PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | January, 2017

The senior swimmer, undefeated in all individual events as of Monday, set two new pool records at Penncrest Jan. 26 – the 50 free (21.59) and 100 free (47.44).  The multi-talented senior has made the automatic qualifying times in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 back, 100 fly and 200 IM. Last winter, McKenrick was Central League champion in 100 fly and 100 back, District One champion in 200 IM and 100 back, and third at States in 200 IM and 100 back. Next winter, he will be swimming for West Point Military Academy.

Fun facts – Brian McKenrick
Favorite book: Weed Flower.
Favorite author: Cynthia Kadohata.
Favorite TV show: How I Met Your Mother.
Favorite movie: Captain America: The First Avenger.
Favorite pre-meet pump-up song: Chicken Fried by the Zac Brown Band.
Favorite place to visit: Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming.
Favorite color: Orange.
Person I most admire: General George S. Patton.
Birth date: June 2, 1999 in Bryn Mawr.
Family members: Alisa Shin (mother), Bob McKenrick (father), brother Aidan McKenrick (10th grade), sister Ally McKenrick (eighth grade), Masako Shin (grandmother), Wangshik Shin (grandfather).

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WESTTOWN — Garnet Valley coach Rocco Fantazzi doesn’t have a scientific explanation as to why his team is full of pinners. Fantazzi and his staff preach bonus points, as does just about every coach in America, but this group of Jaguars is just really good at finishing the job. Thursday, in the first round of the Class AAA District 1 Duals at West Chester Rustin, No. 5 Garnet Valley racked up 21 bonus points to bounce No. 12 West Chester Henderson, 48-27.

The Warriors are eliminated from the tournament, while Garnet Valley will head to Pottsgrove next Friday for a quarterfinal matchup with No. 4 Owen J. Roberts.

“We preach bonus points, and if you’re winning, don’t be satisfied and go for the bonus,” Fantazzi said. “Our senior class are a bunch of pinners, so hopefully that trickles down to the younger kids and keeps our mantra going for us. Go for the fall and get off the mat.”

The Jaguars (17-3) won nine bouts and seven were by fall. Matt Marino (132 pounds), Sal Pizzuto (138), Nick Puliti (152), Ryan Mortimer (182), Brian West (220), Tommy Mahoney (285) and Kevin Puliti (106) earned six to add to Garnet’s District 1-leading pin count of 126.

“We practice hard,” Garnet senior Dave Wood said. “Our coaches are really, really good and they never take it easy on us. That helps us, when kids are getting tired and want to go to their backs, we’re ready to finish it.”

Wood (145) was one of the Jags that settled for a decision, but did so in controlling fashion, topping Matt Phayre, 8-1. Robbie Peters (160) added Garnet’s other win by decision by a 9-2 score over Ray Martin. The tournament now becomes double elimination, and the Jags are looking to qualify for states for the first time since 2014.

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The senior guard became Harriton’s all-time girls’ basketball scorer Jan. 18, breaking the record of 1,091 points set by Heather Barrie in 2002. Last winter, the Narberth native was a first team All-Central League selection, and a first team All-Main Line pick for the second consecutive year, averaging 14 points per game. A National Honor Society member, she is a two-sport athlete at Harriton and received second team All-Main Line field hockey honors last fall. She also plays AAU basketball for the Philadelphia Comets. Her father, Tom Grady, is the mayor of Narberth.

Fun facts – Sophie Grady

Favorite book: Orphan Train.

Favorite TV shows: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, American Horror Story.

Favorite movie: Grease.

Favorite place to visit: Ocean City, N.J.

Favorite pre-game meal: “Tacos or spaghetti and meatballs, and I always have a pre-game banana.”

Favorite color: Green.

Birth date: Nov. 5, 1998 in Narberth.

Family members: Tom (dad), Theresa (mom), Tom (brother, age 25), Ali (sister, age 22.)

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Emily McAteer held the ball well outside the three-point line. She stayed there, dribbling, waiting. Brianne Borcky was next. Then Sydney Fail, Kristina Wallace, and Nicole Barnes. Around and around the basketball went for the Garnet Valley girls in their game at Conestoga.

McAteer. Borcky. Fail. Wallace. Barnes. Sometimes in that order, sometimes another, a slight change because of a backdoor cut. For almost two minutes Wednesday, it went like this for the Jaguars. After a foul stopped the clock, Garnet Valley did it again. This time for another minute. The Jaguars had already won the game in the first half, having dominated from the start, but the disciplined way they ran off the clock put an exclamation point on the contest, a 37-20 victory over Central League rival – and previously undefeated – Conestoga.

“When we first came out, I told them I refuse to lose to Conestoga,” Fail, a senior captain, said. “I pretty much gave the starters a threat – that I wasn’t going to lose. Even after that, when we were up 10-2, I said that this was as far as they would go – as close as they could get. We weren’t losing.”

