Council Rock South will face La Salle in Friday’s PIAA Class AAAA title game at Penn State University. Scott Huff previews that big game.
By Scott Huff
The long and winding road has been carefully followed by the Council Rock South Golden Hawks as they prepare for their PIAA Quad-A state championship game against District 12 champion La Salle. The title game will be played at Medlar Field on the campus of Penn State University on Friday with a 1 pm start.
Council Rock South head coach Greg Young will be coaching his final game as the successful Golden Hawk coach after announcing his ‘retirement.’ And the game will also be the final one for a host of seniors who helped the Hawks soar to great heights this 2012 season.
“I played at Penn State and never got a chance to play in the current stadium,” said Young in reference to the gorgeous facility at State College. “Selfishly, I am glad that we have to travel there to play the championship game. I’m very excited.
“I knew it was going to be an extremely difficult decision to step away from coaching,” added Young. “It is tough to say good-bye to the kids that will be coming back, but this group of seniors have come a long way. I had kicked around the idea of not coming back early in the season, and now I know that this is the right time.”
The seniors on this team – all nine starters are seniors – are also ecstatic to make the three hour plus trek to PSU.
“The trip to State College is going to be a special one for us,” said CR South senior Brian Donnelly. “We are going to get a chance to stay over on Thursday night, and we will have a chance to focus on the game Friday afternoon.
“It’s a little funny in that we have graduated from school on Monday, but we will still be representing the school on Friday,” added Donnelly. “We have said all season that we have had unfinished business to take care of, and now we can finally take care of it.”
Donnelly’s comments reflect the confidence the Hawks possess – not cockiness – but confidence.
“I was hoping that we would get to the point where we are now,” said Young. “La Salle has a great team, in fact, the four teams that played in the semifinals were all great teams. The team that does the little things right will win the game.”
Ironically, both Council Rock South and La Salle have had bumps in the road along the way to the title game.
Council Rock South won the Suburban One League National Conference championship and earned the top seed in the District One tournament. Rock South flew by North Penn (4-1) in the opening round; defeated Coatesville (10-0) in the quarterfinal round; and beat Upper Dublin (6-5) in the semifinals.
The Golden Hawks failed to claim a District One title as Central Bucks South captured a 2-0 win in the championship game.
La Salle won the Philadelphia Catholic League ‘Red’ Division and moved through the PCL playoffs. The Explorers defeated St. Joseph Prep (6-0) and Archbishop Carroll (10-0) before advancing to the PCL title game with Class AAA Neumann-Goretti.
La Salle failed to claim the PCL championship as the Explorers lost to the Saints by a 5-4 count. However, La Salle moved on to the city Quad-A title game against Public League champion Frankford as the PCL Quad-A representative.
The Explorers advanced as the District 12 Quad champion into the state tournament with a 14-1 rout over Frankford.
Council Rock South marched to the PIAA Quad-A state title game with victories over Frankford (6-2), Coatesville (5-1), and Altoona (4-0).
La Salle marched to the PIAA Quad-A state title game with victories over Upper Dublin (10-1), Central Dauphin (7-6), and Hatboro-Horsham (7-5).
“It is disappointing losing,” said Donnelly after the Hawks lost its district title game to Central Bucks South. “But we still have four games to play in states.”
The senior dominated team and its ‘senior’ head coach never had a doubt that they would make that journey to Penn State.
Probable Starting Lineups:
Council Rock South Golden Hawks – (1) – Zach Fitzgerald (ss); (2) – Brian Donnelly (cf); (3) – Bret DeStefano (p); (4) – Jeff Miller (rf); (5) – Dan Callahan (c); (6) – Zak Gross (1b); (7) – Kane Price (lf); (8) – Mike Chaykin (3b); (9) Steve Wright (ss).
La Salle Explorers – (1) – Ryan Otis (cf); (2) – PJ Acierno (lf); (3) Chris Melillo (1b); (4) – Corey Baiada (c); (5) – Tyler Kozeniewski (rf); (6) Mike Piscopo (3b); (7) Colin Pyne (2b); (8) Dominic Cuoci (ss); (9) Kevin Long (p).
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