March 9-10

Had lunch with Jenny and her mother in Quarryville on Saturday morning, in the afternoon we headed back to Berks County for the second of back-to-back home dates. The Wheeling Nailers were the opponent as the Royals welcomed the first sellout crowd of the season, a good number of area Boy and Girl Scout groups were in the house. The big crowd had little to cheer about as the Nailers scored two early goals and made them stand up as the Royals lost 3-1. David Vallorani was the lone scorer for the Royals, Riley Gill played another strong game in goal but suffered the tough-luck loss. It proved to be an unmemorable day all the way around, as the Royals were losing at the Sovereign Center McCaskey's basketball season came to an end with a loss in the first round of the state tournament. JPM met Coatesville in a game at Garden Spot HS in New Holland and by all accounts it was an ugly affair. According to reports there were several skirmishes and a lot of trash talk, on one occasion punches were thrown and a Coatesville player was ejected. After the game there were fan altercations as well. All in all it was an unappealing end to an excellent season, the final record was 26-4. In twenty-one years as head coach Steve Powell's mark stands at 398-183. The 2013-14 season will be a new start in many ways with only a handful of returnees but with a JV program that went 36-2 over the last two seasons the cupboard is not bare. It may be a case of growing pains at the varsity level more than anything else because the talent will be there, it's all a matter of how it comes together in December. Sunday was the proverbial day of rest, with the semi-annual clock change taking place we lost a hour's sleep overnight. The Royals played a late-afternoon game in Elmira and rebounded with a 3-1 road victory, that improves the record to 39-18-6. The boys are back home on Wednesday the 13th as Wheeling makes a return visit. Take care, thanks for reading.