December 9-12

Monday morning at the mall for the usual constitutional which was about all that happened, on Tuesday Jenny was in town for a medical appointment. Helen rode with her on the access van, I took them home and we had lunch along the way. In the evening I was at McCaskey, the girls basketball team hosted Reading High. This was probably the one time all season I'll get to see the girls play, most of their games coincide with when the boys are playing. The program was in the district playoffs as recently as 2017 but times have been tough since then. The varsity squad started its season in a tournament over the weekend, a victory in the consolation game ended an unsightly thirty-game losing streak that dated back to January of '18. The good times did not continue on this night, both varsity and JV suffered one-sided losses. On Wednesday evening the RHS/JPM rivalry continued on the boys side, we traveled north on 222 for the second road game of the season. Reading High (much like Chester) is traditionally one of the best programs around, the rivalry between the city's high schools dates back better than one hundred years (which actually predates the institution of McCaskey in the 1930s). The JPM JV made its season debut in disappointing fashion with a twenty-point loss, the varsity game was of similar design as the Red Tornado lost 80-60. Elijah Terry had a huge night with thirty-two points, Samir Gordon was the only other man in double figures with fourteen. We were outscored by ten points from the floor and ten more from the line, as is per usual our opponent always seems to make more free throws than we even attempt (one does not expect equitable officiating on the road in non-league games, the problem is that we deal with it on a regular basis within our league as well). The team only has three returnees and there is a lot of inexperience at the varsity level as a result but one thing can be said with certainty: this is a scrappy group that has played hard in both games and hasn't quit at all, one can see goods things on the horizon as they come together. The boys play in Lebanon on Friday, the next game after that is at home (finally) on Monday the 16th. On Thursday afternoon I took the scorebooks over to practice, I'm out of the Lebanon trip since the Royals are at home on both Friday and Saturday. Take care, thanks for reading.