Jeff Neiburg (@Jeff_Neiburg)
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(Ed. Note: This piece is part of CoBL’s “92 Stories in 92 Days” high school season preview, which will feature a different team in the CoBL coverage range each day from September 1 to December 1. For the full list of previews, click here)
When sizing up the Ches-Mont division, you can look on paper at the rosters assembled and place a few teams at the top. Analyze them closely and you could deduce that the Ches-Mont favorites come from Downingtown.
We’ve already previewed Downingtown West for the upcoming season, but Downingtown East coach John Goodman isn’t sold that his team deserves all the preseason hype.
“I think anybody who’s not putting Coatesville at the top is a little naive,” Goodman said. “If you look back at the last like 50 years, their dominance of the Ches-Mont is unbelievable and they won the league last year by three full games I believe.”
“And I also think not many people are talking about Henderson, who returns most of their team and they finished tied for second last year with us, and Shanahan.”
Coachspeak, maybe, but the Cougars did graduate three starters from last year’s team that went 12-11 and took an exit in the first round of the District 1 Class AAAA tournament after losing to No. 7 Plymouth-Whitemarsh.
But when you have the reigning Ches-Mont National MVP entering his junior season, it’s easy to see why folks are so high on Downingtown East.
At 6-foot-7, 230-pounds, junior Cary Angeline is one of the more overlooked talents in the Philadelphia region. He’s without question the best player in the league and was rewarded for it last year.
Cary Angeline, seen here with his AAU team, Team Final, is the reigning Ches-Mont National MVP. (Photo: Josh Verlin)
Goodman took over at Downingtown East two years ago – after being an assistant at the Church Farm School – when Angeline was coming into high school and has had a plan for him ever since. For his freshman year, the staff wanted Angeline to make the Ches-Mont’s First Team when the year ended.
No problem.
Last year, their goal was for Angeline to win the MVP. More than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game later, job done.
“This year, our goal is for him to kind of get more recognition – by the Inquirer, by [CoBL] in terms of being that first or second team type player,” Goodman said. “If Cary was basketball-only I think he’s A-10 or Big East level now, if he was playing 12 months a year like a lot of these guys are. But he happens to also be insanely talented as a football player.”
Insanely talented may be putting it mildly, as Angeline has been one of the more coveted tight end prospects in all of the country over the last few years. Only a junior, he already holds offers from football powers like Ohio State, Penn State, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Michigan State and the list continues.
This year, Goodman expects to have Angeline play more of a perimeter game than he has in the past. Angeline came into high school with an already polished post game, but has improved yearly in his outside game.
But Angeline’s football talents mean that the Cougars on the hardwood won’t play or practice as a full team until the football season ends.
“We haven’t had all of our top 6 guys play together at all, ever,” Goodman said. “I think for us, we’re going to be a lot better in January than we will be in December. So it’s just going to be how fast of a start we can get out to as we kind of learn our roles. I think we’ll be a lot deeper than we were last year.”
Not many coaches who lose three starters (PG Kyle Tucker and forwards Ryley Angeline and Brandon Feamster) can say that about the following year’s team.
With Angeline a year older and Marquan Gallimore, a talented guard entering his senior year, more focused than ever, Goodman may be on to something.
“He’s just really taking getting in shape, taking care of his body a lot more seriously and just competing really, really hard,” Goodman said of Gallimore. “He realizes he’s got to start producing a little more on the court if he wants to be mentioned with the top tier guys in the Ches-Mont.”
Tucker’s position as the starting point guard will be replaced by sophomore Gary Grove, whose quickness and ball handling ability was used last year to speed up the tempo. Goodman expects Grove to go through a little bit of growing pains to start, as he’ll need to adjust to the lead guard role.
“As a backcourt they need to kind of have that chip where they’re just as good as any of the other backcourts in the league,” Goodman said. “If they can play at that high level I think that’s what will put us over the top.”
Additions to the roster in the form of Coatesville-transfer Jarrett Cooper and 6-foot-6 sophomore Shawn King also add to the depth. Cooper is, as Goodman said, the piece the Cougars “didn’t have,” last season as a talented wing scorer with the ability to shoot, pass and defend. Sophomore Will Peiffer, who starred on the Cougars’ JV team last season, will also be in the primary rotation.
Angeline, Gallimore and senior Jake Truchan, who will be a deep-ball threat off the bench, were recently named team captains.
Anything’s possible when you have the best player in the league, and if the depth is what Goodman thinks it is, maybe the Downingtown rivalry will hold a little more weight this season.
“I think out of the top tier teams, we’re the team that has the most question marks in terms of kids who haven’t performed at that high level yet,” Goodman said. “I think we’re capable of it, and I think anything other than a league title for us is a disappointment, but we still have a lot to prove.”