The players on the EAHS girls basketball team are probably sick of hearing it. Yes, they had a tough year last year. Yes, they were young then and are still a young group now. There are very few teams with as much bulletin board material written about them as this E-town group. And they play like they have something to prove, and that is dangerous for other teams.
So far, it's working out for them very well. They started off very hot, coming out of the games 3-1, but have slowed a bit recently, dropping four of their past five games leaving them at 4-5 overall and 1-2 in Section Two heading into tonight's game at Garden Spot (1-7 overall, 0-4 section). Right now E-town is in second place in Section Two, just one game behind Ephrata. And they should win tonight. (By the way, I'll be covering the E-town/Ephrata game on Monday night, which could be for first place.) But the Bears have already doubled last year's win total and are certainly primed to make some noise this season.
Their top two scorers have been Sarah Fairbanks (14.1 points per game) and Becca Bigler (10.5 ppg), but they also get contributions from Bri Kuhn, Jamie Ahern, Jenna Rosenberry and Emily and Katie Carter. I really like the way E-town defends. I'm really interested to see them play on Monday. The only time I've seen them live so far this year was in a blowout of Mount Calvary. So I'll get more of a grasp on them come Monday.
Hype? Check. Expectations? Check. Living up to all of the preseason ink used on them so far? Emphatic check.
Yup, every local sports schlub with a keyboard was expecting big things from the Bears this year before the first game even tipped off (including your friendly neighborhood blogger). That kind of hype can be a tough thing to live up to, especially when you are talking about 17-18 year old kids. I mean, look at the Dallas Cowboys. Nearly everyone picked them to win the Super Bowl and they're not even in the playoffs. (Sorry, couldn't get through an entry without one last jab at Dallas.) But these Bears are playing like they were supposed to, and, maybe even a little better.
Right now, they are 7-0 overall and 5-0 in league play. They are 3-0 against Section One, with quality wins over J.P. McCaskey, Penn Manor and Warwick. Local hoops followers will be hard-pressed to tell you the last time a Section Two team started 3-0 against Section One. It's pretty much unchartered waters.
E-town has had two real scares so far this year. Against Penn Manor back on Dec. 11, the Bears staged a furious fourth quarter rally on the road to force overtime and eventually beat the Comets. And on Dec. 23, E-town narrowly escaped Section Two foe Conestoga Valley by a point. But what shows you something is that they won both of those games. They aren't going to play their absolute best every single game (that's nearly impossible), but they've proven that even when they aren't at their best, they're still good enough to win a ton of games.
Here is how E-town's scoring production has gone so far this year. As you'll see, they're a balanced group that can hurt you in a variety of ways.
Points per game: Quinn Cozzens – 13.4. Kyle McNeil – 12.7 Chad Styer – 10.5 (missed the team's first game with an injury) Jeremi Jones – 10.4. Andrew Placeres – 8.5. Brad Garber – 6.5 Jordan Hoover – 4.5
Those are the Bears' regular players, and each of them can score double digits on any given night. Cozzens is E-town's best all around player and their leader, he's scored in double digits in every game and is everywhere on the court. McNeil has been E-town's inside presence. Before the season, people thought the Bears lacked inside skills, but McNeil and Garber have rejected that thought with good play.
Styer missed some time in the preseason with a knee injury, but is as good of a shooter as you'll see on the team when he is on, and he is slowly getting back into form. Jones is the team's sixth man, but would be a starter just about everywhere else. He is probably the best sixth man in the league and is a very athletic player. Hoover is a tough player with a nice stroke from the outside. The Bears can always rely on him to bring intensity.
Placeres pulls it all together. E-town's quick southpaw point guard runs the offense beautifully, threading passes to open teammates with regularity. The Bears like to roll, and Placeres always has his foot on the gas. He also brings a good outside shot and the ability to drive to the basket. He also has an uncanny ability to get rebounds for a player of his size.
From a purely objective standpoint, I can tell you one thing – this team is fun to watch. They run up and down, play good defense and pass the ball very, very well. Keep your calendars circled for Tuesday, Jan. 13. That's when E-town will host Hempfield in a matchup of the two teams considered to be the L-L League's best. It will be a dandy.
Hello out there Den Dwellers. Let me start this entry with an apology. I'm terribly sorry about the lack of updates recently and for the somewhat lack of the usual in-depth coverage in the last two print editions.
Many of you have already read the stories in the Lancaster or Harrisburg papers about what may be happening here at the Chronicle. I'm not really allowed to comment on it right now, but if you read those stories, you know what I'm talking about. And not to make excuses, but that is why I haven't updated this site in a little while. As you can imagine, it isn't a very easy thing to go through and it's hitting me a little harder than I expected it to. But today and Friday, I'll do my best to crank out an update on each team (at least boys and girls basketball and wrestling) for you. And when things become more concrete with my situation, I'll post something on that to. So keep checking back in the next couple of days, because I'll have at least three updates for you.
Cheers. And have a very, very safe New Year. Don't do anything I wouldn't do (which will be sitting on my couch playing Tiger Woods '09 on Xbox 360. Riveting, I know). And as always, stay classy Elizabethtown.
What's up everyone. I'm going to try and do something new on Fridays here at the Bears Den, pass along links from other local Web sites or blogs to you that are either E-town related or that I think you should check out because they are just cool. I'll do it every Friday so that you can see what other people are saying about E-town sports. Let's face it, you get sick of me. In the words of Ron Burgundy, "When in Rome..." He doesn't use it in the right context either.
Anyway, onward.
Jeff Reinhart has the skinny on the upcoming L-L League Cancer Benefit Night here.
Speaking of Mr. Reinhart, he also was at the Mount Calvary-E-town game with me. You can read his game story about that here.
Jason Guarente has a new blog covering L-L League boys basketball, and he's written a good bit about the Bears, including ranking them No. 1 in his power rankings. You can read his take on the Bears http://blogs.lancasteronline.com/courtreport/2008/12/17/dec-17-games/ and http://blogs.lancasteronline.com/courtreport/2008/12/15/big-five/
Speaking of the Bears, I meant to post a game recap of McCaskey yesterday, but time slipped away from me. I'll get on that now.
