Hill School

It took three overtimes, but Episcopal Academy prevailed over Lawrenceville, N. J., 71-69, to capture The Hill School Tournament on Sunday. It was the Churchmen's second 2-point victory in as many nights. Tournament MVP Eugene Burroughs, a 6-foot junior, led all scorers with 27 points and finished the three-game event with 68 total points. Senior guard Jon Walsh had 13 points for Episcopal Academy (7-1). Jerome Allen's 14-foot jumper with 5 seconds to play in the third overtime gave the Churchmen their victory in Sunday's final, which lasted 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Mike McGillian remembered the Hill School. Oh, the 6-foot 1, 190-pound sophomore quarterback recalled the Hill School, all right. That's the school McGillian received his varsity start against last year as a freshman. It's also the same opponent that knocked McGillian out of the game with a sprained left shoulder. A year later, a little taller and much sturdier, the lefthander got a chance at revenge on Saturday when winless Hill School visited. This time, McGillian left the field under his own terms, after the Churchmen thrashed Hill, 34-0, to avenge last year's defeat.

A Philadelphia judge has overturned a $10.25 million jury award to a former Hill School teacher who said he was defamed by rumors of sexual misconduct while working at the prestigious private school in Pottstown. In 1995, a Common Pleas Court jury awarded the damages to Wendell K. Chestnut, saying he had been harmed by remarks made by a former Hill School headmaster. It was the second-largest defamation award in Pennsylvania history. Judge G. Craig Lord, who presided over the trial, strongly disagreed with the jury's findings in a 45-page opinion filed Monday.

The Hill School had something to prove this weekend. After losing to the Haverford School, 45-20, in early December, the Blues were determined to show that they were the top private school in the state. Yesterday, the Hill School placed six wrestlers in the finals and won three of the matches to win its second consecutive Pennsylvania State Independent Schools Wrestling Tournament. The Blues finished with 228 points to win going away. Malvern Prep was second with 161 points, Haverford School was third with 138.5, Shadyside Academy was fourth with 129, and Westtown School was fifth with 120. "This is particularly sweet since we got hammered by Haverford School early in the season," said Hill coach Jim Long.

Bake Leonards talks about some of his biggest accomplishments very casually. Asked which game was his best-pitched this season, the Hill School senior answered, "Against Episcopal. " Why? "I pitched a perfect game," he said. After talking with Leonards a little more, you'd learn that he and teammate Matt Brady also combined on a no-hitter against Penn Charter, and when he was at Springfield High two years ago, he and Jason Williams combined on a no-hitter against Jenkintown.

Former Hill School baseball player Tom Eccleston said he found people's reactions odd. Why would it surprise them that his teammate from 25 years ago would donate a kidney to a player he now coaches? That teammate, Tom Walter, the 42-year-old baseball coach at Wake Forest, was discharged from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Thursday, three days after undergoing a kidney transplant to benefit Kevin Jordan, a 19-year-old freshman outfielder for the Demon Deacons. "I wasn't surprised at all," Eccleston said of Walter, his teammate at the Hill School in Pottstown during the 1987 season, when the Blues rolled to a 19-0 record.

The Center for the Arts at the Hill School in Pottstown is spotlighting its visual and performing arts program this week. A student art exhibit will open this evening, and the spring musical, Little Shop of Horrors, will conclude with a performance tomorrow. The art exhibit, which will showcase the work of students from eighth through 12th grade, will open with a free reception from 7 to 8 tonight. The students' paintings, drawings, woodworking and ceramic pieces and jewelry also can be seen in the center's gallery from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow.

Ties don't usually occur in high school tennis because teams play seven matches - four singles and three doubles. Phoenixville and the Hill School decided to add another doubles match last week in their nonleague contest and ended in a 4-4 draw. "The Hill School was just back from an extended spring break and we agreed to add the extra doubles match so more people could get some playing time," Phoenixville coach Leo Scoda said. "There were a number of good battles. We did the same thing last year and we won, 5-3. " The Phantoms, who have never lost a Pioneer Athletic Conference championship since the league was formed in 1986, are hosting the final day of their annual two-day tournament today at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center in Roxborough.

Zachary Gimbel Lehman, an administrator at a boarding school in Maine, will become the head of the Hill School in Pottstown in July. Trustees of the boarding and day school announced Monday that Lehman would succeed David R. Dougherty, who is retiring in June after 19 years. Lehman, the assistant head of school for advancement at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, for six years, was selected through a comprehensive search after Dougherty told Hill trustees in April that he planned to retire.

Three Cherry Hill school board members running for reelection will face a challenge this fall from a woman who led a group of fellow parents in bringing a bullying complaint against a Cherry Hill High School East teacher. Susan Levy Warner will face Sherrie Cohen, Steve Robbins, and Elliott Roth in November's election. The four will compete for three seats with three-year terms. With three daughters in the district - first and fourth graders at Bret Harte Elementary School and a freshman at Cherry Hill East - "I have a personal investment," said Warner, chief executive of a human resources outsourcing firm.

