HERTZOG: Resilience will be Spring-Ford seniors’ enduring mark

HERSHEY >> A curious thing happened on the way to the finish line.

The Spring-Ford girls’ basketball program, in the midst of a golden era, found itself overshadowed. Stone-faced postgame moments while a rival celebrates with a trophy can do that.

On the floor of the Giant Center on the penultimate day of the high school basketball season, the shadows separated. The spotlight was deservedly on the Rams.

But the glare can be cruel sometimes, as it was on a cold-shooting Friday evening in Hershey that signaled a 42-26 loss to Cardinal O’Hara in the PIAA 6A championship game.

With three championship game appearances this season at the league, district and state level, misses at each will feel like a shortcoming.

Yet to be in that place was superior to 10, then 43, then 118 other schools vying for the same position at every step.

Trophies present a tally, but the defining element in sports – and life, for that matter – isn’t how you handle the easy times. It’s the resilience you summon when the times are tough.

Reluctantly or not, that will be the outgoing Rams’ trademark.

“The thing that you’ll think about and everyone will think about is the emptiness of not bringing titles home this year,” head coach Mickey McDaniel said. “Here’s the thing, this group didn’t win the PAC championship but kept battling. We got to the district championship, so it’s two championship games, we didn’t get it. But that didn’t stop them. They never quit.”

The willingness to press on after setbacks to Perkiomen Valley in the PAC and District 1 final allowed the Rams to be one of the last teams standing.

“I think it’s just crazy we got this far, and over the years we accomplished great things, so we’ve really got to look back on that and be proud of ourselves,” said senior point guard Anna Azzara, who scored a team-high 12 points in the final.

Spring-Ford seniors, from left, Sophia Allocca, Siena Miller, Anna Azzara, Katie Tiffan and Mackenzie Pettinelli watch as Cardinal O’Hara’s receives their championship medals after the PIAA Class 6A championship game on March 22 at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)

When it comes to gold standard programs in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, everyone is playing for second place behind what McDaniel and his staff have created in Royersford.

In this 15-year era of undisputed excellence, three four-year windows have been the cream that has risen to the top.

The Class of 2024 that features Azzara and Mackenzie Pettinelli – both crunch-time players since freshman year – Katie TIffan, Aaliyah Solliday and Siena Miller is firmly in the conversation with the best there’s been.

Their record will show two Pioneer Athletic Conference championships, one District 1 title and three finals appearances (including when they were team-leading sophomores), four trips to the PIAA tournament with two resulting in a spot in the championship in Hershey. Their 101-20 four-year record is third-most for any SF team.

That ranks right with the Class of 2021’s four-year window and the 2013 and 2014 classes that began the Spring-Ford boom.

With a PIAA 4A championship in 2013, a state runner-up finish in 2014, two District 1 titles and a 109-19 record, the 2013 group led by Sarah Payonk, Sammi Haas and Courtney Hinnant, and the 2014 class that featured two-time Mercury Player of the Year Sammi Stipa and Shelby Mueller set the standard.

The Class of 2021 featuring current VIllanova star Lucy Olsen and Emily Tiffan brought the Rams back to the forefront and were the architects of a four-year run that included four trips to the state tournament, a PIAA runner-up finish and a District 1 championship (plus three other semifinal trips).

That was the level the Class of 2024 joined and inherited, state finalists as freshmen.

The level-headedness that was so frequently on display allowed the Rams to be undaunted by the expectations.

“I think before us Spring-Ford had a great program, so we knew we had to top that, and then we had to set a line for the people who were behind us,” Azzara said.

Azzara put together one of the great careers the region has seen and finishes as the No. 6 all-time leading scorer in the PAC’s 37-year history with 1,641 career points.

As a 5-6 point guard, size advantage didn’t shine upon Azzara, but her work ethic and effort more than made up for it. Wright State is getting a steely scorer who has never shied away from big moments.

Spring-Ford’s Mac Pettinelli looks for a pass during the PIAA 6A championship game on March 22 in Hershey. (Austin Hertzog – MNG)

Pettinelli, bound for St. Bonaventure, will be remembered as one of the more unique players the area has seen. She’s a poised pass-first forward who is Spring-Ford’s all-time assists leader and the team’s leading rebounder while scoring 848 career points.

“We’ve all been playing with each other since we were very young, a lot of us since fourth grade. Team chemistry was really there, one of the closest Spring-Ford teams we’ve had,” Pettinelli said. “That chemistry and trust allowed us to execute on the court. Right now obviously everyone is looking at the loss but hopefully in a little bit we can be grateful we got here. Not a lot of teams get the opportunity to get there once let alone twice.”

Tiffan, a three-year starter, has made strides every year, was the top scorer on multiple occasions in the postseason – she scored 867 in her career – and was often tasked with defending the opponent’s No. 1 option in Spring-Ford’s nine-win postseason.

McDaniel is filled with team-building motivational taglines. One of the favorites is “We play for those who came before us,” adopted from the Villanova basketball programs.

“We’re playing to build a continued foundation for those coming after us and this group has done a fantastic job with that over the last four years. Whether it’s a championship trophy in the trophy case or not, that’s not what always determines the foundation you build.

“You build that foundation on work ethic. You build that foundation on teamwork. You build it on being ‘as one’. That’s what you build off of because the championships become byproducts of that. You’re not going to win championships every year, but you have to win the battle to keep building up and up. And they’ve done that.”

It’s not long until trophies go to sit in a cabinet to collect dust.

An example of commitment and willingness to dust yourself off and try again lasts longer.