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Bears Fall to LD in District Three 5A Opener

BY ARA GRIGORIAN

The case for rested and fresh versus rested and rusty was put the test by the boys’ basketball team on February 21st when the Bears got back to action after a 12-day break. Rested and rusty came out on top as Elizabethtown failed to reach double digits in two different quarters on their way to a 41-40 loss to Lower Dauphin in the opening round of the District Three 5A playoffs.

The first of those single digit quarters came in the opening frame where LD, the 11th seed, was able to take a 10-6 lead thanks to Elizabethtown’s struggles on the offensive end. E-town, seeded sixth, was able to find some offense in the second, leading to a 15-12 edge but still faced a 22-21 deficit at the break.

The second of the single digit quarters came in the third with another six-point showing for the Bears. The Falcons managed just eight points but that stretched their lead to 30-27. Once again, the Bears were able to regroup, this time leading to a 13-11 advantage in the fourth, but it was not enough to overcome that three-point hole, leading to the loss. Patrick Gilhool netted 18 points while Braden Cummings added 10 as the only other double-digit scorer.

WRESTLING

The wrestling team made their annual trip to Landisville for the sectional round of the District 3-3A Championship. The trip could have gone better for the Bears as only half of the 12 grapplers made it to the medal stand with only two of those doing well enough to keep their season alive. Those two wrestlers were Nathan Thomas and Aiden Robinson with Austin Reitmeyer, Ryan Findlay, Jake Rudy, and Bradley Candy rounding out the podium finishers.

Robinson did his work in the 152-pound bracket where he posted a win over Solanco’s Wade Adams to secure the bronze. The junior opened his day with a bye and a quarterfinal win over Donegal’s Ian Brown before a semifinal loss to Warwick’s Andrew McClune dropped him into the consolation bracket. There he picked up a win over McCaskey’s Tellin Cintron before taking bronze with the win over Adams.

Thomas kept his season alive with a fourth-place finish despite ending his day with a loss to Hempfield’s Clay Gainer in the consolation finals of the 138-pound draw. Thomas’ two wins came over Andrew Smith (Solanco) in the championship quarterfinals and over Warwick’s Bryn Hess in the consolation semifinals. In between was a loss to Manheim Township’s Aliazer Alicea.

One Bear managed to finish his sectional round in fifth place and that was Rudy. Despite entering as the sixth seed in the 160-pound bracket, Rudy found himself on the mat for a first-round match opposite Donegal’s Andrew Small. Rudy claimed that match but was unable to keep his momentum, falling to Grant Hoover (Hempfield) in the quarterfinals. From there the senior rebounded with wins over Matthew Locklier (Hershey) and Bryson Cantrell (McCaskey) before falling to Penn Manor’s Ty Grassel in the consolation semifinals. Rudy bounced back again, collecting his fifth-place medal with a win over Manheim Central’s Logan Forrest.

The final three Bears to make the medal stand all did so as sixth place finishers starting with Reitmeyer at 120. The junior went 3-3 on the day with wins over Mario Hummel (Warwick), Dabens Charles (McCaskey) and Mark Overlander (Donegal). The losses were to Manheim Township’s Kamdyn Williams, Lampeter-Strasburg’s Riley Bonholtzer and the final one to Hempfield’s Zy McCain-Murry that gave Reitmeyer the sixth-place medal.

Findlay was up next, finishing sixth at 126 after bowing out of his last match due to injury. The day started well with the junior topping Milton Hershey’s Trevor Parsell in the quarterfinals after opening with a first-round bye. Things went sideways from there as losses to Seamus Mack (Hempfield) in the championship semifinals and Nathan Fletcher (Central Dauphin) in the consolation semifinals set the stage for Findlay’s injury default.

Candy (285) was the last Bear to reach the podium. Candy took out Manheim Central’s Ryland Fittery in the opening round. He followed with a loss to eventual champion Caleb Mussmon (Hempfield) before bouncing back to top David Isidro (Milton Hershey) and Jonathan Eisenhooth (Palmyra) in the consolation bracket. Back-to-back losses to Central Dauphin’s Ben Stewart and Donegal’s Nicholai Brotzman brought Candy’s season to an end.

BOWLING

The bowling team took their next postseason steps starting with the LancasterLebanon League Girls’ Championship on February 16th. E-town sent eight Lady Bears to Clearview Lanes with three keglers making it to the stepladder finals. That meant the end of the season for Gabriella Eberle (969), Kendra Griffie (959), Makenna Locke (781), Rylee Bender (778) and Pauline Kuty (756).

Alaina Telenko posted the top qualifying score in that trio, rolling games of 199, 164, 229, 160, 190 and 193 to finish third in qualifying. That set Telenko up in the finals opposite Willow Hee of Penn Manor with Telenko taking the battle 177-169. Her second-round battle was opposite Lacey Slaymaker, with another Lady Comet posting a 166-164 win to end Telenko’s day.

Slaymaker also ended Allison Evans day, topping her 172-163 in the opening round of the finals. Evans earned her way into the match-up with qualifying games of 180, 152, 201, 149, 198 and 200 for the seventh best pin count.

Hannah Griffie was the last of the trio to qualify, doing so in eighth thanks to her 1052. Her championship run ended with a loss to Eva Brubaker, another Lady Comet, by a 234-186 final.

The Bears sent four bowlers to 222 Dutch Lanes on February 18th where the boy’s took center stage for their singles championship battle. Only one of those four advanced to the final but that was enough as Zach Wentzel posted five straight wins to take home the boy’s title.

“He started out fantastic,” said head coach Frank Telenko. “Then he started to struggle but kept positive throughout. I was proud of how well he performed and didn’t give up. His final five games to win the title were so good, that he was going to be tough to beat.”

Those final games saw Wentzel bowl a 221, 214, 233, 230 and 235, knocking off Ryan Muckle (Conestoga Valley), Connor Firestone (Cedar Crest), David Broich (Manheim Township), Derek Warfel (Penn Manor) and Manheim Township’s Nick Tomlinson in the title game.

Ayden Pope just missed the finals. His 1130 qualifying score fell just short of the 1164 cut line. Derek Deardorff’s 1067 and Daniel Eberle’s 989 completed Elizabethtown’s championship bowlers.

Photo by Cheri Sie

Patrick Gilhool hits a jumper over Lower Dauphin’s Cody Rosati for two of his game-high 18 points in E-town’s 41-40, District Three first-round loss to the visiting Falcons on February 21.