Gorman: WPIAL Class A title game a victory for small-town teams
When it ended, Joe Salvino blew celebratory kisses to a crowd that must have made Monessen a ghost town.
On the other side of Pitt's Petersen Events Center sat Jeannette fans, clad in blue and red, with no intention of abandoning their beloved Jayhawks.
The WPIAL Class A boys' championship was a small-town affair, the first between a pair of public schools since 2007.
That is significant in this day of private-school basketball dominance, perhaps the greatest concern to the WPIAL and its public-school membership.
No wonder, then, that Salvino used Monessen's 73-57 victory over Jeannette Friday night as his personal festivus, an opportunity to air his grievances.
After all, Monessen lost to Lincoln Park by 44 points in the WPIAL final a year earlier.
“I don't know if we played a high school team when we played Lincoln Park,” Salvino said. “It's important to me. I'm not griping. Sometimes it's not fair.
“Monessen and Jeannette are probably so similar in the way they are, industrial towns. Monessen had the mill, Jeannette the speciality glass factory. Once those industries go down, everybody is not around and it's not as big as it once was. That's what makes it nice when you have two public schools in the finals. It's almost like a throwback.”
Two public schools from two small towns that have fallen on hard times but still take pride in and rally around their high school athletics programs.
Since Clairton defeated Duquesne in overtime in 2006 and Leechburg beat California by a point in '07, the Class A final has belonged to private schools Serra Catholic, Sewickley Academy, Vincentian Academy and Lincoln Park, a charter school that has moved up to Class AA.
So, it was not only satisfying but gratifying for Jeannette to beat Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic and Eden Christian and Monessen to defeat St. Joseph and Vincentian on its way to the Pete.
It marked the fourth finals appearance in five years for Monessen, the fourth since 2007 for Jeannette. They had two titles to show for those eight appearances. Now, they would play each other for the trophy.
“It was great for the communities,” Jeannette coach Adrian Batts said. “We're sports towns with tradition. And it was great for public schools. We use the kids that come through our grade school system. They can get anyone they want.”
That's why Salvino took his stand. Yet Salvino's ire isn't directed so much at private schools as it at a system that saw one of Monessen's native sons, Elijah Minnie, leave his hometown for a charter school and then lead Lincoln Park past the Greyhounds in the WPIAL final last year.
“We do things by rule. They don't have to follow the rules,” Salvino said. “I know people don't want to hear it, but it has to be said, simply because I know every coach out there wants to say the same thing.
“I'll stand up for public schools. We've got to go by the people that live in our town, our communities. Those people can go wherever they want to. The thing is, with charter schools my tax dollars are paying for this kid to go to school.”
On Friday night, Monessen's tax dollars were going toward its fire department, which was preparing to welcome its WPIAL Class A champions home by rolling out the red carpet with an escort of fire engines.
“It means a lot to us,” Monessen sophomore Jaden Altomore said, “to win it for our community and bring it back home to our town of Monessen.”
An old-school way to celebrate a throwback game.
Kevin Gorman is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
