This story concerns Gratz assistant Antoine "Ness" Bland, who was a football and
basketball headliner at that same school (Class of 2010).
Ness played his college football at West Chester.
Best of luck, Ness!

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Sweet-Ness! Blands double-double helps Gratz dominate E & S

Feb 03, 2009

By TED SILARY

  Should he wind up becoming a big-shot pro in basketball or football, Antoine Bland knows what product he wants to endorse.

  It helped to provide his nickname.

  "That goes back to when I was maybe 9 or 10 years old," he said. "I used to eat four-five Nestle Crunches a day and one day at the basketball court, one guy started calling me 'Big Nestle Crunch' as a joke. Everybody started likin' it. The word spread around. Over time it got shortened to 'Ness. ' I like it with two s's.

  "My family calls me Antoine, but to anybody who knows me from basketball, Ness it is. "

  Bland, a 6-4, 280-pound junior, is a center for Simon Gratz High, and yesterday he collected 22 points and 10 rebounds as the visiting Bulldogs muffled Engineering and Science, 69-45, in Public B.

  He keeps this up, his candy of preference might wind up in the school's vending machine.

  "No Nestle Crunches. And that upsets me," he said, laughing. "Nah, it's cool. I just go for the chocolate-chip cookies. If I need a Crunch, I can just go home and get one. " (He lives within footsteps of Gratz' football stadium. )

  Bland shot 10-for-13 from the floor and 2-for-5 at the line. He shoehorned 13 of his points and seven of his boards into the middle quarters, which Gratz won, 40-20.

  Don't let the wide-load look fool you. Bland is surprisingly nimble and, yes, he has power.

  "I think people say, 'Look at this big guy. Probably can't do nothin', " Bland noted. "But I make them wake up with the way I play. I go hard. That's my habit. Every single minute I'm out there, I'm trying to go harder than the competition. My goal is to flat-out dominate. "

  Heading into his sophomore year, Bland's weight soared to 295.

  "It didn't scare me," he said. "But I did know I had to do something about it. I ran cross country and dropped about 20 pounds. This last fall I got a chance to do what I'd wanted to do anyway: play football. I only got to play in four games, at left tackle, before I got hurt.

  "I really don't care which sport gets me to college. I love basketball, but if it's football, that's fine, too. "

  Andrew Moye (12) and Leroy Evans (10) also scored in double figures for Gratz while Bruce Hanner mixed eight assists with five steals. Marcus Brown, E&S' always reliable franchise, totaled 28 points, nine boards and two apiece of steals and blocks.