For Methacton seniors, PAC threepeat a long time in the making

ROYERSFORD >> After playing travel basketball with an older age group the year before, Brett Eberly decided to drop down and play with his classmates in fifth grade.

The idea was for Eberly to start playing with the kids he would one day share the court with at Methacton High School.

PHOTO GALLERY: PAC Boys Basketball Championship Methacton vs. PJP

On Tuesday night at Spring-Ford, Eberly and two of those elementary school teammates, Erik Timko and Jeff Woodward, helped the Warriors win their third straight Pioneer Athletic Conference championship with a 74-49 win over Pope John Paul II.

Methacton became the PAC’s first boys team since 1996 to win the league title three years in a row, an accomplishment seven years in the making.

“I made the decision in fifth grade to play with Erik and Jeff for Audubon because I knew I could play with them in high school and I thought I would get used to it,” said Eberly, now a senior point guard for Methacton. “Once we started doing that, we started thinking, ‘Oh wow, we have potential later on. If we keep building on it, we can go far.’

“Look what happened. Now we’re here, and we’re doing the best we can. We’re playing lights out, and we’re playing like a team. That’s because we started young.”

Methacton head coach Jeff Derstine said he remembers watching his seniors at the Warriors’ basketball camps back when they were in elementary school.

Along with continuing to play travel ball together with the Audubon Recreation Association program, Eberly, Timko and Woodward shared the court at Arcola Intermediate School as seventh and eighth graders.

They went undefeated during their middle school tenure, setting the stage for the accomplishments to come in their high school careers.

“I think the first time we realized we could do something special was after our eighth grade year,” Woodward said. “Between our seventh and eighth grade year, basically the same key kids on the team, we went 24-0 in two seasons. We realized at that point we could do great things.”

“That really gave us confidence going into high school that we could achieve something like this,” Timko added. “Our bond too. Playing all those years together really helped as well.”

Owen Kropp joined the Class of 2020 when they got to the high school level, where it took some time for the group to all share the court together.

Woodward started for the varsity team as a freshman and Eberly joined him on the group’s first PAC championship team a season later. Timko and Kropp, swing players as sophomores, became key pieces for the Warriors as juniors last season as they rolled to the first consecutive PAC boys basketball titles 18 years.

In their final season together, the senior group has this year’s team playing at an even higher level, winning a third straight league title, winning the most regular season games in program history (20) and claiming the No. 1 overall seed in the District 1 tournament for the first time ever.

“Starting sophomore year, we all really started to be on the team together, started playing together,” said Woodward, who also plays AAU with Timko and Eberly. “We really knew that we could do great things. Obviously three straight championships, No. 1 seed in the district, winningest regular-season team in Methacton history, going the furthest we ever did last year in states. We’ve accomplished a lot and it’s been really fun.”

“We’ve always known that this is what we wanted to do, especially us four, we wanted to win every championship we could at the varsity level,” Eberly added.

Methacton’s four seniors fit together almost perfectly basketball-wise. Woodward is the dominant post player on both ends, Timko is the team’s go-to scorer, Eberly runs the show at the point and Kropp adds a little bit of everything on the court.

That’s how it played out in Tuesday’s championship win.

Timko matched sophomore Brett Byrne with a game-high 18 points, Woodward collected 15 points and 14 rebounds, Eberly added a trio of 3-pointers and seven assists, and Kropp did a little bit of everything by scoring nine points, grabbing five rebounds and recording a steal.

“We all have chemistry and know what each one’s good at,” Timko said. “Our strengths, our weaknesses, where to get them the ball at. It helps our offense flow and not just stay stagnant.”

Their personalities fit together almost as well with Eberly a constant voice and emotional leader out on the court, Timko quiet, calm and cool and Woodward making sure the group is always having fun.

“Yeah, that’s basically how you sum us up,” Eberly said.

While the talent and chemistry the senior group came to the school with certainly has played a role in this senior class’s success, Derstine said he’s watched them grow together over the past four years.

Their ability to get better each year is the reason Eberly, Timko, Woodward and Kropp will leave the school with three PAC titles and possibly more before the end of the season.

“We certainly had an idea with the success they were having in middle school, and we knew they were a talented group coming in,” Derstine said, “But to their credit, their work ethic is what has continued to separate them and the steps that they’ve taken forward and the progress that they’ve made.

“I feel like they’ve earned everything that they’ve gotten out here. They’re going to enjoy this tonight, but they’ve got bigger aspirations moving forward.”

While there is more basketball to play and potentially other titles to compete for, Tuesday night was as good a time as any for Eberly, Timko and Woodward to reflect on seven years of basketball memories.

“It’s really fun,” Timko said. “It’s really fun playing with these guys who are basically my brothers. We all know each other, we’re all friends, and we all get along really well.”