2020-21 Pennsylvania Sportswriters’ All-State Team (1A Classification)
Written by: Andy Herr on Monday, April 26th, 2021
Foreword written by Mike Gross of LNP….
Berlin Brothersvalley, a small public high school in Somerset County, accomplished about all it could in boys’ basketball the past two years without winning a state championship.
The Mountaineers went a combined 55-3, and were stopped short of the big prize by COVID-19 halting the PIAA tournament in 2020, and by Pottsville Nativity, 51-47 in overtime, in last month’s Class A championship game.
The guy that made them go, point guard Elijah Sechler, has been named Class A Player of the Year in voting for the Pennsylvania Sports Writers All-State team.
Sechler, a 5-11 senior, averaged 21 points and 5.6 assists per game. He was also a first-team selection in 2020.
He will play college basketball where his mother did, Pitt-Johnstown, where he will major in civil engineering.
Pottsville Nativity, which edged the Mounts for the state title, placed two players on the Class A first team, based on voting by a panel of sports media members from around the state: Kegan Hertz, a 6-6 senior, and Marquis Ratcliff, a 6-6 junior. Both made third team last year.
Hertz, bound for Lebanon Valley College, averaged 16.3 points and nine rebounds. Ratcliff averaged 15.8 and 9.5.
St. John’s Neumann sophomore guard Davion Hill also made the first team for the second straight year. He’s joined on the first team by his brother David, a senior who made the second team a year ago.
David, a Towson State recruit, averaged 22.8 points, and seven assists. Davion, who has scholarship offers from Towson and Kent State, averaged 22.2 points, four assists and three steals.
A first-team selection closes a brilliant high school career for Vince Fyock, a 6-0 guard from Shade. Fyock scored over 2,000 career points for a team that reached the District 5 final.
He averaged 24.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. Fyock was also all-state in football, as a wide receiver, in 2019.
On the second team for the second straight year is scoring machine Vinnie Cugini of tiny Aquinas Academy. Now a 6-1 sophomore, Cugini averaged 39.4 points per game, including games of 55 and 52. He averaged 34 a game as a freshman.
The Class A coach of the year is Pottsville Nativity’s Mike Walborn, who led his team to state, District 11 and Schuylkill County League championships.
Class A
First team
Elijah Sechler, 5-11 Sr. Berlin Brothersvalley (POY)
David Hill, 6-1 Sr., St. John’s Neumann
Davion Hill, 6-0 Soph., St. John’s Neumann
Vince Fryock, 6-0 Sr., Shade
Kegan Hertz, 6-6 Sr., Pottsville Nativity
Marquis Ratcliff, 6-6 Sr., Pottsville Nativity
Second team
Aaron Bailey, 6-2 Sr., Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg
Kaden Koleszarik, 5-9 Sr., Shade
Vinnie Cugini, 6-1 Soph., Aquinas Academy
Noah Spencer, 5-10 Sr., North Penn-Liberty
Abe Countryman, 6-5 Sr., Berlin Brothersvalley
Scotty Zoscin, 6-1 Sr., Weatherly
Third team
Matt Stanley, 5-10 Soph., Union
Kevaughn Price, 6-2 Jr., Bishop Canevin
DeMajh Salisbery, 6-1 Soph., La Academia
Dom Elliott, 6-4 Sr., Bishop Canevin
Devon Hemer, 6-5 Sr., Rochester
JD Azulay, 6-2 Jr., Rochester
Coach: Mike Walborn, Pottsville Nativity
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