Hempfield Vanquishes Demons, Superb Manheim Central Squad As Black Knights Finally Take Lancaster-Lebanon League Title Behind Pivotal Late-Game Finish
Written by: Andy Herr on February 18, 2023
In order to accurately move forward in helping to better tell this story, we must first go back. Like two years’ worth of going back that is.
Sure, while seeing the Hempfield Black Knights emerge to the surface of the eventual Lancaster-Lebanon League title game isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon by any stretch of the imagination here –particularly of late – their mental fortitude and overall resolve in refusing to let their previous ghosts rise up and perhaps snatch them backwards has quickly become a sight that to a man, you’d be hard-pressed not to have some sort heartfelt rooting interest in, provided of course your team doesn’t happen to find themselves opposite of the Black Knights on their quasi “revenge tour” of sorts. But all that is to say that coming back from the heartbreak and the ever-present cloud that lingered over their last 720 days that was also cemented by a grand total of four measly points and even more measly four total seconds is nothing short of remarkable.
You see, for it was exactly 720 days ago when Hempfield came up just one free throw shot short of perhaps sending the 2021 L-L final against Lebanon into an extra session before falling 41-40 against the Cedars once the final 1.6 seconds ticked off, before yet again experiencing another painful bout of heartbreak last season on the Manheim Township floor as Lampeter-Strasburg’s Ty Burton rose up and fired in a game-winning trifecta with just 2.4 seconds remaining in the 2022 finale in which the Pios would prevail by virtue of a 50-47 final verdict. Then, when you factor in the fact that the Knights had spent the entirety of the 2021-22 campaign by inscribing the previous year’s 41-40 final score on their wrist tape before every outing last year, it would be nothing if not understandable as to why making it back to the summit only to then be shoved all the way back down to base camp moments before being able to plant your flag at the conference’s highest point could easily be defined as soul-crushing.
And here again, even before entering this season, Hempfield –and the greater county at large– knew that the bullseye would squarely be placed upon their backs as the odds-on favorite to gobble up one of the spots in the 2023 league title game yet again.
To their credit, Hempfield proved to live up to all those lofty expectations and then some as the year progressed this season.
Sure, while there was the slipup against L-S in the Black Knights’ first game of the season that was a league title game rematch, there was only one other blemish left to be found on their resume –a 52-36 setback against Wilson – as the Black Knights rolled to perfect L-L League record through the regular season portion of the campaign. And after successful dispatches of Lancaster Mennonite and Warwick in the opening and semifinal rounds respectively this week, Hempfield found themselves right back in that same old familiar spot, hoping that this time finally would be their chance to ascend up ladders with scissors in hand by the end of the night.
Of course, it wasn’t as if Manheim Central had any sort of desires of gladly playing the role of sacrificial lamb to Hempfield’s crowning moment here on Friday night.
No, especially not when you consider that the Barons had already played the role a of a cruel villain quite well up until this point when you realize that Central had successfully ended Warwick’s four-year grip over L-L Section Two with a clean sweep over the Warriors that allowed the Barons not to worry about having to share in the spoils of the crown with their nearest neighbors to the east. And with that section crown already in tow, a three-point victory over Octorara in the opening round of the league tourney back on Monday propelled MC into a matchup with another Section One stalwart, Cedar Crest, in the semis on Wednesday.
There, the Barons refused to flinch despite finding themselves down by eight points in two separate occasions in both in the first and second halves respectively, as Central was able to saunter into the program’s first league championship game by virtue of their 49-46 defeat of the Falcons once all was said and done. So, consider Manheim Central a version of Cinderella if you must, but if they were, this wasn’t a character who wore some fancy glass slippers. Nah, this basketball version likely would’ve been left on Walt Disney’s cutting room floor seeing as how you could say that the Barons preferred to wear steel-toed boots instead.
Suffice to say, with intriguing storylines aplenty as is usually the case once the cream rises to the top in this final affair, the drama and crucible that is the Lancaster-Lebanon League championship game would yet again prove to be a night to remember once all the dust had finally settled. Yes, even if it happened to take 720 days to finally culminate.
