PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | February, 2020

Fifty-seven Delaware County wrestlers, including a dozen District 1 champions, are scheduled to compete Friday and Saturday at the PIAA Class 3A Southeast Regional at Souderton High.

The list is headed by Delco icon Hunter Catka (34-0) of Sun Valley, among a handful of wrestlers still undefeated this season.

The top five finishers in each weight class qualify for the state tournament in Hershey the following week. The others go home.

Catka, Keito Shaw of Upper Darby and Chase Barlow of Strath Haven are the only returning county wrestlers who reached the states last year. Catka is the only one who won any matches as he finished third at 220 pounds.

Experience is experience, though and that brings us to the Garnet Valley team. All seven wrestlers who made the region, including Desmon Perry, the champion at 160 pounds in the West section, also are state tested. The entire contingent wrestled at the Giant Center in Hershey earlier this month in the PIAA Class 3A duals. The competition has to help.

“That is weird because it’s usually the other way around,” said Jaguars senior Dillon Conlon, who finished third at 170 pounds in the West section. “A lot of teams have good individuals but not really a team they send to the states. That was valuable for us. And I think Delaware County is in a good spot because you know the Catka brothers are good and Sun Valley is a solid program. And Interboro really improved this year.”

Sun Valley is sending seven wrestlers to regions including Catka’s younger brother Ryan, the 195-pound champion in the West section.

Eight Interboro wrestlers are headed to the regions including South champions Victor Quintiliana (106), Dylan Lajuidice (145) and Domenic D’Agostino (152).

Strath Haven is sending six wrestlers, including Barlow, the 132-pound champ.

Ridley has six wrestlers in the region including South section champion Chris Green (120).

South champion Cole Root (195) heads a four-man contingent from Academy Park at the regions.

Senior Matt Kirchgasser (182) and sophomore Nikko Partsanakis (126) of Penncrest are in the regions after third and fifth-place finishes in the West last week.

Senior Matt Richardson (26-4) of Chichester is vying for his first trip to states after finishing second at 220 pounds in the West section last week.

All that said, it’s likely going to be a dynamic tournament where the hottest wrestlers advance. That certainly was the case last week for Perry, who was seeded fifth in his region.

“You don’t need to be better than him overall,” Perry said. “You just need to wrestle better than him on that day. My weekend gives me a lot of confidence that I can qualify and wrestle up there with the best guys at their levels in regions. I just want to go up there and wrestle six hard minutes. If there’s still time on the clock, it doesn’t matter the score, you still have an opportunity.”

The Jaguars played the underdog role to the hilt this season, as Conlon and fellow senior Kevin Puliti, third at 120 pounds in the districts, helped a young squad that will return a dozen wrestlers next season become the first team in the history of Delaware County to reach the state duals in Hershey.

“Our two seniors have helped to lay the foundation and now our strength is with the sophomore class we have,” Jaguars coach Rocco Fantazzi said. “We have a lot of guys that are just talented and love to wrestle, who work hard and buy into our program and our culture. The seniors been with them four years and helped create the culture. They’ve won three Central League championships, the District 1 tournament and took the team to states.”

Once again, there are several compelling story lines awaiting the winners. For Shaw, it would be reaching the states twice in just three years of taking up the sport.

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Upper Darby’s Keito Shaw, left, wrestling against Ridley’s Chris Green, is looking to make a second straight trip to the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships.

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PHILADELPHIA — Catherine Weaverling has a pile of District 1 medals at home. There’s a silver from the 100-yard butterfly, a couple from the 100 backstroke, plus four from Garnet Valley relays.

But one thing the junior didn’t have was a gold. That was rectified in an exciting race Thursday.

Weaverling timed her finish to perfection in the 100 fly on the first day of the District 1 Swimming and Diving Championships at La Salle University’s Kirk Natatorium, winning an event where the top three swimmers were separated by less than a quarter-second.

Weaverling, who entered as the top seed, finished first in 55.66. It appeared that she had touched out Molly Braun of Upper Dublin in an adjacent lane to repel her biggest threat. But touching the wall between Weaverling and Braun (in 55.84) was Radnor’s Casey Cullen, who went 55.80 in lane 1 to nab silver.

“Honestly, I did not see Casey at all,” Weaverling said. “I really thought the girl next to me (Braun) was going to get me at the end, so I just tried to throw my arms as hard as I could, really put in those last kicks to get to the wall.”

