March 16-19

Tuesday afternoon at McCaskey for the bus ride to Reading HS for the state semifinal game and what would prove to be the end of the trail. The club was in tough against the ranked #1 team in the entire state and although they battled to the bitter end it was not enough. Roman Catholic won 69-66, after the game the coaches felt that the officiating had been less than equitable. We played a zone defense most of the night specifically to stay out of foul trouble yet we were whistled for twenty-two personal fouls resulting in thirty-five free throws (and twenty-three made) for RC, conversely they played us aggressively man-to-man and were called for only twelve fouls (we were 9-for-12 at the line). When the game ended we had one starter on the bench having fouled out and four others on the floor with four fouls each, nobody from Roman had more than three. Anyone with any knowledge of the sport can tell you that something there definitely doesn't add up. It's a tough way to end the season but in the long run there is much to be proud of. It was an unusual season to begin with because of the subplot surrounding Coach Powell's surgery and recovery. The final record is 23-11, in twenty-three years as the head man Coach Powell's mark stands at 436-204 (a 68.1 winning percentage). We played nine more games than in 2014 and went 8-1 in them. The boys were division and league runners-up and entered the district tournament as the #4 seed, after a lackluster go in the districts the club won three games in the state tournament before bowing out against the odds-on favorite to win it all. Kobe Gantz led the club in scoring with an average of 17.8 per game, Randolph Speller checked in at 11.7, La'Detrius Sibley and Tyler Owens just missed double figures with 9.6 each. Kobe scored his 1000th career point on March 14, he is the tenth player in program history to achieve this and the seventh under Coach Powell's watch. Ran is probably the next in line, he'll enter his senior year needing 201 to reach 1000 (an even 600 in two years at JPM plus 199 during his freshman year at Lancaster Catholic). We lose eight seniors but with good talent coming up from a 15-3 JV squad the future is not bleak, it's all a matter of developing the right chemistry. Jenny and I did lunch on Wednesday, she had a medical appointment in Willow Street in the afternoon. On Thursday I was back at McCaskey one final time for the season, Coach Powell was collecting uniforms and I turned in the scorebooks. It's interesting to note that this was the first time since 2010 that I was actually present at the final game, in every year since a Royals game coincided and kept me away. All told I was only absent from four games all season, that's about as good as it gets. Take care, thanks for reading.