Mid Penn – preview

Written by: Dell Jackson on November 23, 2022

Ed note: LLhoops welcomes Luke Brown to our staff. Luke will give us some recaps of happenings in the Mid Penn.

Mid Penn Pre-Season News, Analysis and More
By Luke Brown

New Faces in New Places
The off-season is always filled with interesting moves across the Mid Penn conference. This season, two
interesting moves at Bishop McDevitt and Mechanicsburg’s programs that completely shifted the
basketball landscape in Central PA.

Last year, Mechanicsburg’s boys basketball squad was coached by interim head coach in Kevin
Rutherford. Rutherford has had many stops around the Mid Penn, and will now coach at Cedar Cliff, as
part of Tigh Savercool’s assistant staff. The coaching search was on for the Mechanicsburg Wildcats’, and
they ultimately settled on longtime Mid Penn basketball coach Mike Gaffey. Gaffey is coming off of 8
years at Bishop McDevitt high school, When I spoke to Gaffey in the summer, he claimed he was looking
forward to “dog fights” of the Mid Penn Commonwealth division, and he remembered a time when
McDevitt was in the Commonwealth division, and the fun times they had back, before McDevitt’s switch
to the Capital division.

As one coaching search finished, another began as Bishop McDevitt searched for their next man up to
lead this year’s Crusaders. They settled on an in-house hire, Mark Risser. Risser has spent the past years
coaching under Gaffey, one of his greatest mentors. He was “speechless” when he got the call from
Athletic Director Tommy Mealy, promoting him to coach a great, historic Mid Penn basketball program.
McDevitt’s Jacobi Tate had all positive things to say about the new coaching process earlier this
postseason: “Overall, I think it’s gone well and it’s going to benefit us in the next season.”

New Focuses at Middletown
Middletown, PA is a town focused on its sports. Middletown always packs the house for their games, and
when fans found out they wouldn’t be in the football bleachers this fall, disappoint spreading through the
town would be an understatement. Last season, Middletown’s boys basketball team competed at the Giant
Center for a District Championship, and finished as a runner up. Middletown dominated the Mid Penn
scene last basketball season, and look to do the same again this winter.

Middletown head coach Chris Bradford is well aware of how his team will bring back Middletown to the
sports scene, and has a plan to not disappoint the Blue Raider fans, “now, in that spotlight, we’ve got to
take on that burden, and we’re looking forward to it.” Bradford’s plan also means getting the youth
involved, and making sure his players are involved in the classroom, just as much as they are on the court:
“Getting involved in our middle school program, getting involved in our elementary schools, not just with
boys and not only basketball players, but the youth in Middletown.”

Middletown’s season is also important because of the new leaders that will step up in the system. The
Blue Raiders have lost Center Tajae Broadie, and Point Guard Tate Leach, who’ve both gone on to play
NCAA Football. Middletown’s team isn’t shying away from that challenge, though: “We lost a lot of
players, but we’re going to need some new leaders, younger players to step up and ball out.”

Top Dogs
Each division will have high stakes this season, because each division has new talent, and changing teams
across the Mid Penn mean higher stakes in order to seal a spot in the Mid Penn tournament, District 3
bracket, and ultimately the state tournament at the end of the season.

Trinity will have a fresh slate of games, and with a changing program, the Shamrocks have a bright
season ahead of them. The Shamrocks’ have reportedly brought in major recruits, and now their team is
one of the most well rounded squads in the Capital division. Running point guard will be Owen Schlager,
who clearly showed his ability to lead the Shamrocks’ to victory, with a signature moment to the season
when Schlager hit a buzzer beater 3 in overtime to beat one of their biggest Capital division foes, the
McDevitt Crusaders. Trey Weiand, a senior Shamrock, along with fellow Senior Wyatt Cooper will be the
team leaders. As Seniors, Weiand and Cooper are multi-sport athletes who will be important on the floor.
The Shamrocks will open the season with an away, Saturday match-up facing the Selinsgrove Seals.
They’ll open up the new bleachers of Trinity high school’s gym on December 6, when they host Lancaster
Mennonite.

Shippensburg finished as Mid Penn conference runner-ups last season, backed by Jayden Statum and
Anthony Smith on the floor. But now, Shippensburg has a completely new look. Statum and Smith are off
in college, and now Shippensburg has a new coach as well. Ray Staver resigned recently as the
Shippensburg head coach, and the Greyhounds appointed Rick Lewis to the new position, who previously
coached at Greencastle-Antrim.

Cumberland Valley will have a tough schedule this season in the Commonwealth division, but the Eagles
look to make it farther into the District playoffs this season. Last year they entered the bracket as the 18-5
#2 seed, but got upset by #7 seed Warwick, who went on the finish as 6A District 3 runner ups, making an
improbable run through the playoffs. Cumberland Valley sports a loaded record, especially with their
divisional match-ups of Central Dauphin, Carlisle and more.

I spoke with Cumberland Valley senior Jackson Boone to preview that loaded schedule: “My favorite
match-up is the Carlisle game for sure. That game last year I hurt my knee, so I’m looking forward to
getting a full game this time. It was a really good game last time, it’s always packed, student section’s
always bumping, it’s going to be a fun one.”

Finally, the Mid Penn champions, the Cedar Cliff Colts. Based off of numbers, it seems that the Colts will
have a similar squad compared to last year, but you can’t get further from the truth. Tyler Houser is part of
a brotherly duo that tore up the Mid Penn Keystone division last season. Tyler Houser is now off at VMI,
Virginia Military Institute, playing in his College Basketball career. His brother was slated to play another
season at Cedar Cliff, but announced his transfer before the season. Justin Houser, Tyler’s younger
brother, is heading off to the Phelps School to play private basketball before his college commitment.
Cedar Cliff head coach Tigh Savercool spoke about his Colts will make up for lost players: “We have a
standard for how we operate in the offseason, the work ethic that we put in, and how much we care about
each other… our identity is on any one single player.” Cedar Cliff will have their home opener not until
December 16th, when they host Mechanicsburg.

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