Let's not forget wrestling

The Road to Hershey, the official start of wrestling's post-season begins Saturday with sectional tournaments throughout Central Pennsylvania.

The Class AA sectional tournament, which in previous years was held at Donegal, has been moved into the Mid-Penn Conference area. The one-day featuring teams from Section 3 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League and Mid-Penn Conference, will be held at Milton Hershey’s Spartan Center, starting at 9 a.m.

The top four finishers at each weight class will advance to next week’s District Three championships at the old Hersheypark Arena, next weekend.
From there, the Class AA wrestlers will compete in the regional tournament at Wilson, before moving to the state tournament the second weekend of March in Hershey.

Teams competing in the one-day tournament are Columbia, Donegal, Pequea Valley, Northern Lebanon, ELCO, Lancaster Catholic, Annville-Cleona, Milton Hershey and Palmyra.

Here are the returning district qualifiers that will compete in this weekend’s sectional tournament.

DONEGAL: Ross Bollinger, Josh Price, Ryan Wilson, Nick Herbert, Neal Sweigart, Derek Pietsch and Çody Tillman.

COLUMBIA: Joe Ronca, Garrett Mowrer and Dan Gerfin.

LANCASTER CATHOLIC: Jordan Ballentine, Chase Haberstroh and Mike Blaszczyk.

PALMYRA: Frank Landis and Dustin Saksek.

ELCO: Colin Edris, Tommy Simmons, Jason Weaver and Jake Walmer.

MILTON HERSHEY: Boyd Hardison.

NORTHERN LEBANON: Rob Dzwonchyk and Nick Dzwonchyk.

PEQUEA VALLEY: Nathan Good, Brock Suter, Adam Weaver, Alex Haberstroh, Jon Zeng and Isaac Zeng.

Boys A

Much like the Girls' A field, the Boys' A field is made up of just four public schools -- Greenwood, Millersburg, Camp Hill and Antietam. The rest are all Catholic or private schools or state-supported like Scotland.

While Scotland is the top seed and probably will win the title, other than Holy Name and Central Catholic, who I thought I read somewhere are merging next year, Lebanon Catholic and Camp Hill play tough schedules.

Greenwood and Millersburg rarely venture off the mountain of the Tri-Valley League.

Seeds are Scotland (1), Holy Name (2), High Point (3) and Millersburg (4).

A sleeper might be Mount Calvary from the E-town area.

Boys Class AA

Question: Who was the last public school team to win a District 3 title in this class?

Answer: Columbia, back in 1994 when they beat Reading Central Catholic, 54-53 in overtime. Since then, the Class AA title has gone to Trinity, York Catholic or RCC.

This year as the Harrisburg Patriot called them, Columbia is a mysterious top seed. Basically, they don't think the Tide is worthy of a top seed or playing for a district title next Friday next week at the Giant Center.

Although Columbia has adopted the "one game at a time" motto, they shouldn't have any trouble with their opening round game tomorrow at Hempfield against Hanover, who is 5-18.

In round two, Saturday at Middletown (hopefully the game will be moved), expect the Tide to face a familiar foe in Pequea Valley. The Braves meet Tri-Valley League finalist Upper Dauphin in the opener. Columbia has beaten the Braves twice this year, both times rather easily. They say its always tough to beat a team three times, so we will see.

That, again, we as writers and fans, can look ahead, would mean a trip to the Giant Center next Wednesday for the semi-finals. By the way, there are four games set for the Giant Center that day. No times have been set. In the semi-finals, the Tide will meet either Trinity or York Catholic and their scoring machine, Jacob Iati. YC already has a win over the Shamrocks. They would meet in round two on Saturday, if they both survive opening round games against Annville-Cleona and Kutztown.

You know what would be really nice, if the Tide plays at the Giant Center next Wednesday, is to have a Tide tailgate at the Parkside before the game. Best cheeseburgers in the world. But, Columbia has to get their first.

In the bottom part of the bracket resides Delone Catholic, the number two seed. After opening against Tulpehocken (remember how bad Columbia beat them at Christmas), they will meet Wyomissing, a Berks County team that isn't bad. They might not have the inside play to keep up with Delone, but they got the rest of the package. The DC-Tulpy game might be a measuring stick.

Also in the bottom bracket is an athletic Milton Hershey team and Schuylkill Valley.

The seeds are: Columbia (1), Delone (2), Milton Hershey (3) and York Catholic (4).

The finals are Friday, Feb. 22 at 6:45, back at the Giant Center.

