It’s been 60 years since Rothrock won the boys basketball championship, the first team state title for a Mifflin County school. Twenty-five years have passed since the first of back-to-back titles by Lewistown’s girls in the same sport.
Mifflin County High School, formed barely a decade ago, earned its first on Wednesday.
Bocce, a game with elements of bowling and shuffleboard — think curling, without the ice — dates back to the Roman Empire. In the 1980s, it was introduced as a sport to paralympic play, and today is among the most-played sports in Special Olympics.
The PIAA, the state’s oversight body for scholastic sports, partnered several years ago with Special Olympics Pennsylvania to create unified sports — competition that includes both special needs students and those in regular curriculum.
Bocce is the first sport in which Mifflin County has formed a unified team, and this was the first season for the Huskies’ program — and with its success, we hope to see the program expand into other endeavors.
It was a learning experience for all involved, but paid a hefty reward when the season came to a close.
Mifflin County finished third in its region, and headed to State College to take on more established programs in a quest for gold. They Huskies won, won again, and won one more to finish that quest. They are the state’s best.
There soon will be a memento of the occasion in the school building, along with the individuals who have won state titles wearing the Husky uniform.
And the members of the 2021-22 unified bocce team are — and always will be — the first team from Mifflin County High School to win a state title in any sport.
Congratulations!
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