Everyone at Ridley knows what Friday is.

It's more than the end of the Green Raiders' school week. It's more than their fourth Central League game. It's bragging rights.

Ridley (3-3, 1-2) travels to Haverford (3-2, 1-2) Friday night for a meeting with a familiar face. Former Ridley coach Keith Heinerichs (pictured), a Haverford resident, left the Green Raiders following last season to take the top spot with the Fords.

“I’m thinking this is going to be a big game," said Shawn Church, Ridley's high-scoring power forward. "(Heinerichs) teaches here still. I’ll be in his (U.S. history) class next semester."

Heinerichs coached Church and Dan Staiber, Ridley's only returning starters from last season, for three seasons. In 11 seasons at Ridley, Heinerichs posted a 183-104 record (.638 win percentage), guided the Raiders to four District One Class AAAA playoff berths in his final five seasons and matched the program's deepest run in 2007-08, when they reached the PIAA quarterfinals.

“That should be a little extra element to it," said Mike Snyder, Ridley's first-year coach who was a longtime assistant for Heinerichs. "Keith coached Dan and Shawn for three years. Should be fun. We text. We keep in touch. We try not to share too much. I’m sure he’s feeling how I’d be feeling -- a little odd, you know?"

Heinerichs will have more than Ridley to worry about. After posting 10 winning records in 11 seasons at Ridley, Heinerichs took on the Fords, who had posted four winning seasons in their past 14 years.

"I think it'll be awkward," Heinerichs said of the game. "I don't know what divorce feels like, but I imagine this will be a lot like that. It's like moving on with your life, but you're still around people you care about.

"I see Dan and Shawn and Derrick (Dawson) every day. I wrote Matt Zang a recommendation two weeks ago. This game is going to be a lot of fun."

If Haverford is going to bring home a win for Heinerichs, count on Kevin Gladstone - who scored 19 points Tuesday after missing the first five games of the year due to injury - and Pat Morgan, who's averaging 10 points per game.

Folks, this is the final week of the regular season ... before teams either bow out of the hunt or make their final push for the District One playoffs.

Here's a quick hit on the three teams that need big showings this week:

Springfield: The Cougars have picked a poor time to go on only their second losing streak of the season. With winnable games against Central League goes Garnet Valley and Radnor, Springfield could move up a few spots, to the high teens, in the Class AAAA bracket. That means the Cougars wouldn't be saddled with a second-round matchup with one of the district's top five seeds.

Penncrest: The reigning Central League champions might be on the outside looking in on the Class AAAA field without wins against Haverford and Marple Newtown this week. Going 2-0 down the stretch could give the Lions one of the final seeds.

Ridley: Above and below the Green Raiders go ... in relation to the .500 mark, that is. Ridley, like Penncrest, is flirting with one of the final spots in the Class AAAA tournament. A two-win week could go a long way toward making that happen.

It's going to be an all-Delaware County final in the Central League championship tournament.

That became official when Penncrest put the finishing touches on its 51-40 victory over Springfield and, at Bala Cynwyd Middle School, Ridley pulled a 42-40 upset of top-seeded Lower Merion.

In Penncrest's victory, Ian Campbell led three double-figure scorers with 14 points. Rodney Duncan had 13 and Andrew Radomicki scored 11. The storyline for the Lions was Matt Atkinson (9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 steals), who came very close to a quadruple-double.

"We're very excited to be in this situation," said Penncrest coach Mike Doyle, whose team has steadily improved its win total in each of his seven years at the helm.

For Ridley, it was all Cameron Gunter, who had 15 points and 10 boards. But Marc Dziadon stole the spotlight. He only made two shots the entire game --- and one of them was a running layup as time expired, sealing the Green Raiders' upset. Shawn Church tossed in 13 points.

ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP ... No. 4 Ridley takes on No. 2 Penncrest for the title Tuesday night in a 7 p.m. tipoff at Harriton High. Should be a good one.

No matter how many games Penn loses, Cameron Gunter isn't budging. The senior center at Ridley, who last fall made a verbal commitment to the Quakers, has not altered his stance regardless of how poorly they have played this season.

Consider that Penn has a 1-10 record and its only win came against Maryland-Baltimore County (1-13). In a rare midseason move, the Quakers fired coach Glen Miller and hired assistant coach and former Penn standout Jerome Allen as his replacement in the interim. Despite so much turmoil, Gunter is staying put with his choice of attending Penn.

"I think I can offer some assistance, give them some help, you know?" Gunter said after Thursday's 47-38 win over Harriton. "I know with the whole coaching staff thing, that's been tough for them. I mean, getting off to a bad start and then the coach being fired, that's tough. But we'll bounce back."

The Green Raiders' schedule, beginning next week, takes on a distinct Ivy League look, with Ridley playing on back-to-back days in three straight weeks. Gunter has tickets for Penn's home game next Wednesday at the Palestra against No. 21 Temple.

For a look at Thursday's game between Harriton and Ridley, a 47-38 Ridley win, check out the Friday edition of the Daily Times. For a closer look read the following:

Ridley junior forward Norm Donkin has missed all nine of the Green Raiders’ games this winter, wearing a green cast on his right wrist. It turns out Donkin broke it in the first game of the Raiders’ football season, during which they advanced to the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals

"I jammed it the first game of the year," he said. "I took a week off and didn’t do anything with it. It started to feel better. I think I just made it worse all year by playing with it."

Donkin gets the cast off next Wednesday, at which point he’ll be reevaluated. Also missing in action for Ridley was Dan Staiber, a sophomore guard who suffered a concussion last Tuesday. He could be cleared to play early next week.

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Harriton’s Matt Fusaro shot 6-for-10 in the first half and 1-for-8 in the second half. The light-‘em-up scorer for the Rams, who also averages eight rebounds per game, is getting a serious number of Division III looks.

Fusaro tweaked his right ankle on one of the last plays of the game, coming down from a 3-point attempt on someone’s foot.

"We hope it’s nothing more than (a sprain)," Harriton coach Jesse Rappaport said. "We’ll see when we get back (to school)."

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According to Rappaport, the Rams shoot 80 percent from the free-throw line. Proficiency from the strip was the original thought for why Harriton doesn’t line anyone up on the blocks for a rebound.

Rappaport sees it differently, wanting his players to worry about setting up for a defensive stop rather than battling for a rebound "that we probably won’t get anyway, or we’ll get whistled for over the back or something."

Against Ridley, the Rams were 8-for-11 from the line.