In Battle Between Co-Section Leaders, Warwick Leaves No Doubt As Warriors Continue Torrid Start By Racing Past Cocalico To Reach 8-0 Record Entering Holiday Break
Written by: Andy Herr on December 21, 2024
For anyone tasked with the assignment of trying to make prognostications as for how this year of Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ basketball year ultimately figured to take shape and who the favorites might be prior to the start of the season, it would be a bit of an unenviable task quite frankly.
Section One? Good luck trying to that figure out and what might make the most sense as to who might eventually take command of that race. Section Three? Yeah, Lampeter-Strasburg is always a somewhat safe bet, but Manheim Central, a state 5A playoff team from a year ago, now comes down into the fray. Don’t forget about Octorara too, an always scrappy bunch with a veteran head coach who knows his way around a divisional chase. Section Four you ask? Yeah, Lancaster Mennonite might be the most quasi comfortable of all the picks, but how do you pass up a potential District 3 champ in Lancaster Country Day, or the scoring prowess of Elisha Slabach and his fellow Annville-Cleona Dutchmen?
Section Two? Yes, even that too looked rather daunting to try and peg.
Perhaps it shouldn’t have been though. Especially considering that one of the L-L League’s strongest of programs that’s revealed itself in being built atop solid bedrock right now, Warwick, is in that race. Sure enough, as if to be right on cue and already hitting their marks, here the Warriors sat coming into Friday night not just with a right to raise their collective hands when asked to spot the best team in the Section Two landscape, but potentially the entire conference to boot as a matter of fact.
Hard to gripe with much of anything to counter against that notion considering how the Warriors came into the final night before the holiday break while possessing a still perfect 7-0 overall record — one of three teams left standing in the entire L-L coming into Friday night — along with never even allowing the opposition to have come within double figures of them, save for a nine-point verdict tallied in Warwick’s favor following their second game of the year against Manheim Township. Simply put, up until this point at least, it’s looking like yet another year where a divisional crown will once again not truly be decided without first receiving the blessing of going thru Lititz unimpeded.
But if there was one team who desired to make a detour on those best laid plans, it was most certainly the Cocalico Eagles.
Like their visitors, while the Eagles also came into this night Friday night, first-place affair owning an unblemished record in their own right when referencing Cocalico’s 2-0 start to conference play, it’s been a bit of windier road traversed compared to their adversary found sitting on the opposing bench inside their house on Friday evening.
While you wouldn’t necessarily subscribe to the notion, especially with the division projected to have as many capable and dangerous teams as it currently has within it from top-to-bottom, Section Two competition oddly enough has been a bit of a refuge and a safe haven of sorts as far as Cocalico had to been concerned. Why? Well, had it not been for their pair of victories at the hands of Solanco and Garden Spot respectively, the Eagles would have totally struck out altogether this season as demonstrated by their 0-4 mark in games that did not take place within the confines of Section Two thus far. All told, while it might be a bit of an unorthodox precursor to then try and set the table for a much-ballyhooed matchup considering one team came in 7-0, while the other came in at 2-4, it certainly didn’t diminish the fact that Warwick’s trip over to Denver on this night to take on Cocalico was a critical mid-December contest that could likely go a long, long way into laying the foundation for the next few weeks will look like concerning this particular race given its sizable long-term implications.
But if we were to make any grand and sweeping predictions based upon the outcome of this affair alone in trying to use as a barometer moving forward, then maybe this is indeed another year in which the Warriors will continue to rule the roost. They ruled “The Nest” at least on Friday night.
If ever the opening minutes of a game could foretell the eventual narrative of a game the rest of the way, Warwick’s start against Cocalico would certainly be in the running.
Right away, after rising high in the air and snatching the defensive rebound from his guard position, Warwick’s Parker Horst was on a one-way ticket to the cup with nothing getting in his way in terms of stopping him. Quite literally, those happened to be the exact circumstances Horst would encounter on his coast-to-coast layup at the tin which concluded the Warriors’ opening possession of the game in relative ease. Then, after scoring on their first four offensive trips to get the night going– the last of which was highlighted by a Ya’Majesty Washington runaway dunk following a steal in transition – Cocalico was forced into burning an early timeout while also having to look up and see a current 9-2 deficit with all of 5:49 still left in the initial stanza.
Unfortunately, from Cocalico’s perspective, the hits, namely in the form the Warwick points, just kept coming at them in quick succession.
In fact, following a pair of triples splashed down by way of Washington and Brody Clausen respectively, the visitor’s lead had then swelled out to a nine-point gap at 15-6 with the first quarter rapidly winding down and the Eagles still spinning their wheels offensively.
Finally, the three-point gods would shine upon the Eagles with favor as a much-needed trifecta sunk by Cocalico 6’5 senior forward, Camden Ochs, got the hosts back on their feet somewhat in the waning stages before they were ultimately able to cut the gap back down to a much more manageable six points, 17-11, a location not all that undesirable considering the early punch in which their guests had landed against them out of the chute.
That said, that half-dozen point window would be all the closer Warwick would allow Cocalico to reach from there on out.
Later, after seeing their lead hit the double-digit plateau following an easy lob thrown from Horst to Washington off a baseline out-of-bounds play which made it a 24-13 Warwick advantage, a drive to the cup courtesy of 6’2 senior wing, Caleb McCamant, would soon follow suit for a deuce which saw the Warriors double up Cocalico by virtue of the 26-13 count 3:56 left to play in the opening half.
