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Marking excellence in sports, service

7 min read

The Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association Coach of the Year Banquet has made it a priority to celebrate academic and coaching excellence and contributions to athletics that go beyond basic playing and coaching.

Each year, the banquet recognizes individuals who contribute to sports and service in their community, the Special Olympics Athlete of the Year, the Athletic Director of the Year, Excellence in Officiating, and Olympic Sports coaches.

These individuals will be honored at the banquet, which will be held at 5 p.m. April 27 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Meadow Lands.

Tickets for the banquet are $35 each and are on sale at Washington High School, 201 Allison Avenue, Washington, PA 15301. Reservations can be made by calling athletic director Joe Nicolella at 724-223-5085, ext. 2091.

All proceeds from the banquet benefit Special Olympics.

The following is a brief bio of each honoree:

Scot Moore

Jefferson-Morgan

Moore has been athletic director at Jefferson-Morgan for 10 years and served on the Tri-County Athletic Directors Association’s Executive Committee for the past four. He served as president from 2012-2014. He also has been a member of the WPIAL’s softball committee for the past eight seasons.

Moore is in his 18th year as an English-Drama teacher in the Jefferson-Morgan School District and has coached softball and volleyball at J-M. Moore also was head basketball coach at West Greene and Waynesburg, winning a section title at West Greene in the 1999-2000 season.

Moore was sports director for 21 years at WANB Radio and served as a play-by-play broadcaster and analyst. He is currently the Senior Network Advisor to the Greenesports Sports Network. Moore also was a case manager with the Washington-Greene County Job Training Agency in Greene County. Moore is a former PIAA volleyball, softball, and basketball official.

Phillips is a four-sport athlete for West Greene, competing in volleyball, basketball, track, cross country and rifle. The senior carries a 4.0 GPA and will attend Saint Francis University.

She is a member of 4-H, the Market Steer Club, Goat Club, Science Club, Chemistry Club, NHS, and Envirothon. Phillips was named Lions Club Student of the Month, received the Academic Excellence Award, Citizenship Award and Chevrolet Scholar-Athlete Award.

The challenge of controlling a gym full of rambunctious children, combined with her love of sports, led Osleger to become manager of the basketball court, volleyball court and softball field. She has been a three-sport official for more than 38 years and has worked thousands of youth sporting events on courts and fields at all levels of play.

Osleger has officiated numerous WPIAL basketball, volleyball and softball championships as well as PIAA state championships. She has worked collegiate softball championships at each level. One of her best memories was umpiring the NAIA National College Fastpitch finals in 1991 with Bill Christy. She continues to work at every level and also is a basketball evaluator for the WPIAL and PIAA.

Osleger is a lifelong resident of the Mon Valley and is an elementary physical education teacher in the Ringgold School District.

Kotarsky has been one of the most recognizable and most respected basketball officials from the time he began in 1974 until retiring in 2010. He officiated on the high school and college level.

He is still active as a college and high school fastpitch softball umpire and a CSAU Western Collegeiate softball assigner.

Kotarsky played baseball and was an All-State selection in basketball while at Beth-Center High School. He graduated from California State College in 1967 and was an Asoociated Press All-State selection, an NAIA All-American and first team PSAC West Division selection in basketball.

Few teams can claim perfection in the playoffs, but Peters Township boys soccer is one of them. Under Dyer’s coaching, the Indians did not allow a goal in the WPIAL tournament and won the Class AAA title with a 1-0 victory over Upper St. Clair. The Indians shut out Canon-McMillan, 4-0, Seneca Valley, 2-0, and North Allegheny, 3-0, to reach the finals.

In the state tournament, Peters Township stopped Canon-McMillan, 2-1, then fell to Upper St. Clair 3-0. Peters Township finished the season with an 18-4-2 record.

Booker has been head coach of the Washington track program for the past five seasons and has been part of the program for 10 years. Last season, the boys team won its second consecutive WPIAL team title after finishing as runner-up in 2011.

Booker has coached two state champions – Dustin Fuller (300 hurdles) and Alyssa Wise (100 and 200 dashes). She has coached the girls volleyball team since 1999.

Booker is a Washington High School graduate and earned a bachelor and masters degree at California University.

Placing four runners in the top 20, South Fayette ended Quaker Valley’s six-year reign as WPIAL cross country champion by winning the Class AA title.

A few months earlier, Winans coached the Lions girls team to the WPIAL Class AA track and field team tournament title, defeating Beaver, 79-71, Freeport, 80-70, and Southmoreland, 106-44.

After being hired by South Fayette as a chemistry teacher, Winans began by coaching jumpers at South Fayette during the 2006-2007 school year. The following year he was hired as the middle school cross country coach and continued duties as the jumping coach. In the fall of 2008, Winans began his tenure as varsity cross country coach and assistant head coach for the indoor and spring track & field teams. In the 2012-2013, school year Winans became varsity track and field-cross country coordinator.

Hill has been integral part of the Jefferson-Morgan sports programs for more than 10 years in many capacities. He started as a student manager with the Jefferson-Morgan football team under the tutelage of then-head coach Jan Haiden and has been with the Rockets’ baseball team for the past seven seasons, serving as a volunteer and assistant to head coach John Curtis.

Hill also is an active member of the Jefferson Township Volunteer Fire Company, serving as a fireman and station attendant, and has been a member of the company for four years. Hill is also an avid fisherman, camping, and equestrian. He also is active with the Boy Scouts of America and is a member Ohio Valley Chapter of the HCEA (Historical Construction Equipment Association). He assists his father in their family business, Hill’s Auto Body in Lippincott.

He is the son of Clarence and Shree Hill of Lippincott.

Andrew started in Special Olympics bowling in 1990 at age 8. He has participated in bowling, soccer, track and field, volleyball, softball and basketball in the 24 years since his start. He has accumulated 25 bronze, 33 silver and 47 gold medals but his favorite is the gold his basketball team won in 2011 at Penn State. Second favorite is the gold medal won at Clarion University by his basketball team of only six players.

Mayer has gone to Penn State as a volunteer and helped his fellow athletes get to and from events. That year, he won the SOPA Sheets Family Award of Excellence for sportsmanship. This was only the second year for this award.

Last summer he attended SOPA-SOYA sports camp at Antioch Village as a coach-counselor. This year he wants to go as an athlete to have that experience also.

Mayer works at Wal-mart in Washington and received his 10-year pin in March. He started as a cart pusher and now is a stocker in the chemical and paper department.

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