Camp Hill Finds The Remedy As Lions Start Fast, Tally First Win Of The Season At Pequea Valley
Written by: Andy Herr on December 30, 2022
Sometimes, all you really need on this wild and crazy highway known as the high school basketball season is a spark. It’s true. Even while those on the outside may not suspect it at first blush, but for or as long and as grueling as the year can be at times, it is easy to get bogged down and trapped in the malaise of the three-month gauntlet that it is. Within that, it’s equally as easy to get caught in unfortunate losing skids where the wins simply don’t come as easily, nor as often as anyone would like. In that case, two teams who may fit such a description? Well, Camp Hill and Pequea Valley for starters.
No, it’s not as if the effort or anything such as that has been lacking or even questioned for both the Lions and Braves respectively thus far, but when you play in a formidable conference such as the Mid-Penn (Hello, Camp Hill) and when you compare that of Pequea Valley’s situation which comes with playing in what most certainly had to have been the only division in all of the mid-state send three teams into the District 3 championship round last year in Lancaster Country Day (1A), Lancaster Mennonite (2A), and Columbia (3A), with the latter two going on to win their respective district crowns up at Giant Center, it’s easy to see just how treacherous the road to ho can be at times over the winter months for some. However, when you get the opportunity to pit two teams who find themselves in eerily similar situations up against one another head-to-head, it quickly becomes apparent as how to why and how extra energy and “juice” figures gets brought to the metaphorical table given that the sweet nectar of victory is right there and your fingertips to enjoy once and for. And wouldn’t you know it, but that just so happened to be the case on Friday morning –yes, morning — when Camp Hill gassed up the bus and ventured into Lancaster County in search of their first win of the season against a Pequea Valley club equally as starving for fulfillment given that the Braves came in riding what would have been a seven-game losing skid had it not been for a pivotal win on the road over Biglerville, 48-45, back on December 21st.
Yet based on just the start alone on Friday, it was easy to see as to why Camp Hill was eager and determined to make this their day to finally celebrate on a bus ride home.
Oh yeah, regarding that beginning of this particular nonconference affair? Let’s just say that the Lions couldn’t have drawn it up any better had they hired their own scriptwriter.
With the Camp Hill offense starting to click, thanks in part to a confident pullup jumper sunk in the lane courtesy of 6’3 sophomore forward, Alex Long, the visitors by way of Cumberland County found themselves in front at 6-0 near the five-minute mark of the first quarter which quickly became an 8-0 buffer following a Benjamin Ellis bucket inside, prompting the hosts to burn an early timeout with 3:58 still left to play in the opening frame.
But not even an impromptu break in the action seemed to do much of anything when it came to deterring the Lions’ quick start.
In terms of specifics, Camp Hill would see their first quarter lead swell to a margin as large as 14-0 following a theft and layup by way of junior guard, Jack Kennedy, with seven of the opening eight minutes already having been evaporated off the first quarter clock by that time. Finally, and not a moment too soon as far as Pequea Valley had to be concerned, the Braves would crack into the scoring column courtesy of much-needed trifecta splashed home via 6’0 junior guard, Myles Furlong, before a subsequent lay-in down on the other end for the Lions on the ensuing offensive possession lowered the curtain on a dazzling first quarter of play authored in totality by Camp Hill, an achievement best evidenced by their 16-3 advantage after one.
In the second period though, the Braves finally began to make some serious hay.
Sure enough, even despite spotting Camp Hill a 3-ball that came via the handiwork of senior guard, Breagin Buxton, that upped the Lions’ lead to a 21-5 count, a successful steal and finish by PV’s Joerick Irizarry capped off a 5-0 Braves’ spurt while the junior point guard for Pequea Valley also helped bring his troops back within single digits, 19-10, before an enormous triple hit not long afterwards by 5’11 senior, Landyn Mealy, truly cut Camp Hill’s lead down to size at 19-13 with 2:36 left before intermission.
Yet even with Pequea Valley starting to throw cold water onto Camp Hill’s raging fire right then and there, the Lions remained poised and unphased despite the ongoing Braves’ onslaught.
