Anthony Sergio admits he had some concerns when – as he prepared to enter his final high school season – a new coach took over the reins of a highly successful Souderton program.
“Obviously, none of us knew coach coming in,” Sergio said of Dennis Stanton. “What was it going to be like? Was it going to be a rebuilding year?”
Those concerns were alleviated in a hurry.“Once coach came in this summer, I could see we were going right to where we were last year,” Sergio said. “I wasn’t worried any more.
“He coached us this summer, put in an offense we all liked. Coach is just a perfect fit for our program. He fit right in. Everything went well, and the season is going pretty good.”
Pretty good might be a bit of an understatement for an Indian squad that has won six of its last seven games and is 4-0 in SOL play.
“I’m pleased with our effort, and I’m pleased with the way the guys play together,” Stanton said. “It’s been a nice transition. They’re such good kids, and they work hard.
“I would like us to play with more urgency. There’s a difference between playing hard and playing with a sense of urgency. Our guys will play hard, but there needs to be a sense of urgency in that you play so hard you don’t turn the ball over and understand that every possession is so valuable. I think that’s where we’ve been lacking.”
The Indians return just one starter – junior Mark Wonderling - from last year’s SOL Continental Conference championship squad. Sergio was a key player off the bench.
“Everyone is saying, ‘Your team is inexperienced. Only a couple of kids played last year,’” Stanton said. “At some point or another, it still is basketball, and at the end of the day, we need to take care of business.”
The business at hand for the Indians is a Continental Conference showdown on Tuesday afternoon against a Pennridge squad that is the Cinderella story of the season. The Rams – two years removed from a 1-21 season – also boast a 4-0 record in SOL play. It’s a position they’ve never found themselves in before.
“I told them, ‘I’ve never said this in 13 years, and I don’t think any (boys’ basketball) coach at Pennridge has ever said – we’re actually playing a game for first place,’” coach Dean Behrens said. “Pennridge has never won a division title in basketball in the history of the school.”
For those who are counting, that’s 58 years, and while most wouldn’t have predicted the Rams would be at the top of the standings on Jan. 11, the players say they never doubted this year’s team could succeed.
“I knew we had the group of guys to be 10-1,” senior Mike Guldin said. “But just to be 10-1 and undefeated in the league – for any team, that’s a really good accomplishment.
“It doesn’t surprise me that we are because we do have a good group of guys.”
A good group of guys that apparently never lost faith.
“What was neat was even though at the time we were really struggling, our practices were really good,” Behrens said. “You would never know we were a team that was 1-21.
“The reality was we were probably playing these kids varsity too early, but that was the position we were put in. I thought the kids handled it well. We lost a couple of kids along the way that didn’t want to deal with the losing. In today’s society, that’s how a lot of people would be, but we saw these kids really like to play.”
The Rams, according to Behrens, did everything teams with successful programs did – the coaching staff scouted games, the team joined summer leagues, they went to team camp and had their own camp.
“Right now, we are reaping the rewards of that,” the Rams’ coach said. “The kids get along very well.
“A lot of them play other sports, but these kids have been entrenched at Pennridge since their elementary years, so they’ve known each other for a long, long time. I feel good for them. It was hard to walk through the hallways back then. Our girls’ teams were so good. Overall, it’s rewarding to see the way they dealt with adversity. They didn’t let it get them down.“Every game I think we played hard even when we were winning one game a year. That hasn’t changed. Now we’re more seasoned. Our talent level has improved because our kids have gotten better, and that’s helped.”
Some of the players have been playing together since they were nine years old.
“We know each other so well,” Guldin said. “The good thing is we’re friends outside of basketball.
“We all hang out, we’re all best friends. That definitely helps. It makes us more relaxed on the court. The guys that stayed with the program – we deserve this because we put so much hard work into it, and it’s paying off so far.”
According to Behrens, life in a balanced Continental Conference is tough.
“We tell our kids, ‘If you play poorly any night, you’re going to lose. If you play well, you have a good chance of winning, so you can’t take any team lightly, no matter what their record is,’” the Rams’ coach said. “So far we’ve been able to do that.
“The kids have stayed focused.”
Focus will be a point of emphasis for both sides on Tuesday. The big showdown – due to the predicted snow – has been moved to a 3:30 p.m. start.
“We need to really focus and not let the weather or the game time affect us,” Sergio said. “We need to stay focused and stick to the game plan.”
“It’s definitely going to have a different feel to it,” Guldin added. “You don’t know how many people are going to show up, but we’ll bring our own energy because we know what the game means to our season. We know how important this game is to us.
“Really, it’s going to come down to executing our plays. We watched film on them, and our coach has us well prepared. We know what they like to do. It’s just a matter of stopping it. They’re a great team. They have a new coach. They like to run, and so do we. It should be a great game.”
The Rams boast the explosive one-two punch of Abruzzo and Guldin, who are averaging 20 and 15 points a game respectively.
“People say they have the best one-two combo in the league,” Stanton said. “If we can eliminate those guys and just execute our offense and limit our turnovers, we should be able to play with them.
“I watched Pennridge on tape, and it’s inspiring because they play with such enjoyment. All five players play – I wouldn’t say play with reckless abandon, but they play fearless. All five players can shoot jump shots, all five players can dribble.”
