Octorara Regains Winning Ways As Braves Top Cocalico In Critical Divisional Bout
Written by: Andy Herr on January 6, 2023
First of all, we must ask a question in advance here… Is it okay to type out loud that on January 5th, just four days after the clock struck midnight and rung in a brand-new calendar year, that two teams may wind up playing a basketball game that could largely come to define their respective seasons as a whole? Short answer to that question would likely have to be yes, assuming you were referencing Thursday night’s Section Four tussle between Octorara and Cocalico of course.
Again, albeit with the high school basketball season not quite at its halfway mark as of yet, there are still certain games found on the upcoming schedule here in the very near future that will surely prove vital for teams that are trying to make legitimate hay heading into what they hope culminates in a postseason berth. Chief among them being the aforementioned divisional contest taking place in Denver.
For Cocalico, not to suggest in the least that the Eagles ending the 2022 calendar year at 2-0 in divisional play was a total surprise, especially given the way in which they typically dictate the terms of an affair given their style of play, but it was admittedly probably a shock for some to see the Eagles residing up that far in section pecking order. Needless to say, while a 2-0 start might have seemed like a cute, little story on the surface, rest assured that heads would turn swiftly with attention should they be able to elevate to 3-0 with a win over what was arguably the favorite heading into the season.
That favorite? Why none other than the Octorara Braves of course.
Hard to argue quite frankly when consider the horses that the group from Chester County brought back with them into the fold that included the likes of Lucas Thaler, Elijah Hamilton and Zach Kirk to name but a few this year. Of course, a little assistance in other locales goes a long way too and you can certainly bet that those ardent supporters of Octorara did not weep whatsoever once the talented senior classes at Lampeter-Strasburg and ELCO finally departed and walked across the stage at graduation this past spring. That said, it hasn’t been totally smooth sailing thus far for the Braves thus far considering that they entered Thursday night’s slugfest with a 5-4 overall record, including a .500 mark in league play which included a 49-46 loss to Donegal their last time out on Tuesday night.
Even still, with L-S appearing to be up to their old, familiar tricks once again this season, it was evident as to how and why this particular matchup between Octorara and Cocalico would loom so large as the year continues to round into form. And if you need a refresher, remember that with the reintroduction back to the four-section format, two slots will be awarded to the top two finishers in each grouping.
But with all that being said, if Thursday night is to serve as any sort of predictor of things possibly yet to come down the pike, there’s ample reasoning to suggest why Octorara may very well end up living up to many of those preseason accolades once the dust finally settles.
Almost right from the onset on Thursday, the Braves’ two key cogs had clearly arrived to Cocalico with nothing but bad intentions. Case in point, while Elijah Hamilton would ascend out to his very own 5-0 salvo which helped the Braves gain their first real bit of separation coming in the form of a 7-3 lead with 3:25 left to play in the first, Zach Kirk wouldn’t be far behind his frontcourt ace as the sensational junior guard proceeded to rip off five straight points of his own not long afterwards, a key run which upped the guests’ lead out to seven at 12-5 with 1:30 then left to play in the initial period.
Not to be outdone however, Cocalico would have one of their own then rattle off his own rally to follow suit.
For that, the Eagles relied on the efforts of one Tyler Hambright to try and perhaps light a spark for their collective cause with the senior guard appearing up to the challenge given his seven straight points bucketed over the course of the final few minutes of the opening frame to help close the deficit back down to a pair at 12-10 with a minute and change still yet to evaporate.
However, the problem with all that is that Kirk wasn’t done scoring.
Sure enough, his five straight points would then balloon out to nine straight points once the first quarter was finally cemented. And once it did, Octorara found themselves by half a dozen, 16-10, despite the fact that the first quarter was largely played at a tempo to what felt like Cocalico’s liking.
In the second, that’s when Octorara finally started to put their foot down.
Following an opening quarter that saw them in front by a modest six points, the Braves’ cushion would later swell out to 14 roughly over the span of the first half of the second quarter once an acrobatic finish at the cup courtesy of Octorara senior guard Mason Lambert was able to roll through the net making it a 24-10 contest in favor of the visitors.
Yet even still, for a second quarter of play that certainly felt as if it had largely tilted in Octorara’s direction finally, Cocalico was able to muster one final push before heading into the halftime break. In that instance, the Eagles called upon Camden Ochs to do the honors with the 6’5 sophomore forward being able to deliver the goods by and large as Ochs’ 4-0 spurt over the final few seconds of the second quarter helped the hosts get back within shouting distance somewhat at 30-18 once the first half buzzer sounded.
