Football banquet

Walt Price, a 1956 graduate of Columbia High School and a recent inductee into the first CHS Athletic Hall of Fame, was the featured speaker at Sunday’s high school football banquet held at the Taste of Styles.
Price, who taught 40 years in the Donegal School District, was proud of his induction into the CHS Hall of Fame.
“I’ve been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and out of all the ones I’ve been in, nothing is more special than Columbia High School,” Price said.
He spoke of the four people, who were also inducted into the Hall of Fame that put the desire, determination and instilled discipline in him -- Harry Smoker, Elmer Kreiser, Tom Donan and Hubie Peters.
Smoker was the principal at CHS while Price was a student; Kreiser was the junior high football coach, while Donan was the varsity coach and Price met Peters during the summers on the playgrounds in Columbia.
“They made an impression on me and helped shape by future,” Price said.
The former educator and wrestling coach at Donegal and Manheim Central said he taught more than 7,00 kids and they all left an impression on him.
He also spoke to the seniors, underclassmen, parents and coaches. He urged the parents to be supportive on their son’s sport and not try to make their son into something they are not, or relive their high school days through their sons.
“Parents need to help promote the sport and be supportive,” Price said.
He concluded his remarks saying that getting an education at Columbia helped make him successful.
“The opportunities are here. I believe in it and don’t ever make excuses about being from Columbia,” he said.
The varsity coaching staff presented the following awards:
Players of the Game
• Daniel Boone: Marcus Fischer and Dakota Lightfoot.
• Pequea Valley: Yahya McIntyre and Lightfoot.
• Donegal: Kevin McCarty and Lightfoot.
Season Awards
• Offensive Back of the Year: Lightfoot.
“He had a great season offensively. Other coaches in the section told me they weren’t looking forward to facing him,” said head coach Jason Shoff.
• Offensive Lineman of the Year: McCarty.
“He played every position and had the highest blocking grade,” said Adam Aston, assistant coach.
• Wide Receiver of the Year: McIntyre.
• Defensive Back of the Year and Leading Tackler: Lightfoot.
• Defensive Lineman of the Year: McCarty.
• Linebacker of the Year: Joey Charles.
• Special Teams Most Valuable Player: Clark Meshey.
• Scout Team Most Valuable Player: John Markley.
• Rookie of the Year: Marcus Fischer.
• Helmet Awards for participating in the program in grades 9-12: Jason Combs, Matt Kreiser, Lightfoot, McCarty, McIntyre and Bobby Schoelkopf.
The varsity coaching staff made remarks about the season and introduced the freshman team that went undefeated this past season.
Former Columbia quarterback Ray McCarty served as master of ceremonies, while the Rev. Ron Bachman gave the invocation.

Banquet time

Will Columbia have any all-stars in Section 3 of the L-L League? We'll find out tonight.
The annual L-L Football Banquet is tonight at the Timbers in Mount Gretna.

Wrestlers are honored

The Columbia varsity and junior varsity wrestling teams were honored Sunday night at the team’s annual banquet held at the Foresters of America Lodge.
Team members were honored for their contributions to the teams this season.
Honored at the junior high level were:
• Byron Germer, most improved wrestler.
“He gave 100 percent all year in his first year out for the team,’ said junior high coach Tony Munoz.
• Jordan Helton and Nate Warner, outstanding wrestler.
Of Helton, Munoz said, “it was a pleasure to coach him this year.”
• Derrick Brooks, outstanding wrestler.
Honored at the varsity level were:
• Jared Bryant, Zach Groft, Garrett Mowrer, Dan Gerfin and Brian Groff, by the South Central Pennsylvania Youth Wrestling Organization, for participating in wrestling from sixth through 12th grade.
• Garrett Mowrer, Joey Charles, Derrick Armold, Brandon Felus, Dan Gerfin and Brian Groff, Lancaster-Lebanon League Academic All-Stars.
• Joey Ronca and Garrett Mowrer, first team; Anthony Wallick and Brian Groff, second team, and Jason Combs and Adam Stoner, honorable mention, Lancaster-Lebanon League All-Stars.
• Most takedowns, Jason Combs.
• Most Escapes, Derrick Armold.
• Most near falls, Garrett Mowrer.
• Most reversals, Anthony Wallick.
• Most falls, Brian Groff.
• Rookies of the Year, Brandon Felus and Kenny Weidman.
• Most Improved Wrestler, Sebastian Lefever and Derrick Arnold.
• Junior Varsity Wrestler of the Year, Zach Groft.
• Bob Bell Triple Effort Award, Joey Ronca, Joey Charles, Brandon Felus, Derrick Armold, Anthony Wallick and Garrett Mowrer.
• Most Valuable Wrestlers, Brian Groff and Garrett Mowrer.
• Outstanding Wrestler, Joey Ronca.
Columbia and Penn State graduate Aaron Anspach was the speaker for the banquet.

Fire Department holds banquet

More than 100 people attended the annual membership banquet for the Columbia No. 1 Fire Department Saturday night at the Park Plaza Hotel on Centerville Road.

The department honored its members for their commitment during 2007 and reviewed two videos, one on training the department did and highlights of some of its responses.

The speaker for the event was Matthew Tobia, a battalion chief of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department in Maryland. Tobia, along with Dale Dommel, master technician from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, assisted the department with some of its training.

Dommel served as master of ceremonies.

Those honored at the banquet included:
• Denny Hershey, Firefighter of the Year.
• Tom Wise, Member of the Year.
• Keystone Polish Concrete, the Joseph Zercher Award, given to a person or business in good standing with the department.
Keystone Polish Concrete donated a new floor for the engine room, which would have cost the department $20,000.
• William Ney, Chief’s Award.
• Mitchel Lutz Jr., the Lutz Honorary Presentation.
• Pat Hallacher and Elsie Hower, Special Recognition for helping with fund-raising and bingo.
• Chief Lenny Urey, former chief of the Wrightsville Fire Company, a Distinguished Service Award.
• Deputy Chief Joe Felus, a Recognition Award for writing grants for the department.

Bowlers have banquet

The Columbia High School bowling team was honored at its year end banquet held at the Elks Lodge last week.

The boys team finished with an overall record of 32-8 and they were 23.5-16.5 in non-league matches and finished second in Section 3 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

The girls’ team finished with a 27-4 record and won the Snow Roller Tournament.
Overall, the two teams combined for a record of 82.5 and 28.5. Their team average was 976, which was the highest in school history.

Honors won by the team this season.

• Anthony Wishard placed sixth in the league singles’ tournament and was a first team all-star in Section 3.
He also placed 42nd at the regional tournament and had the second highest average in Section 3.

• Jimmy Lee placed 17th in the league’s singles tournament, was a first team all-star and had the third highest average in Section 3.

• Stef Brown was a second team all-star in Section 3, had the third highest average for girls in section three and the third highest triple.

• Keifer Kemmerly was a second team all-star in Section 3.

• Casey Barninger was a second team all-star in Section 3, had the second highest average in Section 3 and the highest single game and triple.

• Allison Michener placed ninth in the Eastern Regional tournament, advancing to states, where she placed 15th; made the all-tournament team at the Snow Roller Tournament and had the third highest single in Section 3.

Members of the team were Stef Brown, Cody Ness, Anthony Wishard, Casey Barninger, Kevin McCarty, Adam Kilp, Adrienne Zercher, Jimmy Lee, Allison Michener, Keifer Kemmerly, Katelyn Misal, David Wissler and Keith Diffenderfer.