I just got home from Daubert Gymnasium, where I watched E-town hand J.P. McCaskey an 81-71 defeat, the Tornado's first L-L League loss since the 2006-2007 season.
E-town, fresh off its heart-stopping overtime win against Penn Manor on Thursday, frustrated the Tornado several times with good defense and hung with a very quick, athletic McCaskey team from the onset. The game was tied 17-17 after the first quarter, and McCaskey led 41-40 at the half. The score was back and forth for the entire first half, with E-town's Jeremi Jones hitting a 3 with seven seconds left to trim the Bears' deficit to one.
In the second half, E-town pulled away slowly. The Bears led 63-58 after three quarters and led by as many as 12 in the fourth quarter before winning by 10.
I'll have much more on this game tomorrow, including an interview with EAHS head coach Kevin Dolan and captain Quinn Cozzens. But until then, here are some individual stats from tonight. I'm not even sure when the last time E-town beat McCaskey in basketball, or if it's ever happened. If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email at sports.etown@gmail.com. This was a huge, huge win for this team. Again, much more on this game tomorrow.
J.P. McCaskey: Leontae Turner – 29 points Randall Garrison – 15 points Kenny Randall – 10 points Brandon Brison – 5 points Taj Hammond – 3 points Maurice Smith, Laronn Lee – 2 points each... NOTE: two other players had two points each, but they aren't on the roster I have...sorry, I suck.
That's all for tonight. Back tomorrow with more hoops and some wrestling notes from the Bears' win over Central tonight.
Today's snow (seriously, wasn't it like 60 yesterday?) has forced the postponement of several EASD athletic contests schedule for today. Here's the lowdown.
• Boys basketball that was scheduled for today vs. McCaskey has been moved to tomorrow (that's varsity and JV). The varsity will still start at 8 p.m.
• Girls basketball that was scheduled to be at McCaskey has also been postponed, with no makeup date announced yet.
• The only other match was a home rifle match against CV, and that has been moved to tomorrow as well.
Because of the cancellation of today's boys basketball game, there will be no coverage of them in the print edition this Thursday. My deadline to get the paper sent to the printer is tomorrow afternoon, well before the game. But I may head over and just cover it for the blog.
Quick thoughts while wondering how Tim Tebow gets the most first place votes, but finishes third overall in the Heisman voting.
• I'm slated to cover the EAHS boys basketball game tonight against McCaskey. It's snowing pretty good right now, so I'm not sure if it'll be postponed. If it is, I'll post something here as soon as I find out. If not, look for something tomorrow (maybe tonight if I'm feelin' froggy) on the game.
• I saw the E-town girls basketball team for the first time in person last night against Mount Calvary. The Chargers were overmatched throughout and E-town won easily, so it was really tough to get a handle on how good the Bears can be this year. But I can tell you this, they are relentless. They've already topped last year's win total and we're only four games into the season. Section Two is wide open this season and there's no reason to think E-town can't be in the running. Oh yeah, freshman Sarah Fairbanks is the real deal. Seriously. You can probably pencil her in for 1,000 points in her high school career right now. Heck, write it in ink if you want. Fun group to watch, but I want to see them play a better opponent (no offense to Mount Calvary, please don't take it as such) before I can really get a handle on them.
• I went down to Penn Manor last Thursday to watch the E-town boys come back and beat the Comets in OT. I went as a spectator, which was weird not to have my notepad and pen in hand, but enjoyable at the same time. That was a huge win for E-town in terms of building confidence early in the season. They now know that they can come back and win games on the road. Oh, and Penn Manor has arguably the biggest front court in the league, and E-town (who a lot of people said don't have the size to compete with bigger teams) beat them. Should be a good one tonight (go away snow).
• There was also an exciting wrestling match on Saturday, with E-town hanging on to beat Dallastown by a point. The Bears have some really good underclassmen wrestling on their team, and they are only going to get better as the season progresses.
• OK, that's all I have time for (working on cranking out the print edition right now). In this week's Chronicle, I'll have coverage on the EAHS girls and boys basketball teams, the wrestling teams and a feature on Jeff Polites' resignation. More blog stuff to come this week.
I just got off the phone with Jeff Polites, and he has decided to step down as head coach of the Elizabethtown Area High School football program. I wanted to get this post up ASAP for you, so here is a transcript of the interview I just did with Jeff. I'll do more of a "story" later and in next week's print edition of the Chronicle. But for now, here's the transcript:
On why he decided to submit his letter of resignation: "I've been thinking about it for the last couple of years and I'm just to the point now where I'm ready for a change. The hard part is when you make that change and you're so close to the kids and the parents, you want to stick around for them because you care about them and you want to see them through."
On his relationship with his assistant coaches: "Of the lists of negatives and the lists of positives, the coaching staff was a top positive. It's rare that you have a group of guys like we have here. We're all friends and we do stuff outside of football. And it's not just one or two of us, it's everybody. They're like brothers and they're good friends. It's tough. Real tough."
On what it was like to tell the players of his decision: "It was quick. It was emotional for me and it was tough to look at them. They were surprised. You spend so much time with those kids, it's like they're your own kids."
On some of the things that stand out over his tenure: "The advice I got when I first started coached is in five or seven years, that's when you want to start looking around. And through my career I looked around a little bit, but over the last five years, I haven't looked anywhere because we really had some good things going here."
"This was my first head coaching job. They took a chance on me, and I didn't have any experience as a head coach. I worked under two coaches at Middletown and they were great guys and taught me how to get a quality football program going, how to treat people and to be an example for young me."
"The kids my first year, they were real special. they were the ones that turned things around. Every year after that, our records were all over the place, and all those teams had some great kids on it. you just go through your mind with some of the names and the things they're doing now as adults is impressive."
On his future plans: "I love teaching here. The kids are excellent. The administration is fantastic to work for and the staff is great to work with. I just want to wait and see what's out there and see what happens. I could teach here forever if they'll let me."
On the program at the younger levels: "The Boys Club has done a nice job the last couple of years doing the things that we've taught and that's going to benefit the program. The junior highs, Coach Livingston is an excellent teacher. It's a real nice staff for someone to come into and work hard."
That's all for now. Polites was E-town's head coach since 1998, 11 seasons. He had a career record of 57-56 and led the team to the District Three playoffs the last two seasons. This year, the Bears went 6-5 and lost in the first round of the Quad-A playoffs to eventual district champ Wilson.
Last year will probably be remembered as Polites' most successful. E-town started 9-0, shared the Section Two title and won a district triple-A playoff game before falling to L-S in the second round.
On a personal note, I think this is a big loss for the program. Jeff was a great coach and is an even better person. He treats everyone (players, parents, managers, coaches, even media schlubs like me) with respect and has always been extremely gracious when it comes to giving interviews, even after tough losses. He has built a very good program at E-town, and hopefully that can continue.
And now the search begins for a new head coach. I'll try and keep you updated on that as I get news on it.
Here are a couple things to catch up on while we are in the midst of the start of winter sports.
Boys Basketball: I saw the Bears in person last night, and I'll admit it, they're fun to watch. Point guard Andrew Placeres really gets the Bears up and down the court quickly – I even had a hard time keeping up with the stats and my game story (still in preseason mode I suppose). I really like E-town's perimeter game, with Placeres, Quinn Cozzens, Jeremi Jones and Jordan Hoover. And once Chad Styer gets 100 percent healthy from his knee injury, look out. If Kyle McNeil and Brad Garber establish themselves as consistent low post threats, this team could do some good things this year. We'll know a lot more about the Bears next week, with their next three games coming against Section One teams. Tuesday night, they host McCaskey. I'll be there and provide some super analysis for you Wednesday. Good stuff so far though.
Girls Basketball: Yup, the Bears are already halfway to last year's win total (after just 1 game), beating Milton Hershey last night, Becca Bigler, Bri Kuhn and Sarah Fairbanks all were in double digits in points, and the E-town defense held the Spartans to just 29. Watch out for Fairbanks. She's only a freshman and could be sensational for E-town this year. And expect the Bears to just keep improving with every game. I'm checking them out against Penn Manor this week, so I'll know more about them when I see them in person.
Football: Yes, I've heard the rumors, too. Rumor has it that E-town head coach Jeff Polites is stepping down soon, ending his tenure in Elizabethtown. Now, I have NOT confirmed this yet, but I have seen it at other places around the web (check out Jeff Reinhart's blog) and have heard whispers around town. Again, I have not talked to Jeff yet, but I'm going to try and talk to him on Thursday and get the word out to you. When I know what's going on, you'll know. That's my pledge to you. So stay tuned.
(E-town's all-stars were, back row from left, Shane Rosenberry, Alex Kircher and Conrad Heisey. Front row, from left, Jared Danneker, David Kennedy and Kyle McNeil. Not pictured is Mitch Weidman.) The E-town football team had seven players named to the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two all-star team. Here are the players and some stats for you to munch on.
First team offense: Alex Kirchner, G. Kirchner was the anchor of E-town's offensive line this year. He was a tenacious blocker, often opening up holes for backs and following them downfield, clearing a path the whole way.
Conrad Heisey, RB. Heisey led the Bears with 941 yards on 138 carries with 9 touchdowns. Very tough RB who was never stopped by the first tackler.
First team defense: Kirchner, DT. Kirchner was third on the team with 67 tackles and had a team-high nine sacks. He was a beast on defense and never stopped working hard.
Shane Rosenberry, ILB. Rosenberry was the team's best linebacker, racking up a team-high 105 tackles. He was second in sacks (3), first in fumbles forced (3) and first in fumble recoveries (4), and was pretty much the heart and soul of the defense.
Second team offense: Mitch Weidman, RB. Weidman was second on the team with 632 yards on 99 carries and had seven rushing touchdown. He also had a team high 21 catches for 284 yards and one receiving touchdown. He's only a junior and will be E-town's best offensive weapon next year.
Honorable Mention: Kyle McNeil, QB. McNeil went 87-160 for 1,372 yards with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this year. He also ran for 115 yards and touchdown. Good poise and strong arm. Always gave the Bears a chance to win.
Rosenberry, RB. When he wasn't racking heads on defense, he was running over defenders at fullback. Ran for 564 yards on 111 carries and a team-high 10 rushing TDs.
David Kennedy, LB. Keep your eye on this pit bull next year. He was second on the team with 70 tackles, had one sack, two fumble recoveries and an interception. Oh, and he scored a defensive TD too.
Jared Danneker, OLB. Fourth on the team with 54 tackles. Really got stronger as the year went on and had a nose for the football. Also had a sack, a pick and a fumble recovery.
Weidman, DB. Weidman had 2 picks and was fifth on the team with 46 tackles. Good height and great speed will make him a dual threat next year.
2007-2008 record: 14-5 overall, 7-0 Section Two. Repeated as Section Two champions. Won the Lancaster-Lebanon League Tournament team title. Lost to Warwick 39-25 in the first round of the District Three team tournament. Sent nine wrestlers to the District Three individual tournament and one wrestler to the PIAA state tournament.
Key Returners: Matt Hoover, sophomore, 103 pounds (30-13 last year); Calvin Anderton, junior, 112/119 (32-12); Antonio Rodriguez, sophomore, 130; Kyle Morrow, junior, 135/140; Justin Lewis, junior, 145 (21-19); Jared Danneker, junior, 152; Adam Zellman, senior, 160 (27-12); Zach Myers, junior, 160/171; David Kennedy, junior, 160/171; Shane Rosenberry, senior, 189 (38-7); Sean Heming, junior, 215; Alex Kirchner, senior, 285 (28-18).
The Bears have a solid core returning from last year’s Section Two and Lancaster-Lebanon League championship team. They will be led by Hoover, Anderton, Lewis, Zellman, Rosenberry and Kirchner, all of whom were district qualifiers last year.
Hoover had an outstanding freshman season and returns to lock down the 103-pound spot for E-town. He won 30 matches a year ago and should be good for 30 wins and another appearance in the district tournament.
Anderton won 32 matches last year at 112 pounds and will wrestle again at either 112 or 119 pounds. He’s a tough wrestler who should be in the 20-win club again this year.
