December 29-31

Saw on the internet where JPM won the tournament consolation game over L-S, the record stands at 4-5 overall with the next game on January 3. Friday night at the Arena in downtown Reading, the Royals hosted the Worcester Railers for the opener of a three-in-three. The club had a 3-0 record on the most recent road swing but on this night the magic was noticeably absent. Two scores for the visitors in the first period were followed by a second-period three-spot, in the third the only tallies were those in the penalty column. The teams combined for fifty-four penalty minutes on the night with forty-two of them coming in the last five minutes, when it mercifully ended the Royals were on the bad end of a 5-0 final with Nolan Maier suffering the loss. In game #2 on Saturday the Royals again fell behind early, midway through the first Tag Bertuzzi lit the lamp to tie it 1-1. In the second the Railers retook a one-goal lead, late in the period Shane Sellar drew the Royals even. Matt Brown gave the Home Team a 3-2 lead in the third but Worcester answered in kind, into overtime we went tied at 3-3. Midway through the extra session the Royals got a 2-on-1 break into the offensive zone, Bertuzzi fed Brown for the top-shelf game-winner and a 4-3 overtime decision for Parker Gahagen. The rubber match was at 3:00 on Sunday afternoon, the Royals trailed 1-0 into third period before Saturday night hero Matt Brown tied it. Midway through the period Worcester reclaimed the lead and made it stand up, Nolan Maier took the 2-1 loss and deserved a better fate. The Royals finish the 2023 portion of the schedule at 11-14-2 overall and 7-6-1 at home, the first home game in the New Year is on January 12. Talk about endurance tests: three games of basketball at McCaskey on Thursday followed by three hockey games in less than forty-eight hours at the Arena. It's been decades since New Years Eve was a party date for me and it certainly wouldn't be after this weekend, I'm more than happy to stay in and relax. Thanks for reading, see you on the Other Side in 2024.

December 25-28

The final week of 2023 began with "the big day" itself, I was at Jenny's place for supper. Helen made an excellent meal of ham, scalloped potatoes and Brussel sprouts with pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert. This is a time of year that I personally care little for and the reasons are very deep-rooted and long-standing, Jenny's presence is my life is the only thing that keeps it from being a complete steaming pile of nothing. On Thursday we were at McCaskey for the opening day of the annual holiday tournament featuring perennial participants York and Harrisburg, suburban neighbor Lampeter-Strasburg also appeared for the second straight year. The day started at 2:00 with a junior varsity game, JPM lost to L-S. York defeated the L-S varsity in the first semifinal, in the nightcap the Red Tornado lost to Harrisburg 82-70. We trailed by nine and the quarter and three at the half but the second half was like running in mud, for everything we did Harrisburg had an answer. Jared Kumah had a huge night with 28 points, De'Andre Jones had 16 and Aiden Burgess added 13 but as we often say it means very little without the W at the end. The boys stand at 3-5 overall, they meet L-S in the consolation game on Friday. Every year I seem to miss one night of the tournament thanks to hockey and this time around is no exception, I'm out on Friday because the Royals are at home for the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.

December 18-24

The week leading up to the alleged holiday weekend was of little import save for two nights of basketball, one involving McCaskey and one not. On Wednesday we boarded the bus for the ride north on route 72 across the county line. Lebanon is historically one of the league's most successful programs, their nine championships are second-most only behind McCaskey's fourteen and they won it as recently as 2021.After another playoff appearance in '22 the program fell off severely, they were 0-22 the next year and entered this night on a winless streak approaching thirty. All of that seemed to matter little once this game started, Lebanon rallied from a four-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to force overtime on a three-point goal at the buzzer (for the night they scored thirty points on "threes" and twenty-six on "twos"). In the OT JPM outscored Lebanon 7-2 and finally claimed victory 66-61. De'Andre Jones led the Good Guys with 23, Jared Kumah hit double figures with 14. Aiden Burgess had seven, Kamryn Pugh and Ja'Loney Porter added six each, Cesar Peguero scored five, Nemias Tirado had three and Kaiden Russell rounded out the book with a field goal. This game was just another example of how there is no such thing as easy money, as the late Steve Powell often said "against us, the crippled can walk and the blind can see". The win draws the club even in league play at 1-1 and the overall mark to 3-4, the next action is in the annual holiday tournament starting on the 28th. On Thursday night we were at Stevens College here in town, old friend Jerry Johnson's squad from La Academia Charter School played the first of their three home dates. L.A. has no spectator-friendly gym of its own and plays most of its games on the road, whenever Jerry can secure a facility for a home game he asks me to help out if I'm available. From the It's a Small World Department: the opponent was from Quakertown (about fifteen miles south of Allentown), their head coach works at Alvernia University in Reading and is a member of the Berks County Convention Center Authority, the overseeing body for the Arena. He recognized my voice and approached me after the game to say hello. La Academia won the game 69-40, they play at Stevens again on January 8. Take care, thanks for reading. 

