The Dopera Era
by Kile
After finishing last year with a 4-16 record for Allen Boys’ Baseball, it was time for a change. After the resignation of Coach Leinhart, the school decided to bring in former assistant coach Mike Dopera to lead the team. Matt, a senior player, said about Coach Dopera, “He is a very inspiring man. He brings a lot of new techniques to our team, and I think that he could turn this team around.” Nick, a junior, says, “Coach has been working on defense more than anything; this will help us cut down on stupid mistakes that killed us last year.” Last year the varsity team lost a total of seven games by 3 runs or less. When ask what they needed to do to win those close games, Nick said, “We can’t give up early runs and we needed to just take the game one inning at a time.” Matt said, “I’m predicting a 10 and 10 season, which will be a great improvement from last year.” When I asked Nick how they were going to win more games than last year, he quite simply put it, “We got to do what we got to do.” Will this be the season Allen Baseball has been looking for, or will this be another disappointing season? We will just have to wait and find out.
Boys Basketball Finishes Another Winning Season
by Jordan
The William Allen Boys’ Basketball Team rounded off their season with a 19-7 overall record and 13-5 league record. Throughout the year the team’s offense was led by Jordan with 16 points per game, Angel with 14.4 ppg, and Ricky with 12.3. On the defensive end, the two senior captains Jordan and Ricky grabbed the highest amount of rebounds. They were first and second on the team in defensive rebounds with Jordan pulling down 159 and Ricky grabbing 127. Heading into the district playoffs the team was out to prove their place in the tournament. In the first district game against East Stroudsburg North the team came out strong and showed they meant business. Heading into the second round they were matched with a familiar foe; Liberty. In the regular season the teams met twice and Allen won both contests by ten or more both times. This time Liberty got the best of your Canaries, by losing to liberty for the first time this season.
Even though the team exceeded every ones expectations for the year the team felt they should have gone farther than an early second round exit from the district playoffs. Other than the early exit, the team had a great year. They cannot wait to see what is to come for next years team with only losing three seniors and bringing everyone else back.
Awesome Allen Chicks Crave Comebacks
by Nick
The Allen girls’ basketball team has been riding the ultimate basketball wave in post season play. Faced with the formidable task of a match up between Central Catholic in the semi-finals of the Lehigh Valley Conference, the girls were already setting their sights on an even more impressive crown, the District XI 4A championship title and a trip to Penn State for a state championship game. After bowing to Central for the third time this season, the girls began their journey in a quarter-final match up between East Stroudsburg North in the district tournament. Building a sizeable lead only to have it chiseled to a tie, the Chicks came out on top defeating ESN 45-40. Next, the Blue Eagles from Nazareth, a familiar tough opponent, had the Chicks losing for a good portion of the game. Thank goodness for the half-time because the Chicks came out smoking and defeated Nazareth 49-44 in another nail-biter. This would send the Chicks to the championship game against the Koncrete Kids of Northampton, a team that they faced twice before. They beat them in the holiday tournament and lost to the Kids in the last league game of the year. Anyone who witnessed this exciting match up was no doubt on the edge of their seat for the entire forty-five minutes of play; thanks to a great team effort, the Chicks survived the wrath and came out champs 41-35.
The ladies then began their match through the state tournament starting with the District one powerhouse Abington. At Parkland High School, the Chicks plated through a taught opponent and won by a slim two point margin. Next, on the road in Hamburg, the ladies from Springford came to do battle. The Chicks held their own again another D1 power and again survived by an even slimmer two point spread! Traveling to another bracket and to Reading High School, Central Dauphin East tried to stop their march. The Chicks, liking that five point margin, won again, 45-40, in an exciting fashion. The Canaries stood proud as one of the four best 4A girls’ teams in the state. One more game would allow them a chance at the top crown. All they had left was another game at Reading High school against a very strong Central Dauphin team. The Chicks’ luck ran out and they lost this time.
A District XI championship for the first time in 27 years and a state semi-finalist are the results of this amazing come back team, Thank you, ladies, for an exciting breath taking season! Thanks to Coach Gallagher and staff for all that you did for the team. Good luck seniors and good luck to next year’s returning squad.
Canaries Make a Splash!!
by David
Another victorious year of Allen swimming has come to a close. Aside from Girls’ Basketball, the boys and girls swim teams were the highlight of winter sports. All through the season, the teams pushed for perfection in their stroke and strength. Swimming at Allen, unlike other sports, isn’t geared for performance in the regular season at all. The seasonal record in swimming doesn’t always reflect on if a team's strength; it’s in districts where their abilities are shown. Overall, the boys’ final record was an impressive 11-7. Their strong team was able to have such a great record because of their team’s combined strokes and technique. On the flip side, the girls’ team struggled finishing with a record of 6-12. Their swimmers were tough but unable to compete with the majority of our district’s teams. However, senior captain Becca was a large contender through the entire season. In districts she was the only girl who placed; she managed to get a fourth place medal with a score of 382.8. At swimming districts, the boys’ team flourished. Their first event, the 200 medley relay made up of senior Eli and juniors Andrew, Matt and Curtis, finished in a tie for fourth place. The other two medals awarded were to Curtis in his individual events. He swam the 100 freestyle for a fourth (48.41) and in the 100 breast stroke; he dropped almost 2 seconds for second place (1:00.62). To swim in states, a contender must either be first in his/ her district or have one of the 15 fastest times after that. Curtis managed to have one of those 15 times in both of his individual events. About states, Curtis said, “I felt so glad I made it in, but I was disappointed I was sick.” In states, he placed 29th overall in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.67. In breaststroke, he swam a 1:00.82 and placed 19th. His sickness took a clear toll. When asked about his state times, he said, “I didn’t do as well as I hoped to but I’m looking forward to next year.” I’m sure most of the team agrees with him on that. With all the improvement seen from last year to this year, we can only imagine what new level of competition the team will reach next season.
New Allen Football Head Coach
by Edward
After the resignation of Andy Polony as the head coach, the Canaries are on the search for a new head coach. But they don’t have to look any further because the perfect candidate for the job is teaching here at William Allen High School. Chris Kinane, who currently teaches math at Allen has been selected as the new head coach.
When Coach Kinane started coaching ten years ago, he came to a quick decision that he wanted to give back to the community and the kids by coaching. It was then he knew he wanted to become a head coach. Many other coaches have more than one important team quality but the one that appeals to him most is that a team should have is the sense of “togetherness”. Coach Kinane quotes, “Football is not a game of individuals! We cannot have a team of fifty players that just think about themselves. Everything must be about the team!”
Coach Kinane has many new methods to help the team improve but his three areas of emphasis for on the field issues are discipline, tempo, and urgency. As the football team has already experienced, coach Kinane has developed a highly structured off season practices/workouts, and also developed in season practices/workouts that will play their part in achieving their goals of improving discipline, tempo, and urgency.
From last years coaching staff, assisting coach Kinane will be Tim Churchill (Linebacker/Running Back coach), Eric Miller (Wide Receiver/Defensive Back coach), Eric Steiner (Strength/Conditioning coach), and George Clay (Head Middle School coach).
The new canaries prepare for a new season as they continue to go to the weight room with coaches to start strength training and conditioning. When asked how the new canaries looked as of now he said “As coaches, we will know a lot more once we start practicing on the field, I can say now that it is a work in progress. However, we are on the right track.”
Our new Canaries are determined to put an end to bad criticism from other schools due to past performances that were unsuccessful. When Coach Kinane was asked if last years problems will comeback to haunt them he quotes, “This is a new year, and each year presents different challenges. We need to focus on now and not dwell on the past, learn from it but not dwell on it.”