skip navigation

PIAA 6A: Kennedy, Coatesville surge past North Penn, into quarterfinal

03/16/2023, 12:15am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

POTTSTOWN — Coatesville is a conundrum. 

John Allen’s Raiders are certainly one of the underdogs in the hunt for the PIAA Class 6A title, the ninth seed out of District 1 not quite with the same resume as the likes of Catholic League champion Roman Catholic or District 3 champs Reading, not one of the squads that would have been a popular pick to be cutting down the nets at Hershey a couple weeks from now. 


John Allen (above) has Coatesville in the state quarterfinals in his first season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

On the other hand…it’s Coatesville. The program that won a Class AAAA state title in 2001, which has produced plenty of Division I talent, including Allen (Seton Hall), Rip Hamilton (UConn), Jig Brickus (La Salle) and more, which represents the proud city out on Lincoln Highway, in the further reaches of the Philadelphia area.

“We’re not Cinderella, we’re Coatesville,” Allen said. “We’re supposed to be here, year after year. If there was one quote from me: we’re not Cinderella, we’re Coatesville, we’re supposed to be here time and time again, this is what we start our work for in May, June, July, to be here and go further.

But, he made sure to add: “It’s not over, it’s not over. I don’t want us to feel like we won a championship tonight, because we didn’t.”

Coatesville finds itself one of just eight teams left in the hunt for the 2023 PIAA Class 6A championship, courtesy of a 61-55 win over North Penn on Wednesday night.

The Raiders (20-9), who had lost to the Knights (19-9) in the second round of the District 1 playoffs and then had to earn their way into the state bracket through play-back games, got their revenge in front of a packed house in Pottstown’s Strom Gymnasium, earning them a matchup with Archbishop Wood in the quarterfinals.

Junior guard Dior Kennedy led the way with 23 points for Coatesville, which was last deep in the tournament in 2019, when Brickus & Co. ran into Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky) and Kennedy Catholic in the state semifinals. 


Dior Kennedy (above) scored 23 points to lead Coatesville past North Penn. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

But the large crowd swathed in red — many of whom waited outside Coatesville’s locker room to cheer the players and coaches as they exited post-game — knew that this was a group coming off a 12-8 season a year ago, which didn’t play a single postseason game, falling just short of the District 1 6A and Ches-Mont league fields, their former head coach quitting in the middle of the season. 

Allen, in his first year at the helm, has turned it all around. 

“Last year we had a rough year, not making the playoffs and everything, so I’m proud of Coach Allen,” Kennedy said. “We’re supposed to be here, but we’re the underdogs in this.”

For North Penn (19-9), the loss ended a season that saw John Conrad’s group win a state playoff game for the first time in program history. The Knights will graduated three senior starters — Ryan Zeltt, Ryan Denninger and Mario Sgro — but will return a good bit of talent, including junior starters Norman Gee and Teddy McAllister, the latter of whom led the Knights with 12 points. 

“We thought we had a chance to win one today, so it’s obviously disappointing,” Conrad said. “We’ll look back and be proud of the season, but right now, it’s tough.

“I hope (the returners) walk away wanting more from this experience, and that’ll fuel them in the offseason, fall league, summer league, spring league, all that good stuff.”

Kennedy led the way during the critical third quarter for Coatesville, which had trailed 17-8 after one quarter (thanks to a buzzer-beating Ryan Zeltt 35-foot chuck) but quickly closed that gap, going into the half down 26-23 after North Penn’s Ahmaar Godhania (8 points) beat the buzzer with a triple. 


Teddy McAllister (above) had 12 points to lead North Penn. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

North Penn was up a point with two minutes left in the third when Coatesville finally made its move. Steals by Kennedy and sophomore Amon Fowlkes (10 points) both resulted in three-point plays, which along with a three-point play by Kennedy earlier that quarter got the Coatesville half of the gym as fired up as they were all night, Coatesville taking a 47-40 lead into the fourth.

“My mindset was really just to get buckets, that’s what my team needed at that point,” said Kennedy, who scored all but one of his points from the second quarter onwards. “Coach Allen was telling me to attack, so I was attacking and everything was falling.”

“It’s not about the points, it’s to get the crowd going, the bench going, the momentum going, and they look and those 3-point plays are now six-point plays,” Allen said. “You look up, it’s 40-47 and it feels like 10 or 15 points. That’s what those plays mean for us.”

