Story on ‘RJ’ made me famous - almost | The Pittston Dispatch, Pittston, PA

My newest connection to the NFL has me on the road to being famous.

Almost.

I interviewed Ray “RJ” Rychleski last week after the Old Forge grad was named Special Teams Coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, and no sooner did the story hit the newsstands as part of last week’s edition of The Sunday Dispatch, it found its way to a nationally known internet site.

Monday afternoon I received a call from my erstwhile pro football tipster – Colts fan Tony Trotta – telling me that a link to my article was published on the website ProFootballTalk.com on its Monday Morning One-Liners page.

The link was published as, “Colts special teams coach Ray Rychleski and head coach Jim Caldwell became friends over pizza dinners while both coached at Penn State.”

Obviously it was referring to the part in the story where RJ said that Coach Caldwell has even eaten Salerno’s Pizza.

When you clicked on the link it took you to the Scranton Edition of the Times Leader at ScrantonEdition.com where my story also appeared.

I am currently trying to find out how many hits that page got since I am sure thousands and thousands of Colts fans were interested to read about RJ and Salerno’s Pizza.

Hopefully it is some ridiculous number so then I can claim to be almost famous and ask for a raise.

More on RJ

While talking to RJ last week he also mentioned a few things to me that I was unable to squeeze into the article.

• RJ’s first ever game as an assistant coach was a win. As an assistant freshman coach for Old Forge, RJ and the Blue Devils defeated Tunkhannock in the first game of the season before he needed to leave to go to school at Millersville College. He also mentioned that Old Forge went onto a 6-2 record that year.

• RJ credited two former coaches as his top mentors: Joe Marciano and Bob DiPippi. All three coached together at Temple.

Marciano is a Dunmore native and has coached in the NFL for many years. Ironically, he is the SPC for the Houston Texans who also play in the AFC South along with the Colts.

“Special teams wise, he is my mentor,” said Rychleski. “I met Joe when I was a part-timer at Temple. I learned punt protection from him and when I went on to Maryland we had longest streak in the country of not having a punt blocked. I give him credit for that.”

DiPippi is an Old Forge grad like Rychleski and is one of the more decorated athletes to don the Blue and Gold. The 1950s era athlete starred in three sports for the Blue Devils. DiPippi is also a lifelong coach at the collegiate level.

“Bob took me under his wing and taught me football,” said Rychleski. “Without those two guys I wouldn’t have had the foundation to move one. Both guys were fantastic to me.”

• RJ also credits Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen with his move up the coaching ladder.

“Ralph Friedgen is as good of a football coach as there is in the country,” said Rychleski. “He taught me stuff on offense and coaching the game as a whole, and helped me develop drills. In turn, I helped him learn more about special teams.”

• RJ also stated that the only difference between the college and professional game – besides some of the rules – is recruiting.

“At South Carolina it was football all morning and then recruiting duties in afternoon,” said Rychleski. “With the Colts, its football all morning, football all afternoon, and football all night.

McMyne gets first ‘W’

Kyle McMyne earned his first collegiate victory on Wednesday as Villanova defeated University of the Sciences Philadelphia, 5-1.

The Old Forge grad pitched three innings of relief to pick up the win and even his record at 1-1.

McMyne started his first game last week against St. Bonaventure and was charged with the loss when the Wildcats dropped a 5-2 decision.

The freshman reliever has pitched 10 innings while appearing in four games so far this season. Villanova was 6-6 entering this past weekend.

The Rick’s Final D2 Rankings

There still might be a few basketball games left to play on both the girls’ and boys’ side of the PIAA State Championship Tournament, but the rankings will not change anymore for The Rick.

I have seen enough basketball this season to come up with my final Top 10s for the 2008-2009 seasons.

On the girls’ side, the Hazleton Area Lady Cougars earned The Rick’s No. 1 ranking as they advanced to the PIAA Class 4A Eastern Semifinal this past Friday night.

Hazleton was 25-2 when play began Friday night, a record that trailed only No. 3 Dunmore who was 26-1 heading into yesterday’s PIAA 2A Eastern Semi.

The Lady Bucks are third because they were dominated in an early season matchup with No. 2 Holy Redeemer who finished 24-3.

The Lady Royals fell from the top spot after playing its worst offensive game of the season in its second loss of the season to Allentown Central Catholic. The Lady Vikes held Holy Redeemer to just THREE second half points.

