Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
ON THE FLY
Schedule changes could be season theme, PCL plans in place
There’s been a bit of a pick-up feel to the first week-plus of high school basketball.
With team schedules set but far from concrete, a few area squads have already been busy adjusting on the fly and rearranging things to put games together. While it harkens back to a summer weekend on a group text or Facebook group trying to find enough people to play at a local park, the end result is games getting played.
Don’t be shocked if it becomes a season-long trend either as area programs continue to
With their scheduled opponents unable to play on Friday, Upper Dublin and Hatboro-Horsham’s girls teams were able to quickly set up a game that night. It worked out for the Cardinals who rode 23 points and a careerhigh seven 3-pointers from Dayna Balasa to a win while the Hatters were able to start their season without further delay.
Likewise, Wissahickon turned a scheduled Saturday doubleheader with Lower Moreland into a pair of games with New Hope-Solebury after LM was unable to play either contest.
It’s not quite finding three people and asking them to each bring one or two others then heading to the nearest available court, but with the PIAA allowing teams to be flexible in scheduling games and allowing non-playoff teams to continue to play through the postseason, expect more on-thefly contests to keep popping up. PCL SCHEDULE OUT » While teams from the SOL, PAC and BAL began play last week, the Philadelphia Catholic League is still waiting to get on the court.
Luckily, that picture cleared up a bit this past week as the league released team schedules and a plan for the PCL championships. On the boys’ side, the regular season will proceed as usual with each team playing each other once while the girls’ will again be split into the Red and Blue divisions with teams in each division playing twice.
PCL play begins January 29. If teams located within Philadelphia County cannot play at home, they will play games at alternate suburban venues. Host schools will stream games while spectators will be contingent on county guidelines.
With the PIAA contracting its tournaments for this year, only district champions will advance to the state playoffs so just one PCL school per class will move on. In a normal year, competition is fierce for the few District 12 spots available but with just one team moving on, it’ll make games between inter-class programs even more intense.
There have also been some classification changes this year.
Notably on the boys’ side, Archbishop Wood has been moved to 6A where the Vikings will contend with La Salle, Father Judge, Roman Catholic and St Joe’s Prep for the one state playoff spot.
Archbishop Carroll and Lansdale Catholic are both in 4A this year, as is Cardinal O’Hara and NeumannGoretti, which has moved up from 3A. Bishop McDevitt, in its last season before the school closes at the end of the academic year, remains at 3A but has to battle Conwell-Egan, Devon Prep and West Catholic for a state bid.
On the girls’ side, Archbishop Wood has dropped from Class 5A to 4A along with Bonner-Prendergast, Lansdale Catholic and Hallahan. While there will be fewer teams in the bracket, Class 4A does look quite strong across the board at the state level.
Archbishop Carroll is the sole PCL team at the 6A level, while Bishop McDevitt is the only 2A team.
As far as the postseason, the top two teams in the boys’ standings will play for the PCL title, while the top two finishers in the girls’ Red Division will play for the championship. The top two teams in the Blue Division will play for a division title.
The site for the championship games has not yet been determined.
TIMKO TRENDING UP »
The next 3-pointer Methacton’s Nicole Timko hits will be a record-setter.
Timko, a junior guard for the Warriors, currently stands at 159 career makes from beyond the arc which is tied for the program record. Now a third-year starter, Timko is one trey away from standing alone atop that list but is also close to joining another as she sits at 898 career points.
Should Timko reach the 1,000 point mark this season, she’ll not only join the program’s scoring club but continue a family tradition. Older brother Erik, now a freshman on Jefferson University’s men’s basketball team, also scored 1,000 points during his time at Methacton.
READING THE COMPAS »
Any good navigator knows the value of a compass.
Wissahickon, now 3-0 after Saturday’s win over New Hope-Solebury, are off to a much better start than last year’s 0-5 opening spell thanks to better health and sterling play from senior Matt Compas. After exploding for 35 in the season opener and a hard-earned 15 against Abington on Friday, Compas rolled up 27 points against the Panthers as he’s continued to point the Trojans in the right direction.
Compas may be scoring a lot of points, but he’s also moving the ball and had two critical assists during the Trojans’ 9-0 run against Abington that helped turn the tide of the game.
He’s also getting solid help across the board. Senior point guard Jackson Intrieri led Wiss with 16 against Abington and tallied 12 against New Hope-Solebury and brings a steady hand handling the ball and shooting from long-range. Around the glass, Stefan Lowry and Josh Twersky have been working hard and giving coach Kyle Wilson some vital rebounds and points to go with their defense.
Friday brings an interesting match-up as the Trojans host Upper Dublin and senior center Drew Stover, who like Compas, has been filling up the scorebook early into the season.