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Revisiting our 2014 Preseason Team Rankings: PIAA Class AA

December 10, 2014

By Jacob Gill
Philadelphia Region Director of Scouting

This week we will be revisiting our preseason team rankings to see what we got right and where we were off base in 2014. Monday we examined the PAISAA and yesterday we looked at the PIAA Class A. Today we will move onto the slightly larger schools in PIAA Class AA.

2014 Pre-season PIAA Class AA Super 16

1. Loyalsock Township
2. Neumann-Goretti
3. New Hope-Solebury
4. Hanover Area
5. Montoursville
6. Delone Catholic
7. Central
8. Saegertown
9. Karns City
10. Quaker Valley
11. Salisbury Township
12. South Williamsport
13. Annville-Cleona
14. Ligonier Valley
15. Deer Lakes
16. Shady Side Academy

What We Got Right

Pre-season favorite Loyalsock Township (23-5) overcame the loss of co-ace Luke Glavin to win its final fifteen games of the season. On the way to capturing a second straight state crown, the Lancers beat Neumann-Goretti (23-5), the Philadelphia Catholic League playoff champions, in the state semifinals and ended District VI champ Central's (24-1) bid for an undefeated season in the state championship.

District IX champion Karns City (14-3) and District VII third place finisher Quaker Valley (18-4) also lived up to their pre-season rankings by making it out of district play and into the state tournament.

Other pre-season ranked teams that had commendable regular-seasons and were one win away from a state tournament bid include: District I runner-up New Hope-Solebury (19-4), whose other three losses on the season were to class AAA schools; District II runner-up Hanover Area (19-2); and Deer Lakes (16-5), which lost in the eighth inning of the District VII semifinals and then lost a ten-inning heart-breaker for the District VII third bid.

Where We Were Off Base

Delone Catholic (16-7), Saegertown (17-4), South Williamsport (13-7), and Annville-Cleona (16-8) had solid regular-seasons, but were bounced from their respective district tournaments at least two wins from a state bid.

Half of the state tournament field came from our Preseason Others to Watch list, including: District VI runner-up Bald Eagle Area (14-8); District V champ Bedford (11-7); District III champ Berks Catholic (17-8), seven of whose losses were to AAA and AAAA schools; District IV runner-up Bloomsburg Area (19-6); District II champ Lakeland (9-10); District X runner-up Northwestern (15-6); District XI champ Notre Dame (Green Pond) (21-5); and District I champ Springfield Township (7-13), which is typically hard to properly evaluate due to playing its entire regular-season schedule against AAA and AAAA schools.

Where We Swung and Missed

Montoursville Area (9-8) couldn't overcome a 1-5 start to the season and lost in the District IV quarterfinals. Salisbury Township (13-8) lost five of its last seven games, including a District XI quarterfinal match-up. Ligonier Valley (14-8) sandwiched a nine-game winning streak between a 3-4 start to the season and a 2-4 finish, including a loss in the District VI quarterfinals. Shady Side (10-8) lost in District VII 1st round, capping a 1-4 streak to end its season.

These teams were not on our radar at the beginning of the season, but had strong showings: District X champ Franklin Area (19-3) reached the state quarterfinals by virtue of an opening round victory over District VII runner-up Seton-La Salle (15-7); while Steel Valley (18-3) captured the District VII tournament championship and accompanying state tournament bid.

Hughesville (17-4), another team not on our radar at the beginning of the season, is deserving of a special mention. The Spartans beat Loyalsock Township twice during the regular-season and finished ahead of the Lancers for the PHAC Division II regular-season crown, before falling to LT in the District IV semifinals, just one win from a state berth.

Final Thoughts

AA is perhaps the toughest classification to compare apples-to-apples across the state, as a good number of schools play a significant portion of their regular-season schedule against smaller or bigger programs, simply based on their location and conference affiliation. Less than a third of our pre-season ranked teams reached the state tournament, although a number of near misses, along with a bevy of teams we considered strong contenders making runs through district play helped to salvage a respectable effort on our part. While choosing the defending champion which brought back most of its key contributors wasn't exactly going out on a limb, we nailed the team to take home the crown, the only PIAA classification for which we did that last spring.

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