Weekly Rewind: Feb. 18-23
Postseason action really started to heat up this week.
The district basketball fields have been whittled to the semifinalists, wrestling crowned its champs Saturday night and the best divers in the district took home medals Saturday.
Tons and tons of things to get to this week:
1. How about that scene at Milton Hershey's Spartan Center on Saturday?
The glistening on-campus facility played host to a District 3 Class AAA girls' basketball quadruple header. For the most part, it was a YAIAA block party.
West York started things off by winning a physical battle vs. Berks Catholic, 58-46. Then, Susquehannock stunned previously unbeaten Lancaster Catholic, 59-53, to set up a semifinal vs. the Bulldogs on Wednesday at Giant Center starting at 5 p.m.
After Gettysburg beat Big Spring, 48-39, in game No. 3, Eastern York took top-seeded Palmyra to OT. The Golden Knights came up short, 72-63, but are still alive in the consolation bracket. Eastern York meets Big Spring at Cumberland Valley on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The loser is eliminated.
2. Speaking of overtime games, the top-seeded Dover girls worked a couple of extra minutes Friday night to beat No. 8 Hershey, 41-38.
The above link includes video of the final frantic minutes courtesy of Chris Fidler from the Lebanon Daily News.
Dover gets No. 4 Central Dauphin on Monday at Hershey's Giant Center. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.
Earlier in the week, Alayah Hall scored her 1,000th career point to help the Eagles cruise past Governor Mifflin, 66-46.
3. To round out the girls' basketball action for the week, both No. 1 York Catholic and No. 2 Delone Catholic easily advanced to Monday's semifinals.
The Irish took down Hanover, 56-14, and meet No. 4 Annville-Cleona at 6 p.m. at Penn Manor. The Squirettes ended Biglerville's season, 62-33, and also travel to Penn Manor where they'll tangle with No. 3 Oley Valley at 7:30 p.m.
4. William Penn made its path to the District 3 Class AAAA semifinals look quite easy.
The third-seeded Bearcats jumped out to a big lead in and held on for a 74-66 win vs. Hempfield on Wednesday in the first round. Then, in the quarterfinals against the defending champion, William Penn never trailed in a 72-47 rout of Chambersburg at Giant Center.
Tavon Parker was the catalyst in both games. He scored 32 against the Black Knights and added 31 vs. the Trojans.
The Bearcats return to Giant Center on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. semifinal vs. No. 2 JP McCaskey.
5. Northeastern is still alive for one of the district's seven berths to the PIAA Class AAA playoffs, but the Bobcats were eliminated from title contention Friday with a 43-38 loss to top-seeded Susquehanna Township.
In Class AA, Delone Catholic fought off a scrappy Hanover side, 59-47, on Saturday to reach the semifinals at Giant Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The second-seeded Squires face No. 3 Camp Hill.
York Catholic saw it season end Saturday vs. Columbia, 77-69, on Saturday in the 3-AA quarterfinals.
In Class A, New Hope Academy drilled visiting Bible Baptist, 64-32, to reach the semifinals. The third-seeded Mighty Ants head to East Pennsboro for a matchup with second-seeded Lebanon Catholic on Monday at 6 p.m.
6. The YAIAA didn't fare particularly well in District 3 Class AAA wrestling.
In fact, Chance Marsteller was the lone big-school wrestler to come away with a gold medal, which was his third straight. Marsteller, a junior at Kennard-Dale, cut through the 160-pound field before meeting returning state champion Garrett Peppelman of Central Dauphin.
No worries, Marsteller had to work the full six minutes but still managed a rather impressive 7-2 win.
In Class AA, Hanover produced a pair of champions in Ian Brown (132) and Tyler Shafer (138). Bermudian's Travis Shelton (145) and Biglerville's Trevor Stover (285) also won gold medals.
7. Switching gears now, the YAIAA will send three female divers and one male diver to the PIAA Class AAA Championships after Saturday's District 3 competition at Governor Mifflin Intermediate School.
Northeastern standout Rebecca Gross nabbed first place on the girls' side with 391.85 points. She will be joined at the state meet by Dover's Morgan Stambaugh (fourth) and Elizabeth Rothrock of Dallastown (fifth).
South Western's Maison Hammen finished one spot and 4.15 points from advancing.
YAIAA champion Gabe Patil of Central York finished sixth and was the lone area boy to qualify for states. Wilson sophomore Joe Warker took home the gold.