Pennridge is Hershey bound, thanks to its 52-47 win over La Salle in Tuesday’s PIAA 6A semifinal game before a sold-out crowd at Norristown High School. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko and Kathy Leister Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
NORRISTOWN - There are improbable runs to glory. And then there’s what Pennridge is doing.
On Tuesday night, in front of a raucous and rowdy and packed Norristown High gym, the Rams did the truly hard to believe.
They beat a really good La Salle team - the same La Salle team that had just defeated powerful Roman Catholic a round earlier - 52-47 in the PIAA Class 6A state semifinals to advance them to Saturday’s PIAA state championship game at the Giant Center in Hershey (8 p.m.) against District 10 powerhouse Kennedy Catholic.
“I don’t even know how to put it into words,” said Pennridge coach Den Behrens, who is in his 21st season leading the Rams. “I told the boys, ‘I was an assistant coach (at Norristown) from 1993-98. When I took the job at Pennridge, they had one win, and I never even dreamed that we could get to Hershey. I always thought, ‘Man, if we could win one division, that would be awesome’ because Pennridge had never won a division.
“We hit some tough times. We had a five-year stretch where we had back-to-back one-win seasons, but since about 2010-11, we’ve really kind of turned the corner because of the type of players we have.
“Our goal was always to try and win the division (SOL Continental Conference). That’s the goal every year. But we had a scrimmage against Upper Moreland before the season where we looked bad. And then we lost to Quakertown in December. But, after that, we won 17 in a row, and the confidence of the kids continued to grow. And then we were able to just keep going.”
The Rams got to the PIAA District One semifinals at Temple University where they lost to nemesis Abington for the third time.
Then, in the game for third place, they lost to Lower Merion.
“I was thinking then that I didn’t want the season to end with us losing two straight district games and then our first game in states against (Abraham) Lincoln and that would be it,” Behrens said.“But the kids didn’t let that happen.”
Pennridge beat Lincoln. Then exacted some revenge by finally beating Abington. Then they beat Methacton in the quarterfinals.
Then came La Salle.
Win? And it’s off to Hershey.
Lose? The season is over.
Cue Jack Gillespie.
All the Pennridge senior did was come off the bench and drill two enormous, remember-for-a-lifetime 3-pointers that made all of the difference against the Explorers.
The first one came off a wild scramble that was saved on the baseline by junior teammate Trent Fisher and somehow shoveled to Gillespie, who calmly nailed a wing three to give the Rams a six-point lead (40-34) with just over a minute left in the third quarter.
The second one was simply surreal.
With things tied at 47 and the crowd in a frenzy, Gillespie stationed himself on the baseline and swished a 3-pointer with 40.6 seconds showing.
Game over.
Welcome to Hershey.
“I missed my first two shots,” Gillespie said. “But my teammates told me to keep shooting.
“I shoot that shot every day in practice. We go over situations. Ideally, maybe it’s not the best shot to take in that situation, but I let it fly. I shot the ball with confidence. When I let it go, I had a good feeling about it.”
It was one of just three field goals the Rams had in the final quarter, but it was enough.
“Jack didn’t even hesitate,” Behrens said. “He caught it and shot it. And what a huge shot it was. He took it and shot it without even thinking and that’s what you want to see. So many kids have stepped up for us this season.
“We have Sean (Yoder), who is just a great, great player. But then you look and have Jon Post and John Dominic and Trent Fisher and Nick Dunn and Luke Yoder and Jack Gillespie. And so many more.
“This has just been a dream season. Now these kids get to play for a state title and we’re getting so much support from so many people. I’m just so excited for the whole Pennridge community, this is for everybody.”
Pennridge (27-5) led La Salle by two at halftime (24-22) and by six after three quarters (42-36) before the Explorers (26-4) rallied to tie things at 47 all on an emphatic two-handed dunk by Princeton-bound senior Konrad Kiszka with exactly a minute to go.
From there, the Rams would get the ball to Gillespie and the most famous shot in Pennridge basketball history (at least for now) would drop through the net less than 20 seconds later.
Dominic, who had a team-high 15 points, would further ice things by draining two free throws with 17 seconds remaining to account for the final margin. The first of the two took a high bounce before falling through the net.
“It felt a little off, but that rim helped me out a little bit,” Dominic said. “In practice, we do it every day – we practice our foul shots. When I was going up to the line, my teammates came up to me and said, ‘You do this at practice every day, you can hit these shots.’ I’m like ‘Yes, I can. This is just another practice.’ I focused in, did my routine, and I made those two shots.”
“How about John Dominic hitting those pressure foul shots,” Behrens said. “I knew if he could hit one of them and (made it) a two-possession game, I felt we were going to get this. Those were pressure foul shots.”
Dominic’s 15 points, which included three 3-pointers, led the Rams. Sean Yoder added 13 points and Trent Fisher had eight.
“Trent Fisher, I thought, played one of his best basketball games of the year,” Behrens said.
Dominic had eight of his points – including a pair of threes - in the opening quarter. His hot hand allowed Pennridge to exchange baskets with La Salle, and the two teams were deadlocked 16-16 after one quarter.
“Every one of us has confidence in each other,” Dominic said. “And now we’re just riding it out and getting a chance to play for a state title. It’s just an unbelievable feeling.”
Yoder, who drew a crowd every time he touched the ball, was more than happy to defer to his teammates.
“John Dom – my goodness, he hit a couple of huge threes for us,” Yoder said. “He’s playing big time for us. Jack (Gillespie) hits that clutch three in the corner. Luke (Yoder) hit one in the second half to start the third quarter. That was huge.
“If they’re doubling me, I’m going to find my guys. That’s perfectly fine with me. I don’t care about scoring. I don’t care about individual stats. I just want to win.”
With the Rams holding a five-point lead and Dominic’s one-and-one at the foul line in the closing seconds irrelevant, Yoder allowed himself a smile as he and Post watched from midcourt.
“(Jon) looked at me and said, ‘This is it right here, we have this,’” Yoder said. “It was a pretty surreal moment, but I’m telling him, ‘It’s not over, get back.’ It felt crazy.
“We have to keep it rolling, stick together as a group, get back to school tomorrow and prepare. We’ll see what happens.”
La Salle 16-6-14-11 47
Pennridge 16-8-18-10 52
La Salle (47) – Allen Powell 5 0-0 14; Titus Beard 1 2-2 4; Konrad Kiszka 6 2-4 15; Jake Timby 3 0-0 8; Zach Crisler 1 1-2 3; Jack Rothenberg 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 17 5-8 47.
Pennridge (52) - Luke Yoder 1 0-0 3; John Dominic 5 2-3 2-3 15; Sean Yoder 6 0-0 13; Trent Fisher 3 0-0 7; Jon Post 4 0-0 8; Jack Gillespie 2 0-0 6; TOTALS 21 2-3 52.
3-pointers: La Salle – Powell 4, Jake Timby 2, Jack Rothenberg, Konrad Kiszka; Pennridge – John Dominic 3, Jack Gillespie 2, Sean Yoder, Trent Fisher, Luke Yoder.
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