He's a Buckeye

As I reported on Tide Talk on Sunday, football star Terrelle Pryor made it official today, signing a letter of intent to play football at Ohio State.

He also was being courted by Duke and UCLA for basketball, but they wouldn't allow him to play football.

Just back

Just got back from my three-day vacation to Happy Valley for the PIAA basketball finals.

It was our first trip to the finals at Penn State ad probably won't be our last. The Bryce Jordan Center is a great place to watch a basketball game and a first class facility. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about Hershey, except it's not a basketball arena.

One of the things I really liked about the BJC is how close you are to the action. For the three sessions we went too, we were about 15 rows or so off the court, behind the player benches. Outstanding views of the game.

With the fans being so close to the court, as opposed to the Giant Center, they seemed to be more into.

We had good accomodations for the weekend. Shot some pool, listened to a rock band Friday night play Classic 80s music, went into downtown State College and had a good breakfast at a Waffle Shop. Even ran into the Chester Clipper team and coach Fred Pickett. He looks smaller in person than he does on TV.

Two of the worst drawing teams were the two from the Philly Public League and probably two of the worst coaches teams as well were Freire Charter and Strawsberry Mansion. They may have 200 fans combined.

Did not know this, but the FC coach, according to the Philly Daily News, was a student and may have played at Hempfield. Players were hard on him after the game, quoted in one of the weekend newspapers that the coach basically lost the game. Probably something that should have been left in the locker room.

Strawberry Mansion, team-wise, did not play as well as they did against Columbia. Dwayne Davis (24) had a big game against Jeanette.

Terrelle Pryor was the best player of the weekend. Acording to reports from the Jeanette faithful, he's headed to Ohio State. He also had one of the weekend's best dunks.

Surprise team of the weekend was Serra Catholic. They looked more like a football team than a basketball team.

It's probably already over town, but I z'eed out during much of the first half of the Jeanette-Mansion game.

Food prices at the BJC were a lot more reasonable than Hershey. Can't beat the ice cream from the Creamery.

The Penn State women's coaches were in attendance on Friday.

Chester was probably the best team of the weekend -- they got a little out of control up double digits against Norristown. We watched that one on TV. Did the Norristown coach ever move off the bench?

As for the girls' side, I can remember for many years going to Hershey, Harrisburg and even Pittsburgh for the state finals, and there was always a few girls thatwere D-I recruits. Can't say that I saw any this weekend, with the exception of the young Thomas girl from Central Dauphin, and possibly the freshman from York Catholic.

York County officials (can you believe it) worked the Steel High-Susquehanna Township and actually did a pretty good job. Yes, Steel-High could have beaten Jeanette, but not Chester.

The Jeanette-Mansion game was probably the worst officiated.

And here are two things that left be shaking my head.

• Found out Sunday morning reading the Centre Daily Times (actually had great stuff in about the weekend games Friday, Saturday and Sunday) that John Miller, whose team won the Girls 3-A title with Mount Saint Joseph out of District 1, was late for a media session after his game, because like Red Auerbach, the Boston legend, he lit up a victory cigar in the locker room. Okay, that's not too bad I guess, but he then passed it around to each member of the team, who took a drag from it. WHAT!

* Also, some of the dances, or shows as some might call it, as some of the boys' teams were introduced were incredible. Strawberry Mansion had one player jump over another one while being introduced. Girls' teams on the other hand didn't have that show.

The pairings are set

The pairings have finally been set and 16 schools across the state are headed to State College this weekend for the state finals.

Looks like there will be three interesting boys' games -- AAAA, AAA and AA.

In the 4-A game, District 1 rivals Chester and Norristown, who came through the west, meet.

Chester, basketball-wise is a lot like Columbia in terms of fan support, and should be a big draw in Happy Valley.

In the 3-A game, its Mid-Penn rivals Steel High and Susquehanna Township. They split their first two games. By the way, what a year the Rollers are having in athletics -- state champs in football, now playing for a state title hoops. Steel High, again a lot like Columbia, small town that loves their sports.

The 2-A game might be the marquee match-up of the weekend between Strawberry Mansion and Jeanette. Can't wait for that one. Bet, we'll see Joe Pa or someone connected with the football program at that one. Read on TedSilary.com, there were a few college scouts at last night's Strawberry Mansion game with Imhotep. Silary said the crowd at South Philly High School wasn't much and he didn't care for the fact that three District One officials called the game, not Public League officials.

The actio starts tomorrow at noon at the Bryce Jordan Center with the Girls 2-A game as York Catholic looks for its third straight state title.