Weaverling was surprised to get there first. She worked her 75-yard wall, coming up just ahead of Braun. The swimmers’ strokes were out of phase, leaving one with a perfect finish to hit the wall at speed and the other to choose between a long glide or a half-stroke. Weaverling was lucky to time it right.

“I’m never really good at touching people out,” she said. “I’m used to getting touched out. So this was kind of a shock to me that I touched someone out.”

The Jags enjoyed relay success in recent years thanks to the All-Delco duo of Weaverling and Noelle DiClemente. With DiClemente at the University of Washington in St. Louis, Weaverling is the Jags’ leader. And a gold medal is a fine reward.

“All the hard work put in from a year ago, it pays off,” she said. “… It feels great. A lot of hard work, it all pays off and it feels really nice.”

• • •

Cullen is likely headed to states in two events, also finishing fifth in the 200 freestyle in 1:52.36. It took 1:55.35 to reach states last year, where eight district champions get automatic bids and the other 24 at-largest are selected by time.

But the biggest swim for shock value was provided by her classmate, Audrey Collins. Collins finished 11th in the 200 individual medley, setting a personal-best of 2:07.73 by lopping 3.37 seconds off her seed time.

“I couldn’t see the board because I have really bad eyesight,” Collins said. “So my friend came over to me and I was like, ‘what did I go?’ And she was like, ‘you went a 2:07.’ And I was so shocked.”

The sophomore has to wait for a lot of district compatriots in the states queue. But the last at-large last year was earned with a time of 2:10.15, which gives Collins lots of reason to hope.

Collins went 2:14.98 at districts last year, one of many things that has changed. Last year, she was 36th in the 100 breaststroke at districts with a season-best of 1:09.69. Over the summer, she pivoted to butterfly and finished 16th in the 100 fly Thursday in 58.54, a drop of 1.22 seconds from her entry time but likely not enough to get to states.

It’s emblematic of the work she’s done in refining her IM stroke by stroke.

“You always have to work on the turns and the underwaters,” she said. “It’s the small things that make or break your race. Without those small things, you won’t go fast.”

Collins will wait and see on states. Cullen is certainly going, and Collins is happy to credit the Raiders’ dynamic with helping her get this far. The team is led by underclassmen, with Collins, Cullen, Avery Barber and Kelsey Wakiyama just sophomores, plus fast freshmen Marina Wang and Campbell Coonley.

“I think it’s really good for our team,” Collins said. “It brings the future of the high school and the team. It brings competition, too, for relay spots. It’s a friendly competitive, but it’s fun, all freshmen and sophomores.”

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Garnet Valley’s Catherine Weaverling, left, and Casey Cullen of Radnor pose with their medals after finishing first and second, respectively, in the District 1 Class 3A 100-yard butterfly Thursday afternoon.

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BENSALEM — Chris Conlan was a member of Penncrest’s staff for the last three seasons. He can recall the success the Lions had against neighborhood rival Strath Haven on the hardwood in that time. He remembers holding the Panthers to 23 points in their first meeting of the 2018-19 season, one of several nightmarish contests those Pantehrs endured in a 3-19 campaign.

Conlan was “a Penncrest guy” growing up, but his cousins attended the Media Bowl rival, so he was going to his fair share of Panthers games. When the head coaching position at Strath Haven became available in the offseason, Conlan jumped at the opportunity. He led the team to the district playoffs in Year 1 and added another accolade to his resume Wednesday night.

Luke Edwards scored 16 points, including five in the fourth quarter, and forward Robbie Guilday added 11 points and six rebounds as Strath Haven held off Holy Ghost Prep, 54-46 in a District 1 Class 5A playback final to advance to the state playoffs for the first time since 2009.

Conlan is setting a new foundation within the Panthers program. Bringing a young team to the state tournament is a tremendous start in that effort.

“Everyone bought in,” Conlan said. “All of the coaches and especially the players. To go from three wins to the state tournament is pretty impressive. For them, that’s a testament to them buying in and pushing each other.”

Edwards scored the first two buckets of the contest on 3-pointers but did not have another field goal in the opening half. Guilday stepped up, particularly in the second quarter, scoring eight of his points. His last bucket of that quarter was a layup from the left side off of an assist from Ibo Pio (six points) to give the Panthers (17-9) a 21-15 lead with 1:36 remaining until halftime.

The importance of the win to the Panthers’ resurgent season was about more than just the states berth for Guilday.

