December 17-18

Snow was in the forecast for Saturday, it arrived during the overnight hours as rain before it changed over. There were early reports of traffic accidents in the morning, by the time I was up and about the precipitation was all but out of the area. Walking to the car was a minor adventure, there was ice under the snow which is actually safer than the other way around. I made my usual Saturday trip to Quarryville for lunch with Jenny, the driving was not a big problem since I stuck to the main roads and away from my favorite shortcuts. In late afternoon we reconvened at McCaskey for the bus trip to Chester. Coach Powell is a Chester alum, we have played them every year since he became head coach in 1993. They are one of the best programs in the state and you can count our victories over them on one hand but we play them because they are a quality opponent. The night began with the JV game, JPM won to go 2-0 (they had also won at Cedar Crest on Friday). The varsity game was another story altogether, Chester ran out to an eighteen-point lead at halftime and coasted to an 82-47 win. Jathan Gonzalez led the Red Tornado with 15, he was the only JPM player in double figures. A loss to Chester is no surprise, playing them serves as a test to find out where you stand in comparison. Year in and year out our non-league schedule is one of the toughest around, remaining on the slate in '16-17 are games against Harrisburg, Reading High, Central Dauphin East and Williamsport plus that makeup game against Coatesville and there isn't a soft touch in the group. The club's record stands at 0-2 overall, league play continues on Monday the 19th at home. The LL league realigned during the off-season, instead of four divisions of six teams each the new setup is three divisions of eight. It's actually a return to the old system which had been abandoned in 2004, we play our seven division opponents twice each with no crossover games of any kind. Our division is exactly as it was in '15-16 with the addition of Lebanon and Conestoga Valley, Lebanon is the opponent for the home game on the 19th. Temperatures on Sunday reached in the 50s, most of the snow and ice from Saturday disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived. Take care, thanks for reading.