Lewis won 21 matches last year at 130 pounds, but makes the jump this year to 145. If he continues where he left off, he’s another 30-win candidate.
Zellman quietly put together a great season last year, winning 27 matches and finishing second in the Bears’ sectional tournament. He should get to 30 wins this season and make a return trip to districts.
Rosenberry won an outstanding 38 matches last year and will again wrestle at 189. He finished second in the sectional tournament, third in the district tournament and was the Bears’ only state qualifier last year. He should lead the Bears in wins again this season and could make a run at leagues and districts, and should find himself wrestling in the Giant Center in early March in the PIAA tournament.
Kirchner won 28 matches at 285 last year while routinely giving up a ton of weight. He’s bigger this year, but still relatively small for a heavyweight. However, that won’t stop him from reaching 30 wins. He’ll use his quickness to make a lot of noise in the regular season and postseason tournaments.
Rodriguez, Morrow, Danneker and Myers all saw significant varsity mat time last year and will be looking to continue their improvement. Keep an eye on Danneker, a tough kid who could win more than 20 matches for the Bears. Kennedy didn’t wrestle much varsity last year as a sophomore, but is a strong wrestler and might be one of E-town’s breakout wrestlers at 171 pounds this year. Heming steps in to take over the 215-pound spot for the Bears. He is in a tough weight class, but the junior will get the Bears points when they need them.
All in all, this is a relatively young group with only Kirchner, Rosenberry and Zellman seniors. But they’ve still got enough experience to lead the Bears to another successful campaign.
“We’ve got a good nucleus returning, and we’ve got a good group of young kids as well,” said Sernoffsky. “We’ve got decent numbers as well. Thirty kids on the roster is the most we’ve had in a long time. They’re going to have to be good because we’ve got a heck of a schedule this year, which is a good thing.”
Key Newcomers: Owen Bradley, freshman, 112 pounds; Jeremy Rivera, freshman, 125; Andrew Smith, junior, 135; Tyler Lakota, sophomore, 140.
Each one of these four new wrestlers are good enough to find themselves in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season.
Bradley and Rivera are both freshman who should have an immediate impact this season. Sernoffsky is hesitant to put too many expectations into freshmen, but said that both are progressing very nicely.
“I think they’ll come along. I like the way the kids are working and the coaching staff has just been terrific,” he said.
Smith is an experienced wrestler who transferred to E-town this school year. He will give them some varsity experience at the middle weights, where the Bears lost some good wrestlers to graduation. Lakota is another tough wrestler who will jump into the middle weights and battle every match.
Key Losses: Oliver Thayer; Travis Leber; Blake Rosenberger. E-town lost some very good wrestlers to graduation, including these three district qualifiers. Rosenberger won 37 matches last year, including the individual title at 145 pounds in the L-L Tournament, and was one of E-town’s best wrestlers.
Thayer had a great season as well, winning 31 matches and making it to districts. He was a rock at the 135-pound weight class and has taken his skills to Kutztown.
Leber was a beast at 171 pounds, leading the team in wins with 39 and also making it to districts.
But what made these three so great for the team, besides their 107 combined wins last year, was their leadership. Sernoffsky knows their results will be tough to replace immediately, but he said he’s confident that the returners learned a great deal from them.
“Those are big shoes to try and fill and they will be tough to replace,” he said. “They took a lot of wins with them, and they were good leaders. Now it’s up to the next group to step up to those roles, and they will.”
Strengths: Experience, attitude, coaching. Returning six district qualifiers is something that doesn’t happen often, especially with three of them being underclassmen. This is a group that has seen success. They’ve won two straight Section Two championships, they’re coming off of a league team championship and they’ve done well in the individual postseason tournaments. They’ve seen what it takes to beat the best wrestlers in the area, and that kind of experience will help them in the wrestling room and will help the younger wrestlers learn as well.
They are also a hard-working, modest group, which has been paying dividends so far in the preseason.
“We’ve got some experience back, which is nice. I don’t think anybody is looking at, ‘I’m a superstar and they’re building the team around me,’” said Sernoffsky. “I think we’ve got a great nucleus of returners and hopefully we’re preparing them well.”
Sernoffsky has been at E-town now for more than a quarter of a century, so you’d be hard pressed to find a coach in the L-L League with more experience than him. And he’s surrounded himself with hard-working, knowledgeable assistants from the varsity level and down through the program. The result has been a strong junior high and JV program, which in turn benefits the wrestlers when they get to varsity (as the Bears’ young wrestlers will find out very soon).
Weakness: Youth. The Bears have a lot of experience returning, but they also have some very young wrestlers who are about to get their first dose of what life is like at the varsity level. E-town’s youth is not necessarily a weakness for them, but the underclassmen are replacing seasoned district qualifiers for the most part and, as Sernoffsky said, those are big shoes to fill.
But what the fresh faces at the lighter and middle weights give E-town is a chance to continue building on what the program has done the past couple of years. They have seen what the varsity has done lately and those accomplishments have translated into the freshmen and sophomore expecting good things of themselves.
“I don’t want to put pressure on individuals, but if you get over .500 from the freshmen, that’s good,” said Sernoffsky. But the freshmen who are coming up are expecting more than .500 of themselves and that’s good.”
This is a young group that isn’t afraid and that is anxious to get on on the mats and prove themselves. And that alone makes them a dangerous bunch.
Outlook: From a team standpoint, it would be hard to do much better than what E-town accomplished last year. But instead of trying to compete with what last year’s team did, the Bears will be looking to build off of that success and reach higher goals.
“Winning is a habit and losing is a habit,” said Sernoffsky. We’ve told them that winning Section Two in the L-L league is not getting to the state tournament yet. We need to up the ante. And now they’re starting to believe it and they’re expecting to win, individually as well as collectively.”
With a bunch of wrestlers who are capable of finishing near or above 30 wins, E-town should find itself in the thick of the section race once again. The Bears will get an idea of how good they can be very early in the season. On Friday, they begin their year by traveling to Williamsport to participate in the Top Hat Tournament – where powerhouses like Central Dauphin and Cumberland Valley will be waiting. After that, the Bears will face Middletown, Dallastown and rival Manheim Central in consecutive dual meets. All good teams and all before Christmas. Talk about baptism by fire for the underclassmen.
