Remember When?: Ringgold wins state championship

By BRIAN HERMAN

March 27, 1995

HERSHEY – How do you lose a seven-footer and win a state championship?

That’s what Ringgold High basketball coach Phil Pergola was wondering after the Rams did just that with Saturday night’s 71-66 victory over Williamsport at packed Hersheypark Arean.

The seven-footer was junior Tyrone Leonard, the WPIAL’s tallest player who stayed with assistant coach Jim Williams before choosing to go back to his parents after the final game of the regular season.

With Leonard, who averaged nine points and almost six rebounds, the Rams went 18-5. Without him, they were 7-1 with the lone loss being a one-pointer to eventual WPIAL Quad-A champion McKeesport in the semifinals.

“It’s a befuddled question concerning Tyrone,” admitted Pergola. “Maybe we shouldn’t have played him and we would have been 31-0 and won the WPIAL too,” he grinned.

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