Red Knights’ state hoops title is No. 1
Oley Valley’s state field hockey title second on the Reading Eagle’s top 10
LOCAL SPORTS >> 2023 IN REVIEW
Ruben Rodriguez dove backwards and grabbed the loose ball that was behind him, maintaining possession for Reading High.
That remarkable play during the season’s final game, perhaps more than any other, exemplified the hustle and relentlessness that has become a hallmark of Red Knights boys basketball and helped lead to another PIAA Class 6A championship.
“We’re not winning on talent,” said coach Rick Perez, who was voted the state’s Class 6A Coach of the Year after guiding Reading High to its third state title since 2017. “We don’t expect to win on talent. We expect to win on our growth as men, spiritually, emotionally, our mindfulness, our toughness; those are the things that help us prevail.”
And prevail the Red Knights did in 2023. Their 32-1 season, capped by a 6356 overtime victory vs. Roman Catholic in the state final in March, has been voted the top local sports story of 2023 by the Reading Eagle sports staff.
Led by a group of seniors — Rodriguez, Myles Grey, Amier Burdine and Aris Rodriguez — who grew up playing together and dreaming of ending their high school careers wearing state gold medals, Reading High dominated on the court and in the headlines.
Down 10 with 4:45 to go in the Berks Conference final, the Red Knights scored 18 straight points to rally for a 70-63 win over Exeter and their second straight county title.
In the District 3 Class 6A final, Yadiel Cruz hit two free throws with 2.9 seconds left in overtime to give Reading High a 55-54 win over Cumberland Valley and its third straight district title. It had trailed by five with 5:30 to go in regulation.
After winning their first four state playoff games by an average of 25.8 points, the Red Knights faced a stiff test in defending champ Roman Catholic.
The Cahillites featured two players who had committed to play at Saint Joseph’s and another Division I prospect in 6-7 forward Shareef Jackson, the son of former Temple star and Philadelphia 76er Marc Jackson.
Roman Catholic was bigger and arguably more talented. But Reading High had that trademark tenaciousness.
The Red Knights forced 17 turnovers (while committing 12), had 14 offensive rebounds (compared to 10 for the Cahillites) and had a 27-25 rebounding edge. They had 17 second-chance points, compared to 12 for Roman.
Roman had a chance to win it when Xzayzier Brown, one of those Saint Joe’s commits, went to the line with 1.7 seconds left in regulation and his team down one. He missed the first free throw before making the second to tie it.
Reading High scored the game’s final nine points, helped by a pair of steals in the final seconds and a dunk by Aris Rodriguez as time expired.
“I don’t even know; it doesn’t feel real,” said Ruben Rodriguez, who was voted the state Class 6A Player of the Year. “You know, it’s just a blessing to be here and beating a team like that.”
“Ruben told me in the beginning of the year, he said, ‘Are you ready to coach your greatest basketball team ever?’ ” Perez said. “I said, ‘Okay, well you’re going to have to do some crazy stuff to be the best ever.’ “
That they did.
2. Lynx win state title
There was plenty of emotion after Oley Valley won the PIAA Class 1A field hockey title with a stunning 4-3 win over Lackawanna Trail last month.
The Lynx rallied after falling behind 3-1 with six minutes left in the third quarter to win the program’s third state championship and first since 2000.
But there was more to it than that.
Oley coach Tiffany Cappellano was diagnosed with breast cancer in early March. She underwent biotherapy throughout most of the season, except for a break in September when she had a double mastectomy.
Remarkably, she missed just one week of the season.
“What she went through, it’s hard to imagine how hard it is and hard to imagine her keeping her job and then also going right from work to practice while going through everything that she was going through,” said senior captain Morgan Snyder.
Snyder and her teammates showed their support for Cappellano in multiple ways. The seniors designed T-shirts that they wore during warmups that were black with pink lettering. A breast cancer ribbon was printed on the left sleeve.
Many of the players also wore pink hair ties or scrunchies with the breast cancer ribbon in white.
They also honored their coach through their resilience and tenacity.
“Coach fights through her journey,” said senior captain Molly Rothenberger, “which just shows us that we have to fight, too.”
They certainly did against Lackawanna Trail.