Twenty-win teams Nanticoke (21-6) and Abington Heights (20-7) finish No. 4 and No. 5, followed by Coughlin (19-6), Scranton (16-8), Berwick (16-7), Scranton Prep (15-8) and Valley West (15-10).

On the boys’ side, Crestwood has locked up the No. 1 spot with its post-season run to the PIAA Class 3A Eastern Semis. The Comets (24-5) have been near or at the top all season long as Coach Mark Atherton has done another fine job.

The Hazleton Area Cougars (21-5) are No. 2 after a tough draw in the PIAA 4A play-in game had them playing at Glen Mills where they lost a close game to the Bulls in overtime.

Holy Cross (24-3) finished No. 3 after being No. 1 for most of the season. The Crusaders also lost a tough overtime game to Hughesville in the first round of the state tournament. Hughesville played in the PIAA 2A Eastern Semis yesterday.

Lackawanna League Division I champion Abington Heights (23-3) is at No. 4, and Dunmore (21-8) is at No. 5. The Bucks advanced to the second round of the PIAA 2A Tourney despite finishing third in the District 2 Tournament behind Holy Cross and Riverside. Dunmore took state title contender Trinity to overtime on Wednesday night before bowing out.

Holy Redeemer slipped to No. 6 after being blown out in PIAA 3A play, and West Scranton (18-7) finished at No. 7. Pittston Area (13-12) is No. 8 followed by Coughlin (18-7) at No. 9 and Scranton High (13-11) at No. 10.

Six of the 14 schools ranked have teams in both the boys’ and girls’ side of the poll.

Honorable Mention: Lake Lehman (17-5); Old Forge (19-6); Mid Valley (16-11); Holy Cross (17-7); Riverside (15-12); North Pocono (13-11).

Honorable Mention: Scranton Prep (15-8); Elk Lake (22-4); Mt. View (19-9); GAR (19-5); Nanticoke (15-9); Dallas (14-10); Old Forge (14-11).

Blue Devils gridders honored

Last Sunday the Old Forge Quarterback Club held its end-of-season banquet and handed out its annual awards to members of the Blue Devils football team. Memorial Awards were also handed out at the event which featured yours truly as quest speaker.

Hopefully I didn’t bore anyone with my stories of yesteryear, and I certainly won’t bore my reading audience with them either.

Linebacker Jon Kaville was presented with the John Scavo Memorial Award; linebacker Anthony Pero received the Izzy Diaz Memorial ward; lineman Ed Dolinish was awarded the Coach Vince Tomasetti Memorial Outstanding Lineman Award; safety Dustin Slack was presented with the Nicole Schuback Memorial Award; and Niko Manetti received the Anthony Giglio Memorial Love of Life Award.

Cornerback Bobby Vieira and linebacker Jimmy Tagliaferri were awarded with the Unsung Hero Awards; quarterback Corey Hodick and center Brad Cristiano were honored with the team’s Courageous Player Awards; wide receiver Gabe Wilson received the Most Improved Player Award; and Matt Rava, Pat Weller, Ryan Lis, Bryan McCawley and Terry Tate were honored with the 12th Man Awards.

Springing Sports

Monday, March 2 was the first officially day of Spring Sports in the Old Forge School District. However with the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams playing in the state playoffs, the baseball and softball teams didn’t have complete squads until this week.

Heck the softball team only had two returning varsity players are informal workouts last week.

But both teams are in full swing this week and will take to the field – weather permitting – next week.

First-year coach Rich Beviglia will take his Blue Devils to Nanticoke on Thursday for his first contest as skipper of his hometown team. Old Forge will then play the following week at home against Holy Redeemer, Blue Mountain and Scranton Prep.

Veteran skipper Pat Revello will lead his defending District 2 Class 1A Eastern Finalist team to the field on Friday against Wyoming Valley West. The Blue Devils will then stop in Hamilton, New Jersey on Saturday while en route to Florida for a game against Hamilton West HS.

Old Forge’s annual trip to Florida has the Blue Devils playing two games while staying in Fort Myers, FL.

Night at the Races tonight

The Old Forge Softball Team’s annual Night at the Races has had its post time moved back to 5:30 p.m. after a conflict with the track conditions at Arcaro & Genell’s Banquet Room.

The original post-time was 4:30 p.m. but a sauce spill in turn three will delay the start one hour.