In Microcosm Of Season To Date, Dallastown Responds To Early Adversity As Wildcats Erase Second Half Deficit, Ride Roberts’ Big Night Past Penn Manor To Championship Game Of Warwick Holiday Tournament

Written by: Andy Herr on December 27, 2025

So, what did you get for Christmas? After all, it was just the other day. Hopefully there was something nice waiting for you all gift-wrapped and whatnot sitting there under the tree.

Hopefully nice for you personally, but not everyone was looking for something all that materialistic, mind you. No, especially not the Dallastown nor Penn Manor boys’ basketball teams most of all.

Coming into Saturday night’s opener of the 2025 MyJersey Warwick Holiday Tournament, beginning a day later than anticipated thanks to Mother Nature inserting herself into the equation by providing an ice storm that moved Friday opening proceedings back to Saturday night instead, the added day’s wait for both the Wildcats and Comets to try and conjure up a victory probably felt even more aggravating if you happened to ask either side.

Part of the reason? Almost surely due to the combined 4-11 overall record that both squads brought with them into Saturday’s lid-lifter at Warwick with Dallastown, not having tasted victory since a commanding triumph found over South Western back on December 12^th, coming in to Lititz with a 1-6 overall mark to their name, matching up Penn Manor, the Comets standing at 3-5 overall, yet coming off two straight losses, including a decisive 80-44 final verdict last time out against a potent West York bunch who has already ransacked a few Lancaster-Lebanon League teams.

Needless to say, without any sort of further deep dive all that truly necessary, these were two teams that just wanted the fat man from the North Pole to bring with him a win – likely in the worst possible way for whichever team could be so fortunate to have it bestowed upon them.

And hey, when you add in that a win here meant a future date in a game with the word “championship” attached to it for the tourney’s grand finale upcoming on Tuesday evening, snatching up a win couldn’t have been more paramount for either of these two 6A outfits before reentering their respective league slates come the start of January.

Fortunately, at least as far as the lone group representing York County in this four-team field had to feel at the end of 32 minutes, Santa prefers his blue to come with a shade of white compared to that of the color gold if the final outcome in this one was any sort of indication.

As they often have a propensity to do, Dallastown scored right off the opening tap. Like, literally right after.

And while Carson Meyer was able to score an easy deuce at the cup after the ball came free from the center circle to give the Wildcats a quick 2-0 lead mere seconds into the contest, that was just about the last instance in which Dallastown would be found playing from in front for most of the evening.

In fact, Penn Manor’s Kyle Knutsen would retaliate in kind with a triple on the ensuing offensive possession for the Comets, laying the groundwork not long afterwards for a take to the bucket by way of another senior in Penn Manor rotation, Peyton Englert, as Englert’s bucket helped the Comets gain a bit of separation found in a 9-4 difference with 3:40 left to play in the opening frame to help cap off an impromptu Comets’ blitz.

That said, as would be a precursor for the rest of the night at large, just when Penn Manor likely felt good about things, Dallastown continued to be the throbbing headache that the Comets simply couldn’t remedy with anything over the counter.

Sure enough, that earlier five-point gap would be trimmed down to just a pair following a bucket inside by Dallastown junior big man, Wydean Roberts, before a triple splashed in on the next Wildcats’ offensive trip courtesy of another junior, Tanner Knaub, cut the difference down to 13-11, before the opening eight minutes would later expire with Penn Manor still out in front, 15-11, to conclude a first quarter marred by plenty of fits and starts from either side.

By this point, while it may have only been just one quarter’s worth of evidence to base your findings off of, the idea of either one of these two clubs being able to simply run away and hide from the other seemed preposterous at best. With that in mind, seeing the score get knotted up at 17-17 following another Roberts bucket inside before a pullup jumper sunk by Dallastown 5’10 freshman guard, Camden Petry, seemed nothing if not apropos.

In fact, in terms of “distance”, the best the Comets would be able to muster up throughout the latter portions of the second stanza came at a three-point bulge, such as the case when Knutson, on his way towards finishing alongside Elijah Fisher in securing team-high scoring honors for the Comets on Saturday night with each netting a nine-point showing next to their names, sunk a jumper to make it a 20-17 Penn Manor cushion before a pair of Zac King freebies at the charity stripe inside the final minute kept the difference at three, 23-20, once the first half buzzer ultimately sounded with Penn Manor enjoying the spoils of a halftime lead.

