Columbia opens with Hempfield

It’s been a while since the Columbia girls’ basketball team has been among the contenders in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
A combination of things have taken the Tide girls from the penthouse of girls’ basketball in the L-L League to the first floor, looking to move on up again.
One, Columbia’s talent level has dropped off. It’s not that the Tide doesn’t have talent, they do. They just don’t have enough of it. Plus, the rest of the L-L League has gotten better.
For example, the Tide’s schedule includes six teams that played in the state playoffs last year, plus three others that qualified for the district playoffs. That represents 14 of the Tide’s 22 games, that will be against playoff teams from a year. It also includes only one game in the Warwick Tournament, which could increase that number to 15.
Coach Lisa Tomsheck’s team opens the season tomorrow night by hosting its own tournament. All four teams, Columbia, Lampeter-Strasburg, Hempfield and Central Dauphin East made the District 3 playoffs a year ago, but Columbia was the only one not to advance to the state tournament.
“Our opening tournament has extremely good competition. We open the tournament with Hempfield, who is the reigning L-L champs. The other teams are L-S, who I think is the strongest team in the L-L League because they did not have a senior on the squad last season and CD East, who made a good run in the state tournament,” Tomsheck said.

Read more in this week's Columbia Ledger.

Boys open at Hanover

Last season was magical for the Columbia boys’ basketball team.
After losing their season opener at the Oxford Tournament, the Tide reeled off 20 straight win, dominated Section 4 and won the section title, took eventual L-L champ McCaskey to the wire in the league playoffs, got to play at the Giant Center and then battle a team that played for a state title tough until the final three minutes before falling in South Philadelphia.
Columbia opens its season tomorrow night against Newport in the Hanover Tournament. The other two teams in the tournament are Fairfield and Hanover, who the Tide crushed in the district playoffs last year. It might be the easiest part of the pre-season for the Tide. They have non-league games with Class AAA power Eastern and Class A power Reading Central Catholic, along with two games in the Warwick Tournament against the host Warriors and either Lancaster Catholic or Wilson the next night.
Last year, the Tide went 26-5 overall and 17-1 in league play. They lost five of the top seven players from that team. The two returning players, who need to step up their games are Yahya McInytre and Derrick Smith.

For more, read this week's Columbia Ledger.

Matmen go to UDA

If there’s one thing about the 2008-09 Columbia High School wrestling program fans need to know if that the numbers are good at both the varsity and junior high levels.
At the varsity level, third-year coach Scott Rupp has a full roster of 25. At the junior high level, new coaches Jimmy Jones and Brian Fry have a full roster of 20.
But, “our weakness is inexperience at both levels,” Rupp said.
Columbia, who went 3-3 in Section 3 of the L-L League and 8-13 overall, and qualified for the District 3 Class A team tournament, returns three district qualifiers from last year -- Joey Ronca  (21-13), Brandon Felus (5-26) and Anthony Wallick (20-19). Other key returning wrestlers with varsity experience are Jason Combs (12-21), Adam Stoner (13-19), Philip Key (2-22), Marcus Fischer (0-5) and Bobby Schoelkopf and Joey Charles. Another wrestler Johnny Vazquez might miss the season because of a leg injury suffered during football season.
Other wrestlers to watch for the Crimson Tide are freshman Derek Zercher and Jordan Helton; sophomores Cain Warfel, Roger Walton, Derrick Brooks, John Markley, Casey Rapp and Byron Germer, juniors Jacob Sentz, Brandon Aukamp and Brian Mentzer and Cody McAllister, senior.
“I feel with the amount of experience coming back we are in the top three of the section, but you never know what happens in our section,” Rupp said.
Teams to watch in Section 3 are Annville-Cleona and Lancaster Catholic. Grapplers to watch are Dylan Killian, Anthony Lentinie and Chris Shifflet, Annville-Cleona; Mike Blaczyzyk and Mark Lobeck, Lancaster Catholic and Neal Sweigart, Donegal.
The Tide will open its season Saturday with the Upper Dauphin Duals and then have its first home meet Wednesday against Central Dauphin East.

