Lancaster Country Day Ratchets Things Up As Cougars Turn Over Pequea Valley, Turn In Key Section Four Road Win
Written by: Andy Herr on January 12, 2024
Throughout the first month of this season, one thing that has appeared to bubble up to the surface in the Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ basketball world on the whole is that every race, yes, in every section, appears to be extremely deep and competitive. In fact, it really doesn’t matter if you’re talking specifically about Section One, or all the way down to Section Four. No matter where exactly your eyes happen to glance, every race during this final month of the regular season figures to be exciting and nothing if not white-knuckle’ish. Of course, when speaking about that latter division mentioned right there, they too are in the midst of arguably the best stretch of play that particular division has been playing in a number of years now from top-to-bottom.
That said, we of course know who has ruled the roost and paid the mortgage in these parts whether it be labeled Section Four or Section Five. And yes, while it again seems rather arduous when it comes to trying to knock both Columbia and Lancaster Mennonite from atop their two perches of which both have occupied for what feels like it’s been spanned the length of time since man invented the fire or the wheel this season too, the teams who also happen to reside in that section are far, far better than simply being considered “also rans” or something of the like thus far in 2023-24.
For Lancaster Country Day, always one of the prohibitive stalwarts when it comes to the District 3-1A title chase on any given year, the Cougars haven’t done anything throughout the early quadrant of this season to suggest that perhaps this winter will be any different in that regard. Sure, while they may have come into Kinzers on Thursday night while sitting in third place inside the Section Four race a clear two games behind both of those aforementioned pair of juggernauts, it’d be hard to ignore the fact that Country Day was in fact leading the defending state champs, Lancaster Mennonite, in their house at halftime just this past week before the Blazers eventually took control in the final 16 minutes. Then, in a true exhibition that best displayed their ability to respond, the Cougars returned home to Parents’ Fieldhouse just two nights later and were able to withstand a very game effort from another rapidly improving bunch from Annville-Cleona to get their first win section win of the season. For that reason, their trip to Pequea Valley figured to prove vital when it came to hanging around in that league playoff chase as the Cougs could ill-afford to drop another one along the way while also hoping from a distance that perhaps either Columbia and/or Mennonite could somehow go into a bit of a tailspin with Country Day there ready to pounce on any possible misfortune.
Speaking of those Braves from PV however, seeing the fellas from Kinzers string together wins this season has been a sight for sore eyes quite frankly.
Without question, if an unscientific straw poll were ever to be conducted that listed some of the toughest jobs inside all the L-L League in terms of the boys’ basketball side of things, chances are that Pequea Valley would be at or near the very top of any said list. This year however, largely buoyed by the placement of one of their former greats, Ehren Graybill, into the head coaching chair, Pequea Valley has quietly found themselves sitting near the .500-mark overall heading into the middle portion of January here. Then, if we were to move that timetable backwards to the holidays, PV was able to enjoy Christmas break while residing above said mark which suffice to say is the first tangible example of improvement for a program over the last couple of seasons has had to fight tooth and nail over when it came to getting near the four or five-win plateau. Now, coming into Thursday while owning a 5-6 mark overall, it’d be easy to imply that Pequea Valley firmly appears to be on the right track with upward trajectory still in front of them. Of course, that would become extremely apparent if the Braves could snatch up their first section win of the Graybill era when Lancaster Country Day came into town just prior to MLK weekend.
Needless to say, for the first time in a long time you’d have to figure, Lancaster Country Day versus Pequea Valley figured to be something of a coin flip type game, especially with the Cougs’ lead dog, Jordan Ashby, being unavailable for this one. However, whether Country Day called heads or tails beforehand in the metaphorical flip of currency, it became readily apparent that whatever their call was would prove to be the winning one.
That said, the Cougars weren’t seen without their fair share of fits and starts inside the initial few minutes on Thursday evening.
Case in point, with Pequea Valley opening up in a 2-3 zone defensively and with Country Day sans the efforts of their All-State caliber guard in Ashby as previously mentioned, the Braves had clearly stymied LCD early on given the visitors’ pair of turnovers forced on their opening pair of offensive trips to start the night.
From those moments on however, Country Day proved themselves to be nothing if not fast learners.
For any shooter in the game of basketball, seeing a team try to defend you by way of a zone is liable for you to start licking your chops. Well, perhaps it’s fitting then seeing as how they are nicknamed the Cougars as Country Day proceeded to pounce on PV’s early defensive strategy by promptly burying a pair of trifectas against the zone thanks to the efforts of Cam Harris and Chris Dukes respectively, as Country Day opened up an early 6-1 lead with three minutes having ticked off the first quarter clock by that point.
But they weren’t satisfied just yet.
No, especially not once Harris and then Jeremy Ouilikin proceeded to fire in two more long balls to aid in the LCD cause which by then threatened the game while still in its initial stages to serve as a potential Cougars’ runaway.
In fact, once Country Day eventually took their act inside the arc thanks to a take to the rack via Dukes, the Cougars’ 6’0 southpaw guard was able to make it a 15-2 Country Day advantage with a hair over two minutes remaining inside the opening stanza. And once the final buzzer sounded on what would be a commanding Country Day ownership of the scoreboard in the form of a 17-3 difference at the end of one, perhaps the fact that Pequea Valley had failed to tally a single field goal inside the opening eight minutes was the best evidence as to just how ferocious the Cougars had been defensively.
