Class of 2022 West Allegheny Athletic Hall of Fame

Chris Lape - Athlete

Chris Lape was the first wrestler in West Allegheny history to win a WPIAL AAA championship, and do it two years in a row. During his high school career, he was also a four-time section champion. His freshman year, he was the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling State Champion and his sophomore year he finished fourth in the Cadet Freestyle Nationals. He was also a freestyle and Greco Cadet Wrestling State Champion and finished sixth in the Powerade Tournament. His junior season, he became the first wrestler in West Allegheny history to win the WPIAL AAA title and finished third in the Powerade Tournament. He also secured a second-place finish in the PIAA AAA Tournament. His senior year, he earned third place in the Beast of the East Tournament and became a Pennsylvania Freestyle Junior Wrestling Champion. He also became the first wrestler in school history to secure a second consecutive wpial AAA title. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named him one of the 15 best wrestlers in school history. After high school, Lape enlisted in the Air Force Reserves. He then served in Qatar and Kuwait before enrolling in college

at Slippery Rock University. Transferring to Clarion University, he joined the wrestling team and continued his success, earning fourth placed at the 2002 PSAC Wrestling Championship, sixth place at the 2002 Eastern Wrestling Championship and fourth place at the Mat Town Tournament. He graduated from Clarion with a BS in business administration and management.

2011-2012 Varsity Hockey Team

In 2012, the West Allegheny hockey team won the first, and still only, PIHL Class AA Penguins Cup in school history. The team also finished as the runner-up in the PIAA playoffs. In the PIHL championship, the Indians faced the Erie Cathedral Prep Ramblers in a match that went to overtime following goals by West Allegheny players Jared Disanti, Jon Levitt and Mason Ervin. In the 10-minute sudden-death overtime period, Matt Grabowski scored at the 5:58 mark to secure the team’s historic 4-3 victory. The very next day, the Indians faced the Council Rock Golden Hawks for the state championship but came up just short to finish as runners-up by a score of 4-3.

Though the team’s season ended in historic fashion, it didn’t start that way. Instead, the Indians dropped four of their first seven games before rebounding to win 15 consecutive matches. They won 19 of their last 21 games and during their winning streak outscored opponents 128-54. They also allowed only one power play goal against the entire season and scored 10 short-handed goals.

After entering the post-season as a top seed and earning a bye in the opening round, the team found itself down 2-0 against the Moon Area Tigers in their first match. The team, however, regrouped to win 5-2. They also scored five goals in the semi-finals to win 5-3 and punch their ticket to the championship. By defeating Erie Cathedral, they bested a team that had defeated them earlier in the season by a score of 5-0.

Manny Rojas - Athlete

Manny Rojas was a starter on three of the West Allegheny football teams that won WPIAL AAA championships under head coach Bob Palko. As a member of those teams, he also played in the PIAA playoffs three times and during his senior season won a state championship with the Indians as a captain on the team. His numerous accolades that season demonstrate just how important he was to that historic win. He was named a Post-Gazette Fab 22, a member of the all-section team, an all-conference linebacker, a Big 33 Game captain, and an all-state linebacker by the AP and Pennsylvania Football News. He was also added to the Metro Index Scouting Service of top 50 high school football players in western Pennsylvania.

His performance on the football team earned him a full scholarship to Division-1 Liberty University and there he recorded 348 career tackles, the third most in conference history. He was also named a two-time All Big South Conference awardee, was a three-year captain and earned numerous other honors. He went on to become a linebackers coach for Liberty, the University of Richmond and the University of Delaware before taking the job of defensive coordinator for Lafayette College.

Rojas is now the defensive coordinator for the University of Delaware Blue Hens.

Dale Reddinger
Patron/Contributor

Dale Reddinger was a fleet-footed starting running back for West Allegheny in the years following the formal formation of the district. A 1953 graduate, Reddinger went on to become a four-year starter at Slippery Rock University before returning to West Allegheny, where he became a physical education teacher and successful multi-sport coach.

At Slippery Rock, the 140-pound running back was a walk-on, but earned a spot on the squad after just two games by demonstrating his impressive speed. Returning to West Allegheny, he coached the football team as an assistant for six years under head coach Ed Sarachine and started the school’s very first track and field program. He also coached varsity basketball as an assistant and was head coach of the ninth grade basketball team.

Before retiring in 1992, he coached the high school girls softball team. His daughter, Jan - who was also a standout athlete - assisted him and went on to become the head softball coach at Westminster College. Reddinger also helped form the first West Allegheny Little League and Pony League baseball teams in Imperial, right around the time Little League baseball was first being organized.

Mark Davis - Coach

During Mark Davis’ 21 years as an assistant football coach under Bob Palko, the Indians won eight WPIAL championships and, in 2001, a PIAA AAA state title. Throughout much of that tenure, Davis was the team’s offensive coordinator. He was regarded by many as a brilliant play caller with a wealth of ideas. He was among the first high school coaches to implement the wildcat offense and known for his ability to break down complicated play calls for players, thereby setting them up for success.

The state title Davis won with the football team wasn’t his only at West Allegheny. In 2014, Davis and Jim Quasey recruited players off the football squad to form the school’s first-ever rugby club and won a state championship that inaugural year. He is likely one of, it not the only, coach in West Allegheny history to win state titles with two different teams. Both on the football and rugby fields, Davis cultivated a culture of respect for opposing players, coaches and teammates. When the rugby team huddled, they’d yell out “C and D” for “class and dignity.”

For a time, Davis also coached middle school softball alongside his brother-in-law. In the classroom at West Allegheny, where Davis taught math for 24 years, he was a mentor to many young people and a dedicated educator. Much as he reveled in breaking down complicated offensive calls for players, he also loved seeing the light bulb turn on when a sixth-grader grasped a math concept. Davis, who is being inducted posthumously, passed away Dec. 6, 2021, at the age of 51.