Coaches Time Out

Not a whole lot of changes in sports from last week, surprisingly. The girls basketball and wrestling teams are still undefeated in the PAC-10, while boys basketball remains two games above .500 and is still in the running for a PAC-10 Championship. Winter track returned from New York on Sunday after a nice outing at The New Balance Games.

This week, the Rams have a lot of tough competition to overcome. With District Duals upcoming for wrestling and a chance to face the PAC-10's best on Saturday, the Rams will surely be frothing at the mouth at all of the opportunities this week has to offer.

For more in sports, read below! The coaches took a midweek break to chat with Editor Kevin Haslam about the winter sports teams.

Boys Basketball Drops One to Pottstown, Defeats Boyertown Again

After a huge victory against Pope John Paul II last week, the boys basketball squad was hoping for some momentum in the second half of the season. Unfortunatley, just two nights later, they would drop a winable game to Pottstown.

"That was a really frustrating loss," said head coach Mike Young. "At halftime we were up by eight. In the second half, some things unraveled and they made some key plays. We gave them Saturday off, gave them some rest, came back and had a great practice and they came to play tonight."

The boys came back this week and faced Boyertown on Tuesday night. They defeated the Bears earlier in the season and followed up with a nice win on the road this week, 63-47.

"It was a great win for us, because we had a bad win for us on Friday night, we really didn't play well," Young said. "We needed to come back and respond positively. We've done that all year and we proved we could do that again tonight. It was a tough team to play on the road to win, because with the loss, they're not out of Final Four contention. I was really happy tonight."

Darryl Branch was a top performer in the game, identified by Young, playing fine defense. He also led the team with 16 points.

"Just a great job defensively tonight, clamping down on one of Boyertown's best guys," Young said. "Especially in the fourth quarter, he really put the clamps on him and held him to just a few points in the second half after he kind of hurt us in the first half."

Josh Dishman, Zameer McDowell and Ryan Keefe all added 10 points a piece in the victory.

Coming up, Spring-Ford takes on Methacton on the road on Friday night, who they handled pretty well last time around. They'll then be home on Saturday night against Central Bucks East.

"Friday night's going to be a battle, because they're in first place and a game up on us in the division," said Young. "Both teams are going to come to play and it will come down to defense, rebounding and trying to execute on offense. It's a quick turnaround on Saturday, and our last non-league game. We'll try to get that last non-league victory to help us out in district seeding."

Saturday night's game is Senior Night for the boys. The team has six seniors on varsity.

"It's going to be motivating that night," Young concluded. "These guys have been playing together for a long time. They really enjoy playing with each other."

Girls Basketball Dominate Fourth Quarter Against Bears

The girls basketball team won another big PAC-10 game on Tuesday night. This time, the opponent was Boyertown. The game was tight in three quarters, but a 22-6 point run in the fourth quarter led the Lady Rams to glory. The final score was 49-34.

"It was one or two pretty much the whole way," said head coach Jeff Rinehimer. "We struggled offensively, but then in the fourth quarter, we came around. Boyertown did a good job with their game plan and what they wanted to do, but we were fortunate enough to break up the shooting and get the easy baskets."

Senior Mariah Traywick led the team in both points (18) and rebounds (10).

"She did exactly what the team needed," Rinehimer said. "Low post and got a lot of the rebounds. She made the other team work on defense. That was a big part."

Other points leaders in the game included Brittany Moore (10) and Sarah Payonk (9).

In last week's action, the girls finished up the week with two other big PAC-10 victories in Pope John Paul II and Pottstown. Rinehimer said with Pottstown's speed and PJPII's shooting, there were no breaks in the league.

"Those games wear on your legs, too," he said.

The girls play Methacton on Thursday night. They handled the Warriors last time the two faced off after getting out to an early lead, but now Methacton comes back with more experience in the season. Spring-Ford finishes up against Downingtown East, who has had a nice season so far, too.

"They're always well-coached," Rinehimer said. "They're going to execute very well. You have to try to break up their offense. They're coached by one of the best basketball coaches in state history in Bob Schnure. Tough team."

Wrestling Begins District Duals This Week

The wrestling team has been off from action since the Perkiomen Valley victory on Wednesday night of last week. The boys see their first action since then as we speak, as they are facing Upper Perkiomen.

"They're traditionally one of the better teams around," said head coach Tim Seislove. "They had a string a couple of years ago, where I think they won close to 40 league matches in a row. They dominated our league, but last year we were able to beat them and we're excited to wrestle them this week."

District Duals are on Thursday night and the Rams are the third seed behind Owen J. Roberts and Norristown. They will wrestle the winner of Central Bucks East and Garnet Valley. If they can come out of that one victorious, they'll continue to compete the following weekend with only eight teams remaining.

By far the biggest match of the season is on Saturday afternoon, when the Rams get their chance to face that top seed in Owen J. Roberts.

"We haven't really talked too much about them yet with Upper Perk on the horizon," Seislove said. "Beating Upper Perk is first priority, because that's a heck of a tough match."

Seislove said the seniors have all done a nice job, identifying Chase Brown, Jason Dombrosky, Jesse Quave, Danny Lawrence and Jimmy Stong as the big leaders and most productive wrestlers. Junior Sean Hennessey has done well for Spring-Ford, as well.

"He's been consistent and he's got some tough matches, as well," said Seislove. "That's the heart of our lineup there - 113 through 145."

Swimming

The swimming team had no report this week.

Field Events Seeing More Action for Winter Track

The indoor track team has returned from New York's New Balance Games, which took palce at The Armory on Saturday. Some highlights, according to head coach Danielle Stauffer:

• Sixth place to the shot put relay
• Third place overall to the sophomore boys 4x400 relay: Jared Shoemaker, Joe Bush, Ryan Connelly and David O’Such
• Mikaila White ran another state-qualifying time in the 55-meter hurdles
• The girls 4x200 relay of Brandy Nice, Morgan Fenerty, Mikayla Francis and Mikaila White just missed state-qualifying by less than one-tenth of a second

"We had to overcome some adversity with the snow and scheduling issues and though we did not meet many of our goals, it is still a great opportunity for kids to compete against great competition in a world class venue," Stauffer said. 

The throwers competed at the Polar Bear Scrimmage at Pottsgrove on Tuesday afternoon. They all threw shot put and some got in some practice throws with discus or javelin, which they’ll be competing in this spring. Highlights include:

• Jenn Yeakle took first place in the discus
• Kerry Miller was second in javelin
• Akuna Okere was third in discus
• Kaila Nogar was second in shot put

The Rams will compete in a shot-put-only meet on Feb. 1. There will be no other meets until Feb. 11.