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Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association preps for egg hunt, more

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With the sport&#8217;s steady growth, nearly every season of local boys lacrosse has featured some type of change, but there are more changes than usual this season.The Wyoming Valley Conference has expanded again and is going back to one combined league after its two-division, strength-based format in the last four years.While there are more teams gunning for fewer regular-season titles, there are more possible postseason rewards with District 2 gaining a second berth in the PIAA Class 2A state tournament for the first time.&#8220;It&#8217;s really great news for all of us in 2A,&#8221; said Wyoming Area&#8217;s Shaun Rohland, last season&#8217;s Times Leader Coach of the Year and the leader of one of the teams potentially impacted by both changes.The Warriors had won the last two Division 2 titles, but will now have to get past the former Division 1 teams.The conference used to have crossovers between the divisions, playing opponents from the other division once each. In that setup, Division 2 teams were 1-49 against Division 1 in the past two seasons of the 10-team conference and 9-73 over the four seasons, including the two previous as an eight-team conference.Wyoming Area made the semifinals in District 2 Class 2A each of the past two seasons, effectively finishing tied for third in the district. The second-place team now advances.If that second spot had been available last season, it would have gone to Scranton Prep.District 2 made progress on the state level since the split to two classes in 2017 with Crestwood winning a first-round game and making the state Class 2A quarterfinals each of the past two seasons.The reason for the extra state berth, however, is based strictly on the number of teams participating.Holy Redeemer is the latest addition, pushing the number of District 2 teams to 13, including 12 in Class 2A and Delaware Valley in Class 3A.DISTRICT FORMATThe 12 Class 2A teams will be trying to qualify for eight district berths during the regular season.The district&#8217;s new power ratings formula, used in other sports, will determine the qualifiers. If a team outside the top eight finishes with a .500 or better record, it will also qualify, and the tournament field will be expanded.Delaware Valley, coached by Nanticoke graduate Jeff Krasulski, will be part of a subregional with the eight teams from District 11. The top six teams will earn playoff berths.WVC ALIGNMENTAll 13 District 2 teams are competing in the WVC, a change from recent seasons.The former Division 1 teams &#8212; Crestwood, Scranton Prep, Dallas, Delaware Valley and Wyoming Seminary &#8212; all remain in the conference with the former Division 2 teams &#8212; Wyoming Area, North Pocono, Tunkhannock, Lake-Lehman and Coughlin.Abington Heights and Lakeland go from playing independent schedules each of the past two seasons to being WVC members.Unlike those two teams, Holy Redeemer is skipping that transition stage, going right to a full league schedule in what figures to be a challenging first season.BIG STEPHoly Redeemer&#8217;s program is in its infancy.The Royals lost their non-league debut, 17-2, to Danville and lost their first WVC game, 20-0, to North Pocono.&#8220;They&#8217;re going to take some lumps this year,&#8221; Holy Redeemer athletic director J.P. Aquilina said. &#8220;We have 15 boys right now and every single one of them is a freshman or a sophomore. And, most of them have never played lacrosse before.&#8220;They knew what to expect, and so does our head coach.&#8221;Jordan Montesano, who moved from Dunmore to Maryland when he was young and went on to play high school and college soccer there, is the first coach.&#8220;He&#8217;s got high hopes,&#8221; Aquilina said. &#8220;He knows he can build a program with these kids, giving a couple years.&#8221;Montesano had coaching experience when he returned to the area. He runs the Riverfront Raptors out of Riverfront Sports in Scranton.TOP RETURNEESMuch of the WVC&#8217;s top scoring and midfield talent returns, led by Times Leader Player of the Year Anthony Caporuscio from Crestwood, who scored 126 goals last season and 205 in his first two high school seasons.The Comets also return first-team all-star Wyatt Malia on the attack.T.J. Herron from Dallas, which is off to a 4-0 start overall, is also back as a first-team, all-star attacker.Caporuscio, Malia, Herron and Wyoming Area all-star midfielder Dominic DeLuca are all juniors.Dallas long stick midfielder Christian Motley is looking to become a four-time, first-team all-star.John Betzko, a senior defender, also has multiple first-team, all-star berths on his resume.EARLY RETURNSDelaware Valley, which is 4-1 overall, and Wyoming Seminary are each 2-0 in the WVC.Dallas, Wyoming Area, North Pocono and Crestwood are 1-0.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom RobinsonFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div>

WVC boys lacrosse teams adapting to new landscape