Here, perhaps more so than ever before, Cocalico would need to come out with a vengeance with the Braves trying to do their best in terms of deterring such an effort. In that regard, the victory certainly went to the former.
In fact, throughout much of the third, Octorara was able to keep their opposition at arm’s length. A primary example of that would most certainly be Zach Kirk’s floater in the lane to help begin the third quarter proceedings which made it a 32-20 ballgame with Kirk well on his way towards capturing would be game-high scoring honors with a 30-point evening by the end of it all.
But while Cocalico may have begun the third frame rather tame, a timely 3-ball splashed home by Tyler Hambright, one of his four triples sprayed home on the night, not only helped awaken the Eagles from their slumber, but it also awarded them the opportunity of inserting themselves back into the thick of things at 36-25 with 3:30 still left outstanding on the third quarter clock. However, Octorara would have the antidote yet again as a personal 5-0 run authored by way of senior forward Lucas Thaler in the waning stages of the period helped Octorara increase their lead out to a 45-28 bulge with the final eight minutes getting set to commence.
By this time, it had become readily apparent was that had Cocalico been able to cash in on some of their earlier shots from the field, the margin of difference would be nothing if not much tighter heading into the fourth. Ironically enough though, those earlier shots that would not fall would begin falling like rain for the Eagles once the fourth quarter rolled around.
Case in point, a pair of Hambright treys which made it a two-touchdown affair at 50-36 with the halfway point of the final stanza quickly coming into view. But those weren’t the only ones. No, not when you add into the equation Owen Weaver sinking one of his own which preceded a strong take to the tin by way of Sam Steffey not far behind as the Eagles’ junior duo helped their fellow troops claw back to within a dozen at 59-47 with time starting to become of the essence.
However, in what may have been in the most fitting of ways possible, Zach Kirk would come up with both the metaphorical and literal man-sized punctuation mark to finalize this one as his old-fashioned three-point play through contact in the waning stages allowed the Braves to formally douse cold water on a possible miraculous Cocalico comeback effort as Octorara was in store for a happy bus ride back home to Atglen late on Thursday night in the aftermath of their critical 72-56 triumph over Cocalico.
And you can best believe that Octorara head man Gene Lambert was well aware of the magnitude surrounding this one too.
“Big time,” Lambert said without any hesitation regarding the stakes found there waiting for his squad in Denver. “I was worried about this one all day today, I’ll be honest. If we don’t win this game here tonight, especially with L-S coming up on Tuesday, this could have put us behind the 8-ball here big time. Big time” he reiterated following his team’s victory.
Part of the reason he was likely concerned you ask? Most certainly in no small part stemming from the fact that Octorara had taken it to Cocalico and then some in this very same game a year ago to the tune of a resounding 67-30 final verdict. Suffice to say, a veteran and savvy coach such as Lambert was wiser than to assume that the same type of ease would await his team this year in respect to not much in the way of pushback.
“The first thing I said in the locker room was, ‘If you guys recall, we beat this team pretty bad last year and there is no way they are going to forget that,’” said Lambert of the pregame message offered to his club. “(Cocalico) didn’t and they’re not going to. You never forget games like that. And I give them a ton of credit,” he said of Cocalico and their effort following last season’s lopsided final score on the Eagles’ home floor. “Seth (Sigman) does a good job over here and his kids play hard. There’s a reason why they hadn’t had a loss before tonight. This was a huge game. A huge game for both of us.”
But if there was thing to take away from Thursday night’s performance above all else? It’s that Octorara still has a ways to go before becoming the best version of themselves. And one would have to presume that is a scary thought for the rest of the division to try and consider when an off-speed pitch of sorts can still yield the Braves upwards of a 70-point showing.
“Our experience across the board is so huge for us,” Lambert added in reference to his 2022-23 team. “Even if we have guys who score five points, six points, seven points, if we have four guys score that many to along with guys like Zach (Kirk) and Elijah (Hamilton), that gets us up to 70 (points). It’s one of those things where I look and see who’s scoring in the league and we’re the highest-scoring team. I mean, we are,” he added candidly.
“But,” Octorara’s head man was just as quick to point out, “The last couple of days we have really been focusing on our defense. If we want to do anything in this league, we have to get stops. We have to get stops.”
And if they can put all the puzzle pieces together here in the next couple of weeks, the conference at large will likely see once and for all as to why this Octorara team has the ability to play with anyone who happens to have a membership card within the Lancaster-Lebanon League bar none.
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