiero, timely hitters and stellar defense to shutout wins over District 1’s Central Bucks East (1-0) and Neshaminy (2-0), respectively. , and an accompanying position. in the Class 6A semifinals for the second time in three years.

“They just showed who they are: a tough, brave, resilient group of kids who have worked hard through some ups and downs all year, but have come together really well as a team,” Canzler said.

After Burns and MMI beat Millville to open the PIAA tournament, the Preppers lost to Faith Christian in the quarterfinals. Faith Christian ended up winning the Class A state title. Hazleton Area’s streak ended with a loss to La Salle College in the Class 6A semifinals. The Explorers then lost to Hempfield, 3-2, in the finals.

Another team worth watching in 2024 was the Crestwood field hockey team again. Led by six All-State players, the Lady Comets cruised to the WVC title and then blanked three opponents by a combined margin of 18-0 to take the District 2/4 Class AA subregional crown. A narrow loss to Palmyra ended Crestwood’s state tournament run.