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High School Playoff Watch (Part 1)

01/23/2016, 1:00pm EST
By CoBL Staff

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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Can’t believe we are saying this, but the 2015-16 Pennsylvania high school basketball season is nearing the end of its regular season, with the beginning of district playoffs less than three weeks away.

This means the conference and league races around the area are heating up, as the contenders have separated themselves from the pack in the public and private school conferences.

Here’s Part 1 of a look around several of the area’s high school leagues with only a few games remaining on the schedule, beginning with the Catholic League, Central League and Ches-Mont League; Part 2, focused on the Inter-Ac, PAC-10 and Suburban One League, can be found here:

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Quade Green (above) and Neumann-Goretti have seized control of the Catholic League after beating Carroll on Friday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Catholic League
After Neumann-Goretti’s 98-75 win over Archbishop Carroll on Friday night, the Saints sit alone atop the PCL with an 8-0 record and five games to play. Just behind them is Carroll at 7-1, with four squads--La Salle HS, Roman Catholic, Conwell-Egan and St. Joseph’s Prep--all at 6-2. Right now Roman holds the tiebreaker in the group, with wins over Egan and La Salle, while La Salle beat Egan head-to-head; Prep has yet to play all three.

Judge and Ryan are both 4-4 and play each other next Friday in a big Northeast Philadelphia rivalry matchup, while Archbishop Wood (3-5) holds a tiebreaker over West Catholic (3-5) for the No. 9 seed thanks to a 77-55 win earlier this month. That’s the cutoff for the 10-team playoffs right now, with Bonner Prendie (2-6) one game out while Cardinal O’Hara (1-7), Bishop McDevitt (0-8) and Lansdale Catholic (0-8) facing a tough road ahead to qualify.

Standing in the way of Neumann finishing undefeated and at the top of the PCL standings for the second straight season are the following five games: vs. St. Joe’s Prep, @ West Catholic, vs. Ryan, @ Judge, vs. Conwell-Egan. No gimmes in that group, but it would be hard-pressed to see anyone catch the Saints the way they’re playing right now. Much more interesting to watch will be if anybody can catch Carroll: the Patriots have a head-to-head tiebreaker on Roman and Prep so far, but get La Salle at home on Monday.

With Neumann-Goretti and Carroll looking very good to finish in the top four and thus earn a bye, the battle will be fierce for those third and fourth spots. Prep has the toughest schedule left: @ N-G, @ Roman, vs. Judge, @ C-E and @ La Salle, which means they could be caught by a Ryan squad who beat them 63-44 on Friday. Final race to watch is for that 10th and final seed, as Bonner gets Wood and West Catholic at home along with winnable road games at McDevitt and Lansdale Catholic all sandwiched around a visit from Roman.

(Note: to view teams' complete schedules, you can access their team pages through the "player finder' search bar above and click on "Game Schedule)

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Julian Wing (above) and RIdley are undefeated in their quest to repeat as Central champs. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Central League
After narrowly escaping an upset bid from Haverford High (3-8), Ridley remains untouched at 12-0 in Central League play. The Raiders have put themselves in prime position to repeat as league champions if they can stay on this roll for a few more weeks. They have four more Central League games left for the season. Not too far behind them are Strath Haven (11-2), followed by Conestoga (9-3) and Lower Merion (9-3) who's the fourth seed after losing to the Pioneers on Friday.

Ridley’s unblemished Central League record will be put to the test when it goes to Lower Merion on February 2. It’s the only team left on the Raiders’ schedule that has an above-.500 record in the Central League. The Raiders beat them 61-40 on their home court earlier this month.

Strath Haven is enjoying a revitalized season after winning only two Central League games last season. The Panthers will have a chance to solidify the 2-seed for the Central League playoffs in their next game against Lower Merion on January 26. A win against the Aces will likely put the 2-seed out of LM's reach, as the Panthers have fairly winnable games to close out the regular season. Should the Aces win at home on Tuesday, then the race for seeding after Ridley becomes much tighter.

Looking to potentially sneak into the four-team Central League playoffs are Garnet Valley and Penncrest, both 6-6. However, the GV Cougars will most likely need to win out and hope for a few losses from the current top four teams in the league. Garnet Valley has a tough road ahead in Central League play: @ Harriton, @ Conestoga, vs. Haverford High, and @ Ridley. The Lions have Conestoga, Marple-Newtown and Radnor at home before playing @ Springfield (Delco.) to end out the season.

For now, it’s looking like Ridley will hold the top spot going into the Central League playoffs. The rest of the playoff picture will be a lot more clearer in the upcoming weeks. --Eugene Rapay

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Josh Warren (above) and Downingtown West are one of three top contenders for the Ches-Mont championship. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Ches-Mont League
Similarly to a season ago, the Ches-Mont has quickly turned into a three-team race, as AAAA powers Downingtown West (17-1, 8-0), Coatesville (15-1, 7-1), and AAA Octorara (16-1, 9-0) have begun to run away from the rest of the league pack. Each of these three, as well as the Oxford Hornets, played in last year’s edition of the Ches-Mont final four, which pits the National division champion against the American division runner-up, and the American division champion against the National division runner-up, with the winners playing for the league crown.

Odds are defending league champion Downingtown West, if it hangs on to win the National division, will take on Great Valley (11-4, 6-2) in the league semifinals, which sits two games behind the American division-leading Braves. Oxford is just one game behind Great Valley for that fourth playoff spot. The other likely semifinal matchup would pit crosstown rivals Octorara and Coatesville, a rematch of last year’s semifinal won by the Braves in thrilling fashion. Those two teams will face off on January 23 at Octorara.

The Whippets hold their one game lead in the national division thanks to a road victory at Coatesville. The Red Raiders are the only apparent team standing between West and an undefeated league record, as their remaining games include the following: @ Downingtown East, vs. West Chester Henderson, vs. Coatesville, and @ Avon Grove, each of which fell to the Whippets at one point or another this season. Were it not for a tough heartbreaking loss to upset-minded Phoenixville in just their second game of the year, the Whippets could have had a shot at a perfect season.

Obviously anything can happen in high school basketball, but in all likelihood we’ll be seeing another Coatesville-Octorara showdown for a shot to play Downingtown West, who will look for a second consecutive league title. --Jeff Griffith


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Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Josh Verlin  Jeff Griffith  Eugene Rapay  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  Central League (B)  Archbishop Carroll  Archbishop Ryan  Archbishop Wood   Bishop McDevitt  Bonner-Prendergast  Ches-Mont National (B)  Cardinal O'Hara  Conwell-Egan  Father Judge  La Salle College HS  Lansdale Catholic  Neumann-Goretti  Roman Catholic  St. Joe's Prep  West Catholic  Downingtown West  Downingtown East  Coatesville  West Chester Henderson  West Chester East  Bishop Shanahan  Avon Grove  Ridley  Conestoga  Garnet Valley  Harriton  Radnor  Lower Merion  Penncrest  Upper Darby  Strath Haven  Marple Newtown  Springfield (Delco.)  Haverford High  Ches-Mont American (B)  Octorara  West Chester Rustin  Oxford  Unionville  Great Valley  Kennett  Sun Valley