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Roman Empire Back On Track
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| Maalik Wayns, above, is averaging 18.3 points per game for Roman Catholic this season. He and fellow standout guard Rakeem Brookins are two big reasons why the Cahillites have rebounded in impressive fashion from some tough non-conference losses. (Rob Reed/The Bulletin) |
By Brendan F. Quinn & Kevin L. Hall, The Bulletin
For a fleeting moment, Catholic League teams probably thought the league was wide open this year. That was back when Roman Catholic entered PCL play with a 2-4 record.
In the preseason, the Cahillites were widely regarded as the league favorite. They sported the city’s top player in Villanova-bound guard Maalik Wayns and looked poised for a special season. To see Roman lose four of its first six games probably caused euphoria throughout the PCL.
Any jubilation is officially over. Following a victory over St. Joseph’s Prep on Tuesday, the Cahillites are 8-0 in league play and beating league foes by an average of 24.6 points. And that’s including a modest three-point victory over North Catholic on Dec. 30.
“Some teams don’t get a lot out of the early part of their schedule — we did,” said first-year coach Chris McNesby, who replaced the legendary Dennis Seddon in the offseason. “Now, our guys are hungry to win. You can see it in their faces and their eyes.”
If you’re curious about that non-league mark, let’s take a closer look. In addition to those first six non-league games, Roman also lost to Rice (N.Y.) while in the midst of its league schedule. So all together, the team is 2-5 in non-league play and 10-5 overall.
OK, here’s the explanation: McNesby and the Cahillites faced a gauntlet of powerhouses outside of the PCL. Their seven non-league opponents have a combined record of 87-28 and include, among others, Mater Dei (Calif.), the top-ranked team in USA Today’s Super 25, and national powers Arlington Country Day (Fla.), Lincoln (N.Y.) and Duncanville (Tex.). That’s in addition to Rice, the East Region’s No. 4 team, according to USA Today.
“We learned a lot about ourselves in that stretch,” said McNesby, whose team is anchored by a dominant backcourt of Wayns and junior Rakeem Brookins. “When we went to (the City of Palms Classic in Florida, where Roman dropped three of four), we wanted to see certain guys find their role. There were a lot of guys who didn’t get time last year that needed to develop.”
With its utter dominance of the PCL, it’s difficult to decipher whether Roman is that good or if it’s just a down year for the league. In actuality, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle.
Moving forward, the Cahillites have a golden opportunity to show their mettle on Jan. 30. At Villanova, a showdown with defending state champion Chester awaits. The Clippers were supposed to be in rebuilding mode this year. Instead, they are 12-1 and ranked No. 3 among the state’s Class AAAA schools, according to The Patriot-News in Harrisburg.
Guess who is No. 2?
“We’re not thinking about Chester at all right now because we’ve got North Catholic (9-5, 7-1) at their gym on Friday,” McNesby said. “That game is for first place in our league.”
He might not be looking ahead, but we are. Roman-Chester has the makings of an instant classic.
Girls’ Basketball
Stepping Up
Cheltenham’s Monet Constant is averaging 17.0 points per game during a current 13-game winning streak by the Panthers. Seven players have scored in double figures during the streak, which has the 2007 Class AAAA state champions drubbing opponents by an average margin of 28.4 points.
Hard Rock
Council Rock North took its frustrations out on Truman on Tuesday as 12 Indians scored during a 75-10 thrashing of the Tigers. The Indians (15-2) had their 13-game winning streak snapped by Cheltenham in a rematch of the 2007 state championship in the final game of Saturday’s Scholastic Play-By-Play Classic at Archbishop Carroll.
Road Warriors
Central Bucks East won a stretch of four straight road games recently, winning at Suburban One League foes Central Bucks South, Council Rock South, North Penn and Souderton. The Patriots (14-1), who have won eight straight, have been led by Liz Martin (13.4 ppg) and Jaime Donovan (12.1) in their last seven games since returning from the KSA Holiday tournament at Walt Disney World. It was there where CB East lost its only game of the season, 60-56, to Redmond, Wash.
Great Valley’s O’Malley
Colleen O’Malley is averaging 13.3 points per game during Great Valley’s current eight-game winning streak. The Patriots are currently in third place in the Ches-Mont American Division.
