Adversity. That was a word that senior Zach Sabol of the Emmaus boys basketball team was faced with early on in his high school playing career.

Sabol reached the 1,000-point milestone for his program earlier this month, back on February 8. And he did it on a big stage and in front of his home crowd, climbing the plateau against Central Catholic in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference quarterfinals at Emmaus High School.

He finished that game with 13 points and 14 rebounds, two of his points, the final two of the night with 4:10 remaining in the game, propelled him to the 1,000-career point milestone. He became just the ninth player in school history and third in the last four years to reach the feat.

“It was such a great experience,” said Sabol. “It was surreal. To be able to not only get the 1,000 points, but I was happy to have it done at home. All credit is to my teammates for continuously setting me up with good passes. David and Matt [Kachelries], who did this before me, really set the standard and I was glad to be able to keep it going.”

The Kachelries brothers were the last to etch their names on the 1,000-point banner in Emmaus’ gymnasium, doing so during the 2016-17 season. Sabol was a part of that team for his first two years at Emmaus, but he was only able to play about half of a season with two of the greatest scorers to come out of Emmaus.

Sabol missed all of his freshman year and the first half of his sophomore year because of injury.

“Being able to play with them and just learn from them was very beneficial,” Sabol said. “They are great players and really helped me to become the player that I am today. They taught me how to be a good leader and player. I’m thankful to have played with them.”

Sabol has come a long way since the end of his sophomore year and, even without a vast amount of varsity playing experience his first two years, has become a leader and a go-to option for Emmaus on both ends of the floor.

He helped guide the Green Hornets (20-5 overall) to a 20-win season and a spot in the EPC final last weekend. Emmaus is the top seed in the District 11 Class 6A tournament and Sabol will look for district gold when it opens up play Saturday.