City of Basketball Love

By Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of 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 2023-24 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Don’t tell Donovan Fromhartz and Downingtown West boys basketball they are headed for a down season after graduating all-time leading scorer Dylan Blair, who is now at West Point after leading the Whippets to one of the most successful seasons in school history.

“We’re trying to keep the success of last season as the floor [of our potential],” said Fromhartz. “We can definitely be as successful if not more than last year. Our motto for this year is, ‘We’re still here,’ because a lot of people are counting us out since three starters graduated.

“Nobody thinks we’re going to make it to the Ches-Mont championship, district Final Four, states. We want to let them know that we’re still here, we’re not gone.”

The Whippets won their first state playoff game in school history last season behind Blair, an all-state first-team selection, and won a Ches-Mont League title and appeared in the District 1 6A semifinals, going 22-8 on the year.

As successful as last season was, there’s still room for more. The Whippets want to prove they are still the top team in the Ches-Mont, win two more games in the District 1 tournament and push even further into the state playoff bracket. 

“We’re looking to build on last season and show it wasn’t a fluke,” Whippets head coach Stu Ross said. “It’s a program that has a lot of tradition, a lot of depth and a lot of talent. We’re going to build on last year for sure.”

Blair, the all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,563 points, is the biggest graduation hit in the scoring and ball-handling departments, but key starters and all-league honorable mention selections in sharpshooting guard Joey Suarez and versatile 6-foot-4 wing Kelly Bell graduated, too.

The 6-5 wing Fromhartz, who was a first-team all-league selection and made third-team all-state, will take the reins. The junior broke out as a sophomore averaging 16 points, six rebounds and two assists per game. He scored 20 or more points in 12 games last season, including a 26-point performance against Reading High, which won the PIAA Class 6A state title, and a 24-point performance against Radnor, which went 28-1, won the District 1 title, and made it to the 5A state quarterfinals.

“He’s going to be more of a focal point for defenses and will have to be able to adjust to facing more double teams or defenses shifting to where he is on the floor in comparison to defenses focusing on Dylan or Kelly Bell and being able to roam free,” Ross said.

Fromhartz is poised for another big year after a successful grassroots season with Philly Pride. He can finish above the rim, is a good shooter and will be tasked with picking up the ball-handling slack left by Blair’s graduation. Fromhartz got his first Division I offer from Albany over the summer and is on the radar of several other programs.

Fromhartz’s 2025 classmate Zeke Staz, a 6-7 forward, is healthy after aggravating a hamstring injury just two games into last season. He will play a big role — literally — in the Whippets reaching their goals.

It remains to be seen if Ryan Howard, a 6-7 forward, will join Staz in the frontcourt; the talented offensive lineman committed to Kansas State to play football in January. If he does play, it’ll add another sturdy post presence for the Whippets.

A deep and experienced senior class led by 5-10 point guard Antonio Lewis, 6-3 guard Alex Neuhaus, 6-2 wing Nate Zincone, 6-4 wing Chase Horestra, 6-3 wing Jase Lasher, 6-3 Bobby Coupe and 5-9 guard Ryan Barker should help in the leadership department.

“I’m looking for a lot of guys to fill different roles,” Ross said. “It’s not going to be a one-man show. It’s not just going to be Donovan or Zincone coming back from injury. It’s going to be a whole team. Obviously, we still have to go through tryouts and figure out who’s going to be on what team. We have to just focus on some things as a team like taking care of the basketball, defending, rebounding.”

Sophomore Brady Moore will also play significant minutes and has flashed in offseason events.

“We change our identity as the team formulates,” Ross said. “In years past we’ve been able to do more ball pressure and take advantage of Dylan’s quickness. We’ll fit our game plan to our personnel and try not to fit a square peg in a round hole.”

The Whippets hope the experience gained from last season will aid the shifting pieces in becoming another successful team. The group is senior-heavy but, aside from Fromhartz, do not have many varsity minutes played.

The plan is to build on the postseason experience gained in winning the first state playoff game in West history and second in Downingtown history as the Whippets defend the Ches-Mont crown, aim for a District 1 title and shoot for another appearance in the state playoffs.

The Wissahickon Tip-Off Tournament where Downingtown West starts its season is Dec. 1, and the league opener against West Chester Henderson — another District 1 6A contender — is Dec. 12.