December 15-17

Friday night hockey on Penn Street, the Royals played the first of what will eventually be four straight home games versus the Worcester Railers. It was "Taylor Swift Night" as the organization celebrated the world-famous Berks County native. The visitors from Massachusetts took a 1-0 lead into the second period, the Royals tied it and took the lead on goals by Shane Sellar forty-four seconds apart. At the period's midpoint Sellar finished his natural hattrick making it 3-1 at the intermission. Tag Bertuzzi upped the advantage to three early in the third but the Railers answered in kind, an insurance marker from Brayden Guy late in the game put away a 4-2 Royals win. Parker Gahagen was the goalie of record as the Royals improve to 7-12-2, 6-4-1 at home. The club plays its next three on the road, after the holiday recess Worcester returns for a three-in-three starting Friday the 29th. The basketball team traveled to Penn Manor on Friday in my absence for the first game of league play and lost badly, on Saturday afternoon they climbed right back into the saddle with the short bus trip just over the city line into the neighborhood of Rossmere. Freddy was the JV coach at Lancaster Catholic before he came to McCaskey, it's always been a goal of his to establish an annual game between the two schools. The JV squads played stand-alone games for two seasons before the first JV/varsity date happened at McCaskey in December of '22, on this day at LCHS it was a tripleheader with the freshman teams meeting at 1:00. It was a clean sweep for JPM with victories for all three teams, the JV evened their mark at 3-3 and the varsity won as well but it wasn't easy. We trailed by five at the quarter and three at halftime, after a dead-even third quarter the club exploded for twenty-seven points in the fourth and won 64-56. De'Andre Jones had the big day with sixteen, Jared Kumah and Kaiden Russell had eleven each. Nemias Tirado and Cesar Peguero each scored seven points, Aiden Burgess had five, Eddie Bencosme had four big points in the final quarter and Kamryn Pugh rounded out the book with three. The record stands at 2-4 overall, league play continues on the 20th with a bus trip to Lebanon. Take care, thanks for reading. 

December 11-14

Stopped by basketball practice on Monday to get the JV scorebook, the team had played on Saturday afternoon in a stand-alone game and defeated Manheim Central. The coaching staff wanted to schedule the JV squad for as many games as allowable, as a result there are some dates like this on the schedule with opponents the varsity may not necessarily play. On Wednesday Jenny was in Willow Street for a medical appointment, as is per usual I took her home and picked up lunch along the way. In the evening we were at McCaskey for a traditional JV/varsity night, the Red Tornado hosted Northeastern (from Manchester, York County). We played NE in their building in December of '22, on that night the JPM JV lost by one point and the varsity won by one at the buzzer. This time around it was a case of tit-for-tat, the JV improved to 2-2 with a two-point win, the varsity dropped to 1-3 with a 40-37 loss. The defensive effort was there but the offense looked very disorganized, after the game those matters were discussed at length in the locker room. De'Andre Jones led with 14 and Jared Kumah had 11 but from there the next leading scorer had only four points and it's tough to win without the support underneath. League play begins on Friday the 15th with a trip to Penn Manor (I'm absent for the Royals) followed by a quick-turnaround Saturday afternoon non-leaguer with Lancaster Catholic (I'm there). Take care, thanks for reading. 

