Rams treading league waters

Todd Ceisner

Same as it ever was.

That’s how Penns Valley boys’ basketball coach Terry Glunt describes the “new” Mountain League, which is to say it’s consistently tough and unforgiving. A quick glance at the standings will tell you as much.

“It’s just as I remember it,” said Glunt, who’s in the first season of his second stint as the Rams head coach after guiding them from 1990-95. “I had some pretty good teams in the early ‘90s and we’d finish 10-8, 10-8 in the Mountain League. You’d pretty much try to win at home and sneak a couple on the road. It’s a lot like the Big Ten. It’s really tough to win on the road in the Mountain League.”

After dominating the Juniata Valley League for much of the past decade, Penns Valley was brought into the latest incarnation of the Mountain League, which debuted in the fall as a 10-school, all-sports — except football — conference. As the teams whiz past the halfway point of the regular season and start peering toward the playoffs, it’s worth noting that the Rams have not wilted by any means despite a serious schedule upgrade.

Based on the current PIAA enrollment figures, Penns Valley was the largest school in the JVL. Now, it’s the littlest fish in the Mountain League pond.

“It’s tough for us to keep our head above water, playing schools that are bigger than us,” Glunt said. “The competition is clearly much better than it was in the (JVL) because we are playing much bigger schools. And the double-A schools that we are competing against are pretty solid. Tyrone is having a heck of a year. There’s been a resurgence at P-O. Central is a nice addition.

"That part of the league, I think we can compete pretty well. It’s the aspect of having to the play the Lewistowns, Indian Valleys and Central Mountains that take the toll, not only physically, but mentally on our team.”

Entering Friday’s action, Penns Valley (8-7 overall) was second in the Nittany Division with a 3-1 record in the division against the likes of Tyrone, Philipsburg-Osceola, Central and Bald Eagle Area, and a 4-6 mark in the conference.

The Rams are averaging 44.87 points per game and allowing an average of 44.07.

“We do the best with what we have,” Glunt said. “We try to have the philosophy that we’re going to play the best defense that we can play as hard as we can and try to eek as much offense as we can out of ourselves. It isn’t that our goal is to just score 30 points per game. We’d like to score more.”

The Rams enjoyed a .808 winning percentage (160-38) in 11 seasons in the JVL, whose membership is mostly Class A and smaller Class AA schools. It was a good fit for Penns Valley, which built a model small-school program under Glunt, Nate Althouse and Darin Hazel. However, for all the Rams’ regular-season success, it rarely translated to the postseason. Some believed – count us among them – that a move to a more demanding league would better prepare the Rams for the playoffs. That remains to be seen but Glunt is of the belief that a rigorous regular season won’t always lead to postseason triumphs.

“A lot of people thought that changing leagues will help us come playoff time,” Glunt said. “That’s all well and good but it’s the 2 1/2 months leading up to the playoffs where you have to get some wins to get yourself a decent seed. When we were in the JVL, we were usually in the top four and that got us a good seed so we were in good shape for the playoffs.”

With the PIAA trimming a week off the beginning of the basketball regular season starting next winter, Glunt would like to see the Mountain League alter its schedule so schools would play divisional foes twice and play one cross-over game against teams in the other division.

That would make for a 13-game conference schedule, leaving nine slots to be filled, four of which would likely be occupied by season-opening and holiday tournament games. That leaves five non-conference games for each school to schedule, a fair amount for teams to test themselves against out-of-district opponents or in Penns Valley’s case, a few old rivals from the JVL.

“I don’t mind the challenges of the Mountain League,” Glunt said. “You get into athletics to test yourself. I think they could have structured the league a little better in that we wouldn’t have to play the bigger schools twice. Playing them once is a nice test.”

PFN All-Staters

Postseason honors continue to roll in for several Centre County football players.

The Pennsylvania Football News recently released its all-state teams and Philipsburg-Osceola’s J.D. Mason was named to the Class AA First Team.

P-O offensive lineman Mike Horton was a second-team pick while Jon Whitman (defensive back), Storm Bumbarger (offensive line) and Zac Czap (kicker) were honorable mention selections.

Also in Class AA, Penns Valley’s Matt Johnson was a second-team choice at defensive end.

In Class AAAA, State College sophomore Alex Kenney made the third team as an athlete. Larry Ryland (defensive back) and Keith McGrory (offensive line) were honorable mention picks.

Bellefonte’s Andy Masullo was the second-team choice at kicker in Class AAA while Red Raider quarterback Ryan Poorman made honorable mention.

Summer job

State College head coach Al Wolski has been selected to the West coaching staff for next summer’s East-West All-Star Game at Mansion Park. Terry Smith of Gateway will serve as head coach.

Joining Wolski on Smith’s staff will be Lou Cerro (Montour), Matt Ortega (York William Penn), Scott McLean (Muncy) and Ron Wabby (Brashear).

The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 21.

Todd Ceisner is a sports writer for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4629 or at tceisner@centredaily.com.