Fort Cherry hopes ‘special’ season was just the start
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry’s Owen Norman was one of the driving forces behind the most successful basketball season at Fort Cherry since 1961. Norman averaged 17.7 points per game during the regular season and had a 40-point game in the postseason.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Owen Norman finds an opening to pass beyond West Middlesex defenders. Norman was one of the driving forces behind the most successful basketball season at Fort Cherry since 1961. He averaged 17.7 points per game during the regular season and had a 40-point game in the postseason.
The word “special” has been used a lot to describe last season for the Fort Cherry boys basketball team.
A special record.
A special run to an appearance in the WPIAL championship game – a first for the Rangers since 1961.
But special takes on a more important interpretation for longtime coach Eugene Briggs, who became Fort Cherry’s coach the year before last.
“It’s one of those special groups because that’s a team you cherish,” Briggs said. “They did it the right way. They executed. They played hard. They shared the ball. They played defense. It was just a heck of a lot of heart. They never thought about losing. When you don’t think about losing, that’s how you have a season like that.”
Nobody had to squint to see the success at Fort Cherry. It won 24 games en route to the Petersen Events Center for the Class 2A championship. The Rangers lost to eventual state champion and catholic power Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the title game.
Behind Observer-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year Owen Norman, second-leading scorer Dylan Rogers and an invaluable leader Maddox Truschel, Fort Cherry went 9-1 in games determined by six or less points. The Rangers made the state tournament for the first time since 1998.
Norman, who averaged 18.1 points per game, returns with several other key contributors, including Derek Errett, Adam Wolfe and Shane Cornali. But Briggs and the Rangers will be forced to fill the holes left by Truschel and Rogers.
“At the end of the game, those guys were going to win,” Briggs said. “Dylan was our go-to guy. He was a player. Maddox was a warrior. He was a quarterback (in football) and a star athlete. And he was out there setting screens, taking charges, bringing in the ball. He would do anything I would ask of him. Those kinds of kids don’t come along very often.”
The four blemishes on Fort Cherry’s record came to teams that had a combined record of 95-14.
Briggs believes the effects of a last season can translate into more effective coaching.
“They made me look like I knew what I was doing,” Briggs joked. “But when we ask them to do certain things, they can now see they actually work.”
Errett, a junior guard, did a little bit of everything for Fort Cherry last year, averaging 6.1 points, slightly over five assists and rebounds and 2.1 steals. Wolfe, who enters his senior year at center, scored nearly five points and grabbed more than eight rebounds per game.
Lucas Errett and Evan Pond also will compete for playing time, along with freshman Matt Sieg, who set Western Pennsylvania ablaze with his skills on the football field as a freshman quarterback for the Rangers.
Briggs is eager to find where the leadership will come from when Fort Cherry begins its season Friday against West Allegheny in the Rangers’ tournament.
“Sometimes the leader is a marginal role player,” Briggs said. “They aren’t going to necessarily be Maddox, but we have to see where it comes from. We will have guys be what they are. Someone has to do the grunt work. That type of leadership is hard to replace.”