Apr 1, 2022 5 min read

Some people live in their birthplace all their lives.

Some stay where they’re born for 18 years before moving away.

Maybe they’ll return home for good after college. Maybe they’ll never come back.

Then there are those who live in one place long enough to get comfortable, make friends and start high school before packing everything.

That’s what happened to Owen Norman two summers ago.

Because of his father’s job, Norman, born in Cayuga, Indiana, about an hour from Indianapolis, moved to McDonald with the rest of his family between his freshman and sophomore years.

Unsurprisingly, it was hard for the 15-year-old to deal with at first.

“I kind of handled it pretty rough because I was moving away from all my family and my friends,” Norman said.

It took Norman some time to get used to his surroundings, but he felt he had settled in after a few months.

Helping his new high school’s basketball team to its most successful season in more than 60 years would be more of a challenge.

Like many kids in Indiana, Norman took to the game at a young age, starting when he was three.

After moving, he joined a program that hadn’t been to a district championship game since John F. Kennedy’s first year in the Oval Office.

In Norman’s first season at Fort Cherry, he became a regular starter and averaged 11.6 points per game. The Rangers went 13-7 overall, 5-5 in conference play and bowed out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals.

It wasn’t a bad season, but it was hardly historic.

In Norman’s junior year, the 5-9 guard helped the Rangers make history. Fort Cherry made it to the WPIAL championship game for the first time since 1961, got its first state tournament win after just as long of a drought and made it to the states for the first time since 1998.

Norman helped make it possible, leading the Rangers by averaging a shade over 17.7 points a game. Norman and backcourt mate Dylan Rogers (16.5 ppg), who battled a nagging injury for much of the season, were Milk and Honey to the Rangers’ offense.

As a result, Norman has been named the Observer-Reporter’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Rogers was selected to the second team. Norman is the first Player of the Year from Fort Cherry since Dan Davis in 2005. The Rangers’ Wade Timmerson was Player of the Year in 1988.

“A good team always has a guy who can get you a bucket when you need it,” Fort Cherry coach Eugene Briggs said, “and we had two of them.”

For Briggs, two big things that led to Norman’s success as a junior were his increased confidence and improved decision-making.

“To become a good offensive player like he is now, he has to be decisive,” Briggs said. “Whereas, before, he wasn’t sure when to shoot, when to pass, when to drive. He’s done a good job of looking for that drive first; when people back off, taking the shot; when someone helps out, making the pass. That comes with time.”

Briggs said Norman’s confidence hit its stride around Christmas of this past season. Norman concurs.

“He’s 100 percent right,” Norman said. “I think that my confidence boosted because I knew that Dylan or I had to have the ball in our hands. I think knowing that when the ball is in my hands, there’s a really good percent chance that the ball is going to go in the hoop and that we’re going to score a basket (was important). I just think that all the work I put in over the summer made my confidence go up. With the ball in my hands, there’s a better shot for the ball to go in.”

Norman’s most dominant individual performance came in Fort Cherry’s first-round playoff win over California when he scored a career-high 40 points.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so hot before,” Norman said. “Everything that I shot felt like it was just going in.”

That was Norman’s finest night statistically, but this season was all about team success for Fort Cherry.

In a year full of memories, such as beating Carlynton to get to the WPIAL championship game and playing in the Petersen Events Center, Norman’s favorite is when the Rangers beat Sto-Rox by one point to clinch a share of their first section championship since 1998.

“I always knew we could do it,” Norman said. “Section champs was always what I wanted to do. Going to the Pete was cool, too, but I feel like our team worked so hard. That was one of the best feelings ever, was to win that section championship.”

Next season, Norman will look to lead the Rangers back to the title game. Rogers will be gone, and Briggs will look to Norman as a senior leader, along with his established role as a scorer.

“He shared the role with Dylan this year,” Briggs said. “Now he’s going to have to be that ‘go-to’ guy.”

Player of the Year — Owen Norman, Fort Cherry

Coach of the Year — Eugene Briggs, Fort Cherry

First Team

Tayshawn Levy, Washington, Sr., G

Quinton Martin, Belle Vernon, So., F

Owen Norman, Jr., Fort Cherry, G

Will Wagner, Charleroi, Sr., F

Devin Whitlock, Belle Vernon, Sr., G

Second Team

Chris Barrish, Carmichaels, Sr., G

Lorenzo Gardner, Monessen, So., G

Brandon Jakiela, South Fayette, Sr., F

Connor Roberts, Trinity, Sr., G

Dylan Rogers, Fort Cherry, Sr., F

Third Team

Gavin Cote, Peters Township, Sr., G

Daniel Gordon, Belle Vernon, Jr., G

Zion Moore, Ringgold, Fr., F

Brandon Patterson, Washington, Jr., F

Jake Samosky, Canon-McMillan, Sr., G

Landon Urcho, Bentworth, Jr. G