“We want to leave our legacy and we want future teams to remember us,” Guilday said. “Most importantly, we want to build our program back up from the bottom.”

Tyler Mish led the way for the Firebirds (25-4), the Bicentennial Athletic League champions, with 25 points. He sank two free throws to cut the deficit to one in the second quarter, but Will George drilled one of his two triples in the third to push the lead back to four at the 4:09 mark.

Edwards, who hit two baskets to help the Panthers close out the third on a 12-5 run, noted that last year’s struggles were the driving force this season.

“It’s a really exciting moment,” the junior said. “We worked really hard for this. Every practice, we talked about how we were 3-19 last year and we wanted to prove to everyone that we can make a run and go far.”

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Strath Haven coach Chris Conlan, seen in the Central League semifinal loss to Penncrest, has taken Strath Haven from three wins in 2018-19 to 17 in his first season in charge, including Wednesday’s 54-46 triumph over Holy Ghost Prep to reach the PIAA Class 5A tournament. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)

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CONCORD — It only seemed like the Garnet Valley boys’ basketball team qualified for the state basketball tournament for the first time ever following its 68-53 triumph over Upper Darby in the Class 6A playbacks Tuesday night.

While the Jaguars reached the dance in 1997, 23 years is an eternity, especially contrasted with a girls’ program that has a state final and a District 1 title in its recent past.

The next step for the Jaguars (22-4), the second seed in District 1, is a state seeding game Friday against North Penn, the 24th seed. North Penn defeated Central Bucks East, 46-43. It was their third straight road victory in the playbacks.

But back to the Jaguars, who never trailed after Neel Beniwal buried the first of his four 3-pointers in the first minute.

Beniwal scored a game-high 21 points to take the scoring burden off star guard Carl Schaller, who fouled out despite taking more than he gave, the spark plug having to switch from No. 2 to 32 when his shooting wrist leaked blood in a contest with 37 fouls.

“We knew we had to win to get into states,” Beniwal said. “We all brought it today. We’ve been bringing the effort every game but we’ve been struggling to shoot. But today we were all making shots and we were all sharing the ball. It was fun.”

Beniwal scored the Jaguars’ first points in three of four quarters. It’s safe to say the junior has renewed confidence in his rehab program. His knees felt like new throughout the evening. He’d slowed in the postseason with just 14 total points in his last three outings. He’s averaging 13.6 per contest this season.

“Tonight was the healthiest I’ve seen him,” Jaguars coach Mike Brown said. “He said he tried some different therapy with the PT guy, and it seemed to be working. You could tell he felt better tonight. He’s been fighting that. He makes all the difference in the world. We haven’t had that lately. The games we lost we lost in overtime twice. They were all real close games. He had a great game. That’s the player he is when he’s healthy.”

Beniwal scored 11 points to lead the Jaguars to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter. Three of the baskets were from distance, Schaller delivering the ball off double-teams on a pair of the makes.

Schaller also unveiled the first of several behind-the-back passes to teammates as he was closely defended by C.J. Dabbs and got help from his teammates.

The game looked like it was all over except for the math when Justin Langan, who tallied seven points, made a pair of free throws to stake the Jaguars to a 21-point lead late in the second quarter.

But the Royals got traction by outscoring their hosts, 16-13, in the third quarter while Schaller was getting whistled for fouls.

Schaller fouled out with 3:44 remaining and the Royals within a dozen points. Though Upper Darby, looking to return to states for the first time since 2018, started converting steals and low-post shots into points, their strategy to make the Jaguars earn the decision from the free throw line blew up in their faces.

Max Jackowsky scored six of his nine points in the fourth at the line. Jackowsky tallied 17 in the game.

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Garnet Valley’s Neel Beniwal, going up for a shot against Penncrest in a game in January, scored 21 points Tuesday as Garnet Valley beat Upper Darby, 68-53, to book a spot in the PIAA Class 6A tournament. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)

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LOWER MERION — Springfield never forgot what it was like to lose to Mount St. Joseph in the District 1 Class 5A tournament.

Excuse the Cougars for holding a grudge.

“The last two years they bounced us out of the playoffs,” senior point guard Alyssa Long said. “It was nice to get them back.”

When Long and the other Springfield seniors were freshmen, they defeated Mount St. Joseph at Villanova University for the District 1 championship. It was the first district championship in Springfield girls basketball history.

