Exeter’s Ashcroft, Caccese, Paschall earn All-State honors after historic season
After a season like no other in program history the Exeter Eagles and their head coach, Matt Ashcroft, have again been recognized for their work.
Senior stalwarts Anthony Caccese and Zyion Paschall earned spots on the Pennsylvania Sportswriters Class 5A All-State team and Ashcroft has been named Coach of the Year in that classification.
Caccese, a 6-6 center, was named to the second team; Paschall, a 5-10 point guard, was named third-team.
The honors come following a season which saw the Eagles win their first division title in 40 years, claim their first District 3 championship and reach the PIAA championship game for the first time in 40 years.
Ashcroft, in his fourth season, took the team from losing record to a 27-7 finish – including 10-2 in the postseason.
Ashcroft, a guard on Central Catholic’s 2007 PIAA championship team, put together a balanced team that played strong defense, shared the ball, had inside-outscoring punch and always played hard.
The Eagles built a reputation as a resilient team that overcame obstacles, none bigger than losing their No. 2 scorer and rebounder, Reece Garvin, to an injury for two weeks during the postseason. Despite that they reached the district final where Garvin returned and helped lead the Eagles to a 67-53 victory over Manheim Central.
They played short-handed in the state playoffs when Alex Kelsey was suspended for a second-round state game against Mechanicsburg, then faced constant foul trouble in their next two games. They rallied for an improbable 75-72 overtime victory over Peters Township in the state quarterfinals, then held off Cathedral Prep in the semifinals.
They ran up against Class 5A Player of the Year Justin Edwards and a monstrous Imhotep Charter team in the title game, falling 78-40. That Imhotep team landed three players on the All-State first team, including repeat pick Rahmir Barno and Ahmad Nowell.
Caccese, a Delaware football recruit and Big 33 selection, earned district gold medals and All-Berks and All-State honors in two sports.
He was the Eagles’ leading scorer (13.1) and rebounder (11.4). He averaged 15.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and shot 65% from the field over 12 postseason games, with eight double-doubles. He developed his footwork around the basket and was too much for anyone in District 3 to handle.
Caccese produced a monster effort in a 49-45 victory over Berks Catholic that essentially clinched the Berks II title; despite playing with three and four fouls for most of the second half he finished with 27 points and 17 rebounds and did not foul out.
Paschall was the most improved player in the league, adding a sound offensive game to an already stellar defense/point guard game. He rarely shot the ball as a junior but averaged 10.4 points, hit 22 3’s and shot 66.7 percent from foul line as a senior.
His intensity on the court and off set the tone for a determined team that thought it could beat every team it faced.
Paschall scored a career-high 20 points against Reading High in a 70-63 loss in the Berks Conference title game that essentially clinched his spot on the All-Berks team. He averaged a team-leading 6.4 assists along with 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 steals.
The 34-year-old Ashcroft is a basketball savant: He can remember plays and sequences and shots from 15 years ago as though they happened at yesterday’s practice.
He was an overachiever as a player, setting 3-point shooting records at Central Catholic and scoring 1,000 points and leading Albright to a Middle Atlantic Conference championship in 2010.
Ashcroft is always upbeat when talking about the game, even under the gravest of circumstances; there’s nothing, he reminds his players, they can’t achieve if they stay together and work at it.
“My wife always says that for every one piece of constructive criticism you need (to say) three uplifting things,” Ashcroft said of his 3-to-1 success formula. “I’ve tried to live by that as much as possible. I do better some days than others. Sometimes it’s a one-to-one ratio because I’m mad and I’m fired up.”
It was no surprise to see Ashcroft’s peers in Berks County name him Coach of the Year.
That award was earned as much during the spring and summer months, when he’s constantly in the gym with his guys, or around midnight following games, when he’s up texting video to his assistant coaches.
Ashcroft, always a student of the game, continues to add to his basketball catalogue. He’s constantly adding plays and notes to that crumpled piece of paper his holds in hands during games.
Colin Naugle, a teammate since their grade school years with the St. Catherine CYO team, saw that immediately when he joined the Exeter staff in 2019, Ashcroft’s first.
“His attention to detail was college-level,” said Naugle. “He gets the players to understand what they’re doing and how it impacts our game.”
Caccese and Paschall give Exeter a pair of All-State picks for the first time. Colin Payne was a third-team pick last year. Before that, you’d have to go back to 1973 and Charlie Booker to find the Eagles’ last All-State selection.
Class 5A All-State
1st Team
Justin Edwards 6’ 7” senior Imhotep Charter
Thomas Sorber 6’ 9” junior Archbishop Ryan
Ahmad Nowell 6’ 1” junior Imhotep Charter
Royce Parham 6’ 9” junior North Hills
Rahmir Barno 5’ 11” senior Imhotep Charter
Darren Williams 6’ 4” junior Archbishop Ryan
2nd Team
Jackson Hicke 6’ 5” senior Radnor
Anthony Caccese 6’ 7” senior Exeter
Trey Grube 5’ 11” senior Manheim Central
Kareem Diaz 6’ 4” senior Murrell Dobbins
Daemar Kelly 6’ 5” senior Penn Hills
Tasso Sfanos 6’ 2” senior Mars Area
3rd Team
Julian Pagan 6’ 3” senior Pocono Mountain West
Hayden Pardoe 6’ 5” senior Central Mountain
Zyion Paschall 5’ 10” senior Exeter Township
Jake Sambuchino 5’ 11” senior Cathedral Prep
Malachi Thomas 6’ 4” senior Milton Hershey
Kevin Rucker, Jr. 6’ 5” junior Bonner-Prendergast
