Hopewell Athletics Top 10 Moments/Individuals For 2024

In less than 24 hours, the calendar year for 2024 will end and we’ll be heading into 2025.

The past 364 days were filled with plenty of special individual and team moments for Hopewell athletes and teams.

With that in mind, I’d like to look back and recognize some of them with my Top 10 Team/Individual Moments for 2024. This is obviously subjective, and I did my best to think back and reach out to some people to come up with these. I apologize for anything that I might have missed and overlooked. Also, these are not ranked in order.

HOPEWELL SPORTS NATIONS HOPEWELL ATHLETICS TOP 10 MOMENTS/INDIVIDUALS FOR 2024

1. Hopewell Girls Basketball Player Caylee Sundy

Sundy had a tremendous sophomore season for the Lady Vikings basketball program. Caylee led Hopewell in scoring with 14.5 points per game and achieved a special moment as she tied a school record by making eight 3-point shots against Ambridge. Sundy tied a school record previously held by Amanda Tocci. With this season, Sundy was named to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette WPIAL Class 4A All-Section Team.

2. Isaiah Pisano WPIAL Wrestling Championship

Pisano made history as Pisano defeated Frazier’s Ryan Celaschi to win the Wrestling Title at 160 pounds at the WPIAL 2A Wrestling Championship. That championship capped a tremendous senior season for Pisano as he finished with a record of 35-2. Pisano then took his talents to Pitt-Johnstown.

Hopewell’s Isaiah Pisano holds off Frazier’s Ryan Celaschi to win his first WPIAL title with a 5-2 decision in the 160-pound final: pic.twitter.com/9XyhCsIGPG

— Steve Rotstein (@SteveRotstein) February 24, 2024

3) Hopewell Girls Volleyball Team Makes Finals

What a special season for HC Terry Borkovic and the Hopewell Girls Volleyball team. This team was dominant all regular season and throughout the playoffs aside from when they Quaker Valley. The Lady Vikings entered the WPIAL playoffs with a record of 14-2 and were given the No. 3 seed. They advanced all the way to the championship match, which included a thrilling win over No. 2 Neshannock. Despite losing in the finals to Quaker Valley, this was a memorable season for this group of girls.

4) Hopewell Volleyball Players Honored

Following an outstanding 2024 season, 4 members of the Hopewell Girls Volleyball team received some individual recognition for their outstanding play throughout the season. Congratulations to senior Jordan Sirianni, senior Alyssa Spang, junior Bella Ceccarelli and junior Briana Inderelst for being selected as WPIAL Class 2A All-Stars. Sirianni, who stood out all season, was named to the WPIAL 1st team. Second team selections were Inderelst and Spang, while Ceccarelli was named to the 3rd team. Sirianni was also selected to the 2024 AA All-State Volleyball team. It’s the first time in her career to achieve this accomplishment.

5) Rocco Marcantonio’s Breakout Season

One of the many positives things to come out of the Hopewell Vikings 2024 football season was the emergence of Rocco Marcantonio. The junior kicker raised eyes brows during camp with his powerful right leg and that continued during the season. In 10 games, Marcantonio was 30 of 31 on PAT attempts and 9 of 13 on field attempts, including a career long of 55 yards, which tied a WPIAL record.

⁦@mwhiteburgh⁩ pic.twitter.com/BHEPDZPdTb

— Coach Mottes (@jarma72) September 28, 2024

This success drew the attention of college programs and Marcantonio received a D-1 scholarship offer from the Akron Zips. This is a huge accomplishment as a kicker getting a D-1 scholarship offer doesn’t happen a lot. It should be an exciting 2025 season for Rocco.

6) Many Individual Accomplishments for Hopewell Track and Field Program

2024 was a special season for the HC Jeff Brunton and the Hopewell Vikings Track and Field Program. With so many accomplishments by different members of the team, it would be impossible and unfair to try and highlight just one or two of them, so we’ll recognize this as a team accomplishment.

-Connor Progar set a school record for the pole vault. Progar cleared 13’7″ on his first attempt to break Jack Georgetson’s record from 2017.

-Emma Palmieri receiving a medal in the 400M at the State Meet.

-Palmieri and Luca Fitcraft both qualifying for the PIAA Cross Country Meet.

-The Boys Track Team made the WPIAL Team Finals for the first time in school history.

-Junior Zach Kovell accomplishing the Triple Crown at the Beaver County Championship by winning the 100M, 200M and 400M.

7) Hopewell Wins the Beaver County Pony League Championship

It was quite a summer for Head HC Jamie Yurcina and his Hopewell Vikings Pony League baseball team. Entering the playoffs, the Hopewell Vikings were seeded No. 7 and realized it they were to achieve their ultimate goal that it would be difficult. They would need to take on teams seeded higher than them, they’d be forced to play on 4 consecutive days, and they’d need to be able to string together some offense.

Bottom line is that it would be difficult but you’re trying to win a championship, so it should be hard.

This team overcame all those obstacles and beat a very good Freedom team, 5-3, to win the Beaver County Pony League Championship.

They actually accomplished this tremendous feat in style as James Armstrong and Collin Davis combined for a no-hitter! It’s only fitting since those two players led Hopewell’s pitching all season.

8) Hopewell Vikings Football Program Shows Life 

After years of showing no life or anything to be excited about, the Hopewell Vikings football showed life in 2024, and the future certainly looks promising.

On the surface, a 4-6 record isn’t great, however, when you consider the records and performances that preceded it, it’s definitely something to be encouraged by.

The 4-6 record was their most wins since 2017, and the Vikings were just one game away from qualifying for the WPIAL Playoffs.

The record aside, the thing that stood out is that aside from a couple of games, this team was very competitive against quality opponents deep into games. That’s not to be brushed aside considering the opposition such as Central Valley, Avonworth, Beaver, North Catholic, Freeport and New Castle.

The core of this team is young and will be returning in 2025, where making the playoffs is the ultimate goal.

9) Hopewell Little League Wins Improbable Championship 

Coach Bobby Dunn’s Little League Team Beats Top 3 Seeds to Win Hopewell’s First Rec Championship in 5 Years. 

Coach Bobby’s team went into the Little League Rec Playoffs as the 6 Seed with a 4-5 regular season record. The team of 11- and 12-year-olds beat #3 Seed Hopewell Team Rankin (9-4), #2 Seed CV Team Boulding (13-11) and #1 Seed CV Team McKim (12-6) to take the Championship. The offense was led by Wade Enders (2 HR, 9 RBI), Vinny Smetana (3 2B), and Nico Yannessa (5 for 8, 3 RBI). Pitchers Wade Enders (8 IP, 10K), Vinny Smetana (5 IP, 3K), and Elliott Mancos (5 IP, 5K) kept the games close.

10) The Emergence of Freshman James Armstrong

It was quite a 9th grade season for Hopewell Vikings quarterback James Armstrong. Despite being just 14-years old, Armstrong directed the Vikings offense and accounted for combined 2131 total yards and 25 touchdowns. This performance allowed Armstrong to earn 1st-team All-Conference Honors and to get himself on the radar of D-1 college teams. It’ll be exciting to see what the future holds for this young Hopewell athlete.