Seeds are just numbers, most coaches will tell their players come playoff time. Such a mantra has become truth in some places, however, nowhere truer than Garnet Valley.
There was no shock Tuesday night when Garnet Valley, as a 14 seed, booked its third straight states berth with a 63-49 win over No. 3 Spring-Ford. Just as there may not have been much surprise for 24th-seeded Springfield when it pulled its second straight upset, downing No. 8 Bensalem, 47-42.
Those upsets make three Delaware County boys teams headed to states in Class 6A, with fourth-seeded Chester taking the more conventional favorite’s path, booking its place via a 59-54 win over reigning district champ Plymouth Whitemarsh. That two of the trio defied the pre-tourney seeding process shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, given the volatility of District 1 hoops.
“The seed only means something to everybody outside of Garnet Valley,” Jaguars guard Jack Krautzel said after scoring 20 points against Spring-Ford. “We know how good we are, so we don’t care about the seed. It just shows how well-coached we are every single year, because I don’t know how many teams can say they’ve made it to the district quarterfinals four years in a row.”
In a bit of kismet coincidence, Springfield is following the path last blazed by Garnet Valley.
The Jaguars (17-8) entered the 2022 tournament as the No. 24 seed. They promptly upended the No. 9 seed, Upper Dublin, by a 48-46 margin, then downed No. 8 Spring-Ford, 53-50, to get to states.
Springfield (13-11) has ridden a similar road to get back to states for the first time since 2018. Kevin McCormick’s team endured the heartbreak of missing districts by miniscule margins each of the last two years. They’re living proof of the importance of just getting in.
Colin Treude scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half to lead a 58-42 win over No. 9 Abington in the first round. TJ Valletti, normally a defense-first role player, stepped up with 14 points.
Tuesday, Springfield held Bensalem to just five fourth-quarter points in a gutsy finish. Jake Adams scored four of his seven in the fourth. Treude led the way with 15 points. Valletti added nine, and Patrick Flaherty had seven. Chris Dolan hit a big 3-pointer in the fourth.
The road remains tough for Springfield, which visits top-ranked Lower Merion (24-1) on Friday. The Aces claimed a 59-43 win over Springfield in Ardmore on Jan. 4.
Garnet Valley is getting another blast of déjà vu. For the third straight year, the Jags get Spring-Ford and Methacton back-to-back in the tourney. Last year, as the No. 8 seed, the Jags saw off Methacton, 73-68, in a double-overtime rip-snorter in the second round to get to states. They then were handled by the top-seeded Rams, 56-38, in the quarterfinals. Spring-Ford reached the district final. Methacton’s season ended without states.
In 2022, the Jaguars went from second-round upset of Spring-Ford to giving top-seeded Methacton all it could handle in the quarterfinals, a 46-41 loss. It’s the fourth straight year that Garnet Valley has reached the quarterfinals, falling in the semis in 2021 to Lower Merion. (That year, only one team officially went to a streamlined state tournament).
The pathway has worked fine for Mike Brown’s team, which has won games in the PIAA tournament each of the last two years. A third time would be just fine.
“One of Garnet Valley’s trademarks is that we’re always in the mix,” said Jake Sniras, who scored 19 points Tuesday. “Whether it’s in the Central League, districts or states, we just try to play off of each other, and our coaches give us the right guidance to succeed out there. It worked out there tonight.”
MediaNews Group reporter Ed Morrone contributed to this story.