The games will be on PCN. Look for an update on Monday, or over the weekend, if I can find a place with wireless internet access and a computer.

Here is the weekend schedule:

Friday, Noon, Girls AA -- York Catholic (31-1) vs. Northern Cambria (29-1)
2 p.m., Boys A -- Freire Charter (16-6) vs. Serra Catholic (29-2)
6 p.m., Girls AAAA -- Central Dauphin (27-7) vs. Mount Lebanon (28-3)
8 p.m., Boys AAA -- Steel-High (27-6) vs. Susquehanna Township (32-2)

Saturday
Girls A -- Marian Catholic vs. Mount Alvernia
Boys AA -- Strawberry Mansion vs. Jeanette
Girls AAA -- Mount Saint Joseph vs. Mercyhurst Prep
Boys AAAA -- Chester vs. Norristown

Let's see, 16 teams, six of them are charter, private, prep or Catholic schools.

A slap on the wrist

In this week's View from the Sidelines, I alluded to the fact that Terrelle Pryor and his Jeanette teammates were involved in an altercation after their game Saturday against North Catholic.

The WPIAL, the western arm of the PIAA, was going to make a ruling yesterday (Tuesday) about possible suspensions of players. Well, forget the suspensions, both schools got their wrists slapped.

Here is a story, I pulled off Penn Live:

Don Rebel The WPIAL Board of Control has handed out punishments to both the Jeannette Jayhawks and the North Catholic Trojans boys basketball teams Tuesday evening after a fight between the two teams took place outside the locker room at Hempfield High School following a PIAA quarter-finals state playoff game on Saturday. The penalties handed down did not include any individual suspensions.

Here is a rundown of the sanctions placed on the two schools following a hearing Tuesday in Moon Township:

• The coaches and players from both teams must attend anger-management classes by the end of the school year, and the head coaches Jim Nesser of Jeannette and David Long of North Catholic must attend a coaching education class.

• ALL of the athletic programs at Jeannette and North Catholic were placed on two years' probation. During that time, if ANY sports team is involved in a similar incident, the team will forfeit its rights to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.

• The coaches, principals and athletic administrators at both schools were publicly censured.

• Jeannette and North Catholic must give the WPIAL a written plan on how athletic contests will be managed in order to ensure a similar incident won't happen again.

With no suspensions levied by the WPIAL, the Jayhawks will be at full force for their PIAA Class AA Semifinals game Wednesday night against North East.

So, here are my comments:

• Since all the schools across the state are required to enforce sportsmanship, why do we spend so much time promoting sportsmanship and read those lengthy announcements before games, if this kind of stuff is allowed to go on.

• I harken back to a few years ago when Trinity and Sto-Rox got into a fight in the state finals and fans poured out of the stands. With those sportsmanship policies in place, why wasn't that game stopped and both teams forced to forfeit their medals?

If the sportsmanship policies of the Lancaster-Lebanon League, District 3 and the PIAA are to work, examples need to be made. Selective enforcement of the policy as I see it, just isn't the way to go.

We don't want to turn our teams, coaches and fans into robots watching games, but sooner or later, proper enforcement of rules has to take place.

So I ask again, why have these policies because there is hardly, if ever, any real discipline handed out.

We'll just keep slapping people on the wrist!

Who wins!

While the Columbia basketball season ended last Saturday, local fans might be interested in a Class AA Eastern semi-final tomorrow at Reading's Geigle Complex at 1 p.m.

It matches Strawbery Mansion against Trinity.

The winner goes to the Eastern finals on Wednesday opposite either Imhotep (another Public League School) or Holy Cross, which is a merged school from District 2 formed by combining two Catholic schools, one being Bishop Hanan. Remember them?

So who wins?

If it comes down to coaching, give the nod to Larry Kostelac.

If it comes down to bench play, again give the nod to the Shamrocks.

Guard play will be extremely critical in this one, because I think SM is better up front.

I'll take Mansion!

Tide almost shocked the world

Once it looked like the Columbia boys’ basketball team was going to qualify for the state playoffs, I started researching what teams the Tide might play.

Two Saturdays ago when Columbia beat Milton Hershey to place third in the District 3 playoffs, I pulled out my file on Strawberry Mansion.

The file included scoring averages, who they played, information on the Public League and that team picture.

When I started showing around the team picture, the reaction was like “some of those guys have to be 30 years old and there’s no way Columbia could hang with them.”

During the course of the season, thanks to our cable system (what someone thanking Comcast these days), I had seen a couple of the better Class AA teams in the state play.

And despite some of the snickers from people, I thought Columbia might have a chance to shock the world on Saturday at South Philadelphia High School. No, I wasn’t smoking anything either.

