- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,135,724
- Reaction score
- 59
West York's district title hopes were on hold for almost two decades.
Since 2007, the Bulldogs had tried, and failed, to repeat the success of their last district championship run. In the interim, they'd moved up to Class 5A, and 19 iterations of the Bulldogs came and went. Then, on the court at Cumberland Valley High School on Feb. 26, they had the chance to clean the slate against a Milton Hershey squad whose only losses were dealt by teams outside of 5A.
As it turns out, all West York needed was eight minutes.
In their first District 3 championship appearance in nearly 20 years, the Bulldogs ran roughshod to a 66-42 victory, blanking the No. 1-seeded Spartans in the first quarter and leaning on double-digit performances from four of their starters.
"Last year we were close, but we couldn't get past Hershey in the semis," West York coach Garrett Bull said. "We committed ourselves and talked about it as soon as we started working out. We have a drill in practice called the 'Hershey Drill,' just to mentally say we've got to push this through. The message tonight was that we didn't didn't do all the extra stuff just to get here. We did it to win this thing."
For eight minutes on the floor, West York turned Milton Hershey into a nonfactor. Both defenses buckled through the opening four minutes as the Bulldogs and Spartans traded errant shots.
Then, halfway through the first quarter, Conrad Beatty broke the deadlock with a layup off a pass by Jensen Ferber. The rest of the Bulldogs took over from there, contesting every shot and disrupting the Spartans on both ends of the floor. By the end of the quarter, the Bulldogs were up 8-0. The Spartans needed another eight minutes to eclipse eight points, trailing 29-9 at halftime.
"We had to be physical, we couldn't be soft," Chase Cristofoletti, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points, said. "Really, it all goes back to being tough. In practice we ask ourselves, 'How tough can we be?' We needed to be the tougher team tonight and we were."
Each of the Bulldogs had their own moment to shine. Cristofoletti broke out after halftime, draining corner 3s and catching feeder passes from Jaedyn Kohler to work in the post alongside Breckin Lasher, the Bulldogs' resident paint presence. Lasher, who tallied 14 points, was routine disruptor for the Spartans up close. Koehler drained four 3-pointers to end with 13 points.
Perhaps the crowd factor helped. Crowd noise inside Cumberland Valley's high school gym reached 114 decibels at one point during the game − equivalent to a live rock concert. West York fans, no doubt a factor, rattled the gym with every field goal, every stolen pass and every contested shot.
Even when Milton Hershey picked itself up and posted a 20-point response in the third quarter, the Bulldogs never relented. It answered with 20 points of its own in the same span.
Ballgame.
"We all trust in each other and play confident through each other," Lasher said. "Any one of us can go up for 15, 20 points every night."
A year after being stopped in the district semifinals, Bull and his staff reiterated to his players that all their work through the offseason wasn't just to get to the final − it was to win, and win with conviction.
After Thursday night, no one is doubting the Bulldogs' convictions.
"I'm so proud of these guys," Bull said. "They're an incredible group, a tough group."
West York now looks to the first round of the PIAA Tournament, which it will ring in against the No. 8 seed from District 7 on Friday, March 6.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: West York downs Milton Hershey for first District 3 title since 2007
Continue reading...
Since 2007, the Bulldogs had tried, and failed, to repeat the success of their last district championship run. In the interim, they'd moved up to Class 5A, and 19 iterations of the Bulldogs came and went. Then, on the court at Cumberland Valley High School on Feb. 26, they had the chance to clean the slate against a Milton Hershey squad whose only losses were dealt by teams outside of 5A.
As it turns out, all West York needed was eight minutes.
In their first District 3 championship appearance in nearly 20 years, the Bulldogs ran roughshod to a 66-42 victory, blanking the No. 1-seeded Spartans in the first quarter and leaning on double-digit performances from four of their starters.
"Last year we were close, but we couldn't get past Hershey in the semis," West York coach Garrett Bull said. "We committed ourselves and talked about it as soon as we started working out. We have a drill in practice called the 'Hershey Drill,' just to mentally say we've got to push this through. The message tonight was that we didn't didn't do all the extra stuff just to get here. We did it to win this thing."
For eight minutes on the floor, West York turned Milton Hershey into a nonfactor. Both defenses buckled through the opening four minutes as the Bulldogs and Spartans traded errant shots.
Then, halfway through the first quarter, Conrad Beatty broke the deadlock with a layup off a pass by Jensen Ferber. The rest of the Bulldogs took over from there, contesting every shot and disrupting the Spartans on both ends of the floor. By the end of the quarter, the Bulldogs were up 8-0. The Spartans needed another eight minutes to eclipse eight points, trailing 29-9 at halftime.
"We had to be physical, we couldn't be soft," Chase Cristofoletti, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points, said. "Really, it all goes back to being tough. In practice we ask ourselves, 'How tough can we be?' We needed to be the tougher team tonight and we were."
You must be registered for see images attach
Each of the Bulldogs had their own moment to shine. Cristofoletti broke out after halftime, draining corner 3s and catching feeder passes from Jaedyn Kohler to work in the post alongside Breckin Lasher, the Bulldogs' resident paint presence. Lasher, who tallied 14 points, was routine disruptor for the Spartans up close. Koehler drained four 3-pointers to end with 13 points.
Perhaps the crowd factor helped. Crowd noise inside Cumberland Valley's high school gym reached 114 decibels at one point during the game − equivalent to a live rock concert. West York fans, no doubt a factor, rattled the gym with every field goal, every stolen pass and every contested shot.
Even when Milton Hershey picked itself up and posted a 20-point response in the third quarter, the Bulldogs never relented. It answered with 20 points of its own in the same span.
Ballgame.
"We all trust in each other and play confident through each other," Lasher said. "Any one of us can go up for 15, 20 points every night."
You must be registered for see images attach
A year after being stopped in the district semifinals, Bull and his staff reiterated to his players that all their work through the offseason wasn't just to get to the final − it was to win, and win with conviction.
After Thursday night, no one is doubting the Bulldogs' convictions.
"I'm so proud of these guys," Bull said. "They're an incredible group, a tough group."
West York now looks to the first round of the PIAA Tournament, which it will ring in against the No. 8 seed from District 7 on Friday, March 6.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: West York downs Milton Hershey for first District 3 title since 2007
Continue reading...
