PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | June, 2018

STATE COLLEGE >> Jim Balk stood back, away from the mob — some of its members covered in dirt, others in freshly dumped ice water — to take in the scene. When he was summoned into the churn, he walked slowly, as a man of 75 will do, to take his medal and dispense his wisdom.

“If you coach long enough or you umpire long enough,” Balk was saying at Medlar Field, later on Thursday night than he expected, “you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.”

What the Marple Newtown pitching coach witnessed astounded even a man with 51 years of baseball coaching experience under his belt. He saw 21 hits, 27 runners stranded, four pitchers who combined for nearly 20 innings without allowing more than one run each. And for the first time in his life, he saw a Delco team crowned the baseball champion of Pennsylvania.

That’s because the last ball that Balk glimpsed was crushed off the bat of Luke Zimmerman, thudding off the wall in right field between a gigantic picture of a sub and a gargantuan cutout of a liquor bottle, followed by Rob Weimer stomping on the plate to give Marple Newtown a 2-1 win over Lower Dauphin in the 10th inning of the PIAA Class 5A final.

The second-longest PIAA final in the 41 years of competition was one for the ages. And for Marple Newtown, it was the polar opposite of the last time that it — or any Delco program — had been there.

Back in 2007 there was a sore shoulder, a deputizing right fielder and a Punxsutawney catcher who’s now got eight years in the bigs under his belt.

That day in Altoona, Pete Massaro camped under a fly ball in the final inning of a tie game, yet the ball found a way past all 6-5, 240 pounds of him and to the ground, allowing a team led by Devin Mesoraco to win a state title and break Tigers’ hearts.

Eleven years later, the Tigers were back — fittingly enough, in the shadow of the stadium in State College where Massaro made a career for himself as a defensive end of some renown. Mark Jordan was the coach then, and again now after a district title-winning stint at the program that Balk incubated at Radnor for 37 years (more of that serendipity).

Thursday, Jordan spared just one thought for that last final: In the bottom of the eighth, when Lower Dauphin’s Nick Bennett lofted a fly ball to Weimer, a back-up left fielder, with the potential go-ahead run on third.

See where this is going? Jordan did, but only for a moment, Weimer made sure.

“The deep fly ball to left field, I had visions,” Jordan said. “I thought it was out when I first saw it. I forgot we were playing in a minor league ballpark. I had visions of him camping under it and dropping it. But Rob Weimer, god bless the poor child for catching it. If he would’ve dropped it, him and Pete Massaro would’ve been linked forever together.”

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STATE COLLEGE >> There wasn’t a Marple Newtown fan in the crowd at Penn State’s Medlar Field Thursday that didn’t believe Luke Zimmerman would be the one to end the Tigers’ magical season. Tenth inning. PIAA Class 5A championship. Bases loaded and two outs.

“He’s Super Luke,” senior pitcher Sean Standen said.

Zimmerman has been Mr. Clutch all season. Whether he’s pitching shutouts or hitting walk-offs, Zimmerman has excelled so often in big spots. But there wasn’t a moment that could compare to Thursday’s finale. If he got a hit, the Tigers would be state champions. If he got an out, well … we might still be playing baseball. Zimmerman didn’t waste any time. Hitting from the left side, he connected on a pitch from Lower Dauphin’s Will Manley … and he got every bit of it.

The ball traveled to deep right field and landed on the warning track and caromed off the wall. Sean Donnell raised his hands in the air and trotted home from third base with the winning run. It was over. Marple Newtown 2, Lower Dauphin 1. Marple Newtown had become the first baseball team in Delaware County history to capture a state championship in baseball. And all it took was 10 heart-thumping innings.

“I just wanted to make sure to put the bat on the ball, because nine times out of 10, if I put the ball on the ball it’s going to be a hard hit,” Zimmerman said. “Even if I hit it right to a kid and he bobbles it or something, I’m running hard no matter what to make sure I’m safe.

“It’s an incredible feeling.”

Zimmerman didn’t need to worry about legging out a hit. He had won the game the second he lifted the ball to the outfield. It was a loud shot that had no chance to be tracked down.