But Sernoffsky said the tough early season schedule is a good thing for his wrestlers. It gets them against quality competition from the beginning and, if anything, will show them what kind of improvements they need to make as the season progresses.
The Bears have a lot of kids on the roster, which makes practices and wrestle offs that much more competitive. They aren’t dwelling on who did what last year, but forging ahead as a group and working as individuals to make the team the best it can be.
“Everybody in here is important. Everyone has an opportunity to challenge and beat someone out,” Sernoffsky said. “I think it’s a pretty good family and they’ll be OK. Hopefully we’ll keep getting more and more kids out because that helps make us a better team.”
A team that enjoyed its view from the top of the L-L mountain last year, and wants to get back there again.
2007-2008 Record: 17-13 overall, 9-7 Section Two. Lost to Columbia 61-52 in Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs. Beat Gettysburg 60-45 in District Three tournament play-in round. Beat Cedar Crest 65-57 in first round of District Three playoffs. Beat Mechanicsburg 67-53 in District Three quarterfinals. Lost to Reading 61-38 in District Three semifinals. Lost to Harrisburg 52-41 in District Three consolations. Lost to Penn Wood 62-46 in first round of PIAA state playoffs (first state playoff appearance in program history).
Key Returners: Quinn Cozzens, senior, captain, G; Chad Styer, senior, F; Kyle McNeil, senior, F; Jordan Hoover, senior, G; James Bard, senior, F; Bradley Garber, junior, F. The Bears return three starters from last year’s state playoff qualifying team – Cozzens, Styer and McNeil – to lead this year’s group. All of these players saw time last year at the varsity level, especially Cozzens, Styer, McNeil and Garber, and all made some sort of significant contribution at some point in the regular season and playoffs. They’ve also developed a cohesiveness that is evident on the court, and will go a long way in helping them get where they want to go.
“They’re a group that has played together for a lot of years and they have a lot of varsity experience,” said Dolan. “So they should know how to handle game situations and the experience should help them.”
The leader of the bunch is Cozzens, who is one of the best all-around players on the team. There isn’t much he can’t do on the court – score, rebound, pass, defend, etc. – and he has the ability to put the team on his back and carry them for stretches.
“We look to all of the seniors for leadership, but especially from Quinn as the captain,” Dolan said. “Quinn’s a real heady player. He does a lot of things well and really understands the game of basketball and understands situational basketball. He gives us a lot of leadership on and off the court.”
Styer led the team in 3-pointers made last year and is one of E-town’s best shooters. But Styer spent the summer refining the rest of this game so that he can help the Bears everywhere. But don’t fret E-town fans, he still has that smooth outside stroke.
“Chad’s one of our better shooters and someone who has worked hard on other parts of his game to make sure that, if he’s having a tough night shooting, he can contribute something else,” said Dolan. “I’m really pleased with the progress that he’s made in that area.”
McNeil is the third of the Bears’ returning starters, and he’ll be heading back to his familiar place down low on the blocks. McNeil is a relentless rebounder, which will help E-town keep offensive possessions alive. But what will separate him from most forwards is his strength. He’s gotten bigger and stronger since last year, and that should translate into more rebounds and blocks and more points for him. Watch for McNeil to take the ball to the basket aggressively and power his way to double digit points very often. Last season, he was a bit passive on offense, something that Dolan said he has worked on.
“He’s gotten stronger and tougher. We just need to get a little bit more offensive production from him and I expect that. He’s been taking the ball to the basket much better and he’s been establishing himself much better on the post, and that will do nothing but help our offense,” said Dolan.
Garber didn’t start last year, but did play a lot of minutes off of the bench and really gave the Bears another quality presence in the paint. He will be E-town’s main inside guy this year as a junior. He won’t be as big as every other team’s big man, but he will be quicker and more athletic than just about all of them. He is also a scrappy player who will battle for rebounds and make the aggressive kinds of plays that don’t show up in the box score but help teams win.
“He got some good varsity minutes at the end of the year (last season) and he took advantage of that and showed what he can do,” said Dolan. “We’re looking for some good things from him. He’s a little undersized, but he’ll be one of the quicker big guys in the league.”
Hoover didn’t see much court time, but he showed what he was capable of in the postseason with a great game against Harrisburg in the District Three consolation round. His role will be increased this year, and the Bears will be getting a player with nonstop energy and a good outside shooting touch on both ends of the floor.
“We hope to build on the experience Jordan got last year,” Dolan said. ‘He brings a lot of energy and he’s one of the hardest workers on the team. He plays extremely good defense for us and can shoot it on the offensive end.”
Bard was also mainly a reserve last year, but he brings more depth into the frontcourt and an excellent work ethic and attitude to the Bears’ team.
“James is a little bit of an undersized inside player, but he has real good footwork. He thinks well and does a lot of good things. He also worked hard in the offseason on certain parts of his game,” Dolan said.
Key Newcomers: Andrew Placeres, senior, G; Jeremi Jones, senior, G; Jared Risser, senior, G; Adam Muniz, senior, G. The Bears’ backcourt gets even deeper with the addition of these four players, all of whom are expected to see time this year and should make significant contributions to the team.
Placeres is a transfer student from Middletown. The Blue Raiders played against the Bears last year, which helped the E-town players and coaches get acquainted with his playing style. He will likely handle the bulk of the point guard duties for the Bears this season, but he’s also very fast and can shoot from just about anywhere on the court. Placeres has been with E-town since the summer, working out with the team. That should help alleviate the adjustment period of playing together.
“Andrew has a real long shooting range, and we’ll look to him and distribute the ball and get us up and down the court as fast as we can get there,” said Dolan.
Jones is another transfer student, coming over to E-town after three years of playing at Mount Calvary Christian School, where he scored more than 1,200 points at the varsity level. Jones is a very good athlete who can do just about anything on the court and gives E-town another explosive backcourt player. In the fall, Jones played football for E-town, which took away from his time with the basketball team, but Dolan said that both Jones and the rest of the players are getting adjusted to having him very quickly.
