Sending student-athletes to college a byproduct of a winning program
Allentown Central Catholic won eight District 11 championships last year.
In the current school year, the Vikings have already won five.
In this calendar year, ACCHS has won two state championships — in boys basketball and boys lacrosse.
The school has a chance to add two more this fall, including one on Friday morning at 11 when the girls soccer team takes on District 7 champ Avonworth at Hersheypark Stadium for the PIAA 2A title. The other fall program still alive in states is the football team, which will play unbeaten District 4 champ Jersey Shore at 7 p.m. Friday at J. Birney Crum Stadium.
Why all the success?
“These kids just want to play and fight and win,” said assistant athletic director Colleen Nosovitch, a 2010 Central graduate who was an outstanding multisport athlete. “They’re great competitors. When I first started here as assistant AD six years ago, I honestly didn’t see a lot of that. But now that has come back in a big way. These kids just want to win.”
A byproduct of winning and hard work is earning athletic opportunities at the college level. No matter if it’s Division I, II, or III or if it’s a full scholarship, partial or no athletic money at all, student-athletes wanting to play in college shows how much they love to compete.
On Wednesday morning at Rockne Hall, 14 Central seniors participated in a signing ceremony.
Nosovitch there will be at least 20 more signees in the spring.
“This is one of the best senior classes that I’ve ever dealt with,” Nosovitch said. “They’re not just successful in their sports but they’re also successful in the classroom. For EPC scholar-athlete nominations, which requires a 3.0-grade point average, we probably had 40 kids as possible applicants. They’re all so smart, so involved in community service. We even had to push back this ceremony this morning because we had a blood drive meeting and a Kairos [student retreat] meeting.
“They’re all involved in so many things. They’re good kids. They’re great athletes but even better students and kids.”
Those participating in the ceremony included Mason Abromitis, baseball, Elon; Ben Scandone, lacrosse, Drexel; Chuck Kuczynski, lacrosse, Syracuse; Julia Roth, basketball, Susquehanna; Sammy Jo Mikosky, volleyball, North Texas; Cole Sonday, soccer, Grove City;
Jack Keenan, lacrosse, Arcadia; Aiden Carroll, lacrosse, Aurora; Riley Horoshko, lacrosse, Temple; Carly Rohrbach, soccer, Concord; Samantha Fanger, soccer, DeSales; Caleigh Nelson, volleyball, Mary Washington; Liam Drake, lacrosse, Widener; Jennifer Milisits, softball, Misericordia.
“We have such a huge support system within Central,” said Roth, who is a member of the girls soccer team. “All the teachers, all of the other students, everyone is really supportive of each other. We all push each other to go as far as we can and do the best in everything we do. That shows in our athletic program.”
Baseball has been a rare Vikings program that has not had tremendous success. CCHS was 12-10 and 8-8 in the EPC last year, and Abromitis, a middle infielder, believes the team is on the uptick.
“We have a great team with a lot of young guys ready to step up and a great core,” he said.
Central Catholic softball is coming off a 7-13 season, but Milisits, a pitcher, is optimistic about her senior year.
“We have a great senior class with great leadership and I think we’re going to be much more competitive this year,” she said.
No one is looking more forward to the spring than members of the ACCHS boys lacrosse team coming off a state championship.
“We’ve got a lot of talent here and a lot of heart, too,” Kuczynski said. “We really want to go out on a high note and live up to some of our friends from last year. We want to have a good goodbye to the school.”
Why is Central so successful in lacrosse and other sports?
“The top three ingredients include having a team with a lot of heart that really wants to win,” Kuczynski said. “No. 2 is kids who show up at practice every day wanting to get better and the third thing is everybody hustles on every play. You win the 50-50 balls, and you are unselfish and get the ball to the open person. Those are all ingredients of a successful program.”
Scandone agreed, saying it starts during the school day.
“You walk through the hallways and all of the kids know each other,” he said. “It’s tight-knit. We all wish each other well for their upcoming games. The same thing happens with the teachers. We know what’s going on with the different sports and there’s great camaraderie. We also get great support from our student and fan sections. It’s just great knowing the school is behind you.”