Lawrence County sports just had its greatest year in history, and now the area is about to get an upgrade to its live coverage of the “County of Champions.”
The Lawrence County SportsNet Powered by LCCAP is announcing the launch of their broadcasting network for the beginning of the 2021-22 scholastic year. The Network plans to provide video and audio broadcasts for over 100 local sporting and community events over the course of the year. The broadcasts will be available on www.LCsportsnet.com.
“We are excited to begin this new program of broadcasting community sporting events in Lawrence County,” said Tom Scott, CEO of Lawrence County Community Action Partnership (LCCAP). “We are pleased to coordinate with the schools, the students, and the fans in the community to help create a platform for these student-athletes to be showcased and for their families who cannot attend to be able to watch them on the field or the court.”
Heading up the Lawrence County SportsNet is James Dotson, who will act as a general manager and broadcaster for the network. He says that discussions for the LC SportsNet began over two years ago with fellow Union High School teacher Joe Canciello.
“We wanted to find a way to get high school student-athletes as much exposure as possible,” Dotson said. “Actually, you could say it started eight years ago when we had a couple of students run a livestream of some baseball games.”
Once the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and attendance at local events was limited, the idea became more of a reality.
“We would have loved to launch last football season when games were being postponed and fans were unable to attend,” Dotson said. “But in the end, this past year has been instrumental for everybody to utilize new skill-sets in media production. Schools were able to set up live-streaming events for friends and family worldwide to watch, and we have all learned bigger and better ways to showcase local students and student-athletes. I just can’t thank LCCAP enough for all that they have done to get this program up and running. This is so great for the community, and to have Tom and everybody at LCCAP take our idea and run with it just speaks volumes to what they are willing to do for the area.”
While the Lawrence County SportsNet did not take off last season, it got its feet on the ground with local sponsors helping to cover livestreams for county schools. It was a historic season as well, with all eight schools winning at least least district championship at the team level, and many capturing gold at the state level in team and individual events as well.
“In terms of high school sports in western PA, Lawrence County has established itself as the best,” New Castle basketball coach Ralph Blundo said. “Lawrence County sports fans here and across the country deserve to see the young athletes that are working so hard to represent their school and community. On the heels of the greatest year ever for Lawrence county, there is no better time to launch this initiative. Just another example of LCAAP providing an awesome service.”
The newly created sports network will look to build off of the county success from a year ago, and will do so while featuring some familiar faces (and voices) from Lawrence County.
Dotson, a Neshannock graduate and resident, has broadcast nearly 500 high school and college sporting events in western Pennsylvania, many of them here in Lawrence County. He covers New Castle basketball games and various football games on NewsRadio 1200 WKST-AM, is the radio voice of Penn State Shenango athletics for NewsTalk 790 WPIC-AM, and has worked all around the WPIAL on the TribLive High School Sports Network (formerly MSA Sports Network) for the past six years.
Two other broadcasters who will join on the air are Tim Continenza and Lee Mohn. Continenza has been the play-by-play voice of New Castle basketball for the past four years, and has been doing radio and video sports broadcasts for over 20 years in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Mohn, a Butler resident has been broadcasting for over 15 years with TribLive and North Allegheny’s Sports Networks. He also is no stranger to the area, having covered the Lawrence County game of the week on 1280 WJST-AM for nearly ten years.
All three credit the late Mark Schaas for their meeting and becoming friends. They say that the creation of the Lawrence County SportsNet is a tribute to the long-time voice of Lawerence County sports, and that his presence will be felt throughout each and every broadcast on the new network.
“It’s because of ‘Schaasy’ that I’m even in sports broadcasting,” Dotson said. “He invited me to work a game with him after he heard me working on a fantasy football podcast when I was in college. It was something I just did for fun But one day, he sent me a message saying that he tuned in a few times and that we helped him win his fantasy league. He then asked if I’d ever consider doing live sports broadcasts, and that he wanted me to come join him for a game when Lee was unavailable. I’m still surprised how much fun I had doing that game. I ended up doing four games that year, and still enjoy every minute on the air!”
The broadcast crew will also include nearly a dozen other personnel to serve as producers, camera operators, and graphics designers. Among those are many of Dotson’s collaborators from sports broadcasts last school year, as well as those original students who worked those livestreams eight years ago.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Dotson said. “Collaboration is what allows us to get the best possible exposure for these kids. But it’s also about providing opportunities for students to work in technology and potentially give them a chance to find a future career. We want to tap in to the schools’ journalism programs and utilize their skills, while also providing a chance to learn and display their work while receiving community service hours.”
The plan is to broadcast two football games every week during the fall season, as well as various other high school sports and community events. Volleyball and soccer events are already planned for the fall, as well as the 41st Lawrence County Band Festival, which was cancelled last year. Dotson hopes to be able to combine forces with local radio broadcasts, adding video coverage to the already great audio broadcasts in the area. But that’s just scratching the surface.
“The sky is the limit to the number of events we can provide coverage for,” Dotson said. “This began with sports, but it goes beyond sports. Coverage of theatre and arts events, concerts, the band festival, any community event, we are excited to showcase what these young people are doing. If we can get the sponsors necessary, we can and will cover as many events as possible.
The Lawrence County SportsNet will also serve as a TribLive High School Sports Network affiliate. This will allow further exposure for county schools, as all events will also be streamed on their website. This also will permit LC SportsNet to broadcast WPIAL postseason events.
“We’re very happy to welcome the Lawrence County SportsNet as a partner,” TribLive High School Sports Network General Manager Justin LaBar said. “It’s thrilling to know together we’ll be able to provide more quality live-streaming coverage to the enthusiastic fan base there.”
With football season just three weeks away, there is still plenty to finalize. But Dotson and his crew are confident that by week 0, anybody who cannot attend on game day can watch from home, near or afar, and everybody who was in attendance can go back and watch the replay.
And what a great Week 0 schedule it is, with anticipated broadcasts of Mohawk hosting Union on Friday, August 27, and Shenango traveling to Neshannock on Saturday.
For information on how you can be a part of the Lawrence County SportsNet Powered by LCCAP, please contact James Dotson at jdotson@lccap.org.
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