For Zimmerman, the state championship was the pretty orange-and-black bow on a perfect season. He started the state final with a 10-0 and a 0.72 ERA. While he admittedly didn’t have his best stuff, Zimmerman gave it everything he had and went 5.1 innings on the mound.

Standen replaced Zimmerman and pitched 4.1 excellent innings of relief. The first-year varsity hurler, and senior, made the victory a reality for the Tigers (25-2). He struck out five and got out of a few jams to keep the score tied.

“I knew every time Standen was on the mound,” Zimmerman said, “they weren’t going to score.”

Standen never thought he would throw 56 pitches in the state final. As the drama unfolded, Standen got better. He left a runners stranded on first and third in the eighth, then escaped a first-and-second situation in the ninth.

“I knew I was pitching tonight and I knew I had to bare down and throw strikes,” Standen said. “I went to go watch them in the (Archbishop) Carroll game (in the semifinal round) and I knew they could put the ball on the bat. I scouted them and I knew what I wanted to throw against them. It worked out pretty well.”

For most of the evening, the Tigers had wasted Zimmerman and Standen’s efforts on the hill. The Tigers simply couldn’t get the big hit, as Lower Dauphin fired the opening salvo, plating the game’s first run in the top of the fourth. Connor Buggy’s single drove in courtesy runner Nate Hoffman to give the Falcons a 1-0 advantage.

As the game dragged on, the Tigers leaned on their senior captains.

“As one of the leaders on the team, I try to tell these guys that we’re always in it,” senior catcher Luke Cantwell said. “It doesn’t matter what inning it is, I try to tell everyone ‘We’ve got this. The hits are going to come.’ If they hear that, especially from me and Luke and guys at the top of the lineup, they react and they know how to bounce back.”

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PETE BANNAN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Marple Newtown’s Luke Zimmerman celebrates his RBI single in the 10th inning that gave the Tigers a 2-1 victory over Lower Dauphin in the PIAA Class 5A championsnhip game Thursday night at Penn State’s Medlar Field

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The SRAA national champion Lower Merion High School Girls Varsity 4+ crew will travel to England for the Henley Women’s Regatta (HWR) June 22-24 to join more than 1,500 rowers from over 190 clubs across the world competing in this prestigious event.
Henley Women’s Regatta was first held on the River Thames in 1988 in response to the absence of women’s events at the Henley Royal Regatta (HRR).
The four seniors (coxswain Minori Cohan, 3 seat Eva Nates, 2 seat Morgan Simpson and bow Emma Spaeth) and one junior (stroke Annika Edwards), along with Lower Merion girls crew coach Liz Miller and a sophomore alternate will leave June 17, allowing for several practice days in Henley-on-Thames before their first race for the Groton School Challenge Cup for Junior Coxed Fours June 23.
After winning the City Championships on the Schuylkill River in early May and narrowly missing first place at the Stotesbury Regatta (which four of the five girls won last year as members of the JV4), the Lower Merion crew avenged the loss the following week winning the Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) national championship on the Cooper River.

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SOUTH WOODBURY TWP. >> Hot off the screen printers, Marple Newtown’s 2018 Central League championship t-shirts bear the hashtag, #Magic. The back story twists and turns through the minutiae of a season that started in March, but Alden Mathes offers an abridged explanation.

The Tigers’ season began at Walt Disney World with three games. Thursday, it could’ve ended in what felt like a galaxy far far away at Replogle Field in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains.

Instead, with a couple of moments of magic, there’ll be at least one more episode in Mark Jordan’s Wild Ride.
Luke Zimmerman was again outstanding to push his record to 10-0, and Alden Mathes twice sparked rallies as the District 1 runner-up got past District 7 runner-up Mars Area, 6-1, Saturday in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 5A tournament in Northern Bedford County.

“We started our season down in Florida with three games down there and that kind of developed,” Mathes said of the hashtag-turned-rallying cry. “… The whole season’s been magic. We won 17 straight games. We’re in the state semifinals for the second time in three years. It’s magic. It’s got to be.”

It could also be a collection of excellent players doing their job at a high level for the Tigers, who advance to Monday’s semifinals against West Allegheny, which topped Red Land, 7-4, Thursday. The game is at a site and time to be determined.

