George Guido: Cager Classic set to return after 2-year hiatus

By: George Guido
Saturday, January 1, 2022 | 5:32 PM

Let’s open 2022 with some good news.

The Cager Classic at Highlands High School is set to return after a two-year hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The 25th event — we no longer can call it annual — will go with its usual Thursday-Saturday format March 24-26.

The event will feature seniors from 21 high schools on both sides of the Allegheny River. Franklin Regional will be the new school added this year.

Thursday is practice night, Friday is the skills competition — 3-point shooting contest and the co-ed hot shot — leading up to the climax Saturday with the girls all-star game at 5:45 p.m. followed by the boys at 7:45.

To avoid the long lines at the ticket booth on game night, advance tickets can be purchased at B&J Sporting Goods in Natrona Heights starting approximately six weeks before the event.

Like mother, like son

Laurel Highlands junior Rodney Gallagher reached the 1,000-point career mark last week.

But he wasn’t the first family member to do it.

His mother, Crystal Fields, scored 1,054 during her career at the former Tri-Valley High School from 1989-93.

Now known as Albert Gallatin High School, Tri-Valley was a merger of the original Albert Gallatin, Fairchance-Georges and German Township.

Despite his basketball accomplishments that include the 2020 WPIAL Class 5A title, Gallagher recently announced he will stick with football in college.

‘Frenchy’ dies

Some people are so well known, they need to be identified only by their nickname.

When anybody in the New Kensington-Lower Burrell area and in scholastic wrestling circles heard “Frenchy,” they knew it was Edward J. “Frenchy” DesLauriers.

DesLauriers, a star wrestler in his days at Valley High School and the founder of Burrell youth wrestling organizations that led to the Bucs’ streak of 15 consecutive WPIAL titles, died Dec. 16. He was 70.

His passing was announced by the Giunta-Bertucci Funeral Home of Arnold. DesLauriers died at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Pittsburgh.

A Vietnam veteran, DesLauriers was paralyzed from a 1986 recreational vehicle accident, but it didn’t stop his association with a youth wrestling program started at Burrell Lake Park, Lower Burrell, and he was the founder of the Christian Athletic Wrestling Association.

DesLauriers later started the Super Trophy Tournament held at Burrell for 28 years and was honored at the 2020 event for his accomplishments and dedication to the sport.

His son, Joel, became the first Burrell wrestler to win a state title in 1997, going 36-2 that year. His grandson, Dakota, won the 2013 title with a 36-0 mark.

Despite his condition, Frenchy competed in the National Wheelchair Games for a number of years.

There was no public viewing, but a celebration of life gathering will be announced at a later date, according to Giunta-Bertucci.