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Exeter Makes Up For Lost Time As Caccese’s Dominant Day Fuels Eagles, Helps Program Claim First-Ever District 3 Title In 14-Point Victory Over Manheim Central In 5A Championship Affair
 

Exeter Makes Up For Lost Time As Caccese’s Dominant Day Fuels Eagles, Helps Program Claim First-Ever District 3 Title In 14-Point Victory Over Manheim Central In 5A Championship Affair

Written by: Andy Herr on March 4, 2023

 

When you reach this stage, that of course being the highest level of achievement as far as high school basketball inside the mid-state is concerned with the dandy dozen known as the District 3 championships, you typically would like if the occasion would be rather large and significant in stature. Shall we say historic even? Well, in that regard, Thursday’s battle waged between Exeter and Manheim Central in the 5A boys’ finale checked that box and then some.

You see, while both the Eagles and Barons have had fabulous seasons in their own right this year –something clearly evidenced by virtue of the #1 and #3 seeds that their teams possessed heading into the tournament respectively – this was a bit of an outlier for each program all things considered. After all, while you could rightly argue without much in the way of fierce debate as to why these were arguably the two best 5A programs locally from the early days of December up until now, neither Exeter nor Manheim Central had ever been able to come away with the crown jewel of District 3 hardware historically save for silver medals across their shared histories. But again, while both schools may have spent the past three months competing off in their own little corners of the universe with Exeter playing inside the BCIAA and Manheim Central in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, rest assured that both likely have had at least one eye wandering out to the side to see what the other had been doing. You know, for “research” and the like should such a meeting in the postseason ever come to fruition of course.

But finally, after much ado, those who had hoped for an impending, eventual matchup between Exeter and Manheim Central at some point along the line finally got their wish right before dinner time in Hershey’s Giant Center on Thursday when both squared off with one another for the District 3-5A title fight. And with historical implications hanging in the balance, this figured to be a day that would go down in infamy for either one of these two rapidly ascending programs. As it turned out though, something seen in the fire truck escort back to campus on their way home to honor their conquering heroes, this would be a day reserved for Reiffton.

You know, for two teams that only had one measly seed line separating them from one another inside the 5A bracket, this largely figured to be a battle where the margin of separation seemed almost miniscule. And that notion certainly appeared to be born into reality right from the outset seeing as how a Collin Neiles follow at the cup made it an early 8-6 Barons’ lead before Exeter’s Anthony Caccese followed suit with a bunny of his own afterwards as the Delaware football commit helped his Eagles’ basketball mates climb back even at 8-8 with 2:50 remaining to be played in the opening frame.

From there, while it would be the Eagles that would promptly surge in front by an 11-8 count following a kick-out trey that culminated with Zyion Paschall having the honors for Exeter, a pullup jumper along the baseline via Manheim Central’s All-State stud, Trey Grube, helped both squads trudge forward into the second frame with absolutely nothing having been decided considering the scoreboard hanging high above the hardwood floor detailed a 13-13 stalemate between the two sides.

Sure enough, not even the initial few minutes of the second quarter did much when it came to either side gaining any tangible bit of distance against the other.

Case in point, while Exeter’s Alex Kelsey would be the benefactor of a leak-out bucket in transition following a powerful rejection tallied by Caccese defensively that helped the Eagles trot out to a 17-13 advantage inside the opening two minutes of the second quarter, a pair of successive takes by Manheim Central’s Aaron Enterline helped the Barons get back within a pair, 19-17, not long afterwards.

But remember that earlier tidbit about the margin of separation between these two essentially being miniscule? Yeah, well, turns out there would be a difference after all. In fact, it happened to stand at six feet seven inches.

While Exeter’s Anthony Caccese largely figured to be the biggest nightmare of a matchup that Manheim Central had to try and contend with until that point in the season given the sheer lack of height –much less the brute strength– found within the L-L League along its various frontlines, pounding the ball inside figured to be the tried and true methodology of how the Eagles would best be able to make history when it came to prevailing against the Barons on this day. Spoiler alert, but that’s exactly what would transpire.

