Even Amid Roller Coaster Season, Lancaster-Lebanon League Tournament Continues To Play The Role Of Ol’ Reliable (Column)
Written by: Andy Herr on February 17, 2024
We get it. It’s been an absolutely difficult season in Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ basketball circles to try and figure out which way is up, and which way is down. At nearly every turn, on every night it seemed, there would be a surprising result come across the wire (if “wires” even exist anymore) that either made you laugh out loud with a sarcastic feeling “of course,” or made you wonder if what you were looking at was some sort of a misprint. In some cases, even weeks later now, some of those surely had to be, right?
Yet while the debate on whether such parody is either good or bad for the conference in general, that’s not the intent here. That conversation, while still entirely appropriate to have later on down the line, deserves to be tabled for just a little while longer. Instead, let us celebrate this crown jewel of a week we are fortune enough to have here in the L-L corner of the universe. And, while the 2023-24 regular season campaign may have been cut from the same cloth of something like advanced calculus when it comes to trying to decipher, this year’s league tournament was at least able to serve as a tiny bit of sanity for the masses.
Coming into the year, while not necessarily a foregone conclusion, the odds-makers in Lancaster’s version of Las Vegas figured to have a Cedar Crest and Warwick league title game pegged as the prohibitive favorite matchup. Fair, but it would’ve been interesting to see those metaphorical betting lines come back to down to earth heading into January in particular for Warwick as the Warriors were found hovering right around the District 3-5A playoff bubble following the first initial month of the season. However, slow start thanks in part due to scheduling up in competition or not, the Section Two cream of the crop eventually proved its worth as the Warriors steamrolled through the division –much less the first calendar month in going undefeated– for what became another divisional title that could’ve ended in a clean sweep had it not been for an eye-popping 24-point loss in their home finale to Manheim Central prior to the postseason getting underway. A setback that was one of those foremost mystifying losses littered across the L-L landscape these last few months no doubt.
But even for the preseason league favorites turned actualized champions, the Cedar Crest Falcons, they too weren’t immune to this year’s collective wonkiness.
For a 6A club the likes of Cedar Crest, a 19-5 overall record heading into next week’s District 3 playoffs is nothing to sneeze at. However, it is still only good enough to award the L-L’s championship representative with a #7 seed heading into Tuesday’s District 3 lid-lifter against another league champion, Wilson, with the harsh reality that one of those two teams’ seasons will cease to exist by about 8:30pm come Tuesday night. And in those five Cedar Crest losses, four of them came by an average margin of 22 points-per-game. Take it for what it’s worth, but that means that a mercy-rule, running clock scenario was the far likelier scenario than that of a buzzer-beating loss. Both of the crushing variety no doubt, but by two entirely different avenues.
Fitting then, yes? Fitting that these two teams that probably gained far more battle wounds than they would have initially preferred throughout the regular season eventually made it to the Manheim Township for the league title game through it all? For that, whether it be by the two foremost “expected” teams to arrive at center court for Friday night’s title tilt, there was at least some semblance of normalcy restored for the pinnacle moment of what was arguably the wildest L-L boys’ basketball season found in recent memory. And true to form as this year proved once again, the L-L League tournament itself remains arguably one of central Pennsylvania’s finest crown jewels when it comes to the scholastic sports scene.
This year, the week-long gauntlet had it all. Geography fan? Good deal. All three counties where Lancaster-Lebanon League high school campuses reside were found in this year’s eight-team field between Lancaster and Lebanon obviously, but with the lone Chester County outpost, Octorara, making it in as well by way of claiming Section Three’s second bid. From there, the argument that always seems to bubble up to the surface from here on out until the state finals –albeit perhaps simmering now and not in a full-out boil as of yet– the public vs private debate, yeah, the L-L bracket had that represented as well. We see you, Mennonite.
There was also the historical element at play. Most notably found in Penn Manor’s 34-year thirst for an L-L playoff win finally getting quenched after erasing a pair of seven-point deficits throughout the first and second halves against L-S in the opening round on Monday night that seemed eerily fitting for a team, nay, school, that had to burn throughout every last drop of gasoline in the tank to even make it in to the dance itself down the stretch of the regular season.
There were the loud moments of course. Take your pick, but we’ll go with Tyree Hughes’ absolute nails of a 3-ball inside Rill Gymnasium with Warwick down by two to those same Penn Manor Comets in the semifinal round for a go-ahead triple inside of the final second for starters, a moment that is arguably on the very, very short list of biggest Warwick Warriors’ singular shots compiled at any point in recent memory.
There were the quiet moments too. Chief among them being a solum Manheim Central head coach in Charlie Fisher found moments after his team’s heart-breaking 40-37 semifinal round defeat at the hands of Cedar Crest standing outside his team’s locker room, chin in hand, looking down at the floor with a thousand-yard stare before the postgame media gaggle assembled around to ask him for his thoughts after feeling like he and his team’s soul had probably been ripped away from them without notice.
There was also the secret sauce to the week, the ever-present student sections, that could be found in some capacity at every one of the seven games played over the duration of this past week. Without them, while winning the conference crown wouldn’t be any less special, it kinda sorta would, right? In fact, if one ever wondered as to how much it truly means to these schools and the most important segment of their fanbases, look no further than the Cedar Crest High School Broadcasting Department rolling out “L-L League Gameday” this year on their telecasts prior to tip at The Cage. Well done, ladies and gents. Well done.
