Penn Heads Into The Elite 8
The Penn bench is full of emotion during their early run against Bethel
Point Lookout, Mo – William Penn’s quest for a first-ever national title cleared one more hurdle Friday afternoon as the Statesmen handed Bethel their ticket home.
Bethel was on a 17 point run in the second half. The Statesmen called a timeout to regroup. William Penn Center Keith Steffeck believes that timeout was needed in order to recharge their energy, “it seemed like we were getting a little tired… to get our energy back and focus on defense.
William Penn Head Coach John Henry talked about that pivotal timeout. “I felt like we weren’t finishing plays. It wasn’t that we were playing poorly. Our defense let up a little bit.” He went on to say, “I felt like as soon as I called that timeout, we got running again, started making plays again.”
Taylor Stoutner and Steffeck were the squads leading scorers, Stoutner believed that because of Bethel’s focus on Steffeck and some player mismatches, because of that, “They got me open.”
Steffeck said that his teammates were able to find him when he was open, “Our team does a great job, we’re all so unselfish it’s [the team] just a blast to play with.”
Stoutner commented that during Wednesday’s opening round, he believes the team was a little nervous and “came out flat.” He added, “Maybe we weren’t ready for them, maybe overlooked them a little bit.”
A first for Willaim Penn will be their appearance in the Elite 8 Saturday. “It feels great. Fantastic. Like I said at the beginning of the year, it’s just one game at a time. So now we just have to turn our focus to the next team and get ready,” Steffeck said about the win on Friday and moving on to the next round Saturday.
“What a great ride it’s been,” Henry said in opening comments to the media.
After the win against Bethel, the confidence level was obviously increasing. Henry has tempered that confidence, “I know this is the tournament. Anything can happen. Anybody can get on a roll.”
Bethel came into the contest on Friday with a high confidence level, but may have woken the giant with some pregame remarks. Henry talked about that, “I thought that they were very, very confident. I’m not afraid to say that out loud. I felt that they were overconfident. They’re hoopin’ and hollering, all their tweets last night kind of made us upset to be honest with ya.”
But Henry feels that maybe his team hasn’t been shown the respect they should have been to this point in the tournament. “I want to say this. I feel like, down here, there’s been a lot of doubt. From some of the other teams doubting us. Just some of the whispers and comments we’ve heard, ‘well, they’re not that good’ because we struggled against McPherson, and I think there was doubt coming in, ‘Who are these guys?’ ‘How are they doing this?’ ‘I don’t know anything about them.’, and then when we struggled against McPherson, so they were like see, ‘I told ya so’. There are about 6 or 7 stories of other teams making comments to our coaching staff, or in the media or to us directly or our kids of ‘you’re not that good’. People talking at the swimming pool, the other teams. I think this puts that to rest. No matter what happens tomorrow [Saturday], being in the Elite 8 is a big deal. It makes us legitimate in my mind. Nobody can question us. When your 32-1, you’ve won some games.”
Members of the “PennZone’ make their presence known at the game versus Bethel. The 6th man.
During William Penn’s time on the court, the stands come alive with its fans and a student section called, “The PennZone.”
Henry recognized not only those students, but the entire fan base that have been on had for its games. “How about our following. Unreal. It feels like we’re at home. Like there are more people than home and they’re spastic and they’re crazy and everybody’s commenting on it. It felt like a bowl game when we were leaving today and I said that the other day. The atmosphere and the fans are just ballistically crazy. This is a dream come true for me. I never envisioned, I dreamed but I never envisioned we’d be sitting here talking about playing in the Elite 8 as a head coach and as a program. Just so pleased.”
“Just don’t pinch me or push me, cause I don’t want to wake up”, Henry said. “When ever it ends, whether it’s on Tuesday night with the championship or it ends tomorrow, this has been the greatest season of our lives. This isn’t just a season, it’s a life moment that several people will never forget, not only our players. I’m so happy we all get to share in this. Ten to twenty years from now, they’re going to be talking about the 2013 statesmen.”
Henry talked about the upcoming contest with Midland and their Head Coach Todd Elsner. “Very well coached. Todd Elsner is the best coach in the county – bar none. He’s taken Viterbo, Bellevue and now Midland all to the Elite 8. He took Bellevue to, I believe, 3 final 4’s. And to me, he’s the finest small college coach in the business. I’m glad I finally get to say that publicly. I don’t know him personally, I admire him from afar.”
Penn takes on Midland at 1 pm on Saturday in an attempt to make it to the Final Four.
