City of Basketball Love

By David Comer
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s annual “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2024-25 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Sal Iemmello always knew he wanted to play basketball for Methacton. He grew up sitting in the stands, watching the Warriors transform first into a consistent winner and then into a perennial District I contender. As a seventh grader, he was at the Liacouras Center the night Methacton won the 2020 District I title by 25 points en route to a 28-2 season cut short by COVID.

“Growing up watching them, I wanted to be on the court playing for them some day,” Iemmello said. “Seeing their success always inspired me.”

Iemmello, now a senior, will be the Warriors’ leader this season. The 5-foot-11 point guard and three-year starter averaged 12 points per game last season and will be counted on to carry more of the scoring load this season.

“I’m looking forward to that challenge,” said Iemmello, a second-team all-league pick last season and one of two returning starters. “I know I’m a good player. I know how to score.”

Fifth-year coach Patrick Lockard is happy to have Iemmello back.

“He’s a hard-nosed kid,” Lockard said. “We’ve looked for him to take a step each year. It will be fun to see how he develops this year.”

Lockard, who is 70-29 (70.1% winning percentage) with the Warriors, will be looking to replace much of the scoring from last year’s team that went 19-8, finished fifth in District 1 6A and took Archbishop Wood to the wire in the first round of the PIAA playoffs before losing, 81-73. 

Gone to graduation are two-time first-team all-league player Alex Hermann (now at Arcadia University) and solid contributors Anthony Daddazio and Manny Rodriguez. Also no longer with the program is Christian Matos, who as a sophomore last season led the team in scoring at 17 points per game, including a 28-point effort against Wood; he is now at Archbishop Carroll.  

Look for Mason Conrad, a 6-foot junior guard and the team’s other returning starter in addition to Iemmello, and 6-foot-2 junior Wes Robinson, a wing player who saw significant minutes last season off the bench, to contribute. Lockard also expects 5-foot-10 sophomore guard Jack Lineen to play quality minutes. 

On a team that Lockard said does not have a tremendous amount of size, the wildcard could be 6-foot-3 junior Jahmir Carter, a football player who Lockard described as “raw,” “athletic” and “incredibly strong.”

“He’s figuring out how to use all of his athletic gifts,” the coach said.

In recent years Methacton has featured several stars in current Division I players Cole Hargrove (Drexel), Jeff Woodward (Colgate) and Erik Timko (Delaware). This year’s team will be different.

“I’m hoping that, ideally, we are not going to have one guy scoring 25 points a game,” said Lockard, whose Warriors have won at least one District I playoff game in each of his four years and reached the PIAA playoffs twice. “We should be pretty balanced. We’ll have some shooters and the ability to attack the rim.”

Despite the losses from last year’s team, Iemmello is confident.

“I definitely still think we have a lot of talent,” he said. “Anybody can put the ball in the basket at any given time. I think we can compete with any of these big name teams.”

Methacton will find out quickly. In addition to a challenging Pioneer Athletic Conference slate that includes a talented Spring-Ford team and a rising Pope John Paul II squad - Lockard said “there are no off nights” in the PAC - the coach has set up an arduous non-conference schedule that features Plymouth Whitemarsh, Lower Merion, Hazleton, Cheltenham, Hempfield, Emmaus and Cedar Crest to better prepare the team for the postseason.

“We built the schedule to set tests,” said Lockard, a math teacher at Methacton. “We will see where we stand. We are confident we can hang with these teams when we execute.”

Lockard has had a front row seat for Mehtacton’s rise to prominence, first as an assistant to former coach Jeff Derstine and now as the head coach. It took until 2013 for Methacton to reach the PIAA playoffs for the first time in school history; now, it has become expected.

Lockard sees the commitment his players have made to try to replicate the success of prior teams.

“They see what they built,” he said.

Lockard describes what they’ve built as a culture of unselfishness and commitment, hard work and communication, toughness and doing the little things.

“The biggest thing is making sure we’re working with the players and that they have a voice, and we’re communicating with them,” Lockard said. “It’s not just me telling them what to do. We need to be on the same page.”

The Warriors have consistently been on the same page based on their recent success. Last season, when they drew Archbishop Wood in the first round of the PIAA playoffs, many people anticipated a lopsided loss for Methacton.

“Not many people believed in us,” Lockard said. “Our guys completely bought in. When we do the little things, we can hang with anyone.”

They hung with Philadelphia Catholic League powerhouse Archbishop Wood that day and were down 74-73 with 1:21 to play before losing by 8.

“We were right there with them,” Iemmello said.

Methacton is becoming one of the elite teams in the area. Iemmello has been there from the start of the ascent, initially as a fan and now as a key player on the team.

It’s been nearly five years since Iemmello sat in the Liacouras Center on that February night watching Woodward, TImko and the rest of the Warriors put together a dominant performance to win the District I title.

“I was very impressed,” he said.

Now, as a senior, Iemmello is doing what he can to maintain the tradition of success at Methacton.

“We’ve built a good culture here,” he said. “It means a lot. It inspires me to get the younger guys to have the same mindset.”