Hard-hat approach has Schuylkill Valley in the thick of Berks III title chase
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Taylor Grim has tried to build Schuylkill Valley’s identity around defense and effort. The Panthers coach awards a white construction hat after each win to the player who best exemplifies a workmanlike approach.
It’s unlikely the Panthers have ever played defense more effectively than they did Friday in a 48-29 crossover game against Oley Valley. They allowed just five points in the first half. Grim could’ve handed out a bunch of hard hats.
“We executed our game plan pretty well, defensively,” Grim said. “We took a couple things away from them that we knew they could do well and made other guys make plays. And we contested every shot. There were very few open looks.”
They limited Ben DeBalko, who was leading the Berks Conference in 3-pointers, to one basket. They held the Lynx (7-8) to their lowest point total in three seasons.
The win was the seventh straight for the Panthers (6-1, 12-3), who remain a game back of Berks III leader Fleetwood with a rematch coming next week at Leesport. It is Schuylkill Valley’s longest winning streak since the 2011-12 season when it won nine in a row and finished 19-8.
The 12-3 start is the best after 15 games during Grim’s 12 seasons as head coach.
“The pieces are all starting to fall together for us,” said Grim “We finally have had a stretch where we’ve had the same lineup for a week or two now, and the kids are settling into their roles very nicely. We never had a consistent lineup up until the last week or two (because of injuries, illness or other issues). Now the pieces are lining up very nicely.”
Grim figured the Panthers would be playoff contenders after returning four of the top six scorers from a team that went 17-7 and qualified for both the league and district playoffs.
They’ve probably been a little better than even he had hoped, in part because of the competitive nature brought by football players such as Luke Spotts, Dominic Giuffre, Kowen Gerner, Logan Cammauf and Cooper Hohenadel.
They were each key parts of a Panthers football team that went 9-3 and earned a share of a section title for the time in program history. They bring athleticism and toughness to the court and hit the boards like no team Grim has ever coached.
“We rebound,” he said. “We’re not big, (but) we’re getting almost 40 percent of our misses. We get a ton of offensive rebounds every night. I think that’s a football thing.”
Another key for Schuylkill Valley’s success has been the emergence of senior Jacob Zimmerman, who leads the team in scoring at 10.9 points per game and has been Grim’s best perimeter defender.
He was chiefly responsible for holding DeBalko, Oley’s leading scorer, without a 3-pointer for the first time in 33 games, dating to last season. Zimmerman also got the defensive assignment on Donovan Gingrich, Conrad Weiser’s all-time 3-point leader, and limited him to one basket from behind the arc during a December win.
“Jacob is our best on-ball defender and he’s got length,” he said of the 6-1 senior. “He’s deceptively long. He deflects so many passes. He gets tip after tip after tip, every night. Guys have to change their shot (against him).”
Schuylkill Valley still has a chance at the Berks III title but can’t afford to lose another league game. It plays at Berks III rival Wyomissing Tuesday, then gets Fleetwood at home Friday. If the Panthers win both they’ll be in first place with a chance to claim their first division title since 2016-17.
Schuylkill Valley is also No. 6 in the District 3 Class 4A power ratings. It hasn’t won a district game since 2017.
Grim went over all of the playoff possibilities with his players this week but he doesn’t want them thinking about that, or about the rematch with Fleetwood. They lost the first game 51-38.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where we can do some things this year,” Grim said. “(We talk all the time about) whatever game we’re in is our most important game of the season. We’re trying to keep the kids focused on being in the present.”
Schuylkill Valley’s only losses are to Blue Mountain (13-1), Octorara (13-2) and Fleetwood (13-2). Octorara is No. 2 and Fleetwood No. 3 in the district power ratings, behind Berks Catholic. Blue Mountain is No. 2 in District 11, behind Class 4A leader Allentown Central Catholic.
