From AC to Orwigsburg: A busy birthday

We begin today in Atlantic City where I stayed overnight Thursday night (nice dinner, no luck at the slots or tables) and where I am going to attend a press conference for the Maxwell Club Awards dinner today at Harrah's. Supposedly, Colt McCoy, Drew Brees, Sean Payton, Brent Musburger and the Suh guy from Nebraska who could go No. 1 in the draft will be here, among many others.

I've done this press conference before when K.C. Keeler, the Emmaus native now coaching Delaware, received an award and a couple of Penn State guys received honors.

Nice little event, but a little too much to go back and forth on the same day. So I came here on Thursday night and will begin my birthday here with a room service breakfast. Since I am now officially 7 squared, I will be looking for three 7s on the slot machines before I leave town.

And I will be looking for some luck to carry over into my picks for this weekend's high school championship games.

I will get out of here by mid-afternoon and head almost directly to Orwigsburg and Blue Mountain High School -- the alma mater of the great Larry O'Rourke -- for tonight's 3A title game.

I hope I can get in the place because I think Pottsville will show up in large numbers for this one. Definite crowd advantage for the Tide. I just don't know if the Central fans really believe in this up-and-down team yet. They'll need some crowd support tonight.

How will that one, and the rest of the big games, turn out?

3A title game -- CCHS 54, Pottsville 49... I give the Vikings the edge in quickness and overall strength, and possibly depth. But the one thing that could cost them -- and you know this is coming -- foul shooting. They are tired of hearing about it, tired of thinking about it, but it hangs over this team like storm clouds usually hang over the beach when I'm at the shore in the summertime.

1A title game -- Marian Catholic 49, Pius X 43... The way the Colts hammered Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg the other night really caught my attention. Remember, this is a team that made it to the Schuylkill League finals and that didn't turn out so well against Pottsville. So, just as I've said about Liberty and Notre Dame, Marian may be too good not to come away with some kind of title this season. Plus, they've already beaten the Royals twice and that was with O'Neill playing. As far as I know, he still won't be in A.J. DePue's lineup.

2A title game -- Notre Dame 58, Tri-Valley 47 ... If this was an odd year, I'd feel a lot better about the Crusaders chances since they have won gold in 2003, '05, '07 and '09. Tri-Valley put the defensive clamps on Catty in the semis and only Josh Case could do anything against the Bulldogs. The Crusaders have a lot more weapons and after what happened in the Colonial League finals, they are determined to not allow another gold medal to slip through their grasp.

4A consolation game -- Nazareth 58, Pocono Mountain East 54 ... These third-place games generally come down to who wants it more, who wants to keep practicing and playing, and I think that might be the Blue Eagles. For them to finish with a league championship and a berth in states still makes it a very special year. The Cardinals have tremendous talent, and I still remain somewhat stunned by what happened in the second half against Whitehall. They just can't seem to get over the hump in a big spot. They were pointing toward a district title ever since they lost to Parkland in the finals last year and I wonder how badly they'll want this one since their goal of gold is gone.

4A championship game -- Liberty 48, Whitehall 45 ... I covered these two when they met in August at Cedar Beach for the Allentown Summer League title and I covered them again in early January at Liberty. Both were hard-fought battles. I just hope this one doesn't turn out to be 33-30 like the January meeting, because if so, there will be a lot of howling. I look for Whitehall's matchup zone to be effective. Liberty has the edge on the boards. It's going to come down to making clutch shots. Will it be Matt Greene or Pat Bet for Whitehall, or Darrun Hilliard or Brandon Holland for Liberty. You know that Bobby Beldo and Jarrod West, to mention two, are going to make their plays. Anthony Gonzalez won't be beaten to loose balls. This should be a good one and if Whitehall wins it, this will rank as one of their most memorable titles ever because few saw this coming after that LVC semifinal loss to Allen. And having to go through Emmaus and both Pocono powers to get here has been quite impressive. Let's hope for a big crowd, a great atmosphere and a controversy-free game.

Keith Groller