Lancaster Mennonite Achieves Immortality As Blazers Hold Down Aliquippa To Claim Program’s First-Ever State Title In PIAA-2A Championship Game, End Lancaster-Lebanon League’s 20-Year Quest In The Process
Written by: Andy Herr on March 26, 2023
First of all, regardless of what the eventual outcome was going to be at the end of 32 minutes of play Friday afternoon at Hershey’s Giant Center, let’s not make any mistake about it. This season for the Lancaster Mennonite Blazers quickly went from promising in the preseason, sensational during the season, historical during the postseason, before eventually culminating into a once-in-a-lifetime group by the team they reached the 2A boys’ state championship game this weekend.
Yes, finally after years of trying and coming up short of ultimately it to this prestigious stage –instances which were admittedly bathed both in equal shades of excruciating if not infuriating along the way– arguably the most prolific of Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ teams program over the last half decade or so was finally able to scratch the conference’s 20-year itch when it came to getting a team to punch its ticket to state championship weekend once Lancaster Mennonite knocked off a worthy adversary in Tuesday night’s semifinal round, District 2’s Holy Cross, in something that could only be described as a dominant performance.
And once there, while you want the experience to be nothing if not memorable in every possibly way, rest assured that Mennonite would receive the royal treatment in that regard, particularly when it came to their opponent waiting there for them at the top of the state’s 2A summit.
When talking about the scores and scores of school districts inside the state of Pennsylvania who have ascended upward to legendary status thanks to their sheer athletic prowess found in a variety of different venues, there is arguably no finer example found inside the commonwealth than that of the Aliquippa Quips.
By now, you’re probably aware of the football dominance over a ridiculously long period that the Quips have churned out. After all, while their list of gridiron alumni could rightly serve as a who’s who of legendary figures such as Mike Ditka, Ty Law and Darelle Revis to name just a very select few, perhaps the fact that this tiny steel town has gone on to produce the most Pro Football Hall of Famers than literally any other high school throughout the entire United States should speak the loudest.
Of course, when you’re a school with the relatively tiny enrollment such as that found in Aliquippa, often times those same football players who don the shoulder pads and cleats deep into the fall on long playoff runs are then just as quick to trade that equipment in for the shorts and sneakers come the winter months once the time calls to do so. And incredibly, “quick” is perhaps the most apropos word to describe the sheer success that the Quips put forth on the hardwood as well once they get their hoops’ sea legs underneath them.
Sure enough, Friday’s title fight against Lancaster Mennonite would be Aliquippa’s 11th time competing for state gold in basketball with the Quips being an even five up and five down when it came to their win/loss record on the state’s biggest stage. Suffice to say, while the primary focus may always and forever revolve around the pigskin in this town where the traits of toughness, competitiveness and fearlessness would likely be found in town’s water supply, this in turn has evolved into one phenomenal basketball program that may only ever moonlight in the sport.
However, while Aliquippa’s success and history certainly needs to be appreciated and recognized for what it is, you could best believe that Lancaster Mennonite wouldn’t be all that daunted given the teams they too have gone head-to-head with both inside and outside of the season that rounds the Blazers into form for long postseasons runs such as this, albeit with this group being the first in program history to reach an elevated stage of this magnitude. Rest assured, while the collective resumes between the two programs may not exactly stack up evenly when placed side-by-side with one another, history was nothing more than a footnote once these two worthy combatants squared off with one another in Chocolatetown to formally decide once and for all as to who was the top team residing in the 2A ranks in 2022-23.
And as it turned out, all those years of waiting were well worth in the end.
If there was any early premonition as to whether or not Lancaster Mennonite would be timid in this their initial foray in the state finals, rest assured those doubts were quickly laid to rest in the early going on Friday afternoon.
Case in point, the Blazers racing out to an early 8-2 advantage following the yeoman’s work of David Weaver with the 6’7 senior producing buckets inside to lay the initial groundwork before a Savier Sumrall bucket in transition prompted Aliquippa into calling a timeout with 4:36 left in the opening frame.
From there, Mennonite’s early cushion would balloon up to nine at 13-4 following a Weaver 3-ball as the Blazers’ multi-talented big opted to take his talents out beyond the arc in splashing the first of what would end up being his two 3-balls on the afternoon with 1:40 left in the opening stanza.
However, as was to be expected, Aliquippa wouldn’t back down from this fight despite their early deficit.
