By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
Tom Gatto has coached an Old Forge girls team to a state championship game appearance when the Lady Devils were a Class A team in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s old four-classification system.
Olivia Ciullo earned all-state honors on the Class 2A level.
Together, they will try to lead the efforts to keep Old Forge in position to compete on the state level.
The Lady Devils were one of eight Class 2A teams still playing in Pennsylvania last season when the remainder of the state tournament was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A late start to this season – and a lot of uncertainty – followed at Old Forge.
Old Forge was one of the last school districts to allow teams to begin preparing for a winter sports season while the public health crisis that ended the 2019-20 season continues.
During the downtime, Gatto was appointed as interim coach to replace Ron Stacchiotti, who is sidelined for health reasons. Stacchiotti has also coached Old Forge to a state final and guided last year’s team to 20 wins, including 4 straight playoff games by a total of 99 points.
Ciullo led that effort, including a career-high 35 points in the last game, a second-round, state tournament victory over Steelton-Highspire. The three-year starter and 1,000-point scorer was a first-team division all-star and second-team, all-District 2 pick by NEPABasketball.com as well as a third-team Class 2A all-state choice by Pennsylvania Sports Writers.
The Lady Devils return two other starters, junior center Angelina Rios and senior guard/forward Makayla Parker.
Other players who gained significant experience in last season’s championship run return, led by senior forward/center Hannah Grasso and junior guard Brooke Arnold, who Gatto plans to have open the season as starters.
The Blue Devils move right into division play and tough games without the benefit of any preparation against other schools.
“Things are going well,” Gatto said, “it’s just that we don’t know much.
“We had no scrimmage, no exhibition or anything.”
Old Forge went 8-4 to finish third in the division last season before winning the District 2 Class 2A championship.
