Belle Vernon adds 5 to football hall of fame
Five past standout players representing five different decades were inducted into the Belle Vernon Area Football Hall of Fame during halftime of the Leopards' home football game against Thomas Jefferson High School on Friday.
Also honored posthumously was Belle Vernon Area longtime basketball and baseball coach Don Asmonga, who passed away in January. Shortly before his passing he was unable to attend a previous event to honor him by the BVA Boosters. Asmonga guided both teams from 1965 through 1988. The 1978 Leopards' basketball team won the program's only WPIAL championship.
In alphabetical order the five alumni players inducted were Dennis Delmastro, Roy Dudgeon, Jon Fowler, Vaughn Hewitt and Erick Pabis.
Delmastro intercepted 10 passes for Belle Vernon's 1977 Big 10 Conference championship team and was also one of the team's leading tacklers.
An offensive center and defensive back, Dudgeon helped the 1962 Rostraver High School tem share 1962 WPIAL Class AA championship with Carmichaels High School.
Fowler finished his kicking career in 2003 with 133 points and averaged 42.8 punting yards his senior year. He earned All-State honors and was the Big 33 Classic's runner-up for Most Valuable Player.
A decorated offensive and defensive lineman in the late 1970s and '80s, Hewitt was part of two Big 10 Conference championship teams.
An imposing offensive guard and defensive lineman, Pabis was a three-way starter on three consecutive Keystone Conference title teams in the late 1990s.
BVA Football Hall of Fame committee member include Darrin Belsick, Bill Blick, Jack Fayak, Joe Grata, Rob Harhai, Stephen Russell and John Zunic.
Lubriani wins
While the conclusion of the 2014 scholastic golf season will not be determined for a while, Belle Vernon Area High School's Mike Lubriani began it in impressive fashion.
He won the Fayette County Coaches Association Tournament last month at Uniontown's Duck Hollow Golf Club. He shot a 1 over par 73 to win the 18-hole event.
Rounding out the top three were Harrison Laskey (76) of Laurel Highlands and Uniontown's Callahan Abel with a 78.
The top 10 finishers earned all-county honors.
Albert Gallatin's Tanner Kutek and Laurel Highlands' Jerrod Sutton finished in a tied for fourth with rounds of 82 while Frazier's Gregg Masneri earned sixth with an 84. Seventh place was shared by Belle Vernon's Greg Fedor and Frasier's Josh Miller, who both carded scores of 85. Tyler Frazee of Uniontown (86) and Frazier's Annika Erdley (87) completed the top 10.
Belle Vernon won the team title, followed by Uniontown and Laurel Highlands.
Verkleeren succeeds
Belle Vernon Area High School wrestler Jarod Verkleeren is gearing up for the 2014-15 season after a highly successful summer competing for the United States Cadet Freestyle team.
While wrestling in and experiencing Slovakia was certainly a memorable experience, perhaps Verkleeren's biggest summer accomplishment on the mat was wining the USAW Cadet National Freestyle Championship in Fargo, N.D.
A 2014 PIAA state qualifier and section champion, Verkleeren won the 145-pound title by winning seven matches by a combined score of 74-11 and six of those victories came by technical fall. He capped his tourney run with an 11-0 technical fall of Idaho's Matthew Park.
Earlier this past summer, he competed at the FILA Cadet World Wrestling Championships in Snina, Slovakia. He qualified by winning nine consecutive matches the 63-kilogram weight class, which translates to 138.75 pounds, at the FILA World Qualifier in Akron, Ohio.
Verkleeren was one of three WPIAL and four Pennsylvania wrestlers who represented the United States in Slovakia. The others were Jefferson-Morgan's Gavin Teasdale, Franklin Regional's Spencer Lee and Boyertown's Jordan Wood.
Unfortunately the now sophomore lost his only match at Slovakia, 6-2, to Armenia's Gevorg Mikheyan.
He also wrestled and earned second-place in his class for the Pennsylvania team that competed in the Cadet National Duals in Daytona, Fla.
Despite missing the first month of his 2013-2014 freshman season with Belle Vernon due to a torn labrum, Verkleeren finished the season with a 21-6 overall record and won the WPIAL Class AAA Section 2 145-pound championship.
His older brother, Derek, will be a junior wrestler with the Leopards this season and owns a 56-16 career scholastic record.
Both brothers own the distinction of being the first two Belle Vernon Area High School wrestlers to win individual section championships as freshman.
Bruce Wald is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.
