Luca Federico doesn’t seek to avoid the pressure that comes with continuing to add chapters to the already storied history of the Chartiers Valley boys basketball program.
The sophomore guard only knows winning.
Following the Colts’ second consecutive WPIAL Class 5A championship victory, a 63-37 win over Thomas Jefferson Saturday night at Petersen Events Center, Federico sees no reason it shouldn’t continue in perpetuity.
“I want four,” said Federico, who scored a game-high 31 points and added eight rebounds. “We just had to come back and work hard every day in practice and to just get it done.”
The Colts (23-2) won the program’s eighth championship with its first back-to-back win since 1997-98 thanks to a suffocating defensive effort. The Jaguars shot 28.9% (11-of-38) from the field and only scored six points in the fourth quarter.
“We hang our hat on defense,” Chartiers Valley coach Cory Dotchin said. “We want to run and score points. I thought we did a great on defense for three of the four quarters. For the most part, I thought our defense was pretty good.”
The first quarter featured eight minutes of all-around agonizing offense. Neither team hit a field goal until Julian Semplice made a layup with 5 minutes, 3 seconds left in the quarter.
Thomas Jefferson, which was playing in its first WPIAL final since 1988, shot 11.1 percent (1 of 9) from the field in the first quarter.
Jaguars coach Dom DeCicco didn’t feel like the stage led to any extra nerves.
“These guys have played in front of so many big crowds and big moments this year,” DeCicco said. “I knew they’d be nervous, but I thought it was a real feeling-out process in the first quarter.”
Semplice, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds, brought the game to life when he stole the ball from Jaguars guard Jeffrey Raible and scored to beat the first-quarter buzzer and put the Colts ahead, 8-3.
“I saw a kid who wanted to get it to his guard,” Semplice said. “I jumped the pass right away.”
Chartiers Valley opened the second quarter with a 7-2 run, capped by a dunk by Federico with 5:46 remaining to surge ahead 15-5.
The Colts built a 31-14 lead by halftime after Semplice again beat the buzzer with another basket. Thomas Jefferson awoke after halftime, but never got closer than seven points.
Kane Eggerton, who scored 11 points for the Jaguars (22-3), helped lead the Jaguars’ best run.
He made a layup with 32 seconds left in the third quarter to slice the deficit to 38-31 and cap an 11-3 run. Eggerton made a 3-pointer during the run, which also featured a trey from Nathan Rice.
Justin Fry led the Jaguars with 12 points.
“Defense,” said Eggerton on what led to the run. “When you come out and play hard defense, it’s where the momentum changes for the offense.”
Chatiers Valley shot 48.8% (21 of 43) from the field. The Colts opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run, capped by a Semplice layup that stretched the lead out to 13.
Federico scored 15 of his points in the fourth quarter.
“I was in a flow state, to be honest,” Federico said.
Dotchin enjoyed being able to celebrate another championship. He has led the Colts to two in his first two seasons on the bench.
“It’s a great feeling,” Dotchin said. “This is a special group. Since Day 1 when I got the job, they worked hard. … We knew that when we won last year, we were going to have a bull’s-eye on our back. We worked even harder.”