By the way, winners of Saturday's games are guaranteed a spot in the state playoffs.

Boys AAA

The Steel-High football team had a big season, blazing its way to a Class A state title this past season.

So how about a double dip of state success? It's possible. The Rollers, who are the number two seed in the field, stunned or should I say crushed Susquehanna Township, the top seed in the field, to win the Mid-Penn Conference title.

It's expected that the District Three finals next week will be a re-match. Both teams have enough firepower to make for a long run in the state playoffs.

Susquehanna Township does have some potential land mines (tough games) in their half of the bracket. In the semi-finals, they will meet either Greencastle, a Franklin County team that played in the state finals last year or York-Adams champ West York.

West York also has a tough first round game with Eastern.

In the bottom of the bracket, the Rollers should roll until the semi-finals where they might meet third-seed Daniel Boone or even Lancaster Catholic, who is the 11th seed.

The top seven teams make the state playoffs.

Seeds aer: Susquehanna (1), Steel-High (2), Daniel Boone (3) and Greencastle (4).

Boys AAAA

This is one I can keep short.

The Boys 4-A title will reside in Berks County. Reading by far is the best team in the 4-A field. They are 26-0 and many are already talking about the Red Knights playing Chester and Pennsbury in the state playoffs.

I think the most interesting first round game is Harrisburg vs. McCaskey. Hard to believe that the 'Burg is an 18th seed and had to play a play-in game just to qualify. This one matches two programs with a lot of talent and some pretty good history. They also have a couple of proven coaches in Kurt Smallwood and Steve Powell. I can still see Smallwood's face back when he was at C.D. East, playing in the Columbia Tournament, watching Charlie Detz steal the ball and lumber in for a layup to win the game.

Other L-L teams in the field are Conestoga Valley, Cedar Crest and E-town,who actually play each other and Hempfield.

Of those teams, I see Hempfield and Cedar Crest advancing far. I do like the way E-town plays, but they just might be overmatched in the Class AAAA field.

By the way, whatever happened to Jim Gano, who use to coach at Reading. I remember the wars he use to have with Marty Benkovic, who was a legend at Steel-High.

Also saw recently where former Red Knight Stu Jackson was back in town. Now a suit for the NBA, he went out west to play college ball. Remember that afro?

Seeds are Reading (1), McCaskey (2), C.D. East (3) and Cedar Crest (4).

Girls AAAA, AAA and A

Okay, let's go with the other three classes in girls' basketball.
The L-L League representativesin the 4-A field are Hempfield, the league champions: Penn Manor, Warwick, Garden Spot, Cedar Crest and McCaskey.
The seeded teams are Wilson (1), Red Lion (2), Cedar Crest (3) and Hempfield (4).

One L-L team will be eliminated in the first round as coach Lenny Groft's team opens with Warwick.

Wilson has to face Hempfield in the semi-finals and that should be a whale of a game. Hempfield also has a tough second round game against Central Dauphin.

Red Lion is always battled tested when it comes to the playoffs and would probably have to play a tough Lower Dauphin team in the second round.

Hempfield and Cedar Crest could easily meet in the finals. But both have tough roads to get to that point.

In Class AAA, L-S is the top seed, but are they THAT good. A favorite to possibly play in the L-L League finals last week, the Pioneers were crushed in the first round by Hempfield. Hempfield was a team L-S beat to open the season.

Lancaster Mennonite is the fourth seed and I think they have a tough opener (before the Columbia game Wednesay) with Eastern, the defending Class AAA champs.

Also with a tough first round draw is Lancaster Catholic, who meets third-seeded Boiling Springs in the opener. Lancaster Catholic is the 14th seed and had to win a play-in to qualify for the playoffs. Wow!

Manheim Central is the other L-L representative in the Class AAA field.

In Class A, there are 12 teams. I still say its the Lebanon Catholic Invitational!

More playoff info

Fans should note that there will be no pre-sale of tickets for the opening round of the District Three playoffs.

After the first round, there will be a pre-sale of tickets at the schools. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students. A reminder, tickets at the door will cost $5 and for the pre-sale of tickets, schools actually get some money back.

Watch this blog, or the Columbia School District web site for more information.

Class AA girls

It's been a busy few days, so I really haven't had a lot of time to write on this blog.

Today's weather has given me time to get some things done, such as playoff previews.

