Schuylkill League coaches hold 1st basketball media day
Members of the Schuylkill Haven girls' basketball team, from left: coach Tony Sanders, Abree Brown, Anna Schaeffer, Aleah Porter and Faith Goehring, pose during Sunday's Schuylkill League Basketball Media Day at the Schuylkill Haven Sports Performance Center (Photo by Leroy Boyer).
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — For years, North Schuylkill boys’ basketball coach Will Bracey has wanted to give the basketball players in the Schuylkill League more exposure.
He’s watched the Schuylkill County Football Coaches’ Association conduct their annual preseason media event and wanted to do the same for the Schuylkill League’s basketball players.
Sunday, his dream came true.
With Bracey as the point man, the Schuylkill League basketball coaches held their first-ever Schuylkill League Basketball Media Day on Sunday evening at the Schuylkill Haven Sports Performance Center.
Coaches and players from nearly all 16 boys’ and 16 girls’ teams were represented, getting their photos taken, shooting commercials for T102 Sports Now and being interviewed by several media outlets.
Schuylkill Haven trainer Mike Cerasoli spoke to the players about properly conditioning their bodies and handling injuries during the season. Refreshments featured pizza from Anthony’s Pizza in Frackville.
“It’s awesome. It was a great turnout,” said Bracey, who is entering his fifth season as the Spartans’ head coach. “It was a great experience for the kids in general. We thought about it over the summer, didn’t know if we could pull it off.
“It’s a great feeling to see the kids having fun and to see the kids outside of basketball, talking and interacting.”
The buzz around the Schuylkill League this season is realignment.
With Lehighton and Jim Thorpe departing for the Colonial League, the Schuylkill League realigned into two, eight-team divisions for both boys and girls.
The division alignments are the following:
Division I boys — Blue Mountain, Mahanoy Area, Minersville, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Tamaqua
Division II boys — Lourdes, Marian, Nativity, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Weatherly, Williams Valley
Division I girls — Blue Mountain, Minersville, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Tamaqua
Division II girls — Lourdes, Mahanoy Area, Marian, Nativity, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Weatherly, Williams Valley
It was the latest in a series of realignments for the Schuylkill League since the merger with the Anthracite League in 1982. The Schuylkill League was six divisions for the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons, then was split into three divisions from 1984-97 with wild cards filling a four-team playoff field. The league had four divisions from 1997 until 2008, when Shamokin and Mount Carmel left for the Heartland Conference.
The Schuylkill League had been broken into three divisions for basketball since the 2008-09 season, with a big-school division and two small-school divisions based on geography. The league expanded its playoffs to six teams two years ago, creating some controversy and forcing some tiebreakers to decide the final teams to qualify.
Those issues should be resolved in the two-division format.
“It’s going to be a battle every night,” Bracey said. “It’s not that it hasn’t been the last couple of years, but it’s raised the level of urgency. Minersville is now (in Division I), Mahanoy is in there … there are so many good teams in there.
“I’m excited. Three teams in each division are going to get in (the league playoffs) and I think that settles some issues. It gives a little more balance with a Division I and a Division II.”
Mahanoy Area is the defending Schuylkill League boys’ champion, having defeated Blue Mountain 66-51 in the championship game. Pottsville, North Schuylkill, Schuylkill Haven and Nativity were the other playoff qualifiers.
Blue Mountain is the reigning Schuylkill League girls’ champion, stifling North Schuylkill 30-19 in last year’s final. Minersville and Marian won small-school division titles, while Tamaqua and Schuylkill Haven also qualified for the league playoffs.
“Last year we hit our stride at the right time, came out at the end and finished strong,” Blue Mountain girls’ coach Rose Carper said. “We lost a lot of players. We lost six seniors at some very key positions that we need to replace. We are going to be extremely young this year.
“Schuylkill Haven coming into Division I … they were a very strong team last year and a very young team last year. They’re going to bring a lot to Division I and be a strong team. Division I is going to be a battle and it’s going to be a battle every night. That’s what we like. We want a battle every night that makes the kids better by the end of the season.”