That seemed to be the attitude from the start, as Garnet Valley (12-1, 9-0 Central League) was hot as soon as it stepped on the floor.

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Penncrest, with an undersize but gritty lineup, is bidding to make its ninth consecutive appearance in the PIAA District 1 boys’ basketball playoffs. Odds are that the Lions will achieve that goal as they were 12-2 overall and 8-0 in the Central League entering Wednesday night’s contest against Marple Newtown. Mike Doyle’s squad was riding a 12-game winning streak entering its contest against the Tigers. It opened the season with taut nonleague losses against Phoenixville and Academy Park.

 “The kids have done a nice job of buying into our offensive style,” Doyle said. “We do a lot of off-the-ball screening to get good looks at the basket.”Junior point guard Tyler Norwood is shooting 53 percent from the field while averaging 24.5 points per game. “He has an unbelievable shooting stroke. He keeps the ball on a string, and he’s a great finisher,” Doyle said. As a freshman reserve, the 5-foot-8 Norwood helped Penncrest qualify for the Class 4A state tournament. He caught Doyle’s attention while playing at Media’s Springton Lake Middle School.

“I knew he was a special kind of player,” the coach said. “A lot of schools recruited him. Luckily, we were able to keep him.”

Doyle, a former assistant at St. Joseph’s University, said Norwood reminds him in some ways of former Neumann-Goretti and Hawk standout Rashid Bey (class of 1998). Through Tuesday, Norwood, who poured in a career-high 38 points in a Dec. 17 nonleague win at Chichester, had drilled 39 three-pointers.

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Penncrest junior guard Tyler Norwood.

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Tredyffrin – Villa Maria Academy’s aggressive defense kept the pressure on undefeated Conestoga Tuesday evening, as the Hurricanes rolled to a 14-8 first-quarter lead and kept battling all the way to the final second. The Pioneers (14-0) eked out a 43-41 win – a last-second three-point attempt by Villa Maria in the final second missed to the right – and Conestoga knew it had been in a tough battle.
Villa Maria head coach Kathy McCartney said, “Coming into this game, we were using this [contest] as a benchmark, as a way to ask ourselves, ‘Are we are getting better?’ By the end of this game, I’d have to say the answer was a resounding, ‘Yes!’ “I’m happy with the way we battled. Our offensive execution was not great, but our transition game was good – we scored a lot of points in transition.”
After leading 14-8 at the end of the first quarter, Villa Maria (10-5, 5-1) hung tough with the Pioneers the rest of the game, trailing Conestoga by only two points at halftime and taking a 36-35 midway through the fourth quarter. Conestoga head coach Chris Jeffries said, “At halftime, our [locker room] talk was about character. Sooner or later, you’re going to have an off night, and then the question is, ‘Did you do what you had to do to win?’ And we did that tonight. Julia Weiss hit a big free throw [with 19 seconds left]. Liz Scott was grabbing loose balls all over the place, and inbounding the ball against Villa Maria’s defense without a single turnover. [Senior forward] Emma Powell and [junior 6-5 center] Katie Mayock were great inside and at the foul line.”
Mayock scored 19 points, grabbed a number of key rebounds and shot 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Powell finished with 11 points, and her back-to-back inside baskets at the beginning of the second quarter put Conestoga back into the game after the Hurricanes’ 14-4 run ended the first period. During Villa Maria’s fiery first quarter run, a trio of Hurricane forwards did all of the scoring – freshman Paige Lauder, sophomore Abby Walheim and senior Marissa Picinich. Lauder triggered a couple of takeways, then drove in for layups; Walheim was on her way to scoring 17 points (including three treys); and Picinich was tough in the middle, finishing the game with 12 points.
“[Picinich] did a nice job battling on the glass against a bigger foe tonight,” noted McCartney. Villa Maria ran into a little foul trouble in the third quarter, and Conestoga surged to a 30-21 lead midway through the third quarter for its biggest lead of the night.

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The Springfield (Delco) girls’ basketball team was holding for one shot Sunday. Roughly a minute was left on the scoreboard in overtime and the Cougars were tied with Notre Dame at 44. So, Springfield waited. The Cougars waited, they passed, and they moved off the ball for one final look.  The ball hit the hands of Alyssa Long and Belle Mastropietro. It passed through Amanda Hopkins and Maggie O’Connell. It moved around the court at Philadelphia University.

Springfield still waited and the seconds still ticked. From just beyond the arc on the left side, Jordan D’Ambrosio saw an opening. With 14 seconds remaining, the sophomore guard didn’t hesitate and penetrated the lane. The bucket dropped, she hit the ensuing free throw, and the Cougars went on to beat the Irish, 47-44, in the Play-By-Play Classic.

“We hold it for a minute and get everyone involved,” Hopkins said. “Even though Jordan or Belle are usually the one to score the layup, we all contribute in the buildup to the shot.”

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Springfield-Delco’s Jordan D’Ambrosio (left) fights off the defense of Notre Dame’s Riley Shaak to put up her shot on the second quarter.

