5 Things To Know about Berks III boys basketball for the 2022-23 season
1. Hunting Tigers
The perspective has changed for the Fleetwood Tigers.
A year ago at this time they were still suspect, coming off an 11-8 season and without a playoff appearance in nearly 20 years. They were the hunter, chasing more established programs.
Now, after a breakout season which saw them win their first division title since Eisenhower was in the White House, they are the hunted.
They are expected to win a second straight Berks Conference Division III title and are better positioned to win in the postseason. Terry Sitler wants his players to block all of that out for the time being.
“(Our approach is) just do your job,” Sitler said, taking a page from the Bill Belichick playbook. “We want to be 1-0 every game. Forget about everything else.”
For players who tasted success for the first time it will be tough to keep the blinders on, especially with most of their best players returning. Jumping-jack Jake Karnish is back after an All-Berks season that saw him average 17.2 points, reach 20 points eight times and 30 points once.
Back also are starting guards Aiden Soumas, an all-division pick, and Nate Herb, a duo that combined for better than 18 points per game.
The Tigers also have a big, 6-7 Hunter Svoboda, a football lineman who has worked hard on his conditioning, post skills and footwork to prep for what could be a long basketball season.
The 6-2 Karnish was Fleetwood’s first All-Berks pick in at least 35 years, maybe longer. He led the team with 26 3-pointers, can run the floor, get to the basket and get off his feet with the best of them. He figures to top 1,000 points this season and could end up as the Tigers’ all-time scoring leader.
“That kid can really play,” said Hamburg coach Kevin McFarland. “Any time you have a player like that, (a team’s) difficult to play.”
Fleetwood’s first five is solid but Sitler is concerned with depth, especially after losing Mason Musitano for the season. The junior, expected to be one of the first guys off the bench, injured his hip in football and is not expected back.
The Tigers proved themselves last season with a 7-0 start and later by beating division favorite Wyomissing twice, once by 27 points. They made districts for the first time since 2000; their 16 wins were the most since 1990.
They went out in the first round of the District 3 Class 5A Tournament, extending their winless postseason drought to 32 years. There’s a good chance for a cloudburst come February.
Not only because the Tigers figure to be better but because they’re now competing at the 4A level, which should help. Save for Berks Catholic, the defending champ and early favorite, they should be on even footing with most of the other top teams in the bracket.
“We were one of the smallest 5A (programs in the state),” Sitler said. “It was hard for us to compete against teams like Hershey and Palmyra. Looking at the other 20 (or so schools in 4A), I think we’re gonna be much more competitive. We are looking forward to that. We know what’s ahead of us.”
2. Hawks hoping to take flight
This has not been an ideal preseason for the Hamburg Hawks.
They spent much of the fall not knowing who their coach would be after Nick Evangelista resigned in October and his replacement, Mike Donley, resigned a week into the job.
Kevin McFarland, a long-time coach in the system, stepped up to take the job just a week before practice tipped.
His son, Kevin III, is a senior on the team and he coached Kevin and his classmates throughout youth ball and middle school.
They’re familiar with each other, which will help make the transition go smoother.
“They know my expectations, and that’s been big,” McFarland said.
It’s also helps to have some talented players returning, including Kevin III and Xander Menapace, the Hawks’ leading scorer the last two seasons.
Kevin McFarland III was limited to nine games last season after surgery to repair a torn tendon on his ring finger after a football injury.
That kept him out until late January. He scored 17 points his first game back, later dropped 22 on playoff-bound Tulpehocken and averaged 13.2 points.
“There’s some talent there,” said Wyomissing coach Ryan Ludwig. “Menapace and McFarland can both play.”
The Hawks may have the best one-two punch in the division and the most experience — they didn’t lose any significant parts to graduation.
They did, however, lose a key part of the rotation when Connor Gruber suffered a torn ACL playing soccer and they lost prep time; there was no summer or fall program.
The Hawks have a roster full of athletes who have been successful in other sports. How that tranlates to the court remains to be seen. They could be poised for a breakout after back-to-back 17-loss seasons.
3. Seasonal adjustment
Once again basketball practice began at Wyomissing with most of the starting lineup doing tackling drills over on the turf field, not layup drills in the gym. It’s becoming a Spartans tradition.
“We’re getting pretty good at this now,” joked coach Ryan Ludwig of going through preseason practice with very few varsity players on hand.
Key pieces Drew Eisenhower, Ben Zechman, Logan Hyde and Andrew Forrey have yet to officially step on the court. They’re getting ready this week for a PIAA Class 3A semifinal against Neumann-Goretti and fully expect to be playing for a state title Dec. 10.
If that plays out they may not practice before the Dec. 12 opener at Daniel Boone.
Knowing this scenario was likely to unfold — the Spartans have reached the PIAA title game the past two years — Ludwig held “preseason” camp in the summer. They used their summer league time to work on the fundamentals usually reserved for November.
“We worked on things that we would do early in preseason,” Ludwig say. “We’re gonna be in a better place (when the season begins) than we were last year.”
4. Panthers on the Mark
Schuylkill Valley’s Mark Rajnath had a strong second half last season and carried it over into the summer, where he was a finalist for Most Valuable Player award in the West Reading Summer League (along with Aidan Melograna of Wilson, Dylan Kohl of Ephrata and Berks Catholic’s Josiah Jordan, who won the award.)
Rajnath helped the Panthers go 8-3 and battle Warwick in the playoffs.
It was a momentum-builder heading into this season, which could be a challenging one for a Schuylkill Valley team which graduated most of the firepower from a 7-14 team.
“He missed a lot of games (last season), or people would know more about him,” said Panthers coach Taylor Grim of Rajnath, who averaged 7.6 points over 14 games.
“He’s the quickest kid we have,” Grim said. “He attacks the basket; he’s developed his jump shot. Defensively he closes distances as well as anyone we have. That matters in our press.”
Rajnath, a 6-2 senior, averaged 10.5 points over his final eight games last season, including a career-high 20-point effort against Daniel Boone.
5. Century club
Schuylkill Valley coach Taylor Grim and Fleetwood coach Terry Sitler are approaching career milestones.
Grim, entering his 11th season, needs one win to reach 100. Only one Panthers coach in the last 50 years, Chris Gallo, has won more.
Sitler, entering his 11th season with the Tigers, has 96 career wins. He’s coming off his best season after the Tigers went 16-8 and won their first division title in over 50 years.
Two other Fleetwood coaches have 100 wins: Charlie Young (166), who coached from 1976-86, and John Stengle (109), who last coached in 1957.
