White-Hot Elizabethtown Continues Torrid Stretch As Bears Knock Off Cocalico For Fourth Straight Win Of Late, Eye Possible Upper Tier Finish In Section Two Standings
Written by: Andy Herr on January 29, 2025
You probably weren’t expecting to see a Bill Parcells reference pop up at any point within this space and that’s fair. But sometimes, regardless of the sport or the level of the profession involved, some things are just so applicable that they can be applied all the same.
As some of you may know, the Hall of Fame coach was great with the one-liners and quips. And while others may have said this phrase either verbatim or something along the same lines, we’ll give tribute here to the former Giants, Jets, and Cowboys head man for it. For Parcells, when once asked about his team, his response to the question was, “You are what your record says you are.” Now, that’s a fair point and is usually gospel more often times than not.
But not necessarily all the time. Just look at this year’s edition of the Elizabethtown boys’ basketball team for instance.
Sure, while at face value the Bears came into this week while carrying around a 5-12 overall record, a resume which placed them in the lower third of the District 3-6A power ratings, there’s way more involved than simply E-town being seven games under the .500 mark in terms of their 2024-25 campaign and nothing more.
When you look inside those numbers, it’s equally accurate to say that E-town is a far tougher team than the digits put together that make up their season record would lead one to believe. For example, in seven of those defeats, the Bears were within single digits of the final verdict. In terms of Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two play where they happen to reside, while they may have been 3-6 in those contests as well, three of those setbacks came by a grand total of 10 points put together. Suffice to say, the E-town Bears have proven themselves to be a much harder out than one may realize once you go beyond the initial numbers.
Fortunately, as of late most especially, the Bears have been able to turn things around and give credence as to why they are more than just dangerous. These days, E-town has become a very real and legitimate foe for opponents to try and grapple with.
In fact, coming into their Tuesday night home finale against Cocalico – a game in which E-town lost by a single point in a 54-53 affair earlier this month – E-town was seen playing their best ball of the entire season of late as demonstrated by their three-game winning streak, not the least of which included a 51-48 overtime thriller over their Route 230 neighbors from down the road at Donegal just 24 hours prior.
Speaking of those visiting Eagles, they too came into Daubert Gymnasium on a bit of a tear themselves.
Oddly enough, Tuesday night’s trip to E-town marked the end of a six-game sojourn for Cocalico which had seen the Eagles absent of playing a game at their home confines since January 14th in a strange twist of scheduling fate. But to their credit, no matter the venue or not, the boys from Denver had been able to rise to challenge at hand rather marvelously considering how the Eagles came into Tuesday as winners of five of their last six outings in their own right. For their troubles, not only was Cocalico still flirting with the idea of making the upcoming league playoffs as the second-place finisher from Section Two behind the already-crowned champs from Warwick, but Cocalico also saw themselves in a far better scenario in terms of making the District 3-5A playoffs as well given their ascension past the cut line thanks to their recent prowess.
So, with that, the stage was set for a game with fairly significant ramifications across the board even if those may not have necessarily been in the most traditional of senses for a contest in late January. In a contest featuring a pair of squads that came in winning their last eight of nine combined, something had to give when Cocalico squared off with E-town in their season’s final meeting.
And as Cocalico would find out right from the opening tap, this is indeed a Bears’ crew that features sharper teeth and claws than their misleading record may suggest.
Simply put, E-town came out energized and then some in this their final game at Daubert on the season.
In fact, the early salvo was so great that their guests were forced into burning a very early timeout as four straight Bears’ triples, two of which came courtesy of 6’1 senior, Aidan Kenny, made it a sizable 12-3 E-town advantage with 3:30 left in the opening frame and the Eagles well on their heels to start.
But not even that early respite did much of anything to stem the tide in Cocalico’s favor as it turned out.
After getting the party started on the outside, E-town’s promising 6’4 sophomore big man, Carter Torborg, proceeded to take things inside not long afterwards as a pair of Torborg bunnies from around the cup in successive fashion would later up things out to a 16-3 E-town cushion with the Eagles yet again baited into calling another timeout to try and regroup.
