District 1-6A: Schaller leads Garnet Valley past PV, into first district semifinal since 1997

CONCORD TWP. >> Carl Schaller and his Garnet Valley teammates were sick of early postseason exits.

Whether in the Central League playoffs or the District 1 tournament, a quick boot had become routine for the Jaguars.

Schaller helped lead Garnet Valley to two wins in the Central League playoffs earlier this season to earn the school’s first league title since 1998 and erased memories of last year’s upset district loss to Downingtown East with a win over 20th-seeded Upper Dublin in their opener.

On Friday night, the No. 4 Jags continued on their path of redemption, storming past No. 5 Perkiomen Valley, 63-38, to advance to the District 1 Class 6A semifinal for the first time since winning the district’s Class 2A crown in 1997. Garnet Valley will face a familiar foe in the district semis after No. 9 Lower Merion defeated top-seeded Cheltenham, 59-50.

“The first three years I’ve been here, we’ve had some pretty bad losses where we should have won in the playoffs,” Schaller said. “Going into senior year it was important to win the Central League, finally get through the semifinals. To be at this point, it’s just a huge step from last year. I’m just proud of the team.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Garnet Valley-Perkiomen Valley Boys Basketball 3.12.20

Carl Schaller with seven points in the first three minutes. GV up 9-3 pic.twitter.com/YFEOe1uIA0

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 13, 2021

Schaller poured in 26 points, torching the Vikings from the opening tip, and senior Justin Langan got hot in the second half to finish with 16 points as the Jaguars’ only other double-figure scorer. Senior Tyler Lapetina scored 19 for Perkiomen Valley.

Friday night was the Schaller Show as the senior scored seven of his team’s first nine points, helping the Jags out to an early lead. After a run by PV closed the gap to 14-13 at the end of the first quarter, Schaller rolled off six straight to start the second period and the Jaguars never looked back.

“Usually my mindset going in is to just go by everyone and shoot the 3 second,” Schaller said. “I went in and got some easy drives the first few possessions and I just kept pounding it in there to get fouls and get to the rim.”

A 23-15 halftime turned to double digits after Schaller opened the second half with back-to-back buckets. As Langan, who finished with 10 in the third, started to heat up, the Jaguars extended the advantage to 40-26 heading to the fourth and never let PV back in the contest.

“That’s nothing new for him,” Langan said of Schaller. “He’s been doing that all season. And as he does that, it opens up things for everyone else. Every time he gets to the rim, it’s more 3-pointers and kick outs.”

The Vikings certainly had Schaller on their radar. The 1,000-point scorer netted 30 in the Jaguars’ second-round loss a season ago and opened with 19 in the team’s 69-41 second-round win over No. 20 Upper Dublin.

He was still tough to stop as every Vikings’ player who matched up with him throughout the contest struggled to stay in front.

“He’s a really dynamic player,” PV coach Mike Poysden said of Schaller. “He’s the engine behind a lot of their success but then their other guys step up and make plays too. I thought they were just a handful to guard.”

Justin Langan hits another triple and GV’s lead grows to 37-23 with 1:57 left in Q3. pic.twitter.com/werQF9jzc0

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 13, 2021

After knocking down 10 threes in their district win over Upper Dublin on Tuesday, the Jaguars netted just three from deep Friday night.

Gannon McKee, who finished with seven points, knocked down an early three off a pass from Schaller.

Langan hit two threes from the same exact spot in the right corner late in the third quarter, the second of which gave Garnet Valley a 37-23 lead with 1:57 left in the period.

“In the first quarter, they closed out really well on the corners, and I think as the second half went on they changed their gameplan a little bit to stop the drive,” Schaller said. “That opened up the kick outs and (Langan) hit two or three big ones.”

Schaller and company demonstrated their strength isn’t only at the offensive end.

When PV did have some success in slowing Garnet Valley’s offense down like holding the Jags to a point in the final four minutes of the second quarter, the Vikings couldn’t take advantage on the offensive end.

Lapetina, the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s leading scorer who put up 28 in PV’s district opener, fought for his 19 points, getting nine of them at the free throw line.

Fellow senior Kameron Parks didn’t find much room to operate, finishing with six and after a hot first quarter, in which he knocked down a three to tie the game 11-11, senior Dom Miceli couldn’t get anything to fall the rest of the contest.

“I thought we did play a couple of good quarters of defense,” Poysden said. “And then a couple of soft turnovers, a couple of walks, a couple of things that didn’t go our way, but I think we struggled to score. That’s a credit to them. They pushed us into some uncomfortable spots.”

Kam Parks steal and goes coast to coast. pic.twitter.com/Sc5wMNlb6r

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 13, 2021

In a District 1 Class 6A tournament that’s been full of close games and upsets during an unprecedented season, the Jaguars have stood out so far as a squad that’s looked the part of their No. 4 seed billing.

Disappointing district finishes in seasons past, including the upset loss as a No. 2 seed a year ago, have been a motivating factor as this group attempts to prove it is District 1’s best and that last year’s early exit was a fluke.

“This is only my second year on varsity, but last year, definitely losing to Haverford in the Central League playoffs then losing in the first round to West, that stung last year for my first year,” Langan said. “This year, it was our goal to not only win the Central League chip but make a run in districts and everyday we’re practicing hard and making sure everyone is staying focused for our goal.”

Lower Merion and Garnet Valley split the season series — the Jags won the first meeting 68-52 on Feb. 9 and the Aces won the second 73-64 on Feb. 15.

Garnet Valley is the highest seed remaining as No. 7 Central Bucks East and No. 14 Abington meet in the other District 1-6A semifinal.

With some postseason victories finally under their belt, the Jaguars figure they might as well keep piling them up.

“It’s do or die and we have to go in with the mindset that this could be our last game,” Schaller said. “But obviously none of us want it to be our last game, so we’re playing every game like it’s our last.”

After last season posting the team’s first sub .500 record since 2014-15 as a number of new faces got accustomed to the varsity level, the 2021 Perkiomen Valley group wasted no time in restoring the Vikings to the heights they’ve become accustomed to.

Perk Valley won its first PAC Liberty Division title since 2016-17 and first outright division crown in the last decade. The Vikings — who missed out on the district postseason in 2019-20 — returned to the District 1 quarterfinals for the third time in five seasons, an accomplishment that brings with it a spot in the state playoffs in a normal winter.

“It just stinks this year with not having the second round when you win not going on to states,” Lapetina said. “But it is what it is, and we’ll take what we can get from this year and move on. It was a great year with our guys. We started out 0-2 and went on to win 12 of our next 13, which is a great season and I loved every minute of it.”

Lapetina carried the torch of previous PV scorers Justin Jaworski and Tyler Strechay, tallying 611 points in 38 games the past two years.

Parks bridged the gap from the Vikings’ 2018-19 district quarterfinal and state playoff team and the 2021 group.

“They set the mentality,” Parks said of the group of seniors in 2018-19. “They set a mentality about winning, being tough, working through everything. They set a mentality of what it takes to get far and play tough defense. They set a mentality of everything else going forward.

“I was even texting some of the guys like (AJ Hansen) to try to help me key in on what to say to these guys, how to lead.”

Other seniors like Aidan Quinn, Brayden Basile, Kevin Beattie, Dom Miceli, and Anthony Martinez helped reestablish PV’s winning culture this season.

“The seven seniors we have, it’s been a blessing and a lot of fun to work with them, and they left their thumbprint,” Poysden said. “We always talk about leaving things with just raising the bar a little bit, just a little bit up and I certainly think they did.”