Spring one for the ages for Raiders
This Seneca Valley stuff has gotten serious.
Big-time serious.
The Raiders may be enjoying the most successful spring sports season of any high school
ever.Consider this:• Brandon Fusco, a Seneca Valley graduate, is drafted in the sixth round by the Minnesota Vikings in April. He was also drafted higher than any football player in Slippery Rock University history.• Four Seneca Valley spring sports teams — baseball, softball, boys volleyball and girls lacrosse — reached the WPIAL championship games in their respective sports.A fifth team (boys lacrosse) reached the WPIAL semifinals.Two of those teams — baseball and girls lacrosse — won those title games.• The Raiders’ 4x400 meter boys relay team placed third in the state and broke the school record four times over a three-week period. That quartet consisted of Oliver Philogene, Andrew Schroeder, George DeAugustino and Hunter Williams.Williams placed seventh in the 400 meters and pole vaulter Dylan Bilka placed third at the PIAA meet, by the way.• Three Seneca Valley graduates and one senior were selected in baseball’s amateur draft. Pitcher Cory Mazzoni (North Carolina State) went in the second round to the New York Mets while catcher Kevan Smith (Pitt) went in the seventh round to the Chicago White Sox.Tyler Bream (Liberty University) was chosen by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 42nd round and senior Raider second baseman Jack Graham went to the White Sox in the 50th round.• Finally, the Raiders’ baseball team is playing in the state semifinals Monday, the opportunity of winning a state championship still in front of them.“It has been an amazing run of success,” Seneca Valley athletic director Greg Caprara said. “This has turned into a true source of pride for our community.“The baseball draft shows how serious that sport is taken in our area.”Caprara said the school district’s athletic program may reap the benefits of this spring for a long time to come.“When something like this happens, it makes little kids in the district want to grow up to become Raiders,” he said. “They get involved in sports at a young age and commit to them.”Can any high school anywhere beat a streak of successes like this in one sports season? We’re not talking about a high school calendar year. This has all occurred in one particular season.Few WPIAL schools have ever had a graduate drafted by the NFL and another by Major League Baseball in the same season, let alone all of those other things.This Seneca Valley spring is one for the record books.A baseball state championship would only cap off a three-month stretch that will likely never be seen around these parts again.
