When the WPIAL made the switch from four classifications to six prior to the 2016-17 school year, every team in the district felt the ramifications, but not many boys basketball teams felt them more than Knoch.
The WPIAL placed the Knights in Class 5A Section 2 alongside powerhouse teams such as Mars, Moon and Chartiers Valley, where they missed the playoffs in back-to-back years despite finishing 13-8 overall in 2016-17. In the next realignment two years later, the WPIAL moved them down to Class 4A.
“We weren’t thrilled with [the move to Class 5A] when it first came out,” Knoch coach Ron McNabb said with a laugh. “I remember being in my athletic director’s office and that came out and we were like, ‘Oh my goodness.’”
After making the postseason in each of McNabb’s first four years at the helm, most of Knoch’s fans likely saw the move to Class 4A as long overdue.
The Knights’ coach, on the other hand, believes those two years spent in the Class 5A gauntlet laid the foundation for this year’s senior-heavy team that has risen to the No. 1 spot in the Class 4A rankings on the heels of an 11-game winning streak.
“No matter what, playing in that kind of a section, every single night was a battle for these kids,” McNabb said. “We knew it would benefit them, and that’s exactly the way it worked out.”
Scott Fraser, Jake Scheidt, Jared Schrecengost and Brady McKee were all sophomores on Knoch’s 2017-18 team that went 7-14 overall and just 1-11 in section play. McNabb “threw them into the fire,” as he put it, after the Knights graduated all five seniors from their starting lineup the year before.
Now, all four are senior starters for Knoch along with sophomore standout Ryan Lang, who leads the team with an average of 18.7 points per game.
Fraser averages 17.8 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game, and Scheidt, a rare 6-4 point guard, averages 10.5 points and a team-high 7.1 assists per game. Schrecengost, meanwhile, is scoring 14.5 points per game while guarding the opposing team’s best player night in and night out.
With so many weapons and so much experience, it’s hard not to see the Knights making a run at another section crown — but it won’t be easy.
Highlands spent three weeks as the No. 1 team in Class 4A before traveling to Knoch Jan. 7 for a battle of top-five teams in the first of two scheduled meetings between last year’s co-champions in Class 4A Section 1. That night, then-No. 4 Knoch knocked off the Rams, 74-69, moving the Knights up two spots in the rankings and sending Highlands down to the No. 5 spot.
So, just how evenly matched are these section rivals? Going into the week, both teams were allowing an average of exactly 55 points per game. Knoch came into the week as the highest-scoring team in Class 4A with an average of 74.2 points per game, and Highlands is No. 2 with average of 73.8 points per game.
Much of the talk during the first half of the season centered around the Rams and their senior trio of Luke Cochran, Korry Myers and Johnny Crise, and rightfully so. But the Knights appear poised to make a deep playoff run of their own after a string of unceremonious first- and second-round exits under McNabb.
“Well, first of all, it’s such a great rivalry because these kids know each other,” McNabb said. “They play football against each other. We’re only a few miles away from Highlands. It’s a great rivalry and a great atmosphere for high school basketball.
“It was a packed gym, and I knew our kids were looking forward to that game.”
Of course, McNabb is no stranger to deep playoff runs. He was the point guard on Valley’s legendary 1979 state championship team, though he has yet to experience a similar run in 24 years as a head coach — two at Valley, 14 at Burrell and the past eight at Knoch.
That doesn’t bother McNabb, a retired math teacher who spent 33 of his 35 years teaching at Knoch. He doesn’t feel the need to chase championship glory. After all, he has already lived it.
That being said, there’s nothing he wants more than to help his players share in that experience of playing for a title, be it at the WPIAL or state level. The Knights have made just one appearance in a WPIAL championship game in school history, losing to Moon in the 2004 3A title game.
Last year’s team went 17-5 in the regular season and 9-1 in the section, with its only section loss coming at home against — who else? — Highlands. Still, eventual WPIAL runner-up Quaker Valley eliminated Knoch in the quarterfinals, yet another disappointing finish to a promising season for one of McNabb’s teams.
Something feels different about this year’s bunch, though. With Lang having a breakout season among the Knights’ bevy of senior leaders, this could be the year Knoch finally puts it all together come playoff time.
“I don’t think these kids are going to become complacent. I don’t think they’re satisfied right now,” McNabb said. “They just want to keep this thing rolling and see where it ends up.”
Steve Rotstein: srotstein@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SteveRotstein.
First Published: January 16, 2020, 11:00 a.m.
