Northern Lebanon Gets Glimpse Into Its Future As Vikings Lean On Underclassmen Efforts, Knock Off Route 22 Rival Annville-Cleona In Battle Of Upcoming Section Four Foes
Written by: Andy Herr on January 9, 2024
Northern Lebanon Players of the Game. Senior Luke Shaffer (Beanie). Sophomore Kael Erdman (Longsleeve Tee)
While conventional wisdom might’ve told you that Monday night’s rivalry affair between Annville-Cleona was nothing more than a “nonleague” scrap between two foes hailing from different sections within the Lancaster-Lebanon League, the truth of the matter was that there was far, far more to it than just that alone.
Again, the proverbial elephant in the room if you will being that A-C and NL, the two most northern schools located inside the entire conference, are rival entities who use US Route 22 and their own version of the 49th parrel in a sense. Aside from that though, while this was just a one game non-con battle (still seems blasphemous to even say out loud that given how they are both members of the same league) this season, this will soon become a Section Four battle starting next season once Northern Lebanon dives down from the rank and file of the Section Three universe before engaging in battles amongst more similar-sized schools found in Four. Finally, and perhaps most importantly here, but A-C and Northern Lebanon have been seen playing their best basketball amongst themselves respectively comparatively speaking when judging against the last few years especially seeing as how the Dutchmen came into the evening with a 6-4 overall record to their name, while the Vikings on the other hand came in darn near flirting with a .500 overall mark of their with their record standing at 4-7 entering the week, fresh off the labor of an incredible come-from-behind overtime triumph against Upper Dauphin back on Saturday morning.
Suffice to say, there was more than plenty to wet the appetite of anyone who happened to stop by Northern Lebanon’s venerable house of haunts to start the work week in both the short- and long-range forecasts for each. And without much in the way of debate, if Monday night in a vacuum is to serve as any sort of precursor as to how the next few years figure to look once both of these programs look eye-to-eye against one another for a two-game set of matchups as divisional foes, L-L Section Four next season will be quite fun to partake of based on what these happen to bring to the table in particular.
In this one however on Monday, the stars came out to shine right out of the chute.
Case in point, Annville-Cleona’s Elisha Slabach, third in the entire conference in points-per-game average at 19 and change, got the evening underway with a curl cut at the cup on the Dutchmen’s opening possession to raise the curtain on the game’s scoring festivities.
Speaking of stars, Northern Lebanon’s fortunes look quite promising moving forward seeing as how a variety of Vikings, mostly underclassman by and large, are the ones doing the bulk of the damage this season. With that in mind, it seemed fitting that the Vikes charge ahead in the form of an 8-2 lead following Slabach’s early bucket as an old-fashioned three-point play tallied by NL 6’4 sophomore big man, Brady Krall, helped to put the hosts up by a half dozen with 4:30 left to play in the opening frame by that point.
Did we mention though that Elisha Slabach is a basketball version of microwave when it comes to scoring at will in bunches?
Well, if Northern Lebanon wasn’t already cognizant of what they had surely scouted on tape leading in, seeing the Dutchmen’s 6’2 junior wing proceed to rattle off the next eight A-C points in succession to then draw even at 10-10 with inside of two minutes left in the opening stanza, rest assured that the Vikings were then well aware of just fast Slabach can go off seeing as the score at that juncture quite literally was Northern Lebanon 10, Elisha Slabach 10.
And while one of the few key 12th graders in the NL rotation, Riley Clinger, proceeded to tally a bucket at the cup which put the hosts back in front at 12-10 in short order, a stalemate would remain in place once the opening eight minutes expired off the scoreboard with both these equal foes appropriately knotted up at 12-apiece.
Yet the back-and-forth nature of what took place in the opening stanza was well on display once the second act got underway on Monday up in Fredericksburg as well.
In that regard, while the Dutchmen were able to surge in front at 16-15 following a 3-ball knocked down via the handiwork of you guessed it, Mr. Slabach, a sweet dish underneath immediately afterwards for the Northern Lebanon contingent found in the form of Clinger to Krall allowed the advantage to change hands once again with the Vikings now holding serve at 17-16 with five minutes still left to play before the recess.
