DiMichele led 68-game streak, title repeat

Posted: May 04, 2022

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a daily series of seven all-state boys basketball teams.

By Mike Drago, MikeDragoSports.com

Jake DiMichele left a lasting mark at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and on Pennsylvania basketball.

The 6-foot-3 sniper led the Chargers to four straight Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League Class 2A championships, back-to-back state titles and 68 straight wins -- matching the longest streak in state history.

“It’s hard to say we’re not the best dynasty in WPIAL history,” DiMichele said after OLSH defeated Constitution in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 2A championship game for the second straight year, this time by 92-71. “Name another school that won back-to-back state titles undefeated … won four straight WPIAL championships … won 68 games in a row. You can’t.”

DiMichele became the first player to start in and win four straight WPIAL championships, and was a slam dunk as the as the Class 2A Player of the Year for the second straight year. He was a unanimous pick – the only player in any of the seven classifications to earn that distinction.

DiMichele heads the Pennsylvania Sportswriters’ All-State Boys Basketball Team and is one of two repeat selections on the first team. The other is Jackson Juzang of Winchester Thurston. Two players moved up from last year's second team: Jacob Beccles of Constitution, the team that eliminated Old Forge in the state semifinals, and Kaden Claar of Portage Area.

The other first-team picks are Elijah Harden of Kennedy Catholic and Ross Eyer of Muncy.

OLSH's Mike Rodriguez is Coach of the Year for the third straight year.

DiMichele's teammate, 6-4 senior Dawson Summers, is a second-team pick. Constitution and Kennedy also have two players on the 18-man team.

DiMichele, a first-team pick for the third straight year, averaged 31.9 points and 8.1 rebounds and shot 58.7 percent from the field. He made 86 3-pointers this season and 301 in his career. He scored a career-high 51 points against Shady Side and finished his career with 2,642 points, second-most in WPIAL history.

Beckles, a 6-3 senior, averaged 23 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. He scored 29 points in the state championship game. He has National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II offers from East Stroudsburg, Holy Family and Chestnut Hill.

Harden, a 6-foot senior, averaged 19.6 points and was the second-leading scorer in District 10. He made 83 3-pointers and hit 72.4 percent from the free throw line. He scored a career-high 39 points vs. Ohio's Warren Harding and 31 points in the PIAA semifinal loss against OLSH.

Juzang, a 5-9 senior, averaged 26.7 points and ranked sixth in the WPIAL in scoring. He scored over 1,000 career points. He will play next season at Haverford College.

Claar, a 6-1 senior, averaged 19.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.1 steals. He scored 1,242 career points and led his team to a 28-2 record and the District 6 championship.

Eyer, a 6-4 junior, averaged 20.4 points, 13 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.9 blocks. He made 58 3-pointers and had at least 10 rebounds in every game. He led Muncy to a 19-7 record and the District 4 championship game. He was an all-state football selection at defensive back the past two seasons.

Rodriguez is 274-75 in 14 seasons at Sacred Heart, and 103-4 over the past four seasons.

The Chargers' last loss came in January, 2020 – before the pandemic. They went 15-1 in the state tournament the past four years. They reached the semifinals in 2019 and won their first two games in 2020 before the tournament was suspended due to COVID-19. They ended that season with a 16-game winning streak, went 24-0 last year and 28-0 this season.

The 68 straight wins ties the state high school record set by West Philadelphia from 1976-78, when it was led by Gene Banks.

"Gene Banks isn’t on this team,” Rodriquez told the Pittsburgh Tribune. “We’re not the West Philadelphia teams of back then and we’re not Midland. But I will tell you, we’re probably one of the best teams in our classification.”

Midland is the last team to win four straight WPIAL titles, from 1973-77. Darby Colwyn, in 1962 and 1963, is the only other team to go undefeated and win PIAA championships in back-to-back seasons.

To keep the streak alive OLSH had to rally from a 22-point deficit in the state semifinals against Kennedy Catholic. DiMichele stepped up in that game, took over defensive duties on Harden late in the first half, then went on to score 39 points -- including 10 in overtime. The Chargers won 78-68.

During the winning streak, OLSH's average margin of victory has been 31 points; only four games were decided by less than 10 points, all in the 2019-20 season.

DiMichele has scholarship offers from Seton Hill, California of Pennsylvania and several other Division II programs but has not announced a college choice.

The only other repeat selections are second-team pick Camden Hurst of Lancaster Mennonite, a first-team pick as a sophomore in 2021; Canton senior Isaiah Niemczyk, a third-team pick, was on the second team last year; and Antietam's Hector Tiburcio, who returns to the third team for the second straight year.

2021-22 Class 2A All-State Teams

1st Team

Jake DiMichele, 6' 3", senior, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Player of the Year*)

Jacob Beccles, 6' 3", senior, Constitution

Elijah Harden, 6', senior, Kennedy Catholic

Jackson Juzang, 5' 9", senior, Winchester Thurston

Kaden Claar, 6' 1", senior, Portage Area

Ross Eyer, 6' 4", junior, Muncy

2nd Team

Camden Hurst, 6' 2", junior, Lancaster Mennonite

Lamar Glover, 5' 10", senior, Constitution

Dawson Summers, 6' 4", senior, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart