District 1 6A boys’ semis: Lower Merion beats Chester; Garnet Valley keeps Cinderella run alive

Adam Herrenkohl can point to the exact spot he stood two years ago where legendary Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer cut him from varsity as a sophomore.

On Tuesday night, the senior guard was taking pictures with kids on that same spot, after saving the Aces with a huge steal in the last minute to preserve Lower Merion’s 54-48 victory over visiting Chester in the PIAA District 1 Class 6A semifinals.

The No. 1 seed Aces (26-1) will take on No. 14 seed Garnet Valley, a 50-46 upset winner over No. 2 seed West Chester Henderson, in the District 1 Class 6A championship on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Temple’s Liacouras Center.

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“Right there,” said Herrenkohl, pointing to the place in the Aces’ locker room where Downer told him he would be playing junior varsity as a sophomore. “Right where I just took the picture. The last two years, I worked for this moment right here.”

Who knows what would have happened if Herrenkohl did not sneak up from behind and poke the ball away from Chester’s Dominic Toy with 45 seconds to play? The moment came right after Herrenkohl nailed a pair of free throws that gave the Aces a 49-47 lead with 1 minute, 13 seconds to play.

Lower Merion’s Carson Kasmer sealed it with three free throws in the final 33 seconds. Senior John Mobley led the Aces with 17 points and Herrenkohl added 12, along with the clutch steal. Toy, who’s committed to UConn for football, led Chester (20-3) with 12.

Chester and Lower Merion are two of the most renowned programs in District 1. It’s a rivalry that goes as far back as 1943, when the two schools met in the district title game for the first time. The Clippers have 25 District 1 titles. The Aces will go for their 18th on Saturday after taking a 10-9 series lead against Chester in their all-time postseason matchups.

“We said all roads to greatness go through Chester, and in order to go from good to great, you have to beat the orange and black,” Downer said. “We and Chester have had a lot of wars over the years and we have a lot of respect for one another. That’s why this means more to us. That was a 15-round fight, and we got the better of them at the end.”

And in clutch moments, it was Herrenkohl making clutch plays.

“This is something I always dreamed about,” he said. “I remember sitting in the stands when I was 10, 11 years old watching Jack Forrest and Steve Payne playing for Lower Merion against Chester in the District 1 Elite Eight. I was never going to give that dream up of playing in games like this.”

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Brady Krautzel had plenty of practice for the biggest play of his basketball career thus far.

The Garnet Valley junior grew up playing driveway pickup games with his older brother Jack and Jack’s best friend, Quinn O’Hara. Krautzel knows to be ready when O’Hara, now a senior, has the ball in his hands.

So when O’Hara started making his way toward the hoop Tuesday night late in a District 1 6A semifinal against West Chester Henderson, Krautzel spotted up and buried a three-point look from the left corner with 29.4 seconds left, which held up as the game-winner in a 50-46 victory.

“I’ve been playing with Quinn for a while — not as long as Jack has, but pickup games and everywhere, so you learn tendencies,” Krautzel said. “Whenever Quinn drives, he’s always a pass-first kind of player. He always looks for the open man.”

The clutch pass and shot sent 14th-seed Garnet Valley (19-8) to the District 1 6A championship on Saturday against Central League rival Lower Merion. It’s the program’s first district title game appearance since 1997 and first in the large-school classification.

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Junior Jake Sniras led the Jaguars with 13 points, Jack Krautzel followed with 10, and Brady Krautzel, O’Hara, and freshman forward Grayson Golek added nine apiece. O’Hara added four second-half assists to his line.

Henderson (23-5) senior Nyle Ralph-Beyer, who’s a Sacred Heart recruit, scored 22 points and Connor Fleet had 21 in the loss.

The Jaguars have pulled off three upsets, opening at home with a win over No. 19 Harriton before picking up road upsets over No. 3 Spring-Ford, No. 6 Methacton, and now Henderson. Their Cinderella run will be put to the test against the Aces, who took them down twice during the regular season — 85-69 on Dec. 12 and 62-58 on Jan. 27.

“We just know each other really well, and I think our chemistry is one thing teams don’t have,” O’Hara said. “Not everybody is blessed enough to have teammates who they can call brothers, so the chemistry, we can trust each other, we can lean on each other. That’s such a huge thing.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.