Annville-Cleona Makes Most Of ‘Second Life’ Following Overtime Loss To Pequea Valley As Dutchmen Wake Up To Surprise In Standings, Race Past Susquenita In Regular Season Finale To Likely Scoop Up Final District 3-3A Playoff Spot
Written by: Andy Herr on February 9, 2024
When you get right down to it, what more could you possibly ask for on the final night of the season? Of course, a little luck along the way certainly doesn’t hurt the mission either. For the Annville-Cleona Dutchmen, that’s exactly what Thursday night in their regular season finale offered to them—A chance.
A chance to find their way into the District 3-3A playoff field by securing the very last spot into the dance. A chance to try and right the wrongs that besmirched them on Wednesday night with a home loss to Pequea Valley, a Section Four foe, with the Braves nipping on the Dutchmen’s heels for a game that could’ve been viewed as a knock-out game given its head-to-head nature. However, whether you consider it to be under the umbrella of “luck,” or just flat-out black and white mathematics at work, A-C nonetheless entered Thursday while still presiding over top of Pequea Valley despite losing in overtime on their home floor to the Braves just 24 hours prior. From there, even with both Annville-Cleona and Pequea Valley both returning to the floor for their respective finales on Thursday night, A-C’s opponent, Susquenita, was still placed higher in the 3A power ratings coming into the night comparatively speaking to PV’s adversary, Tulpehocken.
Needless to say, doing whatever you can to try and remove as much doubt as possible found in winning straight up is certainly the more preferred method of attack. For that, even if they may have still been licking their wounds coming out of Wednesday night’s overtime crusher, there was no time remaining on Annville-Cleona’s clock to let another opportunity pass them by considering their new lease on life coming against the Blackhawks from Susquenita. If that were to happen, the Dutchmen likely would’ve used up their very last lifeline at the 11th hour.
Instead, while granted with that precious opportunity in seeing the sun rise another day for them and their season at large, Annville-Cleona would indeed make the most of their second chance. And candidly, the eventual outcome was never up for debate whatsoever almost right from the initial tip on Thursday night.
While one may have understandably assumed that the Dutchmen would start out a bit timid given how they now knew full-well they had absolutely zero margin for error when it came to dealing with Susquenita, A-C was the exact antithesis. True to form, Annville-Cleona’s two-headed monster, Jon Shay and Elisha Slabach, began the evening in earnest for their side. Case in point, Shay being his usual bullying-self inside by tallying four of the first six A-C points before the flamethrower of the pair, Slabach, got into the act by burying a triple which saw the hosts race out to an early 11-0 advantage with 4:20 left in the period.
That said, aside from looking about two steps faster than their counterparts found in that of the Blackhawks, Annville-Cleona’s defensive prowess in the first frame was prevelant to even the naked eye. In one such example, with the Dutchmen owning the 15-0 lead at the time, Dominic Caciotti was able to rise up and swat a would-be Susquenita shot into the A-C student section with the visitors struggling to march uphill to say the least amid the early Dutchmen onslaught, thanks in no small part to the 6’1 junior’s rejection.
All told, Susquenita would not be able to crack the scoreboard until the 2:33 mark of the first quarter once Ryan Schoppy was able to deliver the Blackhawks’ first points of the evening courtesy of going 2-2 at the charity stripe to make it a 15-2 affair.
But remember that aforementioned A-C duo? Well, Susquenita most certainly does now.
While riding their defensive prowess to an eventual opening eight minutes which saw Annville-Cleona surrender zero field goals to the opposition, the complementary aspect of it all was working in for A-C like a finely tuned machine. Example 1A forthcoming with another bucket chipped in via Shay, en route to his 17-point night’s worth of work, before Slabach, the third-leading scorer in all the L-L League, sprayed in one more trifecta before the first quarter horn sounded which punctuated a resounding first quarter performance that saw the Dutchmen race out of the gate to a 22-2 lead.
Yet as the second quarter would demonstrate as well, Annville-Cleona’s first quarter showing was anything but an aberration.
