State champs lauded by SV school board, superintendent
JACKSON TWP —Twenty young men who fought their way to a WPIAL state championship last month were lauded on Monday evening by their school district before a crowd of beaming parents.
The Seneca Valley boys varsity soccer team heard Heather Lewis, district athletic director, plus their coaches and school board members articulate their pride in the players, not just as athletes, but as young adults.
Lewis said an athletic director from another school district told her at the championship game on Nov. 19 in Cumberland Valley that many in the high school soccer world across the state were pulling for Seneca Valley to win the title.
She also heard many commendations across the state during the soccer season regarding the way the players and coaches represented the district at their games.
“This is much bigger than a trophy,” Lewis told the school board.
She also lauded head coach George Williams and assistant coaches Jay Roman and Scott Stewart, none of whom have sons in the program.
“But you are their sons,” said Tracy Vitale, district superintendent.
She thanked the players, coaches and especially the parents and families for their work in rearing the athletes.
“It takes a village,” Vitale said.
She also had a word of advice for the players regarding their ongoing conduct, which she said she felt sure they would heed.
“We have a lot of great youth soccer teams in the Seneca Valley School District, and those kids are watching you,” Vitale said.
Eric DiTullio, a school board member, said he sits on the state Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) board of directors, and the chairman of the board is from Lower Merion School District, whose team was Seneca Valley’s opponents in the championship game.
DiTullio said the chairman will wear a Seneca Valley jersey at the next PSERS meeting as a result of a bet between the two.
Williams, who introduced the athletes one by one, summed up the thoughts of all who attended the Seneca Valley School Board meeting on Monday.
“It was a privilege to work with these players,” he said.