“Jeremi can score from anywhere. He can shoot it or he can take the ball to the basket. He’s only been with us for about two weeks and we’ve really been impressed with what he’s done both offensively and defensively. He knows the game,” Dolan said.
Risser played JV last year and has worked his way up to the varsity team by putting in a lot of work over the summer. His familiarity with E-town’s coaching philosophies and strategies will help him tremendously this year. He is also a good shooter.
Muniz will be a bit of an x-factor this year for E-town. He missed last season with a bad knee, but could possibly be the best athlete on the team. He brings a tremendous amount of quickness to an already athletic roster.
“He may be the quickest guy on the team and may be the guy with the best leaping ability that we have,” Dolan said.
Key Losses: Scott Bilheimer, G; Tilghman Grandstaff, F; Jordan Hallman, G; Nate Koach, C; Nate McCurdy, G; Mike O’Shea, G; Weston Parrett, G. The Bears lost a lot of talent and leadership to graduation. Both Hallman and Koach were starters last year for E-town. Hallman gave the Bears a solid point guard and a lot of team speed. And Koach was arguably one of the best centers in the league. He was one of the team’s leading scorers last year and was a great rebounder and shot blocker. But one of the ways Koach’s impact will be felt this year is the way he tutored Garber.
“I think Nate helped Bradley in a lot of ways. First of all, they play the same type of game. They’re very athletic and they run very well. The best way he helped Bradley is that he showed him how an athletic big man can play,” said Dolan.
Bilheimer, Grandstaff, McCurdy, O’Shea and Parrett all made plays on the court coming mainly off the bench, but their departure will be felt largely in the places fans don’t see – in the locker room and at practice. They were all team-first guys and worked very hard to help the team however they could. Their attitudes went a long way in helping the Bears become such a close team, and that cohesiveness translated to on-court success.
But the biggest thing that this group did, and something that Dolan hopes they passed along to the returning players, is that they learned how to win. Last year’s team got off to a slow start, but they clicked midseason and closed the regular season by winning 12 of their last 14, including eight in a row heading into the league playoffs. Coming together and pulling off that many wins in the second half of the season is something coaches can’t teach, but it could be something these players taught this year’s group.
“I think they taught them how to win. We had to learn how to win and I think they did it. Our coaching staff didn’t teach them how to win, they learned,” said Dolan. “And I think the guys this year saw that last year and now they know how to win.”
Strengths: Experience, backcourt depth. Many of these Bears are playoff tested. They’ve been to the league playoffs. They were among the last four teams standing in District Three. And they made it through to the state playoffs. Along the way, they played in just about every kind of game imaginable – blowouts, tight games decided in the fourth quarter, physical games, shootouts, you name it. And those experiences are another thing that can’t be taught. There won’t be many situations this year that Cozzens, Styer, McNeil and company haven’t seen before.
But what might make them even tougher to handle this season is the depth of the backcourt. The Bears have at least six guards that can play well at any point in the game. You can’t always rely on the same player or two to have big games every night, so having talent that can step up in the case of foul trouble, subpar shooting nights or injury is a luxury E-town has. And their guards are versatile. They can shoot from the outside, take the ball to the basket, handle a press and play good defense. The Bears’ backcourt strength will be something that carries them all season long.
Weaknesses: Inside depth, rebounding. E-town doesn’t have a lot of height (although most of their roster is six-foot or taller) and, outside of Garber and McNeil, don’t have a lot of crunch-time inside players. It’s not necessarily a huge concern for E-town or something that will hold them back in a lot of games, it just means that the Bears will have to work a little harder at doing the little things inside, like blocking shots, taking charges and rebounding.
Last year, E-town had Koach to put in the paint and battle with teams that had centers taller than 6-4.
This year, however, the Bears will have to make up for that lack of size with hustle, determination and proper fundamentals when it comes to playing post-up defense and boxing out. In most instances, their ability to spread the floor and get up and down on defense will make up for this, but keeping McNeil and Garber healthy and out of foul trouble will be important for when the Bears need to bang bodies under the basket.
Outlook: E-town isn’t going to sneak up on anyone this season. The Bears have a bullseye on their backs after going to states last year, and they know it.
“They know what the league’s like. I think (last year) puts a bullseye on our backs, and it’ll be interesting to see how we react to that,” said Dolan.
Bullseye or no bullseye, the Bears have a ton of talent. They return three bonafide starters (Cozzens, Styer and McNeil) and three more players that will fill the stat sheets (Garber, Placeres and Jones). Not only does this group have the ability to pick up where last year’s team left off, but it has bought into Dolan and his staff and you’ll see the Bears play hard for four straight quarters every single game. This is an unselfish group that cares more about wins than it does stats, and one that is getting more and more comfortable with the two newest faces (Jones and Placeres) with each practice.
“I think our chemistry is OK with Andrew because he was with us all summer. it might take an adjustment with Jeremi, but I don’t think it will be much of one because of the type of player Jeremi is,” said Dolan. “The tougher thing is to find good, quality minutes for all of these guys because we’ve got more than five guys that we could consider starters.”
E-town’s 2-7 start last year may actually be a blessing in disguise for this year’s team. They now know how tough it is to get to the postseason if you can’t come out of the gates running and that there isn’t much time in the world of high school basketball to get back on track.
“I think they understand more the urgency and the idea that basketball season is really compressed. They understand that they’ve got to come out and be ready to go right away,” said Dolan.
Of course, these Bears don’t want to live off of last year’s legacy.
They want to make their own mark on the program and all of the piece are in place for another strong campaign – leadership, talent on both ends of the floor and, perhaps most importantly, a group of players that puts the team before themselves.
“This team has the talent and experience to play some good basketball,” Dolan said. “I expect us to go out there and compete every game. I think these guys understand what it takes to do that and if they do, we’ll be fine.”
All that is left is to, once again, prove it on the court.
Key returners: Becca Bigler, senior, G; Bri Kuhn, sophomore, G; Jenna Rosenberry, sophomore, G; Emily Carter, sophomore, G. The most experienced position for the young Bears will be guard, where they return their top two scorers from last year, Bigler and Kuhn.
