Lancaster Country Day Feasts Upon Pequea Valley Turnovers As Cougars Notch Win Over Divisional Foe To Remain In Hunt
Written by: Andy Herr on January 14, 2023
In the years since we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the Lancaster Country Day Cougars occupy a spot in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, we’ve seen this play out before. “This” meaning that the small private school in the conference –the lone one found in 1A ranks mind you — typically has dueling seasons of sorts.
What we do mean by that? Well, simply put, that Country Day can be seen both competing within their respective division within the conference itself as well as the aforementioned 1A ranks of the District 3 field concurrently. Sure enough, not even losing a 1,000-point scorer in Grant Landis off last year’s Cougs’ club has appeared to do much of anything in terms of deterring Country Day off that very same pathway this season seeing as how Country Day remains both a legitimate and serious threat within L-L Section Four, along with the fact that the Cougars are also simultaneously residing in the upper crust of the 1A standings with roughly half of the year still yet to go, certainly a good place to for the defending silver medalists to find themselves at this point right here and right now.
That said, the task at hand from here on out for Country Day remains taking care of the things which they can control. First up in regard to that particular assignment came a Thursday night home date against a fellow section opponent, Pequea Valley, a Braves’ squad that candidly passes the eyeball test in terms of a team that appears better than what their record on the surface may indicate. And yes, while Pequea Valley certainly was anything but a pushover for the Cougars to try and get past, the end result would prove to be a workmanlike victory posted by Country Day after all seen in a total team effort.
That said, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing the entire time for the hosts on this night. Especially not if Joerick Irizarry had anything to say about it as the explosive Pequea Valley junior point guard roared out of the gates by tallying the Braves’ first five points of the contest in succession to make it a 5-0 PV lead just one minute into the battle.
However, while perhaps slowly and methodically, Country Day finally made a persistent push.
Yes, even while finding themselves inside an early hole, the Cougars came back valiantly. In fact, LCD needed all of three minutes to work themselves back on level ground following a hoop plus the harm authored by someone who needs his eligibility checked at the door given how long he’s been in a Cougars’ uniform, Christian Hoin, as the senior forward’s bucket knotted things up at 5-apeice with 4:19 left in the opening stanza. From there, Country Day would ascend to the lead via a smooth pullup jumper knocked down by the other big man found on the Cougars’ frontline, Mick Cook, as the 6’6 senior would later make it a 7-5 LCD lead roughly one minute afterwards.
As it would turn out, it would prove to be a lead which Lancaster Country Day would never surrender.
Sure enough, with Pequea Valley in the midst of navigating a trip across the Sahara given the current scoring drought which the Braves found themselves in, Country Day proceeded to make PV pay for their lack of offensive output, something best evidenced in another bucket plus the foul, this one courtesy of Toby Ashby, as the hosts saw their lead swell out to 12-5 with still just inside of two minutes left in the opening frame. Finally, and certainly not a moment too soon, as far as the visitors had to be concerned, the Braves’ long thirst for a bucket would finally be quenched in the form of a timely trifecta dialed up by 5’10 senior guard Hugh Johnson which made it a 12-8 difference which is precisely where the score would remain over the final 1:10 of the period.
Just taking the first eight minutes within a snapshot by itself, it could be argued that aside from the turnovers, Pequea Valley had largely played Country Day even throughout the quarter. However, try as they might, it is impossible to overlook such a stat, especially given the way in which Country Day proceeded to make the Braves pay for their untimely errors of gracious gratitude.
Case in point, a pair of steals and finishes seen in back-to-back possessions inside the second quarter that came via the efforts of Jake Kumah and Hoin respectively as the Cougars then built themselves a 12-point advantage to stand upon, 23-11, with the first portion of the second quarter already having been evaporated away. From there, following a you guessed it, another Cougars’ theft and subsequent lay in, the Country Day cushion ballooned up to a 27-11 difference with now inside of just two minutes left before the intermission. And while a Hugh Johnson floater would stem the tide somewhat on the Braves’ ensuing offensive trip down the floor, it would prove to be a decisive margin which Lancaster Country Day was able to maintain and enjoy heading into the locker room in the form of the 32-13 lead once halftime rolled along.
Yet even despite the brief respite in the action, the Cougars only continued to pounce upon their prey once the third quarter got underway.
Sure enough, the lead would grow out to 20 following a tough Mick Cook bucket inside, making it a 36-16 ballgame not even two minutes in. However, even when Country Day wasn’t seen playing with exactly a 20-point margin of separation between themselves and the opponent, it was certainly a dazzling display put forth by Country Day nonetheless as a 5-0 salvo offered by way of the brothers Ashby, Jordan and Toby respectively, made it a still sizable 45-26 LCD lead with just inside of two minutes now left to play in the third. Speaking of Toby Ashby in particular, the Cougars’ leading scorer was his usual game-wrecking self on this night too in terms of his ability to destroy the opposition’s best laid plans as his somehow quiet 25-point evening’s worth of work most certainly led all scorers to encapsulate his act of serving in the game’s leading role.
To their credit though, it was rather apparent that Pequea Valley had no interest whatsoever in terms of simply laying down for the Cougars the rest of the way home. For proof of that, look no further than a pair of back-to-back treys knocked in by the Braves in the waning stages of the third by junior guard Myles Furlong which had suddenly cut the Cougars’ lead down to a baker’s dozen, 45-32, with just inside of one minute still left to tick off the clock. That said, for as quickly as the lead came back down, it proceeded to rise right back up over the final handful of seconds seeing as how Country Day would proceed to take the 50-32 lead with them heading into the final quarter of ballgame.
Speaking of that 20-point window, it would again be on display near the midway mark of the fourth quarter yet again. There, with the Cougars well on their way towards a section triumph, a Christian Hoin bucket plus the foul, an apropos moment given that it was the primary vehicle of battle which Country Day had employed against PV for much of the night to gain and then play with the lead, made it a 59-39 Cougars’ lead with a hair outside of three minutes still left to play.
That said, evening with the eventual outcome being nothing but a formality at this stage, there was still plenty of time for those who had not yet checked into the contest to make a name for themselves.
Sure enough, even while he may still be a relatively wide-eyed freshman, Country Day’s Connor McCaster seemed no worse for the wear as the 9th grade sniper poured in a triple which undoubtedly ignited the loudest roar of the evening heard inside Parent’s Fieldhouse up until that point.
However, not to be outdone, Pequea Valley’s Cole Stoltzfus would quickly follow suit in McCaster’s footsteps as the Braves’ sophomore guard proceeded to come right down the floor and fire in a trifecta of his own to make a 68-44 contest with just one inside of one minute still left to go.
And in the end, that would be precisely where the scoreboard lights would remain the rest of the way as the Cougars proceeded to run out the clock, signifying their relatively commanding 68-44 victory over Pequea Valley on this night to remain right there nipping right on the heels of both Columbia and Lancaster Mennonite inside the section respectively, most certainly eager to strike should either of the two slip up somewhere along the way.
Again though, as was mentioned back at the start, the nice thing working in Country Day’s benefit is that they do not have to necessarily put all their eggs entirely in one basket so to speak in terms of making the league playoffs for what would be the first time in school history whenever such a time blossoms into form. Sure, while they’d gladly accept such a nomination should it come along, this is a team that is the proverbial fly in the District 3-1A ointment. Ask around, and you’ll be sure to hear as to why almost everyone to a man will say they want nothing to do with Lancaster Country Day once the postseason begins. And hey, if Thursday night within a vacuum is to serve as any sort of indication, it’d be hard to disagree with such an assessment.
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