Mathes certainly did, starting the game with a walk and scoring on Luke Cantwell’s RBI single. He then sparked a four-run top of the seventh with a leadoff triple, Marple tacking on after five scoreless frames that allowed Mars to sneak back in.

Maybe Mathes got a little magic in his at-bat. He thought he’d worked a walk off Joe Craska, who relieved his brother Frank after he’d hit his pitch limit over six strong innings. But a late strike call on an inside pitch meant Mathes had to retrieve the bat he’d tossed and trundle back to the box.

He made the best of it, lacing the next Craska offering down the right-field line and legging out a triple.

“I thought it was inside, so I started walking to first, which is never good if they call it a strike,” Mathes said. “You’re never on the ump’s side after that. After that, I knew I had to get a hit. I knew I had to swing at anything close so the ump wouldn’t ring me up. I’ve had confidence this whole season. I didn’t do anything different. I saw a fastball and hit a fastball. It felt great to stand up on third base with my first hit of the day.”

Mathes eventually scored on a well-read wild pitch. Three walks, two intentional, set up Kevin Merrone to plate two with a double struck to left field, and Andrew Cantwell added a sac fly.

That was more than enough for Zimmerman, who played the role of wizard on the mound. He went the distance, scattering three hits and one walk against seven strikeouts. The only blemish on his record was a home run by Mars catcher Jack Anderson, a fly ball lofted the opposite way that kept carrying just over the short porch in right.

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SILVER SPRING TWP. >> Not once but twice during their PIAA Class 2A semifinal, the weather informed the players from Strath Haven and Mars Area High Schools that they each had to regroup, retreating to the locker rooms at Cumberland Valley for delays of 53 and 32 minutes.

So when Nicky Palermo had to undergo a personal circling of the wagons, it wasn’t that big of a shock. With less than four minutes left and the Panthers nursing a two-goal lead, Palermo ended a promising possession with an illegal screen behind the net. Ninety seconds later, the game was tied.

“I also missed one on the crease, right in front of the crease, when we were up by two, and then they tied it,” the junior attackman also volunteered. “… That made it a little worse.”

Judging by the chorus of exuberant fans behind him for his post-game interview — which caused Palermo into another reorganization of his thoughts, this one while being celebratorily doused from water bottles — he found a way to make things better.

Palermo buried a shot on the man-advantage 3:17 into overtime, sending the Panthers to the state final with a 12-11 win in a scintillating seesaw affair.

“I just didn’t want to end the season like that,” Palermo said.

His regret echoed what the Panthers felt at large. The third seed from District 1 started slow and trailed by as many as three in the first half. It took a refocusing early in the second half to get the job done, the longer weather delay intervening just 24 seconds into the frame.

“In the locker room during the lightning delay, we were just trying to stay focused and not trying to focus on what they’re doing but what we can do better,” defender Ryan Morris said. “It was playing our game instead of falling into their hands.”

The Panthers tied things up at eight by the end of the third, Jeff Conner and Chris Rosini netting within 18 seconds. Two more goals, by Ibo Pio and Conner again, made it 10-8 Haven. But then the thunder pealed once more. And this time the Fightin’ Planet came out swinging.

“We went back in and we reset,” attackman Cade Hetzler said. “That’s what happened during the delay (for them), and they knew they weren’t out of it so they came out firing. Then we did the same thing.”

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Strath Haven’s Ethan Belville, left, and Nicky Palermo celebrate Belville’s goal in the second quarter of Saturday’s PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal victory over Springfield. Palermo provided the spark with three early goals as the Panthers brought Springfield’s two-year reign as state champs to an end. (Pete Bannan/For Digital First Media)

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MARPLE >> Originally, Jack Coary of Springfield wasn’t on the Hero Bowl Red Team roster. He had to lobby for himself to head coach Rich Gentile.

“Coach Gentile then asked me, ‘Do you want to play in the Hero Bowl?’” Coary said. “I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. I said, ‘Absolutely I would like to play.’”