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The Conestoga junior qualified for indoor New Balance Nationals last week, running the 3,000 meter race in 10:15, which ranks her in the top 10 in the state of Pennsylvania and moves her up to second in the Conestoga record books. Last fall, she finished in first place at the Central League cross-country championships, and went on to place 18th in the PIAA Class AAA state championships.

Fun facts – Dominique Shultz

Favorite book: 1984.

Favorite pre-race pump-up song: Remember the Name.

Favorite place to visit: Puerto Rico, with my family.

Favorite pre-race meal: Bagel and fruit.

Favorite color: Periwinkle.

Person I most admire: “I admire my friend Ryan for his optimistic outlook on life, and always being there to support me.”

Birth date: Sept. 18, 1999 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Family members: parents Carlos and Mary, older sister Annamarie, younger brother Carlos Miguel, and dog Daisy.

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Tredyffrin – Conestoga head coach Mike Troy’s 300th win Thursday evening didn’t come easy. The Pioneers fell behind a tough Strath Haven squad (9-3, 6-2) 10-0 just 4 1/2 minutes into the game, trailed 36-27 with just six minutes left, and had to rely on a last-second three-pointer by sophomore guard Milton Robinson to send the game into overtime. Once into overtime, the Pioneers (11-1, 8-0) prevailed, winning 52-47, to give Troy his 300th career win in 20 years of coaching – 11 at Conestoga, nine at Devon Prep.
“When you start coaching, 300 wins is unthinkable,” said Troy, who turned 50 on Dec. 29. “The credit goes to all of [my] players over the years – they’ve worked so hard. Winning 300 games means that you’ve had great young men to coach, terrific assistants, good support from the school, and a terrific wife that has the patience to be a coach’s wife.”
After Conestoga fell behind 10-0 with 3:30 left in the first quarter, the Pioneers patiently chipped away at the Panthers’ lead and trailed by only 19-16 at halftime.
Troy said, “Our guys were pretty amped up at the start of the game, and we weren’t taking great shots in the first quarter. But we settled down offensively in the second quarter. We [coaches] always preach to the players, ‘Get the ball to the open man, find the open man, and take your time.’”
Conestoga senior forward Charlie Martin, who scored 12 points, said, ‘This was a game of runs, and you can’t get down on yourself when [the other team] goes on a run. We’ve been down [similar to tonight] before, and the older guys on the team, the seniors, really stepped up tonight when we fell behind.”
The Pioneers got to within 24-23 midway through the third quarter, but then Strath Haven went on a 12-4 run. The Panthers’ 6-8 senior forward/center John Harrar capped the run with an offensive rebound and layup to make the score 36-27 in favor of the visitors with just six minutes left. Harrar, a two-sport standout at Strath Haven (basketball and football), finished with a team-high 14 points – nine of them in the first half. Then it was the Pioneers’ turn to go on a 10-0 run, capped by senior guard Scott Shapiro’s three-pointer from the top of the key to give Conestoga its first lead of the night, 37-36, with 2:58 left. Shapiro’s sharpshooting from the outside was a thorn in Strath Haven’s side Thursday night, and he finished with 21 points (including a trio of treys).

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The Conestoga High School boys’ and girls’ swimming teams (both 5-0) defeated Haverford High School Monday, the Pioneers boys winning 100-70 and the Conestoga girls coming out on top 95-70.
Against the Haverford boys (5-1), Conestoga victories in the first five events opened up a 22 point lead that Haverford could not make up.
The Conestoga girls won eight of the 11 races and outscored Haverford in all but one, paced by Madison Ledwith in the 200 free (1:57.11) and 100 free (53.73), Sophia Poeta in the 50 free (25.22) and 100 back (1:01.60), and Caroline Apathy in the 100 fly (1:00.60) and all three winning relays. Conestoga defeated Strath Haven, Jan. 6, as the Pioneer girls won 99-71 and the Conesriga boys came out on top 97-71. The Conestoga girls won just two of the eight individual events but swept the relays including a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay to secure the 99-71 victory.
But it was the relays that proved the difference with the Pioneers outscoring the visitors 32-10 in the three relay events.
The Conestoga boys won 97-71 behind individual wins by Oliver Brown in the 50 free (22.96), Brendan Burns in the 200 IM (1:59.63) and 500 free (4:50.35), and Brian McKenrick in the 100 fly (52.52) and 100 back (55.20). Conestoga won all three relay events including a 1-2 in the 200 medley relay.

Radnor (girls) tied Haverford High, 93-93, Jan. 4. Individual winners for Radnor were Sasha Smolyansky (200 free, 100 back), Julia Cullen (200 IM, 100 fly), Anna Duffy (50 free), Emma Dietz (500 free), Grace Wakiyama (100 ******), the 200 medley relay team of Smolyansky, Wakiyama, Cullen and Moyher, and the 400 free relay team of Duffy, Goncher, Wakiyama and Moyher.

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