Excitement building for boys basketball season at Apollo-Ridge

By: Michael Love
Monday, November 14, 2022 | 8:26 PM

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The Apollo-Ridge boys basketball team started last season with three wins over its first five games.

Then injury and other misfortune conspired against the Vikings, who lost 14 of their final 15 games to finish 4-18 overall and 3-9 in section play.

That was then, 6-foot-4 senior guard/forward Gage Johnston said, and this is now.

With him and fellow starters Jake Mull, a senior guard, and Luke Fox, a junior guard, returning, Johnston feels this team has what it takes to be competitive in and out of Section 3-3A play.

“We’re all really excited to get this season going,” Johnston said. “It’s been the talk of the past couple of weeks around here. Everyone has been putting in the work for the past couple of months, ever since the summer, actually. We’re all ready to go.”

Johnston and several others on the team began to focus fully on the basketball season when the football team’s playoff run ended with a loss to Keystone Oaks on Nov. 4 and when other fall seasons concluded late last month.

“We were able to work out in the fall, but it was just some light stuff. Nothing too hardcore,” Johnston said. “This week, we are really ready to get going fully, get more in basketball condition and start seeing this team really come together.”

Apollo-Ridge hopes to make it back to the WPIAL playoffs, and to do that, it will have to find success in Section 3 play against Shady Side Academy, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Derry, Ligonier Valley and Valley.

SSA comes into the season as defending WPIAL Class 3A champs. Ligonier Valley made the Class 3A playoffs last year, and Burrell and Deer Lakes were postseason qualifiers from their Class 4A sections.

“I don’t know if the changes helped us or not,” Apollo-Ridge coach Greg Fox said. “Shady Side is still there, along with Valley and Ligonier Valley, and Burrell, Deer Lakes and Derry dropped down. I still think we will be pretty competitive in the section. It’s a new year with different challenges.”

“We talked last year about having a thin margin for error. This year, with Karter (Schrock) out, the margin of error is even tighter. I will be interested to see how a lot of these guys grew from last year as we played a lot of young kids.”

An earlier start to the season — the first play date for games is Dec. 2 — means a squeezed-down preseason with just two weeks of official practices and scrimmages. All of the PIAA winter teams can begin those official practices Friday.

Fox said that condensed preseason time frame, which includes a day of work missed with Thanksgiving next week, make open gyms this week and the mandatory practices beginning in a couple days so crucial.

Johnston earned Valley News Dispatch second-team honors last year after leading the team in scoring at 20 points per game and also fronting the group in 3-point shots made (77) and rebound average (6.4).

“He got banged up a little bit at the end of the football season, and we’re glad he is healthy,” Fox said. “He’s a scorer from anywhere on the court, and he’s just a competitor. He really improved his defense from last year. He just does so much for us.

Mull, who missed a good chunk of last season with an injury, is healthy and ready to roll. He averaged 7.1 points, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals over nine games.

Luke Fox, the coach’s son, saw starting time last year and led the team with 4.2 assists a game

The time is now, coach Fox said, for 12 seniors out of 20 on the entire roster.

“Jake and Luke have a ton of energy,” coach Fox said. “Luke was our sixth man last year and saw starting time when Jake was out. It will be nice to see them working together on the backcourt.”

Schrock, a junior who averaged seven points, 3.6 assists, and 2.3 steals as a starter last year, will miss the entire season after suffering an ACL injury in a football game in September.

“That is a huge loss for us,” coach Fox said. “He’s a big, strong kid and was a secondary scorer for us and a really good rebounding guard. He’s just a hard-nosed kid who will be tough to replace. We have a number of kids who want to step up and fill that role.”

Others hoping to make a difference this season are seniors such as forward/center Nick Curci, forwards Michael Fryer and Cooper Gourley, guard/forward Reed Veneziani and guard/forward Owen Crawford as well as sophomore guard/forward Mykel Hardmon.

Hardmon hopes to have a breakout year after playing on the freshman team.

“I want to make sure those kids get a fair shot,” coach Fox said.

Apollo-Ridge is slated to open its season Dec. 2-3 at the Leechburg Tip-Off.

“There is a special bond among the guys on the team,” Johnston said. “We’ve been doing it for four years now. I am excited to see these guys every day and go to work with them. We all feed off each other’s energy. I think that will translate into a promising season.”

At a glance

Coach: Greg Fox

Last year’s record: 4-18 (3-9 Section 3-3A)

Returning starters: Gage Johnston (Sr., G/F), Jake Mull (Sr., G), Luke Fox (Jr., G)

Top newcomers: Mykel Harmon (Soph., G/F)

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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