Coary punted and kicked in Thursday’s 42nd edition of the Delaware County all-star football classic. Along with Marple Newtown’s Luke Ciavardelli, who hit a 37-yard field goal, it could be argued they were two of the best-performing players on the field. The Red squad earned a 10-6 victory, but if you were looking for a clinic or highlight reel of offensive football … well, this wasn’t the year for that. Coary’s punting — he had boots of 35, 53, 38 and 56 yards — made life difficult for an already offensively challenged Blue team that, outside of All-Delco wide receiver Rahiem Bowens of Penn Wood, seemed stuck in park all night. And Coary’s punting also alleviated the offensive woes of the Red team, which completed only two passes for 47 yards and amassed a whopping 21 yards rushing.

“Just happy to be able to play and help out,” said Coary, who will continue his education at Albright. “It’s the biggest game of high school. It was just fun meeting new guys. These teammates are amazing. It’s great, after years of playing against them. Now you have a whole new arsenal of lifetime friends you’re going to have.”

Ultimately, what happened on the field is a moot point. The annual exhibition of the best high school football talent in Delco is about the experiences, the friendships, the memories and the fund-raising efforts.

“It’s a cool way to end my high school career,” said Radnor linebacker Kyle Addis, who earned defensive MVP honors for the Red team. “It’s pretty cool for Radnor, too.”

Addis had a feeling early in the contest that the best defense would win. Addis had plenty of help from others, including linemen Joe Spillman (Ridley), Matt Young (Haverford) and Derrick Korboi (Upper Darby), who combined on many stops in the backfield. Jihaad McDonald, an Upper Darby defensive back, had an interception and lineman Mike Miller of Marple Newtown recorded a fumble recovery. Addis was recognized as the best of the bunch, though, and that is special in a defensive-oriented game.
“From the first possession, we knew we weren’t giving them anything all night,” Addis said. “We held strong all the way through and got it done.” Addis was a key defensive player on the Raiders’ lacrosse team that fell one win short of qualifying for the PIAA Class 2A tournament. “It was a lot, going right from lacrosse to Hero Bowl practice,” he said. “But it’s cool.”

Addis will continue his football career at Franklin & Marshall.

As for Garnet Valley’s Danny Guy, he was awarded offensive MVP for the Red team while running for only 12 yards, but he scored one of only two touchdowns in the game. Guy’s one-yard run across the goal line with 20 seconds to play in the first quarter snapped a scoreless tie. The play was set up thanks to a 38-yard passing play from quarterback Chris Mills of Penncrest to Haverford High wide receiver Carington Hooks.
Guy, the 2017 Daily Times Player of the Year, made a commitment to go out and represent the Jaguars and head coach Mike Ricci.

“My last high school game, I give it back to Garnet Valley, my coach Mike Ricci, and all the players. All the work we put in to get here,” said Guy, who will play football at West Chester in the fall. “I wanted to come out, have fun, meet some new guys and have a great experience for my last high school football game.”

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PETE BANNAN-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Red linemen (52) Lee Holbert of Strath Haven and (66) Tom Mahoney of Garnet Valley congratulate (7) Danny Guy after his first quarter touchdown run.

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WEST CHESTER – Saturday marked the fourth postseason boys’ lacrosse showdown between Conestoga and Avon Grove in the last 373 days. And in the previous three meetings, these two state powers staged razor close battles that included a total of five overtime periods, including three OTs just 11 days earlier.

But on Saturday, in the quarterfinals of the PIAA 3A Tournament at West Chester Henderson, the Pioneers played with a chip on their collective shoulders, and rode it to a great start and, ultimately, a convincing 12-6 triumph over the Red Devils.

“(Avon Grove) ended our season last year, and we are really salty about it,” said ’Stoga goaltender Scott MacMillan. “We came out 100 percent.

“I had a good feeling about this game.”

Conestoga (19-5 overall) nipped Avon Grove in the district semifinals on May 22nd, but revenge was actually on the Pioneers’ side. A year ago, the Devils topped the Pioneers in the state final.

“Our guys were really excited about playing (Avon Grove) again, especially in light of what happened last season,” ’Stoga head coach Brody Bush acknowledged. “Losing to them in the state final and beating them in districts (in 2017), we didn’t want that to happen again. I think our guys were extra motivated and hungry.”

