STRAUB DOING ONE OF HIS BEST COACHING JOBS EVER

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By Chris Rossetti

ST. MARYS – Aaron Straub might not want to hear it, but the coaching job he has done this year is one of the best in his 27 years as the head coach at Elk County Catholic.

And that says a lot, considering Straub has 604 wins, an average of 22.3 per season, while leading the Crusaders to 18 District 9 titles, a PIAA title, four trips to the PIAA semifinals, nine trips to the PIAA quarterfinals and a 33-22 mark in PIAA play.

But no one outside of the ECC school building in St. Marys – and probably a few inside the building as well – saw a possible state-title run coming this year.

Not after the Crusaders returned just one starter and three players who had seen time from a team that ended last year fourth in District 9 – the Crusaders worse D9 finish in over a decade – while losing three straight games to close out the season – ECC’s first three-game losing streak since 1999 and the first time ever the Crusaders had lost three straight at the end of a season.

Not after a regular season that saw ECC go 16-6, its fewest regular-season wins since winning 12 games in 2003, and lose two of its final four games before the District 9 playoffs started while going just 8-6 in its last 14 games prior to the playoffs.

And not after the Crusader scored just 29 points in regulation in the District 9 semifinals vs. Keystone only to use great defense to beat the Panthers 37-36 in overtime.     

But with only four teams left in Class A in the state of Pennsylvania, ECC is one of them after a 63-51 win over defending PIAA Class A champion Serra Catholic Friday night. And they are in the semifinals thanks in large part to Straub’s coaching and his ability to get the Crusaders to play team basketball.

In none of ECC’s three PIAA playoff wins, have the Crusaders had the best player on the court. But the reason ECC is still playing is because it has the best fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh players on the court. That is a credit to the coaching staff for getting the players to buy into what they are selling – team basketball.

Take for example ECC’s quarterfinal win over Serra Catholic Friday night. The Eagles had the best player on the floor in senior guard T.J Heatherington, who is going to Point Park next season. Heatherington came into the game averaging 25 points per game including 30.2 ppg in the postseason. He scored a WPIAL record 50 points in Serra Catholic’s WPIAL semifinal win over Neshannock. ECC failed to reach 50 points in a game 11 times this year.

Against the Crusaders, Heatherington got his points – 24 in all – but the rest of Heatherington’s teammates scored 27 including 17 from Dave Menzie. ECC, on the other hand, had four players reach double figures including a career-high 18 from backup guard Tony Chiodo.

Chiodo is a prime example of why ECC is still playing. The 5-8 junior has started just one game this year while averaging 15.2 minutes of action and 3.8 ppg. But he has seen more minutes in the PIAA playoffs thanks to the Crusaders being without starting point guard Kyle Detsch (illness). And Chiodo has contributed big time scoring 32 points (10.7 ppg) in the three PIAA playoff wins. He has teamed up with sophomore Tyler Herzing to take over the point position from Detsch, and the two have combined to average 14.7 ppg.

That wouldn’t have happened at a lot of schools. In most cases, the starting point guard goes out and the losses start piling up. But at ECC, Straub long ago convinced the players that everyone’s role is of equal importance thus the reason why Chiodo and Herzing can step up and take over the point guard spot and help the Crusaders to wins when they matter the most.

But Chiodo and Herzing aren’t the only examples of ECC’s unselfish play. Leading scorer Nate Higgins came into the playoffs averaging 16.2 ppg but is scoring 13.2 ppg in the last six playoff games as teams have looked for ways to slow him down. But Higgins hasn’t allowed the scoring drop to affect his game, contributing in many other ways to the Crusaders success. And with Higgins’ scoring down, Robby Wortman has stepped up his game averaging 15.2 ppg in those six game, over five points more than his season average.

The Crusaders will be underdogs again Tuesday night when they face District 10 champion Kennedy Catholic for the right to go to the state title game. And once again, ECC won’t have the game’s best player. That title belongs to Kennedy Catholic’s Kyle Randall. But at this point, no one should put anything past ECC. Sure, if they win it will be considered an upset. But maybe it shouldn’t be.