Despite Difficult Start To The Season, Donegal’s Steely Resolve Shines Through As Indians Stare Down East Pennsboro, Fall Just Short In Quest For Elusive First Victory

Written by: Andy Herr on December 30, 2025

Admittedly, there haven’t been more tougher starts to a season experienced that what the Donegal Indians boys’ basketball team was forced to endure prior to the beginning of this 2025-26 campaign. And that’s even taking aside their 0-7 record tabulated thus far in coming out the other side of the Christmas holiday with an eye towards the new calendar year for just a moment.

As most folks are already keenly aware, Donegal lost something far more important than just any one game prior to the season as the Indians’ community tragically lost one of their own, Joey Williams, the Indians’ leading scorer due back into the fray for what would have been his senior season, to a car accident back in the fall. Needless to say, that’s a topic and life lesson that no young person should ever have to face or come to terms with in losing a classmate, teammate, friend, and loved one far, far too soon. And while Williams’ point production was without question the absolute least important factor in this whole scenario for the Indians coming into this season with the basketball X’s & O’s taking a back seat, it was his value to the team in all avenues seen outside of a stat line as to what truly made the difference and his impact felt most of all. Something that Donegal’s varsity squad would now sadly be without prior to the start of the year.

That said, while it might have been true that Donegal was still seen searching for that elusive first victory prior to entering final week of December as they were come Monday, flatly assuming that the Indians have been overmatched and outright outclassed in all areas would be an incredible misnomer in assessing the situation. Yes, while an 0-7 record was etched next to their names, Donegal has also been agonizingly close in a handful of those outcomes, highlighted by falling short to the tune of a combined eight points to the likes of Garden Spot and Eastern York respectively, both of which came on the road and away from the friendly confines found back home in Mount Joy, mind you.

Maybe, maybe what Donegal really needed here was a sense and a return to normalcy, all things considered. Well, that’s exactly what the Indians got on Monday morning (yes, morning), when the Indians set sail on what has become their annual holiday pilgrimage across the river to compete at East Pennsboro. And frankly, it might’ve just been the Indians’ finest 32 minutes of play exhibited thus far in actuality as it turns out. Unfortunately though, while Donegal would never be seen backing down from the fight that East Penn offered them at any point throughout the day, it just wasn’t quite enough by the time the final buzzer blared.

Part of the reason as to why Donegal was so rigid and never stood down? Look at the first few minutes on Monday as for how that came to be.

Granted, while the Indians were seeing playing with the 5-4 lead following a nice bucket at the cup tallied by way of Indians’ senior big man, Cohen Miller, East Pennsboro retaliated in kind by rattling off six straight points of their own to answer, capped off by a pair of deuces contributed via the likes of Ryan Seibert and Nasiere Ingram in particular, making it a 10-5 Panthers’ lead with a shade over three minutes left to play in the first frame.

Later, the Panthers only continued to pounce upon their prey by first doubling up Donegal at 16-8 following a jumper sunk by Jason Boyne, before a layup at the cup courtesy of Izzy Khair put East Penn up by double figures, 18-8, which is precisely where the dust would end up settling on an opening eight minutes of play once the final 40 seconds bled off the first quarter clock following Khair’s bucket.

Looking for that Donegal rebuke and overall fighting spirit? Well, here it came. At just the right time too.

First, a dead-eye triple splashed home by way of Indians’ sophomore sniper, Jake Scanlin, making it an 18-11 contest, before the other member of Donegal’s hot-shooting backcourt got involved, Wes Binkle, as the junior guard ace from beyond the arc opted for a three of the more traditional variety, one scored through contact, clipping that once sizable East Pennsboro lead down to a modest 18-14 difference with 6:20 left to play in the half by that time.

From there, the Indians just kept coming with a full head of steam as evidenced by a smooth turnaround J sunk by senior forward, Zach Rohrer, prompting the hosts to call a timeout while holding a miniscule 22-21 lead with 3:05 left to play in the second quarter all while Donegal was clearly the far more aggressive team seen playing with the upmost amount of urgency compared to that of their opposition.

And if you’re wondering if Donegal would ever summit the mountain and play with the lead, they most certainly would.

Case in point, a tough offensive rebound and stick-back put home by the Indians’ Energizer bunny, Angel Mendez, as the lefty junior guard made it a 29-26 Donegal advantage with time winding down on a second quarter that was almost entirely bathed in Donegal’s green and white school colors.

However, East Pennsboro would indeed right the ship inside those final few minutes albeit requiring a bucket chipped in just before the horn by way of Boyne to ultimately help vault the Panthers into the intermission with the 30-29 lead as East Penn had largely successfully withstood an incredibly strong Donegal punch all things considered.

