Dispatch file photos

Dispatch file photos

<p>Dispatch file photos</p>

Dispatch file photos

An old rivalry has a new name and, in all likelihood, the same intensity.

After two postponements and a COVID-related interruption to each team’s season, Wyoming Area and Pittston Area are now set to wrap up the regular season against each other Thursday afternoon.

The game, which will be known as “The Battle for The Bridge” for the first time, will feature the presentation of the first Joe Agolino Sr. Most Valuable Player trophy. It will be played this year at the Pittston Primary Center Field at 4:15 p.m.

The meeting between the Patriots and Warriors was known as the Andy Ashby Game from 1998 through 2019, but with the former Major League Baseball pitcher leaving the area since then, the game was in need of a new sponsor and MVP award presenter.

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The Agolino family from Agolino’s Restaurant in West Pittston came forward as a way to honor Joe Agolino Sr., who died last year.

“I was going to start putting feelers out to see if somebody wanted to step in and sponsor a trophy,” said Sam Supey, who leads the Wyoming Area Baseball Parents Association. “Word got through the grapevine to me that the Agolino family wanted to do it.”

Supey brought the idea to the coaches and the athletic directors and it moved forward from there.

“I know Mr. Agolino was a very ardent supporter of area sports,” Supey said. “He had seen a lot of these kids grow up in the West Pittston Little League. It’s a really nice way to honor him.

“ … The Agolinos are a very well known family in our area and really connected to the sports scene. To have his name connected, I think adds more weight to it.”

A competitive game is likely.

Wyoming Area enters the busy final week of the season with a 6-6 record and Pittston Area is 5-7 while playing against larger schools in a higher division of the Wyoming Valley Conference.

If Pittston Area struggles between now and then, it could be playing to protect its playoff life in the game. The Patriots won the District 2 Class 5A title and reached the state quarterfinals the last time a season was held in 2019.

“It might actually come down to that night being like a playoff game for me,” Pittston Area coach Paul Zaffuto said. “ … There could be a lot riding on it.”

The Patriots already will be celebrating their Senior Day Thursday.

Wyoming Area is headed to a high seed and a quarterfinal home game in the District 2 Class 4A playoffs.

“We’ve had some delays and some shutdowns with COVID, but hopefully we’re finally going to get on the field Thursday,” said fourth-year Wyoming Area coach Rob Lemoncelli, who played for and served as an assistant coach under Zaffuto at Pittston Area before taking over as head coach of the Warriors. “ … It will be just like it has been in years past where the game is not only a rivalry game, but the Agolino Award will go to the MVP of the game, similar to what the Ashbys did.”