Wrestling
Seeds and first-round pairings are now up for the Class AAA District 1 Duals tournament starting today at four different sites. Each site will host two first- and second-round duals. Start times are 5:30 p.m. for first-round matches, with second-round duals scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. The tournament moves to Council Rock South with quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Jan. 30 at 6 and 8 p.m. The championship is set for Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. The top three teams will advance to the state duals meet starting Feb. 3.
At Radnor
The 19th-seeded hosts wrestle No. 14 Central Bucks East. The winner takes on No. 3 Great Valley. The other mat features
No. 9 Abington against No. 24 Neshaminy with the winner meeting No. 8 West Chester Henderson.
At Upper Perkiomen
The No. 7 Indians will host the winner between No. 10 Spring-Ford and No. 23 Garnet Valley. Also, No. 16 Central Bucks West faces No. 17 Perkiomen Valley, with the winner getting top-seeded Boyertown.
At Hatboro-Horsham
No. 12 Sun Valley grapples No. 21 Truman with the winner squaring off with No. 5 Council Rock North. No. 13 Hatboro-Horsham tangles with No. 20 Pottsgrove with No. 4 Springfield (Delco) awaiting the winner.
At Pennsbury
Norristown, the 15th seed, wrestles host Pennsbury, seeded 18th, with the victor opposing No. 2 Quakertown. Also, No. 11 Upper Moreland meets No. 22 Downingtown East with the winner challenging No. 6 Council Rock South.
Meanwhile, the four-team AA District 1 tournament will be held on Jan. 31 at Council Rock South. First-round matches at 1 p.m. pit top-seeded Octorara against No. 4 Cardinal Dougherty and No. 2 Harriton against No. 3 Springfield (Montco). The winners meet at 4 p.m. to determine the district champion and lone state representative.
Girls’ Squash
The Penn Charter girls are 10-0 heading into a home match today with Springside. After that, the Quakers travel to take on defending Mid-Atlantic Squash Association (MASA) champion Episcopal Academy next Tuesday. The Quakers won the previous meeting, 5-4, on Dec. 10. The girls’ MASA tournament runs Jan. 30-31 at Lawrenceville Prep. Episcopal will host the boys’ tournament inside the Madeira courts the same weekend.
Brendan F. Quinn can be reached at bquinn@thebulletin.us and Kevin L. Hall can be reached at khall@thebulletin.us.
In the preseason, the Cahillites were widely regarded as the league favorite. They sported the city’s top player in Villanova-bound guard Maalik Wayns and looked poised for a special season. To see Roman lose four of its first six games probably caused euphoria throughout the PCL.
Any jubilation is officially over. Following a victory over St. Joseph’s Prep on Tuesday, the Cahillites are 8-0 in league play and beating league foes by an average of 24.6 points. And that’s including a modest three-point victory over North Catholic on Dec. 30.
“Some teams don’t get a lot out of the early part of their schedule — we did,” said first-year coach Chris McNesby, who replaced the legendary Dennis Seddon in the offseason. “Now, our guys are hungry to win. You can see it in their faces and their eyes.”
If you’re curious about that non-league mark, let’s take a closer look. In addition to those first six non-league games, Roman also lost to Rice (N.Y.) while in the midst of its league schedule. So all together, the team is 2-5 in non-league play and 10-5 overall.
OK, here’s the explanation: McNesby and the Cahillites faced a gauntlet of powerhouses outside of the PCL. Their seven non-league opponents have a combined record of 87-28 and include, among others, Mater Dei (Calif.), the top-ranked team in USA Today’s Super 25, and national powers Arlington Country Day (Fla.), Lincoln (N.Y.) and Duncanville (Tex.). That’s in addition to Rice, the East Region’s No. 4 team, according to USA Today.
“We learned a lot about ourselves in that stretch,” said McNesby, whose team is anchored by a dominant backcourt of Wayns and junior Rakeem Brookins. “When we went to (the City of Palms Classic in Florida, where Roman dropped three of four), we wanted to see certain guys find their role. There were a lot of guys who didn’t get time last year that needed to develop.”
With its utter dominance of the PCL, it’s difficult to decipher whether Roman is that good or if it’s just a down year for the league. In actuality, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle.