Granted, while the Barons had been more than able to withstand any possible Exeter flurries seen in the early going on Thursday, Caccese was quietly -yet somehow also not so subtly— taking matters into his own hands at the very same time. In fact, thanks to the lift found in his 16 first half points tallied on the afternoon, Exeter was not only able to stay within striking distance, but the Eagles would later be able to rush out to their first tangible bit of difference on the day as an old-fashioned three-point play thanks to the efforts of 6’3 junior wing Reece Garvin made it a 28-21 Eagles’ cushion with roughly two minutes left to take place before the halftime intermission. Then, in perhaps the most apropos manner given the way in which he had so clearly been the engine that drove the Exeter machine throughout the opening 16 minutes, a Caccese bucket mere moments before the halftime horn would propel the Eagles into the break with what felt like a decisive 32-23 halftime advantage against their adversaries hailing from Lancaster County.

At this point, while there was still an entire half still yet to be played, Manheim Central needed something to try and stem the tide once the third quarter rolled around in this title tilt. Ironically, while Exeter had essentially leaned on the efforts of a star football player to inflict the greatest amount of damage, so too did the Barons.

In that respect, while Anthony Caccese simply overpowered his way to buckets found within the paint on Thursday in a way that best personified the reason as to why he will have his post-secondary education paid for while occupying a spot on the Blue Hens’ offensive line for years to come, Manheim Central’s All-State wide receiver, Aaron Enterline, had his equally infamous pogo stick hops on display here too considering that the 6’3 junior forward was able to punctuate the Barons’ first measure of momentum with a one-handed flush in transition that while it may have only gotten the #1 seed back within a dozen at 34-26, it was surely an explosive morsel of momentum that Manheim Central could try and at least carry with them from that point forward.

But that wouldn’t be the case here if these birds of prey had anything to do with it.

In fact, with the Barons trying to continue surging up the hill as the third quarter progressed, a Caccese bunny right around the rim put Exeter back up by double figures, 44-34, before another tough Eagles’ bucket inside, this by way of Reece Garvin, made it 42-30 in Exeter’s favor with 1:40 still yet to tick off the third quarter clock.

Even still, steadfast in their approach, Manheim Central wouldn’t let Exeter run away and hide. At least not yet.

There, thanks another one of Trey Grube’s 300+ trifectas which he has been able to sink over the course of his stellar four-year career while donning the Barons’ garb, his most recent success of the like had ushered Manheim Central back within five at 42-37 before a final deuce tallied by the Eagles in the waning stages of the period helped vault Exeter into the final frame with ownership of the 44-37 lead.

That said, Exeter’s graciousness would effectively cease right then and there.

As if to be right on cue, the Eagles would promptly round into form for the final journey home. And the one doing much of the leg work, Anthony Caccese, had certainly cemented his basketball legacy as well seeing as how another two-point addition here to what would end up in game-high scoring honors by posting a 22-point afternoon’s worth of work then put the Eagles up by a 51-39 count with 5:40 left to go. From there, the Exeter lead would later swell upward to 14, 55-41, following a flip inside by 5’10 senior point guard Zyion Paschall, before a 3-ball splashed down by another senior guard, Teddy Snyder, largely put the game out of reach given the 60-41 count with just a handful of minutes left to go.

And while Trey Grube would live up to his namesake by canning yet another triple to make it a 65-53 contest, this en route to his team-high scoring effort in netting 19 points to spearhead the Barons’ day, the mountain to climb was far too steep with far too little time left at their disposal heading down the final furlong as Exeter would indeed be able to make it a historic afternoon as their 67-53 final triumph over Manheim Central awarded the program the opportunity to revel in the spoils of having successfully snatched up their first ever District 3 title in boys’ hoops.

