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Weekly Rewind (Feb. 4-9)


Don't look now, but the high school basketball regular season came to a close this week.

With the ending of the regular season quickly came the YAIAA tournaments and, next Friday, District 3 play begins with 24 teams from York and Adams counties in the fold.

Plus, the wrestling team season wrapped up this week at Hershey's Giant Center.

1. Yes, the YAIAA tournaments are in full swing, but we're starting off this week by looking at the District 3 basketball brackets, which were officially released Sunday. A full breakdown of the teams that made it can be found at the above link, so we will simply link to each of the eight brackets.

BOYS

Class AAAA; Class AAA; Class AA; Class A

GIRLS

Class AAAA; Class AAA; Class AA; Class A

2. Now, on to the league tournaments.

The YAIAA boys' postseason started with a bang at Red Lion on Saturday night.

Upstart York Suburban held a 56-55 lead on Northeastern with only 1:20 to play in a quarterfinal matchup. But the Bobcats weren't to be denied.

Khalid Nwandu put Northeastern ahead to stay with a layup 31 seconds later for a thrilling 59-56 win. Evan Eberhardinger's desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.

The Bobcats (16-6) will put their eight-game winning streak on the line Wednesday night back at Red Lion in an 8 p.m. semifinal vs. state-ranked William Penn. The Bearcats (21-2) were forced to work for a 60-38 win vs. Bermudian Springs on Saturday.

The Eagles pulled within two points late in the third quarter, but William Penn opened the fourth quarter on a 13-4 run to put the game out of reach.

In the two quarterfinals at Spring Grove, South Western rolled over Eastern York, 53-30, and Dallastown slipped past Delone Catholic, last year's runner-up, 68-59, to set up a third meeting between the Division I rivals at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Red Lion.

3. The YAIAA girls' tournament brackets didn't fall perfectly for Red Lion or York Catholic. The last two league champions -- the Irish beat the Lions in 2011; the Lions returned the favor last year -- squared off Friday night in a quarterfinal at Dover.

This time, it was York Catholic and Morgan Klunk getting the best of Red Lion, 55-48. Klunk went off for a game-high 28 points. That was just enough to oust the defending champs, who were led by Jenny Horvatinovic's 17 points.

The Irish (21-1) meet Division I champ West York (20-3) at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the semifinals at Central York. The Bulldogs led by 16 points after the first quarter of their 57-39 quarterfinal win vs. Eastern York.

The other semifinal Tuesday at Central York pits unbeaten Dover vs. Dallastown. The 23-0 Eagles struggled early against Kennard-Dale -- they trailed 9-0 early and 11-5 after one -- before eventually taking control in a 39-33 win.

In complete opposite fashion, Dallastown started on fire and never cooled off in a 68-46 win vs. Delone. The Wildcats (17-6) hit eight 3-pointers in the win and were led by Shae Grim's 21 points.

4. The week started well enough for the Spring Grove and Bermudian Springs wrestling teams.

The Rockets won their PIAA Class AAA preliminary round match, 37-24, vs. Boyertown on Monday. The same night, the Eagles pounded Mount Union, 38-21, in a PIAA Class AA dual as both area teams advanced to wrestle at Hershey's Giant Center.

Bermudian rode the momentum of that win to the state semifinals, where they lost to eventual champion Bethlehem Catholic, 48-9, Friday. The next morning, the Eagles lost to Chestnut Ridge, 29-25, to miss out on a medal.

Along the way, Bermudian nabbed wins over District 7 champion Burrell, 34-29, and District 9 champion Redbank Valley, 34-30.

Spring Grove wasn't as fortunate. The Rockets immediately ran into eventual champion Canon McMillan and lost, 42-22. Spring Grove won its first consolation round match vs. Downingtown East before closing its season with a 34-18 loss to Parkland.

5. In the state finals, Canon McMillan (Class AAA) and Bethlehem Catholic (Class AA) took home the gold medals. Again.

It was the second straight title for the Big Macs, who beat Central Dauphin in thrilling fashion, 34-31. With the score tied at 31 and one bout to go, Brendan Price made two takedowns stand vs. Zach Elvin in a 4-3 win that gave Canon McMillan the gold.

The Hawks' win, their third straight state title, wasn't nearly as thrilling. Bethlehem Catholic methodically took apart District 10 power Reynolds, 43-16. The Hawks won 10 of the 14 bouts.