Amauroaustinsr@gmail.com

FB: aasnotes.com

IG: @aasnotes

Twitter: @AA215

Hello everyone.. I apologize for my small hiatus but we didn’t forget last week’s action.. I was out 3 days last week and took in 5 games.. ALL of the Playoff variety.. PLAYOFFS!?!?!?!?! Here is a condensed version of my notes on last week’s big events..

10 days ago we witnessed one of the more exciting Catholic League finals in recent memory as Roman Catholic scored a come-from-behind OT win over the favored Saints of Neumann-Goretti behind the magical play of sr PG Xzayvier Brown.. Everyone now knows how it all played out but I’ll add that the “X-Man” cemented his name in the lure of city history with his legendary, refuse to lose performance.. I always get wind of alumni on Hawk Hill’s thoughts on their incoming recruiting class and yes they should indeed be excited cause Mr Brown is the next up in a long line of star Hawk guards.. And his main running mate Sr F Anthony Finkley, also a St Joe’s signee, saved one of his better performances of the season for the “Chip” game. The Cahillites now go on to defend their 6A State Title as district 12s #1 seed. They’ll have to do it without 2 starters in fiery two-way wing players Jermai Stewart–Herring (Wilmington) & Erik Oliver-Bush (Trenton). Both transferred in from Out of State Catholic schools for their senior year and are deemed ineligible for District/State Tournament play due to PIAA rules.. Loved watching both of those young men compete.. Both are my kinda playas.. Roman Will open up with a 1st round tilt against Perkiomen Valley at West Philly HS on Saturday afternoon.. As for Neumann, this one had to sting.. Poor 4th quarter free throw shooting bit them in the ass. The Saints got a little get back 2 days later in a state seeding game against Overbrook.. Jr G Rob Wright III (Baylor) went off for a school record 43 points en route to a 84-55 win.. And now they’ll focus on defending their 4A state title with a possible big battle with Western power: Lincoln Park Charter being the game that everyone wants to see.. Special shout out to NG sr G Bruce Smith, a leader & team-first guy through and through.. 👊🏾

Last Tuesday we saw a gargantuan District Semi-Final game in Ardmore between perennial District 1 powers Plymouth Whitemarsh and Lower Merion.. And what we saw was the Colonials go into the Lions den and do something I wasn’t sure they’d do which was come out alive and unscathed. Going in I felt PW was the better team by a decent margin but playing at LM is never easy and in a one game situation there aren’t many better at preparing on than legendary LM coach Greg Downer.. PW passed the test and then some overcoming 25 points from dangerous lefty sniper, Sam Brown (Penn) and a solid game plan from Coach Downer. Jr Guards Jayden Colzie (16pts) & Chase Coleman (19pts) really came up big as Sr F Qudire Bennett (11pts), the SOL’s leading scorer got extra special defensive attention along with early foul woes.. And on to Temple they went which we’ll speak on shortly.. LM moves on the State play as D1-3 and a favorable first round home game Saturday against Williamsport with a possible 2nd round showdown against Roman looming..

Saturday we made our way to Temple University’s Liacouras Center for 3 District Title games, 5A boys, 6A Girls & 6A Boys.. We missed game one in which West Chester Rustin became the 5A girls Champion with a 54-43 triumph over Villa Maria Academy..

Game 1 saw Undefeated 26-0 Radnor high school romp their way to a to win 27 in a 61-36 domination in Unionville.. The Raptors have been on a mission since dropping a tough one in the District Final last season against Chester. And are now on a collision course towards a state Semifinal Battle Royale against the mighty mighty Nationally ranked Imhotep Panthers.. If and when that game happens count AA in.. And yes before you even ask, Radnor can hang with Tep.. They won’t be favored but they are definitely expected to acquit themselves well.. A quarterfinal match vs Ryan in a rematch of a December Radnor comfortable win could be a bump in the road though.. Coach Jamie Chadwin’s club kicks off state tournament play Friday night at home against D3-8 Warwick..

