SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete for week of March 10, 2022.
Jess Dugo was practically born with a basketball in her hands, while her baptism as a softball catcher a few years later came with a plethora of pitches and foul tips careening all over her 8-year-old body thanks to a mischievous older brother. She loved every single minute of it. Dugo is a senior two-sport standout at Lower Moreland, and her reliable presence has helped the Lions’ transition to Suburban One by being a stalwart as the basketball team’s point guard and softball program’s catcher.
According to LM softball coach Karen Reese, Dugo’s greatest strengths are on the defensive side, but the four-year starter behind the plate has become a more well-rounded player as her career has progressed. “I wish I had more Jess Dugo’s,” Reese said. “Not a big girl, but she’s strong and powerful. Behind the plate, she’s our defensive player of the year. She blocks well, is able to call pitches herself and frames the ball well. She’s very visual and sees the whole field. Not much gets past her, and her arm is strong to throw down to the bases. Offensively, she’s more of a bunter than a power hitter, and she’s used the bunting, as well as taking walks, to get on base. When she gets on, she usually scores, because she’s very fast. Jess is very self-motivated and hard on herself when she doesn’t live up to her own expectations. She is a highly competitive, quiet leader.”
Rich Becker is Dugo’s head basketball coach at Lower Moreland, and he readily admitted he wasn’t quite sure what he had in Dugo her first two seasons. She was one of the better jayvee players the Lions had as a freshman and sophomore, and by that second season she was starting to see some varsity action as a swing player. However, it wasn’t until the first game of Dugo’s COVID-shortened junior season where she truly announced her presence to Becker and the rest of Suburban One. In that road game against Springfield in Jan. 2021, things started looking promising for Dugo, who scored 13 points through three quarters in a tightly-contested league contest. Then came the eruption. Dugo scored 20 of her career-high 33 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, leading the Lions to a 53-50 win.
Becker was completely floored. “Her first two years, I knew she had talent, but I wasn’t sure if she was a legitimate varsity player,” he said. “Then, everything clicked. She won that game for us, and it was a big moment for Jess because prior to that she had struggled to adjust. It was nice to see her make that jump. She exploded in that game and realized she belonged. Then, she really embraced the leader role, being the one willing to step up and not be afraid to take the big shot. Jess is never afraid. It just speaks to her character and how hard she works. In the four years I’ve been coaching her, she’s never had one bad practice where she mailed it in. She takes no shortcuts.” This past winter, Dugo earned first team All-SOL Freedom Division recognition.
This fall, Dugo will be bound for Rutgers University. As far as majors are concerned, she is undecided, although she did mention being drawn to both Environmental Science and Engineering as possible pursuits. And while she may still pursue athletics, it would be at the club level. There’s no mistaking the fact that during her years at Lower Moreland, she has impacted her coaches in both sports. “There’s no drama with Jess, so what you see is what you get,” Reese said. “Players look up to her, she never gives up and is very resilient. That attitude is contagious. She’s her own person, for sure, a hard worker who is self-motivated and very competitive. She’s kind, nice to everybody and is just a good person, and for me that’s nice to be around.” Unlike Reese, Becker has also gotten to know Dugo as her teacher in the classroom, serving as her instructor in honors Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus in 10th and 11th grade, respectively. “All of her teachers are such big fans of Jess,” Becker said. “She’s an A-student, but you’d never know it because of the way she goes about it. She doesn’t brag, she just goes out there to perform, which fits her demeanor to a tee. When you have a kid like Jess (as a coach and teacher) who buys into all the little things, you don’t want to disappoint her. She challenges me to be as prepared as she is every single day. Such a good, steady person: someone who learns easily and is a person you can have a conversation with about anything.”
To read Dugo’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/jess-dugo-0099331
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of March 10, 2022.
Matt Spadavecchia had heard it all before. Those familiar lines reminding athletes that the work they do in the offseason will ultimately determine what they do in the season. “My jayvee coach, Mr. (Len) Lehman, has been a close friend my entire life, and his son is also on my baseball team,” Spadavecchia said. “Every year he would say the first or second winter practice, ‘It shows who’s working out, and it shows who put in the time.’ I always took that as ‘Damn, I feel like I could have done so much more,’ but it’s so hard being a huge guy like me.” Last year, after an injury-plagued season, the now New Hope-Solebury senior met with head coach Tony Vlahovic and his two assistants. “We had a come-to-Jesus meeting with him at the end of last year about getting in better shape and taking care of himself,” the Lions’ baseball coach said. “He had tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘Coach, I’m going to do it. I’m going to take better care of myself’ because we were talking to him more about his health. He said, ‘I want to play, I want to be healthy, I want to finish my career.’ We talk about legacy all the time. What do you want to leave behind for the program? He said, ‘I want to leave something behind.’ I said, ‘Matt, you can do that, but it’s up to you,’ and he did it.”
Spadavecchia admits that meeting was a wake-up call. “All three of the coaches were there, and it was just a one-on-one talk,” he said. “They were like, ‘Hey, Matt, something’s going to have to change here, or we’re not going to be able to play you that much.’” A whole lot has changed since last season when Spadavecchia suffered a bone chip in his knee and was sidelined a major part of the season. “I really want to play, and I’ve got to prove myself this year,” he said. “So I was like – ‘What can I do?’ My mom was able to get me some personal training, and around three months later, I was able to lose 30 pounds.” Unfortunately, Spadavecchia was involved in an accident and suffered a laceration in his healthy knee that required stiches. The following week, he had his wisdom teeth removed, and his workout routine was impacted further when his personal trainer moved to Florida. “I’m still trying to do everything, but I slowly gained the weight back,” he said. “I’m still 10 pounds down, and I’m working out more than ever, but I’m still at this constant growth. Every night I’m running when the coach doesn’t see. I’m doing weights on the six-week program they gave us, and they said it’s going to prove who does the work. I’m going to show – ‘Hey, coach, I’m trying my hardest.’ They see it, but I’ve got to put the work in myself. The main thing they said in the one-on-one meeting – you can’t be this big forever, especially if you don’t want to be. That hit me hard. Knowing I could do something, but I have to realize I want it.”
Spadavecchia’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. “He’s come a long way,” Vlahovic said. “He worked out in the offseason, he lost quite a bit of weight, and he’s working at it. He got the kick in the butt he needed to say ‘Hey, you can do more than this, you want to be in better condition, you want your health to be better, you want to play better, you can control these things by taking the time and working at it and putting that extra effort in, and that’s exactly what he did. He’s one of those kids – it’s really hard not to like him.” Spadavecchia is projected to see action at first base or designated hitter this spring. It’s his plan to continue working hard to attain his goals. “One hundred percent,” Spadavecchia said. “It’s more than just the baseball side now. After what he said, I’ve got to make myself feel and look better than I did a year ago. That’s basically my main goal. I want to try my hardest for this baseball team because I love the guys around me, and I want to get as far as possible.”
In the fall, Spadavecchia will be attending Seton Hall University where he will major in business/finance. In addition to working with the young people at his church, Spadavecchia enjoys working at Vlahovic’s clinics and camps for Special Olympics and the local little league. “He was a quiet kid, a dry sense of humor, and as time went on, he became a very good leader for us,” Vlahovic said. “Every time I do a clinic with Special Olympics or with the little league – he’s there every single time. He owns what he’s done and how hard he’s worked. He could have a really good season and be very, very steady for us and that’s what I’m hoping for. He’s working at it. I just love the kid. He’s one of those kids – he’s like an unsung hero.”
To read Spadavecchia’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/matt-spadavecchia-0099337
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