Right from the start though, it was obvious that Manheim Central was not phased in the least by the bright lights and big stage of the sold-out, standing room only crowd that had gathered at Township.
In fact, following an Aaron Enterline theft and finish that preceded a Trey Grube pullup jumper, the Barons had quickly raced out to an utterly perfect start that came in the form of a 7-0 cushion with Hempfield having to call timeout with 5:05 left on the first quarter clock.
But from there, the Black Knights were able to collect themselves.
As if to be right on cue, Hempfield’s leading man, senior guard Miguel Pena, came right down the floor and was able to crack his squad’s proverbial goose egg with a much-needed trifecta to stem the tide somewhat.
Undeterred though, Manheim Central rebuked the Pena trey with one of their own, this by way of senior guard Zach Benner, as the Barons’ lead swelled back up to seven at 12-5 with a hair inside of three minutes left in the first stanza by that point.
But as he would do throughout literally the entirety of the opening eight minutes, Miguel Pena thrived in this big game atmosphere as another of his timely triples wouldn’t be far behind as his second 3-ball of the first quarter clipped the Barons’ lead down to a 12-8 difference which is where things would remain at the end of one. And all things being equal, it was evident that the stars had come out to play in this one seeing as how Pena had tallied 100% of Hempfield’s points in the opening frame, whereas Manheim Central’s All-State stud, Trey Grube, finished with 58% of the Barons’ production in the game’s opening act.
In the second quarter however, Hempfield finally made their first tangible push of the evening.
There, ignited by a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays authored by Kamyn Lawrence and Ben Troyer respectively, the Knights had surged out in front by a 14-12 count with 5:45 still left to play in the opening half. And if that wasn’t already enough to whip the crowd who had maneuvered through rush hour traffic from Landisville over to Neffsville, surely Pena’s sweet behind-the-back move en route to the hoop did the trick as the scintillating bucket made it a 22-18 affair in the Knights’ favor with nary a minute and change left to tick off the second quarter clock by that time.
As it would turn out, four points would indeed remain the margin of separation once the halftime recess rolled around as the Black Knights found themselves just 16 minutes away from fulfilling their long-sought aspirations.
And at least in terms of how the initial portion of the third quarter began, those dreams largely appeared to be turning into reality sooner rather than alter.
Case in point, while a Ben Troyer deuce made it a six-point Hempfield advantage at 28-22, a smooth pullup J sunk by senior forward Chase Calabretta shortly thereafter upped the Knights’ cushion to eight, 30-22, with the Barons clearly wedged up against the ropes with 5:48 left to play in the third.
This time however, it would be Manheim Central’s turn to strike back.
Sparked by an athletic move that one Aaron Enterline can provide at seemingly the drop of a hat, the junior wing’s whirling dervish to the rack allowed the Barons to gather themselves somewhat, albeit while still staring up at a 32-26 deficit. But speaking of spin moves, Central’s Zach Benner would be able to come up with one of his own inside the waning stages of the third for a bucket that while not just impressive, more importantly sliced the once cozy Hempfield lead down to a very modest two at 36-34 with momentum clearly residing on the Manheim Central bench at that point in time. Yet even while the Barons would surrender an additional point to their existing hole at 39-36 throughout the remainder of the third, there was no denying that this game would be heading down to the final wire.
True to form, the volleys lobbed back and forth between the two sides inside the fourth stanza were of the upmost explosiveness.
For that, it’d be easy to point to a Miguel Pena trey, good for three more en route to his game-high 21-point effort, which was immediately answered down on the other end by way of Sam Witmer for Manheim Central, a key stretch where the Barons could’ve easily buckled under the magnitude of it all with just 3:50 left to go.
From there though, it almost had to feel like a bad case of déjà vu as far as Hempfield was concerned just a few minutes later once Zach Benner peppered in yet another gargantuan 3-ball for Central, a trey which whittled the Black Knights’ lead down to just one at 47-46 with 1:56 left.
