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Moschella faces new challenge at Columbiana
Columbiana coach keeping busy on sideline; Newton Falls girls enjoying practice time
Coach Ron Moschella is three weeks into the Columbiana girls basketball season and two weeks into the boys.
It’s his first year coaching both teams at the school and so far it’s been a success. The girls squad is 8-0 overall and the boys (3-1) just suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday night against Springfield.
Tired yet, coach?
“I think I’m tired because I have a cold,” the 64-year-old Moschella said. “No, no, it’s been really fun.”
The legendary coach spent 31 seasons with Boardman’s girls teams before health problems sidelined him for a while. When his condition improved, he was named the girls coach at Columbiana. He’s in his third season with the Clippers and already has things clicking pretty well with the girls team.
“The only thing that’s different is boys are more athletic,” Moschella said. “I’m tough on both and I don’t know if [the boys] like that, but they’re getting used to it.
“I’m all about achieving the most and getting them to work the hardest they can each and every day.”
He says that part of teaching hasn’t been difficult and practices are continuing to get better. However Moschella preaches a lot about mindset and belief, and so far that’s been more of a challenge than he anticipated with the boys.
“The boys are still learning how I approach games and other teams and I don’t know if they’re fully there yet, if you know what I mean,” Moschella said. “They’ve got this attitude that we’re going to get beat. We might get beat. But we might also win.
“I’m trying to get rid of that attitude. I try and tell these kids to play with a chip on your shoulder or you’re not going to get rid of it.”
Moschella understands it’s going to take time. He said it took about a year to get the girls to start believing they way they should and it manifested itself that year in the district semifinals.
“I’m a fighter,” he said. “I don’t care who we play. I was 5-foot-8 and I had to scrap for everything I had.
“They might have better players, but that doesn’t mean they have a better team.”
NEWTON’S NUMBERS GAME
Newton Falls coach Mark Baker wrapped up a Thursday night practice with his girls and described it as “relatively quick and easy.”
Not something you would expect with a team that has just four upperclassmen. Then again when you’re 6-0, things run pretty smoothly.
“With this group, we’re fortunate we can go quickly, but we can still spend quality time on things,” Baker said. “The girls get a lot more repetitions in [during] practice and we’ve been able to shorten things up while still being effective with high intensity.”
Part of the reason for that is the lower number of girls on this year’s team. Just 15 players came out for the team, compared to the 25-plus that Baker’s been accustomed to.
“I’ve been fortunate to be able to play quite a few kids in every single game,” he said. “It’s been a juggling act, but as a result we’re not as young and inexperienced as you might expect.”
Newton Falls hosts Maplewood (5-2) on Saturday.
WEEKEND’S BEST
The biggest game of the weekend will be played in Warren on Saturday between the defending state runner-up in Division III Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph and Warren JFK.
The Vikings (3-0) are the top-ranked team in the state, according to MaxPreps.com, and have three Division I recruits on a very talented roster. Carlton Bragg is the best of the bunch, holding offers from Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, Illinois and UCLA.
It’s going to be a difficult matchup for the Eagles (2-0), but it should help that the game’s at home.