I just saw our team play with a lot of heart this year and despite being badly under sized, I got geared in for a great afternoon of basketball.

There were some things I knew ahead of time about SM. One, it was there first trip to the state playoffs and I have seen some teams from the Public League just fold up their tents. Two, they probably knew nothing about Columbia, and three they would probably be over confident.

The only concern I had last week was whether or not any fans would want to travel two hours to see the Tide. Thanks to some parents, three fan buses were filled and South Philly High turned into a home game for the Tide.

Despite the odds and the talent at the other end of the floor, the Tide was up to the challenge and as coach Mark Wisler said in the CHS gym afterwards, “Columbia basketball is back on the map,” because of Saturday’s performance.

Not only did the Tide come within a couple of shots from shocking the state, it also showed the state, there’s a pretty good brand of basketball played in these parts.

Just witness what I read on line on Sunday and Monday from Ted Silary from the Philadelphia Daily News. He and the SM players were very complimentary toward our players and fans.

Sure, Columbia basketball really never disappeared from the radar screen at the county, district and state levels. Until Saturday and this year, it was just a little small part on the radar screen.

The work ethic and effort put forth by this team and their coaches this year will long be remembered as one of the best teams to come out of Columbia in a number of years.

I know they’ve probably heard it a thousand times throughout the season and a thousand more times since Saturday, but thanks for the memories.

It was a blast!

There’s no need to hang your heads over anything that happened this season.

Thanks

Last night as the Columbia basketball team returned home, Adam Pittman made a comment that I thought was special, saying how much the seniors were going to miss playing in the Columbia gym.

Coach Mark Wisler and Mike Seibert also thanked the fans for their support.

It was definitely a special season, not only for the players, but the fans as well.

Although the site was almost two hours from Columbia, Saturday's game had a "home court" feeling as more than 300 fans made the trek. Strawberry Mansion might have had about 30 fans.

There are a lot of thanks to go around -- first to the players and coaches for giving the fans a great season, one that will go down as one of the best in the history of the school; to the fans, for their loyal support of the team, and for those who arranged for the three fan buses that got many of the fans to the game Satuday. You can all be Columbia proud.

Columbia basketball is certainly back as a major player at the league, district and state level.

Was it the best site?

Last week as I was looking for some information if the PIAA had a policy concerning fan buses, etc., I stumbled on something on Page 73 of the rules and regulation section of the PIAA handbook.

It was a policy section regarding criteria to be utlized in considering selection of sites for district and/or inter-district championship contests.

Before I talk about the policy, I will say this is just the third year that the PIAA has allowed Philadelphia city schools to compete and probably as part of the "bone," they were probably given some guarantees about hosting games.

I've been to Philadelphia enough to know that there ae some other facilities that are a little more equipped to handle games.

I knew about the bleachers only being on ond side and under the baskets; only having one scoreboard, which you really couldn't see from the benches. That was a given. But, I guess I expected something different.

So, here is the PIAA criteria:

• Quality of the competition surface.
• Location of the contest site.
• Accessibility to the contest site.
• Contest site emergency response plan.
• Contest site handicapped parking areas and handicapped accessibility to the facility.
• Contest site parking areas.
• Contest site security.
• Contest site spectator seating.
• Contest site restroom facilities.
• Contest site locker room and athletic training facilities.
* Ability to display the American flag and ability to play the National Anthem prior to the start of each contest.

I would say maybe the best thing was the competition surface and perhaps the spectactor seating. There were so many scoreboard lights out, it was tough to look at and the official scorer and timer (from SP) were real treats as well.

Was told before the game that there was no showers in the locker rooms and they were side-by-side, so each team could each what was going on. Also, you weren't allowed to drink out of the water fountains.

The concession stand, and yes, I was surprised there was one, was poor to say the least. They were under prepared.

Like I said previously, there were probably several places that wee more equipped to handle the game.

Also, the officials yesterday were from District 1 and were very compilmentary toward our team after the game.

Check out this link

Columbia basketball fans may want to check out this link, with some complimentary things to say about our fans and team: www.tedsilary.com

There are also some pictures on the link as well.

Silary writes for the Philadelphia Daily News and covered the game. His story will appear in the Daily News.

More game info

Just finished the morning ritual of reading the Philadelphia newspapers -- the Inquirer and Daily News. Usually only get the Daily News, but with tomorrow's game, didn't want to miss any info available.

Looking for info on the game tomorrow and in the Daily News, there was a comment about South Philly High School -- plenty of room inside, no parking outside. They basically had Strawberry Mansion playing in the state finals.

