Ellwood City’s Unified Bocce team earned a third place finish at the PIAA Interscholastic Unified Bocce State Championships last week in Hershey, PA.
The Wolverines captured bronze with a thrilling 6-4 win over Pennridge.
“When football talks the game of inches, bocce is truly the game of inches,” says head coach John DiBuono.
The Wolverines’ efforts came down to a last shot, in the third match, with no time left on the clock. Ellwood City had to make the shot for the third place finish.
Fortunately, the shot was made and Ellwood City placed.
The team is comprised of Joy Mangiapane, Maddy McCommons, Anthony DiBuono, Ryan Odom, Braden Freed, Jean Kreiling.
The Wolverines finished its regular season record of 4-2 in a Northwest Division comprised of Ellwood City, Union, Knoch, Butler, New Castle, Seneva Valley, Shenango, and Mohawk.
Ellwood City was the only team from Lawrence County that made it to the state championships. The team last made states in 2019 and would have advanced last year to Hershey if not for a cancellation due to Covid precautions.
All players are seniors except for the sophomore Kreiling. Kreiling, Freed, and Mangiapane are known as athletes in Special Olympics bocce according to DiBuono. The other three students are partners.
The team advanced to states with a first place finish at the regional championships earlier in March.
“Our team improves game after game more than year after year,” says DiBuono.
There are over 205 schools that play bocce and over 300 teams in Pennsylvania that play this game according to the Ellwood City head coach.
“I believe it’s going to grow even more next year,” says DiBuono. “It can be just as exciting as any other game.”
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