Mike Vukovcan With the Hopewell boys’ and girls’ basketball teams making it to the WPIAL playoffs, it got me to start thinking about something.
The various boys’ and girls’ programs in the Hopewell athletics department have been enjoying a lot of success lately. Something to keep in mind and don’t take for granted is that it isn’t like this everywhere.
This is all possible because of the work and dedication of the athletes and coaches in the district.
Here’s a look at some of the great athletic accomplishments we’ve had in Hopewell over the last couple of years.
High School Football: Coach Matt Mottes and his players won 7 games, made it to the WPIAL playoffs and won a playoff game.
It was their first 7-win season and playoff since 2011 and 2012 respectively. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the program should enjoy even more success this season.
The successful season was capped off last week by the program having 3 players (Logan Triscila, Julian Baldwin and Jeorge Desko) receive opportunities to continue playing football at Geneva College.
High School Boys Basketball: Coach Doug Biega and his program are preparing to play in a WPIAL playoff game. This is the first time in 16 years that the program will be playing in a playoff game.
Not only did they make the playoffs, but they finished in 2nd place and earned a No. 5 seed in Class 4A (out of 14 teams).
A&S Federal Credit Union are proud sponsors of Hopewell Boys and Girls High School, Junior High and Youth Sports.
I can assure you, it won’t take 16 years for them to reach the playoffs again.
High School Girls Basketball: Although it wasn’t easy, Coach Jeff Homziak and the Lady Vikings basketball are once again heading to the WPIAL playoffs. In fact, this is the 5th consecutive season in which Hopewell is a playoff participant. The encouraging thing is that the future of this program appears to be very bright as the junior high and youth programs have very good talent within it. In the next couple years, Homziak’s roster will be supplemented by the Arionna and Amiyah Shell, Ellie McCoy, Rilynn Davis, just to name a few.
High School Girls Volleyball: The success that the volleyball program under Hall of Fame HC Terry Borkovic is the gold standard of the Vikings athletic program. 27 consecutive seasons of making the WPIAL playoffs, reaching the WPIAL championship game the last 2 seasons and seeing the growth in girls coming out for the sport are just some examples of their overall success. A number of Vikings volleyball players have gone on to play volleyball in college; recent examples include Jordan Sirianni, Alyssa Spang and Abby Oldham.
High School Baseball: Winning championships is the ultimate goal of any team and Hopewell has had a team do that recently. Over the last 4 seasons, HC Morgan Singletary and the Hopewell baseball program has won a WPIAL championship and finished as runners-up in another year. Playing in a WPIAL championship game 2 of the last 4 seasons isn’t too shabby. It’s also something that shouldn’t be overlooked and forgotten.
The success within this program has also extended past high school as a handful of players have had the opportunity to continue playing beyond high school- David Medich (Thiel College), Ty Eberhardt (Tiffin/Allegheny), Emmett McCowin (PS-Beaver) and a few members of this year’s team- Drew Donovan (Westminster), Charlie Smetana (USC-Sumter) and Ben McDonald (will be playing baseball in college but hasn’t made his school decision yet).
High School Track and Field: Like with the girls’ volleyball team, the Hopewell Track and Field program continues to enjoy success, year after year under the guidance of HC Jeff Brunton. The individual success and school records that Hopewell athletes have broken are too many to list. I’ve written this before and I’ll do so again, Coach Brunton is one of the top high school coaches in the WPIAL and Hopewell is fortunate to have him. This individual success has led to members of this program going on to continue their athletic careers in college, the latest being Zach Kovell at Westminster. This upcoming season is shaping up to be another successful year for Hopewell HS Track and Field.
High School Bowling: Like with the basketball programs, the Hopewell HS Bowling team is headed to the postseason as both the boys’ and girls’ teams will be taking part in the WPIBL playoffs. The boys’ team has won back-back section championships (first time in program history) while the girls will once again be looking to compete for a title. Much credit for this success has to go to head coach Stan Magusiak, who is one of the most dedicated and passionate coaches in Hopewell. The number of students participating in the Hopewell bowling program are at a record time, which is an exciting thing to see.
High School Swim Team and HS Wrestling: Want to also mention the Hopewell HS Swim team along with the HS Wrestling team because HC Kathi Lopez and HC Brett Smith have those programs trending in the right direction. Just two years ago, former Viking Isaiah Pisano won the 160-pound WPIAL wrestling champion and took his talents to Pitt-Johnstown. The enrollment within the Hopewell youth, junior high and high school programs are tremendous which bodes well for the future.
In terms of the swim team, Coach Lopez has seen a number of her swimmers enjoy success over the last couple of years in the MAC Championships as well as advance to the WPIAL Tournament. The 2025-26 season is winding down, and a number of Hopewell swimmers have already advanced to the WPIAL Swimming Playoffs. VSN wishes all of these talented individuals the best of luck!
Hopewell’s Ava Yoder
The Hopewell soccer and gymnastic programs have also enjoyed some team and individual accomplishments over the last few years, and we congratulate them for that. After a stellar high school career, Tommy Armour is taking his talents to Westminster College to continue his soccer career.
This past weekend, the gymnastics program qualified for the 2026 WPIAL playoffs. Congrats ladies!
Vikings Sports Now just wanted to point some of this out (and if we omitted anyone we apologize, it wasn’t done intentionally) because sometimes all of this success for the teams and individual gets forgotten.
Never take winning and success for granted because you could very easily be on the other side of things, which isn’t as fun as winning.