Bigler is the lone senior on the team and will be the team’s leader game in and game out. She is, however, switching to guard this season after playing mainly forward last year. She is an aggressive player who isn’t afraid to take the ball strong to the basket and dive for loose balls.
Kuhn had a good freshman year on varsity and returns with a year of experience under her belt. She is also the Bears’ best outside shooter, so look for her to launch 3-Pointers when E-town needs them. Pericci said he expects Kuhn and Bigler to be the team’s biggest offensive weapons.
Rosenberry and Carter are, like most of E-town’s players, tough, resilient and aggressive.
“Jenna is our best defensive player, but she has worked very hard on developing her game on the offensive side of the court,” he said. “Emily is an aggressive, scrappy player who isn’t afraid of mixing it up with the other girls.”
Both will see a lot of time on the court and bring tenacity on defense and excellent speed.
Key Newcomers: Jamie Ahern, junior, G; Dani Altomonte, junior, G/F; Nellie Marsh, sophomore, F; Katie Carter, sophomore, F; Sarah Fairbanks, freshman, F. E-town gets even deeper at the guard position with Ahern and Altomonte. Pericci said that both will see significant time at the varsity level.
A trio of new forwards – Marsh, Carter and Fairbanks – give the Bears skill and depth in the paint. Both Marsh and Carter are good post players and will battle inside for rebounds, especially on the offensive end, and should give E-town a chance to keep possessions alive that way. They also play physical defense.
Fairbanks could develop into one of the best all around players on the team. The 6-1 freshman is a threat from anywhere on the court and gives the Bears height on defense, something they lacked last season.
“Sarah gives us an inside-out threat, as she can play in the post and on the perimeter,” said Pericci.
Key Losses: Jen Dunkelberger (graduation), Amanda Blecher (injury). Dunkelberger was the lone senior on last year’s team, and gave them a tremendous amount of experience and leadership. She passes the torch to Bigler, who is the only senior this season.
Blecher, who played a lot last year, will miss the year with a knee injury.
“She has been one of our most dedicated players throughout the season, so we will be relying on Amanda to provide encouragement and motivation to the other girls this season,” said Pericci.
Strengths: Work ethic, team speed, aggressiveness, athleticism. The Bears are coming off a season where, while the win-loss record was not where they want it to be, they gained extremely valuable experience and learned about playing and winning at the varsity level. Those lessons have translated into outstanding work ethic and aggressiveness, which will pay dividends in the second halves of games.
“The girls on this team work harder than any team I have ever seen,” Pericci said. “Their sole motivation is to get better, both individually and as a team.”
Also, many of the girls play other sports are highly athletic. There will be very few teams that out-hustle the Bears this year, and that willingness to dive for loose balls and fight for rebounds could be a major reason why the Bears surprise some teams this season.
They also have a stable of fast players. Pericci said he will use the team’s overall speed to its advantage on both ends of the court.
“Expect to see a more up-tempo style of play, with us running the floor and pushing the ball up the court,” he said. “We have worked extremely hard on the defensive side of the ball, and we have several lock-down defenders who will give other teams fits.”
Weaknesses: Youth, confidence. E-town was an extremely young team last year, and they return another group of young players. Once again, the Bears have only one senior on the team (there are 17 players on the roster), but they do have a year of experience under their belts. That said, E-town will still being going against more-experienced teams nearly every game and those with little to no varsity experience will need to get adjusted in a hurry for the Bears to be successful.
“Many of the younger girls are going to be asked to contribute on both ends of the floor this season. How quickly the girls get adjusted to the varsity game will have a direct impact on how well we do,” Pericci said.
For any team coming off of a two-win season, confidence is a tough thing to have. But the E-town players have to put last year behind them and work hard on improving. A few early season wins will be crucial to this group in terms of believing they can win at this level.
“The girls have to believe in themselves and in their ability to compete with some of the best teams in the L-L League.
Outlook: Instead of viewing last season in a negative light, Pericci and the Bears are using it as a learning experience and as motivation. The Bears are hungry and ready to get the program back where it was when Janelle Garber and company stormed into the state playoffs. This E-town team doesn’t have that many weapons, but it certainly has enough talent and, believe it or not, experience to be competitive in the section.
Pericci isn’t lowering his expectations because of last year’s growing pains. He expects the Bears to play hard and to get better.
“We have very high expectations for this year’s team,” he said. “The girls have worked hard in the offseason and so far in the regular season. We constantly talk about getting better every day, and the girls have gotten better, both individually and as a team.
“The coaching staff and players have set high goals for this season, which include competing for the section championship. We are using last year’s season as motivation to prove people wrong this year.”
Expect a ton of defense from the Bears this season and for that to propel them to plenty of wins. Bigler is the lone senior and the team leader, and Pericci and the underclassmen couldn’t ask for a better one. She will lead by example, and is one of the toughest players on the court at all times. Her play elevates that of her teammates and brings out the best in them, which is what leaders do.
Kuhn could blossom into one of the best outside shooters in the section and will need to make some big shots if the Bears are to be competitive.
And Rosenberry and Carter will also be important to the team, as they will need to get the young, inexperience forwards involved and run the offense smoothly.
With three new post players expected to see significant time, it could take a little while for the offense to jell, but the Bears should get those kinks ironed out in preseason scrimmages. But once these young players get adjusted to the physical play in the paint at the varsity level, look out. Fairbanks could very well be the second or third leading scorer on the team before it’s all said and done.
This is a deep team that will use nearly every player on the roster nearly every game, which will pay dividends in the next couple of years.
E-town might be a year or so away from taking the section by storm, but that doesn’t mean the Bears won’t be a force to be reckoned with this season.
“While we are still young, the girls are ready and willing to step up this season,” said Pericci. “We are relishing the underdog role, and we are excited about what lies ahead.”
Which could be a lot of wins for one of the league’s youngest teams.
The Bears return a lot of players who were involved with the program last year, but Secord and Fink are the only two that saw extensive varsity action last year. As E-town’s most experienced bowlers, Secord and Fink will be relied on to be its most consistent this season as sophomores.
“It is going to be interesting to see who steps up to fill some big shoes lost to graduation,” said Telenko.
