From a distance, they measured each other, each team looking from afar at what the other was doing. The staredown came from a distance, too, as defending state champion Penn Wood and everyone else’s No. 1 team in Pennsylvania, Plymouth Whitemarsh, knocked off one opponent after another, inching closer and closer to a summit in the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA (large-school) championship.
Tyree Johnson, Penn Wood
File photo by Lonnie Webb
Now it’s here.
Penn Wood, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, did its part Tuesday night in a doubleheader at Villanova’s Pavilion, easily vanquishing No. 3 seed Souderton, 71-49, in one semifinal, followed by the No. 1 seed Colonials stomping on West Chester Rustin, 79-47, in the other.
Penn Wood and Plymouth Whitemarsh will now meet in the District 1 championship Friday night at 7:30 at Villanova. The winner stays in the eastern bracket of the state tournament, while the loser travels to compete in the western bracket of the state — leading to a possible return meeting in the state championship game March 27 at Penn State.
Penn Wood comes into the district championship 22-3 overall, its last loss coming to a team from Pennsylvania in the district finals last year against Norristown. Plymouth Whitemarsh enters the game 25-1 and as a team that’s easily handled every Southeastern Pennsylvania team in its path.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (called PW locally) has an almost-unstoppable 1-2 punch in St. Joseph’s-bound C.J. Aiken, a 6-foot-10 shot-blocking inside force, and smooth 6-7 junior Jaylen Bond. Penn Wood counters with lightning-fast point guard Tyree Johnson, 6-5 junior guard Aaron Brown and a pretty powerful inside presence, too, in 6-9, 250-pound Shawn Oakman, who scored a career-high 22 points in Penn Wood’s Souderton victory.
All season long Penn Wood has heard how good Plymouth Whitemarsh is. But the one team that the Colonials haven’t faced this year is Penn Wood. And the Patriots are quick to remind everyone willing to listen.
"This is the game we want and we’re getting our wish," said Oakman, a major Division I football and basketball recruit. "We’ve been waiting for this game all year long. C.J. Aiken better hit the weight room this week. We want to be the best; you have to play the best, and that’s what we did this year. Everything we did this year, we did to prepare for this.
"People know Plymouth Whitemarsh, but it’s not like they’re (perennial state power) Chester. There’s respect there. PW is a very good team, they have great players. I respect them, but we’re the state champions and respect is something we don’t feel we’ve gotten a lot of this year. It’s like we are sliding under the radar. PW is supposed to be the best. We’ll see Friday night."
It could come down to guard play, which feeds right into Johnson’s wheelhouse. Not many guards in the state have been able to keep up with the Penn Wood floor leader. The Colonials are deep at guard, with senior point guard Whis Grant, along with juniors Brandon Dixon and Sam Pygatt in PW coach Jim Donofrio’s three-guard setup. But can anyone keep up with Johnson, without a doubt the MVP of last year’s state championship game?
"We want PW, I have no problem saying that," Johnson said. "We wanted to play them the whole year. That’s the game and the team we wanted."
The feeling is mutual.
"They’ve been looking forward to playing us, and we’ve been looking forward to playing them all year, too," the gifted Bond said. "We know what we have to do to win, and this year is about unfinished business. Penn Wood is the defending state champion, and we feel we should have been there last year, that should have been us. But we know what we’re going up against, and Penn Wood’s bigs are probably the best bigs we’ve gone against this year. We’ll be up for the challenge."
Penn Wood does have one big fan — PW’s Donofrio.
"I understand what Penn Wood is going through; I don’t think Penn Wood has received the respect that they’ve deserved this year," Donofrio said. "Penn Wood is the state champions and all they’ve heard this year is PW, PW. I think they have a psychological edge. They have a lot to be angry about. We got invited to play them this year and I said no, because my attitude is to meet when it’s time to meet and the game means something. I think this is going to be a war."