Jared Schaffer is averaging eight points a game off the bench, and Kyle Peters, Rocky Ferrier and Andrew Lyons are also capable of putting points on the board.
“It’s a guard-oriented offense where their coach has done a really nice job crafting a game plan where it’s kind of tough to stop them because they have so many different threats,” Stanton said. “I think that’s what makes them such a viable team – along with North Penn. They are two teams that really have five shooters on the floor at all times.”
Wonderling is pacing the Indians’ attack, averaging 11.4 points, while point guard Luke Moyer is averaging nine points and Sergio and Ryan Connolly, 8.2 and 8.1 points respectively.
“Mark Wonderling is just a solid all-around player,” Stanton said. “He leads the team in scoring, he’s second in assists, second in rebounds and shoots 50 percent from the field.
“Anthony Sergio is our floor leader. He’s a great shooter – one of the best shooters in the league, and Luke Moyer is a good point guard and facilitator. He gets better every single day.”One of the unsung heroes in the Indians’ 7-3 start is junior center Ryan Connolly.
“He’s a very unselfish player,” Stanton said. “He does everything I ask him to do at all times on the floor. If people have been watching him recently – he has had games with 14 rebounds, 17 rebounds and 16 rebounds.
“He just works so hard on the floor. I told our team the other day I think we take him for granted. He goes out and puts his work in every single day.”
The Rams will have the homecourt advantage on Tuesday, and they also boast a more experienced lineup, but Behrens knows the Indians will provide a tough challenge.
“A.J. Picard graduated, but they have kids that got varsity experience in Sergio and Wonderling and even the Connolly kid, who has really, really improved tremendously just from last year to this year,” the Rams’ coach said. “We’re going to have our hands full.
“I think it’s going to be a hard-fought game, and it’s going to come down to the kids on the floor executing and who hits the most shots. I think you will have a game where both teams are really playing hard. I think it will be a good high school basketball game.”
No matter the outcome, it’s been quite a start for the Rams. How much fun has it been?
“A ton, a ton,” Guldin said. “It’s a blast. I’m really enjoying it so far. Hopefully, it doesn’t stop.”
Just the Facts
This year’s record: Souderton 4-0 SOL (7-3 overall), Pennridge 4-0 SOL (10-1 overall)
Last year’s record: Souderton 13-9, SOL Continental Conference champions, Pennridge 11-12
Last meeting: Feb. 9, 2010 – Souderton 64, Pennridge 48
Last game: Souderton 67, Quakertown 37 (Mark Wonderling 18 points, Luke Moyer 6 assists)
Pennridge 55, Hatboro-Horsham 41 (Tim Abruzzo- 14 points, Kyle Peters – 13 points, Mike Guldin – 12 points)
Souderton
Projected starters and season average:
#12 – Luke Moyer (Jr., Guard) 9.0 PPG
#15 – Anthony Sergio (6-0, Sr., Guard) 8.2 PPG
#20 – Ryan Connolly (6-5, Jr., Center) 8.1 PPG
#21 – Mark Wonderling (6-1, Jr., Forward) 11.4 PPG
#32 – Dan Falenki (6-0, Jr., Guard) 4.7 PPG
The rest of the Indians:
#0 – John Kanas (Soph.) 4.5 PPG
#1 – Alex Walbrandt (Jr.)
#3 – Jared Wright (Soph.)
#11 – Ray Janifer (5-10, Sr., Guard)
#22 – Greg Mendryski (6-0, Jr., Guard)
#24 – Ry Yozallinas (6-1, Jr., Forward)
#30 – Chris Kluka (6-5, Jr., Forward)
#55 – Brendan Wagner (Fr.)
Pennridge
Projected starters and season averages:
#3 – Mike Guldin (5-11, Sr., Guard) 15 PPG
#4 – Tim Abruzzo (6-2, Sr., Guard) 20 PPG
#11 – Rocky Ferrier (6-1, Sr., Guard) 5 PPG
#20 – Kyle Peters (6-0, Sr., Forward) 6 PPG
#31 – Andrew Lyons (6-2, Jr., Guard) 4.6 PPG
The rest of the Rams
#10 – Andrew Decew (6-2, Sr., Guard)
#15 – Colin McIntyre (5-9, Jr., Guard)
#22 – Josh Apple (5-10, Soph., Guard)
#23 – Jeff Garner (5-9, Soph., Guard)
#24 – Shane Schmidt (6-3, Soph., Forward)
#25 – Alex Krivda (6-4, Soph., Forward)
#30 – Mike Tatarowicz (6-1, Fr., Forward)
#32 – Andrew Dietterich (6-7, Soph., Center)
#33 – Keefer Brown (6-1, Soph., Forward)
#34 – Matt Hamilton (6-3, Sr., Forward)
#35 – Joe Garrity (5-8, Soph., Guard)
#40 – Shane Kraynik (6-3, Fr., Forward)
#42 – Pat Graham (6-0, Sr., Forward)
#45 – Kyle Bigam (5-10, Soph., Guard)
#50 – Jared Schaffer (6-0, Sr., Forward) 8 PPG
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