February 22-24

Had lunch at the mall on Monday morning, after that I stopped by my service center and arranged an appointment for my car. The "check engine" light came on over the weekend and that is something I do not fool with plus it was overdue for a lube job as well. On Tuesday morning my mother had another eye doctor appointment, I left my car at the garage and drove her car from there. In the evening we boarded the bus at McCaskey for the ride to Neffsville (nothing against Dallastown but this trip was much shorter and more tolerable). Many people view the playback round as unimportant but that is hardly the case, the games have bearing on seeding for the state tournament and every win counts. On this night we faced league rival Hempfield for the third time and came out on the wrong end of an 81-73 decision. We had an early lead but trailed by five at the half, in the second half we got within two on a number of occasions but simply could not get over the hump. The game was worked by LL officials, you generally don't see referees from your own league in district or state play but since the game was essentially a league matchup it is permissible (why we had Mid-Penn guys for the CV game is anyone's guess). Kobe Gantz had 27 and Randolph Speller had 20 but nobody else reached double figures for JPM. This marks the first time the club has lost consecutive games, they meet Lebanon (another LL opponent) in the seventh-place game on Thursday the 25th. It's the exact same road we traveled in 2015 but at least we're getting a better break with travel, the Thursday game is at Warwick HS in Lititz (a gym we are all too familiar with). On Wednesday it was dark and rainy, I had a dental checkup at 9:00 (the perfect way to start a day). Picked up my car at the garage and spent the rest of the day at home out of the rain. In the early evening strong storms blew through the area but it's supposed to be clear by Thursday morning. Take care, thanks for reading.