Nothing other than schedule in the Inquirer. They did hae a photo spread about gyms in Philly -- http:..go.philly.com/gyms. They did not feature South High in the paper, but there is probably info on there about South.

In the last two days, I've talked to a couple of people I know who have knowledge of the area. One said the best parking might be in the middle of Broad Street.

In talking with coach Wisler earlier in the week, he spoke to a coach that played the Knights. The coach said there are bleachers on one side of the gym and there is not much room under the one basket or in the corners. There's also only one scoreboard.

Don't forget to fill the third coach bus. I understand that the Knights don't draw well and could seriously be looking ahead.

Roll Tide.

Reserve your seat now

Seats are going fast -- one coach bus has been filled and there are only a handful of seats left on second coach bus.

Plenty of room on school bus.

There will be an update tomorrow.

Bus update

They are going over big. Right now, there are 2 coach buses and 1 school bus.

You have up until Saturday at noon to sign-up.

Also, buses wll now leave at 1:30 p.m. and not 2.

More on the buses

There will be two fan buses for Columbia fans wanting to go to Saturday's playoff game at South Philadelphia High School.

There will be a coach bus and a regular school bus. The costof the coach bus is $10 per fan and the cost of the school bus is $5 per fan.

The buses will leave from Columbia High School at 2 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, call Associate's Real Estate at 684-0701.

Fans must have a game ticket.

There will be buses

Just got a call.

There will be two fan buses running to the game -- a coach bus at a cost of $10 a fan, or a regular school bus, at a cost of $5 a fan.

Contact Associates Real Estate for more information.

You need to purchase a ticket for the game before securing a seat on the fan bus.

Meet the Knights

There are a couple of theories when you approach Columbia’s PIAA playoff opener on Saturday against Strawberry Mansion.

First, had Columbia lost its District Three consolation game with Milton Hershey, they may have had a better draw. That draw would have been a play-in earlier this week against Christopher Dock (10-17) and then a battle against Holy Cross, the District 2 champ.

But, Columbia won and qualified for the state playoffs.

Secondly, it’s the state playoffs and you are going to have to play the best eventually.

So with that, let’s meet the Knights from Strawberry Mansion, the District 12 champs and perhaps the best Class AA team in the state.

The Knights coached by Gerald Hendricks bring a 19-5 record into Saturday’s game, having lost in the semi-finals of the Philadelphia Public League championship to Communciations Tech, 68-62.

To better understand, the Public League playoffs are actually the District 12 playoffs. All the public league teams play in their own class and advance by winning. In those playoffs, the Knights beat the Hope Charter School, 113-87, Prep Charter, maybe the second or third best team in the east, 66-53 and Imhotep Charter (see second or third best team in the east), 82-78.

Its over four losses are to Chester, 82-76. The Clippers are ranked in the top 10 in the nation; Glenn Mills, Prep Charter (non-league), Archbishop Carroll and Philly North Catholic.

Until losing to Communications Tech, the Knights had won 15 straight games.

The Knights, however, won’t be at full strength for the game. One of their starting guards, Marcus “Worm” Johnson suffered a broken leg in a pick-up game, the day before Mansion beat Imhotep.

Dwayne Davis is the team’s leading scorer at 23 points a game and he stands 6-4. The Knights are probably as big as Trinity, the team that beat the Tide in the District Three playoffs. Up front, look for 6-4 Eddie Frazier and 6-7 Devon White to bang the boards and try to dominate the paint. Another player to watch is Isaac Bradford, a lighting quick guard, who is only 5-10. The fifth player to watch is six-foot guard Darren Lawrence.

Fan buses are in question

As of 11:30 a.m., this morning, the school and the booster club are working out issues regarding fan buses to Saturday's game.

The cost of renting a bus for the trip is $500, but there are liability issues that concerns the school district.

Any info on fan buses will be posted here, or through other newspapers, or on the school web site.

If a business wants to sponsor a bus, or part of a bus, call the school.

It's really a shame, I think, that there are a number of fans, who have supported the team all year and won't be able to travel to the game without a bus.

Saturday's game

There is three o'clock game on Saturday at the Boys' 4-A level between Frankford and Ridley.

I've been told that parking is really limited at South Philadelphia High School.

Later today, I will post information concerning tickets, directions and the possibility of a fan bus or buses to the game.

Road trip

Just announced this afternoon -- Columbia's first state playoff game against Strawberry Mansion will be played Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at South Philadelphia High School.

Here's hoping that the school, a few businesses or even the booster club gets together and runs fan buses to the game.

I will post more on Strawberry Mansion early in the week.