Joining WPIAL eases Eden Christian's travel, improves girls basketball competition
Since Eden Christian Academy began to compete in high school athletics, most of their opponents have been other Christian schools.
But the Mount Nebo Road school made the decision this season to concentrate its efforts on competing in the WPIAL. The one the Warriors were placed in is one of Class A's most challenging -- Section 2 -- which features North Catholic and Vincentian, which have alternately won the WPIAL Class A championship the past three years.
Despite a 60-15 non-section loss to neighbor Avonworth last Wednesday which lowered the Warriors' record to 4-2, the move was the best decision the school made, according to girls' basketball coach Steve Good.
"So far, it's gone pretty well," Good said. "What we were looking at as a school was a move to the WPIAL because the league we were in was a Christian school league and travel was an hour and a a half or so (each way) on some nights. It wasn't as competitive. We were looking to push ourselves some more and get better competition. In going to the WPIAL, we were looking to keep some students from going to their public schools in the districts where they live."
A game the Warriors played at North Catholic illustrated his point.
"We were there in 15 minutes," he said. "When we played at East Liverpool, Ohio (at a Christian school), it was an hour, 15 minutes. The other thing is that we knew we were getting into a tough section. You look at the rankings, and we have teams (from our section) ranked 1, 3, and 5 in Class A. That doesn't matter to us. We're just going to play and get better each night."
Good said most of the school's students come from the North Allegheny, Seneca Valley and North Hills school districts. He believes the future looks bright for the school's athletic teams.
"Just looking at this year, our freshman class has 53-54 people in it," Good said. "Our graduating classes to this point have avearaged around 30. So, we picked up 25 kids and we have five new girls coming into our schoo
But the Mount Nebo Road school made the decision this season to concentrate its efforts on competing in the WPIAL. The one the Warriors were placed in is one of Class A's most challenging -- Section 2 -- which features North Catholic and Vincentian, which have alternately won the WPIAL Class A championship the past three years.
Despite a 60-15 non-section loss to neighbor Avonworth last Wednesday which lowered the Warriors' record to 4-2, the move was the best decision the school made, according to girls' basketball coach Steve Good.
"So far, it's gone pretty well," Good said. "What we were looking at as a school was a move to the WPIAL because the league we were in was a Christian school league and travel was an hour and a a half or so (each way) on some nights. It wasn't as competitive. We were looking to push ourselves some more and get better competition. In going to the WPIAL, we were looking to keep some students from going to their public schools in the districts where they live."
A game the Warriors played at North Catholic illustrated his point.
"We were there in 15 minutes," he said. "When we played at East Liverpool, Ohio (at a Christian school), it was an hour, 15 minutes. The other thing is that we knew we were getting into a tough section. You look at the rankings, and we have teams (from our section) ranked 1, 3, and 5 in Class A. That doesn't matter to us. We're just going to play and get better each night."
Good said most of the school's students come from the North Allegheny, Seneca Valley and North Hills school districts. He believes the future looks bright for the school's athletic teams.
"Just looking at this year, our freshman class has 53-54 people in it," Good said. "Our graduating classes to this point have avearaged around 30. So, we picked up 25 kids and we have five new girls coming into our schoo
l as freshmen who were not on our middle school team last year. They came to Eden because they wanted to come here for high school."
basketball