Moving forward, the Cahillites have a golden opportunity to show their mettle on Jan. 30. At Villanova, a showdown with defending state champion Chester awaits. The Clippers were supposed to be in rebuilding mode this year. Instead, they are 12-1 and ranked No. 3 among the state’s Class AAAA schools, according to The Patriot-News in Harrisburg.
Guess who is No. 2?
“We’re not thinking about Chester at all right now because we’ve got North Catholic (9-5, 7-1) at their gym on Friday,” McNesby said. “That game is for first place in our league.”
He might not be looking ahead, but we are. Roman-Chester has the makings of an instant classic.
Girls’ Basketball
Stepping Up
Cheltenham’s Monet Constant is averaging 17.0 points per game during a current 13-game winning streak by the Panthers. Seven players have scored in double figures during the streak, which has the 2007 Class AAAA state champions drubbing opponents by an average margin of 28.4 points.
Hard Rock
Council Rock North took its frustrations out on Truman on Tuesday as 12 Indians scored during a 75-10 thrashing of the Tigers. The Indians (15-2) had their 13-game winning streak snapped by Cheltenham in a rematch of the 2007 state championship in the final game of Saturday’s Scholastic Play-By-Play Classic at Archbishop Carroll.
Road Warriors
Central Bucks East won a stretch of four straight road games recently, winning at Suburban One League foes Central Bucks South, Council Rock South, North Penn and Souderton. The Patriots (14-1), who have won eight straight, have been led by Liz Martin (13.4 ppg) and Jaime Donovan (12.1) in their last seven games since returning from the KSA Holiday tournament at Walt Disney World. It was there where CB East lost its only game of the season, 60-56, to Redmond, Wash.
Great Valley’s O’Malley
Colleen O’Malley is averaging 13.3 points per game during Great Valley’s current eight-game winning streak. The Patriots are currently in third place in the Ches-Mont American Division.
Wrestling
Seeds and first-round pairings are now up for the Class AAA District 1 Duals tournament starting today at four different sites. Each site will host two first- and second-round duals. Start times are 5:30 p.m. for first-round matches, with second-round duals scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. The tournament moves to Council Rock South with quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Jan. 30 at 6 and 8 p.m. The championship is set for Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. The top three teams will advance to the state duals meet starting Feb. 3.
At Radnor
The 19th-seeded hosts wrestle No. 14 Central Bucks East. The winner takes on No. 3 Great Valley. The other mat features
No. 9 Abington against No. 24 Neshaminy with the winner meeting No. 8 West Chester Henderson.
At Upper Perkiomen
The No. 7 Indians will host the winner between No. 10 Spring-Ford and No. 23 Garnet Valley. Also, No. 16 Central Bucks West faces No. 17 Perkiomen Valley, with the winner getting top-seeded Boyertown.
At Hatboro-Horsham
No. 12 Sun Valley grapples No. 21 Truman with the winner squaring off with No. 5 Council Rock North. No. 13 Hatboro-Horsham tangles with No. 20 Pottsgrove with No. 4 Springfield (Delco) awaiting the winner.
At Pennsbury
Norristown, the 15th seed, wrestles host Pennsbury, seeded 18th, with the victor opposing No. 2 Quakertown. Also, No. 11 Upper Moreland meets No. 22 Downingtown East with the winner challenging No. 6 Council Rock South.
Meanwhile, the four-team AA District 1 tournament will be held on Jan. 31 at Council Rock South. First-round matches at 1 p.m. pit top-seeded Octorara against No. 4 Cardinal Dougherty and No. 2 Harriton against No. 3 Springfield (Montco). The winners meet at 4 p.m. to determine the district champion and lone state representative.
Girls’ Squash
The Penn Charter girls are 10-0 heading into a home match today with Springside. After that, the Quakers travel to take on defending Mid-Atlantic Squash Association (MASA) champion Episcopal Academy next Tuesday. The Quakers won the previous meeting, 5-4, on Dec. 10. The girls’ MASA tournament runs Jan. 30-31 at Lawrenceville Prep. Episcopal will host the boys’ tournament inside the Madeira courts the same weekend.
Brendan F. Quinn can be reached at bquinn@thebulletin.us and Kevin L. Hall can be reached at khall@thebulletin.us.
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