Hill School’s Zach Lezanic (10) drives on Haverford School’s Tyler Seward (3) at Wednesday at Hill. (Owen McCUe – MediaNews Group)
By Owen McCue
The past two Pennsylvania Independent Schools champions met up Wednesday afternoon at Hill School, but many of the faces that guided those squads were missing.
While 2018 champion Hill School and 2019 champ Haverford School both have returning experience from those title teams — notably brothers Caleb and Gabe Dorsey for Hill and Jameel Brown, Christian Clover and Tyler Seward for Haverford — both squads are relying on a group of inexperienced players around them as they try to get back to the top of Pennsylvania’s prep hoops programs.
Led by 17 points from Daniel Nixon and a stout defensive effort, Hill (4-2) showed it’s a step ahead at the moment, locking down Haverford (3-2) in the fourth quarter for a 56-45 victory. It was just the third loss in the past year and a half for the Fords, two of which have come at the hands of the Blues, the other defeat coming in the 2018 title game.
“We just grinded it out on defense,” Hill School senior Caleb Dorsey said. “We hit shots down the stretch, got to the foul line, and I think that’s how we were able to finish the game.”