MMI Prep’s Radzwich, Composto make perfect transition to Hazleton Area football family

Hazleton Ian Composto (54) and Derek Radzwich (23) on Tuesday Oct. 13 2026 in Hazleton.(John Haeger / Staff Photographer)

There were whispers, questionable looks and overall curiosity about the two new kids who showed up to play football at Hazleton Area.

Sure, a few of the players on the team knew who Derek Radzwich and Ian Composto were, mainly from their days in elementary school.

In some cases their paths crossed playing junior football. But for the most part when Radzwich and Composto began attending MMI Prep, for the friends from Hazleton Area who played football, it was a scenario of out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

When you think MMI Prep and sports, you think basketball and baseball. Both teams have had success in recent years reaching the state tournament. However, MMI Prep does not offer football, so student-athletes like Radzwich and Composto had no place to play despite their desire to do so.

That changed when the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association — the governing body of high school sports in the state — allowed students attending private, faith-based or parochial schools to participate in a regulated sport at the public school district in which they reside as long as the school they attend does not offer that specific sport.That opened a door and both of them came charging through.

“When I got to MMI Prep in sixth grade they didn’t have a team,” Composto said. “I played mini football for the Hazle Township Raiders until I was in eighth grade. I kept asking (MMI Prep athletic director) Joe Flanagan to get a football team or get a partnership with another school. I was bothering him about it all the time.”

Radzwich also had to stop playing once he aged out of junior football days with the Valley Chiefs.

“Just being able to come over and play, that’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while,” Radzwich said. “I loved playing football when I was younger. I started to play soccer and that went well. I was told Hazleton Area needed a kicker. When we were able to get the co-op, it was the perfect transaction.”

The rule the PIAA passed enabled Composto and Radzwich to resume their football careers. Radzwich, a junior, is a kicker who recently got time at wide receiver. Composto, a senior, is on special teams and is a depth player on the offensive line.

“I think the biggest apprehension was showing up at practice being from MMI Prep,” Composto said. “There is always that stigma with MMI Prep that we are weird or smart. If I say something stupid the kids on the team will tell me they thought I was supposed to be smart. There are some inside jokes I need to be let in on. I’m really loving it.”

Radzwich said it was different at first, being the kid to whom nobody really paid attention.

“I was the kid that nobody knew and nobody really looked at,” Radzwich said. “The past nine weeks have been great. The kids on the team have taken me under their wing. I was lifting with the team in February. I had basketball then went right into baseball at MMI Prep. I really didn’t know anyone. Most people probably forgot about me. I came back the week before camp started. Everyone was asking who I was. For a while I was just the kid who kicks.”

It didn’t take long for the Cougars to welcome their new teammates.

As football does more than any other sport, the locker room culture and the bonds that are made during camp stay strong through the future. Composto started to get reps in practice on the line. Radzwich continued to kick and even got himself a nickname.

“The first week one of our coaches came up to me and didn’t know who I was,” Radzwich said. “He gave me the nickname ‘Moose.’ There is no meaning behind it. It stuck. Even at games people will see me warming up and they call me Moose. At MMI Prep, I am Derek. At football, I’m Moose.”

Composto is a big part of special teams with the Cougars on the kick return team. He also made his debut on the kickoff team at Dallas where he recorded a tackle.

“I love special teams,” Composto said. “Just all the action there is. It’s the most dangerous play in sports. You just run down the field looking to hit someone before they hit you. Honestly, I have been really happy. It does stink I only get to play one year. A lot of my friends from MMI Prep who are seniors have said they wish they played. Derek and I were the only two who have been asking this for years.”

Radzwich made his biggest impression in a Week 4 win over Crestwood when he kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Cougars their only win this season. Due to an incredible amount of injuries at wide receiver last week, Radzwich caught two passes for 53 yards and a touchdown in a three-point loss to Berwick at Crispin Field.

“I missed an extra point in the Crestwood game,” Radzwich said. “I got an opportunity again, but if it wasn’t for my teammates I would not have been in that situation. They did a great job getting the ball down the field. It was the best feeling seeing everyone running out on the field to celebrate.”

With the transition complete and both of them contributing to the Cougars in their own way, Composto is hoping other students from MMI Prep interested in playing football will follow the same path. It’s an experience he is thrilled to be a part of and only wishes he would have had more time.

“I honestly missed being on a football team,” Composto said. “They are some of my best friends. I still keep in contact with them from mini football. I hope to be able to stay in contact with the guys I’m playing with at Hazleton Area. There is a brotherhood about it. With football you have a different feel than any other kind of sport. There is no sport that keeps you connected with your teammates as in football.”