The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

No, I did not make a typo and add a question mark by mistake when putting this week’s “SportsTalk Shop” blog title together.

This is normally the time of year when I check in with local spring and summer basketball coordinators to receive their schedules, talk with them about their plans for the next several months and perhaps get some insights (and usually a few juicy rumors) on some local storylines to keep an eye out for.

In doing that this week, there’s been a similar theme to what I heard last year:

Cautious optimism.

Regardless of these leagues and tournaments’ organizers’ background, everyone I’ve talked to is hopeful to get some semblance of summer action in. 

That being said, many were equally optimistic about last Summer, thirteen months ago.

This year some organizers are saying they are hearing positive, aka declining, numbers in terms of COVID cases and feel very strongly that the games can be played just as in previous years.  But the fact that the mask mandate will be lifted in a few weeks hasn’t kept some from getting overly hopeful things will go off as planned.

The “spring games” have already been postponed and, quite likely, games will not go regularly like they would in a “normal” year.  However, as of this moment, there is a schedule for local summer league games and tournaments in place for June and July within the RCN-Lehigh Valley footprint.

Last year, in lieu of bringing you pictures of the summer’s local basketball action, I uncovered many “never before seen” shots of the special people participating in summer games and tournaments in our viewing area.  Until we have games being played, and because I received some very nice comments about posting these images a year ago, I am bringing you more previously unpublished pictures from the prior summer’s basketball action.

Also, like in 2020, I’ll be checking in with local representatives as we get closer to the bigger summer tourneys in June and will present an update–one way or the other–on the status of this year’s local activities on the courts.

Stay tuned!!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Recently, we highlighted the different all area teams for the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

The Colonial League did away with their “all star teams” a few years ago — at least, those listings that were provided from the participating schools’ athletic directors and administrators.

However, that hasn’t stopped the “CLGBBA!”

The Colonial League Girls Basketball Coaches Association was formed in 2019-20 when the Colonial League decided not to recognize its student-athletes through the selection of All-League teams.  The GBB coaches have gotten together to continue the tradition of honoring the league’s best players by selecting, 1st and 2nd Team All-League Players as well as Honorable Mention Athletes. The Association consists of the head coaches from the Colonial League’s 13 member schools. 

So, here are their listings of top performers during this past season…

Colonial League Girls Basketball Coaches Association  ALL-LEAGUE Honorees 2020-21  

(All Selections Listed Alphabetically) 

FIRST TEAM 

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: 

TRINITY WILLIAMS, SR, PALISADES 

SECOND TEAM 

HONORABLE MENTION

Again, a big THANK YOU to those involved and in charge of these organizations for passing those lists along to us, so that we can put them in the spotlight here at RCN’s “SportsTalk Shop!”

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 

Last week here at “The Shop,” we started our annual listings of outstanding individual accomplishments by student athletes in the RCN-TV viewing area, but highlighting the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s standout girls basketball performers from this past winter season.

Today, it’s the EPC boys turn as we spotlight them with the league’s All-Star selections.

Among the highlights are two firsts–at least, as far back as I can remember.

First, we have “tri-most valuable player awards” given out.  We frequently have seen ties in the voting, precipitating leagues to give out “co-MVP” honors, but I don’t remember a three-way split between three different players in the same league–let alone three students within the same division AND county.

Also, I don’t ever recall any freshman from the EPC-18 ever garnishing first-team accolades.  Nate Ellis from Allen High School got “second team” honors two years ago but I haven’t found anyone to disagree that Parkland’s Nick Coval was the first ninth grader to capture that accomplishment in this league’s history.

Here is the complete rundown of the post-season accolades:

Lehigh County 

1^st Team

Mel Copeland – William Allen

Nick Coval – Parkland (Tri-MVP)

Nate Ellis – William Allen (Tri-MVP)

Liam Joyce – Allentown Central Catholic

Tyson Thomas – Allentown Central Catholic (Tri-MVP)

2^nd Team

Danny Bohman – Emmaus

Will Meeker – Parkland

Manny Ozuna – William Allen

Daniel Quinones – Dieruff

Trey Rolle – Parkland

Monroe County 

1^st Team

Jahkai Barnes – Stroudsburg

Christian Fermin – Pocono Mountain West (MVP)

