Published Saturday, March 13, 1999 
" ... Our kids work hard, so they really do deserve, I think we deserve to win, because we work hard. If it has to do with hard work, we should be right up there with deserving to win,'' summarized veteran mentor Joe Votino, whose Golden Eagles garnered a 57-33 PIAA Class A opening-round win over Summit Academy Friday night at Sharon High.
By virtue of the victory, Kennedy (20-6) will meet St. Joseph's -- a 59-49 winner over Tussey Mountain -- next Tuesday at a site and time to be announced.
After eight minutes the defending PIAA-A champion Golden Eagles, currently ranked No. 1 by the Harrisburg Patriot-News, trailed 7-4, owing to a lackluster 1-for-10 shooting performance and four turnovers.
"We were a little nervous tonight,'' Votino related. "They ranked us No. 1 in the state the other day, and I don't know how they do that 'cause we've got six losses and they're teams in there with two losses. I don't understand that.
"We try to teach our kids, we don't like to read the newspapers and the rankings, 'cause they don't mean anything to us. I mean, it's respect for your program, but we want to take it one game at a time. The pressure they put on is from themselves; it isn't the coaching staff or anyone else. But then they've got to go to school and they hear from the other kids, 'Yeah, we're No. 1 in the state.'
"Well, let me tell you what: That could come tumbling down real quickly if you let it get to your head, and that's where a mature team comes in, and we're on the verge. We're not quite as mature as I'd like us to be. If we had five seniors out there, we wouldn't have a problem with that. We've got two seniors (Marcus Oatis and Tony Hurl) who're doing a great job, we've got a sophomore, another sophomore coming off the bench and two solid juniors ... ''
And it was an underclassman who jolted the Golden Eagles from their first-quarter lethargy. Votino and his staff made an adjustment to Academy's 1-3-1 scheme that utilized a "chaser,'' and the result was sophomore sharpshooter Keenan Christiansen's game-high 21-point performance that included a handful of treys.
"To leave Keenan Christiansen open -- and he even missed some shots tonight -- but Keenan can flat out shoot the ball as well as anybody, and he proved that tonight,'' Votino praised.
Christiansen's long-range bombing, which included two treys, accounted for eight points, and with junior John Reimold scoring six points and Kennedy coercing 10 turnovers, the Golden Eagles soared to a 22-11 halftime margin.
A half-dozen Reimold points, complemented by five apiece from Christiansen and Oatis, coupled with 3-for-11 shooting and seven more Academy miscues, enabled KC to build a 38-22 bulge entering the fourth frame. Ryan McElhinny, Oatis and Christiansen evenly divided 15 points during the last quarter to seal the verdict.
"We're proud of our whole team ... we have nothing to be ashamed of,'' Summit Academy head coach Bill Styche said regarding the first-year program. "We played hard. They're a good team, (the) defending state champs, and we gave them a tough start. They caught on, they had to make some adjustments. But at least we forced them to make adjustments; they had to make adjustments to beat us, which they did.''
The Knights were responsible for their own undoing, but that was due, in part, to the absence of starting point guard Von Thomas, who was released from the court-adjudicated juvenile detention facility, according to Styche. Academy committed almost as many turnovers (31) as it scored points during the 32-minute contest and connected on only 11 of its 34 floor shots (32.2 percent).
Notes: Kennedy connected on 18 of 49 (36.7) field-goal attempts and 16 of 22 (72.7) free throws. ... Chris Peyton, a 6-foot-7 senior, posted a team-high 17-point and game-high 9-rebound outing for Academy (12-11), which outrebounded Kennedy, 34-27. Reimold snared seven caroms for KC. ... Kennedy committed 13 turnovers. ... Oatis was credited with seven steals.
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PIAA CLASS A FIRSTROUND
SUMMIT ACADEMY 7 4 11 11 33
KENNEDY CHRISTIAN 4 18 16 19 57
SUMMIT ACADEMY -- Carvajal 1-1-2-3; Peyton 6-4-6-17; Carrion 0-2-3-2; Hobson 0-0-0-0; Blunt 3-1-2-8; Fuqua 1-1-5-3; Pratt 0-0-0-0; Palmer 0-0-0-0; Torres 0-0-0-0; Jackson 0-0-0-0; Dumas 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Peyton 1, Blunt 1. Totals: 11-9-18-33.
KENNEDY CHRISTIAN -- Oatis 3-6-10-12; R. McElhinny 2-3-3-7; J. Reimold 6-3-5-15; Christiansen 7-2-2-21; Hurl 0-0-0-0; Satterwhite 0-0-0-0; Hockett 0-0-0-0; N. Reimold 0-0-0-0; D. McElhinny 0-2-2-2. 3-pt. goals: Chistiansen 5. Totals: 18-16-22-57.
