Pope John Paul II defeats New Hope Solebury for second straight District 1-4A title, return to states

ROYERSFORD >> There wasn’t a large celebration from the Pope John Paul II boys basketball team Tuesday night.

Though the Golden Panthers received a trophy and medals following a second straight District 1 Class 4A championship by way of defeating New Hope Solebury 45-30, their ambitions since last March have extended beyond another district crown.

After having its season ended in the PIAA quarterfinal round a season ago by COVID-19, Pope John Paul II’s focus was getting back to the state playoffs.

Twelve months to the day of its final state playoff game last season, PJP not only grabbed the program’s second District 1 title but secured a return to the PIAA tournament where it will face the District 11 champion next Tuesday.

“This has been the long-term goal,” PJP third-year coach Brendan Stanton said, “And I think tonight after we won everyone took a deep breath and was like, ‘We got to where we want to be.’

“Tonight was just in a weird way something we need to get done to reach a bigger goal, and that’s to get back to states and see what we can do.”

.@PJPII_Hoops junior Kevin Green led the Golden Panthers with 13 points and put together a spectacular defensive effort in PJP’s District 1-4A title game win. pic.twitter.com/HkrAb4vc2r

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 11, 2021

New Hope Solebury (6-13) made sure Pope John Paul II’s trip to states was well-earned. The Lions hung with the Golden Panthers (15-1) through three quarters, leading 18-17 at halftime and trailing by just two, 30-28, entering the fourth quarter.

Pope John Paul II junior Kevin Green sparked a 7-0 run to start the fourth, assisting on two baskets then scoring one of his own, as the Golden Panthers eventually outscored the Lions, 15-2 in the final period to seal their spot in states.

Green scored 13, junior JP Baron had 10, including two big second-half threes, seniors Liam Haffey had 10 and senior Luke McCarthy eight for PJP. Senior Philip Weinseimer had 10 and senior Bryan Dougherty nine for New Hope.

“It’s huge,” Green said. “We got cut early last year at states, so any game we’ve been able to play we never take it for granted. Just being able to play for a district championship and get out and play another game, it was huge.”

In the three seasons District 1 crowned its own Class 4A champion, the Golden Panthers have been in the Class 4A championship game three times.

PJP won its semifinal in 2019 before falling to Lower Moreland by one in the District 1-4A title game. The Golden Panthers had a first round bye in the three-team tournament in 2020 and got revenge on Lower Moreland for the program’s first district title.

District 1’s Class 4A champs were decided in one game this season, so PJP’s path to a district title lacked some of the dramatics of a typical title run.

But for seniors who spent the first two years of their careers as part of a program without a winning campaign in six seasons, the significance of another district title isn’t lost — even if the celebration was somewhat subdued.

“It’s just really turned around since we’ve been here,” said Liam Haffey, who added a strong defensive effort and busy day on the boards. “It felt great to get another district championship. We’re really putting our school on the map now. No one knew who we were and we’re going to look to make a run in states now.”

Stanton said the biggest change from when he took over the program is the expectation to win, whether that be a drill at practice or a district championship game.

“We showed that now we should win it every year,” McCarthy said. “We just come with that mindset. That’s one of our goals. One goal checked. We have one more goal coming up and we just gotta take it one day at a time.”

PJP proved a season ago that it’s more than capable when it goes up against the state’s best in Class 4A, winning games against District 12 four-seed John Bartram and District 11 champion Allentown Central Catholic to reach the school’s first PIAA quarterfinal.

The Golden Panthers have been ranked among the top Class 4A teams in the state since the season began despite playing without star forward Justin Green for all but six of those games.

“How locked in this group has been for the past six, seven months has just been unreal, and I really think that’s why we’re here right now,” Stanton said. “And that’s why we’ve probably been able to win games even without probably our best player on paper. Everyone’s super-dooper locked in and they know that it’s just the next man up. You gotta do what you gotta do to get back to states and I’m happy that we got it done.”

New Hope ends 2021 season of new challenges

After previously competing at the Class 3A level where it won the District 1/11 Regional in 2019, New Hope jumped up to Class 4A this season.

Facing a PJP team bringing a gaudy record and more recent postseason success into Wednesday’s championship game, the Lions weren’t intimidated.

New Hope jumped out to a 7-3 lead out of the gate before the Golden Panthers rallied to take a 9-8 lead at the end of the quarter and build a 16-11 advantage in the second.

The Lions answered PJP’s run with one of their own — a trend that continued throughout the contest — as Charlie Albano, who scored five points in the second quarter, capped the first half with a layup to send New Hope into the break with a 18-17 lead.

New Hope scored the first four points of the second half to extend its advantage to five. While PJP answered with eight straight of its own, Dougherty ended the run with a jumper and added six more in the third quarter to keep it a two-point game, 30-28, heading to the fourth before the Lions ultimately ran out of steam.

“We knew how good they were, we knew how talented they were,” New Hope first-year coach Derek Brooks said. “We figured that the older Green might be out since he was in a walking boot last week and obviously that helped our chances, but they’re a really good team, very skilled, very smart. Brendan does a great job with them and they’ve got good basketball players.”

“We knew they liked high scoring basketball games. We wanted to slow it down, delay, keep the game close, which we kind of accomplished. Just down the stretch you’ve gotta make a few more plays.”

Brooks got the New Hope job in November and along with the normal challenges of a first-year coach and the added difficulties presented by COVID throughout the season, he also had to acclimate his squad to a new league.

New Hope finished 2-8 in its first season in the Suburban One League Freedom Division after leaving the Bicentennial Athletic League, where it finished 9-5 in the Independence Division in 2019-20. 

Though there were some growing pains, including lopsided loss to new division rival and this year’s District 1 Class 6A No. 1 seed Cheltenham, Brooks saw his team adjust to the new level of competition.

The Lions lost their first five games of 2021 but ended their last five entering Wednesday on a much more positive note, going 3-2, including a victory over District 1-6A quarterfinalist and SOL Colonial Division champ Central Bucks East.

“It’s good for the freshmen and sophomore to see because this is their first time in the league and they’re not going to think of anything else,” Brooks said. “The seniors, it took us a few games to realize this is a no joke league, and once we did we really got on a roll midseason. I’m proud of the guys. They really stepped up. … From the strides we took from the beginning of the season, I’m really proud.”