Octorara Packs A Punch As Braves Leave No Doubt In Dominating Road Win At Cocalico
Written by: Andy Herr on January 21, 2022
For as long and winding as the high school basketball season can be, it’s almost a given that not every game will be created equal. No, sometimes the energy and enthusiasm within the gym simply won’t be there for your players to feed off of to in turn thrive upon. Case in point, Thursday night’s game between Octorara and Cocalico.
With Old Man Winter already wreaking havoc on the area earlier in the day, some schools were understandably concerned about what type of conditions they’d find out on the roadways late Thursday night coming home games given the possibility of refreezing occurring. Such was the case for Octorara seeing as how the Braves’ 45-minute excursion up from Chester County into Denver might understandably be some cause for concern. So, in an effort of good faith between two fellow L-L League schools, the tip time for the Section Three/Section Four crossover battle was moved up an hour earlier. The downside of course being that the late change likely paved the way for several fans to miss out as a result. Add that into the concoction that neither Octorara nor Cocalico really have much in the way of history with one another, and it was understandable that the environment inside “The Nest” was less than lively by the time 6:30 rolled around on Thursday night.
Of course, that then creates a good news/bad news situation for either side. The bad news being that either club would have to dig deep amongst themselves internally to help their inner drive in order to compete against the opposition. The good news of course then being that it would then likely provide either coaching staff a good read into what each of their teams happen to be made of. Well, if that’s the true barometer at stake here, rest assured that Octorara most certainly came away with a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degree in terms of psychological wherewithal by the time this contest was over with.
In fact, it didn’t take the Braves very long at all in order to pounce. To be more precise, it took the visitors all of 41 seconds to build up a 4-0 cushion following a pair of buckets in the paint courtesy of Elijah Hamilton and Lucas Thaler respectively, a two-bucket spurt which prompted an ultra-quick Cocalico timeout as a means for the Eagles to try and regain some of their composure.
In short, the timeout called by Cocalico head coach, Seth Sigman, seemed to work as the Eagles – well, Trey Rios to be more precise — roared back into the thick of things as a pair of 3-balls dialed up by the Cocalico senior sniper, the last of which came well beyond NBA range, whittled the Octorara lead down to its slimmest of margins at 9-8 with 3:50 left to play in the opening period.
However, that would prove to be all the closer the Eagles would get for the remainder of the night.
Following the most recent Rios’ long-ball, the Braves rebutted right back with a 6-0 flurry of their own which was capped off with Thaler runner in the lane to help make it a 15-8 Octorara lead 1:30 later, before the Braves would punctuate the opening eight minutes off in style given a dead-eye triple sunk in the corner while left alone in the zone by Darryl Jones, as the senior guard helped usher his troops into the second frame with the dozen-point advantage at 22-10.
However, new quarter or not, Octorara only continued to remain white-hot.
More specifically, the Braves’ second quarter got started almost immediately with another salvo, this of the 4-0 variety, as a bucket by way of sophomore guard, Zach Kirk, put the guests by a sweet 16 at 26-10 difference before Cocalico even had a chance to get in any sort of rhythm. Then, finally at the 5:30 mark of the second quarter, someone other than Rios was able to crack into the scoring column for the Eagles as a baseline drive put home from senior guard, Josh Hostetter, made it a 26-12 contest at that point in time.
Yet again though, Octorara would continue to land a series of definitive body blows as the second quarter trudged along.
Following the Hostetter bucket, the Braves would proceed to outscore their competition at a 7-2 clip, another charge that was sealed with a smooth jumper sunk by Kirk which then prompted yet another Cocalico timeout with 3:46 left to play before the intermission with the Eagles’ contingent looking up at seeing a 33-14 gap staring right back at them. And while the Eagles would be able to get back within 20 following a Brycen Flinton steal and finish which made it a 36-16 contest with 2:15 remaining before the break, Octorara looked no worse for the wear seeing as how the Braves proceeded to go into the dressing room with decisive ownership of the 40-17 lead at the end of the second frame.
That being said, not even a halftime recess would appear to do much of anything when it came to slowing down this Octorara machine. No, it quite literally only made things even more treacherous for their hosts.
Case in point, an emphatic one-handed dunk along the baseline courtesy of Octorara’s impressive junior forward, Elijah Hamilton, as the Hamilton rim-rocker through contact made it a 42-19 Braves’ lead not even one-minute into the third quarter proceedings. Speaking of the Braves’ well-rounded and smooth big man, he would go on to finish the evening by bucketing a very sound 19-point effort by the time the contest was wrapped up.
Speaking of dunks, it then seemed to be a contagious theme that had then enveloped its way across the entirety of the Braves’ roster. So much so in fact that the other key piece of the Octorara front line, Joe Sims, decided that he too would get into the act as an easy two-handed throw down by the senior big man had opened the floodgates even further seeing as how the Octorara lead now stood at a 46-24 difference with the third stanza not even half over at that point.
And while dunking had appeared to be Octorara’s primary weapon of choice in the early stages of second half, the Braves then proceeded to try a more traditional method of damage by then stepping out from beyond the arc shortly thereafter.
For proof of that, look no further than a pair of triples knocked home thanks to the handiwork of Zach Kirk, good for a half-dozen point addition to the sophomore’s tally as he would go on to finish with a 15-point outing at the end of his night as well. All told, the third quarter performance put forth by the Braves would be so commanding that it would appropriately kick off the mercy-rule at the tail-end of the third quarter seeing as how the Octorara cushion now stood at 58-28 with the final eight minutes getting set to commence.
Granted, while the outcome was all but a formality by this point, it wasn’t as if there was still wasn’t enough time left for those who would later check into the contest to author up some of their own nice moments as well.
While he had quickly been adopted as an apparent fan favorite by the Cocalico student section by that point in the game for one reason or another, Octorara junior guard, Brooklyn Thomas, would use his newfound fame to his advantage by coming up with a steal and finish to open up the Octorara lead even further, much to the delight of his adorning fans. Lastly, it would prove to be an Octorara freshman, Jason Johnson, who would then proceed to put the final bow on this evening as a decisive take to the tin by the Braves’ diminutive guard put the final points of the evening up on the scoreboard for good. And what the lightbulbs read out at the end of 32 minutes couldn’t have been more clear given the Braves’ dominant triumph put forth from start to finish as evidenced by the 67-30 final count.
NEXT UP: In many ways, Octorara’s crossover win at the hands of Cocalico might very well help pave the way for the Braves to try and make a statement for the remainder of the regular season campaign. That possible statement though will have to wait til Saturday night however seeing as how that happens to be the next time Octorara will step onto the floor as they face off with Kennard-Dale this weekend before jumping right back into what feels like a wide-open race for the second-place spot more so than anything else right now between either Octorara, Donegal and Lancaster Catholic respectively, with all three currently vying for that precious dance ticket into the Lancaster-Lebanon League tourney. Speaking of that upcoming slate for Octorara, it’s a complete who’s who list of everyone from within that division this season seeing as how the Braves’ next league games will come against ELCO, Catholic and Donegal over the course of the next week and change.
For Cocalico, while they too will be off come Friday night, they will have no time to lick their wounds as they will also return to the floor on Saturday against a York-Adams team as well, Red Lion, one of the better outfits seen competing inside the YAIAA so far this season. And speaking of their own division as well, it’s right back into the fire come Monday night when the Eagles host arguably their biggest rival, Manheim Central, before rounding out the week with a pair of road tests against Donegal and Garden Spot respectively.
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