Needless to say, if anyone could find any bit of separation from one another with the first half winding down, that would likely prove to be vital heading into the latter stages of the game. In that respect, hang a star next to Northern Lebanon’s name.
In terms of what that actually looked like, despite the 17-17 score inside the waning minute of the first half, the Vikings were able to saunter into the recess by virtue of their 23-17 advantage riding on the heels of a pair of triples knocked down in succession courtesy of Riley Messinger and Brian Bicksler respectively, with Bicksler’s coming mere moments before the second quarter horn after a kick out to the perimeter from senior big man, Luke Shaffer, giving Northern Lebanon some true, actualized momentum heading into the third frame.
From the onset of the second half however, it largely seemed as if the same Northern Lebanon crew who ended the first half was right there on the scene to pick up right where they had left off. Something that largely was no better than exemplified than with a Brady Krall bucket at the tin to conclude the Vikings’ initial offensive possession, seeming to tilt momentum without much in the way of debate in the hosts’ favor.
However, if momentum was what you were looking for, Annville-Cleona was right there to counter back with a bit of their own immediately afterwards.
Granted, just when it may have seemed as if NL was on the verge of running away and hiding from nearby neighbors on the evening, the Dutchmen, to their credit, just continued to let go of the rope without a fight. And with the aid of a pair of triples sunk by the likes of the A-C junior tandem of Jake Zdazinski and Elisha Slabach respectively, a once almost gargantuan Northern Lebanon cushion had been sliced all the way down to a modest 27-24 bit of difference.
Yet while Northern Lebanon’s Kael Erdman would promptly retaliate right back with a 3-ball of his own to up the Vikings’ lead back out to a half dozen at 30-24 with 3:30 left, their lead would be trimmed down to a penny not long afterwards as a tough deuce inside tallied by A-C’s 6’3 junior big man, Jon Shay, made it a 30-29 Vikings’ lead with 1:45 left in the third. Ironically then, while both teams would continue to score inside of the final minute and change, that slim one-point margin possessed by Northern Lebanon held steady at the conclusion of the third as the Vikings ventured into the final period with the spoils of a 32-31 lead.
As would readily become apparent once the fourth quarter got underway, while the initial triumvirate of periods contested on Monday night were exciting in their own right, they would all largely pale in comparison to what the final eight minutes consisted of.
Fittingly, as if to be right on cue for what the fourth quarter would resemble from start to finish, four successive Annville-Cleona offensive rebounds hauled down eventually resulted in an incredibly hard-earned Jonathon Shay bucket from point-blank range, putting the red-clad visitors in front before the lead would then change hands yet again once Kael Erdman proceeded to take over with a determined take to the cup which quickly made it a 34-33 Vikings’ lead to follow suit.
Yet here again though, Annville-Cleona begrudgingly refused to move.
In fact, not only would the Dutchmen draw back even at 36-36 in the aftermath of a dead-eye triple dialed up by Zdazinski from the top of the key with 4:10 left to play, but they would go on to regain the lead their next trip down the floor as a nifty turnaround J thanks to the efforts of 6’3 junior forward, Tony Pena, made it a 38-36 A-C lead with now inside of four minutes left to bleed off the clock.
Without much in the way of debate, particularly with the game sitting right there for the taking, the leading role for who would play hero on this night would be nothing if not an open audition. Well, that was until Kael Erdman decided to get in on things of course.
In the fall, the sophomore happens to run the show for the school’s football team as the starting quarterback, as he has successfully done since last season while as freshman. However, as he would prove in the latter stages of Monday’s game against Annville, he isn’t all that bad when it comes to being a key centerpiece on the roundball team either.
And while it may have been slightly unorthodox, a 3-3 trip to the charity stripe after getting fouled in the act of hoisting from beyond the arc was equally as valuable as Erdman’s perfect trip to the foul line with the game hanging in the balance suddenly gave the lead back to Vikings at 41-40 with just 2:11 left to go at that point.
However, as Northern Lebanon was surely aware of by that point on the evening most especially, getting rid of Annville-Cleona was a chore far simpler said than actually done.
