Coach Todd Rosio

"The kids always bought into what we're doing," says Cheswick Christian Academy Coach Todd Rosio. "It sorta gets handed down from year to year. They trust me and I trust them. They try to play basketball the right way. It's been good."

Rosio, who himself played for the Chargers 14 years ago, is in his 11th year of coaching and fifth as Varsity coach. "We've had some good athletes," he notes. "And we have a good bunch of kids this year. They're unselfish, good workers in practice. All five will make the honor roll as some time during the year."

The Chargers lose four seniors, including two starters, from last year's team that finished as conference runner-up with an 8-2 record and an 18-10 record overall. That included games with WPIAL teams, as well as Southwest Christian Athletic Conference (SCAC) squads. With three starters back, Todd says "We've got a shot…we're gonna be very competitive at the top of the conference."

His guys, who won regular season conference championships in '97, 2002 and 2003, will battle it out with last year's champ, Beaver County Christian and other conference foes, which include Portersville Christian, Wilson Christian, Imani Christian, West Virginia's Tri-State Christian, and Ohio's East Liverpool Christian and Jefferson County Christian. It makes for a lot of long road trips.

"Generally we are road warriors for our schedule," the coach points out; the team plays most of its games away due to limited availability and expenses of the Charger home gym at Penn State New Ken. Cheswick Christian Academy rents it out, and limits home games to six games. "We always try to protect our home court," Todd states. "We haven't lost a home conference game there since 2001."

The schedule and home gym are examples of the diverse challenges schools like this face. "It's a pretty unique situation we're in," says Rosio, who is in his first full year as principal. "If you saw our gym, you wouldn't believe it. It's like half of a court, if you turned it sideways, it would be like a width [of a basketball court.] You have to get creative in practice."

The school size is another example of challenges and creativity. Cheswick may only have 14 kids in a class, and 60 percent of that may be girls, according to the coach, who adds. "To take [that] population of boys and field a team is interesting…" But field a team they do, and not just against SCAC schools.

The Chargers go head-to-head again this year against WPIAL teams that include St. Joe's, Springdale, Riverview and Apollo-Ridge. "There's a bunch of [WPIAL] games on the schedule...in the long run it will do us some good," Todd says. "We're going to take some whippings, but we'll stay in the game. Hopefully it'll pay dividends." Obviously, he believes the Chargers are up to it.

"They're good kids. I'm going to enjoy this year. We're going to play hard this year." Todd Rosio talks about the young men who make up the team, and basketball at Cheswick Christian Academy at this link.