Ironically, the Dutchmen remained as white-hot as their uniforms to begin the second frame considering how 6’0 sophomore, Hudson Sellers, was able to come away with a stick-back bunny at the tin to make it a 24-2 A-C lead before a pair of Shay freebies knocked down at the charity stripe saw the lead swell to an almost unthinkable 29-2 difference with 5:25 left before the halftime recess with the mercy-rule being just a whisker away.
Finally, and even while the eventual outcome was essentially already out of reach at that particular time, Susquenita was at long last able to tally their first field goal of the evening courtesy of Mason Jenkins knocking one down from beyond the arc, making it a 29-5 ballgame before a pullup jumper sunk by A-C 5’9 junior guard, Bryce Keller, upped the Dutchmen cushion to 31-5 roughly a minute later.
From there, the Annville-Cleona microwave, Elisha Slabach, only continued to wreak havoc on any Susquenita gameplan. Aside from what would be a “typical” 24-point showing by the A-C 6’2 junior dynamo, a Slabach reverse finish at the cup which preceded another bucket of his off a curl cut mere moments before the second quarter buzzer allowed Annville-Cleona not just to run, but essentially fly into the locker room with ownership of the 37-10 advantage at the halftime break.
To their credit though, Nita’s Blackhawks came out of the dressing room for the second half firing both literally and figuratively.
Literally in the sense that a pair of 3-balls splashed in by their leading scorer on the night, Jacob Brown, who paced the squad with an eight-point showing, got the visitors from the river town of Duncannon off to a solid start when it came to the third quarter proceedings. Shortly thereafter, the hot-shooting touch seemed to be contagious for the club as yet another Susquenita trifecta, this one via Tristen Brown, got the Blackhawks back within 20 essentially considering the 40-19 difference with 5:40 left in the third by that point.
But even when they were able to make any sort of headway, Annville-Cleona continued to demonstrate that they weren’t exactly the most hospitable of hosts towards Susquenita.
For that became demonstrated once the lone senior within the Dutchmen rotation, 6’2 Ben Morcom, immediately rebuked the Susquenita volley with an old-fashioned three-point play on the ensuing A-C possession following the Brown triple to tilt momentum back in A-C’s good graces.
In fact, one could argue that the Morcom-led salvo eventually helped trigger the mercy-rule into effect which officially took place once Hudson Sellers was able to author a stick-back deuce at the tin to make it a 52-22 A-C lead and nothing but a running clock presiding the rest of the way home with 2:22 left in the quarter. And while the Dutchmen’s lead would stand at 30 at the conclusion of the third, there was little reason to be sweating this one out considering how a Jonathon Shay stroll to the bucket made it a 54-26 Annville-Cleona cushion with a fast final eight minutes figuring to be right around the corner.
However, not even a running clock seemed to do much either when it came to Annville-Cleona continuing to land punches inside the final frame.
At this point, the only outstanding question left unanswered was whether or not everyone dressed in a Dutchmen uniform would be able to crack into the scoring column before the night was over with. Well, one of those key elements became a moot point once 6’2 junior, Bryson Fogelsanger, was able to get the final stanza started with a bucket before ironically enough, one of A-C’s five starters, Wyatt Mase, finally notched his first points of the evening as well following the 5’10 sophomore point guard’s take to the tin which made it a 58-30 Annville-Cleona cushion with 4:30 left to play.
But that by point, the only real feelings of uneasiness in the tank hinged on whether the math gods would shine favorably upon A-C once everything was tabulated considering how the Dutchmen had certainly held up their end of the bargain when it came to the assignment given a final curtain call at The Barn that would culminate in a 61-32 Dutchmen win over Susquenita in a contest that was never up for debate in any way, shape, or form.
Admittedly, if you, a member of the general public, were understandably a bit perplexed as to how a team found directly behind another in the District 3 power rankings would be able to beat the team in front of them head-to-head –ending in a season sweep no less– yet still be ranked below said foe come the very next morning, you’re not alone. It even caught Annville-Cleona by surprise too.
