WPIAL champion Chartiers Valley keeps foot on the gas in PIAA 1st round

By: Antonio Rossetti
Friday, March 7, 2025 | 7:52 PM

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The WPIAL Class 5A champion Chartiers Valley Colts throttled the Cocalico Eagles, 62-29, in the first round of the PIAA playoffs Friday night.

Chartiers Valley continued its momentum and did not have a championship hangover, running its winning streak to nine games.

“We just want to kill every team and that’s how it’s been all season,” Jayden Davis said. “We just want to go out there and beat a team by as many points as possible.”

The Colts jumped out to a 13-0 run to begin the game and led the Eagles 23-8 at the end of one, hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter.

Jake Lewis hit two 3s, while Julian Semplice, Julius Best and Danny Slizik all hit one.

Lewis sparked the offense as he finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three 3-pointers.

“At the start of the year, I really wasn’t shooting it very well, but these last couple weeks, I’ve been stroking it,” Lewis said. “I just came out there, felt confident and just let it fly and the rest is history.”

The Colts’ relentless three-quarter court trap and press led to transition baskets for CV.

The Colts led 46-18 at halftime, behind eight 3-pointers. The Colts nailed 10 3s in the game.

CV pulled players with a running clock in the second half and cleared the bench.

Lewis talked about the team’s red-hot start.

“Our coach told us we made it all this way,” Lewis said. “What’s the point in slowing down yet? We might as well push and go as hard as we can.”

Davis led the charge as he notched 15 points in the first half. He added three rebounds and three assists.

Chartiers Valley was driven by its defense.

“Our goal is to put pressure on the other team every night, and that’s what we did.” Davis said. “We maximized it to the core tonight and we won by 30.”

The team turned the Eagles over relentlessly, as Slizik, Semplice and Davis led the ball pressure.

Slizik notched three steals.

“I take pride in my defense,” Slizik said. “I’m not the main offensive player on this team, so I try to do everything I can on the defensive end, and I happened to do enough and got a bunch of steals tonight.”

Slizik talked about the team’s game plan heading into the game.

“We knew coming into this game that (Timmy Hambright) was their shooter, so we wanted to do everything we could to get the ball out of his hands,” Slizik said. “We trapped him every time he crossed half court and it worked.”

The Colts held Hambright to seven points.

“The pressure we put on the other team really helped us,” Lewis said. “We realized they didn’t have a lot of scoring opportunities other than (Hambright and Camden Ochs), so we put pressure on them and let the rest do the work.”

Ochs was Cocalico’s leader in scoring with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Chartiers Valley was glad to finish strong on its home court.

“We knew this was our last home game of the season,” Slizik said. “We wanted to show off for our seniors. We wanted to get a win on our home court for the last time this season, so we did everything we could to make this happen.”

Davis played in his final game at his home court. Although he loves the fact he got one last win at home, he isn’t settled just yet. He wants a state title.

“Our next step is to beat Montour and take the next step toward Hershey,” Davis said.

Chartiers Valley will meet Montour in a rematch of the WPIAL semifinals in the PIAA second round Tuesday.

Tags: Chartiers Valley