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Prepping for Preps '21-22: Garnet Valley (Boys)

11/01/2021, 12:45pm EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This story is the latest in CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2021-22 season preview coverage. As we publish more, the complete list of schools previewed will be found here.)

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Mike Brown (above) has turned Garnet Valley from afterthought to contender during a decade as the Jaguars' head coach. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

What a difference a decade makes, especially if you’re Garnet Valley boys basketball.

It was 10 years ago that Mike Brown took over a Jaguars program that struggled to win multiple games in a season. The former Archbishop Carroll coach, who’d been off the high school sidelines for more than two decades prior, faced the uphill task of building a program in a Central League that already consisted of District 1 powerhouses Lower Merion and Conestoga as well as quality programs in Ridley, Penncrest, and others. 

Ten years later, they’re the defending Central League champions for the first time. What a decade, indeed.

“We brought the program from the scrap heap,” Brown said, “and we’ve done really well.”

Carl Schaller, Gannon McKee and Justin Langan have finished their years in Garnet Valley uniforms, all three major pieces to the Jaguars’ 14-3 season a year ago, which ended with a loss to Lower Merion in the District 1 6A semifinals. (In any typical year, that would have been good enough to qualify for a state bid; due to COVID, the PIAA state bracket was limited only to seven district champions).

But the cupboard is far from empty in southern Delaware County.

Despite losing that trio — including Schaller, one of the most dynamic guards in all of District 1 the last couple years — the Jaguars still have the pieces to be considered a top-four team in the Central League, expected to be very much in the mix for one of the league’s semifinal playoff spots come February. It’ll be a surprise if a six-year run of district tournament appearances doesn’t reach seven.

That’s a major change from when Brown took over, when he noted that keeping the middle schoolers around was going to be the biggest key towards turning the Jaguars into winners. He doesn’t have that problem anymore.

“The battle to keep our good kids from the middle school, we’ve been winning that 95% of the time,” Brown said in late October after coaching Garnet Valley in an offseason shootout at Penncrest. “I used to promise them ‘we’re going to achieve this and that,’ and now we’ve done it.”


Junior guard Max Koehler (above) is moving from off-guard to point guard this season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“We’ve gained a reputation where we win,” junior Max Koehler said. “A lot.” 

Brown’s also developed a pipeline of college-level talent that started with 2017 graduate Brandon Starr (USciences) and continued with Austin Laughlin (Kutztown), Greg Vlassopolous (Rowan/Immaculata) and now Schaller (Gettysburg) and McKee (PSU-Altoona).

Next up in that line is junior Max Koehler, a talented 6-1 guard who started alongside Schaller as a sophomore. Koehler is another example of Garnet’s improvement as a program: a multi-sport athlete in middle school, he gave up football and baseball after eighth grade to focus on playing hoops. It’s a decision plenty of multi-sport athletes in Garnet’s district used to make differently. 

Able to play off Schaller — who finished his Garnet Valley career with more than 1,100 points — as a pure scorer, Koehler now has to adjust to playing with the ball in his hands, something he’s been working on this offseason. A capable scorer from all three levels who can really get to the rim, Koehler should be one of the leading scorers in the Central League this season, even in a system that Brown says doesn’t have a star player.

“Early on it was a challenge for him but he’s gotten better and better,” Brown said. “He plays with his head up, he sees open people. He’s actually a little too unselfish at times [...] we need points from him as well, because he can score. So we’ll continue to work at that.”

Also returning from last year’s starting lineup is 6-2 senior wing Ryan Wootten, who hit four 3-pointers in the league championship win over Conestoga. Wooten’s entering his final year of competitive basketball, the pitcher/third baseman having already committed to play baseball at Washington College (Md.).

“I want to get out as much as I can out of it [...] ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been playing basketball,” he said. “I just want to win another Central League championship and end my basketball career the right way.”

The third member back in the rotation is last year’s sixth man, 6-1 junior forward Ryan Faccenda, and a pair of football players, junior forward Nolan Brennan and junior guard Drew Van Horn — though with the Jaguars in the district football playoffs and expected to make a deep run, those two might miss the opening few games of the season. 


Freshman guard Jake Sniras (above) is a promising young scorer who should play a big role right away. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

After that it’s several new pieces who will have to step up for the Jaguars, including 6-4 junior wing forward Logan McKee (Gannon’s younger brother) and 6-2 freshman guard Jake Sniras, both of whom look ready to be in the starting lineup.

“It took a while for us to gel in with the new guys a little bit, but it helps when you have me, Facenda, [and] Wooten, who have all been playing together since we were, like, eight,” Koehler said. “We all played baseball together for like six years, I love playing with those guys, so it helps.”

While Koehler is ready to assume the role of lead guard in Garnet Valley’s uptempo, shot-happy offense, Sniras is certainly next up in that procession. A bouncy off-guard who’s not afraid to let his shot fly from anywhere on the court, Sniras should immediately take some of the scoring burden off his older teammates and give opposing defenses another piece to worry about, especially as he continues to adjust to the tempo and maturation of the high school game.

Koehler said he’s been emphasizing with his new teammate “you don’t have to be so fast, don’t make plays so fast, you’ve got to calm down and see the floor [...] hold that ball, be strong, make the right play.”

The Jaguars open up their season with games against Cardinal O’Hara (Dec. 10) and West Chester Rustin (Dec. 11) before jumping right into Central League play, an early-season test at Lower Merion (Dec. 17) looming four games in. With an upstart Radnor joining the leagues of preseason favorites LM and Conestoga, as well as Haverford, Ridley, Marple Newtown, Springfield and the rest nipping at their heels, there isn’t an easy path into the top four of the league.

But unlike when Schaller and those before him were growing up, these Jaguars are only aware of Brown as the program’s head coach, only aware of an expectation of success. So even though the players are changing year after year, the raised bar has not.

“It’s a new generation for sure,” Koehler said, “but we’re ready to take it on.”


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