Pittston Area’s Silvio Giardina tags out Brady Mizzerof Dallas in the second inning on April 9.
Fred Adams file photo | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area pitcher Beau Widdick was selected and presented the Agolino MVP Trophy of the game against cross-town rival, Wyoming Area, on April 13. Patriot head coach Paul Zaffuto presented the trophy.
Tony Callaio file photo | For Sunday Dispatch
The Pittston Area baseball team made history while the Wyoming Area boys basketball and Pittston Area football squads defied their programs’ recent histories.
All three enjoyed uncommon success.
The Pittston Area baseball and Wyoming Area girls soccer teams won both District 2 and Wyoming Valley Conference divisional titles to highlight the performances by high school teams at the two schools during 2025.
Wyoming Area boys basketball and Pittston Area football were not able to pull off those doubles, but they did produce championships in breakthrough seasons.
Pittston Area had the first perfect baseball regular season in school history, winning the WVC Division 1 title and carrying that perfect mark through a District 2 Class 5A championship.
The Patriots, however, hit a tough draw when the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament opened. They faced and lost to a Palmyra team, which had been unbeaten into the District 3 final, in the only one of 90 state playoff games that matched an unbeaten team against a one-loss team.
Silvio Giardina, a shortstop/pitcher who is now a freshman at Lehigh University, led the way and was a first-team Class 5A all-state selection. Second baseman/pitcher Beau Widdick made the second team as a utility player.
Wyoming Area needed a playoff win over Lake-Lehman to take the WVC Division 2 girls soccer title after the teams split their regular-season meetings. That loss to the Lady Knights was the only one in 19 games the Lady Warriors played before heading into the state tournament.
The Wyoming Area boys basketball team, led by Class 4A all-state selection Luke Kopetchny, won its first WVC division title since 1971 when the Warriors took the Division 2 championship. They lost in the conference tournament and district semifinals, but avenged their conference tournament loss to Dallas in a game for third place in the district and a spot in the state playoffs.
That success continued with a 7-0 start to the 2025-26 season going into Saturday night’s tournament game at Old Forge.
Pittston Area started 8-1 in football for the first time since 1982. The Patriots won the WVC Division 1 title behind a series of clutch performances from Lucas LoPresto and Brody Spindler and strong line play.
Both Wyoming Area track and field teams repeated as WVC Division 2 champions.
The Lady Warriors won the Division 2 cross country title and Pittston Area won a Division 1 wrestling title on tiebreakers.
While Wyoming Area won Division 2 girls soccer in a playoff with Lake-Lehman, the Lady Warriors lost out on a Division 1 field hockey title in a playoff with Crestwood after both teams tied for first in the regular season.
Pittston Area also lost out on a Division 1 boys cross country title in a three-way tiebreaker.
The Pittston Area boys basketball team made it back to Mohegan Sun Arena – for a second-place finish in District 2 Class 5A – and a berth in the state tournament.
Pittston Area third baseman Marina Antal was a first-team Class 5A all-state selection in softball while teammate Samantha Herbert was selected to the second team as a utility player.
Ali Butcher from Pittston Area won Class 3A district gold in the 100-meter dash. She was joined in qualifying for the PIAA Track and Field Championships by Wyoming Area multi-event standouts Ella McKernan and Taylor Gashi.
Wyoming Area 285-pounder Nate Obrzut repeated as Class 2A champion while Pittston Area 215-pounder Spindler won gold in Class 3A at District 2 wrestling.
Caden Boettger and Isabella Dessoye gave Pittston Area representatives in the Class 3A boys and girls races at state cross country.
Wyoming Area’s Aiden August, in Class 2A, and Pittston Area’s Patrick Ruane, in Class 3A, qualified for the state individual boys golf tournament.
Athletic success extended beyond high school for local graduates, particularly former Wyoming Area football players.
Dominic DeLuca, Joseph Marranca and Aaron Crossley all played in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I playoff games during the calendar year.
In January, DeLuca was in on a pair of tackles as Penn State fell to Notre Dame, 27-24, in the semifinals.
That loss in the Orange Bowl, as one of the last four teams standing, ended a run that had started in December of 2024 when DeLuca returned an interception for Penn State’s first-ever points in the College Football Playoffs.
Penn State’s 2025 regular season fell short of expectations, but DeLuca earned the distinction of being just the third player in program history to spend three years as a team captain.
Marranca was a first-team Patriot League all-star tight end and Crossley scored Lehigh’s only touchdown in a December Football Championship Series loss to Villanova.