Sure enough, with the Vikings in possession of the ball just past the timeline with inside of 90 seconds left to play, the Dutchmen ratcheted up the defensive ten-fold which then proved critical as a theft and layup by Jon Shay put A-C back in front, 42-41, with 1:15 left and their fans going into a tizzy.
Unfortunately, as far as those same A-C fans would later find out, that would prove to be the last instance their team would be in front over those final 75 seconds.
Did we mention that Kael Erdman played a crucial role in this affair? If we didn’t, how about we cite another perfect trip to the line in a crucible of pressure-packed instance which resulted in a 43-42 Vikings’ lead following the 5’10 guard’s 2-2 stretch with now inside of a minute to play. All told, while he most specifically knocked down five straight freebies in crunch time to vault Northern Lebanon back into the lead, it would actually be a 7-7 free throw shooting display by Erdman inside the final quarter which proved to be essential as all dozen of his dozen points scored on the night exclusively came inside of the second half to serve as the epitome of gusty.
So, with the baton of opportunity being presented to Annville-Cleona by that point, the Dutchmen needed to get a quality shot in their bid to overtake control of the scoreboard. Unfortunately for them, what seemed to be an earlier shot than originally desired resulted in a Northern Lebanon defensive rebound as a result which in turn resulted in another perfect display of free throw shooting prowess as NL’s Riley Clinger proceeded to toe the line and calmly knock down the offering, upping the Vikings’ lead to a 45-42 difference with 14.6 seconds left by that stage.
Then, with what felt to be one solid chance at either tying the game, or at the very least extending it provided they could notch a quick two, those were unfortunately nothing more than best laid plans from Annville-Cleona’s perspective as a frantic final possession eventually resulted in another Clinger two-point addition, this of the more traditional variety, as the senior guard’s leak out bucket behind the A-C troops just as the buzzer sounded seemed to serve as the perfect bow on top of a pulsating Northern Lebanon triumph over Annville-Cleona on Monday night, 47-42, as the Vikings were able to draw one step closer towards a .500 overall record by the end of the night, something that’s isn’t exactly a “throw away” news story once you realize that NL is now a clear four games above their win total posted from all of last season with the back half of this year still yet to unfold too.
Afterwards, perhaps after taking a few moments to calm his nerves down and come back to earth somewhat following what was now a two-game win streak that was done in heart-stopping fashion, Northern Lebanon head coach Chris George was most appreciative of what his squad had overcome. Not just this year mind you, but throughout the last couple of campaigns too to be frank.
“We had some games early on that we targeted and thought we could play really well early on in. Tulpy, Williams Valley, Pine Grove,” the now nineth-year head man in charge of things said of the slate to begin the year. “The Tulpy (Tulpehocken) game was one where Tulpy really battled us. In that game, we got down big in the fourth. That was really the first time we had to show a little bit of resiliency when you go down, come back, go down, come back. Then on Saturday, I told our guys, ‘I know Upper Dauphin doesn’t have the greatest record, but you can’t worry about that,”’ he explained of his message prior to Saturday’s eventual OT victory. “There are good teams that go on the road, in your other gym too in our case, where a team goes into a zone, and you can’t throw it in the ocean. You have to fight back. We did, but we’re not good enough to think that we’re going to roll through anyone. Some of those games like Saturday was big. That helped us confidence wise.”
Not only that, but holding down one of the league’s best pure scorers below his season average and shutting the water off on some of his fellow castmates certainly helps build overall mojo in that regard as well.
“What did he have to start? 10 points?” George then asked out loud about Annville-Cleona’s Elisha Slabach. “Yeah, he was number one on board, but they have a lot of good kids too,” he added after laughing somewhat considering how his team’s top priority gashed them for double digits to start things out on Monday. “(Jon) Shay is a good athlete, Zdazinski can really shoot the ball. Jason (Coletti) runs great stuff too. Prep yesterday was hard with the five, six, seven different things that they really run well,” he was quick to add regarding A-C’s head man and his offensive mind too. “It’s not like one little thing for them and for one guy either. He does a nice job putting his kids in good spots.”
Speaking of good spots, certainly this winter must feel remarkably different and like a breath of fresh air compared to last winter inside the Northern Lebanon gym on a daily basis. After all, if the saying is that “winning cures all ills,” then the Vikings are feeling mighty fine and in tip-top shape these days.