Despite controlling play for much of the way — the Lynx finished with advantages of 15-4 in shots and 16-3 in corners — they had to battle back after falling behind 1-0, then 3-1.
A goal by Taylor Vaccaro cut it to 3-2 with 2:05 left in the third, then Rothenberger tied with 5:29 left.
Snyder broke the tie on a penalty stroke with 3:43 left.
Soon after, the Lynx, who finished 27-1-1, were collecting their medals from their third championship of the season after also winning Berks and District 3 titles.
“A few of them said to me, ‘This one was for you Coach,’ ” Cappellano said. “That, of course, just tugged on my heartstrings.”
3. Eagles fly
Anthony Caccese was literally and figuratively at the center of so much of Exeter’s success in basketball during the 2022-23 season.
So it’s only fitting that his maturity left an indelible impression at the end of the Eagles’ historic and magical season.
After Exeter, making its first appearance in a state final since 1974, lost to Imhotep Charter 78-40 in the PIAA Class 5A championship game in March, the 6-7 Caccesse put it into perspective while holding the second-place trophy.
“I’ll take it,” Caccese said. “I mean, they’re a really good team. A lot of people are down but I definitely take it as an accomplishment to be second place to that team.”
That team, Imhotep, was the defending champ, ranked 11th in the nation by ESPN and featured forward Justin Edwards, the topranked player in the Class of 2023 and now a freshman at Kentucky.
By any measure, it was an exceptional season for the Eagles.
Just two years after finishing 3-14, Exeter went 277, won its first division title since 1984, made its first Berks Conference final since 1974 (losing 70-63 to Reading High) and won its first District 3 title (beating Manheim Central 67-53 in the final).
“This was one of the most special experiences of my life,” said Exeter coach Matt Ashcroft, who was voted the state Class 5A Coach of the Year then resigned in May, citing the need to spend more time with his family.
One thing that made it so special was the way the Eagles played. They were balanced and unselfish.
Caccese, a second-team All-State pick at center who averaged 13.1 points per game, was one of four starters to average at least 10 points. Reece Garvin averaged 11.3, Kevin Saenz 11.1 and Zyion Paschall, a thirdteam All-State selection at guard, 10.3.
The contributions came from up and down the roster.
“A whole lot of good memories, man,” Caccese said. “And you know, it just goes to show you that if you work hard, you can do anything. I’ll bet you nobody thought we’d make it this far in the beginning season. Without a shadow of a doubt, no one thought we’d make this one. But look at what we did. We put in the work. We played as a team and we beat a lot of good teams, so it just goes to show.”
4. KU football
The Kutztown University football team lost its season opener and its starting quarterback, Donny Blaine, to injury at No. 23 Assumption. A week later, the Golden Bears lost again.
So much for those lofty preseason expectations. Or so it seemed.
But Kutztown, powered by a defense that led the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in scoring defense and was second in total defense, went on a historic run that ended with a 35-7 loss at top-ranked and top-seeded Colorado School of Mines in the NCAA Division II semifinals.
“With success, we got hungrier,” said linebacker Kam Wolf, a Gov. Mifflin grad. “We didn’t get complacent.”
In the process of winning division, conference and regional titles and getting to their first Final Four — and first game west of the Mississippi River — the Golden Bears set a slew of records.
They won 12 games, setting marks for most wins in a season and most consecutive wins in a season.
They beat four ranked teams in a row. The first, a 31-7 victory over No. 4 Slippery Rock in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship Game, was the highest ranked opponent KU had beaten in school history.
In the NCAA playoffs, a strong running game and efficient play from redshirt freshman quarterback Judd Novak, the PSAC East Freshman of the Year, complemented the defense.
That led to victories over No. 13 Virginia Union, at No. 24 Charleston (W.Va.) — when Kutztown scored the game’s final 15 points in the final four minutes to win 32-31 — and at No. 15 Slippery Rock.
The Golden Bears finished seventh in the final American Football Coaches Association Division II poll, the highest final ranking in program history.
“It’s pretty amazing,” coach Jim Clements said in the days before the team flew to Colorado. “This is a really good group of kids and coaches that really bought into what we’re doing.”
5. Rick Perez resigns
The news broke late on a Friday afternoon in October, and created a buzz at high school football games that night: Rick Perez, who led the Reading High boys basketball team to three state championships, including