{"id":77824,"date":"2016-01-18T19:40:59","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T19:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=77824"},"modified":"2016-01-18T19:41:38","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T19:41:38","slug":"sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  HS Mid-Winter Sports Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QUJcr078Pok\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Maybe it was the lack of snow or the warmer-than-normal temperatures over the last month, but it is really hard to believe we are at the halfway point of the scholastic basketball season.\u00a0 Here\u2019s three Eastern Pennsylvania Conference-related observations from the first half of the winter sports campaign.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Parkland looks even better than last year<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3fivbiNXGaY\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>They not only have practically the same team back from a year ago, but they have more depth and can beat you in more ways than they did during last season\u2019s run to the state playoffs.\u00a0 They barely missed a beat without some of their football players on board to start the season\u2014giving the \u201creserves\u201d an extended varsity experience.\u00a0 However, the returning players seem even more determined than a year ago, and I don\u2019t think anything less than a state title game is what they are setting their sights on.<\/p>\n<p>The only question might be what teams they\u2019ll face\u2014and when\u2014in the PIAA tournament.\u00a0 There\u2019ll be several of the high-octane offenses from Philadelphia that love to push the tempo and Parkland doesn\u2019t get a whole lot of chances to see that from teams in the Lehigh Valley\u2014not to the extent of the Philly teams.\u00a0 However, the team has gotten some significant tests early (and a couple more still to come before states).\u00a0\u00a0 I would be surprised if the seniors refuse to take every opportunity to match the football team\u2019s success, and it certainly looks like they have the weapons to go much deeper into the state playoffs.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3oscL_XIxQU\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Central\u2019s coming on strong<\/strong><br \/>\nI saw Central Catholic a few times in December, and, they looked like a young team that had a ton of potential, and, after going through some growing pains, they would eventually have great success.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MiGBEtOozzg\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nI\u2019m not sure if Santa granted the Vikings a flash forward to their learning curve, but in the times I\u2019ve seen them since Christmas, it seems like the younger players are not only buying into the team-defense approach, but they are becoming much more comfortable playing\u2014and scoring\u2014together on the court.\u00a0 I think some of the Class 3A teams were hoping Central Catholic might have to wait until next year to once again be considered the favorite in the District XI playoffs, but the way the Vikings have been playing the last few weeks, I think they have a great chance at being in the EPC playoffs as well as being the \u2018team-to-beat\u2019 in their district classification.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Freedom as a dark horse?<\/strong><br \/>\nThere are some interesting teams in the \u201cSteel\u201d division of the EPC\u2014and probably several of those teams could make the playoffs with a quality run over the next few weeks.\u00a0 If I had to pick one of them to surprise area basketball fans over the next month, I\u2019m leaning toward Freedom.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8cNgovhuFkw\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>They have one of the area\u2019s best head coaches (Joe Stellato), a great coaching staff, and some really good athletes.\u00a0 On paper, they may not be the best team, but they\u2019ve had some nice wins and have been \u201cin\u201d most of their losses.\u00a0 Not many people are picking the Patriots to do much in the post-season, but of all the teams not directly in the area\u2019s media spotlight, I think Freedom might be one team to make some noise over the next month.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vbStyuFdBSQ\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Allen and Whitehall were also featured on RCN-TV recently and are two more teams that have played well this season.\u00a0 With a number of talented teams, the Canaries, Zephyrs and a few other teams all very well could contend in the playoffs this February.\u00a0 Also, Bethlehem Catholic was a team to watch on our basketball preview show back in December, and they have done very little to disappoint so far.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/alqM1Hoj5Ss\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll have more opinions and video highlights of other high school sports teams, in addition to wrestling videos, coming up over the next several weeks here at the \u201cSportsTalk Shop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also, keep checking back to the RCN-TV website for our schedule the latest games to be broadcast on RCN-TV and feel free to send your sports comments and opinions to us at <a href=\"mailto:RCNSporsTalk@rcn.com\">RCNSporsTalk@rcn.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maybe it was the lack of snow or the warmer-than-normal temperatures over the last month, but it is really hard to believe we are at the halfway point of the scholastic basketball season.\u00a0 Here\u2019s three Eastern Pennsylvania Conference-related observations from the first half of the winter sports campaign. Parkland looks even better than last year&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[612,610,611,608,609,613],"class_list":["post-77824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-allen-basketball","tag-central-catholic-basketball","tag-freedom-basketball","tag-nazareth-wrestling","tag-parkland-basketball","tag-whitehall-basketball"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: HS Mid-Winter Sports Update - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: HS Mid-Winter Sports Update - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maybe it was the lack of snow or the warmer-than-normal temperatures over the last month, but it is really hard to believe we are at the halfway point of the scholastic basketball season.\u00a0 Here\u2019s three Eastern Pennsylvania Conference-related observations from the first half of the winter sports campaign. Parkland looks even better than last year...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-18T19:40:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-18T19:41:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: HS Mid-Winter Sports Update\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-18T19:40:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-18T19:41:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":712,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"allen basketball\",\"central catholic basketball\",\"freedom basketball\",\"Nazareth wrestling\",\"Parkland basketball\",\"whitehall basketball\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Sports\",\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\\\/\",\"name\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: HS Mid-Winter Sports Update - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-18T19:40:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-18T19:41:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-hs-mid-winter-sports-update\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. 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