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By Christopher A. Vito

Donovan Rodriguez was feeling it.

He clapped his hands. He bobbed his head. He started chirping his opponent, admitting afterward to letting emotions get the best of him.

That’s what happens, he said, when he’s in the zone defensively.

“It’s exciting,” the Bonner-Prendergast guard said, “because when you shut a guy down, your coach always notices defense first. It’s a good feeling.”

Rodriguez’s contributions on the defensive end, coupled with teammate Isaiah Wong’s deft scoring touch, provided Bonner-Prendergast with more than enough to cruise past Littlestown, 64-38, Friday night in the opening round of the PIAA 4A playoffs.

The Friars (19-5), champions of District 12, advance to Tuesday night’s second-round pairing with Nanticoke Area (22-7), the runner-up from District 2.

In this one, Wong led the state’s top-ranked team with a game-best 23 points on an efficient 8-for-11 effort from the floor. Malik Edwards had 13 points and Rodriguez rounded out the Friars’ double-digit scorers with 10.

Rodriguez had only one steal to show for his dynamic effort defensively. His workload showed through on the other side of the box score. Littlestown leading scorer Logan Collins, who had 10 first-quarter points on 5-for-6 shooting, went scoreless with four missed shots in the second frame—most of which featured Rodriguez pinned to his hip.

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By Matt Smith

Cardinal O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan got a kiss on the cheek from her daughter, Maggie, after Friday night’s game at Archbishop Carroll High School.

She told Maggie to have fun at the O’Hara freshman dance.

“I told her if she didn’t make those shots, she wasn’t allowed to go,” mom said.

Coaching in her first PIAA tournament game, Chrissie Doogan pushed the right buttons in the second half and watched as her young kids — biological and otherwise — stormed back from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Plymouth Whitemarsh, 41-39 in the first round of the Class 6A tourney. O’Hara will play Spring-Ford in the second round Tuesday.

Maggie Doogan was among the players who performed down the stretch for the Lions (14-11). She made a three-point play when her team needed a boost, and hauled in a defensive rebound in the final 30 seconds to keep the Colonials (21-7) from making the tying or go-ahead basket. Coming off the bench, Doogan scored a season-high 11 points and led all O’Hara players with five rebounds.

“The senior class has been great to me,” she said. “They’ve really helped me a lot.”

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By Bruce Adams

District 1 champion Garnet Valley reached a new milestone in its 52-34 win against Cedar Crest in the PIAA Class 6A girls basketball opener Friday at Spring-Ford High School.

With the victory, the Jaguars (27-1) established a school season record for wins for both the girls and boys basketball programs. They now advance to a second-round match Tuesday against the winner of Friday’s Bethlehem Freedom-Souderton contest.

Cedar Crest (19-9), the seventh-place finisher in District 3, committed numerous turnovers thanks to Garnet Valley’s aggressive defense, but kept the score reasonably close for most of the first three quarters with some accurate outside shooting.

At the end of the first quarter, Garnet Valley led by only five points (17-12). It was quite a difference from the Jaguars’ last game, in which Garnet Valley jumped out to an early 20-3 against Neshaminy en route to capturing their first District 1 championship.

“Defensively, we came out strong, got some steals and created some turnovers,” Garnet Valley coach Joe Woods said, “but give Cedar Crest credit, they have some good shooters, and those threes kept them in the game.”

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Tyreese Watson doesn’t let the question finish before answering. With Bonner & Prendergast having playing just one game in 20 days, has the intensity in practices ramped up?

“Yes. We’re in the gym every day,” the junior guard said this week. “We’re still playing against each other. We’re in practice and competing, so it’s not like we’re just sitting out waiting for the next game.”

In the six weeks from Jan. 4 to the Catholic League quarterfinal loss to Neumann-Goretti Feb. 15, the Friars played 14 games. In three weeks since, they’ve played one, the District 12 Class 4A final. So to ward off rust ahead of Friday’s states opener against Littlestown (7 p.m., St. Joseph’s Prep), Bonner has had to generate its own momentum.

Watson is as prepared as any. A knee injury ended his sophomore season early, missing the Friars’ run to the Class 5A semifinals. He’s eager to be part of this year’s title chase.

“I learned from being out watching, it’s been me being able to see what openings I could have on the court, when I can do on the court and off the court,” Watson said. “It has made me better as a person, too, sitting out and watching my guys play.”

Last year’s journey ended in overtime to eventual state champ Abington Heights. In learning from that disappointment, the Friars (18-5) are 4-0 in overtime this season, including a 59-57 win over reigning PIAA 4A champion Imhotep Charter in the district final.

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By Matt Smith

Audrey Rosenblum is missing softball practice, but she finds time to get some hacks in after school.

“Sometimes I hit for about 15 minutes before basketball practice,” the Radnor senior guard said. “But there’s a no-practice rule when you’re in states.”

Rosenblum is the only softball player on the girls basketball team at Radnor (20-6), which is returning to a PIAA tournament for the fourth time in six years.

“It’s sad to think it’s almost over. Our fourth-grade team, the Radnor Rush, has been together all the way through, especially the three of us seniors (Rosenblum, Holly Holtsberg, Cara Camposano). Going into the last game, and now, we feel that we have nothing to lose,” Rosenblum said. “It could be the last time we go out there together, so we don’t want to go out there without a fight.”

Most of “RGB” is comprised of lacrosse players, including junior forward Ellie Mueller, who recently eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career.

“Everything since the first round of districts until now has been extra,” Mueller said. “Everyone has their spring sports we should be at right now, but we’re all here in the gym and loving it, while everyone else is practicing outside in the cold. … It’s really exciting.”

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By Matthew DeGeorge

R.C. Kehoe was picking up his son from school when he swung by the gym at Archbishop Carroll to say a quick hello to Paul Romanczuk.

It was the fall of 2016, and Kehoe’s son, Tyler, had just transferred in for his sophomore year. Romanczuk was then coaching boys basketball, including a particular freshman who connected them both.

“Paul grabbed me and said, ‘you know the big kid over there. That’s Tairi,’” Kehoe recalled this week. “And I was like, wow. I hadn’t seen him really since he was born because Lari was traveling so much. It was a surreal moment. It was like wow, I don’t know if there any words to describe the feeling I had.”

Tairi Ketner is living proof of the uncanny connections that the Philadelphia Catholic League propagates. The junior forward at Carroll is following in the footsteps of his father, the late Lari Ketner, a standout at UMass who played in the NBA. In his days at Roman Catholic, Lari was Kehoe’s teammate, Romanczuk’s opponent, and eventually a close friend to both. And the chance to see Tairi blossom for the Patriots, who start the PIAA Class 4A tournament Friday night against Allentown Central Catholic, transcends the league’s parochial rivalries.

Tairi is the oldest child of Lari, who died in 2014 at age 37 after a battle with colon cancer. The last name holds weight in the Catholic League, a legacy Tairi is proud to carry.

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