West Shamokin Boys’ Volleyball Team Marks Fourth Consecutive Playoff Appearance

by Jonathan Weaver

The West Shamokin Wolves are contending again for the WPIAL volleyball championship.

The 12th-seeded boys’ team completed the regular season with a 2-10 overall record (2-6 in the section), and will start their playoff journey by battling the fifth-seeded Montour Spartans at Seneca Valley Senior High School (southwestern Butler County) tonight.

The top four teams in Section II qualified for the WPIAL playoffs.

West Shamokin’s last section game was a 3-0 loss to Derry May 10, but the team also played Double-A and Triple-A teams during a weekend tournament at Our Lady of Sacred Heart (in Moon Township) and finished fifth out of 14 teams.

West Shamokin Head Coach Scott Craig found out the school’s seeding this morning in Pittsburgh and was proud of how the team played during this past weekend.

“We played extremely well. (Student athletes) have been gelling more every week and we’re starting to play better as a team,” Coach Craig said. “Looking forward to (tonight’s) game.”

Coach Craig has led his boys to now-four consecutive WPIAL playoff appearances, but they haven’t lasted long.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been eliminated in the first round every year,” Coach Craig said. “(We have to) believe in ourselves, play and have fun (to win tonight).”

West Shamokin did not play Montour this season, but saw them compete at a tournament at Derry Area High at the end of March.

The team practiced last night and began strategizing for Montour based on their team make-up.

Senior Drew Cline is looking forward to attending Triangle Tech in Pittsburgh following his graduation in the next few weeks, but first he is concentrating on the playoffs.

A former football athlete, Cline is one of four seniors in their first year playing volleyball.

“You have to come and be competitive, be ready,” Cline said. “It’s more mental than anything.

“Don’t let them get any easy points.”

Senior Zach Bowser, the starting center, also looked forward to tonight.

“It’s a blessing. Going into the season, I wasn’t really expecting much,” Bowser said. “I was playing because I was interested in the sport.

“I’m really excited to be able to have this opportunity. I feel like this is the best volleyball we’ve been playing all year. We’re definitely ready for a good, hard fight. I think we’ll surprise some people with how well we do.”

A graduate of Elderton High in 1989, Craig played volleyball for four years and then served as a volunteer assistant coach for six years.

Elderton was also a playoff contender in Craig ‘s athletic history.

Coach Craig‘s son, Damon, graduated from West Shamokin in 2013 and plays club volleyball at Gannon University (in Erie). The Golden Knights also qualified for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Division II playoffs, but were already eliminated from competition.

Damon just finished his junior year, where he is studying to become a physical therapist. Damon has four more years of school after graduation.

Damon also has assisted his father during last week’s games.

Tonight’s match begins at 6PM. With a victory, West Shamokin might qualify to play fourth-seeded Derry Thursday evening.

The Armstrong High boys’ varsity volleyball team did not qualify for the playoffs in their first year of eligibility.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.