Mountain Valley Conference Tour Part III: Another school taken off the bucket list

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER If you're wondering why there has not been a post on Groller's Corner in the past few days it's because I've been mixing a little business with pleasure with a few days in the Poconos. And on Saturday morning I got to mix business with pleasure when I stopped by Pocono Mountain West High School. I was at Pocono Montain East on Friday and talked to the very energetic, very enthusiastic Phil Dorn. More on East in another post. I've been to East many times before, mostly for basketball. So, getting there was not a problem. I had never been to Pocono Mountain West. I have covered a lot of PM West basketball in their 10-year history because the Panthers have had one of the premier programs in the area. They are, in fact, the defending District 11 4A champs. But I had never been to the school itself before Saturday. It is not that hard to find. It's actually no more than a 10-minute ride off Route 80. And in terms of getting there on one of those wintry-mix kind of nights, getting to West has got to be a piece of cake compared to East Stroudsburg North.Pm west 002 I got there for the very end of West's scrimmage against Palisades. Field surrounded by trees, but not enough bleachers to host varsity games. And while I was watching football, athletic director and basketball coach Brad Pensyl came by in his golf cart and took me on what he called "the five-cent tour." He took me around to show me that the school has two of everything -- two baseball fields, two softball fields, nice field hockey and soccer fields etc. Really, this place, much like ES North and PM East, is a sprawling campus and reminds you more of a college setting than a high school. People back in the Valley talk about Parkland being ina college setting. Well, it's kind of the same here at several MVC schools. Certainly PM West. South, Stroudsburg and Lehighton are kind of limited, but the rest qualify as large campuses every bit as big as Parkland. Pensyl also showed me inside and it's bePm west 003autiful. Really. A very nice-looking, state-of-the-art spacious school with vast, high-roof hallways. The gym is not overly huge. Kind of reminds me of Dieruff in terms of seating capacity, but certainly big enough to hold crowds for West's big games. I also got to see the very large swimming pool and also stopped inside of Pensyl's office and saw lots of memorabilia. He's proud of the program he has at West and should be. It was a very nice visit. Also nice to my friend Rick Mondschein, the longtime area official now in retirement after a lengthy teaching career in the East Penn School District. In terms of West's football team, coach Jim McCarroll (below left) Pm west 005 said the team has some skill-position talent, but not much experience or size up front. That means problems. I get the feeling that West, like Lehighton, which is coached by Jim's nephew, Tom, is going to struggle. I see the top teams in this league as being Stroudsburg, PV, ES South and PM East. Allen and Dieruff? Maybe a win or two for each, but more competitive games than had they stayed in the LVC. One thing I know is that most of these coaches and schools are happy to have Allen and Dieruff coming into their league. They help to stabilize the schedule. We'll have a few more posts about the other places I've seen in the MVC and certainly more on the Canaries and Huskies in the coming days. For now, it's time to get back to the great outdoors for one more day or maybe lose more money at the Mount Airy Casino.