“We just never really turned that corner,” Manheim Central head coach Charlie Fisher said after having accomplished arguably the most unlikely of feats that any of the twelve boys’ and girls’ coaches had achieved across the two days of championships held at Giant Center– getting his team out of a locked locker room before addressing the media corps assembled postgame outside the door. “They’re really good,” Fisher was quick to add of Exeter. “I thought we started fixating on missed shots which took away from our defensive focus…I thought like we didn’t get the ball to bounce our way when we had a chance to change the flow of the game,” he continued. “I just never thought we were totally on the gas. Part of that was the dejection of when we felt like we had a good defensive possession, big fella (Anthony Caccese) was able to lay it in,” said Fisher with a laugh that was lathered in both equal parts disbelief and appreciation.

Offensively, the aspect of the game that Manheim Central is routinely most associated with, yeah, even that too was taken away by a sensational Exeter cast whose pieces fit together like a perfect jigsaw.

“I thought we rushed our shots,” Fisher remarked. “Our goal has always been to take great shots. If we were to look back and watch it, did we have 50 percent great shots? I don’t know. Some of that though comes with (Exeter’s) length and activity. Look, that’s a very good basketball team. It was one of those deals where we had to be close to perfect to get to the fourth quarter. We got to the fourth quarter where it was still a seven-point game and it felt like we just ran out of gas.”  

And the one who did most of the siphoning when it came to taking the fluid out of the Barons’ metaphorical tank? None other than Exeter’s Anthony Caccese.

“He’s a beast,” Eagles’ head coach Matt Ashcroft said without much in the way of hesitation when describing his 6’7 dual-sport stud. “On Monday night (against Hershey), that was on me. I struggled to get him touches,” Ashcroft candidly remarked when harkening back to his team’s semifinal victory. “When you get this late in the season, teams know every one of your plays and players. We have 30 set plays, and they know every one of ‘em. Maybe we have to change the naming convention to some of our plays to throw teams off if they hear something to try and change some things, but we just wanted to move Cheese around in different spots,” Ashcroft added while mentioning the nickname of his senior big man who was nothing if not a powerhouse on this particular afternoon. “When we can get (Caccese) moving around offensively and find a way to get that secondary help maybe be just a touch late, our perimeter passers like Zyion (Paschall), Kevin (Saenz), Alex (Kelsey) are so skilled, they only need just a little bit of light to shoot it. So, for us, how do we get that secondary help to come late along the way? I thought we found that tonight.”

Even still, taking these 32 minutes aside and putting them into a vacuum for just a moment, Thursday was just as important for the overall metamorphosis of each these two respective programs justly. Again, for two basketball programs that hail from schools where other sports may possibly reign supreme over them, this likely figured to be an extremely important day that can perhaps best serve both Exeter and Manheim Central equally well moving into the future.

“From the outside, you obviously don’t know everything, but from where we were in December, for us to be able to go to a league final and district final is unbelievable for what our guys were able to accomplish and how they were able to win these playoff games,” Charlie Fisher said when asked to assess his team’s journey that had culminated in this trip to Hershey, albeit one that ended just shy of achieving immortality. “It’s upsetting real-time that we weren’t able to get the last one, but I told (his team) that there’s a reason why you get a silver medal. You get a silver medal because that’s celebrating the body of work,” Fisher stated. “The gold medal celebrates winning the last game, but the silver medal celebrates everything you did to get there… It’s one of those things where we’ll long back on it with pride, but we have a lot of young guys coming back next year and we’re going to hope to replicate a lot of the things we were able to do.”

That too would sit just fine with Matt Ashcroft no doubt.

“I think it’s an exciting time to be a part of this,” the Exeter head coach said when regarding his program from top-to-bottom in regard to this specific snapshot in time after having now planted their flag on top of one of District 3’s six summits. “We want to start something. We want to start something special here and we want kids to come play basketball for us,” he continued. “Selfishly, I think it’s the greatest game in the world and I want kids to come out and play that sport and see how it fun it is. It’s hard work, but boy is it fun. I think it’s the greatest team game in the world and the greatest sport in the world from a relationship building standpoint so hopefully our younger kids see how fun it is, want to put in the work, and want to be a part of something like this.”

And as it turns out, the youth of Exeter now have some pretty good, nay, some historic role models to look up to try and someday emulate.

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