But that was so long ago.

All that matters now is that the 2019-20 Cougars are about to play for another district championship. They will do so after conquering the Mount, 52-42, in the semifinals Tuesday night at Harriton.

“For the underclassmen, they have never beaten Mount, they have always been knocked out by them,” said Long, who produced nine points and five steals. “We really wanted to change that story and we didn’t want to get knocked out by them again. We came, we were ready to go in the locker room, and I think getting out to a quick start told us that we’re a new team this year … and it was going to be a different story.”

The Cougars narrated a fascinating story, one that had action and drama. Springfield led 11-2 out of the gates. Junior guard Rachel Conran was excellent, making shots when other Cougars were cold. Conran went 7 for 14 from the field for 16 points. She drilled big shots when Springfield’s leading scorer, Alexa Abbonizio, had a tough time getting hers to fall.

“Someone needs to step up,” Conran said. “Alexa has been great for us all year, obviously, and she struggled in the first half, but we knew someone had to step up. Maybe today it was me, but tomorrow it will be someone else. That’s the kind of team we are.”

The Cougars (22-5) have ably responded from their disappointing loss to Ridley in the Central League final two weeks ago.

“Especially after the Ridley game, we were frustrated, but we knew we had another team. We want to win districts and states now,” Conran said.

For Springfield to get to Saturday’s championship game, it needed to keep Mount senior Grace Niekelski from completely owning the game.

Better call Carli Johnston.

While Niekelski started to heat up in the second half and kept Mount from collapsing, the Cougars made her work for her game-high 20 points. The gritty Johnston was responsible for shadowing Niekelski most of the way.

“She’s a really good player, she’s so fast. I was running up and down the court with her,” Johnston said. “I think just keeping her in front of me was the best thing to do and keeping up with her.”

Niekelski netted eight points in each of the final two quarters. She had a string of three straight field goals, including a 3-pointer, to cut Springfield’s 10-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter to three.

“Grace is such a well-respected player. I know her through Comets basketball and I know what she is capable of,” Springfield coach Ky McNichol said. “We knew that in order to win the basketball game, we had to stop Grace tonight. I thought Carli did an impressive job, not letting her touch the ball and score. I mean, she’s going to make some plays and she’s going to make her shots, but I thought Carli really worked hard on the defensive end and really took pride in locking her down.”

After Long hit a free throw to make it 40-36, Taylor Sistrunk made a trey to get Mount within a point. Springfield had an answer. Abbonizio, who was on the receiving end of hard, physical contact the entire night, made a layup to push the Springfield lead back to three points.

“It’s a game of runs. We’re going to score a bunch and they’re going to answer right back,” Conran said. “We didn’t expect them to just sit in the same defense … and we came into the game today prepared for whatever they were going to throw at us.”

Springfield Rachel Conran looks over the Mount St. Joseph defense Tuesday night. Conran scored 16 points in a 52-42 Springfield win in the District 1 Class 5A semifinals. (Mikey Reeves/For MediaNews Group)

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UPPER DARBY — Jack Cavanaugh received high praise from coach Bob Miller after Upper Darby’s 73-68 victory over Plymouth Whitemarsh in a District 1 Class 6A playback game Friday night.

“That was the best game he’s had all season,” Miller said.

And in the biggest game of the 19th-seeded Royals’ season, where a win kept them alive for a berth in next month’s PIAA tournament and a loss would send them home for good, Cavanaugh delivered in the clutch.

Cavanugh, a sharpshooting senior guard, buried the go-ahead 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter after Plymouth Whitemarsh went ahead on a trey by exciting freshman guard Qudire Bennett.

“If you watched him all offseason and every day in practice, he’s a kid who makes shot after shot. He just hasn’t had a night like this,” Miller said. “I told my assistant coaches that when we lost (junior guard) Shareef Jones (to a season-ending injury) for playoffs, that we really need Jack to step up and make some shots.”

He did from the moment he stepped onto the floor. When called upon off the bench, Cavanaugh drilled two of nine 3-pointers the teams combined for in the first quarter. He was quiet in the middle two periods, missing a pair of 3-point attempts, but when the Royals needed a big shot down the stretch, he came through.

“He’s in the top five percent in his class and he’s a really great kid,” Miller said. “That’s the first time all year, in a big spot, that I drew up a specific play for him … where he came off the screen in the corner. He never plays corner … but he was having a hot night. That was the biggest shot of the game.”