December 8-10

Friday evening in downtown Reading (as opposed to the high school). the Royals were back in town for a two-game set with the Trois-Rivieres Lions. TR was the opponent on opening weekend back in October, these two games marked their final visit for the regular season. Friday was an example of the frustration the Royals have played through thus far as they suffered a 1-0 loss, the first time they were shut out at home since the second round of playoffs the previous spring and the first regular-season home zero since 2019. The lone goal came late in the second period and the Lions made it stand up, Parker Gahagen was goalie of record and deserved a better fate. On Saturday the offense came alive in resounding fashion on Military Appreciation Night, it was also the annual "Teddy Bear Toss". It didn't take long for the fur to fly, Shane Sellar scored the teddy bear goal just over three minutes after the openig faceoff. That 1-0 lead carried into the second period where the Royals scored four times in an eleven-minute stretch. Mason McCarty lit the lamp six minutes in making it 2-0, just over five minutes later newcomer Brayden Guy (on loan from Springfield/St. Louis) upped the advantage to three. Devon Paliani made it 4-0 before Sellar potted his second of the night to give the Royals a five-goal edge. Trois-Rivieres broke the shutout early in the third period but that one goal was all they got, Nolan Meier was in net for the 5-1 victory. The record stands at 6-12-2 and 5-4-1 at home, the boys host Worcester on Friday the 15th. For a second consecutive weekend it rained on Sunday, the precipitation arrived early in the morning and stayed around all day. It was a good day to stay in and stay dry, with nothing on the calendar that is exactly what happened. Take care, thanks for reading.

December 4-7

Quiet start to the new week except for Tuesday with Jenny, she was in town for an appointment and I took her home with a stop for lunch along the way. On Thursday we convened at McCaskey for the season's first road game and another ride north on 222. I talk a great deal about the value of playing a strong non-league schedule and on this night the gauntlet continued with a visit to Reading High. Any time we play in Berks County I invariably run into someone I know, this night was no exception. The basketball pedigree at RHS is known statewide, the program is the current "6A" state champion and they also won it in 2021. A large chunk of the '23 team is gone as is its head coach but as they often say "tradition never graduates". The JPM JV team lost to fall to 0-2, the varsity game followed a similar path. We were down fourteen at the quarter and by twenty-two at the half, the final was 74-54. De'Andre Jones was high scorer with 19, Nemias Tirado also hit doubles with 14. Aiden Burgess and Jared Kumah had seven each, Kamryn Pugh scored four, Kaiden Russell had a field goal and Eddie Bencosme recorded his first varsity point at the foul line. The record stands at 1-2, the varsity next plays at home on Wednesday the 13th. The JV has a stand-alone game at home on the 9th, I'm out of it since the Royals are at home. Take care, thanks for reading. 

December 1-3

The first weekend of December marks the start of high school basketball season, for me personally it marks the start of year #36 on the mic at McCaskey. Friday was the first night of a weekend tipoff tournament at JPM, I was able to be present since the Royals had played the night before. In the evening's first game Warwick (our old friends from Lititz) defeated Chichester (from suburban Philadelphia), in the nightcap the Red Tornado lost to Coatesville 77-55. We were up 18-11 after one quarter, from there Coatesville kicked it into another gear and JPM couldn't keep up. There is a reason why we have always played a challenging non-league schedule, it's about learning from the experience and finding out how good you really are. Eleven players were in uniform, they all played and eight got into the scoring column. Jared Kumah (back at JPM from a year at prep school in Florida) led with 21, Cesar Peguero had 12, Kamryn Pugh added six, DeAndre Jones had five, Aiden Burgess scored four points, Nemias Tirado nailed a three-ball, Kaiden Russel and Ja'Loney Porter had a field goal each. The tournament continued on Saturday, the day started with the JPM JV squad losing its season opener to Warwick. In the consolation game McCaskey pulled even at 1-1 with a win over Chichester, Coatesville defeated Warwick for the championship. All of that happened in my absence, I was back at the Arena for the back end of the Royals two-game set with Kalamazoo. On this night the Royals atoned for the Thursday loss with a spirited 5-3 win. Matt Brown gave the Good Guys a 1-0 lead in the first period, in the second the K-Wings scored two goals in twenty-three seconds to go up 2-1. Midway through the period the Royals replied accordingly, scores from Tag Bertuzzi and Devon Paliani separated by ninety-four seconds of clock time put the Royals ahead 3-2 at the intermission. Joseph Nardi lit the lamp early in the third to make it 4-2 but the Wings didn't fly away without a fight, they scored with two minutes left to draw within one. Tag Bertuzzi's empty-netter in the final seconds nailed down the win for goaltender Nolan Maier, after the final horn emotions boiled over and two men on each club were penalized for their involvement. The record stands at 5-10-2 (4-3-1 at home), the Royals host Trois-Rivieres for a two-gamer starting on Friday the 8th. Sunday a dark and rainy day, in late afternoon the McCaskey football team held its annual awards assembly at a local dining hall. It lasted for about two hours with a good meal included. Take care, thanks for reading.