Pennridge defeated Methacton on Saturday to earn a spot in Tuesday’s PIAA 6A state semifinals for the first time in school history. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. CLICK HERE for a gallery of photos.
PLYMOUTH MEETING – In anticipation of the state playoffs, teams that have qualified are allowed a scrimmage to fill the gap between the end of districts and the beginning of states. Naturally, Pennridge coach Dean Behrens thought to call Methacton coach Jeff Derstine.
“Jeff Derstine, he was the athletic director at Pennridge before Dave Babb, so he was my boss, basically, so I know Jeff really well,” Behrens said. “We actually got together and scrimmaged the Wednesday before the state playoffs – that was neat, scrimmaging those guys a couple of days before the first round.”
And after both teams won their first two state games, they had a rematch with a whole lot more on the line.
Pennridge and Methacton put on quite a show Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the PIAA Class 6A Tournament, and the back-and-forth classic wasn’t decided until Sean Yoder drained a step-back 3-pointer as time expired, giving the Rams a 50-47 victory at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
“Everybody you play against now is good, crazy good,” Yoder said. “Now, it’s just taking it game-by-game, quarter-by-quarter, play-by-play, just locking in and getting it done.”
Yoder and his teammates now move on to the state semifinals where they will play La Salle on Tuesday night at Norristown High School (time TBA). La Salle defeated defending state champ Roman Catholic in its quarterfinal on Saturday.
“We believe we’re not done yet,” said Pennridge center Jon Post. “We believe we’re meant to be here. It’s about going to practice, executing and getting on top in the next game.”
Saturday’s game could easily have had a different outcome. Tied at halftime, Methacton looked poised on several occasion to take command in the third and fourth quarters. The Warriors led 33-27 at one point in the third and later 37-31, before a bucket by John Dominic and a last second jumper by Jack Gillespie cut it to 37-35.
Then in the fourth, trailing by four, Methacton countered with an 8-0 run to jump in front 45-41 with 2:44 remaining.
Sophomore Luke Yoder cut it to two with a difficult 15-foot jump shot on Pennridge’s next possession.
“I came right across, I just went up with it,” Luke Yoder said “I came down a little weird. It was just a matter of instinct.”
After a Methacton turnover, Pennridge tied it up as Post scored in the paint. Methacton answered as Owen Kropp scored on a strong drive to the basket. Sean Yoder converted two free throws to tie it again at 47 with 23 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock.
“That was huge – that was a lot of pressure,” Behrens said of Yoder’s clutch foul shots. “I don’t think (the lead) ever got more than seven. We made a run, they made a run, that’s what I expected.”
After a Methacton timeout at midcourt, Luke Yoder forced a turnover, giving the Rams the ball back with a chance to go for the win.
“Luke Yoder made some big plays down the stretch,” Behrens said. “He forced them to throw (the inbounds) pass away. It was a tremendous play, putting so much pressure on the inbounder.
“We talked about gambling, and he just got in his hip pocket. The kid from Methacton panicked because they didn’t have any timeouts left, and he threw a bad pass.”
Luke’s older brother, Sean, took care of the rest.
“First of all, my brother got a huge steal at the end,” Sean Yoder said. “All five guys locked down on the inbounds pass, which gave us the opportunity to get that final shot. That was huge.”
As for the final play, that was an easy decision.
“We tried to run a little double screen (for Sean Yoder) and said if you get a layup, take it,” Behrens said. “But if you don’t, pull it out and we’re going to spread the floor and you’re either going to go to the basket or take a shot. I figure at this point, with a player of Sean’s caliber, let’s have him shoot the ball.”
And his teammates wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“For sure,” Post said. “We have all the faith in Sean. We knew whether it’s a game or practice, he’s the hardest working kid out there. We trust that whatever shot he’s going to take is going to fall. He rose to the occasion.”
Sean Yoder led Pennridge with 17 points.
“He’s the guy you want on the line, he’s the guy you want taking the last shot,” Behrens said. “We’re fortunate to have him in our program. As I told Navy assistant coach Emmett Davis today – I get to coach him another day.”
Dominic added 14, including three three-pointers.
“He had a couple real good drives to the basket,” Behrens said of Dominic. “He handled the ball extremely well, he didn’t turn the ball over.
“We were able to get Sean (Yoder) inside a couple of times, and the only way we do that is by having John Dominic handle the basketball at the point guard. Defensively, he did an amazing job.”
Post scored 11, matched up against 6-foot-9 Methacton center Jeff Woodward all day.
“Jon Post had a steady game on the boards,” Behrens said. “He did a good job on their big kid, Woodward, and held him to 12 points.
“Trent Fisher really didn’t look like he got much in the box score, but he did a great job on the boards. He’s real good length for us, and he got a couple of blocks.
“It was really two teams playing as hard as they could. It was two different emotions. We’re celebrating, having a great time, and they’re dejected. The margin of error in that game – we had the ball last, that’s what it came down to. We had the ball last and we won the game. If they had the ball last, maybe they win the game.”
Saturday’s win came on the heels of the Rams’ upset of Abington in a second round game Wednesday.
“I thought that this was going to be a really difficult game for us, especially coming off of that Abington win,” Behrens said. “Human nature. We did something against Abington because we hadn’t beaten them. So I was trying to convey to the kids, we haven’t done anything quite yet.
“At this point, let’s go win the state. I know there are other great teams out there, but what the heck? There’s only four teams left, we’re here now. Let’s go another week.”
With each win, Pennridge is making history.
“It’s hard to put into words – we’re among the Final Four teams for 6A in the state,” Behrens said. “When we started the season, we thought we had a nice team. The goal is to win the division.”
Pennridge checked that goal off, winning their first SOL Continental crown since the 2015-16 season.
“Last year, we got to states,” Behrens said. “A couple years prior to that, we won the division, got to states and won a state game, but we had never been to Temple.
“This year we said – we want to win the division, we want to be a top eight seed in District One, which we think is important because of the bye. Then we talked about going to Temple (for the district semifinals). A Pennridge team has never done that.”
The Rams advanced to the district semifinal at Temple, and the next goal was winning a state game. So far they’ve won three, and thanks in no small part to Yoder’s heroics, a Pennridge team with modest postseason expectations is one of four 6A teams still standing.
“It’s something I never even thought of that could happen to this program,” said Behrens. “To the players, it means an awful lot obviously. They’re the ones who put in the time and effort – the sacrifice and dedication. Not only my varsity but my jayvee team.
“We have 18 kids in the program jayvee and varsity, and they’ve all stuck with us throughout our practices. They’ve done a great job of working hard at practice, making our varsity guys better, preparing us for this.”
“I remember talking to Fred Pickett – the head coach of Chester who has now passed on – at Alvernia team camp about what it’s like to win states and preparing, never thinking we would ever be in that position.”
Methacton 10-13-14-10 47
Pennridge 12-11-12-15 50
Methacton (47) – Owen Kropp 1 0-0 2; David Duda 3 3-3 10; Erik Timko 8 0-0 20; Ben Christian 1 0-0 3; Jeff Woodward 6 0-4 12; TOTALS 19 3-7 47.
Pennridge (50) – Luke Yoder 1 0-0 2; John Dominic 5 0-2 13; Luke Yoder 7 2-3 17; Jack Gillespie 2 0-0 5; Jon Poast 6 1-3 13; TOTALS 21 3-8 50.
3-pointers: Methacton – Erik Timko 4, David Duda, Ben Christian, Pennridge – John Dominic 3, Sean Yoder, Jack Gillespie.
About the Author
