Four-bagger
CHERRY TWP — Cheerleaders together since elementary school, Moniteau seniors Lexi Lasichak, Kylee Surrena, Victoria DeMatteis and Shayla Nagy have been through a lot together.
Including the hoisting of championship hardware.
The Warriors recently won their fourth consecutive District 9 championship, tallying 78.3 points to finish 4.7 points in front of runner-up St. Marys. Lasichak, Surrena, DeMatteis and Nagy have been members of all four title teams. Melissa DeMatteis, Victoria’s mother, is their head coach.
“I’ve been a cheerleader for 12 years now,” Surrena said. “Ninety-five percent of the girls on the team have been with me that entire time. I love my teammates. We’re like a family.
“Coach DeMatteis has been coaching me since I was 5. She’s like a second mother to me.”
Nagy said it’s “a little upsetting” that this is their final year together.
“It’s been great having all of these girls by my side all these years, wanting and working toward the same goals that I have,” Nagy said. “I’ve learned how to work well with other people. Coach DeMatteis has beern great at instilling that in us.”
The Warriors have been consistent winners at the district level despite graduating eight seniors from the team two years ago and three more last year.
“Everybody knows everybody,” Surrena said of the team. “We just keep on going.”
Moniteau will compete in the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships Jan. 28-29 in Hershey. The Warriors compete in the small-school division and placed ninth out of 13 teams last year. They were 13th the year before, when more teams were on hand.
COVID-19 prevented a number of teams across the state from competing in 2021.
“We didn’t have our best performance out there last year,” Coach DeMatteis said of the PIAA competition. “We had a few bobbles ... just didn’t put together a clean routine. The girls are anxious to atone for that this year.”
Moniteau has been building momentum in that regard. The team placed second out of 13 teams at the regional hosted by Slippery Rock University, trailing only defending national champion Bishop McCort. The Warriors took first place out of six teams at a state competition hosted by Indiana (Pa.) University.
Victoria DeMatteis says the team is taking those past successes in stride.
“I don’t think those events boosted us all that much,” she said. “We’re not over-confident or anything like that. We’ve been doing a lot of practicing, trying to get better.”
The team practices five days a week, for 90 minutes to two hours each time. One cheerleader also plays on the Moniteau volleyball team, another is on the track team.
Besides that, the roster consists of cheerleaders around the calendar.
“We’ve been dedicated to this for a long time,” Victoria said. “I’ve been a cheerleader since I was 3.”
Moniteau has only had a competitive cheer team for five years.
“A program like North Allegheny can pick 12 cheerleaders from a field of 110 or so,” Coach DeMatteis said. “We didn’t cut anybody from varsity this year. These are just a bunch of hard-working girls who compete for each other.”
Moniteau’s 12 competitive cheerleaders at the District 9 championships were Surrena, Lasichak, Nagy, DeMatteis, Ashlyn Baptiste, Alyssa McFadden, Kelsey Stewart, Riley Long, Sammie Smith, Molly Grossman, Bella Hernandez and Tori Burdick.
