When Holy Cross veteran girls basketball coach Barry Fitzgerald announced he would be retiring at the end of the season, not many thought he would lead his team to a district title and a run in the state playoffs.
But his players did.
More wins give him more time with his team before retirement.
And the Lady Crusaders prevailed.
Holy Cross (10-15) upset defending champion Montrose (13-10), 22-20, Sunday, February 25, at Mohegan Sun Arena, to win the District 2, Class 2A championship under the veteran coach Fitzgerald.
It was the 11th straight game Montrose limited opponents to under 40 points, but the Holy Cross defense was just a bit better.
Holy Cross entered the district playoffs as an underdog, but rallied as a team to win one final district title for coach Fitzgerald.
Peyton Graboske led the Lady Crusaders with nine points, all on 3-pointers, in the district title game.
Graboske netted a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Lady Crusaders rode the momentum to victory.
Coach Fitzgerald now leads Holy Cross as the District 2 No. 1 seed into the state playoffs. Holy Cross will face the No. 3 seed from District 4.
Trailing by two points with less than 10 seconds left in the district title game, Montrose coach Todd Smith called consecutive timeouts to set up a game-winning 3-point shot. On his first timeout he called a play, but coach Fitzgerald adjusted his defense. Smith then called another timeout to change the play.
Sadie Jones of Montrose took a pass at the left corner and shot, but was off the mark as the Lady Crusaders hauled in a rebound and dribbled until the clock ran out.
Holy Cross beat Blue Ridge, 35-24, and upset top-seeded Lackawanna Trail, 42-36, in overtime to get to the district final.
The district title win was the fourth in the last six seasons and fifth overall for the Lady Crusaders under coach Fitzgerald.
It was Coach Fitzgerald’s 646th career win.
The Lady Crusaders previously defeated Montrose, 48-44, this past December 16, with Graboske and Allison Ross scoring 12 points each. Trista Chickeletti added 11 points in that win for Holy Cross.
Ava Schmidt scored 14 points and Abby Thompson had 10 in the 42-36 win over Lackawanna Trail as the Lady Crusaders advanced to the district title game against Montrose.
The entire school staff and administration, students, team and fans had just honored coach Fitzgerald in the team’s final regular season game.
With an 8-15 record entering the district playoffs, the team knew of coach Fitzgerald’s pending retirement and played inspired basketball upsetting three opponents to capture another district championship.
Holy Cross principal Ben Tolerico acknowledged coach Fitzgerald this past February 15 at a home game against Mountain View, the top-seeded team for District 2-11 Class 1A subregion. The fired-up Lady Crusaders held the lead for much of the game before falling short, 40-36.
This marks coach Fizgerald’s 40th year of coaching. He is a member of the Northeastern Chapter of the PA Sports Hall of Fame.
The Lady Crusaders had earned coach Fitzgerald one more home game, and it was memorable. Holy Cross opened the District 2 Class 2A quarterfinals with a 35-24 win over Blue Ridge. Thompson and Schmidt scored 10 points each in the big win.
In the semifinals, Holy Cross out scored Lackawanna Trail, 15-2, in the second quarter and then withstood a second half rally to win, 42-36.
Following the 22-20 upset win over Montrose in the district title game, Fitzgerald gets to coach his team into the PIAA Class 2A first round game.
And right now the Lady Crusaders are on a roll under their retiring coach.
The Lady Crusaders are proving with a will to win anything can happen. And coach Fitzgerald is enjoying the ride.
Besides his five District 2 championships, coach Fitzgerald led Holy Cross to two Lackawanna League titles.
Coach Fitzgerald earned his 600th career win in February 2020.
Anthony Cantafio, Barry Fitzgerald and Jack Lyons, all with Dunmore ties, head this year’s group of 10 being inducted this month into the Northeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Barry Fitzgerald
The induction dinner will be held Sunday, October 24, at 5 p.m, at Fiorelli’s, Peckville.
Tickets for the event, including dinner, are $50 for adults and $25 for children 10 and under. For tickets, call Bob Walsh (570-346-2228) or Jerry Valonis (570-498-9461). Walsh is president of the Northeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Program ads run $100 for a full page, $50 for a half page. For program ads, call Tom “Doc” Doherty at 570-313-8141.
Also being inducted are Rich Beviglia, Terry Greene, Paulette Costa Karwoski, Mike Mancuso, the late George Roskos and the late Bill Terlecky who will receive the service award.
Cantafio was an all-scholastic fullback at Dunmore, where he was honored with the Leo Hungerbuler Student Athlete Award. He was awarded a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania where he played for four years.
He began a 49-year football coaching career in 1968 as assistant coach for the University of Pennsylvania freshman football team.
He was assistant coach at Mid Valley and Scranton Prep before becoming head football coach at Prep in 1993. As head coach for 14 seasons, he compiled a 77-64 record with 10 winning seasons. His teams were Big 11 champions, 2-year Eastern Conference Class AA champs, 3-year Eastern Conference semi-final runners-up, and Lackawanna Football Conference Division II champions.
In 1982, Cantafio coached wrestling. His team won the Lackawanna League title and he was named Coach of the Year.
Barry Fitzgerald is one of the few local high school coaches to win over 600 games. In a 36-year career beginning at Mid Valley, he won two league titles and one District II championship at Bishop Hannan. His current Holy Cross teams were District II runners-up several times.
His team’s won three league and two District II championships while an assistant at Mid Valley. He coached two league championships as head softball coach at Bishop Hannan.