As the third quarter on Monday rolled into form, it was rather obvious that despite that initial East Penn salvo to get the morning started, Donegal had clawed their way back and was here to stay. As a result, a back-and-forth narrative was displayed between these two evenly matched nonconference squads took shape inside the penultimate stanza.

Now, if there was a difference-maker to be found, it would likely be considered to be East Penn’s senior forward, Haydn Lay, the eventual team-high scorer on the day who netted an 18-point performance to his name, as Lay would tally big buckets in the back end of the frame that proved to be the differentiator.

Case in point, a take to the rack which was followed suit by a triple sunk on the ensuing possession down the floor, a five-point Lay-led swing which put the Panthers up, 41-36, before a tidy three-point difference set the stage for the outset of the fourth with East Penn clinging to a 42-39 after the game’s first 24 minutes.

In the fourth, well, that’s when things really got nutty in Enola.

Despite seeing themselves get burnt for what turned out to be seven buckets from bonus distance on the day while primarily employing a 2-3 zone defensively, there was no Indian any better equipped on Monday to help light the torch against East Pennsboro scheme than Wes Binkle as Binkle chipped in four triples on the afternoon to pace the Donegal effort, all while en route to capturing game-high 20-point honors on the day overall. And here, needing one of those treys in the most desperate of fashions with East Penn still sitting in said zone, Binkle stepped up when called upon by canning another in the bunch, this latest one now clipping the Panthers’ cushion down to a pair, 44-42, with 6:40 still left to play.

Speaking of treys, Nate Kabamba, a sophomore floor general when on the court for the Indians, proceeded to knock home one of his own not too much later as Kabamba’s 3-ball made it a 46-45 East Penn lead with 4:15 left.

That said, even with the Panthers holding a four-point lead at 51-47 with now roughly 30 seconds left to play and East Penn having the ball, it looked like the curtains were about to drawn closed on any sort of Donegal comeback venture.

Or so they thought.

Despite playing with the advantage of a multi-possession lead and possession, the Panthers would then inexplicably fire up a quick shot from the corner that was not needed given the circumstances, seeing the defensive rebound off the missed trey get snared down by Donegal, ultimately leading to Binkle saving his best for last as this Binkle 3-ball with 22.6 seconds remaining had miraculously made it a penny-sized difference at 51-50 with the Indians getting a new lease on life in one fell swoop.

From there, while the Panthers’ cut-stopper on the day, Haydn Lay, proceeded to knock down both of his freebies at the charity stripe after getting fouled, even while it was a 53-50 East Pennsboro lead with 11.6 remaining, the door remained plenty open for Donegal.

Here, even with yet another sizable advantage in terms of game flow to their benefit, East Pennsboro would proceed to foul Donegal a mere two seconds after the Indians inbounded the ball, a mission of fouling to prevent an Indians’ 3-ball being completed far sooner than truly desired considering that Donegal walked to the other end of the floor with the chance to score with no time running off the clock and an entire 9.0 seconds remaining.

 There, while Binkle would split the offering, an equal split down on the other end by way of East Penn’s Ryan Seibert would follow suit, making it a 54-51 Panthers’ lead with 7.3 remaining and Donegal getting the ball back.

There again, even after getting fouled prior to the release of a 3-ball once more on the Indians’ ensuing possession, Donegal still had a chance to conjure up some late-game magic.

After missing the first and then intentionally missing the second free throw as a result, a loose carom off the rim went the way of the Indians with Donegal being awarded the ball underneath with now just 2.8 seconds remaining.

However, while the Indians would indeed score off the baselines-out-of-bounds play, a layup at the cup, down by three, all while being devoid of any additional timeouts was unfortunately too little, too late for the Donegal contingent as East Pennsboro was able to stave off a gutsy Donegal squad by a 54-53 count in a game where either side had an equal amount of chances to try and scoop up this victory.

Suffice to say, while not the result that anyone in the Indians’ tribe was hoping for when they boarded the bus at the school’s campus in the early morning hours on Monday were hoping for, especially considering how they were so tantalizingly close to grabbing a victory, there were things that Donegal can still take with them and apply with a bulk of the season still left out there in front of them. Chief among them, overcoming a double-digit deficit while out on the road for starters. Yet while no one truly knows as to how this Donegal season will ultimately unfold, what does remain certain is that even for those outside of the Mount Joy town limits, the Indians do have legions of fans supporting them this season considering what all they’ve been through collectively. For that reason, while one singular win wouldn’t take away from the start they’ve had, it would at least lend credence to the fact that Donegal is doing the right things and continuing to move in the right direction. If Monday’s effort was any sort of indication of what’s to come, perhaps they might not have to wait all that long for that to come true.

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