The Pioneers will take on the La Salle-Parkland winner on Tuesday for the right to advance to the state title game next weekend. The Devils season ends at 18-3, and their chance to defend the state title is extinguished.

“I’m proud of our guys,” said Avon Grove head coach Eric Jackson. “They fought until the end. I love this team. It was a great group of guys to be with.”

At one point early in the second half, Conestoga was ahead 7-1 and in total command. Then the Red Devils made it interesting with a gutsy rally that cut the margin to two. And then there was a 90-minute weather delay with 3:23 left in the third quarter with the Pioneers up 8-5.

“I knew that was coming and so did our guys,” Bush said of the pushback. “Avon Grove is such a talented team and well coached.

“It was nice having the lead going into the break.”

Less than a minute after the restart, ’Stoga’s Tate Kienzle upped the margin to four, and then James Reilly – who left the game for a while after feeling nauseous – scored to make it 10-5 with 9:27 to go. In between, Avon Grove’s Zach Augustine appeared to score, but it was disallowed.

“I’ll have to watch the tape on that one,” Jackson said. “(The officials) called us off sides, which I don’t know how.”

The Devils did get a goal from Scooter Whiteside with just over five minutes remaining, but Avon Grove lost its composure a bit, and gave up two late goals while trying to **** off separate penalties.

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EXETER TWP. >> Garnet Valley coach Frank Urso challenged his players before the start of the boys lacrosse postseason.

Urso told his guys it was time to mix things up, specifically as it pertained to his defensive unit.

“Before the playoffs started, I asked them one question: What’s the definition of insanity?” Urso said. Everyone knows the answer. The Jags weren’t winning a lot of games with repetition.

“I said to them, that if we do the same thing, we’re going to lose pretty early on in the playoffs,” Urso said. “We cannot keep doing the same thing and we have to change who we are, starting right now. I threw some of the craziest defenses at them and told them to learn it, quick, or else we won’t win.

“They’re a special group because they bought in, they believed, and they started playing better.”

Urso kept the same personnel as he designed new strategies for a defense that hadn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire. Fast forward a few weeks, the Jags, who were 10-8 after the regular season, are on incredible postseason run. Everyone knows the story. The Jags won the District 1 title as the 15th seed and have continued to play above and beyond anyone’s expectations.

“We are playing with house money,” Urso said. “Nobody expected us to be here.”

After Saturday’s 6-4 triumph over Cumberland Valley, Garnet Valley has moved one step closer to winning a PIAA Class 3A title. The Jags take on District 3 champion Manheim Township, which was an 11-6 winner over Pine-Richland, at a neutral site Tuesday night.

Garnet’s defense limited a high-powered Cumberland Valley attack to four goals Saturday at Exeter High. Austin Patton, Sam Morin and Tyler Davis blanketed their assignments, oftentimes forcing the Eagles into bad shots that resulted in changes of possession. The Jags allowed two goals in each half, as star goalie Jason Rose (10 saves) was an impenetrable force.

“We like to switch things up and we think our poles are very capable of playing one-on-one,” Patton said. “We got everyone sort of flying around and we were communicating a lot. That allowed us to cause some havoc when they were trying to run their normal offense. That was pretty successful for us.”

Jake Morin scored twice in the second half, on passes from Danny Bradley, including a key insurance tally less than three minutes into the fourth quarter. The Eagles trimmed their deficit back to two, but the Jags caused three turnovers in the latter stages, and won battles for possession. Sam Morin’s steal in the waning seconds sealed the win for Garnet.

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EXETER TWP. >> Prior to its PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal game Saturday, the Garnet Valley girl lacrosse team attended the fifth and final Kip Taviano #10ve Lacrosse Celebration in Glen Mills.

During warm-ups and following their convincing 17-7 romp over District 11 champion Parkland, the Jaguars all donned #10ve T-shirts. Kip Taviano, a standout lacrosse player at The Haverford School, was killed in a car accident days before his graduation in 2013.

For one member of the Garnet Valley team, the event has special meaning.

