Apr 20, 2015 6 min read

Mark Druga grew up in McDonald and learned a lot about Marty Schottenheimer, Marvin Lewis and longtime Fort Cherry football coach Jim Garry.

His passion for football grew at a young age, but while he played for the Little Rangers in Fort Cherry, the Druga family lived on the border of McDonald that put them in the West Allegheny school district.

Druga was a standout for the Indians as a wide receiver and went on to play collegiately at Washington & Jefferson under John Luckhardt. After graduation in 1997, he embarked on a successful career as an assistant high school football coach.

Observing his older brother, Rich, lead varsity football programs at Burgettstown and Ambridge ignited Mark’s desire to become a head coach.

The wait is over. The Burgettstown School Board approved the hiring of Mark Druga as its new varsity football coach Monday night. He worked as an assistant coach with the Blue Devils since 2007 and succeeds Terry Havelka, who resigned after three seasons and a 3-24 overall record.

Havelka, who serves as the high school’s athletic director, took over the program to change the culture and shift it in the right direction.

“I was very pleased with what Coach Havelka had done, and he did a great job improving things, such as how we looked on the field with our uniforms, and the weight room, which is a huge need for every athletic program,” Druga said. “Everything is building toward the future, and I believe we are on the cusp of turning this thing around to be completive for the next several years.”

Druga became an assistant under his brother, Rich, at Burgettstown when Rich was the head coach of the Blue Devils from 1998-2000. Mark then joined Rich at Ambridge – his next head coaching stint – before working as an assistant at Carlynton and Fort Cherry.

His career has come full circle and Rich, who served as an assistant coach at West Allegheny, will join the staff at Burgettstown. The Druga’s grew up competing against Burgettstown and Washington in the old Three Rivers Conference. They currently compete in the Interstate Conference.

The prospect of coaching for the Blue Devils and against programs such as Wash High, Waynesburg and McGuffey intrigued Mark Druga, who served as Havelka’s special teams coordinator last fall.

Druga currently works at the high school as a senior social studies teacher. He will attempt to guide the program to the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2009, and the Blue Devils lost just eight seniors from last fall. They return their top passer in Brad McLaughlin and top two receivers in Jacob Shipley and Cole LaRocka, who is recovering from a torn ACL.

“I’m excited about the talent we have coming back and the culture Coach Havelka has changed over last three years,” Druga said. “I hate to be cliché, but its an opportunity of a lifetime. Burgettstown has been very kind to me. I’m thrilled.”

The Waynesburg Central School Board approved the hiring of Kirk King as the high school varsity basketball coach at a meeting last Tuesday.

King, who served as an assistant coach under Dave Sarra this past season, is the program’s third head coach in three years.

A 1983 graduate of the high school and 1987 graduate of Waynesburg University, King is thrilled to continue to build on a foundation Sarra laid this winter, which included a trip to the WPIAL Class AA playoffs. He played two years of collegiate basketball at Waynesburg and Penn State Fayette.

“The thing that attracted me probably the most is I am from the area and, to be honest with you, I love the entire basketball community in the area,” King said. “I want to hopefully provide some stability to that.”

King, who has his own law practice in Waynesburg, inherits a program that lost four starters, including Dom Sarra and Jason Zeleny, but forward Mitch Warman will return. Warman averaged 15.3 points and 12 rebounds per game.

Prior to his stint as an assistant coach under Sarra, King worked with youth basketball programs in the district for 15 years.

“To be around the high school guys last year, we had a very good graduating senior class, but what we have left is very good,” King said. “The cupboard is not bare. There’s talent and hard-working young men at Waynesburg.”

Blue Devils softball rolling

Moving to WPIAL Class AA has not impacted Burgettstown’s success in softball. The Blue Devils (6-0, 11-1) are in first place in Section 1-AA and their lone loss came against Penn Charter at the Cal Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last month.

In fact, the Blue Devils have not lost a regular season game to a WPIAL opponent since April 21 of last year, when South Fayette, a Class AAA opponent, beat them. They have not lost a regular season game to an opponent in the same classification since April 17, 2013.

Burgettstown reached the WPIAL Class A semifinals and the PIAA quarterfinals last season, losing to WPIAL champion Neshannock. Fielding miscues cost the Blue Devils a shot at WPIAL gold.

“Last year was invaluable to the team,” head coach Mark Deer said. “They got the experience, and we’re building on it. The team learned they have to be better defensively. This is the first time in ages where I have kids who want to stay a half-hour late to take extra ground balls and work on the little things.”

The Blue Devils’ got even better with the return of junior second baseman Morgan Ellek, who batted .368 with 24 RBI and went 6-1 on the mound last spring.

Myers signs with Wheeling Jesuit

Jalynn Myers, Chartiers-Houston’s only senior in the girls basketball team’s starting lineup, signed a letter of intent last week to continue her academic and athletic career at Wheeling Jesuit.

The Bucs’ point guard was pivotal in the team’s historic season, averaging 10.9 points per game to help C-H reach the PIAA Class AA quarterfinals. Myers scored 19 points to help the Bucs defeat Harbor Creek in the first round.

Wheeling Jesuit, which competes in NCAA Division II’s Mountain East Conference, finished with a 19-9 overall record this season and reached the conference semifinals.

Grodz out at Charleroi

Charleroi girls basketball coach Joe Grodz resigned March 30 after three seasons. He led the Cougars to the WPIAL playoffs in all three seasons and has one of the highest winning percentages in school history.

Charleroi went 12-10 last season and snuck into the playoffs in Section 4-AA. The Cougars return their two leading scorers – freshmen Sierra Short and Kaitlyn Riley.