After Montour lost a heartbreaking 11-inning thriller in last year’s WPIAL Class 4A championship game against West Mifflin, Spartans coach Bob Janeda had to search deep within himself to muster up some source of motivation to help the team regain its focus for the state playoffs.
At Montour’s first practice following the crushing WPIAL championship defeat, Janeda dug into his bag of tricks and pulled out the 1977 smash hit “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” by none other than Meat Loaf.
“I called the guys over and said, ‘We still have the big goal in front of us, the state championship,’” Janeda said before putting on the song. “Zac Stern looked at me and said, ‘Coach, that’s a love song.’ I said, ‘I don’t care what it is. Two out of three ain’t bad.’”
The way he put it, Janeda had set out three goals for his ballclub at the beginning of the season — to win the section, win the WPIAL and win the state. The Spartans had already crossed the section championship off the list, then had the WPIAL title ripped out from under them in the most deflating way imaginable. So Janeda decided to introduce his players to the old-school power ballad, helping to ease the tension and recenter their minds on the task at hand.
The rest, of course, is history. Montour rattled off five consecutive wins in the state playoffs, capped off with one of the most unthinkable comeback wins in PIAA championship history to beat Holy Ghost Prep, 10-9, in the Class 4A state finals.
And with a three-hour bus ride home from State College, Pa., with the PIAA championship trophy in tow, one can only imagine how much Meat Loaf was blaring through the speakers.
“The first playoff game, we play at Bellefonte and win that game, and on the bus ride home, a couple guys are playing it in the back,” Janeda said. “Then when we won the state championship in the seventh inning, that entire bus ride home until we got back to the parade, I think they played that song 70 times.”
It’s a new year now, but this time around, the Spartans won’t be satisfied with just two out of three. As they seek to end a 51-year WPIAL title drought while also defending their state crown, Montour (7-0, 2-0) has stormed out of the gates in 2023 with no signs of slowing down any time soon.
“We’ve told them, we’ve got a big bull’s-eye on our back,” Janeda said. “When somebody comes to Burkett Park, if they beat us, those are the types of games that can really make a team’s season. We don’t hide from it. We like being in this position.”
The Spartans graduated three of their most valuable players from last year’s team in catcher Matt Luchovick and ace pitchers Dylan Mathiesen and Mason Sike. But with six starters back and plenty of young up-and-comers waiting in the wings for their turn to shine, Montour is looking like it could be the team to beat once again in Class 4A — not just in the WPIAL, but in the entire state.
After leading the team with a .390 batting average to go with 5 doubles, 4 triples, 2 home runs, 23 RBIs and 20 runs scored a year ago, junior shortstop Jake Robinson is solidifying his status as one of the top all-around players in the WPIAL this season. An elite fielder and pure line-drive hitter, Robinson boasts a team-high .476 average with five doubles and eight RBIs through the Spartans’ first seven games.
“He’s hitting in the No. 3 hole,” Janeda said. “Having just a really solid year. Hitting with some power, hitting in the gaps.”
Senior first baseman Nick Walker was already established as one of the top players in the area, but he has now added even more to his arsenal as a lights-out closer with three saves already on the season. Walker batted .305 last year with 3 doubles, 5 triples, 16 RBIs and a team-high 31 runs scored, and he already has 3 doubles, 5 RBIs and 7 runs scored this season.
Janeda’s son, senior Brock Janeda, is splitting time between catcher and second base with fellow senior Adam Weber, and Weber is hitting .312 with six RBIs and a pair of doubles while Janeda has three doubles and five RBIs.
“He’s a true leader. He was a captain on the football team,” Janeda said about his son, who will play football at Duquesne in the fall. “He’s been there. He leads so well. And he can run.”
The absence of Mathiesen and Sike on the mound is certainly the biggest difference from last year to this year, and Montour is no longer relying on a ton of strikeouts to win games. Instead, the Spartans are winning with great defense behind pitchers Zac Stern, Vinnie Markulin and David Gallagher, who each own ERAs of 1.50 or lower so far this season. Markulin went 5-0 with a 1.20 ERA before getting injured last season.
“We have 10 seniors this year. And most of those guys have played a lot over the last three years,” Janeda said. “I’d like to say we’re a very mature group. This group has played in two WPIAL championships, they won a state championship. In the last two years, we’re 22-2 in section play.
“Two out of three ain’t bad, but of course our goal is not two out of three this year, it’s three out of three.”
Big Macs barging into title contention
Coming off a 5-11 finish last season, the Canon-McMillan Big Macs weren’t exactly expected to do big things in 2023.
Well, things sure have changed in a hurry in Canonsburg.
With former multisport standout and 2004 Canon-McMillan grad Brendon Steele stepping in for his first year at the helm, the Big Macs (5-1, 3-0) have burst through the line of contenders in Class 6A, now standing at the top of the heap in Section 2 following three consecutive wins against defending WPIAL champion Mt. Lebanon. Canon-McMillan defeated the Blue Devils Monday at home, 9-4, then won by a 5-2 score Wednesday at Mt. Lebanon before completing the three-game season sweep with an 8-7 home win on Thursday.
The Big Macs are now riding a five-game winning streak following a 1-0 loss against two-time defending PIAA Class 5A champion Bethel Park in the season opener on March 22. Needless to say, Steele is pushing all the right buttons so far as Canon-McMillan looks to be an early front-runner for the WPIAL Class 6A title.
Leading the way for the Big Macs is 6-4, 285-pound senior first baseman Andrew Kocan, batting .300 with a double, a triple, a home run and a team-high seven RBIs through six games. Senior catcher Mason Fixx is batting .400 with a double and four RBIs, and senior right-hander Austyn Winkleblech is dealing to the tune of a 1-0 record with a 1.97 ERA and 18 strikeouts to five walks in 21 1/3 innings. Winkleblech tossed seven scoreless innings in the season-opening defeat against the Black Hawks.
Riverside’s revenge tour heating up
After trips to the WPIAL semifinals and PIAA quarterfinals both ended with gut-wrenching defeats last season, Riverside looks to be aiming much higher in 2023.
Having bumped up from Class 2A to Class 3A, the Panthers (5-0, 4-0) have asserted themselves at the top of the Section 1 standings after racking up two-game sweeps against Ellwood City and Beaver Falls, with a 20-2 rout at Knoch sandwiched in between. They have two players batting over .500 so far in Mitch Garvin and Darren McDade, and Bo Fornataro is hitting .462 with two homers and nine RBIs. Hunter Garvin also has a pair of home runs to go with a .308 average and five RBIs through five games.
After splitting the Class 2A Section 2 title with Shenango last year, both rivals figure to be in the mix for the section crown again this year. Of course, they’ll also have to fight off another section foe from last year in returning WPIAL and PIAA finalist Neshannock, which also moved up to Class 3A Section 1 for the current two-year cycle. Riverside will first face the Wildcats this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, while the Panthers and Lancers will square off on May 1-2.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
