Prospect Spotlight: Zach Rosenthal (2021)
People always tend to say stuff along the lines of “small guards are a dime a dozen,” but those same people say stuff like “If you can shoot, your can play the game anywhere.” For Steward sophomore Zach Rosenthal, he’ll do you one better than shoot, he won’t miss.
I watched Steward School play against Collegiate last week and one of the truly surprising things when I looked at my stats at the end of the game was that Rosenthal was the second leading scorer on the Spartans and he only took five shots. He finished with 14 points going 4-for-4 from deep and 2-for-2 from the line. How’s that for an efficient shooter?
It was a big win for both Rosenthal and the Spartans, one he was excited to get early in the season.
“It’s definitely a positive so far in our season,” Rosenthal said after the win. “We knew Collegiate was a good team coming in, we knew we really had to play well and execute and stay disciplined on both sides of the ball and that’s what we did.”
Steward School is still young, with four of their top seven guys being sophomores or juniors. They didn’t graduate a single player from a team that had its ups and downs last year, but the time they’ve had to grow together is showing early.
“Well the good thing is we didn’t lose anyone from last year,” he said. “This year, we’ve had a year to grow with everybody and get familiar with how we play and that’s what we do we play to everyone’s strengths and that’s how we get wins like this.”
As far as Rosenthal himself, the 5’10” guard started every game for Steward as a freshman and is no longer a secret weapon for the group. The lefty can really fire it up from deep, and the fact that he only takes good shots and doesn’t force things keeps their offense flowing well.
Despite a good start to his career, Rosenthal knows that teams are going to start to take away his strength as a shooter and he needs to continue to work to find different ways to impact the game.
“I know I bring an outside shooting threat, that’s what most of the schools that have scouted us have really tried to take away from me. The thing I’ve tried to work on the most this season is on the defensive side of the ball. I know I’m not the biggest or strongest kid out there but I know I’ve got to move my feet, get in the right position and help us out defensively.”
Despite being just a sophomore on a very young team, Rosenthal doesn’t think the Spartans need to wait to compete with anyone. They have the toughness, talent and work ethic to compete in a tough VISAA D2 right now.
“I think as a team, we want to win every single game that we play, and I think with the mindset we have right now we can do that. Individually, I’m just trying to get better every single day, that’s the main goal for everyone I feel like is just wake up and find a way to get better that day.
Be sure to keep an eye out for Rosenthal and Steward, who play a daunting schedule. If you can get out to one of their games you won’t be disappointed, as they are talented, disciplined and fun to watch!