By Jack McCaffery
Chris Gicking passed for 6,365 yards while in high school at Marple Newtown, roughly 6,000 with a high degree of difficulty, the other 365 maybe not so much. He’s just saying.
Gicking is the head coach at his alma mater, has been for 10 years, hopes to be for many more. But every year it becomes more difficult, because the Central League is not what it once was, not when he started coaching, not when he was setting passing records. It’s better. Much better.
“Used to be, there were always a few weeks where you’d say, ‘Well, this team …’” Gicking said, reflecting on a long-ago reality that there were certain programs not keeping up. “But we don’t have any of those teams any more. You look at the teams now, and every week it is a battle. We used to have weeks that you’d say, ‘Well, OK ….’ Now, we don’t have those weeks.”
Every league goes through cycles, and maybe that’s what the Central League is experiencing. It’s just that it has been particularly strong of late. So say the eyes, so say the facilities and so say some of the recent results. In 2019, Haverford and Garnet Valley were both in the District 1 Class 6A Final Four. Strath Haven won the 2021 Class 5A championship and Garnet Valley took a 6A tournament that included Ridley’s immortal 56-55 victory at North Penn.
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