Andy’s Take

The following are simply cold-hard facts. The state of Pennsylvania ranks as the fifth-most populous state in all the Union. With such a distinction, it’s easy to reconcile that fact once you consider that the state is home to some roughly 13-million people and change. Not only that, but the state’s governing scholastic sports body, […]

  Remember the year 2020? Yeah, I know we all do in our own unique ways. Remember March 2020 more specifically? Certainly, right? After all, that’s right when everyone’s collective world turned completely upside down around the globe. Of course, if you’re more so of the PIAA boys’ basketball crowd specifically, you will probably remember […]

In a lot of ways, it’s one of the worst kept secrets known to man. Well, maybe not to ALL of mankind I suppose, but certainly for those who operate and reside within the high school basketball community that is. And of course, that “secret” being that the further and further you advance in the […]

Over the span of its entire history, the ELCO Raiders boys’ basketball team has made it to the PIAA state tournament two times. On Tuesday night, it that number would get bumped up to three once the group from Myerstown set sail for Cardinal O’Hara High School, just on the western outskirts of Philadelphia. However, […]

You know, it’s somewhat funny in a way. By most assumptions, by the time you reach the championship round of the District 3 playoffs that ultimately concludes at the Giant Center, there largely figures to be a few names that you can expect to find there waiting for your viewing pleasure, but particularly in the […]

Quick question here for the audience, but how many of you would like to pretend that the last couple of years, last year in particular, never took place at all? A fair amount? Yeah, kinda figured as much. Okay, but I see not everyone in the crowd has their hand raised here. Who’s that abstaining? […]

When the fine folks at the District 3 office got together earlier in the year and ultimately rolled out the schedule and slate of championship games that were going to be held inside the Giant Center in the early portion of the month of March, you can best believe that every boys’ basketball program from […]

There was a time not all that long ago – just a few years ago to be exact – that Monday’s District 3-5A semifinal game between Hershey and Lampeter-Strasburg would’ve held up at Giant Center. And sure, while change can sometimes present itself in a manner akin to that of an welcomed house guest, it […]

No matter how you slice it, whether you consider that the circumstances regarding the considerable shrinkage of the PIAA basketball bracket last March in lieu of the COVID-19 pandemic to be a necessary move or not, there most figured to be winners and losers because of such a decision. The good news? Well, the fact […]

For all the many rivalries housed within the Lancaster-Lebanon League, there are simply some that rise above all others. You know, those special few series’ that are truly generational? Well, try as they might in terms of splitting both Columbia and Lancaster Catholic up from another over the last couple of years by putting the […]

Admittedly, prior to Lancaster Country Day coming into the Lancaster-Lebanon League, not many fans who associate themselves with the L-L basketball landscape likely had paid much if any attention whatsoever to the goings on taking place with the 1A classification system. Okay, while that may be true, since the small private school that is situated […]

It’s a hard ask in a lot of ways. You know, having a championship game live up to all its anticipated billing and then some. Fair enough, but if there were two Lancaster-Lebanon League squads that figured to put on the best show of all in this year’s boys’ basketball title fight, it was presumed […]

You know, for all the excitement that comes with teams making Cinderella-type runs throughout postseason tournaments, sometimes there’s simply nothing that can match the prospect of two heavyweight giants meeting up and trading body blows against one another, especially once the stakes get ratcheted up to an entirely different level that is altogether different. Well, […]

For as good as the Lancaster-Lebanon League tournament is –and selfishly we truthfully believe it is the best of any local conference around – there are certain unalienable qualities about it that make it so intrinsically special and unique. Sure, while it’s fun to see the matchups of teams that don’t meet eye-to-eye in the […]

To some, it was a mere date in history that likely got lost somewhere in time. October 20, 2016. To others though, it was a landmark day. For those with a strong rooting interest in the Octorara Braves however, that quiet Thursday some nearly seven years ago now was rather unprecedented. For it was on […]