Many high school athletes are competing for their love of the game. A select few will get the opportunity to continue that pursuit at the next level

This year VHS has a total of six seniors who will continue playing. Not only have most these students been playing these sports for their whole lives, but they are all 100 percent dedicated. It takes much more than just going to practices and doing well in games. Pursing a sport in college means practicing in the off seasons, doing whatever it takes to become better, and maintaining an attitude that you can do it no matter what.

Football lineman Luke Weiss was on played varsity for three years. Surprisingly Luke did not play football before his freshman year of high school, which makes his accomplishment that much more impressive. Luke says “I knew since sophomore that I wanted to keep playing in college.” Due to his impressive resume of being first team all conference for defense, second team all county for offense, and second team all group one for defense, he was able to keep his goal, when signing with the Division 3 football team at St. Francis University.

Not only is Luke pursuing his football career, but senior Matt McKeown is as well. Matt is attending Susquehanna University in the fall, which is also a Division 3 School. Matt, who has been playing since he was in third grade, says he has always known he wanted to follow to the collegiate level.

Lizzy Scandiffio and Lauren Ednie are two senior girls that have been playing lacrosse together since they were in fifth grade, and now they will be rivals. Lizzy, who will be attending Central Connecticut State University (CSSU), will be playing against Lauren who is attending Wagner College. Both CCSU and Wagner are Division 1 schools. “For my whole life lacrosse has been my passion. I can’t wait to continue doing what I love to do,” Lizzy shares.

Scoring over 1,000 points in his past four years of varsity basketball, Alex Kaslander is moving on to Gettysburg College to continue his career. Gettysburg, a Division 3 school recruited Alex after watching his tremendous performance on the court. Alex, who has been playing since he was in third grade, says “I’ve wanted to play college basketball for as long as I can remember.”

Lastly, senior Troy Carrington started playing soccer when he was only four years old. After Troy was asked to try out for a national team he realized that he wanted to keep playing in college. Troy was on the Verona varsity soccer team for his four years of high school and he is now moving on to Syracuse University, a Division 1 school to continue playing.

Being able to play a sport in college is something that all these students have earned and clearly they are all very excited for their experiences.