Friday night, Penn Wood put the finishing touches on its first District One Class AAAA championship in 18 years ... and the Daily Times was all over it. (Game story and column can be found here.)

The Times was on the baseline, too, with staff photographer Bob Gurecki nabbing some shots of the action:
Penn Wood reserve forward Jeff Kyem pulls down a rebound in front of Plymouth-Whitemarsh's C.J. Aiken in the first half.

Shawn Oakman (center) embraces Aaron Brown (left) and Will Brown (right) in the moments following the Patriots' upset of the Colonials.

Reserve guard Jerry Price (No. 1) rushes to the court after the buzzer to meet Will Brown and Aaron Brown (back) following the Patriots' first district championship victory since 1992.

AROUND THE STATE
In a major upset, Reading dispatched Hempfield, 54-46, Saturday in the District Three Class AAAA title game. Hempfield, the top seed, had gone 27-0 en route to the title game.

What that does is make Penn Wood's road to a repeat as state champion a little more bumpy, with Reading winning and going to the West side of the PIAA bracket. The weekend is long, so let's see how the rest of the bracket shakes out before we reach any conclusions.

AROUND THE COUNTY
In the District One Class AAAA seventh-place game. Penncrest toppled Chester, 56-53, at West Chester East High School. The Lions' Rodney Duncan went off for 31 points, a career high. The Clippers trailed by 10 with two minutes to go before closing the gap. According to Penncrest coach Mike Doyle, Duncan's point tally is the best for any Lion in more than eight years.

In case you didn't pick up the Sunday Times, the Daily Times sports staff was ALL over the District One Class AAAA, AAA and A playoffs. We had a writer at all six boys basketball postseason games.

We also had staff photographer at a few of them. Here's Bob Gurecki's view from the baseline:


Marple Newtown's Soutiri Sapnas drives past a Harriton defender Wednesday during the Tigers' District One Class AAA first-round victory.


Penncrest's Rodney Duncan eludes Plymouth-Whitemarsh's C.J. Aiken Saturday in the Lions' loss to the Colonials in a District One Class AAAA quarterfinal.


Chester's Rondae Jefferson tries to bring in an offensive rebound in the Clippers' District One Class AAAA quarterfinal loss to Souderton.

It wasn't as dramatic as most championship games are, but Penncrest will take it.

The Lions thumped Ridley, 45-26, Tuesday night in the Central League championship game at Harriton High School. The teams' only other meeting this season went to overtime, with the visiting Green Raiders stealing a victory.

This time, it was all Penncrest (21-3), which won its first league title since 1999 and only its seventh all-time. Senior Rodney Duncan inflicted most of the damage, dropping in 20 points. Fellow senior and backcourt mate Andrew Radomicki dropped in 12 for the Lions, who outscored the Green Raiders (16-8) in each quarter.

Both teams could end up seeing each other in the District One Class AAAA playoffs, which commence Friday. Eighth-seeded Penncrest will host No. 15 Owen J Roberts and 19th-seeded Ridley heads to No. 14 Central Bucks South.

For more on the Central League championship game, pick up a copy of Wednesday's Daily Times.

It's going to be an all-Delaware County final in the Central League championship tournament.

That became official when Penncrest put the finishing touches on its 51-40 victory over Springfield and, at Bala Cynwyd Middle School, Ridley pulled a 42-40 upset of top-seeded Lower Merion.

In Penncrest's victory, Ian Campbell led three double-figure scorers with 14 points. Rodney Duncan had 13 and Andrew Radomicki scored 11. The storyline for the Lions was Matt Atkinson (9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 steals), who came very close to a quadruple-double.

"We're very excited to be in this situation," said Penncrest coach Mike Doyle, whose team has steadily improved its win total in each of his seven years at the helm.

For Ridley, it was all Cameron Gunter, who had 15 points and 10 boards. But Marc Dziadon stole the spotlight. He only made two shots the entire game --- and one of them was a running layup as time expired, sealing the Green Raiders' upset. Shawn Church tossed in 13 points.

ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP ... No. 4 Ridley takes on No. 2 Penncrest for the title Tuesday night in a 7 p.m. tipoff at Harriton High. Should be a good one.

Sometimes, I write posts for this blog thinking nobody is reading this thing. (Only half the time I'm right. ... Maybe.) This time, the blog was read and Penncrest responded.

