It’s Rick vs. Matt . . . or is it?
When Reading High visits Muhlenberg Tuesday night there’ll be a lot more going on than just basketball.
It’ll be Rick vs. Matt, the first meeting as head coaches between Reading High’s Rick Perez and Muhlenberg’s Matt Flowers.
The two go back. Way back. They’ve been playing with and against each other since they were 10 and 11 years old, respectively. They were football and basketball teammates at Muhlenberg 20-some years ago, along with Matt’s older brother Rob (the head football coach at Daniel Boone).
Rick and Matt have been practically inseparable in the years since. They work together at River Rock Academy. Live in the same neighborhood. Their families spend holidays and vacations together.
Matt was the first assistant coach Rick hired when he was named Red Knights’ head coach in 2011. Matt was Rick’s wing man for a decade, through tough times and a pair of state championships.
They’ve leaned on each other for as long as either can remember. Now they’re going against each other. Or are they?
In the competitive sense, yes. They’ll be fighting like mad, bringing everything they have to win this game, even though it doesn’t mean anything in the standings. Both teams have already locked up a division title.
On this night records and standings and power ratings will be secondary.
“They want to beat each other by 100 points,” said Rob Flowers, only half-jokingly. “If there’s an opportunity that can happen, it will happen.”
Perez and Flowers will be bringing it 100 percent because that’s what they do every game, every practice. It’s the only way they know how.
“We’re going in there with the gloves off,” Perez said. “There won’t be too many secrets. We know we’re going to go to war with each other. (It) would be disrespectful to our brotherhood and everything we stand for (if we didn’t).
“We’re gonna go in there and perform and motivate at the highest level possible. When we come out of it, we’re gonna pray and hug each other and hopefully everybody got better from the experience.”
This could be the first of several times the two face off this season. They’re likely to see each other next week in the Berks Conference semifinals. They could clash again in the District 3 Class 6A Tournament. Maybe even the PIAA Tournament, too.
Next year, when Muhlenberg moves back to Division I they’ll have two regularly scheduled meetings.
No matter how many times they play each other, and no matter who wins the games, their relationship is unlikely to change. Their bond is too strong. They’ve been through too much together. And they still rely on each other, even if they’re now in opposite coaching boxes.
They are cut from the same cloth; nothing that appears on a scoreboard at the end of the night will alter that.
“It’s going to be emotional,” Matt Flowers admitted on a recent episode of the Mike Drago Sports Podcast. “It’s going to be exciting. But this has nothing to do with myself, nothing to do with Rick. Because when the game’s over I’m still gonna love him like my brother, we’re still gonna hang out all the time, and we’re still gonna learn from each other and grow with each other.”
Flowers, in his first season with the Muhls, doesn’t want to be distracted by a sideshow. He’s building something in Laureldale, using the same blueprint he and Perez drew up, ripped up, and then drew up again years ago at Reading.
He is focused now on his program, not on the one he helped attain its greatest heights.
The key to Reading’s success, Flowers says, wasn’t X’s and O’s, it was hugs. He and Perez created a family atmosphere and let their players know how much they cared for them.
“It wasn’t about just playing basketball,” Flowers said. “Basketball was the little part of it. Building the family and loving each other and trusting each other and staying loyal, that was the biggest piece.
“Our kids didn’t just see us as coaches: They saw us as fathers, as mentors, as supporters. They would come to our houses and see us with our own kids, with our wives, outside of basketball. That was the biggest thing for us. We would have a family cookout and our players would be there. Our family embraced them. That’s where our building blocks started.
“When some of these guys got in trouble in school, we didn’t turn our back; we got closer. We said: ‘We’re not leaving you.’ That was key for us. Our kids continued to trust us. At Muhlenberg, I’m doing to same thing. You’re not just my basketball player, you’re my son, as well.”
Once the game begins Flowers will be up against it. He’s facing a very good Reading High team. The defending state champs hit some bumps earlier in the season but the fact remains they have not lost with their full team on the floor. They might not this season. They’re that good.
“Winning and losing doesn’t matter to me,” Perez said. “There’s a bigger picture. Do I want to lose to him? Hell no! I’ll hear about it forever. In whatever scenario (unfolds Tuesday), we’ll be right behind each other the very next game. I’ll be right by his side.”
