Friday's York-Adams league championship game was a heavyweighttitle match between York (then 23-1, ranked in the state and seededfirst in districts in Class AAAA) vs. Eastern York (22-2, state-ranked and district No. 3 seed in AAA).
In the Berks County league Friday, Reading (20-3, state-ranked,district No. 2 seed in AAAA) faced Reading Central Catholic (22-2,ranked first in the state in Class A) for the marbles.
And in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, finalists Hempfield andMcCaskey came in with a combined 17 losses, not ranked anywhere byanyone, both facing play-in games Saturday just to get in districts.
Which says ... what, exactly, about the L-L?
"I think it says parity," Hempfield coach Danny Walck saidminutes after cutting down a net at Manheim Township, where Walck'steam had completed a redemptive week by edging its biggest rival, 61-53, for what the kids like to call "the county championship."
Ahh ... "parity," the word Pete Rozelle pushed into the nationalsports conversation decades ago and heard all over the L-L as a deeptrove of good teams (if probably not great ones) bashed against eachother all winter.
The L-L final would have looked more marquee-suitable, at leastfrom afar, if Lancaster Catholic had been in it. But the Crusaders,then undefeated, state-ranked and seeded first in District Three inAAA, were stunned at home Monday by Hempfield in the first round ofleagues.
Thus the Black Knights' week of redemption began with a buzzertip-in by Joey Farthing for a 45-44 victory. Whether the tip came ahalf-instant before or after the buzzer was a hot topic on theInternet last week, where video, with sound, of Farthing's playcould be found on YouTube and elsewhere.
(This Space was there. I thought it was good in real time, andfound the replays I've seen since inconclusive. For what it'sworth.)
L-L Section One did not have Lancaster Catholic (which is inSection Four), but did have a furious pennant race among Hempfield,McCaskey, Manheim Township and Penn Manor.
But this story begins before the league games started. Hempfield,with no starters back from a 29-win team and a new coach (Walck),started 0-3, including lopsided losses to Reading and LancasterCatholic.
That amounted to the Knights' first crash-and-burn, except thatthey put out the fire real quick.
"They stayed very coachable," Walck said. "We had a meeting, andwe said this is a fork in the road. You have to decide what way youwant to go."
The Knights won 15 of their next 16. They were 12-1 in thesection, holding a three-game lead with three left. The three wereat Penn Manor, Manheim Township in Landisville, and at McCaskey,setting the scene for crash-and-burn No. 2.
Hempfield lost all three, all in the final minutes, all by makingkey mistakes and coming just a bit unglued down the stretch.
Again, emergency personnel were quickly on the scene.
"If [bouncing back] would be hard for an NBA player or a collegeplayer, you know it would be hard as a high school player," Walcksaid.
"You should be angry and frustrated," Walck told them. "You justcan't get angry and depressed and get into hanging your head andsaying, 'Poor me.'
"Believe me, there were enough people around them saying, 'Boo-hoo.' We need to own this and do something about it."
After losing their fourth straight, to McCaskey, in a playoff forthe section title last Friday, the Knights took Saturday off.
They went to the gym Sunday to shoot. Walck stopped by beforeleaving to attend to a family matter and gave, according to seniorcenter Lee Eckert, "a really passionate talk."
Walck started writing "Redeem our pride," on locker roomblackboards, and the players started touching the words as theywalked by them.
After the Penn Manor loss, at practice, the players told theircoach that next time they were in a similar situation (playing withthe lead, under pressure, late in a game), they didn't think theyshould stall. Meaning holding the ball, milking the clock and makingthe other guys chase them around in the final minutes.
Problem: Walck had never told them to stall. It was self-imposed.
Friday night, at every time-out, he told them, "Keep attacking."
It was the fourth Hempfield-McCaskey game of the year, not thefirst time that's happened, for high stakes. Of the four, this wasthe best basketball game, at least in terms of kids making plays.
Hempfield is a terrific half-court, guard-the-basket defensiveclub, and it seemed to have all avenues sealed early Friday.
"You should have something figured out if you've played somebodythree times," Walck said.
Eventually all McCaskey was getting in the half-court was createdfrom nothing, off the dribble, by Diante Cherry, Aaron Swinton andTyler Martin.
Like that's a bad thing.
Cherry, a sophomore who's already terrific and getting betterfast, scored 21. His 3-pointer gave McCaskey the lead late in thethird quarter. Swinton's two free throws, after yet another mid-lane gyration, gave the Tornado the lead for the last time.
But Hempfield was to make more big plays on this night. EthanStrayer had banked in a 35-footer at the halftime buzzer. Now DrewJohnson, another in a bumper L-L crop of sophomore guards, buried atough three as the third quarter ended.
As the final stanza raged, McCaskey turned up the heat. And Walckkept reminding his troops to keep attacking.
Reserve Mark Mangold scored five in the final quarter, two off asuperb Strayer pass and three on a corner jumper off the kind ofbroken-court situation McCaskey is supposed to want, and Hempfieldis supposed to avoid.
Supposedly.
Joey Farthing wasn't buying it. Farthing, a senior guard who'smaybe 6-foot-1, scored 10 of his 22 in the fourth, getting points onthe offensive glass and by flying to the rim.
Farthing, a reserve on last year's 29-win team, had double-figure turnover games early in the year. Lately he's emerged as oneof the area's best, most athletic guards, and is getting small-college looks.
"A lot of it is confidence," Farthing said. "I knew I had tobecome a guy my teammates could rely on. I kept pushing."
More than anyone else, Farthing did it, with a killer box scoreline: 8-of-10 from the field, 6-of-7 from the foul line, 22 points,eight rebounds and a blocked shot.
Before the game, massive Hempfield center Lee Eckert said he toldFarthing, "This is your night. Go win it for us."
As he stood on the foul line late Friday, Hempfield fans chanted,"M-V-P."
The Hempfield celebration, and the McCaskey anguish, weregenuine, just as they were, in reverse, when McCaskey won thesection trophy the previous week. The county championship is its ownentity, a kind of oasis between the season and the postseason.
It was great stuff. Almost great enough to make you forget thatHempfield was done for the season by the time you read this.
DISTRICT PLAY-INS
Knights falter, Tornado rolls on, Page C5
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