Manheim Township Starts Fast, Pushes Central York Away As Blue Streaks Begin Jam-Packed Week With Key Nonleague Victory
Written by: Andy Herr on December 14, 2021
If you’ve been doing this long enough, you start to pick up on trends that can routinely play themselves out on a perennial basis. Case in point, the incredibly strong and impressive close-outs to the regular season that Manheim Township routinely puts together year over year it seems. Of course, that can come with a downside there too. You see, the frantic finishes that the Blue Streaks consistently put together down the final weeks of the season are perhaps even more impressive when you factor into the equation that those same wins are then parlayed into postseason berths into both the Lancaster-Lebanon League and District 3-6A playoffs respectively, two achievements that aren’t exactly for the faint of heart to try and accomplish with your back against the wall. So, suffice to say, getting off to a strong start to begin this 2021-22 campaign would certainly be a welcomed change as opposed to living life on the razor’s edge come the first week of February every year.
But have you looked at the Streaks’ slate right out of the chute for this season? Goodness gracious, talk about not allowing yourself to have any layups.
And truth be told, it really begun right from the moment in which the ball was tipped off this past Friday night. You see, in the season opener, Township welcomed last year’s 4A state champion, Allentown Central Catholic, into town for one heck of a lid-lifter. Yet while the Streaks threw their best punch, it was just a tad too light considering the Vikings were able to walk out of Neffsville late on Friday night with a well-earned 50-49 victory for their troubles.
Then, no more than two days later, the Streaks were forced to dust themselves off and get right back up off the mat on Monday night when they were tasked with righting the ship against one of the better franchises not only in the York-Adams League, but District 3 in general, when the Central York Panthers came to town for yet another non-con game that was worthy of salivation considering the season itself is not even a week old yet.
Well, fortunately for the Streaks, they would respond in rather impressive fashion against their opposition to start this week.
Coming out of the gates on Monday night firing, Township quickly found themselves with ownership of the 5-0 lead early on following a take to the tin by way of 6’2 bouncy sophomore wing, Sebastian Henson, an exchange which helped get the Streaks out of the gates in a solid position.
But to their credit, the Panthers would respond with vengeance.
Despite seeing the Township lead stand at a 5-point margin throughout much of the opening frame, Central York was able to close the gap down to a pair following a 3-ball splashed in by junior guard, Ethan Dodson, making it a 7-5 affair with half the first quarter clock already expired. In fact, the Streaks’ lead would later be sliced down to the slimmest of margins at 11-10 following back-to-back buckets courtesy of James Jackson and Ben Natal respectively for Central York, with 2:10 then left to play in the opening period.
From that point on however, Township would take off and never look back.
After seeing their lead chopped down to just a single point, the Streaks realized the magnitude of the situation. In fact, no sooner after Central York had gotten within a point had the Blue Streaks’ cushion been immediately pushed back up to five following a layup by Henson in transition, good for two more en route to his 15-point performance on the evening. Then, with the Township lead remaining at that same margin, the difference between the two squads would later balloon up to eight following JT Weaver’s double-clutch trifecta off the glass to beat the first quarter horn, a bucket which propelled the hosts into the second frame with the 20-12 advantage. On the night, the Manheim Township 5’11 senior guard would continue to get his buckets yet again in this contest as Weaver wound up finishing the game by a posting a game-high 20-point scoring output.
Then, once the second quarter got underway, it seemed as if Weaver’s shooting touch became contagious all across the Blue Streaks’ bench.
Ignited by a pair of back-breaking triples to start the second quarter proceedings cashed in by way of Weaver and fellow senior Brok Oldac respectively, Township was well on their way to pushing Central York away for good. And while the Panthers would retaliate with a much-needed bucket inside thanks to Dodson to help stop the bleeding, the Township 3-point barrage continued onward courtesy of a Seth Miller’s trifecta knocked down shortly thereafter as the Township senior guard made it a 31-14 ballgame in favor of the Streaks.
Later, with their prolific shooting touch clearly on display, Township would turn to their half court sets to engineer some offense as well. As it turned out, that portion too would hum like a finely-tuned machine.
Coming on the heels of a gorgeous two-man game between the pair, a sweet Sebastian Henson dime to Shady Girgis streaking to the cup would later up the Streaks’ lead to a 16-point threshold at 36-20 with 2:15 left to go before intermission. And over the span of the final two minutes and change, Township only continued to enjoy the fruits of their labor as the first half came to a close as evidenced by the 42-29 lead that the Blue Streaks took with them into the second half of play.