And while Ya’Majesty Washington would have yet another productive night in terms of his scoring prowess – evidenced by his bucketing of a game-high 20 points to lead the Warwick charge against Cocalico – the Warriors’ extremely-gifted guard was equally adept in distributing the pill as well. In fact, Washington himself seemed to be in the Christmas spirit of giving to others inside the final minutes of the second quarter on Friday by dishing out the final assists which led to the last two Warwick buckets of the opening half, the latter of which was tallied by newest member of the Warwick 1,000-point club, Caleb Johnsen, as the senior’s bunny inside off the Washington feed help to send the red-dressed troops into the locker room with ownership of the 32-17 lead following a highly productive, and largely efficient first half of play.
However, even with the promise that came with the start of a new half of basketball and a fresh slate that could be wiped clean if you will, the issue for Cocalico was that these were arguably an even more potent and ardent group of Warriors who had emerged out of their dressing come the start of the third period. Sure enough, their opening possession would demonstrate as much.
All game long up until that point, Warwick was the clear owner to the positive in terms of the differential in the offensive rebound department and then subsequent second-chance opportunities as well. But when you can combine the two, why pass up such an opportunity, right? Suffice to say, that’s the notion that Caleb McCamant seemed to have with him as his offensive rebound turned put-back, all of which transpired in one fell swoop, took the early lid off the Warriors’ basket to get the quarter underway.
Remember that Ya’Majesty Washington Caleb Johnsen connection seen earlier?
Yep,, even here when the roles happened to be reversed was the duo just as successful seeing as how a Johnsen to Washington assist would lead to the royally-named one sinking in a trifecta which made it a commanding 43-19 lead in Warwick’s favor with 4:50 left to play in the third by that point. And that’s before we even mention the three-point shooting being nothing if not contagious down the Warwick roster as demonstrated by a Parker Horst 3-ball on the ensuing Warwick trip down the floor offensively to not only prompt Cocalico into calling yet another timeout to try and stem this turning tide yet again, but also putting this game on the precipice of a running clock for the remainder of its duration given the 30-point rule and the current margin reflecting a 46-19 difference with still over half the third quarter yet to play.
Granted, while Cocalico’s Camden Ochs would do his best to try and keep the opposition from achieving such a feat, perhaps no better exemplified than with his reverse finish at the cup which preceded a free throw added on top following the harm, it was still a 49-24 ballgame with time winding down on the third quarter of play.
However, that proposed scenario involving the game clock would indeed come to pass with 40 seconds left as another member found in the cupboard full of Warwick seniors, Jacob Spade, sunk a 3-ball in front of his team’s bench as Spade helped to usher his side into the final eight minutes of play with the benefit of a 54-24 bulge up on the scoreboard.
All told, while it was obvious by that juncture that the eventual outcome here was nothing more than a formality just a couple of minutes of being birthed into existence, there were certainly elements and things to glean from the game tape that will surely not go unnoticed despite the lobsided score. Among them, Eagles’ head coach Seth Sigman is likely to find the performance and fight shown inside the second half — the fourth quarter most of all – by 6’0 sophomore guard, Karter Deering, to be something worth noting as Cocalico moves forward from here.
After starting things off inside the fourth frame by fearlessly and unselfishly taking a charge for his team defensively, Deering was rightly rewarded for his good play on Cocalico’s ensuing offensive trip following his defensive stop by raining in a trifecta, albeit one that still reflected a commanding 54-29 Warwick lead at the time. In totality, Deering proved himself to be a sparkplug of sorts despite the game being out of reach as the 6’0 lefty proceeded to rattle off all but two of Cocalico’s dozen fourth quarter points — finishing in a tie alongside Camden Ochs who also poured in 12 points to share in team-high honors alongside — in a solid showing for the underclassman that he can surely build upon moving forward both in the short- and long-term forecasts.
But this too would prove to be a quarter in which nearly anyone wearing a red jersey would get their chance to shine as well.
Case in point, a nice curl cut off a nice set action that was finished off by Warriors’ 6’1 junior guard, Connor Meck, making it a 56-29 ballgame and the time melting away given the mercy-rule having since been triggered into effect. Nonetheless, that was still ample time for another Warwick junior, Ryan Rusnock, to also finish with a bucket within the paint which then upped the Warriors’ cushion out to a 58-29 margin with just 2:13 left to go. Fittingly, in perhaps the most apropos of manners given their propensity to launch (and connect) from beyond the arc more often than not, one last long-range arrow could still be found in Warwick’s quiver. For that, the honor would be bestowed upon a sophomore in this instance, Tayden Zimmerman, as the 5’11 underclassman was able to rise and fire for what would be the final bucket in a largely workmanlike yet equally dominant night at the office for the Warwick boys’ basketball team on the road against Cocalico that concluded with a resounding 61-36 final verdict once the buzzer sounded.
And while you certainly don’t have much wiggle room to moan and gripe about a 25-point victory even if you wanted to for some very odd reason, you assuredly have even less room to do so in the event that all but three of your players listed on your entire varsity roster were able to find themselves having climbed into the scoring column by the end of the contest, a feat which Warwick was able to make good on Friday night away from home against Cocalico.
But not just any game away from home. One that was a matchup between a pair of 2-0 teams in the division standings before the game got underway.
Now, does one game alone prior to the Christmas break mean that we can start figuring out the mailing address of which to mail them their Section Two trophy? No. Of course not. Especially not when their next-door neighbors, the Ephrata Mounts, also are currently unbeaten in section play too. But if this was a litmus test of sorts being asked of Warwick, rest assured that they certainly aced it on a snowy Friday night in Denver. And who knows. Maybe this will be a team that plays basketball long enough this year to go from seeing snow on the ground, to buds on the trees come springtime that comes part in parcel with a deep postseason run. Based upon their performance in this game and the implied understanding that their room for growth will only increase from here, it might not be such a crazy thought.
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