Cheswick Christian starting lineup returns
For the first time in his 12-year coaching career at Cheswick Christian Academy, boys basketball coach Todd Rosio will benefit from having all five of his starting players back from the previous season.
"They definitely know each other very well," Rosio said. "They can almost coach themselves. It's a nice little break for me."
Cheswick posted a 16-14 record last year with an 8-5 record in the Southwest Christian Athletic Conference. The Chargers finished second in the conference behind Beaver County Christian School for the second straight year.
"Our conference has a regular-season champ and a playoff champ," Rosio said. "Winning those are goals 1A and 1B for us."
Senior Charlie Robinson, who averaged 13.9 points per game through the regular season, is the Chargers' leading returner. He will be joined by brothers Jake and Steve Holeczy, a senior and junior, respectively, and seniors Justin Brandenstein and Matt Seefeld.
"They enjoy basketball and they enjoy each other. They're very unselfish," Rosio said of his players. "They're totally interested in team goals and not interested in individual goals."
Joining the team this year -- and expected to contribute off the bench -- are sophomores Eric Parfitt and Nathan Scinico.
Rounding out the nine-man roster are sophomores Carmen Dzadovsky and Seth Johnson.
Rosio admitted that practices feel more fun with this group of players because of their sense of humor. They take the handicap of having only nine players on the roster in stride. Often times, they will ask a junior high player to practice with them so that they can practice 5-on-5.
Sometimes they just ask a random kid in the hall to play. Rosio said the numbers -- or lack thereof -- have never been an issue.
"We're a small school, but I've never had any problems with these kids," he said. "They play the right way; they're coachable, and they have good attitudes."
In addition to the championships that the Chargers hope to win, they have set goals of avenging the teams that handed them the 14 losses last season. The Chargers are also aiming to extend their home winning streak -- they have lost just one home game in four years.
"Our gym at the school is small, so we play our home games at Penn State New Kensington," Rosio said. "So we take pride in being able to win there."
Cheswick plays all of its nonconference games on the road. Such opponents this year include Apollo-Ridge, Springdale and Elderton.
"We play a lot of the public schools, and they usually toughen us up," Rosio said. "This should be one of our better years."
Undoubtedly, the main focus for the players and the coach is still to win championships.
"When this group of seniors were freshmen, they got to witness us win the championship," Rosio said. "They were on the outskirts, and they want their own."