Before the Lions' 55-36 win over Strath Haven Friday, I was told by members of the Lions coaching staff that the Penncrest band took offense to my listing the school as the third-best place to see a game this season (behind Chester and Glen Mills.) In an attempt to prove me wrong, the marching band pieced together a 22-member ensemble to play pre-game, during timeouts and at halftime.

A band at a basketball game is practically unheard of. It's more a football thing. According to Penncrest senior Richard Forbes, Penncrest's musicians had played at basketball games as recently as four years ago.

"But it fell off, for whatever reason," said Forbes, the band leader for Friday's game who also plays clarinet. "People don't want to do it because they're not sure how they'll get their homework done, too. But we figured it would create a good atmosphere for a game.

"And, really, who doesn't want to be here? The team is playing great. Everyone wants to come out to their games."

Forbes, junior co-conductor Matt Pesce and the band's faculty moderator Craig Snyder helped get Friday's effort off the ground. They posted a sign-up sheet in the music room and the volunteers piled up. The band played the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" and Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" among other songs.

It had an affect on the Lions (17-2, 11-2).

"It was like a college atmosphere with them," said Rodney Duncan, who had a team-leading 22 points. "It just made for a crazy atmosphere."

Added coach Mike Doyle: "What they were able to bring was a nice addition."

We all make them, these things we call new year's resolutions. We resolve ourselves to be better, more committed, more determined to something, anything. But we never follow through.

That changes now.

It's the early going of the boys basketball season, and it's been tough finding chances to blog about the teams and players in Delaware County. But I'm vowing right now to fix that in 2010. (Question: Is it twenty-ten, or two-thousand-and-ten? I need to get that answered post haste.)

Anyway, here's a quick-hitting recap of Wednesday's games:
---Penncrest (6-0) is Delco's lone unbeaten boys basketball team. The Lions won their own tournament behind 27 points from Andrew Radomicki. Is it just me or is someone different stepping up every night for coach Mike Doyle? One night it's Radomicki. The next it's Rodney Duncan, or Matt Atkinson, or Ian Campbell. That's a well-balanced team.

---Marple Newtown's Soutiri Sapnas put up 47 points in a one-point loss to Girard College. It was the third time in his career that Sapnas has eclipsed the 40-point barrier. His career-best was in the second-to-last game of the regular season a year ago, when he tossed in 49.

---The Class AAA teams in Delco are all over the place. Springfield wins four in a row to start the year, then loses four straight. Strath Haven, on a four-game winning streak, opened 2009 at 1-3. And Carroll needed overtime in its first two games.

More to come in the days to follow. Happy New Year, everyone.

Welcome to Schwartz Gymnasium at Widener University, the site of Monday's installment of the Jameer Nelson Classic.

I'll be on hand for a couple of the games. Stay close to Gettin' Schooled for odds and ends on each of them and check back regularly for results.

NESHAMINY 63, LOWER MERION 58: Without leading scorer Alon Seltzer, the Aces did everything they could do to stay competitive, before suffering their first loss. Lower Merion, on first glance, has a really well-balanced team. But the Redskins' Ryan Arcidiacano is better. The sophomore guard had a game-best 21 points and could be on his way to reaching 1,000 points before his junior year. Seltzer has been out since dislocating his knee cap in a game against Upper Darby.

ST. JOSEPH'S PREP 62, MARPLE NEWTOWN 42: Defending the 3 isn't a recommendation. In this game, it was. The Hawks made 2 of 19 3-point attempts before giving way to their bench. Senior Joe Nardi knocked down seven of them on his way to 23 points. For Marple Ryan Hanley and Soutiri Sapnas had 15 and 11 points, respectively. Check out Tuesday's Daily Times for a full report.

ALSO ON THE SCENE: Archbishop Carroll All-Delco D.J. Irving, wearing a red Boston University hat ... Penncrest senior guard Rodney Duncan ... Ridley coach Keith Heinerichs, doing some advanced scouting, as were dozens of other District One coaches ... Widener guard Chris White. A member of Penn Wood's state-title team a year ago, White was wearing his letter jacket - and getting hassled by Widener athletic personnel for doing so. "Don't you have any Widener gear?" one asked.