Anna Marks - an avid sports fan who is the editor of Bensalem High School’s newspaper, The Parliament – is once again picking the winners! SuburbanOneSports.com welcomes submissions by aspiring student writers.
Talk about a wild Round 1!
Five games had an upset winner and SOL teams were responsible for 4 of them. #24 Pennsbury pulled off the Cinderella-esque upset over #9 Lower Merion in front of the Aces Nation home crowd. #22 Council Rock South had a clutch win in OT, stunning Penn Wood’s Patriot Nation, and #21 Neshaminy and #17 Central Bucks East were dominant in upset wins.
Before we get to this round’s picks, let’s see how my picks panned out from Round 1 (selected winners in bold):
Correct Picks: #22 CR South vs. #11 Penn Wood, #13 Cheltenham vs. #20 Central Bucks West, #5 Upper Moreland vs. #12 Sun Valley (5A), #7 Pottstown vs. #10 Springfield Twp.
Incorrect Picks: #9 Lower Merion vs. #24 Pennsbury, #12 Perkiomen Valley vs. #21 Neshaminy, #14 Chester vs. #19 Wissahickon, #16 Downingtown West vs. #17 CB East.
I’ll give credit to my “flagged” teams from Round 1. Neshaminy and CB East got big wins and did a great job putting their poor second halves of the season behind them. With 8 of the 24 district teams eliminated, now the 6A field has shrunk to 16 with 9 SOL teams remaining (13 total). Let’s get into Round 2.
Class 6A
Bye teams, #1 Plymouth Whitemarsh, #4 CB South, #5 Souderton and #6 Abington, enter the conversation.
#1 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. #17 CB East: snuck up the rankings all year, finishing 10-0 in the SOL Liberty and obliterating teams all season. While CB East won its first round matchup, Downingtown West didn’t give them much pressure and CB East effectively ran its offense. Led by Towson commit Mani Sajid and UPenn commit big man Michael Pereira, PW runs at a super high pace and I don’t think CB East will be ready for it. 80-71 PW
#4 CB South vs. # 13 Cheltenham: Like their SOL Tournament matchup (a 48-46 Cheltenham win), this game could once again be decided by one possession. Cheltenham is a very gritty team, and CB South has been on a roll all year. Cheltenham has something CB South doesn't have this season - a win over CB West. From what I've seen, with losses to the lower seeded CB's, CBS has had trouble with underdogs with nothing to lose. I got Cheltenham. 69-68 Cheltenham
#5 Souderton vs. #21 Neshaminy: Neshaminy pulled off a nice upset last week. Souderton has been a power in the SOL Colonial all year, and with seniors Nate Rusike and Chanse Salone leading the way, their offense has been strong. With a league title and a lot of time to prepare on their belt, I see Souderton taking Neshaminy in a tight matchup. 73-70 Souderton
#6 Abington vs. #22 CR South: Ranked #1 at one point this season, Abington has come out very strong this season. As I mentioned last round, CR South is HOT after an 0-4 start to the season and got a tough OT win over Penn Wood. The thing is, Abington isn’t Penn Wood. The bye team has dominated all season with two high scorers in junior Xander Grasty (16 ppg) and senior Faizon Garland (10 ppg). CR South has shooters as well. Ryan Delp (15 ppg) and Lucian Mirc add to their three-dimensional depth. This game will be firepower vs. firepower, but I think Abington’s more experienced wins will push them over the edge and send CRS to the playbacks. 75-74 Abington
#8 Garnet Valley vs. #24 Pennsbury: Pennsbury’s win over Lower Merion shocked District 1 with its win at Kobe Bryant Gymnasium to end LM’s season. Pat Jajua shined with 16 points, and the Falcon squad just overpowered the Aces by the time the buzzer sounded. Out of the Central League, Garnet Valley is a very strong district power. Led by 1000-point junior Grayson Golek (~20 ppg.), has a strong offensive front and has been dominant against 6A playoff teams. I think this one will be too much for Pennsbury. but it’ll definitely be close. 76-71 GV
Class 5A
#4 Upper Dublin vs. #5 Upper Moreland: Upper Moreland had a nice win last week over Sun Valle,y and their quickness will allow them to be close. Despite that, I don’t think UM will be able to beat the SOL Champs. 70-60 UD
Class 4A
#1 Pope John Paul II vs. #4 Lower Moreland: It’s going to take a lot to beat PAC runner up PJP II. To put it bluntly, PJP II has been strong all year and LM hasn’t. 64-30 PJP II
Class 3A
#2 Bristol vs. #3 New Hope-Solebury: NH-S has struggled a lot this year and having to go against a strong Bristol team will surely be tough. 52-35 Bristol
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