By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
—
It’s playoff time in District 1.
The various leagues that make up the four suburban Philadelphia counties are all transitioning from the regular season to the postseason this week, with championships early next week and the District 1 tournaments to follow.
Here’s a look at each bracket in the Ches-Mont League, with a breakdown of each to follow:
Girls
First Round — Feb. 5-6 (at higher seeds)
A2) West Chester Rustin vs. N3) West Chester East (Thurs., 7:00 PM)
N2) Downingtown West vs. A3) Great Valley (Weds., 6:00 PM)
Semifinals — Sat., Feb. 8 (at West Chester University)
N1) Downingtown East vs. Rustin/WC East (4:30 PM)
A1) Unionville vs. D’Town West/Great Valley (6:00 PM)
Championship — Tues., Feb. 11 (at West Chester University, 6:00 PM)
~~~
Grace Hodges (above) and Downingtown East captured the Ches-Mont National title. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
The Ches-Mont is wide-open on the girls’ side heading into the playoffs, with most of the major players from last year’s playoffs graduated or lost to the season due to injury. Downingtown East certainly has had the strongest season, the Cougars rolling into the playoffs with a 20-2 record (11-1 Ches-Mont National), which has them in the top five seeds in the District 1 6A tournament. But they didn’t even qualify for the Ches-Mont playoffs a year ago, so this is new territory for a junior-led group, with Grace Hodges, Chloe Hunold and Charlotte Aldridge joined by sophomore Kendall Chiavelli as regular double-digit scoring threats.
Joining Downingtown East in the semifinals are American division champs Unionville (15-7, 9-1), which suffered a major blow in the season opener when senior guard Elle Johnson went down with a season-ending injury. But the Longhorns have battled through, seniors Shannon Megill and Izzy Della Barba leading a defensive-minded unit that also features 6-2 Bethany Bowden. They’ll have a tough one in the semifinals whether it’s Great Valley (13-8, 7-3 American) or Downingtown West (18-4, 10-2 National), both of whom can pack a punch; the Patriots feature sophomores Kate Weikert and Maddie Walsh plus juniors Reilly Lackman and Kacee Magee; the Whippets feature junior point guard Hayden Blair alongside a deep group including seniors Liv Young, Sami Schurtz and Caitlin Grant and some impressive freshmen.
West Chester East (11-11, 7-5), which rallied late to grab last seed in the National division, has a lot back from last year’s Ches-Mont runner-ups, including senior guard Annalise Kubasko, junior guard Lauren Horan and senior forward Sofia Keith, all of whom are multi-year starters, though they're without junior guard Carly Bickle, who went down with a season-ending injury just before the year got underway. And Rustin (13-8, 8-2) has done well through a coaching change and with the graduation of its best players from the last few years, with junior point guard Jenna Kraft stepping up as the Golden Knights’ latest star along with senior Sara Betchyk and a number of sophomores and juniors.
~~~
Boys
First Round — Weds., Feb. 5 (at higher seeds)
A2) Great Valley vs. N3) Downingtown West (7:00 PM)
N2) Bishop Shanahan vs. A3) West Chester Rustin (7:00 PM)
Semifinals — Fri., Feb. 7 (at West Chester University)
A1) Sun Valley vs. Shanahan/Rustin (6:00 PM)
N1) Coatesville vs. Great Valley/D’Town West (8:00 PM)
Championship — Tues., Feb. 11 (at West Chester University, 7:30 PM)
~~~
Nasir Williams (above) and Coatesville went unscathed through the Ches-Mont slate. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)
While the girls’ tournament seems wide-open, the boys’ tournament — while stocked with talent — has a no-doubt frontrunner in Coatesville. The Raiders (17-5, 12-0 National) didn’t lose a single game to a Ches-Mont opponent all season; their only losses came to three out-of-state teams, the Suburban One favorites in Upper Dublin and the defending PIAA 6A champs in Central York. Head coach John Allen has a tough, talented group featuring senior guards Amon Fowlkes and Nasir Williams, junior forwards Larry Brown and Jonah Chester and a freshman to watch in wing Colton Hiller.
One team that’s itching to get a shot at Coatesville is Sun Valley (18-4, 9-1 American), which just wrapped up the best regular season in program history. Steve Maloney’s Vanguards don’t have a true big man but have some really good guards in seniors Kaiden Robinson and Aaron Freeman plus junior wing Aden Bambgose, who scored a career-high 26 points in the season finale win over Rustin; they play an aggressive 1-3-1 zone trap defense which has worked well for them since last year.
Keep an eye out for Bishop Shanahan (13-8, 9-3), which has battled through injuries this season but has some real talent on the roster. Senior forward Sean Griffin is a versatile 6-8 ‘4’ man who’s garnering D-I interest with a planned post-grad year ahead, and junior guard Danny Keenan is a strong-two way combo guard with senior David Maddry-Rylander another quality ball-handler and scorer. As for the rest of the league: Downingtown West (13-8, 9-3) features versatile, athletic senior wing Donovan Fromhartz (West Chester) and sharpshooting junior guard Brady Moore; Great Valley (15-7, 8-2) has senior wing Henry Person and high-scoring junior guard Chris Woodard; Rustin has a talented senior backcourt in Ben Malley and Vincent Iacone.
Tag(s): Home Josh Verlin High School Boys HS Ches-Mont (B) Ches-Mont American (B) Great Valley Sun Valley West Chester Rustin Ches-Mont National (B) Bishop Shanahan Coatesville Downingtown West Girls HS Ches-Mont (G) Ches-Mont American (G) Great Valley Unionville West Chester Rustin Ches-Mont National (G) Downingtown East Downingtown West West Chester East