For more, see this week's Columbia Ledger

Columbia-Donegal

For the last two years when Columbia and Donegal played their annual high school football game, it was the league opener in the L-L League.
For many years prior to that, the two longtime rivals that are separated by Chickies Hill, played the final game of the regular season.
Usually attached to that final game of the regular season was a championship or playoff berth.
Remember the final game of the 1999 season when the Indians beat Columbia 3-0? The section ended in a three-way tie as the result of that game.
And during the many years of the rivalry, there have been a number of great games, outstanding players and memorable moments.
This year, there is no section title at stake, or, a District Three playoff berth. Donegal won’t be going to the playoffs for the second straight year. Columbia on the other hand is going to the District Three Class A playoffs.
Both teams have struggled this year.
The Tide and Indians come into the game with identical 2-7 overall records and 1-5 section marks.
There are also a lot of similarities.
• Both teams beat Pequea Valley.
• Both teams played Eastern. Columbia lost its season opener to the Golden Knights, while the Indians beat the Knights a week later.
• Both teams played Daniel Boone. Columbia shocked Daniel Boone in overtime, while the Indians were blanked in the opener by the Blazers.
• Both teams like to run the football. Columbia’s Dakota Lightfoot has rushed for 1,386  yards and scored 13 times this season. Donegal’s Kyle Witmer has rushed for 1,224 yards and scored 10 times.
• Both teams are improved on defense, but have weak areas. Donegal’s is against the pass, while the Tide has trouble stopping the run.
NOTES: Kickoff is 7:30 p.m., which is a half later later than Columbia has started its games all season.
Last year, four teams from Section 3 made the playoffs. This year, going into the final week of the regular season, the Tide, Lancaster Catholic, Elco and Northern Lebanon are guaranteed spots, while L-S, who had a magical run through the playoffs last year needs some help to get in.
Daniel Boone, who faced both teams, is ranked in the top 10 in Class AAA.
In all, 15 L-L League teams could qualify for the playoffs, which begin next week.

Who is Daniel Boone

Columbia closes its non-league schedule tomorrow night with perhaps the toughest team on their schedule.
No, its not Lancaster Catholic, rather the Daniel Boone Blazers who went deep[ into the District Three playoffs last season and a team the Tide dominated when they played a few years back.
Boone is 2-0 on the season with convincing opening wins over Donegal by a 40-0 score and Susquehannock last week by a 35-14 score.
The Blazers play in Division One of the Berks Inter-County League and have a number of key players back from a team that went 9-4 a year ago.
Coach Dave Bodolus is getting credit for turning the Boone program into a District Three Class AAA power. When the Tide played them before, Boone wasn’t that good and the Tide owns a two-game winning streak over the Blazers..
Leading the way for the Blazers will be quarterback Jon Monteiro, who threw for five touchdown passes against Donegal.
Monteiro’s favorite targets are Zach Keely, who is also an all-state defensive back and Mitchell Steed.
Monteiro is just a junior and in his first year as a starter.
It will be the last tune-up for the Crimson Tide, who starts league play next week against defending Section 3 co-champ Lampeter-Strasburg.
Like it has been all year, kickoff is 7 p.m. tomorrow night.

This week's edition

This week's edition of the Columbia Ledger has five pages of graduation pictures and stories; along with the awards that were given at the Senor Recognition Banquet, the middle school along with the Park and Taylor Elementary Schools.

Also, just a reminder about the events this weekend in Columbia -- the Columbia Consolidated Fire Department hosts its annual Native American Powwow on Saturday and Sunday.

The Cruisin Columbia Car Show will fill the downtown streets on Saturday.

This week's edition

This week's edition of the Columbia Ledger has five pages of graduation pictures and stories; along with the awards that were given at the Senor Recognition Banquet, the middle school along with the Park and Taylor Elementary Schools.

Also, just a reminder about the events this weekend in Columbia -- the Columbia Consolidated Fire Department hosts its annual Native American Powwow on Saturday and Sunday.

The Cruisin Columbia Car Show will fill the downtown streets on Saturday.

Coming next week....

It’s a busy week for the Columbia School District and we will have it all covered for you in next week’s Columbia Ledger.
The Park and Taylor Elementary Schools finish the school year up this week with their annual awards’ nights. We’ll tell you who the award winners are and have a few pictures.
The seventh and eighth grade students at Columbia High School will be recognized when the annual Smiley Awards are presented.
The biggest event of the week happens Friday night when more than 100 students at Columbia High School will be part of the school’s graduating class. Watch for stories and plenty of pictures in next week’s edition on the big event of the spring.
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Who wins!

While the Columbia basketball season ended last Saturday, local fans might be interested in a Class AA Eastern semi-final tomorrow at Reading's Geigle Complex at 1 p.m.

It matches Strawbery Mansion against Trinity.

The winner goes to the Eastern finals on Wednesday opposite either Imhotep (another Public League School) or Holy Cross, which is a merged school from District 2 formed by combining two Catholic schools, one being Bishop Hanan. Remember them?

So who wins?

If it comes down to coaching, give the nod to Larry Kostelac.

If it comes down to bench play, again give the nod to the Shamrocks.

Guard play will be extremely critical in this one, because I think SM is better up front.

I'll take Mansion!