Determined Garnet Valley rolls into semifinals
CONCORD » Carl Schaller and his Garnet Valley teammates were sick of early postseason exits.
Whether in the Central League playoffs or the District 1 tournament, a quick boot had become routine for the Jaguars.
Schaller helped lead Garnet Valley to two wins in the league playoffs earlier this season to earn the school’s first Central League title since 1998 and erased memories of last year’s upset district loss to Downingtown East with a win over 20th-seeded Upper Dublin in their opener.
On Friday night, the No. 4 Jags continued on their path of redemption, storming past No. 5 Perkiomen Valley, 63-38, to advance to the District 1 Class 6A semifinal for the first time since winning the district’s Class 2A crown in 1997. Garnet Valley will face a familiar foe in the district semis after No. 9 Lower Merion defeated top-seeded Cheltenham, 59-50.
“The first three years I’ve been here, we’ve had some pretty bad losses where we should have won in the playoffs,” Schaller said. “Going into senior year it was important to win the Central League, finally get through the semifinals. To be at this point, it’s just a huge step from last year. I’m just proud of the team.”
Schaller poured in 26 points,
torching the Vikings from the opening tip, and senior Justin Langan got hot in the second half to finish with 16 points as the Jaguars’ only other doublefigure scorer.
Senior Tyler Lapetina scored 19 for Perkiomen Valley.
“Usually my mindset going in is to just go by everyone and shoot the three second,” Schaller said. “I went in and got some easy drives the first few possessions and I just kept pounding it in there to get fouls and get to the rim.”
Schaller and company demonstrated their strength isn’t only at the offensive end.
When PV did have some success in slowing Garnet Valley’s offense down like holding the Jags to a point in the final four minutes of the second quarter, the Vikings couldn’t take advantage on the offensive end.
Lapetina, the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s leading scorer who put up 28 in PV’s district opener, fought for his 19 points, getting nine of them at the free throw line.
Fellow senior Kameron Parks didn’t find much room to operate, finishing with six and after a hot first quarter, in which he knocked down a three to tie the game 1111, senior Dom Miceli couldn’t get anything to fall the rest of the contest.
“I thought we did play a couple of good quarters of defense,” Perkiomen Valley coach Mike Poysden said. “And then a couple of soft turnovers, a couple of walks, a couple of things that didn’t go our way, but I think we struggled to score. That’s a credit to them. They pushed us into some uncomfortable spots.”
In a District 1 Class 6A tournament that’s been full of close games and upsets during an unprecedented season, the Jaguars have stood out so far as a squad that’s looked the part of their No.
4 seed billing.
Disappointing district finishes in seasons past, including the upset loss as a No. 2 seed a year ago, have been a motivating factor as this group attempts to prove it is District 1’s best and that last year’s early exit was a fluke.
“This is only my second year on varsity, but last year, definitely losing to Haverford in the Central League playoffs then losing in the first round to West, that stung last year for my first year,” Langan said. “This year, it was our goal to
not only win the Central League chip but make a run in districts and everyday we’re practicing hard and making sure everyone is staying focused for our goal.”
Lower Merion and Garnet Valley split the season series — the Jags won the first meeting 68-52 on Feb. 9 and the Aces won the second 73-64 on Feb. 15.
Garnet Valley is the highest seed remaining as No. 7 Central Bucks East and No. 14 Abington
meet in the other District 1-6A semifinal.
With some postseason victories finally under their belt, the Jaguars figure they might as well keep piling them up.
“It’s do or die and we have to go in with the mindset that this could be our last game,” Schaller said. “But obviously none of us want it to be our last game, so we’re playing every game like it’s our last.”