Qadir Mitchell – Stroudsburg

Christian Sapp – East Stroudsburg South

Justin Smith – Pocono Mountain West

2^nd Team

Matt Campbell – Pocono Mountain West

Colin Castillon – Pocono Mountain West

Joel Contreras – Pleasant Valley

Kyle John – East Stroudsburg North

Tamir Thompson – Pocono Mountain East

Northampton County 

1^st Team

Nick Ellis – Freedom

Edixon Gomez – Bethlehem Catholic

Isaac Harris – Northampton

Chris Hewey – Easton (MVP)

Lucas Lesko – Northampton

2^nd Team

Joseph Barnes – Liberty

Jalen Fletcher – Freedom

Ryan Glassmacher – Bethlehem Catholic

Ryan Kresge – Nazareth

CJ Santos – Nazareth

Keep checking back to the “SportsTalk Shop” for more pos-tseason awards and accolades for student athletes in the RCN viewing area!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Although the 2020-2021 basketball season had its share of hurdles, the student-athletes, parents, coaches, athletic directors and everyone involved in local high school sports deserve a round of applause for dealing with all the adversity faced during the past four months.

Through the pandemic, snow/weather-related events, limitations/restrictions imposed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and other happenings that took place, it was an accomplishment to have as much of a season as we did.  Some areas in the RCN viewing area outside of the Lehigh Valley would have been thrilled to get in as many games as most of the teams within the Valley were able to play this past year.

When the student-athletes did get on the court (albeit with a drastically reduced amount of practice time–something I’ve heard more than one coach lament this winter), we saw some exceptional play and great individual and team performances.

The Colonial and Schuylkill Leagues both conducted their conference playoffs as close to “normal” as they usually do.  The revamped — and some would argue, improved — district tourney format was also a success with some great games that you saw on RCN-TV.

As part of our return to normalcy, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference recently released their annual “All-Star” listings for the girls and boys teams.  We spotlight the girls teams this week and hope to have the boys listings coming up next week here at “The Shop.” 

Lehigh County 

1^st Team

Lindsay Berger – Parkland (EPC League MVP)

Jaydalise Cartagena – Dieruff

Shanaiya Ellis – William Allen

Julia Roth – Allentown Central Catholic

Emily Vaughan – Allentown Central Catholic

 2^nd Team

Molly Driscoll – Allentown Central Catholic

Ella Laky – Whitehall

Joey Madison Shaul – Whitehall

Sonya Shivok – Parkland

Talia Zurinskas – Parkland 

Monroe County 

1^st Team

Kendel Card – Stroudsburg

Vatijah Davis – PM West

Isabella Horvath – PM East

Azahni Simmons – PM West

Emily Strunk – Stroudsburg (MVP) 

2^nd Team

Chanel Davis – ES North

Kania Day – ES South

Layla Hernandez – ES South

Samantha Merklin – Pleasant Valley

Ella Muir – Pleasant Valley 

Northampton County 

1^st Team

Talya Brugler – Nazareth (MVP)

Morgan Sterner – Northampton

Sara Tamoun – Easton

Kailey Turpening – Freedom

Kourtney Wilson – Bethlehem Catholic

 2^nd Team

Jessica Farrell – Liberty

Grace Lesko – Northampton

Kelly Leszcynski – Nazareth

Brenna Ortwein – Freedom

Emily Violante – Easton

PROGRAMMING NOTE:

We will continue our exclusive interviews with spring sports coaches and players to talk about their return to the playing fields on this Thursday’s “RCN Sports Talk” program, featuring teams from Easton and Bethlehem Catholic high schools this week. Tune in this Thursday at 7pm to RCN-TV, set your DVRs or look us up through RCN On Demand (free for RCN subscribers)!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Last week we looked back at some of the highlights from this past winter sports season.

This week, we continue our glance back at the last several weeks of wrestling and basketball sports action that we brought you on RCN-TV.

RCN Sports: District XI Individual Wrestling Championship (3/21)    

RCN Sports: Nazareth vs. Archbishop Carroll (3/21)
 

RCN Sports: Parkland vs. Nazareth (3/21)

 RCN Sports: Parkland vs. Northampton (3/21)

 RCN Sports: Pocono Mountain West vs. Allen (3/21)

RCN Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs Jim Thorpe (3/21)

RCN Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Middletown (3/21)

 RCN Sports: East Stroudsburg South vs. Bangor (3/21)

 RCN Sports: Notre Dame Green Pond vs. Executive Education (3/21)

Remember, RCN viewers can see all of our sports programming for free at any time through RCN On-Demand for shows and sports events for up to two months from the day their first air on RCN-TV.

