Mar 1, 2022 4 min read

When John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States, an event best remembered for the words “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” Fort Cherry’s boys basketball program was in the midst of a magical season that ended with the Rangers winning the WPIAL and PIAA championships.

Future NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer and his teammates probably wouldn’t have guessed that it’d take 61 years for their alma mater to get back to the district championship game, but it turned out that way.

Although plenty of people who were alive in 1961 are still alive in 2022- Fort Cherry coach Eugene Briggs, 63, being one of them-for anybody on Fort Cherry’s current roster- and, for that matter, people twice their age – there’s a good chance that the only difference between Kennedy’s inaugural address and Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg address is that Kennedy’s speech was on video.

Other than that, both are the same; ancient history.

In the time between title game berths, Kennedy was assassinated, the US put a man on the moon, the Beatles came to America and broke up, Disco came and went and Marvin Lewis – born Sept. 23, 1958 – grew up, went to Fort Cherry and became a head coach in the NFL for well over a decade with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Briggs says he didn’t stress 1961 in the lead-up to Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 2A semifinal matchup against Carlynton.

“That’s just a secondary fact,” he said, after a 46-36 win. “They’re playing for themselves.”

Just because it wasn’t stressed, however, doesn’t mean it wasn’t talked about.

“He did mention it a couple of times,” Derek Errett, who finished with a game-high 16 points, said.

“Briggs has told us plenty of times,” Dylan Rogers, who finished with an even 10 points, said. “You know, (how)we’re making history, 61 years.”

Drought or no drought, Fort Cherry had to beat its Section 2 foe and co-champion for the second time.

Like the first two meetings, this one was low-scoring, and like the second meeting, the Rangers won. Fort Cherry beat Carlynton- who was looking to end a 30-year WPIAL title game drought- 46-36. Now, the Rangers, used to playing in a tiny little gym, will be playing at the Peterson Events Center, where the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Zion Williamson have all performed.

“I don’t think (it’s sunk in) yet,” Errett said. “Maybe later tonight, who knows.”

“It’s pretty crazy,” Rogers said. “It doesn’t feel real, still. “This whole season… I don’t know. It’s crazy.”

Last year, Fort Cherry finished a pedestrian 5-5 in Section 2. Now, the Rangers are 32 minutes away from being the kings of their class.

“They know what they’re doing,” Briggs said, “and it’s not often I’ve had a team that sort of knows what they’re doing. Each time we had breakdowns, I’d call a time out; they would identify what’s going on and make a correction. In an atmosphere like this, they can’t hear me, so it makes a lot of difference when they’re out there making the changes on their own.”

Fort Cherry got off to a hot start, leading 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. Carlynton scored the first 11 points of the second half to take a three-point lead, but the Rangers fought back to take a slim 22-21 lead into halftime.

After the third quarter, Fort Cherry led by four.

With a little more than two minutes gone in the final period, the Rangers nursed a 32-30 lead.

Then, a three by Rogers made it 35-30. That sparked a 7-0 run the Carylnton never fully answered.

Rogers’s 10 points might seem modest, the fact that the senior has been nursing an ankle injury well over a month makes any contribution memorable.

“He was playing on one leg,” Briggs said.

“I’m sure it will hurt later, but I’ll be good for the championship,” Rogers said.

Along with Rogers and Errett, Owen Norman cracked double figures with 14 points for the Rangers. For Carylton, Khalil Kerr led the team with 15, and Jaiden McClure added 11.

Now, Fort Cherry will look to solve top-seeded Our Lady of Sacred Heart and end its 62-game winning streak. Tip-off is at 1 Saturday afternoon in Oakland.

“They’re the best team in AA,” Rogers said. “We have a shot, though. Anything can happen.”