The Bears move back to Section One this year after winning a section title during their time in Section Two. Telenko said that while he doesn’t know what to expect in Section One, he knows what his returning group needs to do to be successful.
“We will continue to be great spare shooters and take our best shot at the top spot,” he said.
After Secord and Fink, look for Maze, Ritzman, Meier, Lee and Garman to compete for the top varsity spots match in and match out.
With such a deep core of returning bowlers, this could be a learning season for these four.
“They are still learning to master the game and figure out what it takes to be consistent and get better. I expect them to improve and bowl a lot of games this year,” said Telenko.
Most of their time will be spent bowling in JV matches and learning the intricacies of the high school game, but Telenko said he is ready for anything.
“Who knows, maybe one or two could surprise us and crack the lineup,” he said.
Key Losses: Elisha Armold, Derek Boozer, Jon Lee, Megan Lee, Melissa Lee, Ryan Lightner, Chuck Rubis. The Bears were hit relatively hard by graduation, losing their top two bowlers from last year – Boozer and Lightner. Both were four year starters and averaged more than 200 (Boozer averaged 216 and Lightner 208), and those kinds of scores won’t be easy to replace. But in addition to knocking down pins, they also knew how to win, and were keys to the Bears’ section championship two years ago. Boozer was also a Lancaster-Lebanon League and Section Two all-star for the past three seasons and is currently in the starting lineup for the Penn State-Berks bowling team.
Jon Lee was also a starter last year and was one of the team’s most consistent bowlers.
This is a tough group to replace from nearly every standpoint, but the younger Bears got to see them bowl and have a great example to follow.
Strength: Desire. The Bears don’t have experience on their side but they do have something that ever successful team needs – the desire to improve. And that is something Telenko said will propel his team to where they want to go.
“Our commitment to practice is our greatest asset,” he said. “These kids are constantly picking my brain about the game and want to learn. They are dedicated and put a lot of time into practicing.”
Weakness: Experience. Telenko said it best.
“There is a big difference between bowling in the Saturday morning junior program and bowling in a high school match,” he said.
Experience is something the Bears can’t work on in practice. It can only be gained by bowling in matches. For the past three years or so, the Bears have had that bowler who was able to step up and come through with a big shot – whether it was Boozer or Andy Moyer before him. And that could be something that hurts E-town early on this year.
“This team is still searching for that ‘go-to’ guy or gal,” said Telenko. “We need a few individuals who are able to deal with the pressure and perform.”
This is certainly something that could go away very quickly. All it would take is a few early season wins to gain confidence and then the Bears won’t be worried about bowling in a tight spot, they’ll relish it.
Outlook: E-town has a very young team (all of the bowlers expected to see the majority of the varsity time are either sophomores or juniors), and that could mean this is a year it gets its feet wet. The return to Section One won’t make life any easier on the underclassmen, but it could be a blessing in the next few years to get thrown into the fire this season.
“I fully expect this team to learn how to bowl together, support each other and develop as a team,” said Telenko. “We will have the main nucleus of this team together for the next three years, and there is a lot of potential.”
But first things first, the Bears have to step up and show no fear of bowling at the varsity level, and Section One, in order to be successful this year. Telenko’s philosophy has always leaned heavily toward the importance of picking up spares, and it will be no different this season. To do that, though, the Bears will need to continue working hard in practice, even if they get off to a slow start. And it will need someone to emerge as a go-to bowler that the team can rely on in close matches – and that will likely be Lee or Secord.
“Making spares takes a great deal of concentration and discipline on the lane,” said Telenko. This team works hard in practice and I would love to see them become successful.”
If they stick to their work ethic, there’s no telling what this young team can accomplish, including a triumphant return to Section One.
Head Coach: Jeff Harnish, second season. Was the winter track head coach in the 2004 season.
Key returners: 19 returning athletes. Harnish returns to the helm of the E-town winter track program after serving as head coach in 2004 and inherits a talented group of athletes.
There are 19 returners in all, and each of them brings something different to the team, but one thing they all have in common is experience and leadership, something Harnish said is very important.
“They are all key to the success of our program,” he said. “They are doing a great job getting our new athletes acclimated to the program and I expect them to be very successful at our indoor meets.”
Key Newcomers: 26 new athletes. As deep and diverse as the returners are, there are even more new athletes to the winter program. Harnish said that many of them come from different sports backgrounds and that there are new athletes from every grade level on the team.
They will provide outstanding depth for the Bears this winter season and give E-town competitive, talented athletes in virtually every event it will compete in. That said, however, there will be an adjustment period for them. They’ll have to get used to the very short indoor season and have only a limited time to master their events before competing.
“I expect them to come together as a team, work hard at practice, learn their event and find success at the meet,” he said.
Key Losses: Caitlyn Eshleman, Caitlyn Fisher, John Romain. E-town was not hit particularly hard by graduation last year, but it did lose three captains in Eshleman, Fisher and Romain.
Harnish said that their leadership was great and it will be missed. But it’s now up to the deep senior class of this year to step up into those leadership roles.
Strengths: Depth, distance.
According to Harnish, this is the largest winter track team that E-town has a record of. That means the Bears will have very good depth up and down the charts.
That depth should help them in scoring during meets, but it will also help them make each other better in practice, which should translate to success in the winter and spring track seasons.
E-town will also be very strong in its distance events. That success should stem directly from the very successful seasons that both the boys and girls cross country teams had in the fall. Leading the way for the distance events will be Dustin Horning, who qualified for the cross country state meet in the fall.
Weakness: Depth in sprints. E-town does has some very talented sprinters on its roster, but they aren’t as deep in this area as Harnish would like. With the amount of possibilities that a large roster brings, that might change, but for now E-town will go in with a smaller number of sprinters.
Outlook: The winter track season is much different that the fall cross country season or the spring track and field season. There are only four meets and there are a limited number of entries in each of those.
“The main goal is to get as many kids competing as possible,” Harnish said.
And the team will also have to travel for each of its meets. The Bears would like nothing more than to be competitive at all four meets it competes in this season, but if nothing else, the sheer number of athletes on the roster should bode well for the spring season.