But come the start of the third frame, with the outcome still right there for the taking between two equally starved teams, Penn Manor got the dinner table first.

Almost quietly by and large, following a pair of Tristan Ronan free throws knocked down at the line at the 5:10 mark of the quarter, were the Comets suddenly seen flirting with the idea of owning a double digit lead given how Ronan’s 2-2 trip to the line made it a 30-22 Penn Manor lead with Dallastown struggling to get out of the starting blocks to begin the second half.

Then, that flirtation blossomed into something tangible while on the heels of a Grant Bradburn theft and finish for the Comets as the Penn Manor senior guard made it a 34-24 lead with 4:21 left to play, awarding the gang from Millersville their largest such lead held at any point yet seen on Saturday night.

Down by 10. Half of the third quarter gone. Nothing feeling like it’s going your way. Haven’t won a game in two full weeks.

By this point, it might’ve seemed like last rites were about to be read to Dallastown in terms of this game’s eventual outcome with the Wildcats having to fight uphill and then some. Then again, when you have the likes of a Wydean Roberts on your side, you at least have a shovel to dig out with. That, and a fighting chance.

In the fall, the Dallastown 6’6 junior plays down in the trenches while on the school’s football team. Even there, Roberts likely stands out underneath the Friday night lights. In the winter though, once it’s time to ditch the helmet and pads for the shorts and sneakers, there likely isn’t anyone that can offer a like-comparison to that of the Wildcats’ centerpiece who patrols the paint –on any night. And here, that certainly wasn’t the case when matched up against these relatively undersized Comets.

To say that Roberts’ involvement was crucial to Dallastown righting the ship against Penn Manor would be gross understatement. Aside from hauling down a litany of rebounds, Roberts quite literally effected the way in which Penn Manor had to explore their offensive options – not the least came inside the painted area most of all. But, if a tangible way to measure his impact on the game is indeed the most important, look no further than his pair of back-to-back buckets with the third quarter winding down, as this Roberts’ four-point salvo made it a 36-28 Penn Manor lead with 2:40 left to play in the third.

Then, with Roberts lighting the match, his teammates provided the detonation.

Case in point, a 3-ball sunk by the lone senior inside the Wildcats’ rotation on Saturday night, Chase Meyer, making it a 38-33 ballgame with 1:05 left in the third. Then, since it is the season for giving, Roberts was able to tally an assist to his credit once he was able to hook up with his fellow junior, Carson Meyer, as Meyer came away with a bucket in transition thrown to him by Roberts to then slice the Comets’ lead down to its fewest since the conclusion of the second quarter, 38-35, before the third quarter would conclude on a Dallastown flurry considering the miniscule 38-37 lead which Penn Manor possessed prior to entering the final stanza.

But you can go ahead and forget anything akin to a flurry. The fourth quarter just proved itself to be a full-on Dallastown blizzard.

Fittingly, Roberts, on his way to finishing with game-high scoring honors by virtue of tossing in a 20-point night at the office to pace the Wildcats’ cause, tallied a deuce inside on the first Dallastown offensive trip of the final period to give D-town their first lead enjoyed since in the infant stages of the first act, now at 39-38.

And while Kyle Knutson would respond in kind with a triple on the next Penn Manor possession to give the lead back to the Comets, that would be just about the last of the good vibes that PM would be able to enjoy down the homeward mile.

Specifically, the last gasp in terms of a Penn Manor lead would be extinguished in the aftermath of a Chase Meyer three-point play through contact, making it now a 45-43 Wildcats’ lead with 5:40 left to go.

From there, the D-town lead would balloon out to four, 47-43, following the handiwork of a Tripp Barton bucket amongst the tall trees just a minute and change following the Meyer’s earlier exploits.

Then, saving his best for last, Wydean Roberts proceeded to be the definition of a matchup nightmare by scoring over the course of three Dallastown possessions after bullying his way to whatever and wherever he wanted to go inside, as this Roberts’-led spurt in closing time largely put this one out of reach for any sort of Penn Manor comeback bid.

But, if a punctuation mark was indeed deemed necessary, those honors would likely go to Chase Meyer, finishing with a baker’s dozen to his credit by the final buzzer, as the senior’s emphatic take to the cup in the waning stages helped to put the bow on this much-needed, albeit belated Christmas present for the Dallastown contingent by virtue of a gutty, come-from-behind 59-47 victory over Penn Manor to move them on and into the championship round that now awaits the Wildcats’ arrival on Tuesday night.

