Montecalvo wins state Coach of Year Award
Laura Montecalvo has done plenty of good things on the court in her first six seasons as Chartiers-Houston’s girls basketball coach. She has won 102 games and guided the Bucs to a WPIAL championship and four PIAA playoff berths.
Montecalvo also was recently named the 2019-20 National Federation of State High School Associations Pennsylvania Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.
The award is about more than just wins and losses. It also takes into account a coach’s career record, membership in and affiliation with coaching and other professional organizations, involvement with other school and community activities and programs, coaching philosophy, teaching sportsmanship, stressing the importance of education, leading by example and doing the right things for their student-athletes and schools.
Montecalvo is one of only seven coaches from WPIAL schools to be selected for the state honor in their respective sports.
n While major college football continues to play on during the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all NCAA Division II and III schools moved fall sports to the spring semester and postponed winter sports until after Jan. 1, 2021.
According to one report, the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is targeting Sunday, Jan. 17 as the start date for its men’s and women’s basketball seasons. According to the Erie News Now, teams in the PSAC will play three games each week – Monday, Wednesday and Saturday – and have two open dates over a six-week season. The regular season will end Feb. 27 followed by the conference tournament the first week of March.
PSAC East Division member West Chester announced last month that it will not field sports teams for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year because of COVID-19 concerns.
The Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference announced in September that its football, soccer and volleyball seasons will begin in March. In football, the conference will be divided into North and South divisions with five teams in each. Both Washington & Jefferson and Waynesburg will be in the South. Teams will play four intradivision games and one crossover contest over a seven-week season.
W&J will play its season opener at Waynesburg on Friday, March 12. All football games are scheduled to be played on Fridays.
n If after the Steelers’ 28-24 come-from-behind win Sunday at Baltimore, you began wondering about Pittsburgh’s chances of eventually earning home-field advantage through the AFC playoffs – not that home-field advantage is what it used to be during a pandemic – keep this in mind: the Steelers (7-0) have a one-game lead in the loss column over Kansas City (7-1) and Pittsburgh has the favorable schedule. In the next seven weeks, the Steelers will play only two teams that currently have a winning record. The Chiefs, meanwhile, will play four teams with winning records in their next seven games.
The AFC North, which includes the Steelers, hit the scheduling lottery this year when it was given the pitiful NFC East as its crossover opponent. The Chiefs and the rest of the AFC West play teams from the NFC South. Kansas City still has difficult games remaining at Tampa Bay and at New Orleans.