City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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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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Jakob Harken and his classmates entered Perkiomen Valley High School with an impressive resume.

As middle schoolers, Harken and teammates Anthony Rodriguez, Colin Hollingsworth and Jon Boyd put together quite a run for the Perk Valley Youth Basketball Association, winning ICBA championships in seventh and eighth grade. 

Finally their turn to lead the Vikings this season, the longtime teammates will suit up together one last time this winter looking to guide PV to similar accomplishments.

“It’s important for me to try and be able to win something for that group of guys,” Harken said.

The Vikings went 20-7 last season and finished 7-3 in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division before advancing to the PAC semifinals and the second round of the District 1-6A tournament. 

After the graduation of star guard Julian Sadler and a plethora of others, Perk Valley returns just two main members of last year’s rotation in Harken and Rodriguez. Harken is a 6-4 guard who committed to Rochester Institute of Technology. Rodriguez is a 6-foot guard who starred for the football team this fall.

Hollingsworth, a 6-4 wing/forward who was a wideout on the football team, returns to the court this season after a football injury kept him out last winter. Boyd, a junior, transferred from Malvern Prep this season. Sophomore 6-5 forward Ty Hopenwasser is a promising young big man who should play a big role this year.

“It’s definitely a new look,” 13-year PV coach Mike Poysden said. “We lost probably 90 percent of our scoring from last year — a lot of two-year, three-year contributors. We’re really excited because guys kind of in the pipeline who have worked hard in the shadows and worked their way up and through, now’s their time to really step out and step in and compete the way that we’re used to competing.”

Poysden typically has a handful of multi-sport athletes in his lineups, but this year’s team definitely cites its athleticism as a defining trait. Of the 11 varsity players, nine played fall sports

Rodriguez, Hollingsworth, Boyd and juniors Joey Keogh and Braden Nester were all part of a large contingent of football players beefing up the basketball program. Hopenwasser played water polo.

“We’re not pure basketball players in some of the names and faces that we’ve had in the program over the last couple years, but I think they bring that competitive and athletic ability,” Poysden said. “It definitely translates in the way that they’re playing basketball. I think we’re big and strong and tough and hopefully we can kind of use some of that to our advantage.”

Harken thinks the athletic makeup of this year’s team could lend itself to playing with a little less structure than last year’s squad.

“This year, I don’t think we’re going to be as much of a set piece team as we have in the past,” Harken said. “I think we’re going to be more of a just go out, use our athleticism and try to make plays.”

Sadler scored 1,450 points in his PV career, which ranked third in program history. He was the focal point of the offense and one of the top scorers in the PAC over the last two seasons.

Harken may not play the same exact role, but he spent this offseason working toward stepping into the spotlight this winter. He worked out twice a day and put on 15 pounds of muscle as he prepped for his senior year.

With his college decision behind him as well, he's ready to lead the group alongside Rodriguez and shoulder a larger responsibility.

“I worked like crazy this offseason,” Harken said.

“I was able to hit the gym every single day and get a lot better for myself and the team and be able to step into a bigger role as we graduated some of our key guys last year,” he added.

The Vikings entered last season with high expectations both internally and externally. This year’s group looks to continue the high standard of basketball PV has played during Poysden’s tenure, but they also know it will be a process.

He is excited to let them play through their mistakes and figure out how to play at the varsity level. Harken noted without a large number of games under their belts together, the Vikings will also develop chemistry throughout the early parts of the season.

Still, in a Pioneer Athletic Conference that has had four different champions over the last four years, the Vikings like how they stack up.

“Our goal is still the same for us,” Harken said. “The goal is to make a statement within the PAC of course. We know we’re going to have to take a couple games to get used to playing with each other because this group of guys just has to learn to mesh together. But our goal is to be able to compete when it comes to PAC playoffs.”