Snip Esterly-Berks Catholic

Snip Esterly has been a head coach for 33 seasons including the last eleven at Berks Catholic. He’s had a long list of outstanding players. Esterly told me that JayJay Jordan might be the quickest guard that he’s ever coached. Jordan had a team-high 20 points in a 56-51 victory at Exeter. He jammed ten points into the first quarter. The all-county RB and DB has been working on his free throw shooting. Jordan was 6-for-6 against the Eagles. The Saints led by eleven in the second quarter, but that advantage was trimmed to 25-22 at halftime. Exeter took a brief 27-25 lead in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by junior guard Teddy Snyder. That shot concluded a 13-0 run by the Eagles. Berks Catholic responded by holding Exeter scoreless for nearly four minutes to open the final period. Colin Payne caught fire late. The 6’3 senior guard scored 13 points in the last four minutes and finished with 28. An old-fashioned 3-point play by Penn State football commit Joey Schlaffer got the Eagles within 50-48 with two minutes remaining. The Saints sealed the deal with a 6-0 run before Payne banked home a triple in the closing seconds. Exeter made five 3’s compared to just two for Berks Catholic. Esterly still believes that he has a good shooting team. He said they moved the ball better than they had all season. We discussed Jack Miller’s outstanding performance. The 5’10 junior set a new career-high with 15 points including ten in the third quarter. Ryan Koch added nine and Aidan Sands had seven. The Saints went 14-19 from the FT line, while the Eagles were 10-16. Berks Catholic has gone from (6-11) last year to (7-1). Esterly stressed that experience is a big factor. We also talked about coaching against a former player like Matt Ashcroft who’s in his third season at Exeter. Ashcroft helped Esterly win a state championship in 2007 with Central Catholic. Esterly told me that he still has the same energy on the sideline after more than three decades. His 753 career wins include twelve District 3 titles and eight Berks County championships! The Wilson graduate has only had two losing seasons. His postseason record is an incredible (188-69). Exeter drops to (7-4, 2-2). The Eagles had won four of their previous five games. Esterly is well aware that every night is a battle in Division 1.