Perhaps there was no better example to illustrate the Lions’ mental fortitude during the impromptu Pequea Valley blitzkrieg than Jack Kennedy as Kennedy proceeded to pour in two critical trifectas in back-to-back fashion for his side, an exchange which propelled the blue-clad visitors out to the 28-16 lead in an effort to rebuke the Braves’ collective momentum swing. In short, it seemed to work considering that the final few minutes of the second frame would eventually expire with the Lions continuing to hold serve, 28-20, as both teams retired to their respective dressing rooms for the halftime break.
However, much in the same vein as for what had just occurred inside the second quarter, Pequea Valley was warm to the fight that Camp Hill had brought to them.
Case in point, a 5-0 salvo that came solely from PV’s leading scorer on the season, Jackson Neff, as the Braves’ junior guard was able to cash in on a trey before a steal and finish on the very next possession, an exchange in momentum that brought the hosts within just three at 29-26 with roughly half of the third quarter still yet to be played.
Here again though, Camp Hill would have the answer to this riddle as well.
Ironically enough, the Lions’ rebuttal would come immediately following Neff’s mini run as a spot-up jumper hit by Camp Hill’s Alex Long helped to stem the tide back in their favor the very next trip down the floor. Then, not far behind, the other “twin tower” of sorts found in the Camp Hill rotation, Benjamin Ellis, was able to seal off his man magnificently while operating in down in the low post which led to an easy deuce at the tin for the Lions’ 6’5 senior forward which also simultaneously helped Camp Hill carry the 36-28 lead with them into the final stanza once the final handful of seconds wound up ticking off the game clock.
The fourth quarter? That would just help to serve as a Camp Hill coronation in this one. And as would be in the most emphatic of ways possible to eliminate any lingering doubts, the Lions would end up sealing the deal by scoring in bunches inside.
First up, a man-sized three-point play via Jack Kennedy which put the Camp Hill back in front by double digits, 39-28, with six minutes still left to go. From there, a pair of takes to the rack thanks to the efforts of Alex Long which made it a 43-28 Camp Hill affair roughly 1:15 later.
All being said however, the exclamation point of the final few minutes was nothing if not clearly defined seeing as how it came in the form of a powerful, two-handed dunk from the aforementioned Ellis, as the game’s leading scorer would post the two most resounding points of his 16-point afternoon by quite literally doing a chin-up on the rim with traffic scattered beneath his feet to make it a 45-28 Lions’ lead with time on the sand dial beginning to run out fast from Pequea Valley’s perspective.
However, even with the eventual outcome seeming to be all but a formality by that point in time, the Braves continued to live up to their moniker.
For proof of that, it’d be easy to cite a key 3-ball hit by Landyn Mealy, his second such trifecta of the day that cut the Camp Hill lead down to a much more modest baker’s dozen, 49-36, with two minutes still left to go before a fearless, yet equally confident 3-ball hit by PV’s Ethan Davis mere seconds after he checked into he contest for the first time all day, got Pequea Valley within a dozen at 51-39 with a shade over one minute still to go.
Even still, it was evident by that juncture that the solid days’ worth of work accrued by Camp Hill at that point was more than enough to push them over the proverbial finish line as they would indeed make good on that opportunity for a happy ride home following their 53-39 triumph over Pequea Valley in what would be the Lions’ first win posted yet this season.
NEXT UP: For as strange as the first month of this season has already been in no small part to the general overall wonkiness that came with moving the entire year up a week earlier than normal with schedules seeming to be totally off-balance from one team to the next, here’s another odd tidbit that comes once we enter the month of January—Pequea Valley has yet to play a league game. Yep, yet even while it may be true in the here and now, the Braves will finally get the opportunity to scratch that itch on Thursday night against Lancaster Country Day, but not before another nonconference test awaits in the form of Millersburg on Tuesday night while out on the road somewhere inside the ceiling of Dauphin County for what they certainly hope will in turn serve as their ignition to perhaps light a flame under their season with January and February still on deck.
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