Cavanaugh and Iyan Joshuasville each hit four 3-pointers. As a team, the Royals enjoyed one of their best shooting performances of the season, connecting on 54 percent (26-for-48) of their field goal attempts, including 10 of 22 from long distance.

“We were coming off an absolutely horrible game against Cheltenham, so we had to prove that we could beat a good team and we could play better. We’re just trying to extend our season. For all the seniors, we don’t want the season to end, we just want to keep playing basketball.

“I am just happy that I could help the team get a good victory.”

The Royals (13-12) and Colonials (12-13) played an exciting, back-and-forth game. The largest lead for both teams was a mere five points. PW closed the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 35-32 advantage into the locker room.

All **** broke lose during a four-minute span in the third quarter. Both teams ran the floor and caused turnovers. Joshuasville heated up and score 10 points during the stretch. With a minute to go in the period, David Jones swished a 3-ball to give PW a four-point edge.

Kachi Nzeh, an impressive 6-7 sophomore center, scored inside the paint to even things up at 62. UD guard AJ Tucker hit a layup to make it 64-62 before Bennett canned his fifth of six 3-pointers to give the Colonials the one-point lead. On the Royals’ ensuing possession, Cavanaugh put the Royals back on top to stay.

Point guard CJ Dabbs iced the game at the free-throw line. He dished out seven assists, too.

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Upper Darby’s (13) Iyan Joshuasville, pictured here in a game earlier this season, scored 16 points as the Royals stayed alive in the District 1 Class 6A playoffs with a 73-68 victory over Plymouth Whitemarsh Friday night.

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SPRINGFIELD — Springfield struggled through an opening eight minutes of its PIAA District 1 Class 5A girls basketball quarterfinal playoff game against Pottsgrove Friday night.

The Cougars attempted 11 shots and missed eight times. They also turned the ball over on five occasions. With all that was happening, they still managed to take the lead.

“It got a little chaotic out there,” senior guard Alyssa Long said. “And they were creating chaos.”

Long, a North Carolina lacrosse commit, may not be familiar with something Bob Dylan once wrote: “I accept chaos. I’m not sure whether it accepts me.”

In accepting the chaotic state in which they found themselves, the Springfield players and coaches pulled things together, held off Pottsgrove’s fourth-period charge, and emerged from all of that turmoil with a 36-31 victory.

Springfield and Mount St. Joseph will resume their postseason rivalry with a semifinal matchup Tuesday night at Harriton High School (7:30 p.m.). Both teams will be in the state tournament field when the run for Hershey begins in two weeks.

Eight-seeded Pottsgrove will have another challenge when it attempts to keep its season going with a playback round contest at fourth-seeded Villa Maria Tuesday.

“We seem to always have one bad quarter, and tonight it was the third,” Pottsgrove coach Mike Brendlinger said.

The Falcons were outscored, 11-4, and turned the ball over eight times in that fateful period as Springfield built a nine-point lead.

Springfield coach Ky McNichol credited her players with coming back from the halftime break intent on taking control of the game.

“Our defensive intensity made the difference in the third period,” she said. “We played more up-tempo and that helped lead to transition points. When Alyssa hit a layup and Rachel Conran followed with a (3-point basket), those were the big plays in the game.”

Alexa Abbonizio was Springfield’s leading scorer with 12 points despite shooting 3-for-17 from the floor and 1-for-9 behind the arc. Carli Johnston chipped in with seven points and eight rebounds and Long, who was scoreless in the opening half, had five points, a team high nine rebounds, five steals and three assists.

“When you’re not making shots, sometimes you rush or do things you’re not ready to do,” Abbonizio said. “It’s good to have a lead if you find yourself struggling.”

Johnson got the Cougars’ only basket of the fourth period. Abbonizio dropped in three free throws and freshman Lexi Aaron was 2-for-2 at the line.

“We knew we had to lock down on No. 10 (Rachel Ludwig),” Johnson said of the Pottsgrove guard who got her only field goal in the fourth period. “And we knew we had to rebound tonight.”

Riley Simon (12 points, five steals) tossed in five points and Sierra Potts hit a big 3-pointer in the fourth period for Pottsgrove.

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Springfield’s Alyssa Long, in action against Archbishop Wood last season, scored five points, grabbed a team high nine rebounds, five steals and three assists to lead the Cougars over Pottsgrove in the District 1 Class 5A quarterfinals Friday night.