Baseball PUBLIC LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP Franklin Towne Charter vs. Frankford at Ashburn Field, FDR Park, 3:15 Softball DISTRICT 1 CLASS A SEMIFINALS Calvary Christian vs. Friends Select at Bristol, 4 Bristol vs. Delco Christian at Plymouth Whitemarsh, 4 DISTRICT 1 CLASS AA SEMIFINALS Lower Moreland vs. St. Basil at Upper Dublin, 4 Christopher Dock vs. Springfield (M) at Hatboro-Horsham, 4 DISTRICT 1 CLASS AAA SEMIFINALS Villa Maria vs. Nazareth Academy at Harriton, 4 Chichester vs. Sun Valley at W.C. East, 4 DISTRICT 1 CLASS AAAA QUARTERFINALS W.C. Henderson at Pennsbury, 4 DISTRICT 1 CLASS AAAA SEMIFINALS Neshaminy at North Penn, 4 Baseball DISTRICT 1 CLASS A CHAMPIONSHIP Devon Prep vs. Calvary Christian at Temple Ambler DISTRICT 1 CLASS AAA CHAMPIONSHIP Holy Ghost Prep vs. Upper Moreland at Plymouth Whitemarsh, 4 Baseball DISTRICT 1 CLASS AAAA SEMIFINALS Coatesville vs. Council Rock North at Glen Mills, 4 North Penn vs. Pennridge at Plymouth Whitemarsh, 4 PENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY 2013 Haverford School 2012 Malvern Prep 2011 Haverford School 2010 Germantown Academy 2009 Malvern Prep 2008 Germantown Academy 2007 Mercersburg Academy 2006 Malvern Prep 2005 Mercersburg Academy 2004 Germantown Academy 2003 Rain out 2002 William Penn Charter School 2001 Mercersburg Academy 2000 The Perkiomen...

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday, Nick Payesko hit a sacrifice fly to center field to lift Holy Ghost Prep over visiting Phoenixville, 3-2, in the District 1 Class AAA baseball semifinals. Jon Naylor, who started the rally with a walk, scored from third base. Jack Kalmes and Alec Dollard had singles to lead off the inning. Phoenixville tied the game in the top of the inning with an infield hit. The Phantoms' attempt to take the lead was thwarted when catcher Jack Seibert recovered a wild pitch and threw out the runner at home plate.

Starting Tuesday, Cherry Hill parents will have to stop at the reception desk or main office in the district's schools to drop off homework, lunches, or musical instruments for their children. That restriction is one of several new measures going into effect as the result of a districtwide security assessment conducted in the wake of December's school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The rules, announced by Superintendent Maureen Reusche at a PTA meeting earlier this month, place limits on parents' presence in the district's 19 schools.

No.    Name   Pos.   Cl.   Ht.   Wt.   Hometown / High school 1    Brennan Donville    G   Fr.    6-0   195   Oakville, Ont. / The Hill School 2    John Hogan    M   So.    5-9   160   Arnold, Md. / St. Mary's HS 3    Rob Pannell    A   R-Sr.    5-10   195   Smithtown, N.Y. / Smithtown HS West 4    Chris Cook    M   So.    5-10   160   Manhasset, N.Y. / Loomis Chaffee School 5    Tony Britton    D   Fr.

  William Williams Keen Butcher, 97, of Chestnut Hill, CEO of the former Philadelphia brokerage firm Butcher & Singer and former chair of the Committee of Seventy public watchdog group, died at home Wednesday, May 15. A U.S. Army major who served in World War II, Mr. Butcher - who went by W.W. Keen - was a philanthropist and active member of the Republican Party at the national level who had U.S. presidents to his home for dinner. "I can think of several instances when we'd come home for dinner and the president would be there," said Noel Butcher Hanley, a daughter who lives in Bryn Mawr.

Officials at Friends' Central School say allegations of "inappropriate conduct" have surfaced against a now-deceased longtime head of the Wynnewood school. A statement posted on the school's website Thursday referred to "two allegations" against Thomas A. Wood involving incidents 30 years ago. Wood, who died in 2007, was head of the school from 1971 until 1987. School officials reacted quickly by renaming the campus' Wood Building, which houses the upper school and was named in Wood's honor when he resigned.

Brett McCrossen stroked a two-run double in the sixth inning to seal Archbishop Wood's 7-3 win over visiting Archbishop Ryan on Wednesday in the first round of the Catholic League playoffs. The senior outfielder finished 3 for 4 with a run scored and three RBIs. He had a one-run double in the third. Scott Boches, a senior righthander, posted the win as he struck out nine batters and walked two in seven innings. Also in the first round: Pat Vanderslice struck out 10 and scattered five hits to guide Bonner-Prendergast past visiting Cardinal O'Hara, 5-3. Public.