THE GAZETTE
Page B-2
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 d
Poolesville makes history with back-to-back crowns Falcons win first-ever back-toback division titles BY TRAVIS MEWHIRTER STAFF WRITER
Kenny Kramek used to be able to joke with his Poolesville High School boys’ basketball team that he was the only one in the gym with a division championship
BOYS BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK under his belt. Well, those days are long gone. A 72-46 win against Seneca Valley on Feb. 19 sealed up the Falcons’ second straight Montgomery 3A/2A Division title,
DAMASCUS
Continued from Page B-1 cob — the team’s tallest player at 6-foot-2 — was taking an official college visit. “I feel like I’m still getting used to it,” said Jacob, who is second on the team with 13.9 points per game and averages roughly 10 rebounds, according to classmate Connor Burke. “I mean, I haven’t played basketball in so long. We play football in the summer and the fall and then we get into basketball.” Which is why it came as nothing short of a shock to the rest of the county
TALENT
Continued from Page B-1 did,” said Sam, who also ran in the relay competitions. “… Last year we didn’t make it and this year I was able to not only make it but get four medals and place in every event that I ran in.” Adesanya, a second-year var-
CHURCHILL
Continued from Page B-1 ing to go full force every time.” Even Gu’s game face couldn’t hide how miserable she was feeling at last year’s state championship. One of Churchill’s most reliable scorers, Gu failed to earn a single point. The top scorer at the region meet with wins in every event she entered, Gu finished
the first time in school history they have won consecutive titles. “I’d joke with the kids that I was the only one with a division championship and they would say back ‘No way, no way, we’re going to get one,’” Kramek said. “They took a lot of pride, that core group of kids — Trevor [Stottlemyer], Craig [Morton], Andy [Baker], Anthony [Papagjika] — they definitely took a lot of pride in themselves. “The development of Trevor has been incredible, Andy is as solid of a basketball player you’re going to find, Craig has been our biggest surprise… and Anthony can go off at any time.” Kramek said that Poolesville may have won back-to-back division championships — “or whatever the equivalent was” — in 1966 and 1967, but the setup of the divisions was completely different. So
inthemoderneraofMontgomerybasketball, Poolesville has etched itself into the books.
Early into the season, with just a 3-1 record to show at the time, Jewish Day coach Dave McCloud said he had a promising bunch on his hands. His Lions delivered on that promise, going 19-0 in Potomac Valley Athletic Conference play to win the regular season title despite graduating leading scorer Ethan Walfish from last year’s 18-5 team. Danny Kravitz, who scored his 1,000th career point in a Feb. 10 victory over Washington Christian, partnered with freshman Bryan Knapp to average
28.1 points between them while senior Jon Prigal added another 12.9 to the mix. The first conference loss of the season, though, came at an ill-time, in the PVAC semifinals at the hands of St. Anselm’s, which nixed all hopes of a regular season and tournament sweep of conference titles. Covenant Life, meanwhile, rode the Brandon Thompson train all the way to the tournament title. In three playoff games, the 5-foot-8 guard scored 29 (on Washington International), 41 (Field) and 25 in Saturday night’s championship game against St. Anselm’s. “He’s phenomenal, phenomenal,” coach Alan Snyder said. “He’s the best offensive player in the PVAC. We got him playing defense, we got him passing the ball. He is the most improved player on the team, I’d say in the league..”
