Eagles soar over Pennsylvania

In an unprecedented achievement in high school athletics, the boys and girls basketball programs at Kennedy Christian High School in Hermitage jumped, passed and ran off with the state championships in their division. For the boys, the victory over Fairfield in the PIAA Class A championship game marked their fourth straight state title. When the Golden Eagles' Erin Frankovich sunk a basket in the final seconds of the game against Pottstown Nativity BVM, she broke a 46-46 tie to give the girls their very first championship. What a weekend for Western Pennsylvania.
Story-book ending: But if Kennedy Christian's senior guard/forward Keenan Christiansen was the Prince Charming of the boys' game, scoring 27 points, the girls were Cinderella at the ball -- story-book ending and all.
But when the buzzer sounded, it was Nativity, their 18-game winning streak broken, who were left with the pumpkin and the mice. Still, the Nativity girls had held the championship trophy for two years, and this was the first title game for the Eagle girls since 1984 -- when most of this year's squad were babies.
Clearly, seniors like Barbora Fabianova, Maureen Meier and Erin Frankovich are all grown up now. Fabianova has already signed a letter of intent to play at Youngstown State University next year.
It had to have been a bittersweet victory for Father Rick Tomasone, the girls' coach. After winning 371 games in his 16 years at Kennedy Christian, he has been reassigned to St. John the Baptist Parish in Erie. At least, he could go out on a high note.
The boys' 42-point margin of victory was the greatest in any championship game in PIAA history. Coach Joe Votino will be back next year and said, "I want to do it again."
One for the thumb? Why not.