{"id":88382,"date":"2024-02-07T14:20:16","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T14:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?p=88382"},"modified":"2024-02-07T14:20:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T14:20:16","slug":"st-underrated-awards-winter-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a fair number of seasons, I would look back on the preceding sports regular season slate and reflect on some of the \u201chonors\u201d that I would see other people post.\u00a0 Things like \u201cmost valuable player,\u201d \u201cplayer who scored the most points,\u201d and similar categories and would usually see the same names and teams listed mentioned over and over in most spots.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought I would do something different by singling out players, coaches and teams who did NOT get a lot of press, were NOT the teams everyone was talking about and\/or did things that often fly under the radar of many local sports fans and give them some props for doing the things that advance their particular sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because the time between seasons started to get condensed a few years ago and transitioning from one regular season to the postseason to another sports season became busier with less time to prepare, I had gone away from doing that for the last couple of years.\u00a0 However, this winter there were some outstanding performances that I don\u2019t think got the publicity they deserved and so I thought I would bring back what I had once referred to as the \u201call underrated awards,\u201d this winter.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you like the idea or want to see more of this type of thing in our coverage of local high school sports, make sure you give us a like and spread the word.<\/span><\/p>\n

ALL HUSTLE TEAM: NORTHAMPTON<\/b><\/h5>\n

I started making a list of all the top individual \u201chustle guys\u201d I saw this season and quickly realized that a list of about 11 or 12 players was filled with a majority of Konkrete Kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every time I saw Northampton this winter they were overmatched in size and height, yet showed tons of heart and grit and were in every game.\u00a0 If you look closer at their roster, guys like JJ Kolumber, Tristian Pinnock, Brody Graf, Brady Simmock, Shakim Dunbar, Trent Moyer and Noah Walakovits were ALWAYS hustling after lose balls, boxing out on the boards and were matched up with taller players\u2013yet never backed down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking closer, they had great balance in scoring, forcing turnovers, hitting perimeter shots and rebounding\u2026no one player \u201cstood out\u201d \u2013 statistically speaking \u2013 but as a unit, they worked extremely well together throughout the regular season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBOUNCE BACK\u201d TEAM AWARD: SAUCON VALLEY<\/b><\/h5>\n

After playing in (and splitting) two exhilarating playoff games against favored Notre Dame-Green Pond last year, most people had written off the Panthers after graduating most of its players for the 2024 season.\u00a0 Then, a tough early schedule and injuries to key returning players took Saucon Valley further off the local sports scene\u2019s radar.<\/span><\/p>\n

But just like a year ago, the Panthers have played great fundamentally sound basketball and have been coming on strong at just the right time\u2013looking to peek in the postseason again.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crusaders are once again the \u2018team to beat\u2019 in the Colonial League playoffs, but don\u2019t expect Saucon Valley not to show up and deliver strong performances in the League and district postseason action.<\/span><\/p>\n

MVP ON A NON-PLAYOFF TEAM: PEN ARGYL\u2019S CHASE KENNEDY<\/b><\/h5>\n

The Green Knights also lost a ton of players from last year\u2019s squad\u2013both from graduation and other returning players electing not to come back, yet there was no bigger loss than when Kennedy missed time in December with an injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pen Argyl made great strides improving the program under Kennedy in 2023 and when he returned this season, the team played much better and looked like they were back on the path to bigger and better opportunities in the near future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDARK HORSE\u201d TEAM TO BEAT: NAZARETH<\/b><\/h5>\n

Perhaps no playoff team is trending in the WRONG direction more than the Blue Eagles heading into the playoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

But also consider: no team may have more talent in the top four spots on their roster.\u00a0 Sina Ramin, Mason Kuehner and Owen Banghart have been one of the strongest, senior \u201cbig 3\u201d scoring combinations in the league (with a solid \u201c4th\u201d option in Owen Hasker.\u00a0 They won 12 of their first 16 games this year, beating some strong teams and have a HISTORY of big performances on gigantic stages in their collective histories.\u00a0 They have up-and-coming sophomores like Gavin Kushner and Logan Hahn that have played well at the varsity level in limited time so far.\u00a0 I believe in them and think they can find that \u201csomething\u201d they\u2019ve always had\u2026and if I\u2019m right, we\u2019ll see it in the postseason.<\/span><\/p>\n

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN UNDERCLASSMAN: LIBERTY\u2019S BLAKE HARGROVE<\/b><\/h5>\n

In games that I personally witnessed, no underclassman stepped up more in the spotlight than the Hurricanes\u2019s sophomore against Parkland in a non-conference game on January 24th at the Memorial Gym.<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing against the top two defenders on one of the state\u2019s strongest large school teams, Hargrove stepped up and made big shot after big shot, sending the game into overtime.\u00a0 After a great freshman season, he\u2019s improved his game in all facets and showed coolness during tense moments of that game.\u00a0 He is a big reason I\u2019m expecting Liberty to have even more success in the playoffs than they did last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

IT’S UP TO YOU!\u00a0 Shoot us a \u201clike\u201d if you enjoyed the return of this “underrated\u201d list of awards and if we should keep searching for and identifying standout players, coaches and teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The views expressed in this blog are<\/span><\/i> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a fair number of seasons, I would look back on the preceding sports regular season slate and reflect on some of the \u201chonors\u201d that I would see other people post.\u00a0 Things like \u201cmost valuable player,\u201d \u201cplayer who scored the most points,\u201d and similar categories and would usually see the same names and teams listed…<\/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":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition - 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\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For a fair number of seasons, I would look back on the preceding sports regular season slate and reflect on some of the \u201chonors\u201d that I would see other people post.\u00a0 Things like \u201cmost valuable player,\u201d \u201cplayer who scored the most points,\u201d and similar categories and would usually see the same names and teams listed...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-07T14:20:16+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=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-07T14:20:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":937,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\",\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-07T14:20:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming & Astound Digital Cable, Internet & 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 & basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news & sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/author\\\/rcntvchris\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition - ATVN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition - ATVN","og_description":"For a fair number of seasons, I would look back on the preceding sports regular season slate and reflect on some of the \u201chonors\u201d that I would see other people post.\u00a0 Things like \u201cmost valuable player,\u201d \u201cplayer who scored the most points,\u201d and similar categories and would usually see the same names and teams listed...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/","og_site_name":"ATVN","article_published_time":"2024-02-07T14:20:16+00:00","author":"Chris Michael","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Michael","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Michael","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"headline":"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition","datePublished":"2024-02-07T14:20:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/"},"wordCount":937,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Sports","The SportsTalk Shop"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/","name":"\u201cAll-Underrated Awards\u201d Winter \u201824 Edition - ATVN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-02-07T14:20:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/st-underrated-awards-winter-24\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/","name":"ATVN","description":"Local Programming & Astound Digital Cable, Internet & 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 & basketball games and produces\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news & sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/author\/rcntvchris\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88383,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88382\/revisions\/88383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}