Also, we’ll continue our look ahead to the spring sports season on this Thursday’s “RCN SportsTalk” show with more interviews from players and coaches currently participating in the season that just got underway.  This week’s guests include members of the Freedom girls softball team.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 

As we reflect upon the recently completed winter sports season, there were certainly some ups and downs for teams, administrators, fans, members of the media and everyone associated with high school sports.

Fortunately, we got through the season with no “catastrophes” (aka, zero COVID-19 deaths among student athletes in Pennsylvania according to the PIAA’s recently released information about the winter sports campaign).  We completed the state championships the previous weekend with only two teams having to withdraw from the state tournaments due to the pandemic…and that is for ALL winter sports.

And…we had our share of very competitive games on RCN-TV this past winter.

Here is a look back at some of the sports action we brought to our audience this season…

 VIDEO CLIPS: 

1) RCN Sports: Allen vs. Parkland (2/21)

2) RCN Sports: Allen vs. Parkland 2 (3/21)

3) RCN Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Pope John Paul II (3/21)

4) RCN Sports: Palmerton vs. Northwestern Lehigh (3/21)

5) RCN Sports: Liberty vs. Emmaus (3/21)

6)  RCN Sports: Bangor vs. Bethlehem Catholic (3/21)

7)  RCN Sports: Bangor vs. Notre Dame Green Pond (3/21)   

8) RCN Sports: Allen vs. Archbishop Wood (3/21)

9) RCN Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Bethlehem Catholic (3/21)

 More video highlights from this past winter coming your way next week here at “The Shop.”

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

It’s not uncommon for me to congratulate an individual wrestler and/or a Lehigh Valley wrestling team for winning a state gold medal here on this blog this time of year.

However, it’s been 35 years since anyone from the Lehigh Valley could congratulate a boys basketball team for accomplishing the same honor during the winter sports season.

Allentown Central Catholic became the first Valley boys basketball team since…Central Catholic did it back in 1986.  We’ve had a few girls basketball teams bring home titles over the last several decades but many skeptics around the area thought we might never see another boys title from this area again. Fortunately, the Vikings proved them wrong and defeated Hickory High School, 41-40, last Thursday evening.

Like most teams this winter, Central Catholic had to overcome some adversity. 

Their team was shut down three times because of COVID–either via state mandates or because of reported cases within their own program.  Among their constatent scheduling issues…three times they scheduled and had to postpone their non-conference game vs. Notre Dame-Green Pond in what would have been a match of two of the Valley’s best teams (an additional storyline:  Central’s assistant athletic director is related to Notre Dame’s head coach and best player).

Two other times we were scheduled to broadcast a Central game–one time the game was cancelled 47 hours before tipoff, the other time, 3-½ hours before it was slated to start.

They also had personnel issues.  Their biggest concern among the players was the loss of their starting center, Christian Spudnardi, for two-thirds of their season with an ankle injury.  He recovered two weeks before the playoffs started and gave the Vikings their first 100% healthy starting lineup roughly ten days before the postseason got underway.

We’ll hear more on the Vikings’ historic season from Central Catholic Head Coach Dennis Csensits and members of his team on an upcoming edition of “RCN SportsTalk” (a number of their players also play spring sports, so we’ll have to find a date that works for as many of their student-athletes as possible).

This winter also gave some vindication to the Nazareth and Bethlehem Catholic girls basketball teams–both were alive in the state playoffs when the coronavirus took a hold of everything going on in the sports world last year and made for a premature ending on their quest for a championship.

Although both teams lost before getting a chance to play in the Pennsylvania state final, at least they had a season and had the opportunity to compete for the championship without having the games pulled out from under them–as was the case a year ago.

As far as wrestling, Lehigh Valley teams did well in states…although not their usual dominance that local squads normally have at Hershey.

There were a few individuals who won gold medals but for the first time in several years, no school walked away with the PIAA trophy.

The reasons are both most probably tied to the pandemic.  

Lehigh Valley teams have an advantage competing in one of the most prominent wrestling communities in the country.  Because of the limited scheduling of meets, many wrestlings did not get to compete against some of the other best wrestling teams like they normally do in any other season.  A number of schools use the motto “iron sharpens iron,” and facing that tough level of wrestling on a weekly basis can’t help but make wrestlers better prepared for states.

