River Ridge Jr. Knights Lacrosse

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Rick O’Neal
Jr. Knights Director and Senior Head Coach
[email protected]

Coach O’Neal attended Darlington School in Rome, GA where he played lacrosse all four years. He played college lacrosse at Georgia Southern, Shorter University, and Kennesaw State University between 2010 and 2014 and was a team captain all four years.

His collegiate accolades include 1st team All-Conference D-Middie SELC - Georgia Southern, 1st team All-Conference D-Middie - Shorter University, 2x “Head, Heart, Hustle Award” – KSU, 2x 1st Team All-Conference D-Middie SELC – KSU, current record holder for Most Groundballs in a Single Season with 65 groundballs at Shorter University and 66 groundballs at KSU. Coach O’Neal spent six years coaching U9, U11, and U13 boys’ teams for the Marietta Athletic Club before coming onboard as an assistant varsity coach at River Ridge High School for two years.

He joined the Jr. Knights program where he’s been the head coach of senior (14U) boys’ team for the past three years and led them to the championship game last spring, 2021.

Pete Manderano
RRHS Boys’ Head Coach
[email protected]

Coach Manderano has coached 19 seasons in Georgia, which includes four years at the collegiate level. He has total record of 170-111.

In May 2021 he completed his fourth season at Woodstock High School with an overall 37-23 record. Woodstock reached the Sweet 16 in 2019 and 2021, while 2021 was the most successful of the four years having earned a 13-6 record.

Coach Manderano's experience includes 2 seasons at Kell High School in which his team earned a 25-9 record in two seasons. The 2017 season was one of the program’s most successful seasons when it earned its first playoff win in school history. Also, two players were named to the All-State Honorable Mention team for their accolades on the field.

Before Kell, Coach Manderano spent 5 years at Piedmont College, a DIII program, located in NE Georgia. While at Piedmont he was tasked with starting the lacrosse program. He spent four seasons on the sidelines for the Lions and earned a 21-36 record. He coached two players who earned more than 100 goals in their career. Two of his players also earned All-SEILC honors.

Prior to Piedmont, he was the Head Boys’ Coach at Lassiter High School where he earned a 78- 23 record during his 5 years tenure. He was part of a program that played in 3 state championships in 2006, 2007 and 2010. The 2006 team brought home the championship, the first public school to win a GHSA state championship. Coach Manderano was fortunate to coach three U.S. Lacrosse All-Americans, 4 MDJ Lacrosse Player of the Year and multiple All-State players. He was named the MDJ Lacrosse Coach of the Year 4 times during his stay at Lassiter.

Before Lassiter, Manderano was the Head Boys’ Lacrosse Coach at Riverwood High School. He was the first coach at Riverwood as well. His teams earned a two-year record of 9-20. His 2005 team earned a 7-9 record after only their second season as a program.

Coach Manderano spent his scholastic days playing football and lacrosse at Fairport High School, which is a suburb of Rochester, NY. He was a three-year starter on the football team and won 2 Section V Championships. He was captain his senior year, when he earned 1st team All-County, 1st team All-Greater Rochester and 4th team All-State as a linebacker. In lacrosse, he was a three-year member of the team and earned a spot as a captain his senior year. He was also named to the 2nd team All-County and the team won the Section V Championship. After high school he spent two seasons playing linebacker at the University at Buffalo.

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