when then-3-8 Damascus beat thenundefeated Gaithersburg, 61-55, on Jan. 10. The Swarmin’ Hornets hadn’t been at full strength nearly the entire year to that point. That game served as the launching pad to what Jacob and Burke labeled the beginning of the rest of the season. “It seemed like after that it clicked and everybody was playing together,” said Burke, the team’s leading scorer at 16.1 points per game. “It just takes awhile for us to come together. At tryouts we had maybe 10 guys.” The only losses since that Gaithersburg game have come to Poolesville, Urbana, and Rockville, team’s combin-
ing for a 40-12 record and all of who are legitimate contenders to make it to the state tournament. “The playoffs are what matters,” Marshall said. “You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the year. You lose one game and your season is over; you can lose in the regular season, you don’t win anything in the regular season. We just emphasize getting better and getting better.” Marshall has been particularly impressed with the way Burke has taken on a more authoritative role both in the locker room and on the court. He looks for his shots and pushes the ball more —
one of the advantages of having a lineup with four players below six-feet is almost always being the faster team. Burke, Joe Daniel, and Jhames Nghonda — all left-handed players, as is Jacob, which comprises a four-lefty starting lineup — are all “point guards” at heart, says Burke, meaning Jacob or whoever else grabs the rebound has three viable outlets to look for in starting the fast break. The key, of course, is grabbing a key rebound, not always an easy task given Damascus’ relatively short squad across the board. “If we can get the rebound — that’s the big if,” Marshall said. “We do like to
Jewish Day, Covenant Life split PVAC titles
run and if we can get the rebound, we try to get some numbers and run but we can’t run until we get the rebound and that’s the problem, really.” As the regular season wound down, the coach often found himself sifting through tapes from the beginning of the season and then comparing it to what he sees now. What he sees, he said, “is night and day.” It’s the same observation he has made every year for the past four years, and one he’ll likely make for many to come. tmewhirter@gazette.net
sity runner, placed seventh in the 500 (1:19.87). She has dropped 13 seconds off of her time by working harder in practice and focusing more on strategy, she said. “As an individual, my mindset has completely changed compared to how it was last year,” Adesanya said. “… I decided if I’m going to do a drill a certain way, I’m going to do it perfectly each
time so that when it comes time to compete, I can show that same diligence.” Junior Sarah Moore took fifth in the 300 (42.04) to round out Blake’s open event runners. The 1,600 (4:03.75) and 800 (1:46.39) relay teams both placed third and were aided by junior Kaela Jones and sophomore Onesty Peoples, respectively.
“Everyone else has improved pretty well,” Sam said. With a small group at states, Blake’s open event runners were needed in most of the events. “There’s no break,” Adesanya said. “There’s no picking up your cell phone, there’s no talking to anyone. That can be very tiring at times.” Tynes said he wanted to es-
tablish a winning culture for Blake track by restructuring the team and getting more out of practices and workouts. “I think once they started seeing how much better they were doing and how their bodies were changing — they were stronger — they really started buying into the program,” Tynes said. “… Once that started happening, things re-
ally fell in place.” Afterthesuccessfulwinter,the girls have high expectations heading into the outdoor season. “I believe that indoor season has definitely showed us how much more we have to work and how much more we’re going to do,” Adesanya said.
17th in the 200-yard freestyle before Roddy scratched her from the rest of her events. In turn, Churchill finished the meet in sixth place. Gu and the Bulldogs got redemption at Saturday’s seasonending meet held at the University of Maryland, College Park where they finished second to defending champion Thomas S. Wootton by twopoints.Theprimarilymid-distance freestyler won the 200-yard
freestyle, anchored Churchill’s winning 200-yard freestyle and swam the third leg of the meetrecord setting 400-yard freestyle relay. “I couldn’t swim well [last year], I didn’t score in a single event, so it felt good to score at states and do well,” said Gu, whose older brother, Harrison, won the 100-yard breaststroke statetitleSaturdayfortheseventhplace Churchill boys.
Though Saturday’s runnerup result spoiled the Bulldogs’ chance at a perfect season — undefeated in dual meets and Division I, Metros and regional titles — Churchill’s near-win was a huge statement. With the county’s best diving contingent by a landslide — all four Churchill divers finished in the top 6 at Metros — teams are quick to point out the Bulldogs’ advantage in a typical champion-
ship setting. But the state swim meet does not include diving, which has been a major obstacle for Churchill the past three years. Thiswinter,however,theBulldogs proved they had as strong a swimming squad as any other team. “I can’t say that I’ve never heard grumblings that we’re a diving team with a swimming issue but [Saturday we proved we’re strong on the boards and strong offtheblocks,”Roddysaid.“When
we took out the diving points from divisionals we still came out ahead and at regionals we still won by 13 points. A two-point meet is nothing when you’re talking about hundreds of points. The girls had a fantastic meet and swam extremely well, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect season. It just didn’t sway in our favor this time.”
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Poolesville High School’s Trevor Stottlemyer takes the rebound away from a Northwood play on Jan. 10 in Silver Spring.
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