Throughout the year, SCH has been regarded as one of the premier teams in Philadelphia, earning the fourth-seed in the PAISAA playoffs, and taking down top-tier talent on the way.
But the Devils have always had a glaring weakness throughout the season – their height.
Unlike other top-ranked teams, SCH’s tallest player, junior forward Owen Kelly, is only 6 ‘5″; conversely, many other top-ranked teams have players who tower over SCH’s entire roster.
Throughout the year, though, SCH has been able to overcome the weakness, fighting through and tackling tall opponents with a blend of speed, power, and playmaking to overcome this weakness, but Phelps’ lineup was something they’d never played against.
Despite being the 12-seed in the tournament, Phelps’ ranking doesn’t exactly reflect their skill. Being a national team, many of their games in Philadelphia were played by a backup roster, making it hard for the selection team to gauge their strength.
Phelps’ main strength wasn’t just their overwhelming height – they sported multiple players around or over 6’10 – but instead their versatility. Each of these larger guys were lanky, could shoot, and most importantly had quick enough feet to play defense.
“We gotta lock into our defense,” said junior center Stewart Greenleaf when asked about the height of Phelps. “Out tough em, out work em, that’s it.”
SCH had one more problem to overcome, and that was that senior forward and All Inter-Ac second teamer Kam Waters was not available for this game due to an injury, leaving junior Alex Ormond to step in his place.
Opening the game though, it seemed as if SCH had nothing to worry about, as junior forward Owen Kelly opened the game on fire, scorching the Lions with long three-pointers, turn around middys, and tough layups over defenders. He was the Devils’ only offense as they took a 22-9 lead over Phelps.
But things quickly soured – as SCH went cold throughout the fourth, as Phelps switched a taller defender onto Kelly, limiting his shot selection as he had a 6 ’10 wall to scale over for every shot.
Nobody else on the Devils could get anything going. They scored two points to Phelps’ thirteen, leaving the score at 24-22 at the half, and things didn’t improve off the break.
Phelps blew by the Devils in the third, extending the lead to a 43-33. SCH struggled to shoot the three-pointer, missing numerous open looks that on most other nights, they’d be hitting.
And at the end of the game, despite senior Keni Williams catching fire, his efforts weren’t enough to topple Phelps, who came away with a 65-55 win, ending SCH’s season. Phelps would then go on to win in the championship, 66-56 over the third-seeded Hill School.
There’s a bright outlook for the Blue Devils, with juniors Owen Kelly, Julian Sanders, and Stewart Greenleaf returning from the starting lineup, and a talented group of sophomores ready to come back.
They’ll look to regroup in the 2025-2026 season, where the Inter-Ac seems more open with Penn Charter’s entire starting five graduating.
