STATE COLLEGE — Pittston Area’s 4-0 victory over Armstrong Thursday at Penn State gave the school its first Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association team state championship.
It was not, however, the first time Patriots athletes achieved gold medals on the state level in PIAA events.
Three Pittston Area athletes gave the school a total of four individual state championships across their three different sports.
John Dessoye struck gold first, winning the Class 3A 100- and 200-meter dashes in 1996 at Shippensburg University.
Dessoye’s time of 10.46 seconds in the 100 tied for second-best, all-time beyond the meet record of 10.44 set by future Olympian Leroy Burrell in 1985. He won the 200 in 21.13, the fastest in the PIAA in a 20-year stretch beginning in 1993.
James Woodall was next, completing an unbeaten junior wrestling season with a 152-pound Class 3A title in Hershey in 1999.
Woodall captured the title with a 14-8 decision over Hollidaysburg’s Charles Brenneman. He scored at least 10 points and won by at least five in all four of his state matches to complete a 38-0 season.
Brandon Matthews won a PIAA golf title in 2010 as a junior.
Two years before the PIAA split golf into two classifications, Matthews finished first in the entire state with rounds of 67 and 72 at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York.
