The 85-pound Palmerton Bombers football team captured the championship of the 2009 Lehigh Valley Youth Football League this season. The team beat Marian, 25-6, in the championbshp game. Team members include, first row, from left, Julian Chlebove, Owen Schoch, Aaron Stasko (MVP) and Dylan Shinsky. Second row, Tanner Strohl, Devin Rivera, Eric Reitz, Colton Thomas and Aiden Hinchey. Third row, Tyler Haydt, Dereck Wentz, Joshua Mooney, Cody Waterhouse, Alex Schwab and Jonathan Gruber. Fourth row, Matthew Andreas, Ryan King, Bryce Thomas Eric Schafer, Johnathan Eckhart and Nathaniel Galgoci.
Four TIMES NEWS area wrestlers captured first-place finishes at the annual District 11 Junior High wrestling championships, held recently at Parkland High School.
Palmerton crowned two champions while Northwestern and Pleasant Valley each had one gold medalist.
The Bombers' Josh Evans gained a first-place finish at 102 pounds, while Jake Christman bested the 157-pound field. The Tigers' Cole Miller won his title at 97 pounds, while the Bears' Kenny Yanovich was tops at 92 pounds.
The Palmerton Youth wrestlers make their best show ever in the Valley Elementary Wrestling League Tournament recently at Freedom High School in Bethlehem where 32 teams participated.
Nicholas Garambone finished in second place, while Lucas Christman and Andrew Ringler both ended up with fifth place finishes.
Youth wrestlers from Lehighton and Northern Lehigh captured first place finishes at the end of the season East Penn Youth Wrestling League (EPYWL) varsity tournament held at Souderton High School on Jan. 21. The EPWYL consists of elementary teams from schools throughout Monroe, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Bucks county. Pictured from left to right are, Matt Schmall (85 pounds) and CJ Young (92 pounds) from Northern Lehigh and Connor Frey (115 pounds) and Tegan Durishin (76 pounds) from Lehighton. The wrestlers were coached by Dave Schmall, Rob Marlatt and Mike Gornick.
The District 5 CYO East-West All Star games will be held Wednesday, Feb. 24 at Marian High School. The girls game will start at 6 p.m. and the boys game will follow at 7 p.m.
Players from St. Jerome's of Tamaqua, St. Joseph's of Jim Thorpe, Our Lady of the Angels Academy, McAdoo Catholic, St. John Neumann of Palmerton and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mahanoy City are taking part in the games.
A boys MVP Award donated In memory of Stanley "Jake" Kozuch and a girls MVP Award donated In memory of James Sofranko will be presented following the games.
Three boys and three girls, ages 8-13 yrs, have been named Tamaqua Elks Champions during the first round of competition in the 38th annual Elks National Hoop Shoot Free Throw Contest held in the Tamaqua Elementary School gym on Saturday, Dec. 5. First and second place winners and their parents were invited to the Elks Lodge for refreshments and trophy presentation. Trophies were awarded to the boy and girl champions and runner-ups in each of three categories from ages 8-9, 10-11, and 12-13.
The Lil' Colts from Hometown captured the 130-pound championship of the Lehigh Valley Youth Football League. The Lil' Colts put together 290 yards of total offense and the defense yielded just 73 yards to beat Southern Lehigh, 30-8, in the title game on Nov. 14. The victory capped a perfect 11-0 season for the Lil' Colts. MVP honors for the championship game went to Frank Nietz of the Lil Colts, who had three rushing attempts for 109 yards and two touchdowns and a 49-yard punt return for a score.
The Oklahoma Pee Wee team from Lehighton went 6-0 this year. Members of the team were, front row, from left, Hunter Rausch and Austin Hinkle. Second row, Devon Harrison, Shawn Cope, Hunter Glade, Chris Whiteman, Dustin Miller, Zach Crum. Third row, Eric Fox, Giovanni Caprio, Jack Zimmerman, Jared Wentz, Mason Neff, Carter Eckman, Cody Scherer. Fourth row, coach Mike Fairchild, head coach Terry Smith, coach Joe Eckman, coach Glenn Whiteman.
Our Lady of the Angels Academy, Lansford, won the Carbon-East Schuylkill District 5 volleyball championship this year and will advance to the Allentown Diocesan championships to be played in November. Team members included, front, form left, Jessica Wiese, Abby O'Donnell, Courtney McCall, Cassandra Hoben and Kelsey Van Horn; and back, coach Debbie Yusella, Abby Yusella, Danielle Dillee, Taylor Horvat, Jocelyn Stefanick and coach Donna O'Donnell.
Twelve-year old Will Kovolenko, who played for the Jim Thorpe Little League All-Stars this past season, recently finished in second place in his age group at the annual Phillies Home Run Derby championships at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Kovolenko competed in several regional contests before participating the championships. From left are, Phillies rightfielder Jayson Werth, Kovolenko, Jon Joaquin (a member of the Phillies front office), and John Bradley, whose dad was the founder of the Home Run Derby.
