Coaches Time Out

In Week Two, only one team remains undefeated in the wrestling team, and that could continue today when they take on . The basketball teams have both seen tough competition both in and out of the league early on in the season, and winter track has the week off from any competition to prepare for a holiday tourney.

LRSC Patch and the winter coaches took a midweek break for its weekly Coaches Time Out.

Boys Basketball Drops Three in a Row

The boys basketball team is now 2-4 on the season, with its only wins being Central Bucks South and Boyertown. They have lost their last three games, the first being Methacton last Friday.

"It was a back and forth game through the first three quarters and in the fourth quarter they took over the game," said head coach Mike Young. "We committed too many turnovers and weren't executing offensively like we needed to and it turned into a 17-point game there at the end. It was a close game there for three quarters. I was kind of disappointed with our kids that game overall with our offensive execution and our effort."

In the game, only sophomore Zameer McDowell scored double digits (16).

"We don't have a guy really that's going to go out and score 20 points a game," Young noted. "We don't have a standout scorer like that. We really need to spread it around. We need a bunch of guys to score eight to 12 points. We need to get a few guys into double figures. We haven't been getting that. We've been struggling to find ways to score over the past three games."

In Saturday's Mid-Atlantic Shootout, the Rams played Octorara which was close for the first half.

"They were more athletic and faster than us," Young said. "They kind of wore us down in the second half. It was the same as Friday night. I think we put in a better effort in the Octorara game, but they wore us down in the second half."

The Rams lost 64-52. They then went on to play in another non-league game in La Salle College High School, where they had their largest loss of the season. However, Young said the score did not indicate the effort by Spring-Ford.

"Of all the three games, even though we lost by the most tonight, I thought we played the best against La Salle," Young said after the game. "They are the best team we played this year by far. They have like four Division I recruits on their team. We played really well. Our intensity and our effort and just the things we were trying to get done, we didn't do them the way we wished we could have, but we tried to do the right things tonight. I told the kids afterward, I think that's a big step moving forward as we go up against Owen J."

Overall, it has been a tough six games for the Rams, but Young said his team and coaches knew that coming in. The goal for the season still remains the same, Young said: A PAC-10 Championship.

In the meantime, the final game before the winter break will be played on Thursday night against Owen J. Roberts at home. Young said the boys are looking forward to that one.

"It could be a momentum-changing game, because you want to take some momentum into the holiday," he concluded. "I think both teams will come out fired up and it should be a good game."

Senior is out with foot injury, which he suffered against Methacton. He should return soon, but no timeline was given.

Girls Basketball Wins Three in a Row

After the opening night loss to a tough Cheltenham team, the girls basketball team has won its last three - Hazelton, Boyertown and Methacton. The Boyertown game was announced as Patch's last week, and the girls followed up with a strong win against the Warriors, winning 60-39.

"We played a nice game," said head coach Jeff Rinehimer. "Methacton has a lot of good athletes and quick. We knew we had to match their intensity or else we were going to be in trouble."

After seeing early foul trouble in the Boyertown win, Rinehimer and the girls had to clean up. But, it was Methacton that got into trouble this time.

"They got in a little foul trouble, so it helped to get us on the line and get us a little settled down," Rinehimer said. "With the fouls, we know, it gets the rotation out of whack. So, it probably happened to Methacton a little bit with the fouls."

The girls go on the road, again, and will face Owen J. Roberts on Thursday.

"We have a rotation and use a lot of people," said Rinehimer. "Owen J's a younger team. They've got good athletes."

Unlike the boys squad, the girls haven't seen too many non-league matchups. Rinehimer said it's just another day in the office for the Lady Rams.

"The way it's set up, you don't get many non-leagues to start and you're jumping right into your league and division," he concluded. "They knew. It's been the same the last couple of years, going to the Hazelton tournaments and playing our division foes early in the season."

Wrestling Still Undefeated After Abington Duals

The wrestling team went 5-0 at the Abington Duals, facing off against some good teams and coming away with some quality regular season victories. They are now 6-0 in the regular season.

"I think it was a good day," said head coach Tim Seislove. "Pennsbury is a pretty good team. Traditionally in District I, they're one of the better teams. Upper Darby, their kids are all tough, hard-nosed kids. They were two nice wins. The kids wrestled well throughout the day."

Overall, standouts on the day included senior and junior Sean Hennessey, who also went undefeated. Brown was particularly proud of defeating Bensalem's Mike Pritchard, while Seislove noted Hennessey's victory over Pennsbury's Jason Bing as a keynote in his junior season.

"It was a good win for him to beat the kid from Pennsbury," Seislove said. "A couple of the young kids stepped it up, as well."

Freshman Zack Dorsey went 3-2 on the day and sophomore Josh Boyer went undefeated.

It was also noted that Jesse Quave cracked his head open and got six stitches at the end of one match and he had to default. The team wrestles in its first PAC-10 matchup of the season tonight against Pope John Paul II High School.

