And the winners are ... 
by Jacob Oberdorf, Staff Writer
May 26 , 2011
Every summer ESPN televises an award show directed completely to athletes and their accomplishments over the past year. For my last column as a TrottyVeck writer, I decided to take this idea and award each of the varsity sports teams at LAHS.
The first team award is to the football team. This past season the football team was considered an experienced team for the first time in many years. Over the season the team overcame injuries to key players to achieve the first two-game win streak in over a decade. The football team also achieved the most victories for the LAHS football team since 2003. Taking these achievements into consideration, the award that I give to the football team is the Pride Award. The Pride Award represents how this senior-based team brought excitement back to Leechburg football and gave it their all every snap.
The second award goes to the volleyball team. After reaching the playoffs two years ago, the volleyball team fell just short of making back-to-back playoff appearances. However, the team played in a very tough section that consisted of powerhouses Greensburg Central Catholic, Elderton and West Shamokin. Even though the power of these teams proved to be too strong for the Lady Devils, the award that I give to the team is the “A” for Effort Award considering the girls held their own against these teams.
The final fall team I will award is the golf team. In its second year of existence, the golf team had two golfers represent LAHS in the WPIAL Tournament. The golf team also achieved its first victory this past season. The award that I give out to the golf team is the Stepping Stone Award. With a lot of young talent and a new coach taking the reins for the 2011 season, this year’s success will prove to be a momentum-builder going into next fall.
This winter the girls’ basketball team took huge steps of improvement in competing in many games when they took the court. With only losing one senior from the team, the girls will have a lot of chemistry going into next season. The award that I feel the girls’ basketball team earned is the Most Improved Award.
Ever since the remarkable run to the WPIAL Championship in 2007, the boys’ basketball team went through a rough rebuilding period. In a section with three powerhouse Catholic schools and an inner city school, no one expected the Devils to beat anyone except Elderton. But the team prevailed and proved everyone wrong by earning a spot in the playoffs with a storybook run in the last two weeks of section play. The Devils pulled the upset of the year, according to the Valley News Dispatch, with their victory over Serra Catholic on Senior Night to clinch their WPIAL playoff spot. The award that best suits the boys’ basketball team is the Underdog Award.
Entering into the final stretch of the school year, it is no surprise that the LAHS softball team was at it again. The team clinched its 26th straight playoff berth, bringing the team within one playoff berth of the WPIAL record currently held by the Butler Golden Tornadoes baseball team. The girls also clinched yet another section title to decorate the already crammed girls’ softball banner in the gym. The softball team has definitely earned the Dynasty Award. The girls have not missed a step this season and don’t seem as if they will anytime soon.
The final team award goes to the baseball team. This season the team found itself playing in a lot of close games. Unfortunately, the team also found itself on the wrong end of those close games many times, finally clinching a spot in the playoffs the last game of the season. Therefore it is fitting that the baseball team wins the Scrapper Award. Having to replace six of the nine key positions and losing its main sources of offense, the team had to find different ways to beat teams in their section.
Signing off for my final blog, this is “Always a Blue Devil” Jacob Oberdorf.
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