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Dell’s Column Dec. 17th
 

Dell’s Column Dec. 17th

Written by: Dell Jackson on December 17, 2017

 

Dec 17th column

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LLhoops.com coverage…
Normally I would recap some games that I have seen in this slot. However, since LLhoops.com has been posting via wraps or podcasts, I’ll skip the recaps as most can be found under Andy’s take and Dell’s column. Teams observed this weeks LL teams include: Spot, Penn Manor, Cocalico, Ephrata, Etown, Crest, McCaskey, Hempfield, LS, Lancaster Cath, and Donegal. Eleven out of the LL’s 24 teams is a great start. Our part-time photographer and web-master, Kirk N, is starting to get out to games as well. He gets credit for our newest pict. on the right side of all pages.

Dell’s take…so far
As stated in the twitter world, Section 1 appears to be a bitter struggle. Crest, Hempfield, and TWP all have zero losses at this point- that will change next week as teams will play against each other. I checked out PM multiple times due to keeping the scorebook – one can never take the place of a legend (Joe Herman)- for the Comets. PM has potential for disrupting teams on the defensive end. The Comets have speed galore (Kevin Roldan, 5”11” jn., Luis Tamayo, 5’7” jn, Anthony Rosario 5’9” jn.) They will need to develop consistent scoring in order to compete at the top level in Section 1. Off guard, Ty Erisman, 6’1” jn, wrote us this week on our poll- we can only put in 4 teams – and stated that PM should be there. As I tell everyone “that’s why we play” 🙂

Section 2
I like LS a lot, but I have not seen other Section 2 teams. Ryan Smith, 6’10” sn, put on a double display vs. Lancaster Cath. last week – something like 24 pts and 15 rebounds and 5 blocks. From afar, contenders seem to be Spot and Ephrata.

Section 3
Lancaster Cath. was checked out 3 times by this reporter last week. The Crusaders are very balanced, play hard, have some height, and, as always, are well coached. Coach Joe Klazas has over 240 wins in his pocket—that total will increase this season. Lancaster Mennonite is hanging around as usual. Surprise teams, maybe, are AC (a group of seniors that have played a LOT of varsity ball) and Northern Lebanon. The Vikes established themselves as legit with a big 60-55 win over AC last week.

We normally don’t get into other leagues in the District 3 area but….A very special congrats goes to Adam Freese, 6’3” sn, of Kennard Dale (@KDHoops717 @adamfreese13) on his 1000 point this week. I saw him in person vs. PM. Andy Herr mentioned him early and he did not disappoint as he tossed in 31 vs. the Comets. 1000 points is a great accomplishment for any players….not only that but his family gave us all sorts of new followers this week 🙂

Crest/York at the Wells Fargo Center….
Coach Smith got us a contact number for the game. Dell and long time helper/friend/confidant Mike Wildisin headed down the “express-way” on Friday. We left Lancaster at 11:15 and asked our on-star advisor for directions. We headed down Rt 41 when the on-star lady told us to take a right….well, finally we did thinking it would cut off time….that would be a “no” as we crawled along the “Surekill” at 15 mph. ..We got nestled in just in time for the 2:15 tip.

Check out Podcast for the game wrap, and Coach Smiths interview after the game.

I participated in 2 of these trips while coaching at Penn Manor. The games are exciting and stressful all at the same time. The game was played in front of about 300 people – scrimmage atmosphere – and at 2:15 in the afternoon on a huge, well –lit NBA court. Something always seems to go wrong (like the shot clock going off in the first possession). Both teams took awhile to crank up the level of play, but the game was close and came down the stretch. York High got to the rim late in the fourth, and Crest was not real good from the line, 6/17. Both coaches cleared the benches towards the end of the game giving all players a chance to play on the big floor.

Aside…went home a different way and ..well only a 3 ½ hr trip home- snow, ice, traffic, more snow (counted 6 cars in ditches on the way). No double headers for llhoops Friday night. J…AND we were watched by Cedars Crest elementary class, Mr Rohrbach’s class @ebenezerB118 on the whiteboard = priceless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LLhoops.com site-me
I try to get some feedback on what we are doing well or not…for example
“What to you think of the “podcasts” – “love it” “don’t do that stuff”  … guess one can never trust the twitter polls 🙂

We will keep the podcasts and see how it goes. I know new things take time. Andy Herr gave us a great wrap this week.

We figured out the standings section. I’ll sort them by LL wins….not percentages. In the end it will all work out.

Berksbeat opens…thanks Bruce B for expanding our coverage- great videos from Berks Co games and LL games. The plans, as of now, are to have Andy and Bruce double team an LL game on Friday. We will be sure to tweet our where abouts on game day.  @llhoops @andybrackets @BadgleyBruce..also our friend at @LancLebsports covers an LL game.

Neast Beat—welcome back Jon K@LLHoopsNEPbeat After some growing pains, it seems like Jon k is up and running….COLORS will appear this week.

 

 

 

The week ahead…
Key games= All LL games 🙂

Monday Dec 18: Spot at Ephrata, ELCO at LMHS

Wed. Dec 20:
TWP at Hempfield, Donegal at Spot, Lanc. Cath at AC

Friday Dec. 22:
TWP @ Crest, LS @ Spot, Columbia at Lanc. Cath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LL Trivia
No answers to last weeks trivia? We can usually count on Nate G., @nateg0875 to take a stab at the answer: Perhaps folks can put a guess in the comments section on this post?

“LL trivia: Coach Joe Klazas has over 200 wins in the LL. Besides Coach Powell, McCaskey (over 400), what coach has the most LL victories with his CURRENT team?”

That would be Geoff Groff of Lancaster Mennonite: 2 stints totally 384 (not counting this year). On his second stint he leads all current LL coaches with 147 wins.

LL trivia: McCaskey has the most wins (785) since the LL started in 1972. Can you name the next TWO programs with the most W’s?

Thought of the week:
“Perfection is impossibility but striving for perfection is not. Do the best you can. That is what counts.” – John Wooden, UCLA

Funniest thing this week: I asked long time Warwick scorer, Tom Clausen, who I should concentrate on (like their best player) and he said watch #10. I watched the entire game #10 did not play. I checked the book and ….there is no #10 🙂

Twitter Quote of the week: from @HempStudSec18 and the winners of an LLhoops lanyard. Replying to a tweet saying Hempfield stunned Carlisle… “Stuns” is not the right word, if you guys knew what you were talking about you would have known we were gonna win

A big thanks to our twitter friends with scores. Will list some of our “go to” folks next column.

~dell jackson

 

 

 

 

 

 

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