Hempfield coach reaches milestone
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Hempfield’s 45-18 win against Hampton in the title match of the Hampton Dawg Duals on Saturday capped an impressive opening to the high school wrestling season for the the Spartans. Hempfield recorded five wins, all by significant margins.
The Spartans’ first match against Summit Academy marked a milestone for coach Vince DeAugustine. The 72-6 win was the 200th of DeAugustine’s career.
“I can’t express the amount of respect I have for the many student-athletes that sacrificed so much for me throughout the years,” said DeAugustine, now in his 13th season. “Without them, along with some very good assistant coaches, this would have never been possible.”
DeAugustine is the 40th coach in WPIAL history to reach 200 wins. He now has a 204-51 record, which moves him up to 35th on the all-time list.
DeAugustine is one of three WPIAL coaches who will reach 200 wins this season.
Elizabeth Forward coach Rich Scheuermann entered the season with a 198-229 record. The Warriors played host to Mount Pleasant on Wednesday and travel to Yough Dec. 20.
Greensburg Salem coach Randy Parsley opened the season with a 192-106 record.
McGuffey coach Mark Caffrey is closing in on the 400-win plateau. He opened the season with a 387-88 mark.
Plenty of Hart
Chris Hart has been coaching at Hampton for the past 16 years, but didn’t have to deal with the administrative details of being a head coach until this year.
“I was a varsity assistant for Joe Bursick for 14 years, then became a junior high coach when Joe Eisel took over [as varsity coach],” Hart said. “I moved to the junior high because my nephew Justin was on the team.”
Both Harts are now on the varsity squad, Chris as the head coach, and Justin as a freshman starter at 182.
“There’s a lot more responsibility to being a head coach,” Chris Hart said. “When I was an assistant, I would just show up and work out with the kids. After seeing what’s involved with the administrative duties, I have a lot more respect for what a head coach has to do.”
Hart is a 1993 Hampton graduate. He was a threeyear starter for the Talbots and qualified for the PIAA Class 3A tournament twice. He placed third in the PIAA as a 171-pound senior.
“It’s great to be coaching at my alma mater,” Hart said. “It’s nice wearing blue and gold. There’s no other place I would want to coach.”
Frazier rebuilding
Buck Watkins still has a southern accent from five years of living in Texas and North Carolina, but he’s a Westmoreland County boy at heart. Watkins has taken over as head coach at Frazier High School.
“I’m from a small town just outside of Mount Pleasant, but I attended Hempfield High School,” said Watkins, a 2005 graduate who was a four-year starter for the Spartans. “I spent two years in Texas as a graduate assistant at Wayland Baptist University. I also lived in North Carolina three years.”
While in North Carolina, Watkins served as head coach of West Stokes High School for two years.
“I was the Western Piedmont Conference coach of the year in 2016,” Watkins said. “We started with eight kids and had 25 when I stepped down.”
Watkins faces a similar situation at Frazier. The program made its WPIAL debut last year and had only three wrestlers.
“We have six kids this year,” Watkins said. “Our goal is to have nine or 10 kids next year and hopefully a full lineup in years to come.”
Other coaching news
• Mike Heinl has taken over as head coach at Quaker Valley. Heinl is a 1987 graduate of Shaler, who qualified for PIAA Class 3A tournament once. He placed second in the WPIAL as a 112-poundsenior.
• Jeff Havelka has taken over as head coach at Canon-McMillan. Havelka is a 2005 graduate of Burgettstown, where he recorded 119 wins and qualified for the PIAA Class 2A tournament twice.
• New Castle is fielding a varsity team for the first time since 1991. Mark DeMonaco is the new coach.
• Jeannette has dropped its program. The Jayhawks have formed a co-op with Hempfield.