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NETHER PROVIDENCE — On any given night, Marquis Tomlin can occupy any number of roles in the Penncrest backcourt. Some nights, it’s as the shutdown defender. Others, he’s directing the offense at the point. Sometimes, he’s playing off the ball, ready to knock down shots.

Saturday night, with point guard Saahir Lee out injured and Aidan Carroll sitting with early foul trouble, it wasn’t an either/or situation. Tomlin would have to do all three.

And did he ever.

Tomlin led all scorers with 16 points, but his lock-down defense on Strath Haven’s Luke Edwards made the difference in a 43-34 win for the third-seeded Lions in the District 1 Class 5A quarterfinals.

The victory sends Penncrest (21-6) to its fourth straight state tournament and fifth in six seasons. The Lions take on No. 10 Penn Wood, which upended No. 2 Holy Ghost Prep, 69-59, in Wednesday’s semifinal, at 6 p.m. at Norristown High School.

Sixth-seeded Strath Haven (16-9) will make states if it wins at Holy Ghost Wednesday in playbacks.

Tomlin and Penncrest didn’t need a primer on what Edwards could do. Last time the teams met in Kauffman Gymnasium, Edwards nailed a game-winning 35-footer at the buzzer. That he hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter Saturday only reinforced the necessity of stopping him in the fourth meeting between the Media Bowl rivals.

The was the assignment for Tomlin, one of the Central League’s best on-ball defenders.

“There’s never really ever a breather for me,” Tomlin said. “I knew (Edwards) had three fouls and I knew I had to guard him and I knew he was their best player, so I had to take him out of the game. I took him out of the game, and that’s why we won.”

Haven made five of its first six attempts from 3-point range to accrue an 18-11 lead at half despite not making a two-point basket. But with Tomlin as Edwards’ omnipresent shadow, the Panthers were held to two points in the third, Penncrest taking the lead for good on a whirling Jordan Bochanski drive.

The torrid shooting start also lulled Penncrest into thinking it could match jumper for jumper, which accounts for the paltry 11 first-half points. But Penncrest adjusted, going to the basket more, placing its faith in Haven not making five of every six 3-point attempts hoisted and closing Haven’s path to easy offense thanks to Denzel Atkinson-Boyer’s shot-altering in the lane.

“It helps us out a lot because we know that if we get beat at any point, he’s right there to help us out any time,” Tomlin said of Boyer, who had eight points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

The result was Haven making only one of its next 15 looks from 3-point land. The Panthers didn’t get their first two until the 4:38 mark of the third, and Edwards attempted just one shot in the middle two quarters. He had five field-goal attempts all night.

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Penncrest guard Marquis Tomlin, splitting a pair of Lower Merion defenders in their Central League playoff game two weeks ago, scored 16 points and put the clamps on Strath Haven’s Luke Edwards defensively in a 43-34 win in the District 1 Class 5A quarterfinals Saturday night. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)

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UPPER DARBY — Farhan Chowdhury won’t be alone when he steps on the mat for the District 1 Class 3A Section South wrestling tournament at Interboro Friday.

His older sister, Mahrin, will be there with him, in his heart, as she has been since she died on Nov. 6, 2019 from injuries suffered in an automobile accident.

“She’s my motivation at this point,” the junior 106-pounder said before a practice Thursday afternoon. “That’s the only thing in my head. It’s my sister that made me push through everything and has gotten me to the point I’m at now.”

Farhan was in the car that day. For legal reasons, Chowdhury could not go into details of the accident, which occurred on the 5900 block of Chestnut Street in Philadelphia on Nov. 5, according to several television reports.

Marhin, 19, a student at Drexel majoring in mechanical engineering, was at the wheel and on her way back to school when the accident occurred around 11 a.m.

“It was our day off,” Chowdhury said. “We went to go get breakfast. I called her ‘D,’ and I said, ‘D, I want to drive us to breakfast,’ because I had just gotten my license. My mom went to work because it was an in-service day. We went out and enjoyed breakfast and came home.

“I wanted to take the car out and work on it because I have a hobby of working on cars and I wanted to work on that car style wise so I went with her (to Drexel) so I could take the car home. On the way there, that’s when the situation happened.”

An 18-year-old driving a Toyota Scion east on Chestnut swerved into the left lane and struck the BMW SUV Farhan and his sister were in, according to published reports. The BMW wound up wedged underneath an idle school bus.