Furthermore, some schools gain skills by competing at outside tournaments featuring some of the best wrestlers in the country–utilizing those skills learned and applying them in state competitions.  Because many of the nation’s top tourneys were cancelled, the top wrestlers didn’t have those experiences as well.

Still, just to get through this winter season while staying healthy was an accomplishment.  For the Central Catholic’s boys basketball team, who persevered through all its hurdles (and had a number of nail-biting victories over the last two weeks), they captured the ultimate prize for a high school sports program.

Congratulations Vikings!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

 Before we take our final look at this winter’s high school basketball poll (and in the interest of full disclosure)…let’s look back at which teams our poll experts had predicted when we started the season – the first time – back in late November/ early December.

EPC-LV TOP 5 (Preseason Version)

1)     Central Catholic

2)      Allen

3)     Easton

4)    Parkland

5)    Northampton

COLONIAL TOP 5 (Preseason Version)

1)  Southern Lehigh                   

2)  Notre Dame

3)  Bangor           

4)   Northwestern        

5)  Palmerton

As you’ll see, the biggest change – and the biggest surprise – was Southern Lehigh.  The Spartans were tapped by many to be the best team in the Colonial League and in Class 5A, featuring the return of one of the premier basketball players from the previous season.  Instead, the defending Colonial League and District 11 5A champions were eliminated in the first round of both the conference and district playoffs.

Obviously, the main goal for all teams was to just try to get through this past winter sports season healthy.  Otherwise, you would have to look at Southern Lehigh as one of the biggest disappointments of the winter.

The EPC poll had fewer surprises and was a little easier to predict.

With that, it’s time for us to take our final look at our high school basketball or teams in the RCN viewing area within District XI boundaries.

For this winter, we broke the two polls down into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (Lehigh Valley teams only) and Colonial League schools, within the RCN broadcast area.

Like the fall, our pollsters consisted of local media members and coaches/administrators from our local teams, who will remain anonymous so they can vote honestly without retribution and to avoid any “bulletin board” material.

So below we have high school polls for both leagues, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.

Feel free to email me at Chris.Michael@rcn.net for your thoughts on our final poll and we might read and respond to your emails on this week’s SportsTalk show.

EPC-LV TOP 5

1)    Allen

2)    Central Catholic

3)    Parkland

4)    Easton*

5)    Northampton

*Season concluded due to school district protocols

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, Nazareth, and Northampton

COLONIAL TOP 5

1)   Bangor               

2)  Notre Dame

3)  Northwestern

4)  Palmerton

5)  Southern Lehigh

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh, Southern Lehigh and Palisades

We will be looking at the last several months of scholastic sports action in our viewing area over the next few weeks here at “The Shop” and on our RCN SportsTalk television program.

Simultaneously, we’ll start gearing up for the spring sports season, present some interviews and previews of local teams and storylines of interest and more … all coming your way over the next month!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Here’s three local sports observations as we head into the first week of the PIAA state basketball playoffs.

1)  It was good to feel “normal” last week…our sports crew produced nine high school basketball games over a 74-hour span.

For me, it was hectic contacting coaches, compiling information, distributing it to the different members of our crew and then broadcasting the games themselves.

Hectic…but enjoyable!

We are “normally” quite busy doing this at this time of year (and I didn’t get much sleep last week), but it’s what we have been used to over the years and it felt good to have that “rush” again before and during all those games.  The best part was crowning champions–and we did just that for seven of the eight local teams from our coverage area.

A special shout out to this year’s district basketball champions from Notre Dame-Green Pond, Executive Education Charter Academy, Bangor, Bethlehem Catholic, Nazareth, Allen and the Allentown Central Catholic boys and girls teams.

You may have noticed that most of this year’s winning teams were “non-boundary schools.”  That has been a source of a lot of commentary among local sports fans over the last few days.  We’ll have more on that aspect of the winter sports season, along with the changing landscape of high school sports, coming up over the next few weeks on “SportsTalk” and here at “The Shop.””

2) Of the teams that were victorious, most face stiff competition right off the bat.  With the state playoffs brackets drastically reduced, we won’t see many of those “blow out” games we typically see through the first two rounds of the PIAAs, which should make for better basketball all the way around.

