Last week was PIAA Officials Appreciation Week for winter sports, and schools took time to recognize the guys in the striped shirts.<\/p>\n
Allen athletic director Randy Atiyeh even presented the three referees working the Allentown Central Catholic-Allen boys basketball game with a goodie bag.<\/p>\n
The recognition for those guys and all officials across the state is well-deserved.<\/p>\n
But what all involved with high school, middle school, and youth sports would appreciate most of all would be seeing more people, male or female, young or old, get involved with officiating.<\/p>\n
By now, everyone knows there is a shortage. It\u2019s why Thursday night high school football games are more frequent, and the high school basketball contests are spread throughout the week when it used to be primarily a Tuesday-Friday routine.<\/p>\n
Veteran soccer and basketball official and assignor Jack Keiter said the problem is not going away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PIAA is the first state association to do that; dedicate a week each season to recognize the officials, and that\u2019s great,\u201d Keiter said. \u201cAs the PIAA always says, without officials we can\u2019t play the games so we need as many people as possible, and not just in basketball, but all sports, from swimming to lacrosse to soccer to volleyball. I would like to say we\u2019re seeing an improvement in numbers, but the answer is not really. We\u2019re averaging right around 350 officials and before COVID we had a little more than 400 for basketball. We gain about 15 each year, but then we lose five or six. So right now we have 350 officials, and that\u2019s what we use in the Lehigh Valley to cover EPC and Colonial League, the Poconos, and the Schuylkill League.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell people I use a magic wand to assign everything,\u201d Keiter added. \u201cSome days you need a magic wand. It\u2019s one day at a time. We\u2019re playing every night, and the leagues have done a phenomenal job of spreading games out to help us out. But there are certain nights when we need everyone available. We had a day where there were 112 games scheduled, including middle school. So, if we don\u2019t double people up, that\u2019s about 200-plus officials needed. But we\u2019re doubling some people up, and some of the varsity guys are working a middle school game at 4 o\u2019clock and then going to a varsity game at 7. Certain days are harder than others, but league officials have a great job in helping us out and moving games around. On a Saturday, we\u2019ve asked them to move games up and back so that we can make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keiter said the most help is needed at the younger levels, like freshman and middle school, because they are 4 o\u2019clock starts, which is often problematic because guys are working their regular jobs.<\/p>\n
He added that there are youth games going on in every gym in the Valley, \u201cAnd they are paying better than high school games, unfortunately. So I can\u2019t blame officials for wanting to do two or three youth games instead of high school because they can make more money. I talk to the guys, and in baseball at the youth level, they will have one guy working a game instead of two just to cover it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keiter is encouraged by the fact that more young people are getting involved, including former players such as Devon Troxell and Justin Paz. Andy Donatelli\u2019s son, Cole, is getting in the mix,<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some good young people working, and we\u2019re putting them in good spots,\u201d Keiter said. \u201cEvery time I go to a game, someone will say to me, \u2018Wow, you\u2019re still doing this.\u2019 I just saw a kid a couple of weeks ago at Allen and he told me I was his favorite referee. I said, \u2018That\u2019s awesome, but you should be officiating now, too.\u2019 So, I try to put a bug in their ear and give them the feeling that, hey, maybe they can do this. We\u2019ll take as many as we can get and we\u2019ll train them and prepare them as best as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
While a basketball season will always have one or two incidents, Keiter said the climate for officiating is good, but will get tougher as the playoffs approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe climate is really good right now, and sometimes it depends on the level of play,\u201d he said. \u201cThe higher the level of play, the easier it is to officiate. The tougher games are the ones where you might have two 4-8 teams playing, and the ball doesn\u2019t go in the basket as often or it doesn\u2019t go where it\u2019s always supposed to go. The climate will get more intense in the next couple of weeks because teams will be fighting to get into the playoffs. As officials,we\u2019re human and we may not get everything right, no matter how hard we try. That\u2019s why I will listen to a coach sometimes and hear him out. But then it\u2019s time to move on or, like the kids say, go on to the next play. If the coaches aren\u2019t willing to move on to the next play, then that\u2019s when we have a problem, and we have to go a different way and use some tools at our disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the issues aren\u2019t as plentiful as some might think.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still a great profession,\u201d Keiter said. \u201cMore people should give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s results<\/p>\n