Of course, there was the emotional element at play as well. Like when Penn Manor head coach, Larry Bellew, in now his 12th year leading the Comets’ varsity program, had to battle a lump in his throat and fight back tears when asked what it meant to see his Comets’ players accomplish something that hadn’t been done since he himself was their age following their historic win inside a quiet locker room at Lampeter-Strasburg High School on Monday night.
The players too in that regard were not immune. Including Penn Manor’s Ethan Benne, someone who probably could win in a landslide if ever wanted to run for public office someday, simply fall to one knee while his Penn Manor classmates found in the student section just instinctually ran onto the floor once the buzzer sounded at L-S to celebrate. Speaking of which, if there’s a fine to be paid for that, please let me know where to send the check on their behalf. But yeah, a pretty cool deal for an upstanding young man who always showed up for Penn Manor when no one was really watching or keeping score all that seriously in the summertime all these years no matter if it was at Spooky Nook, Brandon Park, or somewhere else in between. And that’s without evening mentioning his Superman-like effort found off the floor in coming back from health scares like having three collapsed lungs over the years. Hey, who says the nice guys have to finish last?
There were games 364 days in the making too. That of course being Cedar Crest reversing history in knocking off Manheim Central at Conestoga Valley on semifinal night, the exact same site and opponent that bit them with enough venom to have the Falcons fall short of making it Township for the grand finale last season with the Barons taking their spot.
There were games almost two generations in the making as well. Like when Warwick arrived to Township to take on Cedar Crest for what would have been the program’s first league crown since the Reagan Administration was in office. And if you’re wondering, for what may be now labeled as a member of the “old guard” if you will in terms of gymnasiums inside the L-L League, no, the current gym that Warwick now occupies wasn’t even built yet to give you a bit more historical sense as to how long it’s been.
There was the Lebanon/Lancaster dynamic at work in the league finals. In many ways, that alone deserves its own short story while also requiring no further explanation whatsoever.
Then, there was the full-circle effect of tying the whole thing back together.
Specifically, for Cedar Crest, this was a moment you (and they) could see brewing a few years ago when this same core cast of Falcons were learning under fire while playing against far older competition at the varsity ranks. Yeah, maybe there isn’t all that much difference in 15- & 16-year-olds playing against 17- & 18-year-olds in terms of the actual mathematics, but for anyone who has played at the varsity level, let’s just say there’s a clear and irrefutable reason as to why the junior varsity segment of the population has yet to cease to exist.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what their head coach, who now is entering some rarified air in terms of four league titles tallied to his resume by the way with plenty of tread left on his tires, Tommy Smith, said the night of December 21st 2021 at Penn Manor following his team’s 58-50 win with many of these current Falcons who were cutting down nets and wearing gold medals on Friday night only then just getting their wings. Pun intended.
“We got some more guys coming,” Smith said with a wry smile on what he sees in the long-range forecast for the program he is tasked with overseeing. “We’re going to take some lumps. We are, and I know that,” he then admitted candidly. “The nice thing about these guys is that they won’t accept that. They’re going to keep grinding and keep fighting. I do think we have some pieces to the puzzle. We’re trying to put it together on a game-by-game basis. That’s just what you’re going to get.”
Sounds like he knew what he was talking about, eh?
Speaking of full circle, there was also the understandable emotion and joyful pride found when Art Schomp and Ross Young, two loyal assistants who have been by Smith’s side all these years, saw their own next of kin in Aiden and RJ respectively, climb the ladder with scissors in hand before cutting off a piece of cotton that while by itself is nothing more than that. But, when you put in the long hours year after year, along with the father/son element added in too, it makes that same piece of material be better-served if it were residing in a safety deposit box to preserve forever as a life-long memory. So, yes, there was ample reason why the hugs, tears, smiles, handshakes, and pictures were plentiful Friday night amongst a Cedar Crest bunch that is both literally and metaphorically a family.
And isn’t that what makes all it great? Call it hokey if you must, but for each year this tournament takes place, we’re creating life-long memories, aren’t we? No matter what happens from early December (well, Black Friday apparently starting next season when the first official games can get played) until the middle part of February, we in Lancaster-Lebanon League land can safely bank on this week.
We’ll have the mainstays. Or maybe we won’t. We’ll have the foregone conclusions. Or maybe we won’t. But no matter who we have or what we have in terms of collective storylines, let’s just enjoy this treasure that we can rightfully claim as ours.
Yes, the York-Adams contingent has a similar mindset when it comes to valuing and appreciating their week. Yes, Berks County gets the spoils of playing on the big stage of Santander Arena in downtown Reading city. Yes, the Mid-Penn Conference has a tourney too, albeit one where if an unscientific straw poll were to take place, would probably come back with returns that suggest that gearing up for the District 3 tournament is a task far more pressing.
But let’s just be honest. While we, the Lancaster-Lebanon League folk, didn’t invent this tournament concept, we are pretty darn close in terms of teaching a doctoral seminar on it. So, let’s celebrate this week. Let’s continue to make this a foremost objective on your team’s preseason list of goals to achieve. After all, as this year proved, no matter how confusing the world may be at times and how upside down it may appear to be, whether it be basketball or something else, this can be a unifying force for good, if even for just a week. In many ways, this Lancaster-Lebanon League tournament is the best version of us. And for that, we should never lose sight of or take for granted.
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