Phonsy Phinished :(

Last week, our favorite all-time high school basketball coach resigned after 25 years of berating officials, wearing out the knees of his pants, pacing the sidelines and having markers bust in the pockets of his dress shirts in the Devils' Den.

I wrote about his resignation in the Dispatch, and then penned a column about my life watching him from the stands and coaching with him.

For those that missed it, here is the story. The column will follow tomorrow

COACHING LEGEND CALLS IT QUITS

For all of his adult life, Al Semenza has been a basketball coach. So how ironic it was that his last game coaching the Old Forge boys’ basketball team came on March 4 – his 50th birthday.
Semenza submitted his letter of resignation on Wednesday, marking the end of his second stint of coaching the Blue Devils that began in 1995. He also coached Old Forge from 1980-1992.
Coaching with a fire and unmatched passion for competing, Semenza coached every game as if it were his last, and that is part of the reason he is stepping away.
“I don’t have that same fire or intensity at this time of the year that I usually do,” said Semenza. “Usually a week or two after the season I am ready to sit down and re-evaluate the program and what it is going to take to be competitive the next season.
“I just don’t have that fire right now, and it wouldn’t be fair to the program to wait to see if that comes back.”
Starting fresh out of college, at the age of 22, “Coach Al” took over the Blue Devils program from Paul Flowers in 1980. His first team went 2-20, but Semenza began learning the ins and outs of coaching and slowly built the Blue Devils into a team to be reckoned with.
In 1983 and 1984 his teams were a combined 30-16 and lost in the District 2 Class 1A title game in each season when just the district champ was awarded a berth into the state playoffs.
After starting 0-7 during the 1984-85 season because of an injury-depleted team, Semenza and the Blue Devils made a remarkable turnaround, winning 14 of its last 19 games while contending for the Lackawanna League Northern Division title. Old Forge also won Semenza’s first District 2 title that season – the school’s first in almost 30 years – and advanced to the PIAA 1A Eastern Semifinals with exciting wins over Galeton and Schuylkill Haven.
The Blue Devils winning continued the following year with a 15-8 record and a PIAA tournament appearance, but the next three seasons were filled with unfulfilled potential and rebuilding began in 1989.
After a 1-20 season, Semenza led the Blue Devils to a 12-13 season in 1990-91. Old Forge went back to the PIAA 1A Eastern Semifinals in 1991-92 as the Blue Devils won the District 2 Class 1A title behind the play of Mike Lucarelli who became the school’s all-time leading scorer and first all-state selection since the 1940s. The Blue Devils were 22-7 that season, including PIAA wins over Girard College and Marian Catholic.
Semenza resigned following the 1992 season and moved onto Wyoming Area for two years where he led the Warriors to a 25-24 record and their first state playoff appearance in approximately 20 years in 1993-94. But a new business and with two young children at home, the 1976 Old Forge High School graduate took a year off from coaching after the 1993-94 season.
It wasn’t long before Semenza had the itch to get back into coaching, and when the position opened, he returned to his alma mater in 1995.
During the next 13 seasons, Semenza would lead the Blue Devils to eight PIAA state tournament appearances, three Lackawanna League titles and three District 2 titles.
After two rebuilding seasons from 1995-1997, the Blue Devils went 14-14 in 1997-98 before losing to Devon Prep in its first state playoff appearance in six years.
During the next three seasons, Semenza led the Blue Devils to 14, 17, and 19 wins as Old Forge made the state playoffs each year. During the 2000-01 campaign, the Blue Devils went 19-11, won the District 2 Class 1A title and advanced to the PIAA 1A Eastern Final behind John Yanniello – the school’s new all-time leading scorer. That season Old Forge defeated some of the top teams in the state in Galeton, Faith Christian and Scotland School on their way to the Eastern Final.
The four-year run was one of the most successful in Old Forge High School history, and the trip to the Eastern Finals was the school’s first since the 1950s. A down year followed in 2001-02, but the Blue Devils bounced back the following season with a 13-14 record and Semenza’s ninth trip to the PIAA playoffs, including the fifth in the past six seasons.
The next four seasons would arguably be four of the best years in the 98-year history of the school, and are rivaled only by the teams of the early 1950s.
Under the guidance of their veteran coach, the Blue Devils would win 93 games while losing just 18 games from 2003-2007. Semenza also led Old Forge to its first Lackawanna League title in more than 40 years when the Blue Devils won the Lackawanna League Division 2 title in a one-game playoff over arch-rival Riverside at Carbondale Area High School in 2004.
The win over the Vikings put Old Forge on a run that would see them win two of the next three LLD2 titles, and in the process give Semenza his 300th coaching victory in a win over Dunmore in 2006.
The following season, the Blue Devils tied a school record for wins with 28 as they finished 28-1 with their only loss coming in the PIAA 1A Eastern Semifinals after victories over North Penn and Greenwood to start the PIAA tourney. During the school-record run, Old Forge also won the District 2 1A title – the fourth for Semenza, and second in seven years. Ironically, after 26 years of coaching, the 28-1 record evened his career coaching mark at 328-328.
But the son of Norma and the late Nunzi “Shu Shu” Semenza would get to retire with a winning record after what turned out to be his last season. Semenza – with some help from his son Stephen, a senior and four-year starter - led the Blue Devils to another District 2 title, giving Old Forge back-to-back district titles for the first time since the 50s. The Blue Devils went 18-10 this year as the coach watched his son become the school’s second all-time leading scorer despite missing seven games with an injury.
Coaching his son made the last four seasons something special for Semenza.
“Stephen and I had a special relationship on the court,” said Semenza. “Having seen what other coaches have gone through coaching their sons, I was lucky to get more out of it.
“Ninety percent of the time we never took our basketball relationship home. That was important, and part of what was special.”
Over 27 seasons, Semenza finished with an overall record of 346-338 – including an OFHS school-record 321 wins. He has led his alma mater to five District 2 Class 1A titles, three Lackawanna League Division 2 championships, and 12 PIAA Class 1A playoff appearances – including eight in the last 11 seasons. During his tenure at Old Forge, only two public schools have captured District 2 Class 1A titles, Lake Lehman in 1980 and the Blue Devils in 1985, 1992, 2001, 2007 and 2008.
What comes next for the Blue Devils is a big question mark. A possible replacement could come from within the program as varsity assistant Dr. Rob Notari, freshman coach Andrew Bennie and junior high coach Dan Mozeleski all interested in the position.
As for Semenza, the question mark may be even bigger as to what happens to all the free time he will have.
“I hope to get a chance to watch Stephen play college basketball,” said Semenza, who will also follow his daughter Aleca’s high school career for the next two years. “My priority was coaching Old Forge basketball.
“I haven’t known anything else. I guess we will find out.”