Allen 59, Freire Charter 47: The Canaries made it two wins in two nights at Sewards Gym as Xavyon Wimberly scored 19 points, making three 3-pointers along the way, and Nazeer Chapman and Cam Pearsall added 12 and 11 points respectively. Allen improved to 12-3 overall. This game was on Youth Night and sponsored by Tyrese Martin\u2019s Tyrese 4 You Foundation.<\/p>\n
Stroudsburg 57, Morris Hills, NJ 41: In one of the few games played on Saturday, the Mounties got 21 points from Jarel Jackson, and Tae El-Bassiouni added 14 as the Mounties improved to 8-8.<\/p>\n
Northwestern Lehigh 59, Lehighton 44: Malachi Coleman scored 18 points and Mason Bollinger added 15 as the Tigers upped their record to 13-5, 12-2 league. Cannon Fitch chipped in 11. Blake Roberts led Lehighton (9-8, 7-7) with 15.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame-Green Pond 75, Palisades 40: The Crusaders earned their seventh straight win and remained unbeaten in the Colonial League behind an offensive display that featured nine 3-pointers and 20-for-24 foul shooting. Justin Manning led the way with 17 points, and Drew Boyd added 13 for Notre Dame (14-2, 12-0). Jack Trickel led Palisades (1-15, 1-12) with 15.<\/p>\n
Salisbury 68, Wilson 46: The Falcons celebrated the program\u2019s 1,000-win history with their 15th win in 17 games this season. Steve Lozada led a balanced attack with 18 points, while Julian Makhoul added 14, Drew Petrie chipped in 13, and Garrett Leiner contributed 11. Lafayette Acree led Wilson (11-5, 9-5) with 14.<\/p>\n
Northern Lehigh 45, Saucon Valley 40: Newly minted 1,000-point scorer Kellen Bauer scored 16 points, and his brother, freshman Michael Bauer, added 13 as the Bulldogs snagged their sixth win in 18 games. They are 5-9 in the league. Saucon fell to 6-10, 4-10 in the league, despite 14 points from freshman Thomas Cahill.<\/p>\n
Southern Lehigh 51, Bangor 31: Three different Spartans made a pair of 3-pointers, and Southern Lehigh had eight treys overall in pulling away from the host Slaters. Joseph Plessl led the Spartans with 12 points and Jack Fistner added 11 as Southern Lehigh improved to 12-4, 9-4. Jason Marcantonis paced Bangor (8-6, 7-4).<\/p>\n
Record-breaker<\/p>\n
Liberty senior Jake Pukszyn, who earlier this season became a 1,000-point scorer, became the Hurricanes\u2019 all-time assist leader with several passes leading to points on Thursday night against East Stroudsburg South. Pukszyn, who has started all four seasons in his career at Liberty, now has 326 assists. He passed the previous record holder, 2008 graduate Trevor Van Ackeren. Pukszyn was also a record-breaking wide receiver on the Liberty football team and will continue his career on the gridiron at Lehigh.<\/p>\n
The new 2,000-point man<\/p>\n
Pottsville Nativity\u2019s Trey Keating scored 35 points in a 65-46 win over Marian Catholic on Friday night and became District 11\u2019s newest 2,000-point scorer and the third player in Schuykill League history to attain the milestone. Keating needed 18 and finished with 35 for the 7-8 Hilltoppers.<\/p>\n
The other Schuylkill League 2,000-point scorers were Dave Delenick of St. Clair (1969-73), who had\u00a0 2,018 points, and Bob Felty of Tri-Valley (1990-94), who is the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer with 2,419.<\/p>\n
He is also believed to be the state\u2019s all-time leader in 3-pointers with 348.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an ambassador, not only for the program but the school,\u201d Nativity coach Brady Burke told Eli Doyle of T-102 Sports Now \u201cI mean, he\u2019s just a great kid on and off the court. He does everything you want and ask for. He is a tireless worker, great in the community \u2014 just an all-around great kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keating is a two-time first-team all-state selection in Class A\u00a0 Last year, he led the Schuylkill League in scoring with 25.7 points per game.<\/p>\n
He is also an outstanding golfer, baseball player, and a Distinguished Honor and National Honor Society student. He\u2019s also the president of his class.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week was PIAA Officials Appreciation Week for winter sports, and schools took time to recognize the guys…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,29375,305,726,432],"class_list":["post-90294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-high-school-basketball","tag-high-school-sports","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}