Lottery Summary for the week of Nov. 22

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Hudson Model Railroad Club hosts open house

<p>WEST PITTSTON &#8212; Even before the first snap of this season, Nick Koch had a feeling he may be a part of his coach&#8217;s final farewell.</p><p>He just never envisioned it would end with George Curry&#8217;s name on a trophy.</p><p>And while Koch didn&#8217;t walk away with the UNICO Charity Football Game&#8217;s inaugural Coach George Curry Most Valuable Player Trophy, he did help ensure it went to Berwick&#8217;s side.</p><p>&#8220;It feels awesome,&#8221; said Koch, a senior defensive back this year on the last Berwick team coached by Curry, who retired at the end of the year while battling health issues. &#8220;With coach Curry being the one the award is named after, it&#8217;s like a great honor for Berwick.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just glad we won.&#8221;</p><p>Koch helped ensure a 17-7 victory for his UNICO Pioneers team by intercepting two passes, with the first ending the game&#8217;s opening drive Saturday and the second pretty much ending all hopes for the the other guys &#8212; the UNICO Miners &#8212; late in the fourth quarter.</p><p>But it was a Berwick rival who made off with the award that was just this year named for Curry.</p><p>Crestwood wide receiver Connor Sheloski grabbed seven catches for 89 yards, including the game&#8217;s first touchdown on a leaping 6-yard snag, to pull in the game&#8217;s MVP honor.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a little weird, having a trophy with his name on it,&#8221; said Sheloski, who was part of a Crestwood team that lost the District 2 Class 3A semifinals to Curry&#8217;s Berwick team in 2013 and then turned the tables to beat Berwick for the 2014 district title. &#8220;I have the utmost respect for George Curry. He&#8217;s the winningest coach in Pennsylvania history.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s an honor to get the award.&#8221;</p><p>The way Sheloski sees it, he said, is the trophy represents tremendous success.</p><p>It&#8217;s little wonder why he views it that way.</p><p>Curry compiled with a state-record 455 career coaching victories and a record-tying six PIAA state titles, along with three USA Today national championships. Spending the bulk of his 39 of his 46 seasons at Berwick, Curry finished his career by taking the Bulldogs to four consecutive District 2 Class 3A championship games, making the most of his last season on the sidelines by coaxing a team short on offense to a six-game winning streak and appearance in the district championship game earlier this month.</p><p>But as this season wore on, and his health issues became increasingly evident, it became clear Curry was coaching his final games with his Bulldogs.</p><p>&#8220;I think we got the word around the time of the Bloomsburg Fair (in September),&#8221; said Berwick senior defensive lineman Sean McCole, who also shared in the Pioneers&#8217; UNICO victory. &#8220;We had to play every game like it was our last. For him.&#8221;</p><p>Some Berwick players realized even sooner the end of the game was nearing for Curry, who needed assistance getting to and from the sidelines for games early in the year.</p><p>&#8220;Actually, before our preseason games, I noticed he was starting to struggle a little bit,&#8221; Koch said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t realize how bad it was going to get.</p><p>&#8220;It was heartbreaking to see him like that.&#8221;</p><p>So one last time, Curry&#8217;s last set of seniors played with their old coach&#8217;s voice ringing through their hearts.</p><p>&#8220;It was wonderful, playing a lot of years with him,&#8221; Koch said. &#8220;We had great chemistry as a team. That came mainly because of coach Curry. For every play, we always thought about coach Curry. It pushed us even more.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He was a great mentor and a great leader,&#8221; McCole said, before turning his gaze to the Curry Trophy. &#8220;It <em>should </em>be named after him. This was our last game, and with the MVP involved &#8230;</p><p>&#8220;It was like winning one more for him.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Berwick defensive back Nick Koch, left, of the UNICO Pioneers makes one of his two interceptions in a game he played while trying to uphold the honor of his former Bulldogs coach George Curry. Koch intercepts his first pass, intended for Nick Zalaffi of the UNICO Miners, to end the game&#8217;s opening drive in Saturday&#8217;s 65th annual UNICO Charity Football Game at Wyoming Area. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_unico02.jpg</photo0><caption0>Berwick defensive back Nick Koch, left, of the UNICO Pioneers makes one of his two interceptions in a game he played while trying to uphold the honor of his former Bulldogs coach George Curry. Koch intercepts his first pass, intended for Nick Zalaffi of the UNICO Miners, to end the game&#8217;s opening drive in Saturday&#8217;s 65th annual UNICO Charity Football Game at Wyoming Area. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>MVP trophy brings special meaning to UNICO players</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Coach George Curry MVP Award a winner with UNICO players