City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

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CHESTER, PA — Jalen Harris and Shadrach George may not want to fully grasp it yet, but their basketball timeclocks are ticking. The Chester senior pair each made life-changing decisions on Tuesday making their college commitments—for football.

George, the Clippers’ bulldozing fullback, will be going to Division II Kutztown, and Harris, an all-everything quarterback and Delaware County record-holding passer, will be headed to D-II Lincoln.

Their days as high school athletes are numbered, and they certainly received a reminder of that during Chester’s Senior Night with the collage of pictures, signs and balloons in a pregame ceremony prior to the Clippers’ Del-Val League game against archrival Penn Wood.

Then, Harris and George proceeded to do their part on the court, combining for 24 points in leading Chester to an easy 68-52 victory, threepeating as Del-Val League champions, putting their league winning streak at 24-straight games, and winning the league title for the eighth time in the last nine years.

This is a Chester team that entered the season carrying the gaping scar of a 76-68 upset loss to Downingtown West in the first round of last season’s PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs. Harris and George have crossover scars from an historic football season that ended in a District 1 Class 5A championship loss to Springfield (Delco).

There is a lot the Clippers want to achieve the rest of this season, and Tuesday night’s victory was just the start.

Chester currently sits No. 12 overall at 14-6 in the District 1 Class 6A rankings, one place behind Penn Wood, which is ranked No. 11 with a 15-4 overall record that includes two of its four losses coming to Chester.

Personally, George and Harris are in the numbing throes of seeing a beloved sport that they have played most of their lives coming to a conclusion at the organized level—and they are trying to do their best to keep it going.

“This is good to be with my guys, and I have been playing basketball my whole life. I started when I was 10, so I realize that this is it,” Harris said. “I committed to Lincoln for football. It has not really dawned on me that my last basketball game is ahead. We still have plenty of basketball to go. We want that district championship. You have guys on this team that felt what it was like to lose a district championship. That’s our next goal in basketball.

“I think we can do it. We are small, but we’re dogs. We all want it, and we are all hungry. I felt good to have the whole city come out for us.”

George, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound guard, plays far larger than his height. He does the scrappy work of rebounding, playing interior defense, and on Tuesday night showed a deft shooting touch, scoring nine points on perfect four-for-four shooting. George committed to Kutztown on Tuesday morning. He first began playing basketball when he was four, and did not pick up football until around seven.

“Games like this, and that crowd out there made it special,” George said. “I’m trying to celebrate every moment I can with my teammates. We have more basketball ahead of us. I think it is just the athletes in myself and Jalen that comes out on the basketball court.”

Clippers’ legendary coach Keith Taylor embraces the competitive attitude of Harris and George. There were 11 different Clippers that scored Tuesday night. What will make Chester difficult is its vaunted press, which Taylor hardly applied against Penn Wood, and the fact he could go very deep on his bench and get valuable minutes from 13 players.

“It’s the way we are made,” Taylor said. “Harris and George playing football brings something different to a basketball team, and how physical they are raises the level of everyone else on the team. We’re good right now.

“We know there are teams out there that will sleep on us. Let them. They’re looking at something else on film, and in real time, we’re something different. That is their butts.”

A three-point play by Penn Wood’s Malik Edwards, who led the Patriots with a team-high 12, put Penn Wood within 30-28 with 6:33 left in the third quarter. The Clippers then went on a 17-3 run that secured the game, fueled by a clutch three-pointer by Jay’son Demby that got the Clippers going, and five of Ramee Davis Jr.’s game total of six coming in that span.

Penn Wood never got within double digits again.

“Chester is good, real good. They play with confidence. They play together. They play with passion,” Penn Wood head coach Matt Lindeman said. “Keith and his staff are doing a great job. They are way better than they were a month ago. They’re way better than they were two months ago. They are going to be a problem in the district playoffs. They put out a great effort, and when you don’t match that effort, and we didn’t, you’re going to lose.

“Second-chance points killed us. We lacked the physicality in the lane on defense, which is usually our strength. It’s execution, coaching, and effort. One team increased their level and we didn’t. It’s playoff time, and we have to get better, or we won’t last long in the district playoffs. We have to buy in, and do it quick, or the season will be over quick.”

By Quarter
Penn Wood (15-4, 5-2 Del-Val League):  9   | 14  |  13  |  16  ||  52
Chester (14-6, 8-0 Del-Val League):       15  | 15  |  20  |  18  ||  68

Scoring
Penn Wood: Malik Edwards 12, Bellvin Smith 9, Stan Jones 8, Nafi Davis 6, Marquan Sampson 6, Jaden James 4, Kyair Larose 3, Tim Burres 2, Amari Anderson 1, Haji Ali 1.

Chester: Jalen Harris 15, Shadrach George 9, Khymir Brown 8, Paul Lindsay II 8, Ramee Davis Jr. 6, Jasiyn Mallory-Granberry 5, Dahron Bostick 5, Jay’son Demby 5, Josiah Bynum-Smokes 3, Zahir Clayton 2, Darius Daile 2.

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.