Dell’s Column: March 3, 2024
Written by: Dell Jackson on March 4, 2024
Dell’s Column
March 3, 2024
District Championship week
The LLhoops staff was out covering a bunch of games the past 2 weeks. Andy, TJ , David Bray, and Dell were tracking the LL teams. David Kehler gave us some Philly flavor, and our beat writer from District 2, Jon K, covered the Boys and Girls Championship games from the great Northeast.
District 3
Game wraps
Boys
Cumberland Valley/ Chambersburg
Mechanicsburg/Hershey
Columbia/Trinity
Lancaster Mennonite/Halifax
Linville/Greenwood
Girls
Lancaster Catholic/Columbia
Millersburg/Lancaster Country Day
Other coverage
Northeast Beat Coverage
David Kehler– Highlighted by Roman/Ryan coverage
Tweet of the week! Tie!
@thejoshsmith1 ends the half with a BANG.@GoMechanicsburg 36@DTSDathletics 26
Wow.@lukebrownsports @LLhoops @SportsCenter @BadgleyBruce pic.twitter.com/9TQAgqgqfU
— David Bray Jr (@KeystoneBBall) February 29, 2024
Pretty darn cool that Scott Van Pelt selected the @AOPS_Schools Philadelphia Catholic League Championship finish as the “Best Thing I Saw Today” on @SportsCenter
The experience of a lifetime for me to broadcast this game pic.twitter.com/nzb2YuB1SS
— Bob Long (@boblongsports) February 27, 2024
Congrats to LL Boys PIAA qualifiers
6A- Cedar Crest
5A- Manheim Central, Warwick
4A – Octorara
3A – Columbia
2A – Lancaster Mennonite
1A – Lancaster Country Day
LLhoops Scoreboard will be updated as LL teams play.
PIAA Brackets: Boys and girls
First round games will played at the higher seed. After that, the games will be scheduled geographically based on the higher seeded team and gym availability.
All LLhoops teams
LLhoops staff will release the teams after the senior all-star game.
This and that…
Some thoughts about the last week…
Thanks to District 3 for credentialing LLhoops.com. We were at all 12 games this week, with various wraps, tweets and even some video clips from Grant Hall, Sports Stop Media. The attendance this year at the games was higher than last season. The first 2 days topped 8,000.
Checkout Tweets from Andy (@AndyBrackets), TJ (@TJEck_TV), Dell (@llhoops), David Bray Jr (@KeystoneBBall)
Sights and sounds…
Sights
From corn hole games in the parking lot, to the players rushing into their student section, to various renditions of the national anthem, the week at the Giant Center always provides entertainment. We had court side seats – great for talking with the refs and getting some court-side videos. All in all, the media tables were manned by working press. The TV folks camped out at the second row of the tables to do their work. The boys finals had coverage via live streaming and some radio as well. Was told Dell photo bombed an interview on Channel 8 🙂 TJ Eck/Dell continued their post game tradition of handing out LLhoops gear. It was nice to give some love to non-LL guys.
One game we viewed but did not write up deserves some special attention. The Central Dauphin Girls team won the 6A title. I was so impressed with the team as all the players were excited for each and every basket. PIAA bench rules stats that players can celebrate, but then must sit down. As an ex-coach, I applaud the coach (Randy Gambelunghe) and the culture of having everyone involved in the game. Really, really good stuff.
Columbia 64 Trinity 61 final boys 3A pic.twitter.com/Sp2a47jUme
— LLhoops (@LLhoops) February 29, 2024
LL refs make appearances at Boys 5A and girls 6A pic.twitter.com/TJiOB0qemQ
— LLhoops (@LLhoops) March 1, 2024
Bruce Badgley provided us with some great slow motion shots!
JJ Lebo here for @CVSDeagles up 8-5 with @CASDAthletics 3:45 quarter 1 @piaadistrict3 6A Championship @llhoops @cvboyshoops pic.twitter.com/Wc7AysapTM
— Bruce Badgley (@BadgleyBruce) March 2, 2024
And @cvboyshoops has done it ! @CVSDeagles takedown @CASDAthletics 48-39 in the @piaadistrict3 6A Championship! @CoachVes717 @LLhoops @AndyBrackets @TJEck_TV @KeystoneBBall pic.twitter.com/L7qc0ZUUjZ
— Bruce Badgley (@BadgleyBruce) March 2, 2024
Creston Austin the rejection for @CVSDeagles and up 23-18 on @CASDAthletics 4:45 quarter 3 @piaadistrict3 6A Championship @LLhoops @cvboyshoops pic.twitter.com/iZJZHiETNe
— Bruce Badgley (@BadgleyBruce) March 2, 2024
Sounds…
We got some post game interviews with coaches and players…and some hugs from coaches that have been covered by us (Coach Mike Gaffey, Coach Kerri Glover, and Coach Jeff Hartenstine). Player interviews are always interesting as some are used to the camera and others not so much.
Coach Gaffey interview pic.twitter.com/GW8miN21Fk
— LLhoops (@LLhoops) March 1, 2024
Creston Austin scored 17 points to lead @cvboyshoops to its first-ever district title Friday night.
I spoke to him postgame: @LLhoops @AndyBrackets @crestonaustin3 @CVSDeagles pic.twitter.com/CagAaIbySd
— TJ Eck (@TJEck_TV) March 2, 2024
LLhoops news…
The new LLhoops Mobile App is very very close to being released. The app will be available in the app store at no costs. The look will be the same, and the feel will be the same. Stay tuned on release date. Special thanks to Circle W Sports for design and editing.
Coaching news.
Coach Scott Gaffey resigned as the head coach at Ephrata this week. We wish him well in the future. Coach was always willing to talk with us.
The PIAA playoffs start Friday and Saturday– March 8th and 9th. We can count on Andy to take his annual trek to a new site this weekend. Daivd Kehler will be traveling this weekend and covering Central Dauphin Sat. and an LL team Friday (TBD). lDell and TJ will probably stay closer to home 🙂
~Dell Jackson
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