By Matthew DeGeorge
Max Koehler saw the smile on teammate Jack Krautzel’s face as he stepped to the line in double overtime. It was out-of-place enough to register with him.
Krautzel, you might’ve thought, would want to be anywhere in the known universe beside the free throw line at Garnet Valley at that point Tuesday night. He’d gone 1-for-4 from the line at the end of regulation to see a Jaguar lead over Methacton that had run to 13 in the fourth evaporate. He’d missed two free throws in a first overtime period that saw zero points scored.
But still, Krautzel’s grin was undimmed.
“I’m like, this kid knows he’s got it,” Koehler said. “And I knew he got it, and the rest of us knows he’s got it. We had trust in him.”
Krautzel scored seven points in the second overtime and cleaned up the missed free throw with 2.2 seconds left to seal the game as the Jaguars bested Methacton, 73-69, in the District 1 Class 6A second round.