City of Basketball Love

Aron Minkoff (@AronMinkoff)

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(PIAA Championship Previews: Class A | AA | AAA | AAAA)

For the PIAA Class AAAA season finale two teams--from two opposite sides of the state and spectrum--will clash for the right to be called champions.

One team, an inner-city public school team out of Pittsburgh, making its first ever appearance in the state championship game: Taylor Allderdice. The other, a highly-touted Catholic school out of Philadelphia looking to win back-to-back state titles: Roman Catholic.

Perhaps the only thing that these two teams have in common is the desire to be wear gold around their necks, not silver.

“They are excited to play the best,” Allderdice coach Buddy Valinsky said of his Dragons. ”Roman is the best around and has been the last two years. So they are really excited to play the team that is considered the best in the state.”

All season long, either Allderdice or Roman Catholic have been ranked first in AAAA all season by CoBL, with Roman holding the top spot through the first five weeks of the season, before Allderdice took the spot on January 11 and has not given it back.

In a way, this is destiny. This is the exact showdown that many anticipated and wanted to see as the season waned on.

“I just see a team that really has been together for a couple of years,” Roman Catholic coach Chris McNesby said of Allderdice. “It is a team that has a lot of games under its belt. They have played together and have a lot of experience, and seem like a really close group.

“It is tough to run into a team like that,” McNesby continued. “They are always going to play with a lot of pride and play for each other...We are just going to play how we play. We are not going to do anything special, just play our game like we have been playing all year.”

The experience and success that Allderdice has indeed experienced has led them to a 79-10 record in the last three seasons, including a 29-1 mark this season.

The Dragons are 28-2 in conference play while winning three consecutive championships in the Pittsburgh City League.

And while that PCL is certainly not as tough as the Philadelphia Catholic League, this season Allderdice has played one of the most challenging schedules of any team in the state: from the opening game, a victory over then AAA No. 2 Imhotep Charter, to wins over top-10 AAA opponents in Beaver Falls, Mars and New Castle.

The Dragons also took their show on the road to defeat Wheeling Park, a game that was featured on ESPN3, as well as beating St. Pius X in Norcross, Ga.

Allderdice is not afraid to travel nor to play in any venue. Including its semifinal victory over Reading on Tuesday.

“They like the limelight,” Valinsky said. “Tuesday’s game against Reading was the epitome of the whole season. We drove three hours, there were 2,600 people in attendance, 2,100 were supporting Reading. It was like an away game in the state semifinals for us and we came out on top.

“I didn’t get rattled because I looked at my kids and they didn’t get rattled.”

Allderdice will certainly have a fair share of fan support for Saturday’s championship game. The school has charted six fan buses to transport Allderdice faithful to Hershey. Allderdice alumni from all over the country are expected to travel for the game, one that is monumental in Allderdice’s history.

“This is the first time that any team has gone to the state championship from Allderdice,” Valinsky said. “it is like anything when you do it for the first time people are crazed. It is not old hat for us, the excitement will be there with the fans that are coming.”

Allderdice is the first Pittsburgh City League team to compete for a state championship in any sport since the 2007 Schenley Spartans team that won it all, led by DeJuan Blair (Pitt), D.J. Kennedy (St. Johns), DeAndre Kane (Iowa State). So, it is not just Allderdice alumni that are coming together to cheer on the Dragons.

Pittsburghers have rallied together, from words of encouragement from Allderdice alumnus Wiz Khalifa, to former Pitt stars Ronald Ramon and Ashton Gibbs; even Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto have sent videos and words of support for the Dragons.

“It is just things that a lot of times I would be against as a coach, you know, kinda stay focused,” Valinsky said. “But I am embracing the whole ambiance. As much as I want to say that we don’t need it, we let it all go because it is such an achievement that these kids have done.”

While Roman Catholic boasts a trio of Penn State-bound seniors in Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Nazeer Bostick, Allderdice does not have a single bona-fide Division I basketball talent on the roster.

What gives Allderdice the edge over their opponents is depth and chemistry.

The Dragons boast an eight-man rotation that includes its three-headed backcourt monster, twins Tim and James Jackson along with Ramon Creighton. James has already scored more than 1,100 points, while Tim just eclipsed 1,000 points in the state playoffs play-in win over Erie Central Tech. Creighton is just 19 points away from 1,000 himself.

For Roman Catholic, the Cahillites have the opportunity to defend their crown and have played a tremendously tough schedule this season as well.

This includes winning the three-game Gonzaga DC Classic by defeating national powerhouse Gonzaga as well as defeating perennial Catholic League top-dog Neumann-Goretti for the PCL crown.

“It has been a good ride,” McNesby said. “I think we challenged our guys earlier on in the year. I think we gave them a lot of good tests. Our league alone is a good test. Excited to be playing in the final game that we could possibly be playing in. We are going to be ready to go.”

Now there is one last crown to compete for.

“I think they are going to be real enthusiastic about the opportunity to play in a state championship,” McNesby said. “The seniors know that this is their last game and they know how important it is and they will be excited for it so they will be ready to go.”