2-time defending WPIAL champion Deer Lakes hopes to keep train rolling

By: Jerin Steele
Thursday, November 14, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Winning consecutive WPIAL championships not only adds to the trophy case at the high school, but it also creates the potential for a self-sustaining foundation.

Deer Lakes boys basketball coach Albie Fletcher has seen that come to fruition after the Lancers won WPIAL titles each of the last two years, and the goal is to carry that momentum as they move up from Class 3A to 4A this season.

“I can easily tell the players that there’s no excuses,” Fletcher said. “Some people have to talk about what it takes and what it’s like to get there, but these guys have seen it for two straight years coming up through the program.

“It’s important not only for our varsity program, but our youth program as well. It gets kids excited to get in the gym and want to be a part of it. They saw how the community rallied around the team. What young kid wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”

The Lancers will be in Section 1-4A with two other teams that moved up from 3A, Burrell and Valley, as well as Knoch, North Catholic, Highlands and Freeport. Six of the seven teams in the section made the WPIAL playoffs last year. North Catholic, Burrell and Deer Lakes qualified for the state tournament.

“We’ve been in a cycle at Deer Lakes, at least since I’ve been here, where every realignment, we either go up to 4A and then go back to 3A or vice versa,” Fletcher said. “We played North Catholic in the past when they were in our section a few years back. One thing that will help us is that we played Highlands the last two years. We played Freeport and Knoch last year. We always tried to schedule up in class for nonsection games to get ourselves prepared for the playoffs.

“There are some really good teams in 4A and in our section, so we’ll have our work cut out for us, but we’re looking forward to it.”

The Lancers lost Wayne Love, Aiden Fletcher and last year’s Valley News Dispatch Player of the Year, Billy Schaeffer, to graduation, but return three starters in forward Nathaniel Moore, point guard Collin Rodgers and shooting guard JT McCue.

Brayden McCoy and Luca Mangieri, who played key roles off the bench, also return.

Fletcher said there’s a large group of players vying for playing time, which he’s excited about, because it creates competition and forces everyone to be at their best.

“We have a lot of guys that are battling and have been all offseason all the way down to the incoming freshmen that I think can really push us,” Fletcher said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a rotation similar to what we had two years ago (where Deer Lakes played 10 or more players), especially early on in the season. It should be a very competitive first couple weeks of practice.”

Deer Lakes boys at a glance

Coach: Albie Fletcher

Last year’s record: 23-5 (11-1 Section 3-3A)

Returning starters: Nathaniel Moore (Sr., F), Collin Rodgers (Jr., G), JT McCue (Sr., G)

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Deer Lakes