Having conquered Allentown, Marple now shooting for Mars
NEWTOWN SQUARE — In retrospect, the handicapping of the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals looked inordinately unbalanced.
On one side last Saturday was Allentown Central Catholic, the reigning PIAA champion, the first District 11 team to make a state final, a team with blue-chip talent and 32 straight wins.
Even Marple Newtown wasn’t upset to see them installed as the favorite. But the thing about favorites … if they won all the time, things would get real boring, real quick. And when you stack up Marple Newtown’s bona fides, you could see how that might happen.
The Tigers, in unquestionably the toughest league in the state, lost just four games. They had won 10 straight heading into ACC, a streak now at 12, and have gone 18-1 since early April. Those four losses included three Class 3A semifinalists (Springfield, Radnor, Garnet Valley) and perennial power Conestoga.
“We went in there knowing that to everybody else, (it’s) who’s Marple?,” senior attackman Damien Bogsch said this week. “We’ve got to play this team on a 32-game run, just won states, (people thought we’ve) got no shot. We came in, punched them in the face, they couldn’t hang.”
The Tigers (20-4) have earned their title shot, Saturday (2:30 p.m.) against District 7 champion Mars Area in the Class 2A final, at West Chester East High. For a senior class that finished 8-11 as freshmen then missed a sophomore season due to COVID-19, this evolution is significant if not shocking.
“I want to say it’s unreal, but at the same time, I look back at all the work that we put in, in the offseason, and how we’ve grown as a family, not just as a team, honestly, we expected to be here and now we’re here,” Bogsch said. “It is a great feeling.”
The seeds of this run trace back to an offseason of work, but the first sign may have come March 31, when Marple hung tough with Conestoga, losing 9-7. Again, to those in the program, it wasn’t a surprise. But it set a tone and an expectation.
“After that game, some of the younger guys were going into it probably thinking we were going to get blown out,” Bogsch said. “That just helps the team even more to come together. We know we’ve got this now, playing high-quality teams like that. That definitely helped us out a lot.”
The start to the season was rocky due to the opposition: A loss at Springfield, the Conestoga setback and an 18-6 humbling by Garnet Valley made them 2-3. But from there, the only Tigers loss has come to Radnor, the league and District 1 3A champ and current state finalist. The Tigers didn’t play the most daunting of nonleague schedules; they didn’t play a nonconference team that qualified for the PIAA Class 3A tournament, though five teams from the Central did.
Marple added potential states foes from District 12, Devon Prep and Lansdale Catholic. But there are many teams who’d have losses to the four teams the Tigers fell to.
The team’s identity seems to be on the offensive end. There, the flash offered by Charlie Box (68 goals, 52 assists) and Brian Box (82 goals, 22 points) is undeniable. But overlooked is the defensive stoutness. In 12 of 24 outings, Marple has held opponents to four goals or fewer. They’re allowing 6.3 goals per in their 12-game winning streak.
“At the beginning of the year, we weren’t very strong on defense,” goalie Jack Welsh said. “But I feel like we’ve put in a lot of work and came together and we’re just a whole different defense now.”
Welsh credits better communication and trust among the defensive unit. For a team that likes to play at a high pace – the Tigers have scored in double-figures 19 times – they don’t concede a lot.
One imbalance Saturday is clear: Mars Area (22-1) won’t be the best opponent Marple has played this season. The Tigers are that for the Fightin’ Planets.
Mars has been a buzzsaw, its only loss to Ohio’s Upper Arlington. The Planets have outscored opponents 417-88, and save for a frantic six-minute stretch of the second quarter Tuesday, they imposed their will on Penncrest in a 16-8 win in the semifinal.
Mars isn’t solely a product of the weaker western half of the state. It measures up with Marple in terms of pure talent, led by Loyola-bound middie Austin Cote and pole Quinn Fuller, headed for D1 Jacksonville. Attackmen Josh Seipp (Bellarmine) and Wesley Scurci (Lindenwood) also have college futures.
Mars is tested in past PIAA tournaments, having lost to ACC in the final last year and having made the semifinals in 2017 and 2018. But this year’s team hasn’t been in many close games – Penncrest was only its fifth game decided by single-digits. (Marple has had 11.)
Coming from a league that produced five of eight state semifinalists in both classes, the Tigers are confident in the toughness advantage.
“We know Allentown and those other teams that aren’t in the Central League, they are still good teams,” Bogsch said. “But nothing is like the Central League. We’ve been getting good preparation for this state run and through districts.”
