Blumenthal has Avon Grove thinking big after fast start

There have been many surprises so far on the boys scholastic scene, but maybe none bigger than the 6-2 record posted by the Avon Grove Red Devils entering the new year.

Avon Grove is coming off a championship in the Great Valley Holiday Tournament, where the Red Devils defeated Pottstown and the host Patriots for the title.

This is big news in West Grove because the Red Devils have not had a winning season since the Jordan Harris-led team in 2009. Avon Grove had won just seven games over the past two seasons cobined, including a 5-17 mark last season.

Enter longtime respected basketball man Roy Blumenthal, a 1983 graduate of West Chester University, who became the top varsity assistant under head coach Dick DeLaney from 19902008 and then from 2008-2015 under current Rams boss Damien Blair.

After retiring from the university, Blumenthal coached the Bishop Shanahan ninth grade team last season, and this year jumped on board at Avon Grove, trying to rescue a moribund program that had not seen success in a long time.

Now, Avon Grove is a spirited, thinking man’s team that runs precise offensive sets and works hard on the defensive end. The Red Devils have bought into the disciplined ways of Blumenthal and the success has been immediate, as the 6-2 mark shows.

The Devils had been an easy win for teams the last few seasons, but led by point guard Brandon McCullough, who is getting multiple Division 3 college lookes, and 6-foot-6 junior Dez Murphy, the Red Devils are no longer an easy out for any Ches-Mont League team. This Red Devils team may not win the league title, but considering where this program was and how far it has come in such a short time, it will serve as a testament to the basketball acumen and coaching ability of Blumenthal.

The Red Devils are a legitimate threat to make the District 1 6A playoffs, and who would’ve thought you could say that before the start of the season. The kids have not only bought in, they are enjoying the discipline and work the coach demands. There were far too many lopsided losses the last few years, and now Avon Grove wants to pay back some of those squads. After going 0-4 the last two seasons in the Great Valley Tournament, the Devils won both games by comfortable margins and celebrated wildly on the floor after beating Great Valley for the title. *** The other big surprise has to be the 9-0 mark rung up by Downingtown East. The Cougars were thought of to be a solid contender in the Ches-Mont National Division this season, but no one outside the program thought a perfect 2016 portion of the schedule would be possible.

Included in those wins were impressive victories over Woodson high School of Virginia, which was ranked in the top 20 of that basketball-rich state, and then a day later, a triumph over Pocono Mountain West, a likely Top 10 6A school in Pennsylvania.

The Cougars are led by the marvelous point guard Malik Slay, but Downingtown East is not just a a one-man squad. Ryan Cahill, Jared Desrocher and freshman Andrew King all contribute to the Cougar cause and fourth-year coach John Goodman has East playing winning basketball. The former 1,000 point scorer at Kennett, Goodman is a tireless worker who, along with his staff, spent countless hours in the offseason preparing the Cougars for a successful year. In Goodman’s fourth year, it looks like the Cougars are for real.

The big test as always will be on January 10, when the big, bad Coatesville Red Raiders come calling to Lionville for a date with the Cougars. For the first time in a long while, the game will rival the football version of the matchup. And that is how far Downingtown East basketball has come.