Farhan walked away with “a few scratches.” His sister was pinned in the vehicle and had to be extracted by firefighters. She passed away the next day.

“I felt so much regret over something I had no control over,” Farhan said. “If I could have taken some of the pain then she wouldn’t be in so much pain. If I got injured, too, she might not have gotten injured as much and we both could have gotten through it, too. Then you start to think that there was nothing you could have done than be there for her at the end and that’s exactly what I did for her.”

Wrestling preseason was set to start a few weeks after the accident, but it was the last thing on Chowdhury’s mind. He was so distraught that he thought about giving up the sport completely until he had a talk with Upper Darby coach Bob Martin.

“I just asked him, ‘What would your sister want you to do,’” Martin said.

It took time, but Chowdhury decided that the best way to honor his sister was to be the best student, athlete and young man he could be.

“She wouldn’t want me to stop succeeding, and that’s become my motivation,” Chowdhury said. “I need to finish everything that she couldn’t.”

It hasn’t been easy. There are moments when the events of that day pop into his head. But with the support of his family, and the counselors at Upper Darby, Chowdhury has been able to manage his grief and push through.

“Obviously, I’m torn apart from what happened, but I can’t stop living,” Chowdhury said. “My determination was that the things she couldn’t do, I’m going to do for her. It’s a team effort, for me and her. I have a younger brother as well. He’s only six right now. I want to be there for him, so I can’t fall apart now.”

Wrestling has been therapeutic, too.

Click HERE to read the full article.

Upper Darby wrestler Farhan Chowdhury survived a car accident last November that killed his older sister, Mahrin. As he heads into the postseason of his junior year, he’s wrestling for much more than just individual accolades. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)

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MIDDLETOWN — Penncrest was favored to defeat Chichester in the first round of District 1 Class 5A playoffs Wednesday.

After all, the Lions were seeded third, the Eagles 14th. Nobody expected a 57-23 beatdown that looked worse than the math.

Certainly not with the Lions missing point guard Saahir Lee, out with an injury. High school starting lineups can be fragile.

The Lions (20-6) didn’t miss a beat as they turned to Marquis Tomlin to do much of the ball-handling and Aidan Carroll to make Chi’s leading scorer, Josh Hankins, wish somebody else was guarding him.

“Hankins was one of the leading scorers in the county,” Lions coach Mike Doyle said. “And Carroll just gave up himself to play him. Carroll’s a shooter and we asked him just to run around and chase (Hankins) the entire game. And it really stymied them. They had no one else to go to.

“Hankins is their facilitator, he’s their engine. When he has it going on, he’s getting everyone else involved. He couldn’t’ get the ball and nobody else was involved. That was a key.”

The Lions take on Strath Haven, the sixth seed that beat Phoenixville in the first round, Saturday in the next round at Kaufman Gymnasium. They’ve played three times, the Lions losing once, on a buzzer-beater at home. Better get there early for the preferred seating.

But back to the Lions, one of the fortunate teams in Delco to have experienced depth at guard to weather an injury on the way to a fourth straight 20-win season.

Tomlin pushed the ball up the court from the opening tap, finishing with 11 points and four assists. He got six points at the free throw line, the price he played for taking on the Eagles’ bigs.

“I knew I had to step up in a bigger role,” said Tomlin, who contributed four assists. “They were talking a lot. They were face-guarding me. But I was seeing right through that. That’s fine with me. We’re really clicking right now. We’re all coming together. And we may have Saahir coming back on Saturday against Strath Haven.”

Carroll nailed three 3-pointers, dished five assists and handled just about every inbounds pass the Lions had. He and Tomlin have been playing together so long it’s like they have one set of eyes.

Typically, Tomlin does the bulk of the work on the opposition’s leading scorer. After this game, he may lose that job.

The Eagles didn’t score their first points of the second half until Hankins made two free throws in the last two minutes of the third quarter, the Lions leading 38-10. It was such a prolific drought the Penncrest student section very loudly cheered those makes, the easiest of the evening for Hankins.

“I was just trying to take all his shots away,” Carroll said. “Coach said he had the green light from wherever he was on the court. So, I had to get into his face and try to make him shoot shots he didn’t want to take. He got his points tonight but our whole team did a great defensive job on him.”

Click HERE to read the full article.

Penncrest’s Marquis Tomlin helped the Lions advance to the second round of the District 1 Class 5A tournament.

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