The Tide girls' game with Wyomissing, as previously noted has been postponed until tomorrow night, hopefully at the same place.
Wyomissing comes into the game with an 11-11 record and the seventh seed in the Class AA field. They are trying to avoid their first losing since since 1996. The Columbia girls are looking to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

Columbia might only have six wins in 23 games, but they have lost to some of the top teams in District 3 -- like L-S, the number one seed in AAA; Lancaster Mennonite, the number four seed in AAA, along with Eastern (13th), Manheim Central (11th) and Lancaster Catholic (14th).

In the Class AA field, there are two obvious favorites -- Trinity, the top seed and York Catholic, the two-time state champs, whose only loss is to Trinity im the last two or three years.

The bad thing is that if the Tide girls lose, they draw York Catholic in round two on Friday night. That could be a good thing for the Tide girls as they will get to see what it will take to get back to the elite status the program once enjoyed in District 3.

By the way, 10 of the 16 teams in the Class AA field have .500 or losing records.

Barring any major upsets, which are unlikely, Trinity and York Catholci shouldmeet in the finals next Thursday. Yes, it will be different not seeing Harry DeFrank coaching the Shamrocks.

Schuylkill Valley, who is the third seed and has a Division I recruit, might be the only team to spoil the rematch. I doubt it.

Strickler has a new job

Sacunas, one of the mid-Atlantic region’s premier integrated marketing communications agencies, has recruited Thomas R. Strickler as Vice President of Business Development.
A resident of Columbia, Strickler will drive the agency expansion into Lancaster and Berks counties. His efforts will include setting up the new Lancaster office to support the agency’s growing client base.
Before coming to Sacunas, Strickler served most recently as Vice President of Sales & Marketing for B.R. Kreider & Son Inc. in Manheim.
He serves on several boards, including Junior Achievement of Central PA, Lancaster County Tax Collection Bureau and Columbia Borough School District Board as president. He also serves as co-chair of the Columbia/Donegal/Elizabethtown Consortium, chairman of Pathways to Gold Collar Careers, scholarship chair of the Lancaster Building Industry Foundation and trustee and past chairman of Central PA Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar. In addition, Strickler is a high school and college basketball official.
He is a graduate of Elizabethtown College.

Fire Police meeting

About 20 months ago, the Columbia Fire Police stopped providing traffic control and security at special events in the borough.
Those special events included the Chamber of Commerce’s Antique, Art and Craft Show, the Bridge Bust, the Cruisin’ Columbia Car Show, along with parades and athletic events at Columbia High School.
The fire police, who continued to respond to emergency calls, during that time said the reason was a $2,5000 cut in an appropriation from the borough.
While the borough worked to reach an agreement with the fire police back when the problem first happened in 2006, there has been very little done to resolve the dispute since.
That might be coming to an end.
Monday night, borough council announced it would hold a special meeting with the fire police on Monday night at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in the council chambers at 308 Locust St. and is open to the public.

Control what you can

It’s something that I have heard too many times that it has started to bother me.

Maybe, it’s just me because I’ve been around so much, or the fact that people just like to talk to me because I listen.

But what has bothered me more so over the last month than anytime I can remember are things that are out of anyone’s control.

I will try to list some of those things I’ve heard and see if you agree. If you don’t, oh well.

• The referees missed this call or that call. Why did we have that referee.
The officials is something you can’t control in sports.There are good ones and bad ones. Everyone calls a different game. You have to adjust.

It bothered me more after last Thursday’s game with McCaskey. I had people complain about the officiating in the game. One of the complaints was the hand-checking, grabbing of Columbia players that wasn’t called.

Folks, it wasn’t a factor in the game! The only call I didn’t like was an illegal screen call with about a minute left. Let the kids decide it.
Columbia lost the game because they didn’t shoot well. Not because the referees blew it.

• Why aren’t the other media in the area covering the basketball team?
Again, that part is out of Columbia’s control. We shouldn’t worry about if a television is at the game or not. It’s nice, but its no big deal.

• That person is coming to a game for the first time. I watch this too, its called the jinx factor that goes back a long way.
But when you have a hot team and people want to come to the game, they can do what they want.

Again, there’s no control over that.

There are probably a thousand other thinks I could write. But, while it may bother some, you have to roll with the punches. Worry about what you can control.
The coaches and players can worry about the X’s and O’s on the court. The fans need to worry about cheering loudly for the home town and forget the factors they can’t control.

Game is off

Tonight's Columbia girls' basketball playoff game at Garden Spot with Wyomissing has been postponed until tomorrow, at the same time and place.