"The kids are excited," Seislove said. "Every year, one of our goals is to do well in the PAC-10. if we're going to do that, we need to start off with a victory against John Paul."

Swimming

Swimming did not have comment this week.

Winter Track State-Qualifies in Boys 4x400

The boys 4x400 team finished first place at the Hill Invitational. They won overall on the meet, but they also state qualified in the first meet of the season, which was last week.

"This early in the season, that's kind of crazy," said head coach Danielle Stauffer. "Honestly, I think we had five more boys on the team that could have ran it just as fast or faster."

Stauffer said the boys who qualified in that competition - Michael Novarina, Nick Ondo, Joe Bush, Xavier Ingram (3:33.02) - will not necessarily be the four on the track on Feb. 25's state competition.

"This is the motivation," she said. "I think everyone would ask, those four boys state qualified, so wouldn't it be unfair if those boys didn't get to run at states? Well, no, because then it keeps everybody motivated to get the fastest time for the remainder of the season. It's the four fastest kids on Feb. 25. The four fastest kids competing on Feb. 25 or the four fastest kids on our track. We just keep running them out there. I'm putting four totally different kids in, because I'm positive they will run the same time or better."

Two other quality performances came from seniors Joe O'Such (mile, first place, 4:53.13) and Jesse Magalon (3000, first place, 10:05.39).

"Joe O'Such in the mile actually didn't know how to pace himself," said Stauffer. "He only ran the mile a few times last spring. He said he just went out with the boy from The Hill School who ended up in second and let that boy pace him for a while. When he finished it, he said he had too much energy left. He could have run it faster."

Stauffer went on to say Jesse Magalon's race should be recorded as a 3200 and not a 3000, as the judges miscounted the laps.

"So, it was a two-mile race," she said. "If you display a 10:05 3K time, no one is going to be looking at it and saying that's a fast kid, but a 10:05 3200 time will get some kids' attention. He was another one with a little too much energy left at the end of it. He definitely had a great day, too."

Magalon and O'Such will run in the mile competition at the Christmas City Classic on Tuesday. Their goal is to qualify for the Millrose Games in New York.

"I like that they're setting such high goals for themselves, because it's a really elite field that goes up to that competition," Stauffer said.

Stauffer noted other highlights from the Hill meet. The following excerpts are in her words:

• "Sean Weiss in the hurdles was a surprise actually. He says he's been going to over the past couple of weeks. He's a kid who over the past two years has been a hard worker, tried just about everything, and came out in the hurdles and surprised me. He dropped almost a full second off of his best time last season in 55-hurdle, which is really difficult to do."
• "4x8 boys finished third on the day. That was interesting because we were looking to get some times out of some young kids. We didn't run too many kids with experience in there. I think I ran three sophomores and a junior who hadn't really run one. They all ran between 2:13 and 2:18, which for young kids is great for the start of the season. You're always looking for a kid who can get by the end of the season under 2:10, especially when you're young. They ran awesome."
• "The girls 4x8 finished second on the day, which was outstanding. Again, a bunch of girls who didn't necessarily run it all the time, who were just out the first time to do it."
• "The girls 4x400, it was Brandy Nice, Samantha Flynn, Sammy DiPietro and Krista Cartacki. So, two sophomores, two seniors, they finished third overall on the day. Brandy had a great day. She was on both relays. She ran the fastest leg of each. She ran 2:39 on the 800, but I think she can run faster. In the 400, she ran a 61. So, 1:01.7, I think was her split. This early in the season for girls is great."
• "Mikaila [White] is coming off of a hamstring injury from spring at the PAC-10 Championship meet last year. She was saying that by the end of the meet she was really sore. She took a couple of days off this week to rest up. She ended up finishing third (9.18). She was actually the top seed going into the final, but she fell off starting from the first hurdle. She did really well, but she was disappointed."
• "Krista Cartacki is a senior who's been doing awesome for us. She came out for the first year as a sophomore. She took fourth in the high jump for us this week, was on the 4x400 relay for the girls, and ended up with a third and a fourth overall for the weekend. That's really nice for her."
• "Our lone disappointment was that they canceled the pole vault because they couldn't get the basketball net raised. It was stuck in down position and it's right on the pole vault runway. Ryan Peirson's first competition will be this Tuesday. We're looking forward to it, because he's setting his goal this year for 13 feet."

For the upcoming meet, Stauffer has most of the roster set and is looking forward to seeing O'Such and Magalon compete in the mile, as well as the sophomore class to see what their potential is in certain events.

"I put a lot of our faster kids in individual races this time around, only because they limit how many people you can enter per race," Stauffer concluded. "It's easier to enter a relay and not have to seed them at a fast time. A lot of our individual races are going to be kids trying to get individual times after running relays last week.

"We're having a good week at practice and are excited for next week!"