The Scranton Times honored Fitzgerald by naming him All-Regional Softball Coach of the Year during his tenure at Bishop Hannan.
Jack Lyons is a graduate of Cathedral High School where he was a part of two PCIAA State basketball championships and two Lynett Tournament titles. While coaching at Bishop O’Hara, Scranton High and West Scranton, his teams made 17 state playoff appearances. His team’s won 23 preseason and Holiday championships, two Lackawanna League titles and were District II PIAA runner-up four times.
For the 2008-09 season, he was named Lackawanna League’s Coach of the Year. While at Lackawanna Junior College, coach Lyons was named Region XIX’s all-star coach and WARM radio Coach of the Year. He earned his 500th win coaching West Scranton Feb. 14, 2020.
Paulette Costa Karwoski started her bowling career in 1972 with Gal Galdacci as her coach. She finished her competitive bowling career about 25 years later. She gathered notoriety by rolling the highest average in the Scranton Women’s Bowling Association (SWBA). She had the highest bowling average in the state for five years straight from 1978 through 1982.
She had the highest women’s average (228) in the country from among four-million women bowlers. She was a member of the Sheraton Inn team which recorded the High Team Single game and High Team total scores. These scores are recorded in the Guinness World Book of Records.
She is a member of three Halls of Fame: the Chic Feldman, Women’s All-Star Association (WASA) and the Scranton Women’s Bowling Association.
Scranton Prep graduate Rich Beviglia was a two-time All-Lackawanna League catcher with a career batting average of .429. While playing for the Old Forge American Legion, his two-year batting average was over .400. At the same time, he was selected for both regional and state showcases for Collegiate and Major League scouts.
Beviglia was awarded a full scholarship to Duke where he was a four-year starter as a catcher. He was a two-year captain and three-season All ACC honorable mention, finishing his career with a .314 batting average.
Playing basketball at Scranton Prep, he was the second leading scorer in the Lackawanna League’s Southern Division, MVP of the Lynett Tournament, second team Lackawanna Southern Division all star in 1983 and first team all star in 1984.
He coached baseball at Scranton Prep in 2008 leading his team to the Lackawanna Division I and PIAA District 2 Class AA championships. He led Old Forge to two PIAA District 2 Class A titles.
Terry Greene was an All-Scholastic basketball player at Scranton Tech in 1974. He averaged 22 points and six rebounds per game. He was selected to the Scranton Tribune’s Olyphant Rotary Club’s Dream Games’s South team in 1974 and 1975.
He was an All-Scholastic basketball player at Scranton Central in 1975. He was presented the Aldwin Jones Memorial Award as the South’s team’s most outstanding player. In 1974-75, he was awarded the Theodore J. Wint Post 25 VFW Outstanding Team Player Award.
Green was a basketball official for 36 years. The highlight of his career was officiating the 2006 PIAA State AA championship game.
Michael Mancuso earned Small School second team All-State honors playing football for Carbondale Area. As a specialist, he scored 19 touchdowns. He is one of the few athletes at Carbondale whose number is retired.
As a track star, he was the District 2 AA 100 meter champion while finishing fourth in the 100 meter dash at the PIAA track and field championships. That earned him All-State honors. He was the District 2 champion in both the 100 and 200 meter run in 1992 and 1993.
He was awarded a football scholarship to William and Mary, but transferred to East Stroudsburg. At ESU, he was a four-year letterman and the school’s first 1,000-yard receiver. He was a Division II first team All American and two-time Don Hansen Football Gazette All-American. He was a two-time first team All-PSAC All-Conference Eastern Division All -Star.
The late George Roskos was a graduate of the University of Scranton and member of its first wrestling team. He was head wrestling coach at West Scranton from 1973 through 1986. He posted a career record of 147-50-2. His teams were Lackawanna League champions in 1976, 1977 and 1986. He was selected Coach of the Year twice.
He served as president of the Lackawanna Scholastic Wrestling League of which he was a co-founder. A total of 12 of his former athletes went on to coach varsity wrestling at various schools in the Lackawanna League.
The late Terlecky began his baseball front office career in 1978. He joined the staff of the Rochester Red Wings starting a 40-plus year career in baseball. He worked on the AA and AAA levels as well as Independent Leagues. He operated a Collegiate Summer Baseball League in New England. He received the International League Executive of the Year in 1991. He was the recipient of the Frank Cashen Award in 2003. The award is given to the top executive in the New York Mets organization.
A baseball pioneer, he was named the first general manager of the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Red Barons, ushering professional baseball’s return to the area in 1989. He continued for eight successful seasons with attendance topping a half million in four of those years.
He brought the AAA All-Star game to Moosic in 1995.
He oversaw the completion of Lackawanna County Stadium and was a fixture there during his tenure with the Red Barons.
(Editors’s Note: Dunmorean sports editor Steve Svetovich is the 10th member of this class as the recipient of this year’s Media Award. He has been writing for The Dunmorean for close to 32 years and previously was a reporter for The Scrantonian Tribune, The Sunday Sun, Mid Valley News, The Scranton Weekly, The Pennsylvania Athlete, The Potter Enterprise in Coudersport, The Hawley News Eagle, The Scranton Times and The Baseball Bulletin.
He received an award from United Press International (UPI) for his interview with Pete Gray, baseball’s only one armed position player ever. The story was named best sports story in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania market in 1986 and can be heard world wide on the web today through the Society for American Baseball Research. The live taped interview is in the library archives of the National Baseball Hall of Fame).
