Two West Hills area high schools have been chosen to receive the 28th annual WPIAL Sportsmanship Award, presented by The Wilson Group.
Cornell became the 71st different school to receive the award while Moon will be collecting the honors for the third time.
The two schools will be recognized at the 15th annual WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit, which will take place Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the Heinz History Center and Sports Museum.
They’ll share a $5,000 prize that’s part of the award program.
The PIAA and WPIAL launched the program, called “Sportsmanship: The Only Missing Piece is You,” in 1997 to promote sportsmanship in local schools and reward those that best demonstrate the elements of good sportsmanship.
Cornell Athletic Director Bill Sacco and his counterpart at Moon, Alan Alcalde, both said they were honored to have their schools selected.
“We’ve never received it before, so it’s nice to be recognized,” Sacco said.
Alcalde said the award reflects the hard work, dedication and unwavering support of Moon’s student-athletes, coaches and the community.
“Winning this award is a testament to Moon’s commitment to upholding the highest standards of sportsmanship, focusing on lessons that extend beyond the field, and maintaining the integrity of our athletic programs,” he said. “We are proud to foster an environment where respect, teamwork and character development are paramount, and we remain dedicated to exemplifying these values in all we do.”
Sacco said Cornell student-athletes make it a point to respect their opponents game in and game out, and that’s not easy to do “when somebody’s pounding on you all day.”
“But our kids seem to be good about it,” he added. “Not that when push comes to shove, we’ll back away. But our kids respect the other teams’ players and coaches. That’s an important thing for us.”
Ed Dawson, Cornell’s football coach, said he absolutely stresses the importance of good sportsmanship with his players.
“I think sportsmanship is all part of having good character, and at least for football, we stress being young men of high character,” he said. “Sportsmanship fits alongside that. Just being a good person. I’m an old school kind of guy and that’s the culture that we’ve created for Cornell football.”
Dawson said he’s pleased for the student-athletes and the school.
“We don’t get a lot of notoriety for a lot of the great things that happen at the school,” he said. “It’s good to see kids recognized for their efforts and for doing things the right way when competing.”
In addition to sharing the $5,000 prize, the two winning schools also will receive a banner, a PIAA Board of Directors resolution acknowledging their selection and a distinctive paperweight with a miniature banner embedded inside.
The selection process was based on the fall, winter and spring seasons from the 2023-24 school year. Schools were eligible to be nominated through either a self-assessment, by another school or by an officials’ chapter. Nominated schools had to complete an application and the WPIAL Sportsmanship Committee then met to discuss the nominees.
A maximum of five schools were eligible to be selected for the award.
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