Game 2 the best 2 teams in District 1 girls basketball all season matchup on for the title and a close 50/50 game is what we got.. The teams combined record coming in was a sparkling 53-1.. And both squads will have a shot at taking home state glory in 2 weeks possibly even against each other.. PV won on this day cause they executed a little cleaner en route to a 48-44 win. If these clubs met 10 times, I’d be hard-pressed to tell you that they’d probably split evenly.. What’s impressive about PV is that all 5 of their starters are 10th graders so we’ll probably need to get used to them winning District titles and I’d even venture to say that they’ll take At least 1 State crown over the next 3 seasons.. 6A girls State playoffs kick off Friday night.. Both teams will get a home game to start..

Game 3 PW v. Spring Ford to crown a new champion in District 1.. The story lines were there as both coaches PW long time boss Jim Donofrio & S-F Joe Dempsey are Long time friends both growing up in Conshohocken. Both coaches also have vast State playoff experience. Both teams in different places as PW is the incumbent in D1 while Spring Ford is the upstart.. Some fans were saying beforehand, the Colonials would win by 12 to 15 points. I didn’t buy that number figured that Coach Dempsey would do his best to control tempo and that this game wouldn’t likely be played at PWs favored pace. And I was right as the pace was moderate/deliberate and S-F only took the shots they wanted and the Colonials obliged and beat them at their own game. I’m personally a 30-something year chess player so I enjoyed what I was watching.. 59-54, Colonials.. Obviously 5 days later as I post this, this game has been covered every which way so I’m just gonna give some of my REAL notices thoughts really quick.. Chase Coleman.. I playfully call him the “Shut Off Valve” cause he has developed a reputation for cutting the other team’s top perimeter scorer’s water off.. He uses his long arms and fast feet along with physicality to break rhythm and simply take lunch.. You gotta be a certain kinda guy to wanna shut people down and he’s that while also being a highly skilled 3-level scorer.. His main assignment tonight was holding high scoring Jr combo guard E.J. Campbell to 5 points.. Campbell had been having a spectacular playoff run recently scoring 27 in the Semis against Downingtown West.. No shame here as I’ve seen just about everyone in the region and Coleman is the best on-ball perimeter defender I’ve seen this season.. Jr G Jaden Colzie put on a stamped performance making 4 big-boy (5-for-5 from the field) deep jumpers in a 13 point 4th quarter.. It was like the young fella turned on the light switch and decided it was his moment.. Introducing Jacob Nguyen.. The 6-4 Soph Wing Guard put on a shooting exhibition of his own making 4 deep treys in a star-making 20 point Championship game performance.. His progress bares watching..

Joe Dempsey came to the Royersford school at the perfect time as the Rams are a sleeping giant.. Prominent retired pro athletes live in the district and happen to have sons.. The facilities are top flight and the school district is among the best in Montgomery County.. It’s a high end job with respect to high school coaching jobs.. Next for the Rams is a tough 1st round State Playoff game at home vs D3-5 seed Central York.. CY has 3 D1 prospects on their roster.. This is the best first round game of the tournament.. Oddly enough this was only PWs 3rd district title in my memory, 1998 & 2016. Even the years the Colonials won state titles: 1997 & 2010, they lost in the District Finals.. In 97, they were upset by Chester and went on to win States led by current associate head coach Chuck Moore & long time NBA vet John Salmons.. And in 2010, they dropped the District Final to 2009 State Champion Penn Wood and then beat Penn Wood in a rematch in the State Title game.. This is an odd occurrence considering PW being such consistent force in district one for the last 30 years.. Next for PW is a first round Home State game on Saturday afternoon against Chambersburg from District 3..

Look for some more content this weekend as we covered last night’s DIAA State Semis (Delaware) and we’ll have a state playoff preview.. And next week we’ll have a list of the unsigned seniors who should be on the small college radar this Spring.. Oh yeah, We working!!! If you are enjoying this content please like, share and subscribe.. Yours in Sports.. — AA