UNFORGETTABLE SEASON
Reading High, Wilson’s Stevie Mitchell and COVID made season memorable in every way
There’s no discussion of one of Berks’ most riveting basketball seasons without mentioning Stevie Mitchell, COVID-19 and the intense four-game battle between Reading High and Wilson.
Those four were intertwined in this most fascinating, infuriating and emotional of seasons.
Mitchell set the tone at the start, dropping a program-record 41 points on a really good Muhlenberg team as he worked his way toward the 2,000-point milestone.
The two-time Berks Player of the Year was the pivotal figure on a team that went 48-3 over two seasons, won back-to-back Berks Conference championships and strung together a remarkable 36-game winning streak, one short of the Berks record.
The Red Knights, who ended that historic bid, went from not knowing if they’d have a season to winning the final game — for the PIAA Class 6A championship.
To get there they needed to outlast the Bulldogs in a relentless back-and-forth that resembled Borg vs. McEnroe. Over a 91-minute stretch, from the start of the second meeting on Feb. 16 to the fourth quarter of the final meeting, they were tied 159159.
The Red Knights outlasted the Bulldogs in the last of them, 56-51 for the District 3 championship.
In this COVID era that cruelly turned out to be an elimination game and ended one of the great careers in Berks basketball history. Mitchell scored 31 points in his finale, giving him 107 against Reading this season and 2,060 in his career, fourth-most in Berks history.
He became the first Berks player to reach 2,000 in 21 seasons and exits as the only player with 2,000 points and two Berks championships.
Mitchell led Berks in scoring for the second straight season; his 25.6 scoring average is the highest since Tulpehocken’s Charlie Copp averaged 26.1 as a senior in 19992000. He averaged 19.8 points per game over his career.
“He was a heckuva player last year,” said teammate Ryan Strobel, “but this year he’s unstoppable. No one can really guard him.”
Who knows what Muhlenberg might’ve accomplished had it not been for Wilson or Reading High, the only teams to stop it during a 15-4 campaign.
One year after winning the District 3 Class 5A title the Muhls were just as good despite seeing Ruben Rodriguez – who would’ve been their best player – return to Reading High.
Muhlenberg was bumped to Class 6A but continued to excel under Tyrone Nesby. With the addition of Edwin Suarez, a transfer from Reading High, it had a strong inside presence to go with its usual array of shooters. The Muhls entered the district tournament as the No. 4 seed; had they still be in 5A they might’ve played deep into March.
The Muhls went 57-19 over three seasons, the most successful three-year run at the school since Lloyd Clemens’ teams strung together three straight 20-win seasons some 70 years ago.
They’ll be hard-pressed to continue that now that Nesby has resigned.
The Muhls were shut down for two weeks at mid-season due to a brush with COVID; Wyomissing, Exeter, Brandywine Heights and others experienced a similar fate.
That came on top of a 3½ -week shutdown ordered by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf just 24 hours before the ball was to go up for season openers in December.
“This is like a gut punch,” said Conrad Weiser boys coach Billy Harrison of the stoppage.
COVID or not the season went on, and was a huge success.
Players were required to wear masks and spectators were limited – in Reading High’s case they were non-existent. Still, every Berks team managed to play at least 16 games; some, like Wyomissing, squeezed in doubleheaders in the final days to fit them all in.
The Spartans won the Division III title, their first in five seasons, and reached the district semifinals.
Oley Valley won the Berks IV title, its first division crown since 2010. To get it the Lynx had to win at Antietam on the final night of the regular season. It took them two overtimes and a rally from 10 down with three minutes left in regulation.
Antietam rebounded to work its way back to the District 3 title game; to get there it had to knock off unbeaten, topseeded Greenwood on its home floor. Hector Tiburcio scored 24 points and topped 1,000 career points in that one.
Berks Catholic had a rough debut in Berks I after dominating Berks II for years. The Saints saw two starters transfer out at the beginning of the season and finished 6-11 – the first losing season in their 10-year history, and the first time they missed the postseason. It was the first losing season for head coach Snip Esterly since 2003-04, when he was with Central Catholic.
Brad Hoffman led High Point to the District 3 Class 1A semifinals. He averaged 20.6 points, second-highest in program history, and finished with 1,240 points, fourth-most in program history.
Reading High got knocked down twice but bounced back each time. Those defeats stiffened the Red Knights’ resolve.
“You can’t lose in the areas of toughness, effort, energy,” insisted Reading coach Rick Perez said after a double-digit loss at Wilson. “Those are non-negotiable. (In) Red Knights culture (that) supersedes all. Win or loss, at least you’re gonna feel us.”
By season’s end everyone did.