Coatesville got further scoring help from senior guard Jeremiah Marshall, who had eight of his 16 in the third quarter, adding five rebounds; junior guard Zuri Harris added 10 points, five assists, five steals and three rebounds. 

The fourth quarter saw the Raiders keep North Penn at arms’ length, holding an advantage of 8-to-10 points most of the way, hitting their foul shots when they needed to (20-30 FT), only missing a few right at the end, when it was all but decided. 


Jeremiah Marshall (above) added 16 points for Coatesville. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“They made one more run than we did in that third quarter,” Conrad said. “I think we wore down a little bit, we missed some layups, and I thought that was the difference.

“They put in five guards, they’re tough to match up with, they spread you out. I thought we had some good looks down here, we just didn’t convert a couple of key moments, and they were able to.”

To avoid the clock striking midnight, Cinder…er, Coatesville will need to get past a terrific Vikings squad on Saturday at a place and time still to be determined. Wood, which beat Cumberland Valley by 27 on Wednesday, features no fewer than four future Division I ballplayers, led by high-major target Jalil Bethea, one of the state’s top scorers and shooters, Villanova and many others in pursuit. 

“They’re good,” Allen said with a laugh. “They have (Bethea who) can get you 40 or 50, right, high-major guy. We know what’s at stake, we understand what’s at stake, we know we have to be on our game if we want to win, but it’s a challenge that we want, it’s definitely a challenge that we want.”

By Quarter
Coatesville:    8   |  15  |  24  |  14  ||  61
North Penn:  17  |   9   |  14  |  15  ||  55

Shooting
Coatesville: 19-50 FG (3-16 3PT), 20-30 FT
North Penn: 17-42 FG (7-21 3PT), 14-20 FT

Scoring
Coatesville: Dior Kennedy 23, Jeremiah Marshall 16, Zuri Harris 10, Amon Fowlkes 10, Larry Brown 2

North Penn: Teddy McAllister 12, Ryan Zeltt 11, Ryan Denninger 10, Ahmaar Godhania 8, Lee Hammond 4, Corey Meade 4, Mario Sgro 2, Norman Gee 2, Robbie Sukaly 2

~~~

Wed., March 15
Boys 6A
(11-1) Parkland vs. (1-7) Garnet Valley (6 PM)
(1-2) Spring-Ford 43, (3-3) Hempfield 39
(12-1) Roman Catholic 60, (1-3) Lower Merion 56 (OT)
(7-2) New Castle 65, (1-4) Downingtown West 56
(3-1) Reading 86, (1-6) Upper Darby 58
(1-9) Coatesville 61, (1-8) North Penn 55
(12-3) Archbishop Wood 72, (3-6) Chambersburg 45

Girls 5A
(1-1) West Chester Rustin 49, (2-2) Abington Heights 46
(12-1) Archbishop Wood 42, (1-2) Villa Maria 29
(1-3) Bishop Shanahan 43, (2-1) Pittston Area 35.
(11-1) Bethlehem Catholic 34, (1-4) Gwynedd Mercy 24

Boys 4A
(1-1) Bishop Shanahan 69, (2-1) Scranton Prep 57

Girls 4A
(12-1) Lansdale Catholic 79, (4-2) Jersey Shore 42
(3-5) Trinity 67, (12-2) Audenried 50
(2-1) Scranton Prep 51, (1-1) Nazareth Acad.47 (OT)
(3-1) Wyomissing 40, (12-3) Neumann-Goretti 33

Boys 3A
(12-3) Devon Prep 82, (2-2) Mid Valley 52
(12-1) West Catholic 56, (2-1) Holy Redeemer 47
(3-1) Trinity 91, Math, Civics & Sciences 84 Girls 3A
(2-1) Dunmore 52, (12-1) Imhotep Charter 34

Boys 2A
(11-1) Mahanoy Area 58, (12-1) Constitution 40
(1-1) Dock Mennonite 60, (12-2) Sankofa Freedom 44

Girls 1A
(4-2) St. John Neumann 40, (1-1) The Christian Acad. 37


D-I Coverage:

HS Coverage:

Small-College News:

Tag(s): Home  Josh Verlin  High School  Boys HS  Ches-Mont National (B)  Coatesville  Suburban One (B)  SOL Colonial (B)  North Penn