Belcastro handed Wash High baseball reins
Washington High School didn’t have to look far for a replacement after longtime head coach Rocky Plassio was hired for the same position at Baldwin in November.
Longtime assistant coach Anthony Belcastro was hired to replace Plassio, who compiled an 85-67 record and won four section titles in nine seasons at Washington.
Belcastro, a Washington graduate, was an assistant under Plassio for all nine of those seasons, joining the staff when Bob Peton retired.
Belcastro, a Waynesburg University graduate, teaches fifth-grade math at Washington Park Elementary and said the decision to take the head coaching position was an easy one.
“These seniors were all my students for my first year of teaching,” said Belcastro. “There’s eight of them. There’s no way I could say no to having a chance to coach them.”
The Prexies made the playoffs in six of nine seasons under Plassio but did not in 2016, stumbling to a 4-11 record.
For all of the regular season success, the Prexies failed to win a playoff game in Plassio’s nine seasons, going 0-6.
“I think it kind of feels like a shadow hanging over them,” said Belcastro.
“The key is getting them more confident because that has built itself up to a monumental thing.”
Numbers have been an issue of late for Washington. The Prexies had just one freshman player last season and with eight seniors this year, there is some concern about the future.
But Belcastro said he’s got 12 players who aren’t participating in another sport right now preparing to play for the team and expects eight more to be ready once the winter sports seasons end.
Former Canon-McMillan High School and West Virginia standout wrestler Bob Patnesky has been hired to revive Penn State Behrend’s dormant wrestling program.
Patnesky was a three-time state placewinner at Canon-McMillan, finishing second in the state as a senior at 125 pounds and finishing with a 141-28 record.
He was a three-year starter and NCAA qualifier at West Virgnia, winning the Eastern Wrestling League championship in 2000.
At Behrend, Patnesky, who had been the head coach at Davidson the past 12 season, will face a tall task. Penn State Behrend hasn’t had a wrestling program in 38 years. It previously had a wrestling team from 1967 through 1978.
Senior Matt Popeck scored 32 points last Tuesday in Washington’s win over Beth-Center to become the Prexies’ all-time leading scorer. He passed 1995 Washington graduate Andy Molinaro, who had 1,338 points.
Heading into Monday night’s regular season finale against Trinity, Popeck, the 2016 Observer-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year, had 1,386 points.
The WPIAL will hold its annual playoff pairings meeting for basketball tonight at the DoubleTree Hotel in Green Tree.
The top four teams in each section from the six classfications will be included in this year’s playoffs.
Locally, 15 boys basketball teams clinched postseason spots, including section champions Belle Vernon (Section 3-AAAA), Washington (Section 4-AAA), Chartiers-Houston (2-AA) and Monessen (Section 2-A).
On the girls’ side, 14 teams made the postseason, including section winners Trinity (3-5A), South Fayette (1-5A), Chartiers-Houston (1-AA) and West Greene (2-A).