“We told (his team), we need help now. We need (Pequea Valley) to lose, and we need to win,” Annville-Cleona head coach Jason Coletti acknowledged postgame on Thursday night as it pertained to Wednesday night’s message following their 50-42 overtime loss against Pequea Valley. “When I looked this morning (at the rankings) at first, I was like, ‘Oh, they didn’t put (the game) in yet.’ Then, like an hour later I checked again, and it was in. I was like, ‘That can’t be right….Is it?’”
“But, if you look through everything, and I know (PV) beat us twice and they’ll be sour about it, and they should be, but we beat Oley Valley who’s in. Mount Carmel has a .500 record. Williams Valley has a .500 record. It’s just one of those fluke years where we’re neck-and-neck points wise and our strength of schedule just put us over I guess,” said Coletti on the either late or very early Christmas present given to his club. “That’s the only way I can make sense of it.”
Even still, let’s just say something along the lines of cautious optimism is the mindset residing in Dutchmen camp over the next several days as the final games from around the local landscape eventually get played and added to the formula. Games which may or may not directly influence this final 3A playoff spot between a pair of Lancaster-Lebanon League teams jockeying for decimal points.
“I’m not confident in anything after what I was saw this morning. I guess I was wrong,” Coletti quipped when asked if he felt with clear conviction that things were settled for everyone coming out of Thursday night. “I’d like to think though that if we beat a higher-seeded team tonight (Susquenita), it would be enough for us to get in…. I told them we have practice Monday,” said Coletti of his optimism.
“There were tears in the locker room last night. Lots of heads down. And we thought we played well enough. Look, give Pequea Valley credit. They played really well too. They took that game,” the A-C boss acknowledged of what at the time felt like a season-ending loss in the moment. “We thought it was done. To see it, then to text the group today in saying that we had a shot tonight when I sent them a snapshot of the rankings, it was a case of let’s just come to play tonight. We’ll figure out the rest in a couple of days. But yes, a second life.”
“This is no lie. We have not mentioned districts to them until after the game last night,” Coletti then shared. “I know how they are. Let’s just win (against Susquenita) and focus in on that. But they’re smart enough to look. They check up on those things too, especially Elisha (Slabach) and (Jon) Shay. They inform everybody. But we did not mention playoffs or districts one time until after last night where it was like, ‘Hey, I think we blew our shot here.’ I know how it is. Last year we were 8-8. I thought if we went 3-3, we’d at least get a shot if it makes us 11-11. Instead, we go 0-6, played some tough teams like Columbia and Mennonite, but we just played bad because it was, ‘Oh my god. This is extra important.’
However, if Annville-Cleona is indeed able to find their way into the District 3-3A playoff bracket which will become officially official here in just a few days, make no mistake about it. There is simply nothing that can truly quantify the learning lessons and experience that will come for the Dutchmen in that regard, especially considering that the lion’s share of the roster returns to the fold next year as well.
“This is what we’ve wanted,” said Coletti of the chance to bring playoff basketball back to Annville for the first time in four years. “Shay and Elisha started their freshman year because we knew they were going to be the building blocks of the future. We knew we’d be doing this their senior year instead of now if it all works out. Just to get a taste of it. Whatever happens, happens, but the excitement of the week leading up to it, the trip down there and playing…We have everyone coming back except for Ben (Morcom). That’s what all the hard work is for. They see that. Then, the junior high sees that. They have a nice team coming. The 8th grade team has a nice team coming. (The lower levels) see that and realize, ‘Okay, we’re not just playing in these tournaments just to play basketball. There’s something at the end of the day there.’ But we just want them to get a taste,” Coletti continued. “They deserve it. It’s been a long three years. Last year was a little bit better, 8-14, but we got our butts kicked in some games. We knew we had the right kids because no matter how bad they got beat up, they were going to keep coming back.”
Sort of like going out and turning in arguably your best performance of the entire year with the newfound opportunity to try and extend your season mere hours after you had assumed it was going to be over, yes?
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