Jack Leasure Shooting and Skills Camp Preview: Penfield and Thomas to battle in Boys’ Class AA1

One squad aims to end a 72-year sectional drought. The other looks to capture its first title in 40-plus years. Penfield and Webster Thomas clash on Saturday to determine the Section V Class AA1 winner. Here’s the breakdown:

No. 1 PENFIELD PATRIOTS (19-3 / Monroe County Division I / No. 3 NYSSWA)
vs.
No. 2 WEBSTER THOMAS TITANS (16-6 / Monroe County Division II)
Saturday, Blue Cross Arena, 7 p.m.

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How they arrived here: Top-seeded Penfield beat Churchville-Chili (70-51) and Irondequoit (77-55) to reach the Class AA1 title game. Webster Thomas dropped Brighton (74-63) and Webster Schroeder (74-73 / 2OT) to secure a spot in the championship game.

Scoring offense: Penfield (71.3), Webster Thomas (59.5)

Scoring defense: Penfield (56.1), Webster Thomas (54.2)

Trends: Penfield has won six of its last seven games. Webster Thomas came out victorious in four of its last five games.

Players to watch for Penfield: Patrick Emling Sr. F (18 PPG, 10.2 RPG); Christian Zarzycki Jr. G (12.1 PPG, 5.2 APG); Jackson Green So. G (13.4 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.2 BPG); Michael Moxley Sr. G (6.4 PPG); Jake McCarthy So. C (12.2 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 6.3 BPG); CJ Johnson So. G (8.6 PPG).

Webster Thomas: Joey Baller Sr. F (10.2 PPG) ; Chase Fitch Sr. G (4.2 PPG); Levi Kulik Sr. G/F (14.3 PPG); AJ LaLoggia Sr. G. (8.3 PPG) Sean Quinn Sr. F (10.3 PPG).

Coaches: Jason Ellis (Penfield), Christopher Barrett (Webster Thomas)

History 101: Penfield is looking for its first sectional title since 1953. That ended a stretch of two titles in a three-year span. The last time a Penfield squad reached a final was in 1980 in a 58-50 loss to Madison led by Joe Binion. Pat Kelly led Webster Thomas to the Class AAA title in 1983 and Thomas squads reached the AA finals in 2004 and 2005 losing both times to Greece Arcadia (55-51 and 77-64). The 2005 Thomas team had a record of 20-2 and lost to a 13-9 Arcadia team led by Chris Greene, Mike Shoniker and Lynnell Swinton.

What’s at stake: A spot in the Class AA Far West Regional Qualifier against either Greece Athena or Canandaigua.