Facts and numbers

Here we go with some facts about the Tide after 18 games, 17 of them have been wins.
• High point totals were 90 vs. No. Lebanon; 83 vs. ELCO and 81 vs. Northeastern.
• Low point total: 54 in a 56-54 loss to Academy Park.
• 7 of 18 games have been won by the mercy rule.
• Of the 18 games the Tide has played, 7 have been against teams with winning records.
• The Tide is 1-0 against teams from District One and 1-0 against teams from District 4.
• They are 0-1 against independent teams.
• They are 2-0 against teams from York County and 5-0 against teams from Lebanon County and 1-0 against teams from Berks County.
• The Tide has trailed after the first quarter in just three games -- Academy Park< Ephrata and Annville-Cleona.
• The Tide has been tied after the first quarter just once -- Lancaster Catholic.
• Columbia has trailed at the half in two games -- Academy Park and Lancaster Mennonite.
• The Tide has outscored opponents 319-202 in the first quarter and 323-177 in the second quarter. In 10 of their 18 games, opponents have been held to single digits in scoring in the second quarter.
• Overall, the Tide has scored 1,244 points to the oppositions 848.
• All 12 of the Tide's players have been to the foul line this season.
• All 7 of the Tide's top players have scored in double figures.
• Six players have hit three-point baskets.
• The J.V. team, which has only seven players is 11-2.
• No Tide varsity player has appeared in less than 10 games this season.

Shifting a focus to the mats

A night after putting the basketball hat on, the focus shifts to the mats tonight.
Columbia makes the trip over Kinderhook Hill for its annual clash with Donegal.
The Tide is 3-2 in Section 3 and its the team's final league match.
Donegal is 4-0 with tonight and next week's match with Pequea Valley left.
Should be an interesting match.

After tonight, the Tide begins preparations for the league championships this weekend at Township. The tournament will be held in the Streaks' new gym. Interested in scoping it out as a basketball playoff location. Hears its first class. Anything is better than their old gym.

Today was the monthly chamber board meeting. "Dollar Bill" Kloidt took over as president. Will be posting shortly a list of events in the tri-borough for the year.

Understand we might be getting the"Big One" tomorrow into Friday. Can Joe, Doug and Chuck finally get one right?

A sure sign

That Christmas is over is that borough highway workers are taking down the Christmas decorations today downtown.

The Tide returned home last night after there road games to play Lampeter-Strasburg in the final crossover game of the season.

Wasn't sure quite what to expect. Three road games, a possible letdown, etc.
Coach Wis' team took care of any concerns early. They scored the first 13 points of the game in a 78-35 win.
They also scored the first 15 points of the second half.
The top seven players all were on the scoreboard in the first half.
Solid game by all in all phases. Corey Halterman, the 8th/9th man on the team scored a career-high 11 off the bench, performing solidly with the first group.

It
was also a double win -- I won the 50-50 last night. Not gonna reveal
the secrets of how to win. I learned the secret last week at Lebanon.

Good crowd -- we might have the most loyal following of grads and older fans.

Answering the comments

Wow, it's not even been a week here for the Tide Talk blog and I've gotten some comments about what has been written.
That's even before word has been published in the Columbia Ledger altering readers to what is going on.
Each week when readers comments, I will attempt to answer them.

1. Is it a good thing that Columbia has a female police officer? Yes and no.
No, because our town's history with the two previous female officers wasn't good. Although one of two is still in the police service, it won't be until the fall we see Holly Arndt on the force.
A bigger need, because of the demographics of the community may have been a minority officer.
Like all, however, they have to go through a rigorous testing procedure. I know, I served on the Civil Service Commission way back when. It's though to get through that part of it, plus there are a lot of police openings throughout the area.
Good luck to officer Arndt.
2. A comment was made about the phrase "Pitchers and Catchers report." To me, its like the opening of the NFL training camps and the NCAA Tournament. Should be a national holiday. Yes, hopefully we will have a good team to root for this year.
3. I will also expand my offerings to stories in other areas, as was suggested. I just hope we can keep it clean with the comments.
4. I've also linked a few websites" Dell Jackson's LL Hooops; Penn Live and Jeff Reinhart's blog from the New Era.
5. As for the Columbia/Catholic game upcoming on Monday, Jan. 28. Both teams have to play three games before that. I think Friday's game at Pequea Valley might be difficult, playing on the road. We'll see.
As for weaknesses, the Tide has faced a number of "junk" defenses this year - box-in-one, triangle-in-two, different zones, etc. They've handled it pretty well.
They also bring two good players off the bench, that could start for a few other teams in the league. So far, the entire team hasn't had an off night. If they continue to play as a team, the will do well.
They've also faced teams with some size -- Milton, who had the best big kid I've seen this year and Catholic (O'Leary).
I am looking forward to that game, but, like Coach Wis and the players are saying, "one game at a time." I like that motto.