Be sure to refer to the RCN TV broadcast schedule for our listing of teams, days and times of our coverage of local teams over the next few weeks–provided teams keep winning (it is a single elimination tournament!)

3)  Time for us to take a look at this week’s high school basketball or teams in the RCN viewing area within District XI boundaries.

With constant uncertainty throughout the winter months, our pollsters still did a credible job of picking our teams each week.  

For this winter, we are breaking the two polls down into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (Lehigh Valley teams only) and Colonial League schools, within the RCN broadcast area.  

Like the fall, our pollsters will consist of local media members and coaches/administrators from our local teams, who will remain anonymous so they can vote honestly without retribution and to avoid any “bulletin board” material.  Our media members will reveal themselves when they appear on our show (and if they don’t and have “bad picks,” I’ll be sure to point that out to our audience!:)

So below we have high school polls for both leagues, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.

Feel free to email me at Chris.Michael@rcn.net for your thoughts on this week’s poll and we might read and respond to your emails on this week’s SportsTalk show.

EPC-LV TOP 5

1)   Allen

2)  Central Catholic

3)  Parkland

4)  Easton*

5)  Northampton

*Season concluded due to school district protocols

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, Nazareth, and Northampton

COLONIAL TOP 5

1)   Bangor               

2)  Notre Dame

3)  Northwestern

4)  Palmerton

5)  Southern Lehigh

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh, Southern Lehigh and Palisades

Be sure to bookmark our high school winter sports broadcast schedule here on the website and check it frequently throughout the next two weeks for our coverage of the PIAA playoffs!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Here’s three local sports observations as we head into District 11 championship week…

 1)  While the coaches are not saying anything, parents, students and Red Rover sports fans had plenty to say about the alleged protocols that forbade its basketball teams from participating in the district tournament.

Over 2,000 signatures were signed to a petition demanding the team be allowed to participate but Easton school administrators held fast and claimed the current rules state that the team cannot participate in the playoffs.

Both the boys and the girls teams were certainly among the top two or three teams in the district’s 6A classification.  The Easton girls defeated the reigning state champions from Bethlehem Catholic — twice — to open the season…only to have their year and prematurely less than two months later.

2) Of the teams that are still left, there’s still plenty of great boys and girls basketball games to be played this week.  The fact that this year’s district tournament is an open tournament and “a win or go home” format has only intensified the interest in each single game, with only the district winners advancing into state competition.  This is personally something I would like to see for the playoffs going forward and would provide many benefits.   However, this obviously would decrease the number of playoff games and therefore the amount of revenue so I doubt it will be something we will see again once everything returns to “normal.”

Make sure you bookmark and keep coming back to the RCN TV website for the teams and times of the games we are broadcasting this week and for the state playoffs which begins next Tuesday.

3)  With constant uncertainty throughout the winter months, our pollsters still did a credible job of picking our teams each week.  With the exception of the Easton situation listed above, they have been about as consistent as humanly possible.

For this winter, we are breaking the two polls down into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (Lehigh Valley teams only) and Colonial League schools, within the RCN broadcast area.  With the reduced schedules and many of our teams staying mostly “in country” with their opponents this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions, this plan for our polls will keep things interesting since many of the top teams within the local conferences will not have the opportunity to actually face each other this fall.

Like the fall, our pollsters will consist of local media members and coaches/administrators from our local teams, who will remain anonymous so they can vote honestly without retribution and to avoid any “bulletin board” material.  Our media members will reveal themselves when they appear on our show (and if they don’t and have “bad picks,” I’ll be sure to point that out to our audience!:)

So below we have high school polls for both leagues, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.

Feel free to email me at Chris.Michael@rcn.net for your thoughts on this week’s poll and we might read and respond to your emails on this week’s SportsTalk show.

EPC-LV TOP 5

1)   Allen

2) Central Catholic

3) Easton*

4) Parkland

5)  Northampton

*Season concluded due to school district protocols

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, Nazareth, and Northampton

COLONIAL TOP 5

1)  Notre Dame    

2) Bangor   

3)  Northwestern

4)  Palmerton

5)  Southern Lehigh

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh, Southern Lehigh and Palisades

Be sure to bookmark our high school winter sports broadcast schedule here on the website and check it frequently.  With several games already postponed or canceled so far this season, there could be changes from day to day!