Even with a ten-minute respite in between halves, nothing seemed to slow down the Manheim Township onslaught.
In fact, after a yet another nice inside/out play authored on the offensive end that ended in a Brok Oldac triple, made it a 16-point Manheim Township lead at 47-31 with 5:40 left to play in the third. And while a hard-earned Panthers’ bucket inside put home by senior guard Jacobi Baker trimmed the Streaks’ lead down to a baker’s dozen at 49-36, yet another Blue Streaks’ avalanche would follow suit thanks to a another trey knocked down by Miller on Township’s ensuing offensive trip following the Baker bucket before a strong finish inside by way of their sensational sophomore, Sebastian Henson, helped push the Township lead out to 18 at 58-40 with the final period set to get underway.
Fittingly, in even the final eight minutes as well, nothing seemed to cool Manheim Township’s hot shooting off.
Case in point, a pair of consecutive triples put home by Henson and Oldac respectively, a six-point salvo that proved to be the final bit of juice that was needed to put the Blue Streaks over the finish line. And once they did reach the final buzzer, there was little doubt as to what had just taken place over the last 32 minutes of play given Manheim Township’s commanding and decisive 65-51 victory at the hands of Central York as the Streaks came out of their unique opening “weekend” with a 1-1 overall record to show for it.
And while it may have been a rather unorthodox way of starting off a season as far as a three-team round robin format is concerned, getting back on level ground within the first couple days of the season is certainly something not lost inside Blue Streaks’ camp.
“We wanted to have a tournament, but a team pulled out of it for another tournament and we found out about it maybe five or six weeks ago,” Manheim Township head coach Matt Johns said of what was originally intended to be a top of line, star-studded event right out of the box that left the Streaks, Allentown Central Catholic, and Central York all without a final combatant to round out the bunch. “I personally think that one of the challenges of finding a fourth team was that the competition was so good here this weekend,” Johns admitted. “I mean, you have a 6A, a 6A, a 4A, but the 4A is a returning state champ, so you’re looking around and somebody says, ‘Oh, we got a tournament. Who’s coming? Yeah, I think we’ll pass.’ There was a lot of that, but we did what we could do to make it work,” said Johns.
Speaking of making it work, perhaps the most important piece to everything is that the Streaks came out of their opening two contests at 1-1 considering this stretch that is still left out in front of them this week.
“The way that things shook out, we originally were supposed to play Friday, Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday. That seems very reasonable to start a season,” Johns continued regarding his club’s initial slate of the campaign. “It’s the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday that’s rough. And it is rough. To be fair, there’s really not a ton of advantage for anyone. Exeter (Manheim Township’s opponent on Tuesday) played E-Town tonight. Tomorrow night, McCaskey (the Streaks’ opponent on Wednesday) plays Reading, and that’s not a night off by any stretch. We’ll just have to strap it on and play.”
Yet imposing schedule or not, having a talent the likes of Sebastian Henson is certainly a good starting block to build upon and add into the equation. Something not lost on the Streaks’ boss either.
“Last year, he played JV and sat some varsity,” Johns said of his impressive, springy 10th grade wing. “Physically, he grew and got bigger and stronger. He’s really committing himself to the defensive end right now. You hear about that at the college level, the NBA level, that (a defensive-focused outlook) and shot selection at the next levels are the hardest things to come by, so he’s really working and listening to improving his team defense. Today, he played in flow and most of his shots were taken in flow. In the second half, when he was playing off a catch or just a couple dribbles, (Henson) looked really, really good.”
And just like Henson himself, Township as a whole looked really, really good as well. So much so that it may be time to consider the Blue Streaks as a serious contender amongst the divisional fray as well as this season continues to take shape.
NEXT UP: As Coach Johns eluded to, this next stretch of contests is anything but a leisurely walk in the park. After dispatching Central York on Monday night, the Streaks will load up the bus and head to Berks County on Tuesday night to match up against what it certainly appears to be one of the better teams in that county this year, the Exeter Eagles, before jumping right into L-L Section One play on Wednesday night against an always formidable McCaskey Red Tornado bunch before closing the week out against Northeastern on Saturday.
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