“Emma (Taviano, Kip’s younger sister) is a senior on our team and the whole Kip Taviano event is really special to our group,” GV coach Jenny Purvis said. “They’re all so passionate about it. “

Despite a lengthy weather delay, the Jags carried over their enthusiasm and were ready to go against Parkland. They looked nothing like the team that needed overtime to defeat Parkland in the regular season.

“Our whole team was there for the Kip Tav event, and coming there from that … it’s something we like to do every year,” junior Regan Nealon said. “It always falls on this day, the state quarterfinals. I think coming from there, it gives us a little more fire for our game.”

The Jaguars never let their guard down Saturday, putting on a textbook display of Garnet Valley girls lacrosse, and advanced to the semifinal round of the state tournament. The District 1 champions will face a familiar foe in District 1 third-place finisher Unionville, which disposed of District 12 and defending PIAA 3A champion Archbishop Carroll Saturday.

“We were pumped up in the locker room and I think we came out ready to play,” said Nealon, who had four goals and one assist. “Last time we played them we went into overtime with them, so we really want to come out here and show them we are the better team. We wanted to crush them.”

This victory Jaguars (16-2) was never in doubt.

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“We’re on a roll right now,” Nealon said. “The last two years we lost in the semis, so we don’t want to have that happen for a third year in a row.”

The match got off to an inauspicious start for Parkland when senior attacker Irene Lee was whistled for a yellow card, enabling the Jags to pounce with the man advantage. Kamryn McNeal scored the first of her four first-half goals to give GV a 1-0 lead.

“Since the beginning of the season, we really got better at working together and moving the ball around. It’s really starting to show at this point in the season,” McNeal said. “We’re excited to see how far we can go. At this point in the season we’re doing really well and I honestly cannot believe how successful we’ve been.”

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WEST GOSHEN >> With two hours and one minute to sit in the locker room at West Chester East High School, Olivia Little got to thinking.

The Springfield senior midfielder had pondered the end of her high school career in the last two weeks. But as thunder pealed and rain poured on the Cougars in an extremely extended halftime break of their PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal with Wilson, the concern grew more palpable.

But so was the opportunity that lay ahead of her, for at least one more game in a Springfield jersey.

Little responded with four goals, three assists and six draw controls, including the game-winning tally with 3:46 to play, as Springfield conquered Wilson, 13-12.

The win moves the Cougars (20-4) to Tuesday’s semifinals against District 3 champ Manheim Township for the right to return to East next Saturday for the state final. That owes to Little taking control of a game that went into halftime tied at 5.

“I really started to think about, ‘wow, this could be it,’” Little said. “So I just came out and knew I had to take control. I think my team’s confident with me on the ball, so if I just tryst myself, I think I can make things happen.”

Little scored the first two goals of the half to open up the first multi-goal lead for either side. She set up markers by Julie Schickling and Dana Carlson as the Cougars scored three times in a minute, 13 seconds to take a 12-9 lead.

When Wilson struck back, leveling the score at 12 with 7:39 to play on Emily Magliotti’s goal, Little knew it was her time again. On an extended possession, Dana Carlson rolled around the crease and fed to Little cutting underneath, and Little whipped a shot into the top corner.

“The game of lacrosse is about making adjustments,” Little said. “Things can change in seconds. I think if we just take our time, settle on our attack, get our breath, get a chance to see things and see what’s happening, we get to see things well.”

The Cougars’ postseason has been about doing just enough to advance. All five playoff wins have been by two goals or fewer. Saturday’s was their fourth one-goal win, two in overtime.

That toughness, from a team that qualified for last season’s District 1 and PIAA Class 3A finals, continues to pay dividends.

“We’ve had a lot of practice in these close games because a lot of our games have been close,” Mastropietro said. “We’re really good at holding the ball and being able to waste time and run out the clock when we need to.”

Carlson and Mastropietro scored three times each, the latter adding three draw controls. Schickling tucked away a pair of goals.

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Olivia Little, seen against Archbishop Carroll in the regular season, scored four goals to go with three assists in Springfield’s 13-12 win over Wilson in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals Saturday. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)

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