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Guido: Football records could fall Friday

Kiski Area's 2012 Sports Hall of Fame class: front, from left, Dayna Shelkey, Laura Berberich, Mike Halapin, Jessica Carter and April Allensworth Bell. Back row, from left, Mike Meighan, Richard Booker, Marc Calderone, Anthony Nicholas and Ralph Antenucci. Submitted
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By George Guido

Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 12:01 a.m.
Updated: Friday, April 19, 2013

Not only could we have an outstanding night of regular-season finales Friday, some records and milestones might be obtained.

• Springdale's Sean Dugan could become the Alle-Kiski Valley's third player to go over 4,000 career rushing yardage.

Dugan, with 3,918 yards, needs 82 yards to reach the mark.

Riverview's Lucas Heakins crossed the barrier in 1998, and Valley's Brandon Williams did it a year earlier.

Last Friday, Dugan topped Wayne Mundekis as the school's all-time leading rusher. Mundekis had 3,786 yards during his stellar run from 2002-05.

• Burrell's Cole Bush is closing in on a couple of school rushing records.

Bush has 1,535 rushing yards this season. Burrell's all-time record was set by Ian Courtney in 2002 with 1,690 yards.

Also, Bush has 26 touchdowns, one behind Tyler Henderson's mark of 27 set in 2005.

Bush and Dugan will have at least two more games because Burrell and Springdale already have qualified for the WPIAL playoffs.

Gugino turns 90

Hall of Fame coach Chuck Gugino will be celebrating his 90th birthday on Nov. 12.

For 15 seasons, Gugino coached at Har-Brack and remained in Natrona Heights when Har-Brack consolidated with Tarentum to form Highlands in 1968.

He finished his coaching career at Freeport from 1979-82.

Some of his former players are organizing a drive to have as many birthdays cards as possible mailed to Gugino, who lives in Bartow, Fla.

Gugino won seven section titles during his 15-year tenure at Har-Brack/Highlands. In that span, only one of his 15 teams finished below third place in section play.

Gugino put the brakes on a nearly 50-year domination by Ford City in old Section 1-A.

Har-Brack/Highlands had quality talent and an excellent feeder system from the former Wood Street Junior High School in the Natrona section of Harrison Township.

I had the chance to regain acquaintances with Gugino last spring at the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame banquet. He was there because his granddaughter, Lynsey Gugino of Freeport, was being honored as a high school student-athlete.

We talked about the great Highlands-Valley and Har-Brack-Ken High rivalries against coach Mike Rice.

Rice has almost a two-platoon system and relentlessly employed a full-court press, particularly early to set the tone of a game.

Gugino's famous quote was that Rice “would start pressing us when we were crossing the Tarentum Bridge.”

To get Gugino's address for birthday greetings, log on to www.goldenrams.com.

Bizyak named

West Deer's Jack Bizyak recently was inducted into the Indiana (Pa.)'s Sports Hall of Fame.

A 1952 West Deer graduate, Bizyak played basketball and baseball from 1954-58 at what was then known as Indiana State Teachers College,

He was a basketball starter his last two seasons, leading the team with 17.6 points per game as a senior. Bizyak set the school record with 31 points in a national tournament game.

In baseball, Bizyak played all four seasons and batted .405 in his sophomore year.

Bizyak, known widely by his nickname “Blade,” played basketball at West Deer under Braves coach Leo Zilla.

His sons, Brent and Jay, were student-athletes at Deer Lakes.

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