Mike Vukovcan Vikings Sports Now wanted to congratulate the recent members voted into Hopewell High School’s Class of 2025 Sports Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2025 consists of five individuals and one team, and they’ll be inducted into the Hall of Fame banquet which will take place on August 15th at The Club at Shadow Lakes. This will be the 7th class of Hopewell’s Hall of Fame.
Congrats to the following for being in Hopewell’s Class of 2025- Alyssa Cosnek Walton, the late Paul Felinczak, Derek Hock, Dave McLaughlin, Don Short and the 2006 Hopewell girls’ basketball team.
Don Short: Graduate of Aliquippa High School and Allegheny College, Short worked in the Hopewell School District for 35 years before retiring in 2024. Short spent time as Hopewell’s athletic trainer and athletic director. He was hired as the districts athletic director in 2011 and served both roles up until his retirement.
Short served as director of athletics for 13 Hopewell WPIAL Championships, 4 PIAA Championships and numerous section championships. Short also played an active role in the coordination and overseeing the renovation of Tony Dorsett Stadium.
Alyssa Cosnek Walton: A 2008 Hopewell graduate, Alyssa was one of the best players to ever play soccer at Hopewell. She won numerous all-section and all-WPIAL honors along with winning section MVP during her senior season. Alyssa was team captain in both her junior and senior season and was team’s leading scorer as a sophomore, junior and senior.
Following her graduation, Alyssa’s 85 goals were a school record and also collected 67 assists during her Vikings career.
Following graduation, Alyssa continued her soccer career at the University of Iowa, where she was a 4-year starter and letter winner. While at Iowa, she remains tied for third in most game-winning goals with nine and tied for 11th in most goals in a season at nine.
Paul Felinczak: A 1970 graduate of Hopewell High School, Felinczak was a bruising fullback and inside linebacker. Felinczak was named Hopewell team MVP his senior season as he collected a team-leading 98 tackles along with 579 yards rushing and 6 touchdowns as a fullback. Paul became the first Hopewell player to ever player in the Big 33 Football Classic. Following graduation, Paul went on to play college football at Pitt, while also having offers from West Virginia, Duke, Kentucky and Tulane.
While at Pitt, Paul became a starter and lettered in 1971 when he was Pitt’s second leading rusher with 313 yards. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury the following season that ended his career. Sadly, Paul passed away in 2014.
Derek Hock: Derek holds the distinction of being one of the few Hopewell athletes to earn WPIAL and state goal medals in two different sports.
Derek was a reserve wide receiver on Hopewell’s WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A football championship team in 2002. But Hock got his headlines in the swimming pool.
Derek was a diver who earned several medals at WPIAL and PIAA Championships. As a junior, he won the goal medal at the MAC Championships before earning the silver medal at the WPIAL meet and third-place bronze medal at states. As a senior, Hock won gold medals at the MAC, WPIAL and State Championships.
Derek went on to compete at the University of Maryland, where he competed in the ACC Championships for four years and made it to NCAA Zone competition.
Dave McLaughlin: A 1982 graduate, Dave was one of the best pitchers to ever take the mound at Hopewell. After lettering during his sophomore and junior seasons, Dave had a phenomenal senior season. Dave and his teammates went 24-7 during his senior campaign and made it all the way to the WPIAL championship game. Dave went 11-1 and was voted MVP of the team along with the best player in the Section 6-AAA.
In Legion Ball that season, Dave led Hopewell to the Beaver County and Region 6 Championships before advancing deep in the state playoffs. During that season, Dave went 12-1 and all combined finished 23-2 during his senior season.
Following his time at Hopewell, Dave went on to play college baseball at Ohio University, where he lettered for four years and was a team co-captain as a senior.
HOPWELL 2006 GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM: This group of girls led by head coach Chris Raso won a WPIAL Championship along with the school’s first state championship by defeating Allentown Central Catholic in the Class 3A Championship game. That team was led by the twin sisters Joyce and Becky Novacek. In the championship game, Joyce scored 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Becky scored 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Coach Raso’s squad finished the season with a record of 30-3 and those 30 wins set a single-season school record.
In the WPIAL Championship game, Hopewell defeated Moon, 43-26 at the Peterson Events Center. Joyce Novacek scored a game-high 22 points. Aside from the Novacek twins, other starters on that incredible team were senor Kayla McLaughlin, senior Dana Radulovich and junior Jordan Zuppe. Also, junior Sara Haluska, was the Vikings valuable 6th man.
Tickets for the Hopewell High School Sports Hall of Fame banquet cost $50 per person and anyone wishing to attend can call Mike Bires at 412-908-5858. Deadline is August 9th.
