18-19 Pennridge will be a tough out in Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Team of the Decade Tournament
No matter what platform, whether it’s Twitter or the hardwood, Pennridge will be a tough out.
The 2018-19 Rams, one of the featured teams in the Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media Best of 2010s Boys Basketball Bracket, had it all.
Explosive, determined, balanced and resilient, Pennridge fought through a tough District One field and made it all the way to the PIAA-6A State Final that year, falling in a double-overtime classic to Kennedy Catholic.
No matter what the circumstance, Pennridge just kept coming.
INJURY-PROOF >> If there ever was an example of the Rams’ resolve that season, it came in their district-playoff victory over Spring-Ford.
Sean Yoder, a senior guard who now plays at Navy, went down with an injury.
The Rams simply picked up the intensity, not letting the setback run them off course.
Senior forward Jonathan Post, a 6-foot-5 force, would say afterward: “Knowing Sean, he’s always getting back up and coming back in, somehow, someway. There was a thought that it could be bad, but at the end of the day, he’s a fighter. He never gives up, wants to be on the court every single second.”
The same could be said for the team as a whole.
Post and the rest of the Rams amped things up in Yoder’s absence. John Dominic hit a pair of threes and finished with a game-high 15 points. Post added 13 inside, as did Trent Fisher. Luke Yoder chipped in with 10 points.
And Sean Yoder would return.
In fact, his coast-to-coast layup helped to apply the finishing touches to an all-around 71-48 Pennridge victory over a tough Spring-Ford squad.
Along with the ability to get through rough waters, the Rams also displayed overwhelming balance.
“Man, did (John Dominic) step up in the second half. And I thought his senior leadership has been tremendous,” Rams coach Dean Behrens said after the win. “And we didn’t do it without Jon Post. I also thought it was big that Trent Fisher, his first playoff game, a big kid, stepped up tonight.”
DOMINIC DOMINATES >> Any given game, it could be somebody else stepping up big for the Rams.
In a Suburban One League Continental Conference win over rival North Penn that year, Dominic scored 17 — in the first half alone — and went on to pour in a game-high 37 to lead the Rams to an impressive 77-51 victory.
“Everyone has their hot game, right?” Dominic would say with a smile afterwards, after he buried eight 3-pointers for surging Pennridge. “I think my teammates really found me well and they helped me get to where I got tonight.”
Dominic, in turn, was a pretty good help to his teammates.
Said Behrens: “I always tell the kids, ‘if you forget something, ask John Dominic.’”
The senior guard’s performance was so memorable, he brushed up against the single-game school record (39 points, 2012), held by Tim Abruzzo (Navy). Dominic’s 37 are the second-most in Pennridge history.
“And,” Behrens pointed out, “I think he did one heck of a job defensively on (North Penn’s Tali) McIver. That was my biggest concern: could we withstand and contain the ball on (A.J.) Mitchell (seven points) and McIver (three points)? And John did a great job. Hats off to him.”
In a year of streaks for the Rams, the victory was Pennridge’s ninth in a row.
Fellow guard Sean Yoder had a strong game, finishing with 18 points, and reserve Nick Dunn added seven.
Pennridge would go on to finish fourth in the district and catch fire in states.
The Rams, playing tremendous defense throughout, earned wins over Lincoln, Abington, Methacton and La Salle before falling in the thriller to Kennedy Catholic at the Giant Center.
Dominic summed things up pretty well: “The team’s been awesome. And because we’ve been playing so well, it makes it even better. It’s hard not to have fun.”
