PIAA Playoffs: Quarterfinal Previews (March 18-19)

By CoBL Staff

Thanks to winter storm Stella wreaking havoc on Pennsylvania — certainly in some spots much worse than others — the PIAA playoff schedule is all out of whack. With the second round split between Thursday and Friday, the quarterfinals are being played over Saturday and Sunday; any team that played Friday won’t have to play until Sunday, though some of their opponents are on a day’s extra rest.

Here’s a look at the weekend’s matchups involving CoBL-area (District 1 & 12) teams:

5A: Northeastern (York) vs. Archbishop Carroll
Garden Spot HS, 2:30 PM

The talented Northeastern (23-1) guard duo of juniors Fred Mulbah and Antonio Rizzuto welcome the Patriots out into the central part of the state for a right to play in the 5A semifinals. In the Bobcats’ win over Upper Merion in the second round, Rizzuto — who has a quartet of Division I offers — went for 24 points, while the bouncy 5-8 Mulbah and senior Brandon Coleman had 14 apiece. They’ll go head-to-head against a talented Carroll guard group of its own, coming off a 36-point beatdown of Palmyra. Freshman A.J. Hoggard led 10 different scorers with 17 points, while senior big man Jesse McPherson added 14 points and 11 rebounds inside. The Patriots (20-8) are making their ninth consecutive state appearance under Paul Romanczuk, and going for their first title since that first year (2009).

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