Archbishop Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk was named the Catholic League's Coach of the Year Tuesday, when the postseason awards were announced.

In his sixth season, Romanczuk led the Patriots to a 21-2 record and an appearance in Wednesday's league semifinal, where they will face Roman Catholic.

Romanczuk wasn't the only one from Carroll to garner high honors. Junior guard D.J. Irving and sophomore guard Juan'Ya Green (pictured, left to right) were named to the league's Blue Division First Team. Senior forwards Kasheef Festus and Andre Wilburn were picked for Blue's Second and Third teams, respectively.

CATHOLIC RED
At Monsignor Bonner, junior point guard Jamal Melvin was named to the Red Division First Team. Junior guard Keefer Francis was selected to the Second Team.

INTER-AC
Episcopal Academy junior guard Omari Grier garnered a First-Team nomination. Teammate and senior guard Cory Goodman made the Second Team, and senior guards A.J. Jones and Sam Kurtzman of The Haverford School were Honorable Mention selections.

Prior to The Haverford School's game Tuesday afternoon, the Fords honored former coach and athletic director Don McBride by naming the school's basketball court after him.

McBride coached the Fords to a 48-44 record in eight seasons, including a 1969 Inter-Academic League championship. More importantly, McBride served the school for more than 25 years in administrative roles and as an English teacher.

Thus the deserved honor - McBride Court.

Current Fords coach Steve Cloran was hoping he and the Fords could channel some of McBride's greatness in Tuesday's game against Penn Charter because - interestingly, ironically, whichever word you choose - the Fords hosted and beat Penn Charter 40 years ago to the day, with the league title at stake.

"It wasn't our day," Cloran said, "and I feel really bad about that because it could have been a really nice day. I just hope our game didn't ruin it for some of the other people here today."

It wasn't meant to be this year, with the Fords falling to the Quakers. A.J. Jones had the breakout game with 25 points.

Episcopal Academy and The Haverford School opened their basketball seasons Tuesday. But for the remainder of Delaware County, the season begins Friday.

That's when the Daily Times' boys and girls basketball season previews will hit newsstands.

Sophomore center Shawn Oakman, pictured, and the Penn Wood Patriots are tapped by many Delco coaches as the team to beat in the Del Val and District One.

Obviously, their reputation extends beyong Delco. The Patriots are ranked No. 40 nationally by ESPN/Rise Magazine's Fab 50. And they're No. 9 in PrepNation's East Coast regional rankings.

Time will tell if the Patriots are for real. But we'll have a better grasp after Friday.

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***Episcopal Acad. 43, Abington Friends 41: Sophomore Isaiah Baker scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the first game at EA's O'Neill Gymnasium.

***Friends' Central 66, Hav. School 37: Senior A.J. Jones dropped in 10 points in the season opener for the Fords (0-1).