So, needles to say, the time was now for this Hempfield cast and crew to write the narrative for how they would like to be remembered from a historical perspective given the eeriness that had quickly encapsulated the evening as a whole right then and there. This time, in their third straight trip to the league’s biggest stage, would they be able to erase any possible self-doubt that could have creeped into their minds and get this job done once and for all? In a word, yes.
With the game still hanging in the balance, playing behind what would be a total of six players who saw time on this night, five of which happened to be members of the senior class, there would be no deterring this experienced and battle tested Hempfield crew off their desired path.
In fact, following a pair of enormous buckets contributed to the Black Knights’ cause by way of Ben Troyer and Chase Calabretta in the immediate aftermath, the Hempfield lead had swelled back out to a 51-46 difference with just 42.6 seconds left.
As it turned out, with the Barons being unable to tally any more points the rest of the way, a Miguel Pena bucket which preceded an apropos one-handed flush from Troyer that seemed to both literally and figuratively mark the elimination of the last two years’ worth of frustration that Hempfield had lugged around with them given how emphatic and demonstrative it was seemed to serve as the most fitting exclamation point possible. And with Troyer’s dunk taking place directly in front of the Hempfield student section with no time left on the clock, a celebration three years in the making for the bulk of this Black Knights’ roster was out in full force as Hempfield was able to claim their first league crown since 2011 and eighth overall in the program history courtesy of their 57-46 defeat of Manheim Central in taking the 2022-23 L-L League boys’ title.
Afterwards, after having been able to soak in the spoils that comes part in parcel with winning a league title, Hempfield head coach Danny Walck was still nonetheless able to be his usual profound self when it came to reflecting on this group’s sometimes arduous quest.
“It’s a parallel to life,” Walck said simply of the journey. “You go through peaks and valleys, sunny days and stormy days. That’s why this sport is so great. You have to figure out how to be resilient, gain a toughness, and these guys did that,” he stated proudly of his team.
“The biggest thing they did was that they trusted in each other, and they trusted me. I can never repay them for that.”
And speaking on those two elements in tandem right there, there is likely no better figurehead to better illustrate all those qualities more so than Miguel Pena. After all, while trying to protect a one-point lead with the game heading down towards the final gun could’ve rightly caused some of that accumulated scar tissue to begin bleeding once more. But not here. Not now. Not if Pena had anything to do with it.
“I was seeing flashbacks to be honest,” Pena said with a hard-earned gold medal finally hanging around his neck when asked of the late-game stretch that he and his teammates found themselves in on Friday night against the Barons. “But Coach Walck is a great coach. He got us composed. Me, I was just telling everyone to stay locked-in,” the star guard said of the messages uttered during that pivotal timeout with 1:56 left and the game up for grabs. “’Stay locked-in and play defense. Defense is gonna win us this game.’”
“I just said, ‘Calm yourselves. Trust your teammates, trust each other, and trust yourself,’” Walck then stated of that now infamous huddle that will likely forever be a part of Black Knights’ lore. “We weren’t gonna over-coach this one. Just go out there and have (his team) make basketball plays. I think they did that.”
Finally, for a senior who has seen both those incredible highs along with those incredibly painful lows that his coach was just eluding to over the course of his stellar high school career while wearing Hempfield across his chest, Miguel Pena knew full-well that this was would be a game, much less a season, that could come to define not just his legacy, but that of his teammates as well.
“Yeah, I was just talking about that with the team actually,” Pena candidly remarked. “We came from the ground up. I started playing varsity as a freshman… Getting here three years straight, that’s definitely hard to do. I’m not gonna call it a dynasty yet because it’s not over,” he quipped. “But we’ve definitely been a great team since fifth and six grade.”
And rest assured, there’s a lesson there that the current Hempfield fifth and sixth graders can take with them when watching this team play and compete considering they couldn’t possibly have any better examples to look up to. After all, if you’re looking for role models on how to handle adversity and in turn overcome your most toughest of circumstances just when you think you might be at the end of your rope, this will certainly be a team whose legacy will now forever stand the test of time. Yes, a time much longer than 720 days.
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