City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Basketball season is creeping up on us once again.

The local fall event schedule gets underway on Sep. 9-10 with the third annual Never Forget Classic, which takes place at three different venues (Archbishop Carroll, Archbishop Ryan and Competitive Edge Sports) between the two days. Several dozen area programs are taking part in the event, run by Archbishop Carroll and East Coast Power assistant Ross Romanello and Boyertown assistant Dan Hoff. It’s almost entirely boys teams, though there are several high-quality girls’ matchups on Saturday afternoon at Competitive Edge.

Here’s a few matchups in particular we’re looking forward to:

Camden vs. Coatesville
2:00 PM Sat., Archbishop Carroll
The Saturday slate at Carroll and the Sunday one at Ryan are all loaded, but there’s something about this game that has us particularly intrigued. Coatesville’s got a long and proud hoops history and its own identity as a city, similarly to Camden, and Coatesville’s got a good enough squad to hang with the Jersey powerhouse this year. High-major-bound wing Billy Richmond leads this year’s Panthers, while senior guards Dior Kennedy and Zuri Harris pace a C’ville squad that also features intriguing 6-7 sophomore Larry Brown.

Archbishop Carroll vs. Perkiomen Valley (Girls)
2:40 PM Sat., Competitive Edge 3
Amidst a whole host of good boys’ games at Competitive Edge on Saturday are some potential state-playoff level girls’ games, including this matchup of the reigning District 1 champions and the reigning PIAA 6A champs. Perk Valley’s led by a terrific junior class, including 6-3 center Quinn Boettinger and 6-0 forward Grace Galbavy, plus junior point guard Bella Bacani. The Patriots feature senior guard Brooke Wilson, committed to play at West Point, plus sophomore guard Alexis Eberz, but have to account for the graduation of Wilson’s sister Taylor Wilson (Army) and a couple other starters as well. 

Archbishop Carroll vs West Chester Henderson
11:00 AM Sun., Archbishop Ryan
There’s a good run of games at Ryan on Sunday, including both Henderson games (they play back-to-back against Archbishop Ryan), but it’s always good to see two teams on fresh legs. Carroll’s young and dangerous, featuring 6-5 Luca Foster, 6-9 Drew Corrao, 6-0 Nasir Ralls and 5-9 Ian Williams — all sophomores — while Henderson’s older, led by returning seniors Nyle Ralph-Beyer (6-4) and Connor Fleet (5-10). It’ll also be interesting to see how they reincorporate 6-8 Nelson Lamizana back into the fold after he spent a year at Bonner.

Here is the schedule as of Sunday at 3:30 PM; admission cost is TBD:

Saturday, September 9
Archbishop Carroll
8:00 AM: Devon Prep vs Liberty
9:00 AM: Liberty vs Reading
10:00 AM: Reading vs Devon Prep
11:00 AM: Life Center (N.J.) vs Cardinal O’Hara
12:00 PM: West Catholic vs Life Center (N.J.)
1:00 PM: Unionville vs West Catholic
2:00 PM: Camden vs Coatesville
3:00 PM: Cardinal O’Hara vs Unionville
4:00 PM: Coatesville vs SCH Academy
5:00 PM: Archbishop Carroll vs Abington
6:00 PM: Abington vs SCH Academy
7:00 PM: JP McCaskey vs Episcopal Academy
8:00 PM: Camden Catholic vs. JP McCaskey
9:00 PM: Episcopal Academy vs. Camden Catholic

Competitive Edge Sports
8 AM
Court 1: Conwell-Egan vs. Upper Dublin
Court 2: Wissahickon vs. Strath Haven
Court 3: West Philadelphia vs. Norristown

9:20 AM
Court 1: Conwell-Egan vs. Pope John Paul II
Court 2: Pottsgrove vs. Wissahickon
Court 3: Phoenixville vs. Warwick

10:40 AM
Court 1: Pope John Paul II vs. Upper Dublin
Court 2: Strath Haven vs. Pottsgrove
Court 3: Phoenixville vs. West Philadelphia

12:00 PM
Court 1: Owen J. Roberts vs. Marple Newtown
Court 2: Jim Thorpe vs. Delco Christian
Court 3: Norristown vs. Warwick

1:20 PM
Court 1: Marple Newtown vs. St. Mark’s (Del.)
Court 2: Wilkes-Barre vs. Daniel Boone
Court 3: Spring-Ford vs. Archbishop Carroll (Girls)

2:40 PM
Court 1: St. Mark’s (Del.) vs. Owen J. Roberts
Court 2: Jim Thorpe vs. Wilkes-Barre
Court 3: Archbishop Carroll vs. Perkiomen Valley (Girls)

4:00 PM
Court 1: Overbrook vs. Odessa (Del.)
Court 2: Delco Christian vs. Daniel Boone
Court 3: Conestoga vs. Perkiomen Valley (Girls)
Court 4: Spring-Ford vs Council Rock South (Girls)

5:20 PM
Court 1: Pottstown vs. Dieruff
Court 2: Great Valley vs. Boyertown
Court 3: Paramus (N.J.) vs. Executive Education

6:40 PM
Court 1: Odessa (Del.) vs. Dieruff
Court 2: Great Valley vs. Collegium Charter
Court 3: St. Elizabeth (N.J.) vs. Methacton
Court 4: Council Rock South vs. Conestoga (Girls)

8:00 PM
Court 1: Overbrook vs. Pottstown
Court 2: Collegium Charter vs. Boyertown
Court 3: Methacton vs. Executive Education
Court 4: St. Elizabeth (N.J.) vs Paramus (N.J.)

Sunday, September 10
Archbishop Ryan
11:00 AM: Archbishop Carroll vs WC Henderson
12:00 PM: WC Henderson vs Archbishop Ryan
1:00 PM: Archbishop Ryan vs St. George (Del.)
2:00 PM: Camden (N.J.) vs Unionville
3:00 PM: Hightstown (N.J.) vs Cardinal O’Hara
4:00 PM: St. George (Del.) vs Hightstown (N.J.)