February 1-3

The new month started slowly, there was little of note happening on Sunday or Monday. On Tuesday we boarded the bus at McCaskey for the final game of the regular season. Every year we seem to have Hempfield as our final opponent, this is the second consecutive season the game was in their gym. The junior varsity game saw JPM's bid for an undefeated league season thwarted as Hempfield won it 58-47. JV records and history are not generally well-remembered and the end of this season was disappointing but on the whole there is much to be proud of. Since the start of the '11-12 season the McCaskey JV squads are a combined 60-4 in league play and 65-9 overall, an outstanding mark especially when you consider that JV rosters usually have very few if any returnees from the previous season. The purpose of a JV program is to prepare the players for the next level, two of coach Mike Mitchell's players were promoted to varsity earlier in the year and three more have been added for the postseason. The main event of the evening carried league playoff implications, a JPM win would clinch a playoff berth. It was not easy because games against Hempfield never are but the Red Tornado got it done 62-56. We led by six after one quarter and never trailed after that although Hempfield fought to the end like the quality program they are. Randolph Speller led JPM with 22, Kobe Gantz and Tyler Owens added 11 apiece. After the game we got word that Cedar Crest had won as well. that sets up a divisional tiebreaker game between JPM and CC for the second consecutive season. In 2014 CC beat us twice during the regular season and in the playoff game on their way to the league championship. This year each team won head-to-head on their home floor and both lost to Warwick in Lititz to finish even at 14-2. We heard there is a possibility the playoff game may be at Warwick, that would be very ironic if it were. The official announcement comes Wednesday morning. Take care, thanks for reading.