For that, the Quips turned to the efforts of Quentin Goode as the crafty 5’9 junior guard came up with a key floater in the lane which cut the Blazers’ lead down to seven at 13-6 with inside of a minute before a hard-earned bucket plus the foul courtesy of 5’11 sophomore guard Tiqwai Hayes clipped Mennonite’s lead down to a much more modest four, 13-9, shortly thereafter. And once the opening eight minutes finally did culminate, Lancaster Mennonite carried the 15-9 lead with them into the second frame despite what had largely felt as if it had been a first quarter they had by and large owned.
Even still, while Mennonite’s second quarter lead would be pushed back up to a half dozen following a sweet turnaround jumper via 6’2 senior guard Cam Hurst that made it a 17-11 ballgame, Aliquippa was there to just as quickly cut the margin back down to a pair thanks to a put-back courtesy of Cameron Lindsey that made it a 17-15 contest with 5:12 left before the halftime intermission.
That said, the Quips’ excursion with momentum right then and there would prove to be short-lived.
Instead of a possible long-standing Aliquippa salvo being lobbed in Mennonite’s direction, a prompt 3-ball knocked down by Mennonite 5’8 senior guard David Shell helped to stem the tide somewhat before the second of Weaver’s trifectas on the afternoon not long afterwards upped the Blazers’ advantage back to a half-dozen, 23-17, with 3:05 left to play before the half.
However, even with Mennonite continuing to posses the lead at 25-19 following a Cam Hurst bucket, two more en route to his prototypical, yet somehow scintillating game-high 23-point afternoon, an Aliquippa 3-ball via the handiwork of Quentin Goode clipped the Blazers’ lead back down to three at 25-22 with one minute left which exactly where the score remained once both teams retired to their respective dressing rooms following the opening 16 minutes.
Once inside the third quarter though, Aliquippa kept right on coming.
For that, while the Quips would slice the Mennonite lead down to a penny at 25-24, the WPIAL champs would end up taking their first lead of the day following a hoop plus the harm cashed in from Tiqwai Hayes that made it a 28-27 Aliquippa lead with 5:07 to go in the third which could have easily caused consternation inside Lancaster Mennonite’s camp.
However, that would prove to be nothing more than a brief slippage in momentum. In actuality, it would prove to be the Quips’ final time playing with ownership of the lead for the remainder of the contest.
Sure enough, likely ignited by his peskiness exerted on the defensive end of the floor all day long up until that point serving as the catalyst, a well-earned David Shell bucket in transition would then propel the Blazers out to the 31-28 lead before a pair of cold-blooded triples knocked down by Cam Hurst made it a 37-28 Lancaster Mennonite lead with the third quarter now past its halfway point.
Yet while Aliquippa would find success in the form of a pair of buckets cashed in Donovan Walker and Quentin Goode respectively later on that clipped the Blazers’ lead down to a 41-34 count, that would prove to be the exact difference that remained heading into the final eight minutes of the season.
And if ever there was a doubt as to how this one would turn out, Cam Hurst was on the scene to put those Lancaster Mennonite worries to rest.
As if to be right on cue, Hurst proceeded to knock in an enormous trey on the Blazers’ first trip down the floor offensively that effectively allowed the Blazers to reassert control once and for all.
Despite that, as they had displayed earlier during the first half, nearly everyone in attendance had to realize that a final Quips’ push was forthcoming down the stretch. Sure enough, it would indeed come.
For that, while it may have appeared rather innocent at the time, a tough take to the rack by way of Donovan Walker got the difference within single figures, 45-36, with 6:15 left to play. And from there, the Quips would close back to within a touchdown at 47-40 with a shade over five minutes left to play following a crucial 3-ball sunk by Quentin Goode.
But as would prove to be a prevailing theme throughout the entirety of the day, Aliquippa’s frigid shooting from the field would largely prove to be their shortcoming.
As far as the specifics of it all, a 17-65 shooting performance from the field on Friday helped to keep a lid on the Quips’ offensive proficiency. So, as a result, the final drama heading down the final furlong was in relatively short supply—something that was surely just fine if Lancaster Mennonite had anything to say about it.
And fittingly, with the assistance of another senior who had certainly proven his worth throughout this Blazers’ postseason run, Savier Sumrall, cashing in on some late-game free throws that preceded a final leak-out bucket in transition of his which made it a 60-41 Mennonite advantage with inside of one minute left to play, all of the necessary legwork had already been achieved.
