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Close-knit senior class leading resurgent Upper Perk

12/22/2017, 11:15pm EST
By Tyler Sandora

Tyler Sandora  (@tyler_sandora)

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From 2010-2016, the Upper Perk basketball team won only one game in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, and 17 overall games in the six seasons combined.

Then, the class of 2018 came along.

A close-knit group of friends, the seniors on this year’s team have known each other for as long as they can remember.

“We literally know how each other play,” Ryan Kendra said. “We are a family, and it helps us.”

Their coach Jared Krupp, taught two players on the team -- Kendra and John Brown -- when they were in third grade.

Krupp first coached this group of kids in middle school when they were on the seventh grade team, and saw something he liked.

“I saw them then, and we knew they have the potential to do something special,” Krupp said. “We knew as ninth graders we needed to keep as many of them as we could, and play them as much as we could. We like to make sure they know each other and keep their chemistry going.”

Chemistry was never an issue for this select group of kids.

“In Upper Perk, we aren’t a gigantic school, so we cant have any of our athletes specialize in one sport,” Krupp said. “We need them to be out there playing everything. We have some two-sport or three-sport athletes, Ryan [Kendra] being one of them. That’s just the kind of school we have, and I like it. The kids are playing together, building their chemistry, it’s nice to see that.”

The senior class played well together on Friday night, defeating Phoenixville 41-40, in front of a chaotic Phantoms crowd.

The Indians were lead by their juniors a season ago, when they finally won some games in the PAC, finishing 5-5, and 12-11 overall. They qualified for the PIAA 5A district tournament, but they dropped their first round game to Great Valley, 54-43.

Kendra, a 6-4 guard and D-III York College commit, averaged 17 points per game last year. 5-10 guard Liam Boyle scored 12 per contest, and 6-8 lanky big man Will Walker averaged nine points a game.

“Before last year we hadn’t won a PAC game in a couple years,” Kendra said. “We wanted to show the community and people around us that we can bring Upper Perk back and we can make the program better.”

So far this season, the Indians are out to a 6-1 start, with three wins coming in the PAC. They dropped their first game of the year to North Penn, but have won every game since, defeating Oley Valley, Brandywine Heights, and Upper Merion, among others.

On the basketball court isn’t the only place this group of kids will find themselves with each other. Krupp remembers last season, the kids wanted to go to each other’s houses to watch the NBA dunk contest together, or they’ll go to watch other basketball games as a team.

The class of 2018 also led the Indians’ football team to a 7-5 record overall this year, their best season in a few years, and they were runner-up’s in the PIAA 4A district championship. Five of the contributing seniors on the basketball team also played football.

When the class of 2018 were freshman in the 2014-15 season, Kendra and Boyle found themselves in the starting lineup. Kendra didn’t play like a freshman, as he scored 10 points a game, and Boyle played well as the starting point guard.

“Liam and Ryan both played varsity minutes as freshman, and even though we were 2-20 we said we are getting better,” Krupp said. “If we could get better, our goal would get accomplished.

“We always taught that we should love the process more than the product,” he continued. “These guys love the process. They find themselves on the court, AAU, open gym, whatever they can do to get a ball in their hand.”

Besides Kendra, Boyle, and Walker, some of the other contributors include Tyler Whary, a 6-2 bruiser and the star running-back of the football team, Tyler Keyser, a 6-foot guard who can shoot it from deep, John Brown (6-3) and Bo Duka (6-0).

Liam Boyle’s little brother, 5-8 sophomore Sean Boyle, was subbed into the game for the first time  Friday night with a minute left. The younger Boyle, who doesn’t often see varsity minutes, took a pass from his brother on the wing, drove to his right, and threw up a floater.

He made it, got fouled, and completed the three point play to cut the lead to one point, before Kendra would steal the ball the next possession and make two free throws to take the lead.

“Even Sean [Boyle] has been playing driveway ball with these guys forever,” Krupp said. “They know where he’s at and they know his game.”

Kendra led the Indians with 18 points and 10 rebounds on Friday night. Brown had nine points, and the older Boyle had six.

For Phoenixville, 6-6 big man Brendan Jenkins had 11 points, Quinn Danna and K.J. Quinn both added nine.

Now with its third straight win, Upper Perk is getting used to winning games, with a group of guys who have been waiting for this for a long time.

“We know we have a chance to make noise,” Krupp said. “We know we are the front runner. Our motto is ‘stay woke.’ We need to lock in and play 32 minutes because that target is on our back. We are not used to that. There’s that sense that Upper Perk basketball isn’t just something we do for fun, it’s a program, and something we need to respect.”

“We are always together,” Kendra said. “We have a bond I wouldn’t want with anybody else.”

 


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