North uses strong second half to get past Pennsbury
Te a m chemistry plays a huge part in scholastic sports. The team that works well together usually meets with success. rsing that as a formula, Council Rock North coach Derek Wright must rank as an alchemist supreme.
Few preseason prognosticators knew what to expect of this year’s Indian squad. WLWK suFK SURvHn fixWuUHs as Arron Goodman and Aaron Morgan gone the cap and gown route, the Rock’s chance of making a fourth straight trip to the PIAA state playoffs seemed uncertain. After nine games, the uncertainty has faded. The Indians, boasting an 8-1 record, have clearly established themselves as a contender for top honors in the Suburban One League (SOL) National Division.
One reason for the impressive start is the steadying LnfluHnFH RI WKUHH UHWuUning talents, seniors Kyle McCloskey and Brandon Knotts, and junior Rip Engel. McCloskey readily attributes dedicated effort and team cohesion as fueling the Rock’s fast start, “We’re a lot better than people thought we’d be. We play together. In the offseason, we worked really hard. We wHUH Ln WKH gyP fivH GDys a week. We developed a lot of chemistry. We’re all best friends on the team.” The extra practice paid dividends as the Indians roared out to a crushing 56-17 opening game victory over Malvern Prep.
“We felt good right away wKHn wH SODyHG RuU fiUsW game and beat Malvern by 40 points. We didn’t know what to expect and we knew they are a good team. We had never played together as a team in a regular game. When we made it happen on the court, we knew we had a good team.”
The victories
continued to fall the Rock’s way as they beat William Tennent, Harry Truman, Holy Ghost Prep, St. Anthony’s and CB South. Their only blemish was 64-51 loss to the league front-runner Abington.
Playing as a team means recognizing and accepting your individual role. Kyle realizes that at 6’ 6,” he needs to help a relatively short squad control the boards.
“I make my greatest contribution on the defensive side and the glass. I’m the only kid on the team that has any height so I feel a big part of my game has to be rebounding. That’s my role and my identity is to try and dominate the glass.”
While Kyle performs the muscle work, Engel runs the offense, a role Kyle and his teammates appreciate greatly.
“5LS Ls GHfinLWHOy D OHDGHU on the court as far as the offense is concerned. He keeps us together and we look to him at the end of games to carry the ball and play solid. He’s a very talented player and a good playmaker.”
The combination would have to perform to perfection in the Indians’ recent game against archrival Pennsbury. The Rock expected a very physical encounter for this all-important SOL matchup.
“That was a big game. We made sure we got a good pregame scout on them. We knew they were a really guard-heavy team — real quick and scrappy. In practice, we would play against seven guys and have them double-team us and foul us. We knew that is what they would do in the game. That really prepared us.”
The game played out just as predicted. Pennsbury scraped and clawed to an early 27-26 halftime lead. At half, coach Wright reminded his charges to stick with the game plan.
“He told us we needed to play with more energy.