Sports Round Up

11-26-25

By Corey Gesford
Winter Sports
The Winter Sports season officially kicked off Nov. 14 as area basketball players, wrestlers, swimmers and cheerleaders took to the courts, mats and pool.
Boys Basketball
Defending Division III champion Elk Lake looks to be the early division favorite as the Warriors
bring back a wealth of experience led by senior forward John Heitsman and second-team all
star junior guard Chase Pond. Coach John Warnero’s team kicked off the preseason hosting
Riverside in their annual scrimmage.
Blue Ridge also brings back a strong cast led by first-team all-star junior Paxton Pingarelli. Coach Wes Parks is excited to see his squad in action this season and the Raiders hosted
Portsmouth Christian Academy from New Hampshire this past Saturday morning (Nov. 22).
“We’ve put in a ton of work in the offseason, we’ve had great numbers in our open gyms and
summer league,” Parks said.
Portsmouth also scrimmaged Mountain View Saturday afternoon as the Eagles debuted their
new bleachers and scoreboard inside J. William McLaughlin Gymnasium.
Coach Jim McAndrew begins his third season at the helm of the Eagles and will need to replace
1,000-point scorer and last season’s Division III Player of the Year Jackson Gesford and
Defensive Player of the Year Ziggy Bradford.
McAndrew will rely heavily on senior forward Hudson Bain and returning starters Jordan
Jagger and Josh Miller.
Susquehanna led by coach Lawrence Tompkins, who begins his 15th varsity season and 12th
at the helm of the Sabers, will rely on a pair of talented juniors in Griffin Fisk and Mason Keyes— both all-stars a season ago as well as senior Linden Baker.
Montrose begins the second season of the Tracie McCombs era needing to replace all stars
Connor Flynn and Jack Russell. The Meteors traveled to Western Wayne Monday night for their
first scrimmage.
Forest City and coach John Duffy look to continue to build up the program with an influx of
Freshmen to go along with returning two-year starters TJ Collins and Wyatt Reynolds.
Girls Basketball
Mountain View looks to return to defend its District II Class A championship led by three-time
all-state selection Addison Kilmer. The 6-1 East Stroudsburg University commit heads into her final high school season with over 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds with eyes on the 500 career blocks milestone as well as leading the Lady Eagles on another deep playoff run.
The Lady Eagles reached the PIAA semifinals for the second time in three years and two years
ago made an appearance in the Class A final and will look to replace three starters in Ryleigh
Kilmer, Riley Turner and Brooklyn Anderson.
“When people ask how we’re going to be this year, I say we will be different but the expectations
and the goals don’t change,” said head coach Corey Gesford.
Defending champion Elk Lake was also hit hard by graduation including 1,000-point scorer Leah
Traver but coach Megan Casselbury will build around returning starting guards Madi Casselbury and Kylie Shingler.
Montrose also looks to contend in the second season of Dalla Ely’s tenure as Ely will rely on
all-star Sadie Jones along with returning starters Carly Frey, Molly Weller, Ally Legg and Hailey
Aukema and a group of talented sophomores and freshmen.
Blue Ridge returns all-star guard Abigail Gelinger and will be under the direction of Ian Gelinger
who replaces Mike Courtright at the helm of the Lady Raiders.
Susquehanna coach Jeff Baldwin is excited to see the Lady Sabers’s numbers increase this
season while starters Lauren Huyck, Adrianna Rockwell, Esther Davis and Kiera Burke lead the
way.
Montrose Football Coach
The Montrose Area school board has decided to open the coaching position. Second-year coach George Petrak is able to reapply for the position after leading the Meteors to three wins in
their final season of a program rebuild as an independent. The Meteors will return as a full member of the Lackawanna Football Conference and District II for the 2026 season.