skip navigation

Prepping for Preps: Trinity (Pa.)

11/30/2015, 11:45am EST
By Michael Bullock

Sean Good (above) and Trinity have state championship expectations. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
--

(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's "Prepping for Preps," our series of articles previewing area high school teams for the 2015-16 season. For the complete list of schools previewed so far, click here)

~~~

CAMP HILL — While it’s been eight-plus months since Trinity’s remarkably successful basketball program laced up its sneakers and suited up for a game — any game — the anticipation of what awaits continues to build and build.

Even the hallways at the West Shore school are flush with serious expectations as the Shamrocks’ season-opening scrap at York Catholic draws nearer and nearer.

“Ecstatic. I couldn’t even put it into words,” said junior lead guard Austin Gilbertson, the latest Trinity player to land all-state honors. “Since the day we lost to [Philadelphia’s Mastery Charter North], everyone’s been like, ‘Next year is our year. We’re about to do something special.’ I think everyone’s hyped.

“We come into school and kids are walking up to us like, ‘Oh, can’t wait for the season. Can’t wait for the season. We’re coming to every game,’” Gilbertson added.

“I’m excited. I can’t even describe it.”

Let’s give it a try.

Gilbertson is one of four returning starters from a Trinity program that last season captured its second straight District 3-AA championship and advanced to the second round of the PIAA Class AA tournament — the ‘Rocks suffered a season-ending 67-61 loss to Mastery Charter North in Round 2 — even though each part of that potent quartet logged extensive varsity minutes for the first time.

Trinity’s immense size — sophomore big man and big-time Division I prospect Sean Good is 6-foot-11, Mount St. Mary’s signee Jack Vukelich has grown to 6-9 and added some 15 pounds to his lean frame, junior small forward Timmy Edwards stands 6-4 and Northeastern transfer Marcus Hall checks in at 6-2 alongside the 6-3 Gilbertson — is another reason why Shamrocks partisans are jacked.

All of these youngsters are mobile and can move. Plus, only two seniors (Vukelich and 6-0 Matt Salerno) can be located on the Shamrocks’ roster.

“You don’t know until you turn on that spotlight. We’re anxious. I love working with this group. They’re a lot of fun,” admitted Larry Kostelac Jr., who has captured two state championships and 13 District 3-AA titles during his three-plus decades (632-270) fronting his alma mater’s hoops fortunes. “I love the pace that we have.

“We’re just gonna get better as the year progresses. I like this team. I like it a lot. I think we have a chance to be pretty good. We’ve just got to get it done.”

While Kostelac readily admits his club is rapidly attempting to develop perimeter depth, his returning starters and their respective games are merely adding more and more oomph to his program’s high-octane expectations.

• Drawing interest from an assortment of Patriot League programs and packing Maravich-like flair, the innovative Gilbertson averaged 17.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals per outing as a sophomore. In five postseason outings, he averaged 20-plus points per.

• With major Division I programs such as Penn State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Virginia and Davidson already involved, the remarkably imposing Good averaged 7.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 5.1 blocks per outing as a freshman. Focused on improving his strength and his offensive repertoire, he’s already displaying improvement at both ends.

• Springy on the blocks when he’s working the glass but capable of floating to the wings, Edwards (14.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.3 apg) has added length to his jumper. Relentless around the cup, Edwards is one of those players who just knows how to score and goes about getting it done.

• Vukelich, who earlier this month signed with The Mount, has spent the offseason diligently working at adding dimensions to his game after spending his junior year averaging 8.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per contest.

“He worked hard in the weight room and he’s done a nice job,” Kostelac commended. “He’s so athletic. He’s our most athletic kid. The stuff that he’s doing — taking the ball to the basket and dunking on people and throwing back-door alley oops and stuff — it’s kind of scary.

"We haven’t had a kid do that — ever.”

The muscular Hall, meanwhile, will add a much-needed physical element to a Shamrocks lineup that’s still maturing. Plus, he’ll provide Kostelac with a number of defensive options when the Shamrocks square off against a loaded Mid-Penn Capital Division lineup as well as a testy non-league slate.

Jack Bucher, a 6-4 sophomore who came on late last season, adds even more size to an already towering Trinity lineup. He’s also a terrific perimeter shooter, possibly the Shamrocks' best and most consistent.

Salerno, 5-10 junior Reakwuan Brown, 5-11 sophomore Mike Scarpelli, 6-2 sophomore Tresjon Ruiz and 6-0 junior Sean Scott are among the other youngsters vying for playing time who will provide depth for the Shamrocks.

And while there’s plenty of talent in the Trinity locker room — not to mention whenever Kostelac’s group steps on the floor — just playing in last season’s state tournament provided a needed base, a tipping-off point, for the highly energized ‘Rocks.

“I think that gave us a lot of boost confidence-wise,” Gilbertson admitted. “Coming into states, I don’t think anyone on that team was really ready. Vuke was probably the only one who was a state [playoffs] basketball player, like knew what he was doing. I played the year before, but [we were eliminated in the] first round.

“Getting that first win in states [over Holy Redeemer] probably made a big difference for us. I think that helped us a lot. Mastery Charter game, we didn’t play well,” Gilbertson added. “It happens.”

“There’s no replacement for experience,” Kostelac said. “As I look at this roster — and we have 20 kids in uniform — we have two seniors. That’s a young team. The majority of our kids are sophomores or freshmen on our JV/varsity. That’s a young basketball team. And you know what? We have four kids with starting experience coming back. So it’s very unusual.

“They’ve played in a lot of games. They’ve won a district championship. They challenged in the conference and lost to some good teams; [Steel-High] won Triple-A for goodness sakes. And then we win the first round of states, get to the second round. We did some nice things and they gained experience. You cannot replace that. You can’t fabricate that in practice, you’ve got to do that — and we did it.

“So, that helps us, in my opinion, to be able to hit the ground running this year,” Kostelac continued. “‘Cause we’re gonna get challenged right out of the gate. We have a very, very good schedule.”

While games against Mid-Penn Capital playmates such as reigning District 3-AAA champion Steel-High, Milton Hershey, cross-town rival Camp Hill and East Pennsboro will provide plenty of challenges, so will non-league scraps against the likes of Berks Catholic, Bishop McDevitt, York Catholic, Math, Civics & Sciences, York Suburban, Conrad Weiser, Boiling Springs and Holy Redeemer.

Preseason scrimmages against District 11-AAAA hammer Parkland and Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division contender Carlisle also will provide informative looks.

“We have sky-high expectations,” Gilbertson added. “I don’t think there’s anyone in that locker room that doesn’t want to win a state championship. And we have all the pieces, I think, this year to put it all together.”

“We’ve just gotta keep it going,” Kostelac said. “We’ve got a great conference that we’re playing in. Our schedule is very good. So, we stepped everything up.

“We have a chance. We have a chance to be pretty good. I’m anxious to get started.”


Recruiting News:

HS Coverage:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Josh Verlin  District 3