District Three boys' basketball

The District Three playoffs, otherwise known as the first step in the “Road to Happy Valley” and a trip to the state finals at Penn State and the PIAA finals begins tonight.


Games will be played in Boys Class AAA and A and Girls AAAA and AA tonight and the remaining classes tomorrow night.

So what teams will have the opportunity to play on the big floor at the Giant Center at the end of next week for a district title?

Well, after reading all of the previews, following all the scores for the season and the various league playoffs, I would be surprised in there is a team from the L-L League playing for a district title in boys’ basketball, but it is more likely in girls’ basketball.

Not wait, aren’t two teams from the L-L League top seeds in their respective classes – Hempfield and Lancaster Mennonite? Yes, but while I don’t see neither team making the finals, one of them could and it won’t be Hempfield.

Locally, there is a team that should play for a district title and one that should get into the second round. And the surprise, which I already mentioned is that Hempfield won’t be playing for gold despite their unbeaten record. But I do see the Black Knights playing in the PIAA playoffs because half of the field makes the state tournament in Class AAAA and Class AAA.

First the local team that should be playing for a district title and deep into March are the Golden Knights from Eastern. They have two of the best players in the Class AAA field in guard Austin Tillotson and big man Andrew Nicholas. They also have a solid nucleus of other players.

The Knights meet Wyomissing in their opener tonight and probably will see an athletic Susquehanna Township team on the big floor at the Giant Center on Friday. Their semi-final game should be a battle with YAIAA foe West York and a meeting with either second seed Hershey, the Mid-Penn champion or York Suburban in the finals.

It will be a different story in the state playoffs, because the Knights, if they are in the East will have to run the gauntlet of District 12 schools, which are among the top three ranked teams in the state.

Now let’s talk about the Class AA field and the first round rematch between Columbia and Annville-Cleona at 7:30 p.m., tomorrow night at Hershey High School. Saw both of them play and they are about equal and it depends which Columbia team shows upm who wins. The winner gets third seeded Hanover in the quarter-finals.

Here’s something to think about – with Hanover, the Tide and A-C in the bottom of the bracket, there will be a public school in the semi-finals. The other three teams in the semi-finals, barring any major upsets, which I don’t see will be Catholic or a private school.

So in this class, I’ll take defending champ Trinity.

Next for Boys AAAA, Hempfield is the top seed and unbeaten, but hasn’t had a lot of success in the playoffs recently and has to go through a land mine of a bracket to get to the finals. After tomorrow’s game with a pesky Central Dauphin, the Black Knights will have to face either Penn Manor or Harrisburg, then either YAIAA runner-up York or Mid-Penn runner-up Red Land.

That’s why I don’t see the Black Knights making the finals, but they will make the PIAA playoffs.

Take Reading and Red Land in the finals.

In Boys’ Class A, the Private and Catholic School Invitational, there’s no doubt Reading Central Catholic is the “cream of the crop,” but also watched this private school New Hope Academy from York, who played an independent schedule this year and it made up of castoffs from a number of York area teams.

Here are the first round predictions

Boys A: Antietam over Harrisburg Academy; Millersburg over Lancaster Christian; Greenwood over Day Spring Academy; Lancaster Country Day over Camp Hill; New Hope over Mount Calvary and Lebanon Catholic over the Christian School of York.

Boys AA: Holy Name over Upper Dauphin; McDevitt over Pequea Valley; York Catholic over Tulpehocken and Columbia over Annville-Cleona.

Boys AAA: Eastern over Wyomissing; Susquehanna Township over Boiling Springs; West York over Big Spring; Middletown over East Pennsboro; Hershey over Milton Hershey (that game was moved to Cedar Crest. It was originally scheduled for Milton Hershey); Catholic over Greencastle; Suburban over Muhlenberg and Steel-High over Oley Valley.

Boys AAAA: Hempfield over Central Dauphin; Penn Manor over Hempfield; York over L-S; Red Land over Red Lion; Wilson over McCaskey; Solanco over Warwick; Reading over Exeter and Daniel Boone over Central York.