December 10-13

The early part of the new week was relatively quiet, I made the usual Monday visit to the mall and had my mother to a doctor appointment on Tuesday morning. Jenny and I did lunch on Wednesday, in the evening we were at McCaskey for the first home game of the season. Reading High was the opponent, they are one of our traditional non-league foes and are one of the better programs in the state year in and year out. In a way it sounds silly to say a team with eight returnees is "starting over" but that is very much the case with our club. The players know each other but they are playing under a new coaching staff with a new system and the bond takes time to build (although from what I've seen the process is coming along very nicely). On this night at JPM the boys battled to the end but came out on the short end of a 58-42 decision. We trailed by nine at the quarter and thirteen at the break, the deficit was ten going into the final quarter before RHS pulled away. The whole point of playing tough non-league opposition is to find out where you stand and learn from the experience, a loss to a quality program like RHS is nothing to be ashamed of. Makai Ortiz led JPM with 11 points, Isaiah Thomas had 10, Bryam Menendez added six, Ajani Simmons and Brian McKenzie had five each, Tyrell Melendez and Nayquan Martin each had a field goal and Jahsaan Greaves was 1-for-2 at the line. The team is back on the floor at home on the 14th against Lebanon for the league opener, I'm out for hockey in Reading. On Thursday night the JPM girls played their first home game, one of two they have on nights when the boys are off. Wilson was the non-league opponent and it was not a good night for JPM, both JV and varisty took an L. Take care, thanks for reading.