Liam Hilburt-Fleetwood

Every time it looked like Fleetwood was pulling away, Schuylkill Valley responded. Liam Hilburt finally delivered the knockout punch with 3:43 remaining as the Tigers beat the Panthers 51-38 in Fleetwood. Hilburt drilled a three-pointer in front of the student section in the right corner. “It felt amazing. The crowd went wild,” he said. That triple put the Tigers in front 41-32. “Once I hit that, they went crazy and I knew we were gonna win,” replied Hilburt. The 6’ senior guard finished with a dozen points. He connected three times from beyond the arc. Hilburt, an all-division baseball player, has a team-high eight treys this season. Nate Herb, an all-county soccer player, led the (6-0) Tigers with 15 points. Aiden Soumas, a Kutztown University baseball commit, added 13 points. Fleetwood was up 10-4 after the first quarter. Dom Giuffre splashed a three-pointer and then converted a breakaway layup before the buzzer to get Schuylkill Valley within 23-17 at halftime. The Panthers’ star running back had a team-high ten points. The Tigers built a 30-19 advantage in the third quarter. However, Schuylkill Valley opened the final period with a 5-0 run to make it 34-32. Cooper Hohenadel’s three-point play was followed by a technical foul on Fleetwood. Hohenadel hit both free throws. All eight of his points came in the last eight minutes. The 5’11 junior guard missed the first four games with an injury. Hohenadel averaged 12 points per game a season ago and provided a team-high 48 treys. After that rare five-point possession, the (5-2) Panthers went cold. Jake Zimmerman was limited to two points by the Tigers’ 2-3 zone. The 6’1 senior forward entered the night averaging 14. “Once he drove, we all collapsed on him. I think that shut him down,” explained Hilburt. Terry Sitler picked up his 250th career victory. This is his 12th season with the Tigers after spending twelve years at Brandywine Heights. It could have come with less stress, if Fleetwood was better from the charity stripe. The Tigers went 10-for-23 from the foul line. They’re shooting just 46% as a team. “We work on it a lot at practice. We’ll get there,” remarked Hilburt. He’s providing 7 ppg., up from 3 ppg. last season when Fleetwood was (22-5) and reached the District 3-4A championship game. Jake Karnish was in attendance on Tuesday night. The program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,420 points is playing at King’s College. He averaged 22 points last year for the Tigers. Although Karnish has moved on, expectations remain high in Fleetwood. “We’re hoping for the same thing, just win that District title this time,” said Hilburt.