Without question, if the hosts had any aspirations of staying within the fight, yes, even with a full three quarters remaining, time was of the essence for the Braves to do so. Finally, and certainly not a moment too soon as far as their fans had to feel, here came Pequea Valley.
And while it may have started off rather quietly in the form of a Cole Stoltzfus take to the cup which gave PV their first bucket from the field while also making it a 19-5 ballgame inside of the first minute of the second period, a far more rambunctious 5-salvo authored by Pequea Valley’s Carson Hollinger quickly followed suit as the sophomore wing was able to get his side within single figures, 19-10, with 5:10 left to play before the break in the aftermath of his scoring outburst.
To their credit though, just when it may have appeared as if Country Day was not only slipping so fast that they may surrender every single morsel of momentum, much less a once gargantuan lead considering how it was once trimmed down to seven inside the second stanza, the Cougars came back to exert their collective will once more as the second quarter drug onward.
Just when they needed it most while going through an offensive dry spell at the time, Chris Dukes proceeded to stroll down the lane for key bucket in transition that not only gave the eventual team-high scorer on the night a two-point addition to what would be his dozen once the dust had settled, it more importantly pushed the gap back over 10 at 25-14 with 4:45 left in the half by that stage. From there, another LCD junior weapon, Ben Sponaugle, was on the scene as the Cougars’ 6’2 matchup piece inside was able to tally the Cougars’ final half dozen points of the opening half as black-clad houseguests were able to trot into the intermission with the benefit of a still somewhat sizable 33-17 cushion.
Perhaps it was just something in the air on this night when it came to the odd-numbered quarters between Lancaster Country Day and Pequea Valley. Well, whatever it was, rest assured that Country Day head coach Jon Shultz would love to bottle it up and use its concoction down the final portion of the season no doubt if his team’s first and third quarters in this one could somehow be replicated and put into further action.
Firstly, when it came to the offensive side of things, Jeremy Ouilikin was able to charge out of the locker room to begin the second half of play by bombing in a trifecta on the Cougars’ offensive possession off a nice offensive set, serving notice that Country Day had begun the third quarter with bad intentions.
But while it may be hard to describe in the form of the written word here, you can best believe that Pequea Valley and anyone in their uniform who happened to be in possession of the ball at any time on Thursday likely had nightmares once they went to bed given how active, pestering, annoying, insert any adjective you’d prefer, just so long as it adequately describes how LCD forced the Braves into a litany of turnovers and far more live-ball deflections in the event they didn’t somehow play the role of thieves when it came to taking the rock away from their hosts.
In fact, for the tangible bit of evidence, no look no further than Pequea Valley scoring their first points of the third frame at the 4:30 mark of the quarter on the heels of a tough, second-chance bucket inside tallied by junior Cole Stoltzfus, making it a 38-19 affair by that point. Later, with Country Day continuing to flirt with the idea of running away and hiding yet again, had it not been for a Garrett Carney freebie at the charity stripe which the Braves’ junior was able to knock down at roughly the one-minute mark of the period, the Cougars’ lead had swelled upwards to 20, 40-20, before the third quarter later ended with PV scoring their second field goal. In totality, yes, that meant in a varsity, divisional contest, Lancaster Country Day had held an opponent to nary two field goals throughout the span of two entire quarters, in that team’s home confines no less.
Yet for as potent as Lancaster Country Day had proven themselves to be inside the first and third quarters respectively in this one, so too was Pequea Valley up and eager to challenge inside the second and fourth frames in their own right.
Sure enough, with Country Day continuing to play with the pedal down while with the lead, PV surely started to invite the idea of doubt into the Cougars’ collective headspace.
Easy to think that perhaps given how a pair of Braves’ trifectas splashed down in succession by way of Jackson Neff and the game-high scorer on the evening at large, PV’s Cole Stoltzfus, cut the gap back to a dozen at 40-28 with nearly half of the final quarter yet to unwind. And while a freshman of all pieces, Cam Harris, proceeded to retaliate right back in the face of the current challenge with a much-needed bucket to stem the tide back in Country Day’s at favor which made it 42-29 not long afterwards, a Stoltzfus second-chance bunny from point-blank range got the Braves within shouting distance, 42-33, with 2:50 still left to tick off.
And while things probably got a bit hairier down the final stretch than perhaps they truly needed to be, Country Day was able to withstand any and all advances that Pequea Valley tried to lob in their direction over the course of the entire night.
Finally, when it came to perhaps the proverbial cherry on top of it all, another LCD underclassman –shoot, they’re all underclassmen honestly seeing as how they don’t have a 12th grader listed on the entire roster – Connor McCaster, was able to tally the final points of the evening with a bucket inside of the final 30 seconds which paved the way for the final buzzer to blare with Lancaster Country Day being able to head back home right beside the Franklin & Marshall campus happy while still basking in a glow of a wire-to-wire 47-33 divisional win down at Pequea Valley to conclude the first go-round of the Section Four slate.
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