City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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QUAKERTOWN — The Kapp family has left its mark on the Boyertown basketball programs.

For about a decade now, one of the four siblings has typically had their name in the Bears’ box scores and often at the top of the Pioneer Athletic Conference scoring list at any given time.

First there was Abby (2013-17), a four-year starter and the Miss PA Basketball award-winner in 2017 when she led her team to a state title. Then came Jerry (2014-18), who led the league in scoring as a junior and finished third on the school’s all-time scoring list — one spot behind his older sister. The third oldest, Ashley (2017-21), was a three-year varsity starter and an all-league player too, totaling 843 points in her career.

Now, the youngest, Boyertown senior Jake Kapp, is playing out his final season with the Bears, trying to add to his family’s basketball legacy and tradition at the school.

“It’s definitely a lot of pressure, but I know I can add to that name and I know what I bring to the table and I know I can be on par with them,” Jake said.

Jake’s career didn’t get off to the same quick start as his older siblings who all played four varsity seasons. 

He was mostly a JV player as a freshman. As a sophomore in 2020-21, he averaged 3.9 ppg as a reserve on a District 1 playoff team — one of the best Bears’ teams in recent history.

Then last season, Jake broke into the spotlight. He was the only junior to earn first team all-league honors and became the Bears’ go-to guy, averaging 13.1 ppg (30 threes).

“It was a little bit of a letdown, but even if I wasn’t at that level yet, I just knew I had to wait my turn,” Jake said of his first two seasons. 

“Freshman year I didn’t play much, sophomore year I was just a role player,” he added. “I was just in there for a couple minutes at a time. Last year, my role really grew and that’s kind of how it came to be.”

Jake is the only first team all-league player back in the conference this season. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him follow in Jerry’s footsteps as the league’s leading scorer.

He’s off to a torrid start with games of 20, 26, 18 and 19 to help Boyertown stay unbeaten through four games.

Jake had 23 in the first half of a game against Valley Forge Military last week and was able to muster his way to 19 in a 90-60 victory over Faith Christian on Monday despite sitting the first and fourth quarters with foul trouble.

“He was tough to defend last year,” Boyertown coach Travis Miller said. “He’s powerful. He’s athletic, he’s dynamic offensively. When he makes a conscious effort to start focusing on that defensive end, he’s going to be a helluva high school basketball player.”

With his last name well-recognized around the PAC given the success of his older siblings, Kapp was a marked man when he entered the league two seasons ago. Still, the success he had last season will bring even more defensive attention. He will have to adjust.

“As we move into PAC play, teams know who he is,” Miller said. “He was all-league first team last year as a junior. The defenses are going to be keyed to stopping him. He’s gotta make the right plays and take the opportunities when they come when he has them. And when we have big moments and we need him to score the basketball he’s gotta step up and make the plays.”

He has plenty of resources to guide him should he run into any difficult moments.

“They definitely have helped me to get in the right mindset before games," Jake said of his siblings. "They went through four years of it, so they definitely know what they’re talking about. They definitely have helped me a lot.”

The Kapp family patriarch (also Jerry) played college basketball at King’s College and then for the Washington Generals in their exhibitions against the Harlem Globetrotters. None of his children quite got his 6-7 height, but Jake is 6-3 as well as long and athletic.

Jake said his brother Jerry, who is about five years older than him, was the biggest athletic influence on him growing up. Along with one-on-one games in the driveway, the two played football in the backyard.

“He used to toughen me up in the backyard and stuff like that,” Jake said.

Jake ditched baseball around sixth grade and unlike Jerry, who went on to be a standout football player at Kutztown, he stopped playing football once he got to high school. 

Whether it’s skying for a block or rebound or pushing the ball in transition, there are still some attributes he brings to the basketball court that show he would have likely excelled on the gridiron if he stuck with it.

“He’s fearless. He attacks the rims with just a powerful aggressiveness,” Miller said. “I can see some football in him the way he gets down hill and attacks the rim. Obviously, he’s got a really great jump shot, but I really think when he’s attacking the rim he can score on all three levels and he’s really tough to defend.”

Jake won't have enough time to catch his siblings in the record books. He hopes to leave his mark on Boyertown basketball in some other way.

While Abby ended her Boyertown career with a pair of PAC titles and a league runner-up finish to go along with the state crown, the Bears haven’t had a real contender on either the girls or boys side since that 2017 PIAA title team. Jerry’s team made the playoffs as a freshman, but he finished his career with two losing campaigns.

The Bears have four league crowns on the girls hoops side since joining the league in 2002. But the program’s lone true mark in the history of PAC hoops on the boys side was a runner-up finish in 2006-07.

Boyertown went 4-9 last season, finishing fifth in the Liberty Division. However, with Kapp leading the way, the Bears think they have as good a shot as anybody in a wide open league this season.

“That’s the goal,” Miller said. “We said Jerry’s names on the 1,000-point scoring list, but Jake’s gonna help us put a banner in the gym.”.

It might seem somewhat far fetched for those unfamiliar with this Boyertown group. Jake and his classmates have been waiting for this moment for a long time though.

Fellow senior Zach Ward (6-4) a tall wing with point guard skills and a sweet looking stroke added 19 points in the win on Monday and has had several other big outings in a co-starring role.

Senior forward Dylan Klass added another 16, senior Richard Black added 11 and senior Ryan Tinney runs the point for the Bears. Trey Soto, Michael Moccia and Seth Kiefer are other members of the Class of 2023 hoping to do something special this season.

“This is one of the best teams I’ve ever played on,” Jake said. “We’ve grown together for years now. We’ve all played since third grade, so we’re all excited to see what we can do and I know we can make it far."

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By Quarter
Boyertown: 19  |  25  |  25  |  21  ||  60
Faith Christian:   17  |  11  |  16  |   16   ||  30

Scoring
Boyertown: Jake Kapp 19, Zach Ward 19, Dylan Klass 16, Richard Black 11, Ryan Tinney 6, Trey Kern 8, Braedyn Johnson 7, Michael Moccia 2, Seth Kiefer 2. 

Faith Christian: Ky Hughes 15, Tyler Forscht 14, Landon Heller 11, Paul Leisner 8, Mason Paul 7, Levi Nice 3, Landis 2.