“I’ll say this, last year obviously we didn’t get our first win until next week in terms of when it came with the Hamburg game. That was hard,” George candidly admitted going back to the first month of 2023. “When you’re going through six, seven weeks with no win to start your year, that starts to build, and you can just feel it in practice. It starts to have like a hopeless feeling a little bit, but we’re young, so that helps,” he detailed. “It’s not my first rodeo. We’re trying to do everything we can. Especially last year to keep guys focused on the day-to-day and making sure they still have fun. This year, that first win against Pine Grove up there really changed things for us immediately. Now, all of a sudden, we have an early win, so you know already it’s not going to be like last year.”
Above all else though, while a now 5-7 record may not be up to snuff for some folks, go ahead and continue to hit the snooze button on Northern Lebanon at your own peril. They know that their program is pouring the concrete onto what they hope –nay, expect—can be a brand to be reckoned with here in the very near future.
“You see the stuff we Tweet,” said George illustrating things on a more macro level. “Our freshman and junior high programs are really good. We have a few kids coming out of there that we really like that will probably play early. We have a bunch of sophomores obviously on JV, some of them are even getting varsity time right now. Sometimes it’s been different guys too like (Andrew) Via who can totally take over a game. Tonight, it was Kael (Erdman), another sophomore point guard. Against Williams Valley in that win, it was (Brian) Bicksler….I will say this. I don’t think that’s easy on those kids to never know when your night is going to be when you might play more minutes,” he added of the psychology of it all. “But they all play solid minutes. Down the stretch tonight it was all Kael. Like, we have Kael, we have (Brady) Krall, we have (Nolan) Lesher, we have (Ben) Planken down on JV…We have a lot of sophomores we like to go along with the juniors like Donovan Brandt and of course (Riley) Messinger.”
“But that being said, we can’t get caught up with, ‘We have young guys, we have young guys coming next year.’ We have to do it now,” George pointed out. “This is a really big year for us to be able to make a step. We have to make a step. We’re at five wins now. But I’ll be honest, we’re not talking about wins and losses. We’re just talking about growth. I know that’s coach talk, but we know there are some nights we are going to roll into Octorara, L-S, like there’s some tough squads where if thinking the only way to judge success is by wins, it’s going to be a very difficult year. We just focus on our growth,” he continued. “I thought at Octorara, we played great for what we were. Yes, we made a bunch of mistakes in the second half, but I’ll take that as long we’re growing and getting better. I tell (his players), ‘It’s not going to be a perfect line. It’s going to be a little bumpy, but as long as the trajectory is keeps going up, even in games themselves, we’ll be alright.”’
Beyond that though, moving away from that gauntlet of the present day slate that includes not just the likes of those aforementioned Braves and Pioneers from Octorara and L-S respectively, but all of L-L Section Three by and large, that too figures to give some sort of an additional momentum boost for a program already starting to climb and find its footing.
“We’ve been fine in Section Three up until the last couple of years where we’ve had a little lull here and that’s okay. I’ll be honest though, (Section Four) is a better spot for us with where we’re at right now,” George remarked for what would be his 10th season in charge of the bench next season. “But you can’t go down there thinking you’re just going to roll in,” he mentioned of the Section Four cast of characters. “You have Mennonite, Country Day has so many kids, Annville has all their kids back, so it’s not going to be some walk in the park for us. Sure, obviously there are those big dogs in Section Three that are going to be tough like the L-S machine, Octorara, ELCO’s been solid, Donegal is on the way up with (Ryan) Shipper. We like our squad regardless of where we are, but obviously Section Four is going be a good change for us, especially next year. Hopefully we make another little step, and we’ll see what happens. If we can start pushing towards some playoffs whether it be leagues or districts, something, obviously that’s our goal.”
And while no one may know exactly as to what the future truly holds for Northern Lebanon moving forward into a new neighborhood, the days of seeing the Vikings down near the bottom of the standings, regardless of what division they may happen to reside in, may soon be a thing of the past. If nothing else, they’d already have the tiebreaker over Annville-Cleona coming out Monday night if it were 2025 and not 2024.
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