By Bruce Adams
Church Farm, the No. 3 seed in the PIAA District 1 2A boys’ basketball tournament, had a tall order on its hands coming into Delco Christian’s gym Wednesday evening for the district semifinal.
The Griffins (10-10) faced the star senior twin towers of 6-foot-6 Jackson Piotrowski (the MVP of the Bicentennial League’s Presidents Division) and 6-foot-4 Obinna Nwobodo (first team All-BAL) anchoring a high-scoring Knights’ squad that had won the last two District 1 2A titles.
Trailing by eight points at halftime, the Griffins revved up their defense in the second half to spark a 65-44 win that put them into the district final against No. 1 Dock Mennonite (scheduled for Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. at Lower Merion High School), and locked up a PIAA 2A state tournament berth.
For No. 2 seed Delco Christian (17-9), aiming for its seventh state tourney berth in eight years, the loss meant the season was over. In the second half, Church Farm outscored the Knights, 44-15.
“I think it was attention to detail; we took a lot of charges in the second half,” said Church Farm head coach Jonathan Guarente. “We were able to get [Piotrowski and Nwobodo] in foul trouble, and once we did that we were able to take control of the game.”