All told, while Cocalico would end up winning the final 1:19 of the opening quarter courtesy of a take to the cup by way of 6’0 junior guard, Ty Wealand, while also holding E-town scoreless for the final minute and change, the damage of the opening eight minutes had clearly been done as evidenced by the Bears carrying the spoils of a 16-5 lead with them into the second stanza.
Yet the second quarter looked eerily similar to that of its predecessor in relatively short order.
Case in point, while E-town 5’10 junior guard, Nate Poff, helped to get things underway with an old-fashioned three-point play which then made it a 21-8 Bears’ lead, a tough take to the rack by way of their ace in the hole, Brandon Andrews, would then create the cascading effect of Cocalico burning their third timeout of the opening half while then staring up at an existing 25-8 deficit with 4:20 left following the bucket tabulated by the Bears’ 6’3 senior wing.
Finally, and certainly not a moment too soon from their perspective, Cocalico got into a little bit of a groove right then and there.
For that, the Eagles needed to give credit to their 6’5 senior big man, Camden Ochs, as Ochs proceeded to author his own 5-0 personal rally to breathe a little bit of life into his troops which had just gone under siege thanks to this emphatic E-town blitzkrieg.
However, even when it seemed as if Cocalico may have been starting to make some headway, their hosts would be right there to push them away once again inside the final moments of the opening half as demonstrated by a key 4-0 close to the second quarter scoring by the hosts which helped to vault the Bears into the dressing room with ownership of the 33-15 lead at the break.
By this point, while the outcome wasn’t necessarily written in stone following the first 16 minutes, an entirely different Cocalico crew would have to emerge to start the third quarter if the Eagles had any desires of keeping those L-L playoff chances alive and well.
Gradually, and perhaps not always recognizable all the time, but they would do precisely that when called upon.
The one doing the majority of the heavy lifting and exerting the most energy when it came to propelling the Eagles within this critical juncture was none other than one of the smallest players on the floor physically, Timmy Hambright, who’s 5’10 frame couldn’t measure the will and determination he exuded in trying to bring his team back into the fray. There, while trying to use a variety of junk defenses to try and throw off what was a very comfortable E-town outfit offensively out of any sort of rhythm and flow, the Eagles’ junior guard tried his best to do the accompanying work on the offensive end of the floor for his side.
Sure enough, while bookended around a pair of Hambright triples that highlighted the Eagles’ third quarter scoring, Cocalico had methodically chipped their way back into the fight by trimming what was an 18-point halftime hole into a more modest dozen at 45-33 heading into the final period following Hambright’s second trey with Hambright en route to capturing a team-high scoring output of 14 to pace the Cocalico charge on Tuesday evening.
One final push. That’s what was still required of Cocalico if they wanted to try and steal this one on the road.
Granted, while the Eagles’ good juju and momentum took a bit of a hit inside the infant stages of the fourth act while in the aftermath of a Nate Poff triple to begin the final quarter scoring – the Bears’ first 3-ball since that initial first quarter deluge – they continued to remain steady with the assignment. Case in point, a 5-0 charge that came courtesy of Ty Wealand before a subsequent steal and finish through contact by way of 6’0 junior guard, Luke Wass, helped to bring the Eagles back within ten. Then, while on the heels of an Ochs three-point a short time later, Cocalico had roared all the way back to within eight, 52-44, with plenty of time still left for a completing this memorable comeback bid.
But cold water was about to be doused on those plans.
As he demonstrated time after time on Tuesday night, Carter Torborg figures to be a key focal point over the next few years within the Lancaster-Lebanon League landscape as so few teams readily have talented big men of which to lean on it certainly seems. Well, fortunately for E-town, they likely don’t have to experience a similar fate these upcoming seasons seeing as Torborg showed himself to be a 6’4 matchup nightmare of which Cocalico never had much of an answer for throughout Tuesday evening.
All told, while Torborg would lead all scorers with a 17-point night at the office against Cocalico, his point-blank deuce with over three minutes left to play seemed to help insert the dagger on the Eagles’ late-game aspirations. Then, it seemed rather fitting that captain of this Bears’ ship, Brandon Andrews, be the one to help lower the curtain in this final game at home once and for all as the wiry senior wing finished off a fast break with a layup in transition which then put the game out of reach at 58-44 for good with time now running slim.
