Class A title game fulfills Pergola’s hope
California boys basketball coach Phil Pergola sounded like a prophet in the moments after his team had beaten Clairton in a WPIAL Class A semifinal Tuesday night. He recalled his first days on the job at California three seasons ago and noted that there was hope that his sophomore-dominated team could be pretty good by the time they all became seniors.
Pergola had just retired as a teacher and coach at Ringgold, a team he led to the 1995 PIAA Class AAAA championship, so he knew what he was looking at when he arrived at Class A California.
“We weren’t sure what we had coming in, but we knew California had always been a competitive team,” Pergola said Thursday. “They always had some good players. We didn’t know we’d be this good in football, basketball and baseball, but we knew we had good athletes here.”
The Trojans won the WPIAL Class A baseball title last spring and reached the quarterfinals in football this season. Now the basketball team plays for WPIAL gold tonight at the A.J. Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
“I never really thought we could go this far, but we knew we would have a good team,” Pergola said. “I don’t think we envisioned 24-2 or being in the finals. Could we get there? With the right breaks, yes, we could. Something else to consider with this particular group is that Waugh Carter didn’t play as a sophomore and Donte Valentino didn’t play as a freshman. Those two have become key players for us.”
The Trojans will play Leechburg, a team coming off a huge upset win over top-seeded Serra Catholic, yet a team with a 15-10 record.
“I don’t know very much about Leechburg,” Pergola said. “We saw some film and saw that they have two pretty good players. They give them a nice 1-2 punch.”
With that, Pergola deferred to assistant coach Jim Williams. He coaches defense and works with Cal’s inside players, but showed how much of a Pergola disciple he is by stating the obvious, that the Trojans would rely on what got them this far in the first place.
“We’ll do nothing more than what we’ve done already,” Williams said. “We’ll play our match-up zone and put pressure on the guards. We’re in your face. These kids are taught to be inches away from you and every shot, every pass will be contested.”
Which is exactly how the Trojans attacked their most recent victim, the team that knocked California out of the football playoffs.
“It was a very satisfying victory because Clairton has the rep and we don’t, plus they beat us in football,” Pergola said. “They definitely tried to intimidate us in football, but they were not going to intimidate us on the basketball floor.”
Neither, for sure, will Leechburg. While these Trojans have never been in a WPIAL title game, their coach has been there, done that at Ringgold.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have been here before,” he said. “I told them four times during the season that this is the biggest game you will play in your lifetime, but this one really is, going for a gold medal in the WPIAL.”
The following is a capsule look at tonight’s game:
California vs. Leechburg
Scenario: WPIAL Class A championship game.
Nicknames: California Trojans; Leechburg Blue Devils.
Coaches: California, Phil Pergola; Leechburg, Damian Davies.
Site and Time: A.J. Palumbo Center, 7 p.m.
Seeds: California is No. 2, Leechburg is No. 5.
Getting there: California beat Wilkinsburg (57-42), Avella (60-41) and Clairton (68-63); Leechburg beat Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (86-84), Western Beaver (49-44) and Serra Catholic (56-55).
Records: California is 24-2, Leechburg is 15-10.
Section: California won Section 2-A with a 10-0 record; Leechburg tied Duquesne for the Section 4-A title with an 8-2 record.
Non-section records: California was 11-2; Leechburg was 4-8.
Streaks: California has won its last 20 games and hasn’t lost since December 16 (75-71 at Monessen); Leechburg has won three in a row and seven of its last eight games.
Scoring averages: California offense 61.3, defense 44.5; Leechburg offense 61.2, defense 58.3.
Common opponents: Avella. California beat the Eagles twice, 63-39 and 60-41 in WPIAL quarterfinals. Leechburg lost to Avella, 74-66. Wilkinsburg. California beat the Tigers, 57-42 in a first-round WPIAL game, and Leechburg beat Wilkinsburg twice, 60-54 and 71-51, in section play. Leechburg was scheduled to play Clairton, the team California beat to reach the championship, but that Dec. 13 game was cancelled because Clairton was still in the football playoffs.
Next up: Both teams begin PIAA tournament play next Friday, the winner to play the fourth-place team from District 9 and the loser to oppose the third-place team from District 6.
Outside interest: Avella and Western Beaver anxiously await the outcome of this game. If California wins, Avella enters PIAA play as the WPIAL’s fifth-place team. If Leechburg wins, Western Beaver comes in. The WPIAL’s fifth-place team will play the District 6 runner-up next Friday.
Coachspeak: California assistant coach Jim Williams has worked with Pergola since 1986. After all those years together, the pair has a pretty strong give-and-take relationship on the bench. But, there are moments. “We communicate pretty well,” Williams said. “Sometimes we fight on the bench, too, but that’s OK. It’s like a marriage, more than anything else. We’ve been doing it for so long, it’s second nature to us by now.”
Projected starting lineups: California, junior Travis VanOlst (6-5, F); junior Donte Valentino (5-8, G); senior Chris McVicker (6-1, G); senior Jon McVicker (6-1, G); senior Mike Hrivnak (6-8, F). Leechburg, junior Steve Meidus (5-4, G); senior Steve Predebon (6-3, F), senior Jon Takosky (6-1, G), senior Nick Matviko (6-2, F), senior Todd Rupert (5-8, G).