By Matthew DeGeorge
Paul Romanczuk was in attendance Saturday at an over-packed Colonial Elementary School to witness Octorara overwhelm Glen Mills for a District One title, so he’s quick to praise the Braves for their fast-paced offense.
But soon after those plaudits, Romanczuk is equally prompt with a reminder that his Archbishop Carroll team averages close to 70 points per game (68.7, to be exact) and has run with some of the nation’s best teams.
That ability introduces a nuance to Friday’s PIAA Class AAA opener at Harriton at 7:30: Where most teams would prefer to slow Octorara down in absolute terms, Romanczuk’s team will focus on dictating when, not if, to change tempo.
“We don’t want to go just right into it and allow them to run up and down,” Romanczuk said by phone Wednesday. “But it’s not like we can’t. We’re a good transition team. We want to pick our spots a little bit and not let it get out of control, but we want to push the tempo.”
Romanczuk has plenty of good things to say about Octorara, the District One champs. He pegs them as “sneaky athletic,” as in it’s hard to get over just how difficult to contain – horizontally and vertically – the likes of Levi Worthington, Tarojae Brake and Andrew Forman can be. Romanczuk describes Brake as someone who “knows what the bottom of the net looks like,” saying it’s no accident that he’s averaging 22.8 points per game for Octorara (25-2).