And once the clock would indeed run out, it signified the Bears’ sweltering late-season charge still being alive and well in the form of this 59-48 E-town win over Cocalico which not only awarded this group with their fourth straight win here heading down the final stretch of the season, but it also made it not out of the realm of possibility that E-town finishes within the top three of the Section Two standings once the dust finally settles. Not a bad deal for a group that was once sitting at 3-12 overall not all that long ago.
Needless to say, this season has seen a dramatic about-face over the last couple of weeks in Elizabethtown camp. And for one of the league’s brightest young coaches, he too is most certainly overjoyed to see it come to life for his guys no matter when it happens to take place.
“I think making shots for one,” fifth-year head coach, Lee Eckert, said when asked what he attributes this turnaround to. “We joke as a coaching staff. Well, maybe not joking so much as coping earlier on when weren’t making shots of like, ‘Oh, that’s a good look. We aren’t making them, but that’s a good look,” Eckert quipped in good humor. “But yeah, obviously last night our first three field goals were 3’s and then tonight we blitzed (Cocalico) and made a bunch of 3’s. Plain and simple, we just weren’t doing that,” he explained of the contrast from earlier in the season. “Defensively, we’ve been fine. You look at our box scores, we’ll have the lead at halftime by one, play in tight games, close games, but when you look at our 3’s in those games, it’s one made 3, two made 3’s,” added Eckert. “To me, there’s a lot of factors involved, but simply making open 3’s is the biggest.”
But as he alluded to, there’s more things beneath the surface that serve as reasons for this four-game winning streak. Chief among them, senior leadership even when times aren’t always rosy.
“I’d hate to group all kids together in general, but yeah, it’d be very easy for guys to starting looking around and wondering what else is out there,” Eckert remarked while in charge of a team where the wins were in short supply prior to this latest spurt. “Like, we have a ton of baseball guys with a ton of talent. It’d be very easy for them to go, ‘We’re struggling in basketball, not having the year we want. What’s going on come early March with the start of (baseball) season?’’
Fortunately, for Eckert and Bears, they happen to have a guy who stars on both the hardwood and diamond who won’t allow his teammates to back away from a fight.
“For me, it all starts with BA,” said Eckert of his senior stalwart who needs only to go by his initials, Brandon Andrews, and the value his represents to this team. “Senior leadership is so huge in high school sports. (Andrews) is a baseball guy who was all-section last year. If he were to come out at practice and just kind of go through the motions, not go hard, that would set the tone. But he’s the first guy to come out (for practice) every day,” he said lauding Andrews. “If we have a passing drill or a layup drill and there’s a bobble or something like that, he’s the first one on (his teammates) before I even have a chance to say something. If he’s the guy leading and setting the tone that way, then good things are probably going to follow.”
And good things would indeed follow for the Bears in this one. Yes, even if they may have gotten a little turbulent within the second half especially.
“First of all, hats off to Cocalico,” said Eckert without hesitation while praising his team’s counterparts. “Those are some tough dudes over there. Hambright was a stud, (Camden Ochs) inside, those are tough dudes. We knew (Cocalico) wasn’t going to go away. At halftime, the speech was, ‘Just because we’re up 18, don’t think that life is good and they aren’t going to come out and start making 3’s.’ Talk about making 3’s, they shoot it with some of the best in the league,” he continued of the Eagles.
“For us though, when we struggled late in the third quarter and fourth quarter with that pressure (defense), earlier in the year, we’d be on our back heels throwing scary lob passes and things like that. Tonight, it was ball fake, rip, get to the rim, layup, dump, or keep the ball moving out of it.”
“Just learning, growing, and maturing,” the talented Hempfield grad in his scholastic playing days now turned E-town head man said in closing. “As a coach, those are the sort of things you want to see as the year goes on, right?”
Right now at least, there aren’t many doing it any better than his Elizabethtown Bears.
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