“All season, we’ve had these ebbs and flows…I just had faith that those guys were going to keep battling,” Dallastown head coach, Mike Grassel, offered up in the postgame following his team’s first win experienced since earlier in the month. “They wanted it,” Grassel added of his group coming out victorious. “They wanted it badly.”

“I felt okay because we were down three at the half and I don’t think we could’ve played much worse,” Grassel offered up when asked about the optimism he was seen exuding upon his troops inside the team’s huddles even while his team was encountering choppy waters at times against Penn Manor. “And we wanted to attack the mismatch. We had the big guy inside. When we hit him with the ball and when he gets down deep enough (in the lane), he gets 20 points like he did tonight,” he added regarding the cheat code formally known as Wydean Roberts and his production found on this night against the Comets’ cast. “That, and Chase Meyer had a helluva second half where he was key with taking the care of the ball and things like that. Again, that’s all just a credit to our guys.”

“We’ve handled adversity all year,” Grassel continued of his team’s start of the campaign thus far. “Today, it was no different…That’s okay. Our guys need to learn to handle all that,” he remarked. “But yeah, that adversity I think fueled our guys to play a little harder. I was just proud of our guys for not reacting and keeping their cool when maybe certain things didn’t go our way.”

“Our schedule certainly hasn’t been friendly either,” the former Elizabethtown Bear during his high school playing days highlighted of his current team’s initial slate that included the likes of Central York, Red Lion, McCaskey, and a still unbeaten Conestoga Valley crew to name just a few of the Wildcats’ first handful of opponents in the month of December. “I think we’ve played like five of the top six teams in District 3 so far,” he detailed of the early gauntlet. “Tonight, we were playing another 6A team, one with a similar makeup, and we battled. We really battled. We’re never going to fold. Tonight, we didn’t, and it went in our favor.”

Now, a trophy can be found around the bend. For a team that just picked up their second win of the season, that’s certainly not something lost on the Wildcats’ head man.

“Heck yeah it’s a big deal,” Grassel was quick to answer when asked if a holiday tournament title fits such a description. “Every game for us is a big deal with we’re sitting right now. People try and say it’s not. They’re full of it,” Grassel then said of the naysayers in good humor who negate a title won that doesn’t occur during the actual postseason. “I’d love to go get a championship. What better way to send us into 2026 than with a championship? I don’t care if it’s tiddlywinks. We’re trying to win…We’re going to battle. No matter who it ends up being on Tuesday night, it’s going to be a quality team, and it’ll be a dogfight.”

For the record, it’ll be Warwick who draws Dallastown’s date on Tuesday night in said title fight after the hosts scrapped and clawed their way to a victory over their foremost rival found in this holiday tournament historically, Lancaster Catholic, as the Warriors topped the Crusaders, 58-52, in the opposite semifinal held Saturday evening.

There, with eventual tournament MVP honors still up for a lively debate, Dallastown might just bring the frontrunner of the entire discussion, Wydean Roberts, with them into the ring.

“I felt like coming out at halftime, we were down a little bit,” Roberts acknowledged of the Wildcats’ emotional state through the first 16 minutes that saw them trailing. “But I’m the type of player on my team where if I get low (emotionally), then my team gets low. If I get hot, then that makes the other guys get hot,” Roberts then remarked of his role in team’s overall construction. “That makes my other teammates get more energy and it just gets the whole team going. When I start hitting (shots), that impacts everyone else’s energy and it just feeds onto the entire team.”

Um yeah. His own second half performance certainly lent credence to that notion against Penn Manor given how everyone seemed to rally around Roberts’ cause.

“We’ve been in multiple, multiple situations like that before,” Roberts said of having to come back and deal with adverse circumstances where his light ended up shining its brightest against the Comets. “We just know when to turn it on and how to do it,” he added. “We just know how to get our guys to come together as one because we’ve doing it all year so far.”

But what they haven’t done so far is hoist a trophy or call themselves champions. Something not lost on Roberts and crew as they look forward to the eight o’clock hour while back at Warwick on Tuesday night.

“Oh yeah. That would be real nice,” said Roberts of the possibility of riding back home across the Susquehanna River while on the team bus home with a trophy coming back in tow. “We just have to bring the energy from the jump again. It doesn’t matter who we play. We just have each other. If we bring the energy, bring the juice, we got it.”

On Saturday, they did precisely that. A couple of days late on the calendar perhaps, but the first initial Christmas gift that the Dallastown Wildcats were hoping to receive all the same.