Then, once it was signified officially with the clock reading nothing but zeroes and blare of the horn sounding in unison, it would prompt a celebration formally acknowledging the highest of achievements that the state can possibly offer as the Blazers’ 60-44 final triumph over Aliquippa meant there were no more mountains left to climb, no more demons left to exercise, no more wondering what if. Instead, this victory meant that the 2022-23 Lancaster Mennonite Blazers had cemented their legacy into eternity as the program’s first-ever state title, the first title that the L-L League could lay claim to in exactly 20 years, would surely be a victory that reverberates locally for years, nay, generations to come.
Afterwards, humble as he ever was, not even a gold medal draped around his neck while drenched from head to toe following a water bath his team showered him with after entering the postgame locker room would possibly change the demeanor of Lancaster Mennonite head coach Seth Buckwalter.
“I was given some pretty good horses to run with,” Buckwalter admitted with his warm, trademark smile when describing this unit which had just achieved immortality. “But I’ve just been saying all year that I’m so thankful. So many things have to go right. You can’t feel like you were responsible for a whole lot of it, but you’re just working as hard as you can, so you can feel good about it,” he went on to say of the opportunity to coach this state championship cast of characters.
Of course, those “horses” he eluded to happened to run as a collective unit not just on Friday afternoon, but throughout the entire season as well.
“It’s been different guys every game,” Buckwalter continued while illuding to members of the team stepping up at critical junctures throughout the 2022-23 campaign when called upon. “I will say that a theme the whole year with these guys where at times there have been games when we’ve been down to like six players where guys are injured or couldn’t play, every time it was, ‘Just trust that this is happening for a reason and that it will put us in a good spot. We’re going to be better because Cam (Hurst) is out for however many games. Just trust in the Lord because in the end it’s going to work out how it’s supposed to,’” he added of his team’s remarkable ability to respond from what could have been catastrophic adversity along the journey. “I don’t know if we knew it was going to work out in a championship,” Buckwalter remarked with a laugh of candor.
But in continuing with the equine theme, the show pony on this crew was and always forever will be Camden Hurst.
“This game, when he was hitting those 3’s going on that 10-0 run in the third, I just kept turning to my assistant and saying, ‘He’s so good.’ He really is,” Buckwalter said matter of factly about the school’s all-time leading scorer. “He’s so unassuming. He doesn’t demand the ball. He waits for it and that’s so tough when guys are denying you the ball. But he knows that if he passes it, he’s going to get it back.”
And speaking of unassuming, Cam Hurst was just as gracious as he too ever was while still inside the state champion’s victorious locker room. Yes, even after now having cemented his name into Lancaster- Lebanon League lore for the remainder of time.
“Um, I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it,” Mennonite’s silent assassin, three-time District 3 champion, multi-year All-State selection, now newly minted state champion shyly said when asked if he either now or some day well into his elder years could comprehend the magnitude of his overall legacy that will stand the test of time. “It’s definitely something where having my name just talked about up there is just great,” the baker of many humble pies went on to say.
Even still, confidence, perhaps more so directed in that of his teammates, was something that Hurst most certainly possessed before even entering the season.
“We thought this was the year to do it,” said Hurst. “We had two really rough games that we thought we should have won,” he continued when speaking about Mennonite’s last two exits from the state tournament in tough losses that both came at the hands of Old Forge by way of suburban Scranton. “That was definitely in the back of our minds, and we used that as motivation to come here and do this.”
But before they took to the floor and did “this,” it was a message from the good book emphasized by head man Seth Buckwalter that helped to fuel Mennonite’s fire before entering their final battle.
“There’s a psalm that says, ‘Some trust in chariots and horses, but we trust in the Lord our God.’ The theme there being to trust God and trust your brothers,” Buckwalter remarked of the final pregame message of the season.
So, for these brothers, while they may not all necessarily be linked together by blood, rest assured that they will be able to walk together forever nonetheless, something that can only come with winning a state championship. And when you get right down to it, while the giant Hershey’s chocolate bar, the gold medals and state championship trophy may someday end up collecting dust later on down the line, the shared kinship of accomplishing a goal together is something that can never be replicated, nor lose luster as time marches onward. For Lancaster Mennonite, that’s surely the most important and fulfilling achievement of them all.
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